A. L. Rowse-who, it must be said, never allowed an absence of certainty to get in the way of a conclusion-in 1973 identified the dark lady as Emilia Bassano, daughter of one of the queen's musicians, and, with a certain thrust of literary jaw, asserted that his conclusions "cannot be impugned, for they are the answer," even though they are unsupported by anything that might reasonably be termed proof.
( Bill Bryson )
[ Shakespeare: The World as ]
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