Last time we talked about shinies, little goodies th...

Last time we talked about shinies, little goodies that are not necessary to theplot.  They may add a little to the story, but notmuch; some other detail could do as well. The writer just likes them.
And here is where the 
Here's an example, one I happened to be involved in.
In Louis Auchincloss's The Rector of Justin, the rather conservative hero owns a treasure, a portrait of the first modern novelist, Samuel Richardson.  In the book, Auchincloss describes it.  It's small, it shows Richardson writing on a lap-desk, and it is painted on copper.  
When I read that, I jumpedwith excitement and immediately wrote to Louis Auchincloss, care of hispublisher, asking him if he had ever seen it and where was it now?
Auchincloss was describing a portrait of Richardson that hadbeen lost.   I wrote my thesis onRichardson; I'd read the biography; the authors had mentioned the portrait, buthadn't mentioned that it was oil on copper Where had that detail come from?
It was a shiny. 
It was something Auchincloss knew that wasn't necessary tomake the character, but it fit in the scene, so he used it.
The portrait was in his living room.
Auchincloss wrote on a lap desk.  His son had found the portrait of Richardsonwriting on a lap desk and given it to him, and he liked it so much he used itin a book.  I got to have tea with LouisAuchincloss and see Richardson and some other goodies.  He was a lovely and gracious man, and he wasdelighted that his not-really-lost portrait was found.
Everybody has their shinies. Shakespeare is full of them.  Helikes to tell you things about geography, particularly in Italy andFrance.  He gets the aristocratsright.  You'd expect that, when he'splaying in front of aristocrats who have been to Italy and France.  He drops in references to contemporaryevents.  Most of these aren't necessaryto the plot, and most playwrights of the time got away with being much moregeneral in their references:  "a town inItaly."   
Shinies are just things you happen to know that you can dropin.
And here's where the whole thing gets a littlesuspicious. 
Because, theoretically, the background work that Shakespearewould have done to create all this knowledge about law, medicine, madness, andso on is possible.   If he wanted to doit, he would have done it. 
But the shinies don't match.