Beschreibung:

LOPEZ CONSPIRACY] [ELIZABETH I, Queen of England . CECIL, Sir WILLIAM]. A true report of sundry horrible conspiracies of late time detected to have (by barbarous murders) taken away the life of the Queenes most excellent maiestie. London: by Charles Yetswiert, 1594. 4to, 29 pp., modern vellum, title-leaf and A2 with slight loss at lower blank margin restored, title soiled . One of two issues dated 1594 (the other with "November" above the imprint and with 29 pp.). STC 7603.5 Roderigo Lopez has long been considered as a model for Shylock in The Merchant of Venice . He was born in Portugal and educated in Spain, before settling in England and becoming physician to Queen Elizabeth I from 1586 to 1594, when he was accused of accepting a bribe to poison her. "Although titularly a Christian, his Jewish sympathies were notorious...he was...executed to the accompaniment of a minor anti-Jewish storm." (Roth, Standard Jewish Encyclopedia , Jerusalem, 1958, p. 1223).