The idea was then taken up in France .
The idea was then was first advocated in scholarly detail when the Rabelais expert Abel Lefranc published his 1918 book Sous le masque de William Shakespeare : William Stanley , VIe comte de Derby .
The idea was then taken up in France and was first advocated in scholarly detail when the Rabelais expert Abel Lefranc published his 1918 book Sous le masque de William Shakespeare : William Stanley , VIe comte de Derby .