GIFT OF 
 
 MICHAEL REESE 
 
THE 
 
 mrnete 0f Sfcafespart 
 
 AND THE 
 
 MYSTERY OF HIS FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, AND RIVALRY 
 
 REVEALED. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS EXTRACTS FROM THE 
 
 POET'S WORKS, CONTEMPORARY WRITERS, 
 
 AND OTHER AUTHORS, 
 
 BY HENKY BKOWN. 
 
 " Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 
 Till we can clear these ambiguities, 
 And know their spring, their head, their true descent." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 " Rare is true love, true friendship is still rarer." 
 
 La, Fontaine. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY 
 
 JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 
 
 36, SOHO SQUARE. 
 
 1870. 
 
LONDON ; 
 
 S. AND J. BRAWN, PRINTERS, 
 13, PRINCES STREET, LITTLE QUEKN STREET, HOLBORN 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE . . . . . . 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ...... 
 
 INTRODUCTION ..... 
 
 THE ARGUMENT ....... 
 
 THE TABLE OF THE SONNETS . . , 
 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE SONNETS .... 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO SONNETS 1126 
 
 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS TO SONNETS 78 86 . 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO SONNETS 86126 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO SONNETS 127 154 
 REMARKS UPON NOTES ..... 
 
 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SYDNEY FOR PENELOPE DEVEREUX, 
 AND LADY RICH'S ILLICIT LOVING .... 
 
 FINAL REMARKS 
 
 38 
 
 42 
 51 
 164 
 183 
 195 
 205 
 211 
 
 212 
 223 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Sonnets of Shakespeare, till within the last few 
 
 \jr 
 years, have been strangely neglected, and even now few 
 
 readers of his dramatic works read these poems ; they 
 have been and still remain a sealed book to his world-/ 
 wide admirers. Nothing at all satisfactory has appeared 
 in elucidation of them, no key by which an admirer may 
 discover the secrets they contain, and participate with 
 u the poet of all time " in the mystic conceptions of his 
 great mind, in the mystery of his love and friendship, in 
 the self-recorded testimony of his hopes and fears, his 
 joys and sorrows, in that which has glorified his brow 
 or stamped vulgar scandal upon it. All this and more 
 the Sonnets will reveal, if the reader will follow the poet 
 through his involved meanings, and permit him to be- 
 come as it were his own expositor a privilege which 
 Shakespeare has hitherto been denied. The Sonnets will 
 then be found to add honour to his character as a man 
 and his reputation as a poet. To effect this, the reader 
 
 B 
 
2 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 ton, who was publicly known as our poet's earliest patron, 
 was living and in London. About the date this loving 
 friendship was contracted (1597), Lord Southampton 
 embarked as a volunteer in the expedition against Spain, 
 and in the following year he attended Essex to Ireland as 
 general of the horse, and subsequently, when Essex fell 
 under the royal displeasure, Southampton, who was 
 leagued with him in his mad-cap rebellion, was com- 
 mitted to the Tower, and although his life was spared, he 
 was kept in prison during the remainder of Elizabeth's 
 reign. (See Bell's Poems of Shakspeare, p. 36.) Our 
 poet himself, cautious against arousing the enmity of 
 church or state, would naturally turn to one cautious 
 and politic like himself, which Herbert was. Shakespeare 
 may also have offended the headstrong earl in seeking, 
 by good advice, to curb his wild career. This might 
 naturally lead to a transfer of friendship ; and the one 
 fact of Shakespeare not being known to pen consolatory 
 verses to Southampton when in prison for high treason, 
 as other poets were doing, significantly points to a 
 rupture between them. The reason of this is that Lord 
 Southampton was merely a patron sought for by the poet, 
 while Master Herbert proved more than patron, he 
 became Shakespeaie's al 1 unlooked-for constant friend, 
 from his youth upward. Hence the poet pays him a 
 higher compliment than Lord Southampton had received. 
 Master Herbert is the actual Adonis of the poem 
 addressed to him. I acknowledge that he is no new 
 claimant. My object is to add to the evidence already 
 brought forward in proof of his right to it, although 
 numerous critics assent to his being the man, among 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3 
 
 whom is Mr. Hallam. But what is most to the purpose 
 is that there is full agreement between that young lord 
 and the youth described in the Sonnets. The beauty 
 which distinguished him so much above others I am able 
 to show, Shakespeare was not alone in extolling. 
 
 It may be asked why such addresses were penned to 
 one of his own sex ? The judicious Shakespeare could 
 never have been guilty of such errors. If such an 
 inquirer will turn to one of our poet's earliest Comedies 
 that humorous satire upon the fashionable jargon of 
 the day, " Love's Labour's Lost" he will there find that 
 even in the dawn of genius he expressed a dislike to 
 mistress adulation in such spruce affected terms, till in 
 maturity he penned these diversions for the delight of his 
 patron. These lines from the Comedy suffice to show 
 the drift of the poet : 
 
 " Tush ! none but minstrels like of Sonnetting." 
 
 " Assist me, some extemporal god of rhyme, for I am sure I shall turn 
 Sonnetteer." 
 
 " This is the liver vein, which makes flesh a deity ; 
 A green goose, a goddess : pure, pure idolatry. 
 God amend us, God amend ! we are much out o' the way." 
 
 Thus in two important points Shakespeare differed 
 from his contemporaries ; he was averse to either making 
 a green goose a goddess, i. e., mistress sonnetting, or to 
 flatter every rhymester, to be, as was the custom, extolled 
 in return. 
 
 I will now show the origin of the friendship between 
 the patron and the poet, which the player editors affirm 
 was prosecuted with so much favour. According to a 
 letter written by Eowland White to Sir Eobert Sidney, 
 (brother to the author of the "Arcadia" dated April, 
 
4 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 1597, and printed in the Sidney Papers, it was about 
 this date that the accomplished youth obtained his 
 father's sanction to live in London, 4 " but it is highly 
 probable he had visited the capital on several occasions 
 before making it his abode. The earliest notice I find of 
 his being in London is in the " Sidney Memoirs," Vol. 2. 
 We there learn from one of White's letters, dated April 3, 
 1597, that he was then on a visit to the Sidneys : "My 
 Lord Herbert, coming into the garden ;" and probably it 
 was the close connections he was making that induced 
 him thus to solicit his father, as it must have been about 
 this time that an acquaintanceship was formed between 
 Shakespeare and this attractive young lord. It is de- 
 scribed (Sonnet 25) as an " unlocked- for joy," intimating 
 that the youth proffered his friendship to the poet. A 
 supposition may be formed from some of the earliest 
 Sonnets addressed to Master W. H. that the youth's 
 mother, either directly or indirectly, instigated Shake- 
 speare to advocate so strenuously for his young friend to 
 contemplate at once yoking himself to the car of 
 Hymen, though but seventeen, years of age ; and by 
 self-example the poet with a good grace might advocate 
 mch a course. This appears to be referred to in Sonnets 
 [2 and 3, where the poet speaks of his children being his 
 " old excuse " for his loss of youth, vigour, and appear- 
 ance. Add to this the circumstance of the Countess of 
 Pembroke being herself a poetess and patroness of poets, 
 and it is but natural she would desire her " lovely boy " 
 
 * White says : " My Lord Herbert hath with much ado brought his 
 father to consent that he may live at London, yet not before the next 
 spring." (Letter to Sir R. Sidney, April, 1597), but he was probably much 
 engaged in London from the date, 1597. 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 5 
 
 to seek the companionship arid guidance of such a poetic 
 writer as the author of those majestic and delightful 
 dramas which both herself and her husband had so often 
 witnessed, and which had won for " gentle Shakespeare " 
 " golden opinions from all sorts of people." This upon 
 her part would be nothing uncommon, as it was then the 
 custom to place noble youths with favourite poets. It is, 
 however, unnecessary here to adduce the numerous 
 instances which could be given to support this statement. 
 That this was the case with Herbert there is some con- 
 firmation in the 77th Sonnet, in which the poet seeks to 
 advance his friend's mental adornments : the youth's 
 mother is also affectionately mentioned in the third 
 Sonnet. 
 
 Support is given to the conjecture that it was at the 
 desire of the Countess, that the invitations to marriage 
 were penned from the circumstance of a plot having 
 afterwards been formed, between the years 1599 and 
 1600, among the friends of the youth, to allure him into 
 marriage with the niece of the Lord Admiral. They, 
 however, overshot the mark. Kowland White, in record- 
 ing this, says : " My Lord Herbert is very well ; I don't 
 find any disposition at all in this gallant young lord to 
 marry/ 7 These eYens^_according_Jbp the_ Eev. Joseph^ 
 Hunter's opinion, incitecl Shakespeare to writer ihe 
 Comedy of "Much Ado about Nothings" and from 
 internal evidence, and Sonnet reference, which he did not 
 adduce, the supposition will be found conclusively 
 proved, and it will be also seen that both the Comedy 
 and the Sonnets originated in Shakespeare's perceiving 
 the distaste Herbert evinced towards marriage, probably 
 
6 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 even before the youth's friends observed it, resolved to 
 show him what may be the result of his folly, to this 
 end produces those sprightly characters, Benedick and 
 Beatrice, who have the same distaste towards wedlock, 
 but become united at last ; and as Herbert scorned a 
 mortal mistress, the poet weds him, much to the youth's 
 desire, to a divine one, his Muse. The result is, a poetical 
 memorial is begotten of the poet's youthful and beautiful 
 friend. 
 
 The earliest reference to be found to Shakespeare's 
 writing Sonnets is in Francis Meres' " Wit's Treasury " 
 of 1598. We are there told that "mellifluous, honey- 
 tongued Shakespeare " had produced " sugared Sonnets," 
 which were then in circulation among his " private 
 friends." It was therefore probably in the spring of this 
 year that he commenced the Herbert series ; and as 
 Meres was intimately acquainted with Shakspeare, as one 
 of the private friends, he may have been shown some of 
 the earliest of these honied verses. Meres foresaw that 
 they were but an overture to the concert which was to 
 follow, and in his account of the dramatic and poetic 
 labours of our poet, in the "Wit's Treasury," he con- 
 cludes by announcing that some Sonnets of a private 
 nature were in progress ; and as he gives Shakespeare a 
 full measure of praise, and in all available instances 
 extols the Pembroke family, he may have seen the 
 growing intimacy between our poet and his young 
 patron, and rejoiced at the event. Meres in 1602 
 became rector of Wing, in Kutlandshire, and continued 
 to hold it for the remainder of his life. He died there in 
 1646, in the eighty-first year of his age. At the date of 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 7 
 
 his publishing the above-mentioned volume he resided in 
 Southwark, near the Globe Playhouse. He was held in 
 high repute for his learning, and styles himself " Master 
 of Artes of both Universities." Even had he written his 
 discourse "Of our English Poets" previous to 1598, the 
 reference to work Shakespeare had in hand could well 
 have been inserted at that date. The following is the 
 passage in his " Wit's Treasury " to which reference is 
 now made : " As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to 
 live in Pythagoras, so the sweet witty soul of Ovid lives 
 in mellifluous, honey-tongued Shakespeare : witness his 
 Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugared Sonnets 
 among his private friends." 
 
 Shakespeare, having commenced to write Sonnets, 
 continued to J3en them till -about 1604, solely for his own 
 and'ETends' gratification. The poet seems to have kept 
 copies of them himself. The Sonnets appeared in print 
 in 1609, which was the year in which he is supposed to 
 have left his London residence for his permanent abode 
 at Stratford. They are evidently in their proper order, 
 and arranged into two divisions ; their combined number is 
 one hundred and fifty-four. The first portion, almost the 
 bulk of the series, contains one hundred and twenty-six, 
 and are evidently addressed to one person, the " patron 
 friend." The concluding twenty-eight appear to be 
 addressed to a mistress. It will be shown that both 
 these and the poem to the friend are pre-eminently 
 parodies."* 
 
 The title-page announces, in unusually large capitals, 
 
 * By a singular coincidence, the majestic classic parody upon Homer's 
 heroes, " Troilus and Cressida," was also first published in that year, 1609. 
 
8 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 the contents of the volume as " Shakes-peare's Sonnets 
 never before imprinted : At London by G-. Eld for T. T., 
 and are to be sold by William Apsley, 1609." On the 
 following leaf is inscribed the dedication, of which the 
 following is a copy : 
 
 TO. THE. ONLIE. BEGGETTER. OF. 
 
 THESE. INSUING. SONNETS. 
 
 M? W. H. ALL. HAPPINESSE. 
 
 AND. THAT. ETERNITIE. 
 
 PROMISED. 
 
 BY. 
 OUR. EVER. -LIVING. POET. 
 
 WISHETH. 
 
 THE. WELL. WISHING. 
 
 ADVENTURER. IN. 
 
 SETTING. 
 
 FORTH. 
 
 T. T.* 
 
 A fitting dedication this to the enigmatical contents of 
 the volume. From this it may be assumed that T. T., 
 Thomas Thorpe,t the printer and publisher, received in- 
 structions from the poet himself, hence the result of this 
 singularity. For either Shakespeare or Herbert to appear 
 openly in the publication, would have been, from the 
 contents of the volume containing so much mutual glori- 
 fication, averse to the feelings of both the poet and patron. 
 Upon such a proceeding hear the poet express himself in 
 a passage from " Alls Well that Ends Well " : 
 
 " Then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deserv- 
 ings, when of ourselves we publish them." 
 
 * T. T.'s reason for placing his initials alone upon the title-page and 
 inscription appears to have been in humble imitation of W. H. 
 
 f That T. T. was Thomas Thorpe is proved by an entry on the Stationers' 
 Registers : 
 
 "20 May, 1609. 
 
 " Tho. Thorpe] a book called Shakespeare's Sonnets.'' 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 9 
 
 And again in " Troilus and Cressida " : 
 
 " The worthiness of praise distains his worth, 
 
 If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth." 
 
 This mutual praise being at once both parody and 
 truth impelled the poet to take this course. 
 
 From the poems may be seen that they were intended 
 for publication, and that too in the life-time of the 
 friends : they also reveal that the poet was neither 
 ashamed of their merit as the sweetest extraction of his 
 muse, or of the motives which inspired him to pen them. 
 After repeated perusals, I gather from various hints that 
 Shakespeare could not openly publish the friendship to 
 the world, on account of the disgrace his profession cast 
 upon him, at which he unceasingly and bitterly laments. 
 Had they not been bosom friends, he could have openly 
 dedicated to Lord Herbert, as he has done to Southamp- 
 ton : but the burden of the song being upon their private 
 friendship forbade it. It also prevented the poet from 
 entering into any panegyrics upon the young lord's ances- 
 tors or parents, since he undoubtedly would gladly have 
 extolled that bright star of their coronet, Sir Philip Sidney, 
 and his ever memorable sister Mary, Countess of Pem- 
 broke (to whom the "Arcadia" was dedicated as the 
 "Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia"), and who was the 
 mother of Shakespeare's dear friend. All this was denied 
 the poet, since-he had appeared upon the common stage, 
 before the common people ; and as a player was entered 
 in the statutes as a rogue and a vagabond ; a bar was thus 
 placed between the two friends, to the infinite regret of 
 both poet and patron. 
 
 Returning to the dedication, that which has puzzled 
 
10 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 most critics is that the Earl of Pembroke, then a Knight 
 of the Garter, should suffer merely his initials to appear 
 with the prefix of Mr. The poems give us the solution. 
 Sonnet 108 tells us that although the youth had then 
 become " a man," the poet is determined to consider him 
 as young^as when first " he hallowed his fair name ;" also 
 in the final Sonnet of the first series (126) the poet keeps 
 his promise, and addresses him as the " lovely boy " of 
 their first meeting, to fulfil the avowal made in Sonnet 
 19 that he should live ever youthful in his verse. Having 
 shewn that Shakspeare was still addressing his friend as 
 a juvenile even when his youth was fully past, it is 
 evident that in the same spirit he might dedicate such 
 poems to the same person when in riper years poems 
 that were to perpetuate that immortal youth which he 
 loved to extol. Thus they are not addressed to his friend 
 as Earl of Pembroke, but as Master William Herbert, 
 for such he was when the poet first beheld him, and so, 
 by the aid of the poet's pen, he will ever remain. 
 
 Having prepared the reader for the following rendering 
 of the dedicatory inscription, I have stripped it of that 
 form, and it will now run thus : 
 
 " To the only begetter of these ensuing Sonnets, Master William Her- 
 bert, all happiness and that eternity promised by our ever-living poet 
 wisheth the well-wishing adventurer in setting forth." 
 
 It may also be read thus : 
 
 *' To Master William Herbert, the only begetter of these ensuing Sonnets, 
 the well-wishing adventurer, in setting forth, wisheth all happiness and 
 that eternity promised by our ever-living poet." 
 
 This language, made clear, signifies that they are dedi- 
 cated by the publisher to the sole inspirer of the Sonnets, 
 and by whom alone they were begotten upon the brain of 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 11 
 
 Shakespeare. The wishing him all happiness is merely 
 echoing the sentiments of the Sonnets, as referred to in 
 Sonnets G and 37. 
 
 T. T. was a Warwickshire man.** He was an eminent 
 bookseller of his day, and probably a friend of Shake- 
 speare ; and by his announcing himself as the " well 
 wishing adventurer" and setter forth, meaning printer 
 and publisher, may be inferred that the poet either gave 
 or sold him the manuscript copy of the Sonnets. By the 
 manner in which he describes himself as their well- 
 wisher, desiring that the friend may get the " eternity 
 promised by our ever-living poet," it would appear like 
 publicly thanking the poet for it, especially as in Sonnet 
 21 others are condemned for writing in a similar manner 
 for gain. If further proof is wanted of T. T. being 
 Thomas Thorpe, and of W. H. being William Herbert, I 
 find in the folio translation of Augustine Civitatis JDei, 
 published in 1610, that it is dedicated to William Earl of 
 Pembroket by Th. Th., who can be no other than Thomas 
 Thorpe. In both the Sonnet quarto and folio Translation 
 the publisher dedicates the work of another. In both 
 there is a mystery, the name of Thorpe being absent 
 from the title-page of either, and in both in the style of 
 the address there is something fantastical. Jonson, in 
 1616, dedicated his epigrams to this Earl, and insinuated 
 that in some dedications his title had been changed, and 
 merely a cypher used. Thorpe's dedication seems to have 
 been a subject of ridicule to George Whither, who in 
 
 * Fide unpublished MSS. of the Rev. J. Hunter in the British Museum. 
 
 f The heading is as follows : " To the honourable patron of muses and 
 good mindes, Lord William Earl of Pembroke, Knight of the Honourable 
 Order," &c. 
 
12 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 1611 inscribes his satirical poems thus : " G. W. wisheth 
 himself all happiness/' 
 
 As conclusive testimony that Shakespeare gave in- 
 structions to Thorpe as to the dedication, it may be seen 
 in the especially applicable designation of " only be- 
 getter" to Mr. W. H.* Thorpe himself would never 
 have hit upon the innermost sense of the expression. 
 Sonnet 81 clearly denotes that Shakespeare intended to 
 pen or dictate the dedication, though he did not intend to 
 do so till the interval of a few years had elapsed, and 
 the 78th to 87th Sonnets, among others, declare Herbert 
 to be the " only begetter." They were written when 
 others were offering poems to his friend, and the poet was 
 looking for the time when he should publicly offer his. 
 Thorpe could foresee that Shakespeare would gain im- 
 mortality, though he appears to doubt its fulfilment in 
 the case of W. H., the friend, on account of initials alone 
 being given. He may have thought, like Swift, that 
 " whatever the poets pretend, it is plain they give immor- 
 tality to none but themselves ;" and the poet refers in 
 Sonnet 39 to thus, as it were, standing in his friend's 
 light. Had Shakespeare had no actual person in view 
 when publishing these Sonnets, he would probably have 
 given them a fictitious name, after the manner of other 
 publications of this sort. His contemporaries, who son- 
 netted lady "patronesses," did so, but as Herbert was 
 both patron and friend, his very initials are given as a 
 
 * To those who want further conviction of the right of converting Mr. 
 to Master, the following contemporary instances are given : Henry Peacham 
 to " Minerva Brittania," 1612, in addition to his name, adds his degree as 
 follows : " Mr. of Arts." Howell also, in his familiar letters, " Epistolse 
 Ho-Elianse," frequently uses the cypher as above. 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 13 
 
 safeguard that he shall get the eternity promised. The 
 Dedication is thus the most open of any of the Sonnet 
 dedications of the age. 
 
 To the inquiry frequently made, whether the Sonnets 
 were printed in their written order, or is the present 
 arrangement merely arbitrary \ I answer that unless we 
 receive them as published in the life of the poet, as in 
 their proper sequence, they have no meaning at all, every 
 attempt at rearrangement having proved a total failure. 
 
 My reason for believing they are so is by internal 
 evidence, and the relation of Sonnet to Sonnet. They 
 are also printed like no other sonnets of the period, being 
 arranged as consecutive stanzas,""" in the manner in which 
 Thorpe undoubtedly received them in the manuscript 
 which Shakespeare himself wrote, and are thus printed in 
 a very irregular manner for Sonnets, as if one continuous 
 poem, broken up into one hundred and twenty-six divi- 
 sions, some of them being partly on one page and partly 
 on another, and with the first complete chain of Sonnets 
 divided from the second group by a mark of separation 
 with the pen, which Thorpe has also imitated. 
 
 Appended to them is a beautiful though quaint poem, 
 named a "Lover's Complaint." A dejected maiden 
 piteously laments that her lover has captivated other 
 hearts beside her own. The poem has all the marks of 
 being an early production, though the poet may have 
 revised it when adding it to his Sonnet manuscript. " The 
 fickle maid full pale " in whom, in spite of advancing age, 
 " some beauty peeped through lattice of seared age/' and 
 
 * Spenser, a few years before, had written several poems in the same 
 stanza as these Sonnets. 
 
14 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 who wished to be thought still young, having a hand 
 " whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise," 
 seems to be no other than Queen Elizabeth, placed as a 
 foil to the almost fabulous beauty of a youth (probably 
 a portrait of her lover Leicester) who is described in the 
 May morn of life. The events to which it appears to 
 refer may have deterred its publication until after the 
 Queen's death. By its appearing with the Sonnets, Lord 
 Herbert may have expressed admiration of it, hence it 
 was offered in dedication as his. The virgin Queen 
 wished to remain in " single blessedness/ 7 or she would 
 probably have chosen that handsome young nobleman 
 who was her especial favourite for a husband, and Dudley, 
 upon his part, would have equally rejoiced in the alliance.* 
 A perusal of the poem will enable the reader to discover 
 many covert allusions to the Court scandal of the period 
 and Leicester's intrigues. It is worthy of remark, how- 
 ever, that the difference between the youth of this poem 
 and that of the Sonnets is that the first described is of 
 male beauty alone, the latter portrays the united beauty 
 of the sexes, the male predominant. Sexual female 
 loveliness is contrasted with the diviner paradisial beauty 
 of man, to whom is offered intellectual homage. 
 
 Prior to entering upon our subject, it may not be unin- 
 teresting to the reader to glance at the allusions made to 
 the Sonnet epistles during and after the poet's lifetime. 
 
 * Elizabeth is known to have received numerous gifts from her courtiers, 
 especially from Leicester. The maiden of the poem accepted from her 
 lover rich gifts. The earl's horsemanship was such that immediately after 
 the Queen's accession she appointed him to the distinguished office of 
 Master of the Horse. This pre-eminence is extolled in several stanzas. Sir 
 R. Naunton says of Leicester : " He was a very goodly person, and sin- 
 gular well featured, and all his youth well favoured and of a sweet aspect." 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 For the sake of brevity, I have omitted to insert the 
 numerous extracts, both in prose and verse, which I had 
 gathered, and merely give the titles of some of the prin- 
 cipal works and the heads of their allusions, that the 
 curious student may search for himself. 
 
 The earliest I have discovered is in Drayton's " Owl," a 
 satirical poem, written in 1604, and published in that 
 year. It touches upon Shakespeare's apparent humility 
 to his young friend, as witnessed by a jealous observer. 
 Our poet is covertly rebuked for extolling to his patron's 
 ear " his rare perfections," the wonder of the Court (which 
 Sonnet 1 confirms), and for loathing the means which 
 first brought him honour ; for not respecting himself or 
 his " great profession," by bending his great mind " to the 
 slight favour of some lord to come." This numerous 
 Sonnets appear to bear out sufficiently far for a rival's 
 retort. Drayton also in numerous instances throughout 
 his poems proves himself envious of Shakespeare. Our 
 poet, upon his part, merely makes a few satirical allusions 
 to him and his sonnets, which were well understood in 
 that day. 
 
 Ben Jonson, who owed so much to Shakespeare, was 
 extremely jealous of him, and viewed him as a powerful 
 obstacle in his own path ; hence it is not strange to find 
 that he has ridiculed our poet and his friend in several 
 instances. Here he would find scope for his pen far more 
 successfully than in trying to raise a laugh at Shake- 
 speare's disregard of the unities, or in sneering at the 
 play of the " Tempest," and calling it a drollery ; though 
 it must be said to the honour of Ben that he lived to 
 redeem himself, and paid the highest tribute to the genius 
 
 c 
 
16 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 of his great rival, whom he lovingly styles " gentle Shake- 
 speare." His dislike to Sonnets, although he wrote some 
 himself, might induce him to jest at our poet's sonnet- 
 teering, but what he has done appears written without 
 the least malice. However, let his motive have been 
 what it might, in 1609 was written and printed his 
 comedy of " Epicoene, or The Silent Woman," and I refer 
 the reader to the scenes in which Sir John Daw and Sir 
 Amorous La Foole appear. In these characters it will be 
 found that Sir John Daw represents Shakespeare, and Sir 
 Amorous La Foole Herbert, drawn to the life, as near as 
 Jonson dared. He states in the second prologue that it 
 gave offence, some of the characters being taken as per- 
 sonal applications. Daw was a cant term for a lawyer, 
 so in the First Part of King Henry VI. : 
 
 " But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, 
 Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw." 
 
 Shakespeare, it has been assumed, at one time followed 
 the law ; and it may have been for this reason, or for his 
 volubility, which Jonson elsewhere decries, that induced 
 him to apply to him this name ; but Kobert Greene may 
 have given rise to it, as he has characterised Shakespeare 
 in his " Groat's Worth of Wit " as a daw arrayed in 
 borrowed plumage. Daw 4 " instances the Bible and law 
 as most worthy of study preferable to classical authors. 
 For this opinion he is jeered at. His common conversa- 
 tion is said to exceed the essays of the ancients, and is 
 worthy of record for the benefit of posterity. He desires 
 to rise in the State, and is said to be fit to guide the 
 
 * And he may have styled him Sir John from Greene's designating Shake- 
 speare as " an absolute Johannes factotum." Jonson speaks of this tract of 
 Greene's in the play. 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 1 7 
 
 helm of government. To the friend Herbert the applica 
 tion is more direct, as the reader will discover. They 
 are said to be silly imitators of the friendships of anti- 
 quity, of Peliades and Orestes, Damon and Pythias, &c. 
 There appear in Jonson's comedy touches of character 
 regarding Shakespeare that are elsewhere confirmed, and 
 which are easily discoverable ; and to it the reader is 
 referred to draw his own inferences, as a complete 
 analysis would demand a separate article. The plot of 
 the play turns upon a boy whom the ladies make their 
 sport for his effeminacy ; they feign him to be half a 
 woman. Like Beatrice, they talk of dressing him in 
 their apparel to make him their waiting gentlewoman. 
 Jonson is sarcastic throughout the whole play, as is 
 Shakespeare through his Sonnets, upon the mystery of 
 woman's false adornments. Epiccene, the boy, is dressed 
 as a woman. Sir John Daw pretends to make love to 
 him as a mistress, and writes verses which are styled, in 
 reference to Shakespeare's first seventeen Sonnets, " A 
 Ballad of Procreation/' (See extract from the play, 
 additional notes to Sonnet 1). It will be seen from the 
 following line in Jonson's play, edit. 1609, how he 
 quipped Shakespeare's shifting designation of "Master- 
 mistress." To this line a note is appended by one of 
 Jonson's ablest critics : 
 
 " Such a rook as the other, that will betray his master to be seen." 
 
 " The rook here meant was Sir John Daw, who had no master to betray, 
 but he pretended to make love to Epiccene, who was to be a party at the 
 feast, but as she is the person intended I have made no scruple to change 
 the master into mistress, which alteration has also the sanction of the first 
 folio of his collected works in 1616." 
 
 The allusion being past, Jonson himself set the word 
 
 c 2 
 
18 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 right ; and he also, in his " Bartholomew Fair/' introduces 
 a puppet interlude, styled "A True Trial of Friendship/' 
 between Damon and Pythias, two faithful friends of the 
 Bankside. The worthies after quarelling about a mistress, 
 again become fast friends, and re-appear, each with the 
 Dunmow Flitch of Bacon. Jonsori delighted in placing 
 upon the stage those from whom he took offence ; and has 
 been deservedly blamed for his malicious ridicule in this 
 way of Inigo lones, the architect. At this point will be in- 
 troduced a contemporary of Shakespeare, not altogether 
 unknown in connection with him ; as he has left some 
 verses to and of our poet, which have kept his name from 
 oblivion. It will be seen that this almost unknown per- 
 son had closer relationship to our poet than has hitherto 
 been suspected. It will be shown that he, and he alone, 
 was the great unknown rival Shakespeare feigned to fear, 
 proofs of which will be given in their proper place. All 
 that we shall say of him at present is, that in 1611 he 
 published a satire called the " Scourge of Folly/' portions 
 of which are inserted in this work. It was evidently 
 written after he had received some merited homethrust 
 from Shakespeare's pen, who rightly " brandished a lance," 
 as Jonson hath it, " at the eyes of ignorance." He allows 
 our poet to have wit divine, making all it touches shine 
 with glory ; but he also charges him with debasing his 
 great powers, by spending such treasure upon an unworthy 
 object, to which he adds : 
 
 " And for an hunger starven fee, alas, 
 To make an idol of a golden ass ; 
 And (oh !) that ever any should record 
 And chronicle the sedges of a Lord ! " &c. 
 
 Thus, in Shakespeare's words, " He misses not much No ! 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 19 
 
 he doth but mistake the truth totally." The Sonnets 
 prove both these assertions to be wrong. Shakespeare 
 would neither receive money nor gifts, that he might not 
 lay himself open to this stigma, even the gift of tablets 
 that he received from his friend (Sonnet 122), as a coun- 
 ter-gift to a choice volume which the poet had presented 
 him with (Sonnet 77, at the presumed conclusion of the 
 Sonnet poem to his friend), was given to another there 
 was no need of a memorandum-book to remind Shake- 
 speare of his friend. As to the reproach contained in the 
 preceding lines, Shakespeare answers for himself in Sonnet 
 105 ; and for his friend we have the testimony of Lord 
 Clarendon, among others, that he was an honour to the 
 age, so that Dogberry Davies must have his own epithets 
 applied to himself, which he has in his own words : 
 
 Alas ! 
 
 That ere this dotard made me such as ass 
 To bear such, and that in such a thing, 
 Which we call chronicle, so on me bring 
 A world of shame," etc. 
 
 His satire occupies numerous pages ; and though he styles 
 it " Paper's Complaint," it is plainly his own, but he 
 has artfully screened his object, by mixing with it matter 
 of an altogether contrary nature. He had undoubtedly 
 seen the Sonnets Shakespeare had written for his friend 
 and, either spurred by ignorance or rivalry, mistook their 
 motives, as will be seen by the additional notes to Sonnets 
 78, 86. The patronage Davies was seeking was evidently 
 denied. He exclaims : 
 
 " Away with patronage, a plague upon't ! 
 That hideous word is worse than termagant, 
 Call for no aid where none is to be found." 
 
 It is remarkable that not till Shakespeare's death did 
 
20 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Davies dare to address Lord Herbert again. In 1616 he 
 dedicated a volume to him, which has become so scarce 
 that our national collection has failed to obtain a copy. 
 He is compelled, however, to praise Shakespeare's erection 
 of verse for his friend. He says, with a sneer, 
 
 " What boots such buildings to wear ages out, 
 A goodly piece of work it is no doubt." 
 
 Davies takes altogether a vulgar, outward view of the 
 Sonnets ; but he does not fail to observe his great rival's 
 allusions to himself. He wishes for " a world of shame " 
 to fall upon them who have so disgraced him, making his 
 injuries historical ; and confesses he must endure it all, and 
 ends with the consolation, that it is for his own advan- 
 tage, 
 
 " So may ye grace me with eternal lines, 
 
 That compass can and gage the deep'st designs." 
 
 In the same volume, " The Scourge of Folly/' among the 
 Epigrams, there is one (No. 180) referring to the same cir- 
 cumstance, it is entitled " .ZEsop, the Stage-player." In it, 
 he relates his having once paid a visit to English ^Esop.'* 
 
 " I came to English Msop on a tide, 
 
 As he lay tiredf (as tired) before the play ; 
 
 I came unto him in his flood of pride ; 
 
 He then was king and thought I should obey. 
 
 And so I did, for with all reverence, I 
 
 As to my sovereign (though to him unknown) 
 
 Did him approach ; but lo he cast his eye, 
 
 As if therein I had presumption shown. 
 
 * The celebrated Roman actor of that name is here referred to. The com- 
 parison may have been suggested by ^Esop having become rich by his pro- 
 fession, as Shakespeare had become wealthy by his. Davies, when speaking 
 of Shakespeare, refers to this in these words : " When men have become 
 rich they are said to be made men." 
 
 t " Tired," for attired ; a quibble is here intended Shakespeare often 
 used the word thus. 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 21 
 
 I like a subject (with submiss regard) 
 
 Did him salute ; yet he regreeted me 
 
 But with a nod, because his speech he spared 
 
 For lords and knights that canie his grace to see. 
 
 But I supposed he scorned me : by which scorn 
 
 I deemed him to be some demi-god : 
 
 (That's more than king,) at least, (what thoughts discern) 
 
 And marked my feigned fawnings with a nod ! 
 
 But I well knew him (though he knew not me) 
 
 To be a player ; and for some few crowns, 
 
 Spent on a supper, any man may be 
 
 Acquainted with them from their kings to clowns. 
 
 But I (as Aaron with the golden calf) 
 
 Did gross idolatry with him commit ; 
 
 Nay, my offence was more than this by half, 
 
 He erred against his will, but I with wit : 
 
 For wit me taught : (I thought for proof of folly,) 
 
 To try conclusions with this doting ass. 
 
 I him adored too much, but he (unwholly) 
 
 Took 't on him smoothly, but well let that pass : 
 
 His golden coat his eye dimmed, I suppose, 
 
 That he could not well see my velvet hose ; 
 
 But if I e'er salute him so again, 
 
 Crown him, and cockscomb crown for my pain." 
 
 It would appear, from this narrative, that Davies ob- 
 tained admission among the guests who were assembling, 
 probably, at the " Mermaid," and that Shakespeare was 
 expecting some noble personages, and appeared arrayed 
 in all the pomp and kingly majesty that the occasion 
 demanded, and as this was the character he chiefly as- 
 sumed on the stage, he seemed in a region too elevated 
 to observe Davies's " feigned fawnings." Dekker, in his 
 "Gulls Horn Book," chap. 6, gives us an insight into 
 these meetings. He tells us "that after the play was 
 over, poets adjourned to supper with knights, where they 
 in private unfolded the secret parts of their dramas to 
 them/' 
 
 Among Davies's Epigrams there is one to our poet 
 with this heading, "To our English Terence, Mr. Will 
 
22 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Shakespeare." As it has connection with the foregoing, 
 and also with the Sonnets, it is introduced here. It inti- 
 mates that our poet would have attained some post at 
 Court had he never appeared upon the stage, and that he 
 had his detractors. It also hints that his colleagues cared 
 not to print his plays, but jealously kept them, and be- 
 came rich by them. These are his words : 
 
 " Some say, good Will, which I in sport do sing, 
 Hadst thou, not played some kingly parts in sport 
 "Thou-had'st been a companion for a king, 
 And been a king among the meaner sort. 
 Some others rail, but rail as they think fit, 
 Thon hast no railing, but a reigning wit : 
 And honestly thou sowest, which they do reap, 
 So to increase their stock which they do keep." 
 
 This is high praise, he was not only king of wits, but 
 eminently honest in his dealings and works. This in- 
 teresting Epigram appears to have been written prior to 
 their rivalry. 
 
 Having now shown the allusions to the Sonnets among 
 our poet's contemporaries, those the poet himself makes 
 are worthy of notice. Though they are, as might be ex- 
 pected, not made in a direct manner, a careful reader of 
 the Sonnets cannot fail to discover them. The first in 
 point of date is in that brilliant drama, King Henry V., 
 which was written during the first or second year of 
 Shakespeare's acquaintanceship with Master Herbert. In 
 Act III, Sc. 7, there are manifest allusions to his young 
 friend in the character of the Dauphin of France. Shake- 
 speare has depicted himself in the Duke of Orleans, and in 
 the Constable of France appears some envious detractor, 
 whom he has by this means ridiculed. It is not too much 
 to say that if this scene is divested of the interest thus 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 23 
 
 stored to it, it would not only be an unnecessary adjunct 
 to the drama, but meaningless. The reader can refer to 
 the scene, and, without further comment, discover the 
 gist. One touch of similitude which a reader might over- 
 look, is alone pointed out. The Dauphin brags that the 
 mistress of his choice, i. e., his horse, wears his own hair. 
 So, in Sonnet 68, the more than mistress of Shakespeare's 
 choice, i.e., his friend, is lauded for the same merit. A 
 far nobler impersonation was reserved for HeriE--~as 
 
 Comed of " Much Ado About 
 
 Nothing/' which a perusal of at once testifies, and is well 
 supported by the Eev. Joseph Hunter, in his valuable 
 collection of notes upon Shakespeare. I shall endeavour 
 to support, by new matter, what this gentleman adduces. 
 The well-known military ardour of the young lord, 
 renders these, in both plays, characteristic portraits. 
 
 The next in sequence is to be found in the serious and 
 philosophical drama of " Measure for Measure," in which 
 the characteristics of the later Sonnets strongly appear.* 
 There is evidence to prove that this play was written in or 
 a little prior to 1603, which is precisely the date Sonnets 
 78 to 126 were written. It will presently be shown that 
 Shakespeare performed the character of the Duke of 
 Yicenzio, and the meditative duke is, in fact, a dramatic 
 portrait of Shakespeare himself. My reason for believing 
 that he appeared in this character upon the stage, is from 
 the circumstance of D'Avenant's drama " The Law against 
 
 * All the principal passages being profound, involved, and more or less 
 obscure. 
 
24 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Lovers/' containing the following remarkable passage, 
 referring to him as the Duke. D'Avenant in the above- 
 named play, has blended together " Much Ado About 
 Nothing " and " Measure for Measure,'* when speaking of 
 Marion's seculsion at the ' Moated Grange/ and the habit 
 in which the Duke conceals himself for her advantage, 
 as if to chronicle the fact that Shakspeare had taken the 
 character, he says, " She has been advised by a bald dra- 
 matic poet of the next cloister ;" and Lucio, in the original 
 play, repeatedly sneers at the friar's baldness. 
 
 As announced, it is the purpose of these pages to show 
 that the Sonnets under consideration were written with a 
 satirical motive, to bring into ridicule mistress sonnetting 
 It is obvious that some of the sonnetteers of the time would 
 feel offended. Drayton and Davies, both industrious 
 writers of this species of verse, leave signs of being so. 
 The next largest writer of Sonnets was Habington. He 
 dedicated to Castara in 1630 a volume of praise. She 
 was a lady of high birth whom he married. He styles 
 her " The Diety of her Sex." His Sonnets are divided 
 into three poems. The first part is addressed to her as 
 his mistress ; the second part when he was possessed of 
 her in marriage ; and the third part dwells upon religious 
 contemplations. Among them are these lines, levelled at 
 some poet who had given him some offence : 
 
 " If this man please 
 His silly patron with hyperboles 
 Or most mysterious nonsense, give his brain 
 But the strappado in some wanton strain." 
 
 This appears to refer to no other than Shakespeare, 
 whom Habington wishes to see lashed in a like manner 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 25 
 
 to that in which Shakspeare had ridiculed him and others, 
 in what Habington aptly calls a work of mystic ideas 
 and exaggeration. 
 
 Shakespeare's Sonnets seem not to have been in much 
 request in the life-time of the poet, except amongst the 
 few " private friends," they being of too enigmatical a 
 nature for the general public; and it was not till 1640, 
 twenty-four years after his death, and ten years after that 
 of his patron friend, that a second edition appeared. 
 This edition was altogether in a different form ; it had 
 then blended with it the " Passionate Pilgrim " and the 
 songs from the Plays. It was compiled by John Benson, 
 and printed by Thomas Cotes, the printer of the second 
 folio of our author's dramatic works, 1632. The poems are 
 arranged in little groups, the original sequence being broken 
 up, and even the closest connected Sonnets are separated. 
 The whole is, in fact, rearranged, or rather disarranged. The 
 groups have headings, such as the " Glory of Beauty," " A 
 Masterpiece," " Loss and Gain," " Love's Cruelty," &c. He 
 places first the 67th and 68th, as if to indicate that the 
 collection was of a satirical nature, and to denote unmis- 
 takably the sex addressed, which in these instances is 
 especially revealed, as it is in other Sonnets purposely 
 concealed. He has also omitted to insert the 1 8th, 1 9th, 
 43rd, 56th, 75th, and 76th. His object in selecting 
 these for expulsion is obviously on account of Shakespeare 
 having in these instances not only frequently repeated 
 the thoughts of other Sonnets, but almost the very words 
 also. These omissions appear not to have been detected 
 hitherto, on account of his arrangement being unnum- 
 
26 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 bered The line in Sonnet 108, which stands thus in the 
 original : 
 
 " Nothing, sweet boy ; and yet like prayers divine," 
 
 is altered to 
 
 " Nothing, sweet love, and yet like prayers divine." 
 
 But that which is most singular is his Preface to the 
 Reader, which has never been reprinted, and is as 
 follows : 
 
 "To THE READER. 
 
 " I here presume, under favour, to present to your view some excellent 
 and sweetly composed poems of Master William Shakespeare, which in them- 
 selves appear of the same purity the author himself, then living, avouched. 
 They had not the fortune, by reason of their infancy in his death, to have 
 the due accommodation of proportionable glory with the rest of his ever- 
 living works. Yet the lines will afford you a more authentic approbation 
 than my assurance any way can to invite your allowance ; in your perusal 
 you shall find them serene, clear, and elegantly plain, such gentle 
 strains as shall recreate and not perplex your brain. No intricate or cloudy 
 stuff to puzzle intellect, but perfect eloquence, such as will raise your 
 admiration to his praise. This assurance will not differ from your acknow- 
 ledgments, and certain I am my opinion will be seconded by the sufficiency 
 of these ensuing lines. I have been somewhat solicitous to bring this forth 
 to the perfect view of all men, and in so doing glad to be serviceable for the 
 continuance of glory to the deserved author in these his poems." 
 
 There appears something ironical in this. Tt is the reverse, 
 not only as to the Sonnets, but also to Shakespeare's 
 opinion of what this species of verse should be, as when 
 extolling them he applies to them the epithet " deep- 
 brained/' not only as their characteristic, but their highest 
 merit. 
 
 Benson appends a poem to the preface, which gives 
 testimony that they were the known effusions of the 
 poet's mature years. The bard is thus addressed : 
 
 " These learned poems amongst thine after birth 
 That makes thy name immortal on the earth." 
 
 Both the laudatory lines and the irreconcileable preface, 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 27 
 
 from which the above are taken, exhibit plainly that not 
 only the general public, but also the personal acquaint- 
 ances of Shakespeare were mystified. It is a curious 
 piece of information that the author, when living, vindi- 
 cated the poems : that he upon some occasions avouched 
 their purity, possibly from the attacks of those who only 
 condemned that which they had not understood. Benson, 
 it is evident, could not understand them ; this led him to 
 break the poem up into parts, which makes the matter 
 worse ; but viewing them as pure, crediting Shakespeare's 
 testimony, he feigns to see them so. It is somewhat to 
 our theory that we arrive at the same conclusion Shake- 
 speare himself avouched, and to which his life bore tes- 
 timony. 
 
 The question now arises why Benson omitted the Dedi- 
 cation, broke up the poems into such complete disorder, 
 and caused by inappropriate headings such general con- 
 fusion. The solution is that he did not understand them, 
 nor did he know any other who did. He might have 
 known, if only from hearsay, that they were dedicated to 
 Lord Herbert in the poet's life-time, but how to apply the 
 contents to either poet or patron was past his comprehen- 
 sion. Lord Herbert, at this date, had been dead ten 
 years, and with him the secret : to have introduced the 
 Dedication again would have been the height of impro- 
 priety, or even to mention it, after having confounded its 
 application. He hoped, as others have since done, by 
 ignoring the Dedication and destroying the continuity, to 
 pass the poems off as the essence of simplicity ; but 
 words are words, and can only be explained by the right 
 explanation. 
 
28 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Joshua Poole, in 1G77, appears the next who sought by 
 alteration to convey a different meaning. In the above 
 year he published his " English Parnassus." In the com- 
 pilation he made numerous extracts from the Plays of 
 Shakespeare, and also inserted many passages from the 
 Sonnets, which he headed with titles, and the passages 
 themselves are altered. In this particular he went a step 
 beyond the 1640 editor. To the extracts from the 
 first five Sonnets he gives the title of the "Preserved 
 Fair Virgin," totally disregarding that Shakespeare meant 
 bachelor ; the sex is altered from " him " and " his " to 
 "her" and "she." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " His was an age of fantastic conceits, and he more or less partook of its 
 spirit." Ferguson's Hist of England, p. 140, Article on Shakespeare. 
 
 . The Sonnets have been objected to on account of their 
 being filled with fantastical conceits. They are pictures 
 for and of the age. In this burlesque Shakespeare has 
 not only used the conceits, but also purposely imitated 
 the style of others, and while doing so, emulated to sur- 
 pass them in their own sphere. As it was the custom for 
 Sonnetteers to use biblical expressions, Shakespeare in 
 imitation of them has also used them, so that it was not 
 on account of his being fortunate enough to find that 
 rarity, a true friend, that led him to lavish such excesses 
 in his verse ; for the object of these excesses, as will be 
 proved, was parody. He did find such a friend, who 
 excelled, he asserts, the female friends of other poets ; 
 one to whom he might exclaim, with his own philosophical 
 Hamlet : 
 
 " Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice, 
 And could of men distinguish, her election 
 Hath seal'd thee for herself." 
 
 And it is but natural to suppose that, having found such 
 a friend, he would speak^ in high terms of him, as he was 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 devoted to his interests, of high birth, and had a growing 
 power at Court ; whereas our poet's earliest patron, Lord 
 Southampton, had no interest whatever, and appeared 
 always in disgrace, was a man with a temper soon ruffled, 
 and was not outwardly endowed by nature with the rare 
 personal attractions of our poet's patron and dearest \ 
 friend of the Sonnets, that friend whom he passionately 
 tells us was more lovely and temperate than a summer's 
 day, and from whom radiated all the beauty of the 
 world. This is particularly alluded to in an aUiterative 
 line of the 20th Sonnet. With two such friends in close 
 unity, the one graced by Nature with rare mental beauty 
 within, the other as rich in outward show so that each 
 possess alike as it were two natures, the one the mental 
 graces of the sexes, the other their external beauty it is 
 not surprising that such a poet should eulogise such a 
 friend, even for Shakespeare, the most sparing of all poets 
 in writing panegyrics on any one. But it is the warmth 
 of this friendship, and the excessively amorous language 
 used to express the passion, that has ever been a stumbling 
 block to critics ; they never observed that the drift of the 
 poet was parody. The plea has been made that such was 
 the custom of the time, and it must be granted that there 
 are instances where similar utterances are used, though they 
 are rare and moderate in comparison, for there is nothing 
 of such length and power or personal application. The 
 only parallel examples which I have met with will be 
 given. 
 
 The religion of Love and Beauty were themes which 
 had engaged the pens of the divinely chaste Dante and 
 Petrarch, the one addressing Beatrice as a religious 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 symbol, the other Laura, both married ladies. . But the 
 writer whom Shakespeare most resembles, by accident, not 
 design, is the great Michael Angelo, who, in this species of 
 verse, penned magnificent hymns to the Marchioness of 
 Pescara,* a lady to whom he appears to have offered a 
 devoted platonic friendship : his chaste love of the 
 beautiful is exalted to religion. Of a like colossal mind 
 with Shakespeare, it is remarkable that in other moods and 
 motives he is the only sonnet fceer to be compared with 
 him. From the foregoing and other eminent examples 
 which might be adduced, it appears to have been the 
 custom for the Sonnet to turn upon either illegal or futile 
 attachments. This throws further light upon Shakespeare's 
 Sonnets, showing them to be, as will be seen, of the 
 nature of parodies ; for a particular instance see th^20tB 
 Sonnet, which is the key to the whole series. As to 
 Dante and Petrarch, they evidently choose married ladies 
 as symbols, their love not being carnal, but divine. With 
 love and beauty Shakespeare combines friendship, and 
 pours forth his praises to a man, as being worthier than 
 the mistresses of other poets, his cheek being adorned 
 with nature's own rose of truth, the seat and emblem of 
 beauty. 
 
 Eichard Barnefield, in 1595, wrote a poem, which he 
 styled " The Affectionate Shepherd," in a somewhat simi- 
 lar strain, but without the " deep-brained " subtleness and 
 fantastic caprices which are to be found in every line of 
 the Sonnets. Master Herbert, who loved praise to an 
 
 * The Sonnets of Michael Angelo, beautifully written in the anther's own 
 handwriting, are still preserved among the treasures of the Vatican library, 
 but of Shakespeare's whole writings not one line is known to exist. 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 excess that even Shakespeare reproached him for, may 
 have expressed his admiration for this style of composi- 
 tion, and hence our poet so moulded his verse, seeing 
 that it would afford him scope to exercise his fancy. 
 Barnefield s poem details the passion of a shepherd for a 
 beautiful boy, and is, as he states, a harmless imitation of 
 Virgil's second Eclogue, " Corydon and Alexis," for Avhich, 
 in spite of the plea he made, and the vindications made 
 by some poetical advocates who took up his cause, he met 
 with considerable censure. It is, he declares, his first 
 poem, being written when but a young man, and is 
 indeed the essence of Arcadian innocence and simplicity. 
 It went through several editions, and became very popu- 
 lar ; but as the author had no higher object in view than 
 to please, it bears only a slight resemblance to the Sonnet- 
 poems Shakespeare afterwards penned, though he appears 
 to have imitated the following portion of the " Affec- 
 tionate Shepherd " when claiming Master Herbert's loving 
 friendship (Sonnet 20). In Barnefield's poem the old 
 shepherd thus addresses the beautiful boy : 
 
 " Compare the love of fair Queen Gwendolom* 
 With mine, and thou shalt find how she doth love thee. 
 I love thee for thy qualities divine, 
 She doth love another swain above thee ; 
 I love thee for thy gifts, she for her pleasure ; 
 I for thy virtues, she for beauty's treasure." 
 
 But here all resemblance ends. Shakespeare had neither 
 the Latin poet nor his own petty contemporary in 
 view ; the Sonnet writing of the day was the mark he 
 aimed at. 
 
 In Shakespeare's Dramas there are several expressions of 
 
 * A princess of great beauty, mentioned by romantic writers. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 a parallel tendency to the most endearing in his Sonnets. 
 It is of the friendship of Aufidius for Coriolanus that a 
 servant exclaims : 
 
 " Our general himself makes a mistress of him." 
 
 Again : 
 
 " I tell thee, fellow, thy general is my lover." 
 
 Guiderius also bears the same loving emotions in his 
 breast toward the supposed boy Fidele. He exclaims : 
 
 " Were you a woman, youth, 
 I should, woo hard." 
 
 In the same spirit, and also referable to the same Sonnet, 
 its counterpart, it is said of Hermione : 
 
 " Women will love her that she is a woman 
 More worth than any man ; men that she is 
 The rarest of all women." 
 
 Cowley, in a poem upon platonic love, thus defines the 
 passion : 
 
 " I thee both as a man and woman prize, 
 For a perfect love implies 
 Love in all capacities." 
 
 Shirley, the last of the Shakespearian school of dramatists, 
 also expresses a like sentiment. It is to be found in the 
 first edition of his poems, published in 1646. It has this 
 heading and title : 
 
 " ' Et longum Formosa Vale.' 
 
 h FRIENDSHIP, 
 
 " Or verses sent to a lover in answer of a copy which had been sent in 
 praise of his mistress." 
 
 The poem is, as the Latin quotation expresses, a farewell 
 to a beautiful woman. The argument is precisely the 
 same as Shakespeare uses. The youth is told that though 
 the lady he adores 
 
 D 2 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Include the graces of fair womankind, 
 I shall not think her worth my praise or smile, 
 And yet I have a mistress all this while, 
 But am a convert from that sex, and can, 
 Reduced to my discretion, love a man 
 With honor and religion ; such a one 
 As dares be singly virtuous 'gainst the town." 
 
 After extolling his graces and accomplishments, he con- 
 cludes thus : 
 
 " Then and the wonder right ; he is young, too, 
 As handsome as thy mistress, more divine, 
 And hath no fault but that I call him mine. 
 My jealousy doth cloud his name, 'tis fit, 
 Nor art thou ripe for thy conversion yet." 
 
 It is evident from these examples that the old poets loved 
 to compare strong friendship to wedded love, as a 
 marriage of mind betwixt man and man, a wedlock of 
 the purest type. But Shakespeare went further ; he con- 
 summates this alliance by an allegorical marriage of his 
 friend to his Muse. 
 
 I have now shown the important position friendship 
 held in society, and the chivalrous laws demanded to 
 uphold it, the loving qualities it imposed, and its perfec- 
 tion, worthy of triumph, when mature years grafted its 
 love and wisdom on youthful beauty ennobled by birth, 
 and the pure platonic love offered with such full soul 
 from friend to friend ; which love was then extolled as 
 virtuous, dignified, and sublime, even to religion, such as 
 gave grace to the mystery of poetry and beauty. From 
 the foregoing passage it is obvious that such writing must 
 not be judged by malicious interpretation, or the writers 
 accused of crime such as their souls abhorred. Shake- 
 speare has left testimony, if such was needed, of his 
 detestation of such grievous depravity in his " Troilus 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 and Cressida," in which a character so accused is de- 
 nounced with the bitterest reproaches. But I contend, 
 and can prove beyond doubt, that the entire Sonnets are 
 a satire upon the reigning custom of mistress-sonnetting, 
 and by a curious coincidence they were penned just 
 at the time Cervantes was writing his inimitable 
 satirical burlesque on the romancists. 
 
 In conclusion, and to support this view relative to the 
 purity of Shakespeare's Sonnets, Dryden, when drawing a 
 comparison between Shakespeare and Fletcher, observes : 
 " He excelled in the more manly passions, Fletcher in the 
 softer ; Shakespeare writ better betwixt man and man, 
 Fletcher betwixt men and women ; consequently the one 
 described friendship better, the other love. Yet Shake- 
 speare taught Fletcher to write love, and Juliet and Des- 
 demona are originals. It is true the scholar had the 
 softer soul, but the master had the kinder. Friendship 
 is both a passion and a virtue essentially ; love is a 
 passion only in its nature, and is not a virtue but by 
 accident ; good nature makes friendship, but effeminacy 
 love/' 
 
 With these hints of explanation we are brought to the 
 unfolding of the Sonnets, which is the aim and end of 
 these pages. Before commencing, the reader is requested 
 never to lose sight of the poet's ultimate drift in his 
 progress through the lengthened chain of conceits and 
 hyperbolical metaphors with which these poemsabound. 
 It will be found there are three different sections or 
 undercurrents of purpose : 
 
 First, that the whole set of Sonnets are satires upon 
 mistress-sonnetting, and upon the sonnetteers of Shake- 
 
 I 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 speare's day, and that Drayton first, but afterwards 
 Da vies, were more directly the subjects of his sportive 
 musings and feignings. 
 
 Second, and more important, that they are autobiogra- 
 phical, containing much that is valuable. 
 
 Third, and which is of itself the key that unlocks the 
 heart of the mystery, is the conceit of Shakespeare having 
 united his muse to his friend by marriage of verse and 
 mind ; by which means and for which favour his youth 
 and beauty are immortalised, but which theme does not 
 fully commence till the friend had declined the invitation 
 to marriage, which refusal begets the mystic melody. 
 
 The inference from the Sonnets and Dedication is that 
 they were written at the especial request of the friend 
 who, in spite of all expostulation, was so self-willed as 
 not to be denied. Hence Shakespeare poured his whole 
 soul into the task of developing the romantic youth's 
 fantastic caprice, and the whole turns upon this pivot. 
 The youth sought and obtained Shakespeare's friendship ; 
 for reasons before stated the poet persuades him to marry, 
 but without effect. The Comedy of "Much Ado about 
 Nothing" was then (1599) written to show how such 
 another military-minded, self-willed bachelor was trapped 
 at last. Returning to the Sonnets, we find the youth 
 declining the invitation to marry and preserve his youth 
 and beauty by children. To effect this object, Shakespeare 
 marries the youth to his immortal verse, which binds 
 them together in wedded friendship, so that the poet, in 
 his unadulterous love, permits him to become " the onlie 
 begetter of these insuing Sonnets/' which perpetuate his 
 youth and beauty and their loving friendship in ever- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 37 
 
 living verse. Finally, the poet viewed his lengthy chain 
 of Sonnet stanzas as his masterpiece, upon which to 
 build his reputation and undying fame, exclaiming : 
 
 " Not marble, nor the gilded monuments 
 Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme." 
 
 Which he himself fully believed, though the vaunt was a 
 strain beyond his usual humility, his object being to ape 
 the bombast of the sonnetteers, and at the same time 
 excel them. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 " Some critics, or I'm much deceiv'd, will ask, 
 What means this wild, this allegoric masque 1 
 Beyond all bounds of truth this author shoots 
 'Tis idle stuff ! And yet I'll prove it true." 
 
 Epilogue spoken at a revival of 
 
 " Choose one of two companions for thy life, 
 Then be as true as thou would' st have thy wife ; 
 Though he lives joyless that enjoys no friend, 
 He that hath many pays for't in the end." 
 
 William, Earl of Pembroke's poems. 
 
 " I never mean to wed, 
 That torture to my bed ; 
 My muse is she, 
 My love shall be." 
 " If I a poem have, that poem is my son." 
 
 Randolph's poems. 
 
 The poem opens with the praise of a beautiful youth 
 and the desire that that youth should speedily marry and 
 beget offspring. The poet at once strikes at the root of 
 human existence, as a tendency to farther the operation of 
 that law which the Creator impressed on our first parents, 
 " Be fruitful and multiply." Shakespeare's wish was ful- 
 filled, for within a few months after the final Sonnet (the 
 126th) was penned, his dear friend, Lord Herbert, was 
 married. This took place on the 17th of September, 1603, 
 and was not like the ensuing, an allegorical verse marriage, 
 but a matter of fact reality. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 39 
 
 The poet had an especial purpose in commencing with 
 these persuasions, they are a plea for much of the singular 
 writing which follows. For, had Herbert complied, and 
 Shakespeare still addressed his young friend, the theme, as 
 the poet denotes, would have taken a different turn. The 
 young^ friend is to alter his single state in the prime of 
 youth^and his beauty is thus to be preserved for the 
 admiration of posterity. This jheme_ occupies foe first 
 ft^-n ^ pf p The two following promise to pre- 
 
 serve the youth ever youthful, in case this counsel may 
 fail to effect the desired purpose. Nature is said to have 
 become enamoured of the youth as she wrought him, and, 
 as if by her example, Shakespeare becomes so too. In this 
 ecstacy of platonic love, and as a conclusion to the fore- 
 going Argument, Sonnet 20 is composed, in the vein in 
 which the sportive Mercutio would have indulged. Master 
 Herbert is styled his " master mistress " in the sense of 
 the more than mistress of his love. This and the five 
 following complete the declaration. As verse is used in 
 Sonnets 1 8 and 1 9 for the aid of the youth, it is now used 
 for the poet's own purpose. By it a mutual alliance is 
 formed between friend and friend ; and against all impedi- 
 ments this marriage of true minds remained inviolate (Son- 
 nets 105 and 116). Shakespeare had a high, even a reli- 
 gious opinion of friendship. This is seen in all his writings. 
 Friendship he conceived a kind of marriage, and marriage 
 a kind of friendship, both as being made for life, and 
 being subject to the same laws. In this particular he 
 but entertains the same notion as philosophers of all ages 
 and countries, both sacred and secular, both ancient and 
 
40 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 modern, of which numerous instances will be given. But 
 it is the singular method of conducting, describing, and 
 expressing it which has confounded all readers, no one 
 having delved to its root, and observed from whence all 
 the divers ramifications spring, and for what object, or 
 they would have seen that a covert satire was begun 
 and ended, and the poet's ultimate object accom- 
 plished. 
 
 Henceforth it is the poet's resolve to watch over his 
 young friend with especial regard, not only with the eye 
 of a faithful friend (82), but with the delight of an aged 
 father over his dear child (37, 108, 126), and also with 
 the jealous love of a husband over a young wife (93), 
 picturing his love by the emotions of each. By observing 
 these hints, which the poet has given us, the numerous 
 difficulties instantly vanish, and we can discover that what 
 would otherwise be a serious matter is but the effu- 
 sion of the poet's mind when he is in a sportive mood. 
 The peculiar situation he is placed in by the caprices of 
 his friend, occasions him to rejoice in the consequent 
 subtleties, with all the humour and power of which he was 
 master. The song of Sonnets is thus an allegorical 
 marriage between the faithful loving friends, and a 
 parody upon the romantic attachments formed by Son- 
 .netteers. We have the testimony of Lord Clarendon 
 that the Earl of Pembroke was of a pleasant and facetious 
 humour, and a disposition affable, generous, and magni- 
 ficent, which the life and poems of Lord Herbert 
 testify. 
 
 Having removed the drapery and cast aside the mask. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 41 
 
 in analysis of each Sonnet will be entered upon, and 
 Shakespeare will be revealed, both as a poet and a friend. 
 En his own words the reader will discover, 
 
 
 " In him a plenitude of subtle matter, 
 Applied to cautels* all strange forms receives." 
 
 Before ending this Argument, it should be observed 
 that as the poet and the muse are but one, yet a distinct 
 division, so by turns they speak in unity and in division. 
 Sometimes the poet addresses the friend in his own name 
 and sometimes in the name of his muse, and at other 
 times the poet and his muse speak but as one ; and 
 because of the friend's dual nature, he is also spoken of as 
 the poet's more than mistress and his dearest friend, and 
 also as the only beloved of his most loving muse. The 
 mistress has also a twofold representation firstly, upon 
 the assumption of the one-ness of the friend, she is 
 described as fair in beauty and in actions ; secondly* 
 viewing her as she truly was, the mistress alone of the 
 friend, and the cheater of the poet's muse, she is pictured 
 dark in feature and darker in her deeds. 
 
 It is thought a table showing the various groups as 
 they stand throughout the poems would be useful to the 
 reader for easy reference. The theme of each division is 
 also given, showing the several sections blending into an 
 harmonious whole. 
 
 Cunning designs. 
 
42 
 
 THE TABLE. 
 
 IN PEAISE OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 Group 1 Sonnets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 
 
 11, 12, 13, 14. 
 
 To his friend, persuading him to marry and beget 
 offspring, so that a memorial of his youth and beauty 
 may be preserved. 
 
 Group 2 Sonnets 15, 16, 17. 
 
 To fully effect this object he complies with his young 
 friend's desire, which is to preserve his youth and 
 beauty in verse ; the while he bids him fulfil nature's 
 law as the surest preservative, and that one might 
 bear witness to the other. 
 
 \j/ Group 3' Sonnets 18, 19. 
 
 His friend will consent to no other alliance except that 
 of verse, and desires to beget Sonnets, to which the 
 poet consents, and, as it would appear, only upon the 
 strictest terms of marriage law. If there are laws 
 made to preserve beauty by the one means, why 
 not by the other ? Why should / breach of promise 
 be allowed for the one, and not 'for the other ? For 
 the honour of the marriage of his muse the poet 
 makes this claim. 
 
THE TABLE. 43 
 
 THE MARRIAGE ALLEGOEY. 
 
 Group 4 Sonnets, 20, 21, 22. 
 
 The allegorical marriage commences. The friend to 
 whom this verse is devoted is depicted of the 
 highest beauty; the marriage of true minds is 
 consummated, and its conditions ordained. 
 
 Group 5 Sonnets 23, 24, 25. 
 
 A plea is made for departure, and the mutual benefit of 
 the connection proclaimed. 
 
 Group 6 Sonnets 26, 27, 28. 
 
 Departure the resolve, and its results. 
 
 Group 7 Sonnets 29, 30, 31, 32. 
 
 The benefit of absence, the exchange of loves, censure 
 of the unworthiness of his verse as a plea for 
 absence. 
 
 Group 8 Sonnets 33, 34, 35. 
 
 Blaming and forgiving his friend for violating during 
 absence the conditions of their romantic attachment. 
 
 Group 9 Sonnets 36, 37, 38, 39. 
 
 Though separated by absence, they are united by verse, 
 by which each partakes of the other's graces and 
 defects. 
 
 Group 10 Sonnets 40, 41, 42. 
 
 The friend is lovingly censured for his fault, which is 
 proved a mutual advantage. 
 
 Group 11 Sonnet 43. 
 
 Though he sees the shadow of his friend in dreams by 
 night, it does not suffice, he desires to see his 
 loving form during the day. 
 
44 THE TABLE. 
 
 Group 12 Somietd 44, 45. 
 
 His thoughts are ever going to and returning from his 
 friend; he wishes that he had himself the like 
 celerity. 
 Group 13 Sonnets 46, 47. 
 
 A contention between the eye and the heart for loving 
 
 supremacy, and a league taken between them. 
 Group 14 Sonnet 48. 
 
 Absence may occasion the severest loss. 
 Group 15 Sonnet 49. 
 
 The friend may despise in maturer years the conceit of 
 
 friendship he had formed in his youth. 
 Group 16 Sonnets 50, 51. 
 
 The journey the while is still continued ; the horse on 
 which he rides partakes of the rider's desire to. 
 return. 
 Group 17 Sonnet 52. 
 
 As the four seasons of the year are blessed for being 
 
 rare, so their meetings will be. 
 Group 18 Sonnet 53. 
 
 The friend is the beauty of the world and lovingly 
 
 constant. 
 Group 19 Sonnet 54. 
 
 His rose appears the more beautiful for the truth of its 
 
 sweetness within, and colour without. 
 Group 20 Sonnet 55. 
 
 The poet's verses shall prove worthy of immortalizing 
 
 such excellencies. 
 Group 21 Sonnets 56, 57, 58. 
 
 The weariness of absence from a beloved friend ; love's 
 avowal since departure of entire submissiveness. 
 
Iroup 22 Sonnets 59, 60. 
 Ancient poets have praised beauty. Did their praise 
 
 exceed his, or does time remain unchanged ? 
 froup 23 Sonnets 61, 62. 
 
 The poet sees the friend only in dreams in the night, 
 but others see him himself in the day time ; never- 
 theless, though farthest, the poet is nearest. 
 
 AN INTERIM. 
 
 The poet, for reasons explained in another place, 
 
 ceases writing till his return. 
 >roup 24 Sonnets 63, 64, 65. 
 
 On his return, the poet commences a series of self-con- 
 templations. Reflections are made upon himself, 
 and what he has witnessed of change during absence, 
 and the war with time is renewed. 
 jroup 25-- Sonnets 66, 67, 68. 
 
 He is weary of witnessing the corruptions of the time 
 present, and satirises the then time of profaned 
 beauty. 
 
 Sroup 26 Sonnets 69, 70. 
 
 He, in part, admits that during his absence his friend 
 has laid himself open to slander ; by mixing with 
 others he is blamed with them ; their vile misjudg- 
 ments are censured, and their slanders imputed to 
 the corruptions of the times. 
 
 3roup 27 Sonnets 71, 72, 73, 74. 
 The friend also, upon his part, esteems the poet's 
 worth ; the poet wills his works to him, and desires 
 
 y'Vat after his death the friend will preserve these 
 >ems as memorials of their friendship, not so much 
 
46 THE TABLE. 
 
 for their merit, as his love, it being his very spirit, is 
 the best of gifts, and thus bringing the song to an 
 end he consigns it to its only begetter. 
 
 Group 28 Sonnet 75. 
 
 The friend is the soul of the poet's existing thoughts. 
 
 Group 29 Sonnet 76. 
 
 Eeasons given for not having varied the song, and for 
 discontinuing it. 
 
 Group 30 Sonnet 77. 
 
 In conclusion, he is now desired to do his part, espe- 
 cially to improve his mind, for which purpose a 
 volume is presented to him, with additional waste 
 leaves, upon which he is to nurse the children o^ 
 his brain, and thus enchance the value of his own 
 worth and the book. 
 
 AN INTERIM. 
 
 Group 31 Sonnets, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86. 
 
 Eenewal ; rivalry with poets for continued possession : 
 the friend praised and blamed, and the rivals de- 
 feated. 
 
 Group 32 Sonnets, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96. 
 The poet offers to dissolve the friendship, and free the 
 friend from the ties which bind them ; and should 
 the friend' will it, never mention him or it any 
 more. 
 Group 33 Sonnets 97, 98, 99. 
 
 Eivalry and upbraiding are ended ; the past absence it 
 deplored ; the sweet musings it occasioned are cited 
 in the most loving language, as a plea for faster 
 binding their friendship. 
 
THE TABLE. 47 
 
 3roup 34 Sonnets 100, 101, 102, 103. 
 A reawakening of his Muse, excusing her having been 
 silent, reminding his friend of the farewell request 
 in the 77th Sonnet, and of her inability to do more 
 to advance her ultimate object r the while attesting 
 the silent growth of his love, hence, from now the 
 poet speaks mostly of himself. 
 
 jroup 35 Sonnets, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108. 
 A recapitulation, and the promised immortality of 
 youth re-asserted and assured by the poet from this 
 time, addressing him as not of the present but of the 
 past. 
 
 3roup 36 Sonnets, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 
 
 116, 117. 
 
 Excusing and palliating the absence of the past, and 
 vindicating the constancy of his poetical marriage of 
 mind to mind. 
 
 }roup 37 Sonnets 118, 119. 
 
 The absence proved by comparison of natural circum- 
 stances a mutual benefit. 
 
 Jroup 38 Sonnets 120, 121, 122. 
 The faults on each side condemned, and a tender of 
 mutual forgiveness requested. The poet vindicates 
 his character from the charges of his calumniators, 
 and the parting with a gift received from the friend 
 proved to his credit, 
 
 *roup 39 Sonnets 123, 124, 125. 
 A final protestation, constancy triumphantly attested, 
 and his calumniators upbraided. 
 
 I/ENVOY. 
 
48 THE TABLE. 
 
 Group 40 Sonnet 126. 
 
 To the friend, as the youth of the past, in proof of the 
 victory of verse over time. 
 
 ADDITIONAL SONNETS TO THE MISTEESS, 
 
 Being a continuation of the allegorical marriage, by which 
 the poet claims her as his alone, though she is alone the 
 friend's ; they being but one, he is hers, and she is his, 
 which occasions him to address her sometimes as his own 
 alone, and at other times to divide the possession of her 
 with his friend, then, again, to assert an entire claim. This 
 scheme gives the widest scope to his satire, which is now 
 his chief aim and end. 
 Group 1 Sonnet 127, 
 
 A satire upon what Lord Herbert terms " painted 
 women." By the oneness of Shakespeare and his 
 friend, the poet, assumes that the mistress is his own. 
 
 Group 2 Sonnet 128. 
 
 A playful conceit. He envies and would change his 
 state with Jacks, the keys of the instrument she 
 plays upon, so that he might, as they do, kiss her 
 hands. 
 
 Group 3 Sonnet 129. 
 
 The miseries of evil passion anatomised ; a picture of 
 their mutual guilt, the sin of sinful loving. 
 
 Group 4 Sonnet 130. 
 
 An ironical description of the mistress. 
 
 Group 5 Sonnets 131, 132. 
 
 A satirical picture of the mistress, whose deeds are 
 declared to be darker than her dark complexion. 
 
THE TABLE. 49 
 
 THE UNITY DIVIDED AND AGAIN UNITED. 
 
 hroup 6 Sonnets 133 ? 134. 
 
 Referring to Groups 8 and 10 of the series to the friend. 
 In these the Christian names of the friends are 
 sported with, and the wilfulness of their mutual 
 wilful loving. The poet pleads that his love suit 
 should be lawfully accepted, and that being the 
 friend, she is his, and he is hers. 
 }roup 7 Sonnets 135, 136. 
 
 A continuation of the foregoing. 
 3rroup 8 Sonnet 137. 
 
 A satire upon the eye and heart's misjudgment. He 
 returns to the oneness, and, as she is his, blames her 
 for turning her eyes to another. 
 Grroup 9 Sonnet 138. 
 
 He views himself as the young friend, and assumes she 
 oelieves so too, for which mutual flattery he makes apology. 
 Grroup 10 Sonnets 139, 140, 141. 
 
 A satire upon the thraldom of sinful loving ; he excuses 
 her, though she is his, for turning her eyes aside. 
 She should not do so, lest he should go mad He 
 is mad to love one so unlovely and unloving. 
 Group 11 Sonnet 142. 
 
 Upon adulterous love ; mutual upbraiding of each 
 other for the like loving faults ; she seeking the 
 friend's love, for which he will seek her love. 
 
 THE UNITY DIVIDED. 
 
 Qroup 12 Sonnet 143. 
 
 He will forgive her for pursuing with loving looks 
 another, so that other is his other self, and desires 
 
 E 2 
 
50 THE TABLE. 
 
 that she may gain that which she seeks if she turns 
 her eyes to him, as he is her own loving Will. 
 
 Group 13 Sonnet 144. 
 
 The poet fears woman will allure his friend from him, 
 and dissolve the friendship, and sever him from the 
 poet's Muse, to whom he is virtuously allied. 
 
 AN INTERIM. 
 
 Upon the poet's return, the division made one. 
 
 Group 14 Sonnet 145. 
 
 A playful conceit ; her love is hate, and her hate 
 love. 
 
 Group 15 Sonnet 146. 
 
 The mistress apostrophises her soul ; she derides her- 
 self for having sought to revive her fading beauty 
 by painting and cost, and finally bids her soul "buy 
 terms divine," and defeat death ere death defeats it. 
 
 Group 16 Sonnets 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152. 
 
 Continuing the satire upon sinful loving, and a pallia- 
 tion and condemnation of their mutual loving faults. 
 Though, upon his own part, he may and does boldly 
 affirm that his conscience cannot accuse him of un- 
 lawfully loving the love of another, as he assumes 
 himself to be that other. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Group 17- Sonnets 153. 154. 
 
 A variation of a fanciful conceit, alluding to his 
 absence and love sickness. He pays the mistress a 
 compliment, and finally assumes her to be his own. 
 
THE EXPLANATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SONNETS 
 
 " The love of man to woman is a thing common and of course, but the 
 friendship of man to man infinite and immortal." Allot. 
 
 " Friendship ought to resemble the love between man and wife, that is, 
 two bodies to be made one will and affection." Meres. 
 
 " To see two hearts that have been twined together, 
 Married in friendship, to the world two wonders." 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
 Sonnet 1. The object of the verse is at once ad- 
 dressed as the personification of beauty its rose, its 
 quintessence. His friend is beheld by the exalted mental 
 eye of the poet as creation's masterpiece, Heaven's image. 
 The youth is told that it is the desire of all that the most 
 beautiful of either sex should become self-renewed, and 
 that he, a new ornament of the world, the object of 
 general attraction, should not live and die in single 
 blessedness,"* robbing the world of his image, and sacri- 
 
 * Herbert appears, like Benedick, to have foolishly vowed that he would 
 die a bachelor. See Preliminary Eemarks and Additional Notes to 
 Sonnet 10. 
 
52 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 ficing himself and his posterity. In this first Sonnet, to 
 the whole which follow, Herbert's eyes are particularly 
 alluded to, and the allusions are repeated throughout the 
 series. We shall show that Shakespeare was not alone in 
 praising them. 
 
 Sonnet 2. In an indirect manner the poet contrasts 
 himself with his friend, and depicts himself as deeply 
 marked by time,"'" as a foil to set off the beauty of his 
 friend. In this Sonnet there is evident allusion made to 
 the poet's son Hamnet, who died in 1596 at the age of 
 twelve. Master Herbert appears to have filled his place 
 in the poet's heart. 
 
 Sonnet 3. The youth, who appears mostly to have 
 resembled his mother, is bid to see himself, when in 
 years, in his children's eyes, as his mother sees herself in 
 his, in the April of her years, young and beautiful.t 
 
 Sonnet 4. As Nature so freely gave to him, he should 
 be as bounteous to others; if not, her gifts will be 
 buried with him. 
 
 Sonnet 5. Time, that has made him the gaze of all 
 eyes, will destroy all his beauties. He is therefore desired 
 to preserve the pride of his summer, even as in winter 
 are kept the sweets of summer flowers. 
 
 Sonnet 6. He is bid, ere his beauties are marred by 
 
 * In those days this would not appear strange, men frequently being 
 called old, and even aged, when they had but passed the freshness of their 
 first youth. 
 
 t There are several points of resemblance in these persuasions, and in 
 ' Much Ado about Nothing," to a little work on letter-writing by N. 
 Breton, of which editions appeared between 1595 and 1609, more especially 
 to a letter persuading to marry, and the answer. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 53 
 
 the winter of age, to find a preservative, to seek some 
 phial worthy to contain such a treasure, that it may not 
 become self-destroyed. If he fails to do so, the result of 
 his self-will is pictured in 
 
 Sonnet 7, in a majestic comparison between the rising 
 and setting of the sun, and the course youth runs 
 towards declining and decrepid age, 
 
 Sonnet 8. The youth, whose voice is as music, loves 
 to receive the poet's verses, but is averse to the theme 
 they contain. The Sonnet, the bard's harp, is said to 
 have strings, referring to the rhyming verses in married 
 unison. It is thus intimated that the Sonnet is a piece 
 of music as well as poetry. 
 
 Sonnet 9. The delicate youth is demanded his reason 
 for desiring to live a single life. Is it for fear " of wetting 
 a widow's eye ? " If he dies without issue, not one per- 
 son only but the whole world will lament his loss. This, 
 coupled with the fact of Herbert being of a delicate 
 nature, proves it not of ironical tendency. Beatrice says 
 to Benedick, " I heard you were in a consumption." 
 
 Sonnet 10. It is to his shame, being beloved by all, to 
 love none. The poet adds : " But marry/' if only for 
 " the love of me." 
 
 Sonnet 11. Others, without his graces, may barrenly 
 perish ; but he, being Nature's richest stamp, was not 
 made for himself alone, but to print more. Him she has 
 richest endowed, by forming him of a bi-sexual nature. 
 (See Sonnets 20, 53, and 59, in which this idea is 
 expressed.) 
 
54 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 Sonnet 12. As time destroys all things, there is no 
 means of withstanding his ravages but by offspring. It 
 is the friend who is the emblem of the 
 
 " Violet in the youth of primy nature, 
 Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting." 
 
 Sonnet 13. Not being made for himself alone, he 
 should prepare to give himself up, and as he had a father, 
 let his son say so, implying that he had a beginning and 
 will have an ending ; he was begotten, and should beget. 
 
 Sonnet 14. There is no need for consulting the stars, 
 as it is self-evident that if he neglects the poet's advice 
 there will be an end both to him and of him. 
 
 Sonnet 15. The poet meditates upon the mutability of 
 all things ; that men, like plants, increase, like them 
 flourish and die ; and that his friend's fair flower and the 
 blossoms which may spring from it are alike doomed to 
 bloom and wither. Hence he wishes to graft his beauty 
 to undying flowers of Parnassus, and set them afresh in 
 the garden of his Muse. As time will darken the bright- 
 ness of his friend, the poet will make war with him, and 
 will at once begin, ere the heyday of his beauty shall 
 have passed away, and this task he will accomplish out of 
 pure love. 
 
 Sonnet 16. The friend is again demanded his reason 
 for not using surer and more fruitful means of guarding 
 against decay than by verse. Why desire to become 
 wedded to his barren rhyme ? He has now attained to 
 the summit of life's golden age, and many virgins vir- 
 tuously desire to bear him living flowers, much nearer 
 his resemblance than the verse can portray ; for by chil- 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 55 
 
 Iren his life would be renewed, and he would still live in 
 nen's eyes, not drawn in the poet's lifeless lines, but in 
 iving lines of nature ; for the poet's imperfect pen* can 
 neither show his outward beauty nor his inward worth, 
 but by giving himself to another he may preserve both ; 
 ind though the poet's pen may be the best pencil of the 
 time that can trace his beauty, yet as in Sonnets 101 and 
 103, it quite fails in picturing the perfection of his living 
 Face. In the next this verse-portrait is again referred to. 
 
 Sonnet 17. A final request is made, and a final 
 reason given, why he should follow the poet's advice. He 
 is told the next generation will disbelieve the verse, even 
 though filled with his own just praise. The beauty of 
 his eyes alone is past the poet's power of expression, and 
 could he recount all his graces in fresh verse, the next age 
 would discredit the divineness of his perfections, and his 
 just deserts would be despised as the lies of an old 
 frenzied poet; but should some child of his be then 
 living the poet would be believed. . 
 
 It will be seen that the friend, being bid to give him- ^ 
 self to another, offers his heart to the poet ; it is accepted, 
 and thus ends the Introductory Argument. t The poet 
 now fully accedes to his friend's desire, but only upon the 
 strictest terms of marriage law. Since the poet is to be 
 the means of preserving that beauty which he has so 
 much advocated for another, he claims the same wedded 
 rights for his Muse as that other would demand, to which 
 the friend readily complies. Henceforth, till the verse 
 
 * Spenser, later in life, speaks of his then daring apprentice quill. 
 t The Muse, consequently, from this time hints of no other births than 
 literary ones. 
 
56 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 has attained its object, it is to record, jealously, watch- 
 fully, and lovingly, the faith and frailty of the object to 
 whom it is united, and to show a friendship which was 
 only to end in death. 
 
 Sonnet 18. The theme of the poem is now com- 
 menced. To preserve the friend's youth and beauty, he 
 is married to immortal verse, which glories in the alliance. 
 The summer is now, in comparison with his friend's 
 eternal summer, all too changeful and brief; nor shall 
 death exult that his friend is hid in oblivious night, when 
 he becomes united to time with lines of ever-living verse, 
 and if he lives not in " children's eyes," he will in the 
 eyes of the world. 
 
 (. Sonnet 19^ The pregnant verse is already big with 
 the sweHmg argument. Time is defied, and told he 
 may now devour the earth's increase, but he is forbidden 
 the most heinous crime of carving a record of his 
 hours on the loved friend's brow. In despite of 
 time's wrongs his love shall appear in his verse ever 
 youthful. 
 
 As the first was a text Sonnet to those which followed 
 it, so also is the following, and from it spring those fan- 
 tastic subtleties which have alone occasioned the mystery. 
 It will appear evident as we proceed that the young 
 friend made a voluntary promise that during the period 
 of the Sonnetting he would remain inviolate to the poet 
 and the Muse, and not seek the loving alliance of any 
 other, and the poet, on his part, determines to give up 
 himself and his Muse to the friend. Only from such a 
 promise could spring such fantastic writing. This would 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 57 
 
 bear resemblance to the whimsical decree, the occasion of 
 so much sport, in " Love's Labour's Lost." 
 
 Sonnet 20. A matchless description is now given of 
 the loved friend who has thus eclipsed the customary 
 mistress* by the marriage of verse, upon which Shake- 
 speare, in the language of his own Posthumus, delighted to 
 " rhyme upon 't, and vent it for a mockery/' In a rhap- 
 sody the wedlock is consummated. The friend's effemi- 
 nacy t is urged as a plea, and his attributes as an impulse 
 to justify that which is written of him. The first line 
 commences a satire upon mistress-sonnetting, and this 
 satiric vein will be found to thread its way through the 
 entire series. The rose of beauty in the friend's cheek is of 
 Nature's own painting, not the result of art. The now ever 
 youthful Master Herbert is styled the " master-mistress " 
 of his passion, in the sense of the supreme object of his 
 love, his best of friends, and more than mistress of his 
 loving verse. Assuming man to be more constant than 
 woman, he looks for an unbroken trothed friendship, and 
 declares his eyes to be brighter than a woman's, and that 
 he has become ennobled by their beaming upon him. In 
 the climax of praise, the poet says he is " a man in hue, 
 all hues in his controlling," i. e., by his dual nature, the 
 
 * In that age the metamorphosis would not appear strange, it being then 
 the common custom for boys and young men to take the female parts upon 
 the stage. 
 
 t This praise was then thought the highest that could be offered to a 
 youth. Bacon's eulogium upon Prince Henry is of a like tendency, and 
 " Milton has the reputation of having been in his youth eminently 
 beautiful, so as to have been called the lady of his college." (Johnson's 
 Lives, p. 46.) 
 
58 THE EXPLANATION ^ 
 
 supreme beauty of the world and its chiefest ornament ; 
 and the poet conceives that Nature, as she wrought him? 
 designed at first making him a woman, but, falling in 
 love with her work, she made a man, forming a master- 
 piece by combining the excellences of the sexes ; so that, 
 like Nature, the poet makes a similar compound, making 
 him both his friend and mistress of his verse, and unwil- 
 lingly resolves to divide with women the love of his 
 friend. They are to treasure love's sweetest extraction ; 
 he will claim his intellectual love, his friendship. 
 
 Having described his dual nature as exceeding all 
 others, he in the next Sonnet qualifies that praise by 
 asserting that at least he is as beautiful as any other, and 
 that he himself is not, like others, writing false praise to 
 a false beauty. In accordance with this nature, and with 
 the youth being at once both the beloved of his Muse 
 and the mistress of his verse, through numerous Sonnets 
 the sex addressed is entirely concealed, while in other 
 Sonnets, for motives which will be shown, it is purposely 
 revealed ; and as the passion of the writer is also twofold, 
 being his own friendly love combined with the ardent 
 love of his Muse, so through numerous Sonnets their love 
 is united, thus forming the most loving mutual offering 
 of love to love ; and in other Sonnets the poet also 
 purposely divides his own love from his Muse's love, 
 the theme being both an alliance of friendship and 
 a marriage to the Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 21. The poet enters upon his task pleased 
 with the idea that he is not following the customary 
 mode of mistress-sonnetting, as others were doing. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 59 
 
 /atching up the theme of Sonnet 20, he declares that it 
 was not a mere counterfeit beauty that incited his Muse 
 to write, and as his rose was the rose of truth, he 
 deserved all praise ; and as it was the custom to over- 
 praise, as if to sell, he, not desiring to part with his 
 friend, will but speak the truth, which is that he is as 
 fair as any mother's child (meaning of either sex), but 
 that he is not so bright as the orbs of heaven."' 5 " Our poet 
 would turn the accusation against himself had he not 
 parody in view, which gives his pen free charter, both to 
 imitate and excel. This Sonnet and the last should be con- 
 sidered as an assertion of both himself and his Muse being 
 coupled to one of the highest worth, worthy of all praise. t 
 
 Sonnet 22 is begotten of this alliance ; and the poet 
 having in the 19th Sonnet declared that his love should 
 appear ever youthful, it is now confirmed by his addres- 
 sing him as such ; and since the friends have exchanged 
 hearts and become bosom friends, they are henceforth to 
 be viewed as one. In spite of his glass he will consider 
 himself as the reflection of his friend, and his friend's 
 y outh and beauty as his own. In this Sonnet the friend 
 is urged to be regardful of himself for the poet's sake, as 
 he will be of himself for the friend's, and should the 
 friend ever desire to be severed from him, he cannot be, 
 there can be no division between them, as by the wedding 
 
 - 
 
 iuml 
 
 \ Spenser's "Amoretti" lays open to Shakespeare's charge, especially 
 bers 15, 26, 64, and 81 ; but as this is a shaft levelled at no poet in 
 particular, and as Drayton was still writing, from what has been previously 
 ?aid, the allusion must be to him. 
 
 BLO deserved to be compared 
 ' With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare." 
 
60 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 contract of verse they are made indivisible, the poet and 
 the friend are made one. 
 
 Sonnet 23. Having now traced his plan, he likens 
 himself to one enacting some difficult part upon the 
 stage, who is either confused through fear or is unequal 
 to the task ; so he (feigning to mistrust his power) omits 
 to say the perfect ceremony of love's rite, in the presence 
 of his beloved (as an imperfect actor before his audience), 
 and seems bereft of the power of expressing his passion. 
 For this reason he entreats his friend to permit his book's 
 tongue to speak for him, so that during an absence which 
 will presently follow, the friend is desired, when reading 
 the Books of Sonnets the poet transmits him, which will 
 contain more love than he can express in his presence, to 
 suppose that his books are his looks, his pen his tongue, 
 and that, though absent, he hears him speak. This the 
 fine sense of love will teach him. 
 
 It is evident from the tenour of the Sonnet, and 
 the expressions " forget to say " and " seem to decay," 
 that the poet had ceased writing for a short time, and 
 that it is a plea for departure which may have engrossed 
 the poet's time at this juncture. In Sonnet 117 he also, 
 after an interval of silence, speaks of his having forgotten 
 to write of his friend. 
 
 Sonnet 24. He now informs his friend the result of 
 their loving uuion. He has pictured upon his heart's 
 table his friend's image ; his friend has also drawn his. 
 Each has transferred the other's miniature reflection from 
 their eyes to their hearts. He, however, laments that 
 eyes, though praised in the last Sonnet for their " fine 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 61 
 
 have not, alas ! cunning to discover the heart's con_ 
 stancy. Were it so, his friend would never misjudge 
 aim, or he his friend. 
 
 Sonnet 25. But the knowledge of their indissoluble 
 tie gladdens his heart ; and as a reason for making his 
 intended journey the poet makes the first complaint at 
 bis profession. He contrasts his position with tkat of 
 Dthers, who are in favour with their stars. They may 
 boast of public honour and proud titles ; but he has the 
 joyful consolation that, al] unlocked for, these his cove- 
 nant of friendship obtains him, though he will not (as the 
 next Sonnet informs us) partake of public honour through 
 his friend, advancing as a plea his own unworthiness. In 
 this spirit he exclaims : Let the fickle favourites of 
 great princes boast of their honours ; they exist but a 
 brief period in the sunshine of favour, they are soon 
 forgotten. How happy, then am I, that love and am 
 loved in return by one from whom I can neither remove 
 nor be removed. 
 
 The poet has now hinted his friend's princely greatness, 
 and has thus prepared the reader for the projected 
 journey, which, though it severs them, cannot remove 
 him from the breast of his friend, where he is constantly 
 fixed. 
 
 Sonnet 26. The poet now bids him adieu, designating 
 him " lord of his love." He has already set out on the 
 meditated pilgrimage, and sends a written embassage of 
 seven Sonnets, not, he says, to show his wit, but to prove 
 that he is dutiful in absence, which absence he excuses, 
 thereby denoting that he is not worthy to remain before 
 
 
62 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 - 
 
 his friend's eye ; and he requests his patron to adorn his 
 bare thoughts with some good conceits, till the star that 
 guides his moving shows him, by its gracious appearance, 
 to be worthy of his friend's respect. Till then he will 
 neither boast of his love nor be seen where his friend may 
 publicly acknowledge him. 
 
 The poet appears to be making his animal journey to 
 Stratford, and on this occasion is indeed the " Passionate 
 Pilgrim/' He may have had private reasons of his own 
 for not notifying his destination, or he may have thought 
 it unworthy of notice. While away he wrote about forty 
 Sonnets. He is returned by the 67th. This separation 
 occurs, as will be seen, between the spring of 1599 and the 
 summer of 1601. It will also be seen that while absent 
 he probably visited Scotland for professional purposes. 
 
 Sonnet 27. The poet, to show his untiring devotion 
 and constancy, and as witness that he at all times bears the 
 friend in memory, says that after a weary day's travel his 
 thoughts journey towards him,' till in his sleep he beholds 
 his friend's spirit, which vision he occasionally addresses 
 during absence to beguile solitude. In this and the follow- 
 ing Shakespeare imitates a Sonnet by Sidney to Stella, in 
 which day and night are confounded or made but one. 
 
 Sonnet 28. He now demands how he can appear at 
 all presentable on his return;* each day adding to his 
 sorrows, and night nightly strengthening his grief, must 
 needs give him a woeful appearance, and prevents him 
 from fully adorning his love. Observe, the poet is as 
 
 * Thus .excusing a premised poor show of love, and referring to their 
 separation and reunion (see Sonnet 26). 
 

 OF THE SONNETS. 
 
 the clouded day, to which his friend is the sun giving 
 glory. 
 
 Sonnet 29. The complaint is now directed against 
 fortune as the primary cause of their separation by 
 debarring the poet from high titles, which want divides 
 the friendship, and makes him both feel and appear an 
 outcast, compelling him to live by public means, which 
 brings disgrace upon him,* and makes him contented least 
 with that which he enjoys most : he wishes for the art of 
 one and the scope of another. He also desires youth 
 beauty and friends, the while almost despising himself for 
 chese thoughts. Haply he thinks of his friend ! He is 
 then joyful as the soaring lark, nor would he change his 
 state with kings. Thus by his alliance, in friendship he 
 aas all his heart's desire, and partakes with his friend's love 
 )f all that his friend has and loves. The desiring this man's 
 irt and that man's scope was merely feigning, as in more 
 idvanced Sonnets he declares his patron was all his art, 
 ind that chanting his praise was all-sufficient scope. 
 
 Sonnet 30. His sad solitude occasions a session of 
 houghts, wherein he summons up past things. He again 
 omplains of having wasted his time on a despised pur- 
 >ose. He laments the deaths of old departed friends 
 nd weeps afresh love's long since erased sorrows ; but, 
 he remembrance of his living friend restores all losses, 
 nds all griefs. The death of his son, mentioned in 
 ote to Sonnet 2, is probably the chief cause of this 
 
 
 * Davies observed in 1609, referring to Shakespeare, that though the 
 ge stained pure gentle blood, yet he was a gentleman in mind and mood 
 I the epithet "gentle" was applied to him by Jonsoii. 
 
64 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 lament : he now looks upon Herbert 'as npon his own son 
 Hamnet. The opening and closing lines intimate that he 
 had long sought for a lordly constant lover for his Muse, 
 but now need seek no longer. 
 
 Sonnet 31. His friend is the living altar of all those 
 friends he has loved and still loves. Thus he pictures to 
 himself for loving consolation how much he benefits by 
 friendship, how much it obtains him ; even so much 
 the friend receives from him ; he has all the love the 
 poet had given to past friends. 
 
 Sonnet 32. Having spoken of the deaths of many 
 
 friends, he now reflects upon his own. He urges his 
 
 friend not to be sad if he should survive him, as he is 
 
 now, (having gained his utmost wish), prepared for death, 
 
 come when it will. His friend is told that though, after 
 
 his death, he may find better poets, he will not find such 
 
 another loving friend ; and in case the poet should not 
 
 live to adorn his tattered loving (the plea jfor absence in 
 
 the 26th), and the friend finds that other poets prove 
 
 better, he is desired to make this excuse for him : Had 
 
 my friend's Muse grown with this growing age, he would 
 
 have brought forth a dearer birth than this, to march in 
 
 ranks better arrayed ; but since he died, and poets 
 
 prove better, I will read theirs for their style, his for his 
 
 love. The term growing age refers to the next age 
 
 w r hich another year (1599) would usher in. This missive 
 
 the following Sonnets prove, was now transmitted tc 
 
 the friend. 
 
 The poet received an epistle in return to this em 
 bassage of seven Sonnets, in which he is told thai 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 65 
 
 during absence his friend has already permitted a lady 
 to become the poet's rival, and receive loving favors, 
 supposed his alone, of whom the poet now lovingly 
 feigns to be jealous, as the friend had devoted his love to 
 the poet's Muse alone. Of this the poet forms two 
 groups of Sonnets, three in each group. Both the lady 
 and the friend in the first trio (Sonnets 33, 34, 35) are 
 blamed in the severest allegorical manner, but as they 
 both repent they are forgiven ; and in the second trio 
 (Sonnets 40, 41, 42) the affair is lovingly turned to their 
 mutual advantage. The motive of the poet in pursuing 
 his loving calculations of loss and gain arises from the 
 conceit of the mutual gain of love their unity occasions, 
 and even this fancied loss proves an assured gain. In a 
 concluding Sonnet the poet blames himself for ever 
 having supposed such loss : 
 
 " Still losing, when I saw myself to win." 
 
 The poet acknowledges he loved the lady dearly before 
 the friend had an affection for her. He then argues that 
 she must love him, since she loves his dear friend, who is 
 himself. He goes still further, and poetically proves she 
 is his alone, because the two friends are one. Upon this 
 theme and its corollaries he expends ten Sonnets. Having 
 spoken in the last of the poorness of his verse, to disprove 
 the modest assertion he now puts forth all his power. 
 
 Sonnet 33. This event is compared to the sun, which 
 often promises a fine day, but soon becomes disgraced by 
 treacherous clouds ; so in the morning of their friendship 
 he is deprived of his friend's sunshine by a base cloud ; 
 
 C3 sun of heaven is often thus disgraced, he will 
 F 2 
 
66 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 not love his earthly sun the less for being so. The lady, as 
 the severing cloud, is thus at once referred to with dis- 
 dainful reproaches. This is continued in the next : she is 
 the envious cloud that either entirely robs the poet of the 
 friend's glory, or so much so that his influence is but par- 
 tially felt. The conceit of this and the following Sonnet is 
 imitated from the 40th and 46th of Spenser's " Amoretti."* 
 
 Sonnet 34. He demands of the friend why, when he 
 promised such sunshine, he so suddenly allows another 
 to thus stand in his light, casting him in the shade. It 
 is not enough that the friend asks forgiveness ; the poet 
 bears the disgrace of the partial estrangement, it is he 
 who is the loser; but as the friend repents, that is 
 ransom sufficient. Thus the poet went forth joyfully in 
 the sunshine of favour, confiding in the possession of the 
 friends love, but had he foreseen this event he would have 
 taken with him his cloak, i.e., he would have prepared for 
 this tempest of tears. 
 
 Sonnet 35. The friend has been likened to the sun 
 the lady is now spoken of as the moon ; they have both 
 proved guilty of the same faults, and are both in tears, 
 but there is no occasion for further grief. All things and 
 all men have faults, even the poet, for authorising by 
 high compare this trespass on his right, palliating it with 
 the incense of verse, corrupts himself by becoming an 
 accessory to the lady to rob himself, so much he loves his 
 friend, and hates any other to possess him. Thus the 
 friend is forgiven for the breach of faith to the poet's 
 Muse, purely because his love is stronger than his hate, 
 
 * In which Spenser pictures his, clouds of grief and storms of tears, when 
 leaving his beloved. 
 
THE SONNETS. 
 
 and the tears of the "sweet thief" (the lady) are rich 
 pearls, a sufficient ransom for them both. 
 
 Sonnet 36. Assuming that the friend by this breach 
 desires to cancel the bond of loving fellowship, the poet 
 admits for him that they must part. He supports his reason 
 by contrasting the friend's position and power with his 
 Dwn despised state, and thus purposely compares his own 
 compelled blots with his friend's voluntary stain. In the 
 ast it is intimated that the poet has become disgraced by 
 gracing the friend's fault ; now it is shown that it is the 
 Doet who will disgrace the patron, and will lovingly 
 ippear most in fault. Let me, he urges, confess that we 
 nust separate, although we are but one in love ; so 
 ,hall my blots be my disgrace alone. Though our 
 oves are one our lives are unequally divided ; and 
 hough this does not alter our love, yet it severs us. 
 f his friend so desires it, he will never more claim 
 ds love, lest he should become shamed by the poet's 
 amented guilt ; nor does he desire his friend to publicly 
 lonour him, fearing he should, by so doing, rob him- 
 elf of his honour, as the poet considers him so much 
 is better part that he would not thus bring shame 
 pon him. The allusion to the spite of fortune is 
 ontinued in the next, and he styles it " made lame." 
 'his telling epithet is used as an especial metaphor of 
 efect as applied to himself. The player fears the peer, 
 y the nearness of the tie, may partake of his disgrace, 
 5 he does of his friend's glories. 
 
 Sonnet 37. Thus his love for his friend is as the love 
 f an old doting father for his active child, whose deeds 
 
 
68 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 (see Sonnet 41, the friend's love for the lady is there said 
 to be a deed of youth), he watches with delight. And the 
 poet, being lamed by the direst spite of fortune, i.e., separated 
 from his friend by fortune's severest wrongs, being of 
 mean estate and of despised profession, compared with the 
 high position of his friend, receives all comfort from his 
 goodness and constancy, for whatsoever crowning perfec- 
 tions he is blest with, with them the poet engrafts his love ; 
 so then, he is not lame, poor, nor despised (separated, of 
 mean estate or despised profession), whilst this shadow* 
 (his friend) gives such delight, that the poet is sufficed with 
 his abundance ; and whatever may be his crowning perfec- 
 tions, whether it be beauty, birth, wealth, or wit, be it all 
 of these or any of these or more, he lives, partaking of the 
 glory with his friend, in which he is supremely happy 
 being thus, in spite of fortune, both present with 
 his friend, and in the possession of youth, beauty, titles, 
 and friends. By this covenant he partakes of his friend's 
 glory and graces, as Jonathan did of David's. 
 
 Sonnet 38. He now boasts that his Muse shall never 
 want argument so long as his friend lives. Such expan- 
 sion of theme is all sufficient, and too excellent for every 
 common writer to indite. For this enlightenment, he 
 avows that his friend is the tenth Muse ten times 
 worthier than the old nine others invocate ; whoever 
 writes of him is to give birth to eternal numbers, to out- 
 live ages. At once humble, the poet adds : If my super- 
 ficial Muse doth please these nice critical times, the praise 
 
 # Shadow is used in the same sense in the " Passionate Pilgrim :" 
 
 " Wander a word for shadows like myself." 
 

 OF THE SONNETS. 6*9 
 
 be thine,* I will labour. In this may be seen the desire 
 that his friend in his absence will not accept the verses of 
 an unworthy rival. The conceit of his being the tenth 
 Muse is a quip at Drayton, having, in a Sonnet styled 
 his mistress the " ninth worthy," making, as Sir J. Davies 
 said in an Epigram, " his mistress march with men of 
 war/' and he levels a shaft also at the unworthy uses the 
 old Muses had been brought to, they were so degraded he 
 would invoke none of them. It appears also that Shake- 
 speare's friends had intimated to him that his verses were 
 already in request among the " private friends ;" and it is 
 denoted that the Sonnets were evidently to "be viewed as 
 Herbert's, as Sidney's " Arcadia " was to be known as the 
 " Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia/' The allusion may 
 also be to the praise given by Meres in his " Wit s Trea- 
 sury " of 1598, when writing of the Muses speaking English 
 in Shakespeare's " fine filed phrase," and of these " sugar'd 
 Sonnets," as witness of his excellence. Thus, the poet's 
 Muse, by reason of her wedlock, transfers herself and her 
 literary births to the friend, who may, on this account, be 
 said to be the tenth Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 39. Having declared the honour to be his 
 friend's alone, he finds occasion to again excuse the 
 absence. They being but one, the praise is also his own, 
 which it would be an impropriety to sing were he not 
 absent. It also alleviates the pangs of absence to write 
 thus, and instructs the poet how to make distance near 
 hand, and but one a division, by praising the friend as 
 present with him though absent. 
 
 * Or, as T. Heywood says, " these more exquisite and refined times." 
 Prologue to The Four Apprentices, 1615. 
 
 
70 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 By the conceit of their oneness, the praises bestowed 
 upon his friend would be but sinful self-praise, then it 
 were better they were divided, not only by distance, but 
 in personality. The following three Sonnets embrace this 
 distinction, though they end attesting their unity. 
 
 Sonnet 40. The subject suspended in Sonnet 35 is 
 resumed in this and in the two following, in which a 
 computation is made, showing that, by their unity and 
 triplicity, the loves of either belong to but one ; and that 
 the friend's lady love, whom the poet had previously 
 loved, by her loving his friend, now not only loves him 
 also, but is alone the poet's, so that from fearing to be a 
 loser, he rejoices to find himself a gainer. Thus, in this 
 Sonnet, he bids his friend, whom he views as the image 
 and personification of all love, to take all his loves* which 
 he has hitherto received. The friend is not blamed for 
 accepting the lady ? s love (it is thus intimated that had 
 Shakespeare chosen a mistress for his friend, this is the 
 lady he would have selected), but he is to blame himself for 
 partaking of woman's love after his repeated refusals (see 
 Sonnets 10 and 16), and for giving his love to another, 
 after vowing it the poet's alone, thus causing a threefold 
 theft robbing the poet of his all in all, i.e., of himself, the 
 friend, and the lady. But this must not occasion a sepa- 
 ration of friendship, since it is better to bear a loving 
 wrong than an injurious hate, so the wantonness in his 
 friend appears all for the best. 
 
 Sonnet 41. The fault is again confessed to be but a 
 
 # *' Take all my loves," i.e., friendly loves, as in 30 and 31. Their mutual 
 loving, divested of allegory, was but pure friendship, as will be seen between 
 both the poet, the friend, and the mistress. 
 
OF THE SONNE 
 
 )etty wrong. The young friend is excuseo^ffi^eing led 
 ,way at the time his heart forgets its friendly tie, and is 
 ,ssailed by woman's love. It was too much to assume he 
 jould withstand it. What youth would sourly disdain 
 he sweet love of a woman, or leave her till she is won. 
 Ui me ! the poet sighs, my dearest love you should have 
 oreborne, and have blamed thy youth and beauty which 
 ompel thce to sever a twofold troth. By giving his love 
 o the lady and receiving hers, he robs the poet of his own 
 Dve and hers also ; the poet, though not her real lover, had 
 >ossessed her loving friendship (see Sonnet 136, but in the 
 olio wing Sonnet the theme ends in sweet mutual concord). 
 
 Sonnet A2. The poet now consoles himself with the 
 bought that his vision of the unity was but disturbed by 
 passing cloud. It is not the friend possessing the lady 
 -hich grieves him, though it may be said he loved her 
 early before she stole his friend ; but how could he love the 
 sweet thief" that had thus taken his coveted jewel ? The 
 >ving offenders are, however, thus excused : It is assumed 
 aat the friend loves her because he knows the poet loves 
 er, and even so she loves the friend because she knows 
 ae poet loves him, so that the love is of mutual approval, 
 ad by the sweet delusive flattery that the poet and the 
 iend are one, he concludes that she alone loves him.* 
 
 The Epistle of the friend thus answered, he returns to 
 is former topics,f and flatters himself as still holding 
 )ving possession, though but in a dream. 
 
 5 
 
 In the " Two Gentlemen of Verona," act ii., sec. 6, there is a similar 
 >mantic mystification of love and friendship. 
 
 t From hence throughout the Epistles to the friend no further direct 
 lusion is made to the mistress, the poet would not destroy the illusion. 
 
72 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 Sonnet 43. Having discoursed of his jealousy, he anew 
 details his loving thoughts during absence. His mental 
 sight in deepest sleep sees clearer than his eyes in 
 open day. The friend's bright shadow is seen in dreams 
 in the dead night, but it would occasion more joy to see 
 his actual substance in the living day, for absence con- 
 founds the day and night, or makes them as but one. 
 
 Sonnet 44. As if still addressing his friend's spirit, he 
 exclaims : Could I move my self as quick as thought, 
 I would at once conquer the distance between us, 
 but I must wait in sadness time's leisure, overcome with 
 tears. The love still strengthens, and the friend might 
 have exclaimed with the Psalmist David, " Thy love to 
 me was wonderful, passing the love of woman " The eyes 
 of the Muse shed heavy tears, fearing she may yet lose her 
 beloved, whom she has more than won. The last lines 
 allude to, and are in contrast to the lovers in tears (see 
 Sonnet 35). 
 
 Sonnet 45. Having discoursed of the two grosser 
 elements of the four which were then the theory of life, 
 of the two more ethereal, he continues : Thin air and puri- 
 fying fire are with thee wherever I abide the first, his 
 thought, the other, his desire, are ever present-absent, ever 
 going and returning in tender embassies of love, causing 
 alternate joy and sorrow. In this, allusion is made to 
 the embassies of love which have just passed between 
 them. 
 
 Sonnet 46. Addressing the mental vision, he says 
 further : Mine eye and heart contend for the conquest of 
 thine image, each asserts the right to claim thy possession, 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 
 
 73 
 
 pon which my thoughts holding session, decide that the 
 icid eye may claim thy outward appearance, and the 
 Dving heart thy inward love of heart. 
 
 Sonnet 47. They are now on terms of amity, they 
 )ve one object and each other, and are both delighted 
 rith the counterfeit vision, awake or sleeping. Thus, by 
 earing his friend's form constantly in his eye and love in 
 iis heart, they are still together, in spite of the separation, 
 "he poet dwells on his theme like an air in an opera 
 onstantly recurring with variations. 
 
 Sonnet 48. Before setting out on his journey, the poet 
 >laced under lock and key those things which he desired 
 ;o find for himself on his return ; but his friend, to whom 
 iis jewels were but trifles, was left a prey to every vulgar 
 iiief, alluding to the rhymers pointed out in Sonnet 3 8, as 
 seeking patronage. The friend is kept close in no chest 
 $ave the poet's bosom, and even from thence he fears he 
 may be stolen, for the virtuous prove thievish for precious 
 measures, indirectly alluding to his rival, the youth's lady 
 .ove. The leading characteristic of thesepoems is jealousy, 
 md it being an attribute of the highest love, it is given to 
 bis Muse. The third line of this Sonnet is explained by 
 the third line of the 78th : the poet desired that upon his 
 return his friend should be reserved for his own pen alone. 
 
 Sonnet 49. In case the time should ever come when 
 the friend should steal or be stolen from him, when his 
 friend may frown on his unworthiness, induced to do so by 
 self-respect and graver years, against that time the poet 
 the poet stands armed with his pen against himself ; and 
 in his verse, with self-knowledge of his own desert, he will 
 
74 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 raise his hand against himself, to guard his friend's lawful 
 reasons, for the friend has every right to leave him, since, 
 why the poet should claim his love he will assert no cause, 
 so that, should the patron ever desire to end the friend- 
 ship, the poet will justify his conduct. 
 
 Sonnet 50. Such thoughts, while journeying from his 
 friend cannot but weigh heavily upon him, insomuch, that 
 the horse which bears him feels the weight of sorrow, and 
 plods heavily on, as if by some instinct he knew that his 
 rider loved not haste when journeying from his friend. 
 Though he was journeying to Stratford, the poet might 
 well exclaim, " My grief lies onward, and my joy behind," 
 for in this allegorical parody all family love is purposely 
 avoided. As before hinted, he may now be journeying to 
 Scotland. This and the following are imitated from Sid- 
 ney's 49th Sonnet to Stella. 
 
 Sonnet 51. The ever excusing poet now makes a plea 
 for the horse. The sagacious animal knows there is no 
 need of posting till he returns ; its dull heavy composition 
 cannot kept pace with winged desires. But while his 
 steed plods on at a slow pace, his thoughts run swiftly 
 towards his friend, so that in going he is ever returning 
 with the celerity of thought. This and following Sonnet 
 are but variations of the 44th and 45th. 
 
 Sonnet 52. He is now consoled with the idea that 
 there is real benefit in this separation, since that which 
 he covets does not become common by being daily seen. 
 He has lamented (Sonnet 48) that he had not locked 
 up his chief jewel, his friend, before leaving ; but time 
 has secured him as in a chest, the key of which is some 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 75 
 
 lessed instant " which will newly unfold his " im- 
 risoned pride." Blessed then is he whose possession is a 
 iumph, and whose loss is such hope of reunion, 
 'heir meetings coming but seldom, like the yearly 
 istivals, will afford the more delight. 
 
 In the next Sonnet the poet again invokes the spirit of 
 is absent friend, and relates the supremacy of his beauty 
 ad the infinite bounty of his love, together with his 
 latchless constancy, and though he seldom sees or hears 
 om him, he fully confides in his love. 
 
 Sonnet 53. The apparently double nature, the theme 
 f the 20th Sonnet, is again renewed. He demands of his 
 iend, how comes it that his form holds supremacy over 
 11 visible objects. His beauty exceeds that of Adonis or 
 f Helen ; he is the beauty of the spring and the bounty 
 f the harvest, all visible things partake of his blessed 
 lape ; but for constancy of heart he is himself alone, for 
 lough he had proved, to the poet's advantage, allegori- 
 illy faithless to the Muse, he was literally faithful to the 
 oet ; and weighing the aifection of his friend with his 
 wn, it is assumed that he will ever remain true. We 
 ave seen in Sonnet 37, in what manner Shakespeare 
 artook of his bounty. The sixth couplet of the Sonnet 
 *ain takes up the satire. The Muse bids the object of 
 er love, set, that is, add to, the beauty of womanly 
 eauty ; and he is but rearrayed in Grecian dressings, or 
 i other words, his beauty is but imitated, for what has 
 een said of ancient beauty is his praise. 
 
 Sonnet 54. As this praise would be excessive if not 
 ddressed to true beauty and goodness, the truth and 
 irtue of beauty's rose is now extolled. Though others, 
 
76 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 "painted beauties" (Sonnet 21), may bear as deep a 
 flush as his friend's natural tint, which is compared to a 
 sweet garden rose, in contrast to the common hedge roses 
 of others, which bear no smell or lasting sweetness, while 
 of the garden roses are made the sweet odours, so when 
 his outward beauty fades, his inward virtue shall be dis- 
 tilled by the chemistry of verse. This has reference to 
 Sonnets 5 and 6 ; by virtue of verse, that which the friend 
 refrained from doing is accomplished, and it also attests 
 that with external graces, he possesses inward goodness 
 and sweetness. 
 
 Sonnet 55. Pursuing the subtle allusions to Sonnets 
 5 and 6, and to the eleventh line of the first, the " Proud 
 Sonnet," has become the phial which shall preserve his 
 sweet contents ; and containing such treasure has become 
 big with conception, and is conscious of its power to pre- 
 serve his outward beauty and inner virtue eternally ; 
 in it his friend shall stand before the eyes of the world 
 an ever living monument, when princes' tombs and places 
 of strength. are annihilated, he shall go onward. Thus, 
 till he arrives at the judgment, he lives in verse and 
 dwells in the eyes of lovers, since the verse, as in the 
 following, is full of love. 
 
 The poet in this Sonnet mocks the vaunts of the in- 
 flated sonnetting of the day for particular examples see 
 Spenser, Sonnets 69, 75, 82; Daniels, 41, 42, 52 ; Dray- 
 ton, 6, 44, 47. .It is remarkable that no sonnetting of such 
 bombastic nature appeared after these of Shakespeare's. 
 
 Sonnet 56. After this triumphant flourish the poet 
 addresses his love, and desires it to sustain its power, to 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 77 
 
 we daily appetite, be daily fed, and not sicken and die 
 still beguile the tediousness of absence by dwelling on 
 is friend's image both by day and night ; " The spirit of 
 ve " is to permit this sad interim to be like the ocean 
 hich parts the shore, where two newly contracted daily 
 )me, that when they see return of love more blest may be 
 le view; or call it weary winter, their meeting will be a 
 ssired summer. This refers to Sonnet 44, which de- 
 tribes the friend as visiting him in a vision and return- 
 ig. Being two newly contracted, they cannot but ever 
 ave each other in memory, and desire a real meeting. 
 
 In the two following, the poet declares, in witness of 
 is entire submissiveness, that all his thoughts and affairs 
 :e entirely subservient to his friend's will. 
 
 Sonnet 57. Directly addressing the Spirit of Love'" as 
 is sovereign lord, he will wait in uncomplaining sadness 
 >r the time he may desire thus to visit him ; nor will he 
 uestion with jealous thought his friend's affairs, save that 
 7 here he is he makes others happy. So foolish is the 
 oet's love, that whatever his friend may do, he will 
 abmit to his will in all loving servitude, and find no 
 mlt. The poet appears to refer to the lady, knowing that 
 aany have lost dear friends by such alliances; either 
 ividing the affection or engrossing it altogether. Such 
 
 one is indeed a rival. In this and the following, the 
 >oet blames himself for having presumed to accuse his 
 riend of injuring him, or demanding how he spent his 
 ime, when he is at liberty to do what he chooses when- 
 
 * Compare the 8tli line of this Sonnet with the 10th line of the 44th. for 
 uch address and allusion. 
 
 
THE EXPLANATION 
 
 ever he may desire, so forgiving and loving is the poet'* 
 Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 58. The God of Love which made him first 
 his friend's slave (of love) forbade that he should even in 
 thought control his pleasure, or that his friend should be 
 demanded how he spent his time, as the poet is but his 
 friend's vassal, awaiting his bidding, (see Sonnet 26), and 
 sovereign power* giving him the right not only to make 
 a breach of friendship, but pardon himself for the fault. 
 Meanwhile the poet will calmly wait, and suffer the pangs 
 of absence without complaint. He has shown that the 
 separation is for his friend's advantage, and desires that 
 he will still permit him to remain in solitude, while he 
 may mingle with others as he chooses. The 6th line of 
 this Sonnet refers to the 12th of the 52nd Sonnet. Time 
 is the jailer, and when he wills it, and his friend bids him 
 they will meet. It is also hinted that the patron needs 
 not the poet's pardon for this crime, as he has the power 
 to pardon himself, so no more will be said of it. This 
 Sonnet evidently refers to Sonnets 41 and 144. 
 
 Sonnet 59. Having declared him to be his sovereign, 
 he now contrasts him with the subjects of other poet's 
 verses ; as if for a plea for his singular writing, he desires 
 to see. As he tells the friend, if that which is hath been 
 before, what the ancients would have said in the world, 
 " to this composed wonder of your frame," whether we 
 excel them, or they us in beauty. Oh ! I am sure, he 
 concludes, the learned of a former age, to less worthy 
 
 The 87th hath also a similar reference. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 79 
 
 ibjects gave lofty praise. The third couplet points to 
 ie assumed duality of his nature, as denoted in Sonnets 
 3 and 53. 
 
 Sonnet 60. After looking backward into times long 
 ist, he now glances at the future. He is prophetic as to 
 .s verse in better new times ; and though still at a dis- 
 nce from his friend, the lines seem to denote that he was 
 >ntemplating retracing his way, like the waves towards the 
 .ore. This conjecture is supported by sequent Sonnets. He 
 oitinuesthe apostrophe to the youth of beauty, exclaiming : 
 bat birth, from the night of oblivion to the light of day, 
 Ivances to maturity, wherewith being crowned, his glory 
 icomes obscured by the shadows of age, and Time that 
 ive, now destroys the gift. All things are cut down by 
 s scythe, but the poet's verse shall stand in spite of him. 
 bus, though all things are changed, the verse shall remain 
 achanged, implying that a literary birth far exceeded a 
 itural one in outliving ages. 
 
 Sonnet 61, Assured of the future constancy of his 
 irse, he now discovers his own fixed devotedness, by 
 hich he is rendered a slave to love, dejected and weary of 
 iving one thought, and one object continually before him, 
 id he demands of his friend whether it is by his will his 
 hit wanders so far, standing ever as a watchman 
 ^er him. Is he as jealous of the poet, as the poet is of 
 m ? ! no, the poet says, it is my love for thee that 
 ieps me watching while thou art afar off, with others all 
 o near, alluding to the love the friend had for the lady, 
 id to her having placed his love in her heart. This 
 )nnet is in contrast to the 57th and 58th. There the 
 
 

 80 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 poet speaks of his having discovered the friend to be 
 guilty ; the friend's spirit is now supposed to be jealously 
 watching over the poet to discover inconstancy in him, 
 or waste of time. 
 
 Sonnet 62. He is, however, consoled in these medita- 
 tions, as in Sonnets 22 and 39, with the thought that 
 though separated he is still with him. The praise is then 
 his own, and this sweet flattery fills him with self-love, for 
 which iniquity he upbraids himself ; his glass enforces the 
 truth ; he sees himself in it, in intellectual vision, not in the 
 fresh morning of budding youth, but as antiquity stamped 
 and stained with years. 'Tis thee, myself, he says, for 
 whom I praise myself, adorning my defeatured age with 
 thy youthful beauty. 
 
 From this time the vision of the friend as the spirit of 
 love is no more addressed ; and in the following six Son- 
 nets, the poet soliloquises his thoughts. This upbraiding 
 of his own self-love, as sequent Sonnets will prove, is but 
 an excuse for silence on his journey back, and for speedy 
 conclusion to the song on his return. The reader will 
 discover that in the next and two following Sonnets, 
 the poet still personates antiquity, and contrasts Times 
 pilgrimage with his own. This is confirmed by Sonnet 
 64. He depicts himself as of ancient visage, both as 
 a foil to set off the beauty of his friend, and as testi- 
 mony of his excelling worth. This is done in imitation 
 of the sonnetteers who call Time to witness the perfec- 
 tions of their mistresses. It also shows more vividly 
 Time's ravage of beauty, and is a plea for the poet's 
 striving to keep him ever youthful in his verse. It is 
 evident from what follows, that the series of Sonnets, 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 81 
 
 om the 42nd to the 65th, end the Sonnets written in 
 >sence, and it may be assumed were sent to the friend 
 om the extreme end of his journey. 
 
 Sonnet 63. The aged portrait"* the poet has drawn of 
 mself, the wrinkled face of grave antiquity, is still 
 rther touched upon ; and this preparation of verse is 
 ade against the time when his loved friend's morn shall 
 ive journeyed on to the dark precipice of age, and his 
 iauties have become obscured ; and though Time cuts 
 om memory the lover's life, the poet's lines shall pre- 
 rve his beauty in all its freshness. 
 
 Sonnet 64. The thoughts of his death recall to his 
 icient memory, from what he has seen, that he can but 
 ad a brief life, since antiquity has witnessed, defaced by 
 Line's fell hand, the proud, costly erections of a long past 
 re ; once lofty towers, overthrown and obliterated, and 
 ernal brass succumb to man's destruction. When he 
 is seen the devouring ocean and the firm land change 
 laces,t or state itself utterly annihilated, ruin bids him 
 member that Time will come and take away the object 
 his love. The thought is as a death ; he cannot but 
 eep to possess that which he fears to lose. Thus anti- 
 lity (in the person of the poet) bears witness that the 
 iend is most worthy of being loved, and fears to lose by 
 3ath one so beautiful. 
 
 Sonnet 65. The complaint is renewed. Amidst such 
 
 * A parallel view is here taken of the lines of age and of verse ; the 
 mer, as Montaigne would say, " Were wrinkles imprinted on the mind, 
 t in the face." 
 
 f He now speaks of the loss and gain Time has witnessed as contrast to 
 i own loss and gain in love. 
 
 G 2 
 
82 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 universal annihilation, what can become of beauty, whose 
 strength is but as a flower, which cannot withstand Time's 
 decay ! Who can preserve it 1 What strong hand can 
 withhold Time's progress, or forbid his spoil of beauty ? 
 None ; unless black ink has the miraculous power of 
 keeping it brightly shining in darkness.* Compare this 
 with the 12th, where Shakespeare would give no hope of 
 this being effected but by children ; resigned to his friend's 
 desire verse is now to attain this object. The poet then 
 expressed his own wish, he now fulfils the will of his 
 friend and the desire of his Muse. 
 
 The poet has now returned. This was between the 
 years 1600 and 1601, as will be presently shown. It is 
 strange that there is no mention made of the anticipated 
 joyful meeting at this juncture. There were probably 
 circumstances which Shakespeare did not choose to 
 insert in this poetical diary, as it may have been a 
 felicity which he chose the reader to imagine rather 
 than himself describe. That their reunion was the cause 
 of mutual joyfulness, will be evident, if it is not observed in 
 the following twelve Sonnets, for they, with those from 
 the 60th (which were written when the poet was contem- 
 plating a speedy return) form the most profound and beau- 
 tiful group of the whole series, and end the first poem. 
 
 Sonnet 66. The poet now speaks in his own person 
 The war against Time has ceased ; the times are now 
 attacked. Upon the abuses which he observes on his re- 
 turn, he exclaims, Weary with all these, I desire the 
 
 * In contrast to SS. 43 and 61, that the verse may be like the black 
 night filled with the bright vision of the friend. 
 
OF THE SOX NETS. S3 
 
 eaceful rest death affords. Beholding the worthy but 
 ooiiy born and of mean estate^ the most abject gaily 
 Brayed, and in the best of faith, the most lamentable per- 
 iry ; the highest honour wrongfully given, and the vir- 
 lous maiden proclaimed a strumpet; perfection itself vilely 
 tsgraced, and strength being withheld made powerless ; 
 .'t* silenced by authority, and folly (the professor) master- 
 ig ability (the unskilled) ; plain truth, miscalled folly, and 
 )odness, a captive, serving captain ill ; weary with these, 
 om these I would depart, save that by dying I am severed 
 om my loved friend. This lament is occasioned by the poet's 
 atchful regard for his patron, amid the evils with which 
 3 was surrounded ; of which the poet himself is weary, 
 id would desire death were it not for his friend's sake, 
 nee there is nothing in the world for which he cares 
 :cept his friend's love. The vile times thus proved 
 iworthy of both the poet and the patron ; and the poet 
 >eaking in the name of his muse, would, were it not for 
 Le sake of her beloved, at once end her poetic life. In 
 ie two following Sonnets the friend's face is said to be as 
 map of the beauty of antiquity, these Sonnets the poet 
 irposely made in contrast to the picture of himself as 
 itiquity. 
 
 Sonnet 67. He sighs to find his friend has to live 
 nid such depravity. The times being so corrupt, he 
 ars his friend may be blamed with them ; hence several 
 mnets harp upon this chord. Ah! (the poet sighs) 
 herefore should he (the love of the last line of the 
 evious Sonnet) live amidst the world's contagion, 
 
 Dramatic art. 
 
84 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 gracing profanity with his presence, in such impious 
 times of profaned beauty \ Why should poor beauty 
 steal lifeless imitation of his living hue ? Why should 
 she deceitfully seek painted roses, since his is the true 
 one ? Why should he live, now nature is so impo- 
 verished of rosy blushes 1 possessing no riches but his ; 
 and proud of many, centres her reputation upon one. Him 
 she richly values, as showing her wealth in ancient times, 
 before these last, so degenerate. This is a variation of the 
 first lines of the commencing Sonnet of this series (21) : 
 
 " So it is not with me as with that Muse, 
 Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse." 
 
 Nothing seems to have met Shakespeare's reproach so 
 much as face-painting. To make his own case good 
 he continues in the satiric vein."* The theme of the 
 poet's Muse being, Why should my lovely truthful rose 
 become disgraced by living with the false 1 of whom Nature 
 is ashamed. The poet might have added, in his own words, 
 from " Troilus and Cressida : " Had I a sister were a 
 grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice." 
 Sonnet 68 Therefore his friend's cheek is the map 
 of days quite gone, when beauty lived and died as 
 flowers do now ; before the illegitimate signs of beauty 
 were displayed, or dared find residence on a living 
 head ; before the valued tresses of the dead (the right of 
 sepulchres) were shorn away to live again upon the head 
 of another ; before buried beauty's fleece appeared upon a 
 
 * Stubbs in his "Anatomy of Abuses," 1585, warns the fair sex against 
 incurring the displeasure of heaven for these offences ; and Ophelia has 
 the ironical term "beautified" applied to her by her satirical lover, 
 Hamlet. Nevertheless, allowing for change of time and customs, the poet's 
 argument still stands good witness rouge and chignons, the technical term 
 for hair from the tomb is " Churchyard hair." 
 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 85 
 
 icond head. In him are seen those ancient sacred hours 
 ithout adornment ; beautiful in himself, not the reaped 
 rowth of another summer. Robbing from none of the 
 ast to give him present beauty, he is stored by nature 
 5 a map, to show adulterous art what beauty was 
 )rrnerly. Thus these times of sinful infectious impiety 
 re contrasted with his holy antique hours of living 
 'uth, and the question is answered, " Wherefore with 
 ifection should he live V and the Muse has affirmed that 
 ithout false ornament her beloved was the most beauti- 
 il. The drift of the Muse is that a mere mortal woman 
 \ not worthy of him ; she is indirectly warring with her 
 ival. The last Sonnet being mainly upon painting the 
 ice, this upon dressing the head."* 
 
 Sonnet 69. Having spoken of the corruptions of the 
 lines amongst other thiogs of right perfection being 
 wrongfully disgraced his friend is now adduced as an 
 xample of the world's misjudgment, and vindicated, 
 hough at the same time warned. He is told : Those of 
 hy parts which are viewed by the eye of the world want 
 lothing that the innermost thoughts of the world can 
 >etter : the tongues of all souls proclaim this thy due, 
 vhich is the plain truth. They allow the sovereignty of 
 hy outer graces, but of thy beauty of mind they guess 
 >y what they see of thy actions ; then wilfully, although 
 heir eyes were loving, they add to thy beautiful flower 
 ihe rank smell of weeds. But wherefore does not thy 
 )dour match thy appearance I The solution is this : 
 Thou art becoming common ! The poet has complained 
 
 * It must be remembered this was written during the last years of 
 Elizabeth, when these arts were in the height of fashion. 
 
 
86 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 in the 61st of his being all too near with others while 
 absent from him. 
 
 Sonnet 70. Ceasing to warn him further, he boldly 
 rebuts the slander, and turns it to the friends advantage. 
 Though thou art blamed, the poet continues, it shall not be 
 to thy dishonour ; for slander (a crow that flies in the 
 sweetest air of heaven) ever levels at the beautiful. While 
 you remain virtuous, slander, which in these ill times is 
 courted, but attests your innocence, as canker vice loves 
 the sweetest buds. Thou presentest a pure spotless man- 
 hood ;* thou hastpassed by the dangers of youth either un- 
 unassailed by slander, or victorious, being so. Though 
 thou deservest this praise it has not the power to silence 
 envious detractors ; they are never tongue-tied, and were it 
 not for slander and envy you would be universally be- 
 loved. He thus attests the truth of his beauty and 
 virtue : He is far too good to live in times so bad ; his 
 only fault is that by associating too much with the world 
 he has become blamed with the blameworthy. Hence the 
 deep sigh commencing Sonnet 6 7. We shall show in more 
 advanced Sonnets the occasion which especially gave rise 
 to this slander, rebuke, and warning. 
 
 Having brought the poem to an intended conclusion, 
 the poet gives his loved friend some instructions how to 
 act in the event of his own death, desiring him to deny 
 the friendship, lest it bring him disgrace. 
 
 Sonnet 71. As if to console his friend, the poet 
 
 * The poet may well say this of his friend, the past offence (S.s. 33 to 
 43) being, as shown, merely allegorical. In this instance it is a real fault, 
 though not meriting the censure of either the world or 'the poet. Ben 
 Jonson also extols him as an example of virtue in an age of vice (see 
 Additional Notes to this Sonnet). 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 87 
 
 ictures the usage he has received from " the wise world." 
 ieturning to the theme of separation by death (and 
 hese sad thoughts well nigh occasion such a desire), and 
 erhaps as a testimony to the purity of his ardent friend- 
 hip, especially as since his return he has written still 
 lore solemnly and sadly, he cries out, in the bitterest 
 irain : Mourn no more for me when I am dead than 
 tie time you hear the surly sullen bell toll forth to the 
 r orld that I am gone from this vile world to dwell with 
 ilest worms ; and if you read this line, remember not 
 be hand that wrote it ; for my love for you is such that 
 
 would be forgotten if you should be saddened by 
 3membrance of me. If you should look upon this verse 
 r hen I am mingled with clay, do not so much as utter 
 ly name, but let your love die with my life, lest the 
 wise world " should observe your sorrow, and deride you 
 /ith me after I am dead. The " wise world," which had 
 ndged the friend wrongfully, was equally unjust to the 
 oet's merits. The poem coming to an end, that it may con- 
 lin a complete testimony of love, the poet speaks of death 
 
 d the grave, which will alone separate and end their love. 
 
 Sonnet 72 harps ironically upon the same mournful 
 ote. Lest (says the poet) you should be tasked to 
 acount what merit I possessed when living that you 
 hould esteem after my death, dear love, forget me quite ; 
 )r you can tell of nothing worthy in me, unless you 
 evise something false beyond my desert, and honour me 
 rith more praise when dead than careful truth would freely 
 ffer. Lest you should then be accused of a lie out of 
 for me, bury my name with my body, that it may no 
 
88 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 longer live for thy or my shame ; for I am disgraced by 
 that which I give birth to, so are you to love things un- 
 worthy. The poet fears his Sonnets will be condemned 
 because their author has appeared upon the public stage. 
 
 Sonnet 73. Having given reasons which the world 
 held sufficient for his friend to dislike him, he now 
 instances one why he should love him. Eeproducing the 
 picture of himself advanced in years, in proof of his 
 love only ending with his life, the bright morning of his 
 friend's youth is again contrasted with the shadows of 
 age in which the poet is enshrouded, as a foil to their 
 mutual glory. In this strain, but in a more cheerful 
 tone, he continues thus : Thou mayst in me behold 
 (intellectually) that season of the year when few or no 
 yellow leaves hang upon the bare choirs of the weather- 
 beaten boughs, where the sweet birds were wont to sing. 
 I appear to thee as the twilight of a day in autumn, when 
 in the west the setting sun fadeth, which soon black 
 night, the shadow of death, taketh away. It is this that 
 impels thee to love that which thou must soon lose. 
 Thus, though crumbling in the ashes of age, he dwells 
 for ever in the presence of immortal youth. The poet 
 assumes the cessation of the Sonnets to be the end of his 
 poetic life, to which he makes allusion in the words, 
 " Where late the sweet birds sang," the end of the 
 poem being figuratively the end of his own life. His 
 friend may love him, not for his merit, but because he 
 will look upon him as an old friend, from whom he must 
 soon part ; so that instead of Shakespeare meditating, 
 as has been hitherto supposed, an early death, he was 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 8, 
 
 ng to live to a good old age, as figured by him 
 the Sonnet, that his love and verse might bear 
 tness together. 
 
 Sonnet 74. As death may separate them, he requests 
 friend to be prepared, without complaint, for the time 
 
 en the fell sergeant Death, without all bail, shall carry 
 aim away, as he will still live in the memorial of friend- 
 ship which is his better part. The earth will have his 
 3arth, his baser substance. His lifeless body, the mere 
 prey of worms, is unworthy of his friend's remembrance, 
 being the coward conquest of Time's vile knife ; it is not 
 ois baser part, but his better part, which it is his will 
 should remain with his friend. So Henry V. speaks of 
 bis baser part as " this frail and worthless trunk/' The 
 poet still descants upon the saddest of themes, as if he 
 felt that tombs wanted tongues ; and when we gaze upon 
 the Stratford monument we can but rejoice to know that 
 we may still hear the poet speak in these poems which 
 he loved so much, and in which he has bequeathed to us 
 his innermost thoughts. 
 
 Having meditated upon death, he now speaks of that 
 from which he receives present life, which he may well 
 do, as the friend does not with the world despise him. 
 
 
 Sonnet 75. His friend is as the very life of his thoughts, 
 or as the gentle showers of the seasons are to the earth. 
 Thus his friend occasions in him the flowers of fancy to 
 spring forth ; and for his possession he holds such strife as 
 a miser for his wealth ; now proud of having him, and 
 then fearing the filching age will steal his treasure ; now 
 counting it better to enjoy his friendship in absence, then 
 thinking it better that the world may see his pleasure ; 
 
90 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 sometimes overjoyed at his society, at another time quite 
 bereft of it, having or striving for no delight but what his 
 friend affords. Thus the poet from time to time is either 
 bereft of him altogether, or enjoying his society to abun- 
 dance. This must also be considered as a reason for ceasing 
 the song, since for the muse to surfeit to such excess in 
 his presence, is worse than to pine in absence see Sonnets 
 39, 52, 118, 119. This Sonnet indicates that since the 
 poet's return, they were much in each others company. 
 
 Sonnet 76. With an unalterable love, why should the 
 song alter, assuming that the monotonous strain it still 
 takes may be supposed a fault. It had become customary 
 to change both the subject and style of the verse, but as the 
 poet writes still to one and of one, his verse, like himself, 
 is ever the same, being the servant of one master, it ever 
 appears in the same dress. Hence, his verse is a type of his 
 constancy, and every word denotes its author and his love. 
 
 Sonnet 77. It is further shown that there is no need of 
 varying the theme, or even of continuing it. Fearing, as a 
 further Sonnet indicates, to make himself too common, as so 
 many birds of a like feather were then in wild song and 
 ready to chant his patron's praise, he thought it were wise 
 to cease, which he accordingly did, and bids him a present 
 farewell. The plea for so doing is that the task the poet 
 set himself is now accomplished, namely, the making a 
 lasting record of his patron's youth, beauty, and friendship. 
 Hence the poet's verse need not tell him the marks made 
 by Time's progress, his glass will do that, and every wrinkle 
 remind him of an open grave ; nor need it upbraid him 
 with the waste of time, the clock will do that. With this 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 91 
 
 Invoy is also presented a book for the purposes of study, 
 ?rom Sonnet 23, it has been already seen that Shakespeare 
 promised Books of Sonnets to his friend. This promise, 
 is will be seen, was not fulfilled to the friend's satisfaction. 
 Co the present book there were leaves remaining blank, 
 ipon which the friend was told to nurse the offspring 
 >egotten by his own fancy, both for his own advantage 
 ind his book's enrichment. This was a high compliment, 
 ind it is pleasant to observe that the vices of frailty 
 n friendship, so strongly depicted in these verses of 
 Shakespeare, were afterwards also censured by Lord 
 Herbert himself in his own poems. Thus ends the first 
 livision, which divides the poem into two parts. The 
 lomewhat abrupt ending of the song may have been 
 >ccasioned by the death of Lord Herbert's father in the 
 tutumn of 1601, and by the death of the poet's father, 
 ,vhich occurred a little later in the same year. 
 
 The length of the interim between the cessation and 
 enewal of the chain of Sonnets, may be gathered from the 
 Allowing circumstances to have been about twelve months 
 luration. Between 1601-2, the company of players to 
 vhich Shakespeare belonged returned from the Scotch 
 3ourt, with a bounty of 400 for their services. They had 
 )een absent from Oct. 1599 to Dec. 1601,andit appears that 
 i few months after this date Shakespeare ceased writing. 
 For further particulars concerning the visit of Shake- 
 ipeare's company to Scotland consult Knight and Collier's 
 editions of Shakespeare. Mr. Collier informs us that the 
 >oet's absence from Stratford was longer than usual 
 luring this period, and that probably he visited the 
 Scotch capital, and these poems indicate that at this date 
 le made a lengthened journey. 
 
92 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 The occasion which stirred our poet to readdress his 
 friend, arose from rival poets dedicating works to his 
 coveted friend ; this was in 1 603, and fixes the date early in 
 that year. Upon the entry of James to take possession of 
 the throne of England, the king stayed at Wilton (the an- 
 cestral home of the Earls of Pembroke), during his progress 
 through his new kingdom, upon which occasion Shake- 
 speare's company of players was invited by the young 
 Earl to entertain the king ; and there is probability that it 
 was at the injunction of James that Macbeth was written. 
 To this occasion also the player-editors of the first folio 
 may refer when speaking of Shakespeare having been so 
 highly favoured by the Earls of Pembroke, of which they 
 bore witness. Tradition affirms that James wrote a letter to 
 Shakespeare, and received some verses in return. Thus 
 we determine that the song ceased between 1601 and 
 
 1602, and began again in 1603.*'" 
 
 Sonnet 78. As if because of the poet's ceasing the 
 song, the patron-friend affects to favour other poets. 
 Shakespeare commences by reminding the young lord 
 that he was his first poet, and that others, who had no 
 claim on him, were imitating his example, and were 
 making that use of him which was his own privileged right 
 His friend's eyes, which he extolled in the first Sonnet, he 
 again praises ; they not only attracted Shakespeare, but 
 now incite others ; and by looking favourably upon him 
 and his writing they had raised him from earth to 
 heaven. The patron-friend must be most proud of that 
 which Shakespeare compiles, as he is the only begetter, 
 
 * The renewal of our poet's sonnetting appears to have began early in 
 
 1603, and lasted till midsummer of the same year, so that upon the visit 
 of James the friend would possess the entire series. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 93 
 
 ,nd the poems are begotten by his inspiration alone on the 
 he poet's brain, he being married to his Muse ; in others, 
 ie is but partially felt, and but adds grace to graces, while 
 le is all the poet's art, and his verse is exalted by writing 
 >f his friend's excellences. Thus, as in Sonnet 38 the 
 >atron is to receive all praise ; without him the poet 
 steems himself nothing. In the first series, he denotes 
 hat he derived his knowledge from his friend's eyes ; he 
 tow asserts they are alone his intellectual light. The poet 
 ^ careful in renewing the song to attach it to the former 
 art, the tenth line of this being linked to the eleventh 
 :ne of the last Sonnet. 
 
 Sonnet 79. Another now partakes of his friend's 
 ;race, and to him Shakespeare is willing to resign office. 
 )ur poet's gracious numbers having come to an end, the 
 esult is that a worthier pen (the patron's desert) is used, 
 finch is to bring forth a better conception. But what 
 Shakespeare's rival offers is but stolen. He gives virtue 
 nd beauty : the one he stole from the patron's course of 
 fe, the other from his cheek ; nor can he offer any praise 
 hat does not already live in him. The patron is, then, 
 o thank him not for what he lends, since the debt^the 
 ival owes the patron himself pays. It will presently be 
 hown that the rival still owed a promised debt, but now 
 s come too late to pay it. This Sonnet and two others 
 finch follow bear testimony to the statement made in 
 he 77th, that there is now no occasion for Shakespeare, 
 auch less another, to celebrate his patron's praise ; for 
 be friend is himself his own living praise, and when he 
 ies the Sonnets will keep it ever living. Our poet 
 3igns that his Muse fell sick and became silenced by 
 eeing such mighty rivals arising. 
 
94 THE EXPLAKATION 
 
 Who this rival was who with others sought the young 
 earl's patronage has been already mentioned in the Pre- 
 liminary Kemarks ; and in the Notes appended to this 
 Essay evidence is adduced to establish beyond a doubt 
 that it is he to whom Shakespeare chiefly alludes ; and 
 were it not by being, as Davies himself admits, graced by 
 eternal lines, he would be permitted to fall silently into 
 oblivion. The manner in which he is satirised is worthy 
 attention, and the reader will not fail to perceive the 
 ironical touches the friend receives for giving him counte- 
 nance. The allusions to the other poets are given in the 
 Additional Notes. 
 
 Sonnet 80 is imbued with the spirit of satire ; hence 
 the poet feigns to fear competition with his rival, whose 
 verse is compared to a vessel of " tall building and goodly 
 pride," afloat in the flood of prosperity, in comparison to 
 which the verse of Shakespeare is an impudent petty 
 bark. The poet further adds : Then if he gain thy love, 
 and I am cast off, my worst fault is that my love is alone 
 the cause, since (as he concludes the 32nd Sonnet) I 
 write, not to show my wit, but my love. He thus 
 changes situation with his antagonist, the description of 
 his own verse being but a just description of that of his 
 rival. 
 
 Sonnet 81 refers to the fear expressed in the last that 
 his sick love may decay and die. This leads him to 
 meditate upon the consequences of such an event, which 
 he does with all his strength, as if by loud sounding 
 words to give battle to his foe*"' and passionate admonition 
 
 * This sudden retraction is quite in Shakespeare's manner. Compare 
 " Macbeth," act iv. sc. 3, in which Malcolm " unspeaks his own detraction" P 
 to Macduff. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 95 
 
 iis patron. The irony in the 4th and 6th lines is self- 
 ddent. This is an unusually lucid Sonnet, and the 
 ader will not fail to observe its connection with the 
 3th, in which the poet appears to have predicted the 
 mrse events might afterwards take. The 55th, 71st, 
 id 74th spring from the same motive : he does not 
 rite for self praise, but to glorify his friend. In the 
 tth, to which he especially refers, he rejoices that his 
 itter parts, when he is dead, will live in his verse, 
 ough now he feigns that his friend discards him, and 
 erefore denies without reserve such life, or if his friend 
 isires it he will steal off unidentified and die forgotten. 
 
 Sonnet 82. Since his friend's love for him appears 
 ssened, and he may desire to leave him, the poet at 
 
 F absolves him from the tie to his verse, by ex- 
 ing 
 " I grant, thou wert not married to my Muse ; " 
 
 d thus fulfils the promise he had made (Sonnet 49), 
 d as he observes his patron desires to give favourable 
 mces to others' dedications, and accept another's love, 
 admits that he may do so without dishonour, and at 
 ce denies the bond of love which united him in mar- 
 ge of verse with his Muse. His patron had been 
 ided by an alien pen as one 
 
 " Whose outward shape, though it most lovely be, 
 Doth in fair robes a fairer soul attire ; 
 Who, rich in fading wealth, in endless treasure 
 Of virtue, valour, learning, richer art, &c.,* 
 
 dch was" certainly a limit beyond Shakespeare's praise. 
 
 See Additional Notes. In advance^ years (1616) Chapman, in a dedi- 
 on to him of his translation of Homer, tells him that he is illumined 
 h " the form divine of godlike learning." 
 
 H 
 
96 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 His friend's mental graces exceeded his external. Shake- 
 speare never brings them upon the same level. In the 
 1 6th his " inward worth " and " outward fair," and in the 
 54th and other places we find them coupled, though not 
 always to his advantage ; but now in one ironical line 
 more is allowed him by Shakespeare than in all his poem 
 besides. He is told 
 
 " Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,"* 
 
 or, in other words, as beautiful in mind as in appearance. 
 The patron, esteeming himself of such worth, is obliged 
 to seek some fresher sign of the better new time, fore- 
 seen long since (Sonnet 32). After this ironical touch, 
 the poet continues : And do so love; yet when they 
 (the rival poets) have done their utmost thy true beauty 
 finds truest sympathy in thy truthful friend. They 
 had better adorn the pallid cheeks of their mistresses 
 with false colourings than thus abuse thee. The closing 
 couplet may be especially compared with the 21st and 
 6 7th Sonnets, which bear out the solution here given. 
 
 Sonnet 83. He now excuses himself for having ceased 
 writing, the plea being that his trifling pen fell far 
 short of the excellence the patron deserved, who, being 
 still living, far better published his own growing worth. 
 Thus that which is imputed to Shakespeare as a sin is his 
 chief glory, since by being silent he does not deface 
 beauty, and, promising to give life, bring, like others, a 
 tomb to bury that which exists. This alludes to John 
 
 * The quarto, 1609 (the original copy) is printed "hew," and in two 
 places in the 20th Sonnet the word is spelt the same ; it is frequently 
 found so in Spenser and others of that age. 
 
OF THE BONN 
 
 ivies, and the last word of the Sonnet, " devise," may 
 a pun upon his name. Davies' lines are : 
 
 " Dear Lord, if so I could I would make known 
 How much I long to keep thee still alive ; 
 These lines, though short, so long shall be thine own 
 As they have power vitality to give." 
 
 ies also extols the friend's " bright eyes ;" hence 
 Shakespeare says that the living brightness of the friend's 
 iyes exceeds all that either of his poets can write in his 
 )raise. Shakespeare thus excuses his past silence : I 
 ceased that you might show how vainly a pen of the 
 3resent time seeks to describe you. 
 
 Sonnet 84. He is asked who is it that says most ? 
 WTiat more can be said than that he is alone himself, and 
 :here is no other living like him ? No praise can exceed 
 Dhis ; silence should then ensue, as he himself is the best 
 axposition of himself. The designation of " alien pen " in 
 bhe 78th, when referring to other poets, is again harped 
 apon in the 5th line of this Sonnet, the conceit lying in 
 die sound of " alien pen " and " a lean pen," which, allied 
 GO the expression " lean penury," is peculiarly expressive 
 Df the meagre verses to which they refer. But could his 
 rival (the poet adds) describe the patron as he is, the 
 iescription would be admired by all, and his (i. e., Davies') 
 learning made famous. His fault is that he can neither 
 ?ive glory nor will he let well alone. Shakespeare grieves 
 :hat such an offering should be accepted, on which 
 iccount the friend is accused of foolishly loving praise, 
 fohn Davies, who was a celebrated caligraphist, his skill 
 .herein far exceeding his ability to make verses, is here 
 ;old that he has but to copy what is written in the 
 'riend, and his writing will be admired by all. 
 
 H 2 
 
98 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 Sonnet 85. Shakespeare, however ready to renew his 
 song, will not do so till his rival ceases. He waits atten- 
 tively, enraptured with the heavenly harmony which he 
 supposes charms his friend, exclaiming : My mannerly 
 Muse waits patiently while the richest compilation of 
 lasting praise, perfected by all the Muses, is offered to 
 you. While others write good words I think good 
 thoughts, and to every divine hymn that able spirit 
 utters I like an ignorant clerk respond "Amen," thus 
 attesting your praise as truth ; but in thought I add 
 something more, and it but follows by my love for you 
 that it should take the lead. Then esteem others for 
 what they say of you, me for what I think. So that 
 though he had ceased writing to him he had not ceased 
 thinking about him. Poets being formerly termed clerks, 
 the application is thus twofold. "Unlettered" is an 
 ironical re-echo of " rude ignorance " in the 78th. As 
 Davies commenced one of his sonnets with " Dear Lord," 
 he is here pictured as praying for patronage, Shakespeare 
 thus feigning that his rival's love was as devoted as his 
 own " a religious love." The poet's thoughts, when 
 penning this Sonnet, were apparently dwelling on the 
 enconium Francis Meres had penned upon his verse ; 
 and by recalling to his patron the terms used, thus art- 
 fully would mark more vividly the contrast. The pas- 
 sage from the " Wit's Treasury " runs thus : " As Epius 
 Stolo said the Muses would speak with Plautus' tongue if 
 they would speak Latin, so I say that the Muses would 
 speak with Shakespeare's fine filed phrase if they would 
 speak English." 
 
 Sonnet 86. In the same vein, the poet continues : 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 99 
 
 r as it the transcendent merit of his verse directed to 
 ^ ou that inhearsed in my brain my mature thoughts 1 
 Was it that his spirit was taught by spirits to write 
 above a mortal pitch, that put dead silence upon me ? 
 No ; my verse was neither astonished at him nor at his 
 mighty familiar (i. e., the spirit of darkness whom he 
 nvoked, and who aided him to write above a mortal 
 pitch), and nightly deceived him with false knowledge. He 
 3annot victoriously boast that my silence was through 
 fear ; but when your countenance filled up his verse, then 
 I lacked argument. The friend had, as Davies him- 
 self intimates, previously accepted his verses 
 
 " Sith once I vowed myself to thee and thine," 
 
 which appears to have been about the time Shakespeare 
 ceased writing, as he feigns that his ripe thoughts were 
 inhearsed in his brain by his rival's lines, which may 
 partly account for the admonition and the abrupt ending 
 D the 77th. 
 
 Sonnet 87. Feigning that his friend will no longer 
 require his unworthy services, he affects to fulfil the 
 promise made in Sonnet 49, and at once bids him fare- 
 well. The poet surmises that the friend knows his 
 3wn worth, which releases him from all the ties with 
 which Shakespeare holds him. The poet is found un- 
 worthy of monopolising such a rich gift, and so his 
 oatent is withdrawn. It has thus been but a brief delusive 
 Iream of friendship, from which he is now awakened. 
 This, it will be found, is in close unity with the 25th, 
 29th, and 37th Sonnets. At the time Herbert gave him- 
 self to Shakespeare he had not, as at this time, by the 
 
100 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 death of his father in 1601, succeeded to the family 
 titles ; therefore the patron's frailty is imputed to his 
 present high station. 
 
 Sonnet 88. The promise is repeated. The friend is 
 told : When thou shalt feel disposed to make me appear 
 unworthy, and glance scornfully at my merit, I will 
 attack myself for thy right, and prove thy words true 
 though they are false, knowing well my own unworthi- 
 ness. Upon thy part I can feign to write of concealed 
 faults wherein I am attainted, that thou by my loss shall 
 win glory, and I too be a gainer ; for my loving thoughts 
 being all thine, the wrongs I do to myself for thy advan- 
 tage are doubly to my interest, my love for thee being so 
 much thine own that for thy right I will bear all wrong. 
 So he will appear as vile as he presently proves the patron 
 to be for accepting others' praises. The promise the poet 
 makes in this Sonnet is carried out in the 1 1 7th. 
 
 Sonnet 89. Assuming that his friend desires entire 
 release from the ties which bind them, the poet will, if 
 his patron so desires it, admit an entire separation. He 
 urges his friend to say that he forsook him for some 
 fault, and he will at once attest the offence. He instances 
 one : Speak (he tells him) of " my lameness," i. e., 
 impute the worst defects you can to me, and I will make 
 no defence, but will at once deny any claim to thee. 
 Thou canst not, Love (he lovingly exclaims), disgrace me 
 half so vilely by defining the change you desire as I will 
 disgrace myself. Knowing thy wish, I will bring our ac- 
 quaintanceship to an end, appear a stranger, and be absent 
 from thy company, and my tongue shall cease to utter 
 thy beloved name, lest, being all unworthy, I should 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 101 
 
 lame it by speaking of our former friendship. For thy 
 I will debate against myself, for if you hate me I 
 iust cease to love myself. 
 
 Some have supposed (among them Sir Walter Scott) 
 tat Shakespeare was really lame. What excuse would 
 ie friend have for leaving him if he was ? To sever 
 iendship on that account would indeed be folly. That 
 diich the poet means is evident, if we compare with this 
 Sonnet the 36th and 37th, of which this is but a re-echo. 
 r e there find that the " lameness " is the separation made 
 jtween them by fortune ; he now refers more especially 
 the lameness of his verse as an excuse for his patron 
 saving him.* 
 
 Sonnet 90. If the friend will ever hate him, he is 
 desired to do so now, while the world is disposed to 
 blame him ; he is but to join with the spite of fortune, 
 not to delay it ; not to give the ominous night of 
 the past a dismal future, causing the poet to live in 
 doubt ; not to wait till other comparatively trifling 
 sorrows are past. Let me (says the poet) taste the 
 severest fortune, and what else seems sorrow, will not 
 then be so, compared with thy loss : meaning, that the 
 pangs occasioned by the disgrace the world flings upon 
 him, arising from his disgraced profession, are but slight 
 in comparison to what the loss of his friend would be. 
 
 Sonnet 91. The poet now defines how much he should 
 lose by the loss of his friend. This is a variation of the 
 theme of the 37th, showing how much the covenant 
 of loving friendship obtained for him. All the glory 
 of his friend's youth, beauty, and state he may claim 
 
 * Shakespeare elsewhere speaks derisively of " a halting Sonnet." 
 
102 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 with him. He can then boast of having that which is 
 the pride of all men, and is only wretched in one thing, 
 that his friend can take all from him, and make him truly 
 miserable/'" 
 
 In the Comedy of " Much Ado about Nothing," there is 
 passage illustrative of this Sonnet. Benedick, as before 
 remarked, is unmistakeably a portrait of Herbert, and it 
 is to him the witty ladies, Beatrice and Margaret, refer in 
 the ensuing conversation, on the eve of Hero's wedding. 
 Beatrice exclaims, " Heigh ho ! " Margaret demands, 
 " For a hawk, a horse, or a husband 1 " She answers, 
 " For the letter that begins them aU, H ! " So Shake- 
 speare's heart's desire is for H ; and having him, he can 
 flatter himself he has nobility, beauty, and youth. 
 
 Sonnet 92. The friend is now told that though he 
 should do his worst to steal himself away ; the poet will 
 claim him for life, and life will stay no longer than his 
 love ; then there is no need of him fearing the worst of 
 wrongs, when the slightest decay of his friend's love ends 
 his life. The poet thus fulfils his promise ; for though 
 they are wedded together by verse with the closest of 
 ties, and it is his privilege to say, 
 
 " For term of life thou art assured mine." 
 
 yet, ever ready to bend to his friend's desire, he at once 
 frees him ; the while he will not be cast down, since he 
 will not observe his inconstancy. 
 
 Sonnet 93. This Sonnet harps upon the concluding 
 
 * The expressive application of the word "make" in the final line of the 
 Sonnet is the theme of the three following. Make was formerly synonomous 
 with husband, i. e., mate. (See allusions in the 4th line of the 9th Sonnet.) 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 103 
 
 mplet of the foregoing. A reason is given why he 
 should look upon the friend and not detect a fault. 
 Thus shall T live, like a deceived husband (the poet 
 continues), believing you to be true/"" I will ever believe 
 your kind looks are towards me, though your heart be 
 elsewhere ; by thy loving eye I shall never know the 
 change, nor by thy looks shall I ever know thy heart. 
 Heaven has decreed that love should ever dwell in thy 
 face ; and whatever are thy thoughts, or the workings of 
 thy heart, that thy looks should ever declare thee true ; 
 but if thy virtue does not equal thy appearance, you will 
 grow like Eve's deceptive apple, rotten at the core ; so 
 that, though appearing true in face, the friend would be 
 false in heart. 
 
 Sonnet 94, continues the warning, while covertly allud- 
 ing to the friend's high station. He is told Those who 
 have the power of doing injuries, and do none, and do not 
 that which appearances give out, who have the power of 
 moving others, but are themselves unmoved, and are not 
 quickly tempted, are worthy inheritors of heaven's endow- 
 ments, and husband from waste nature's best gifts ; their 
 faces are indexes of their hearts, they being lords of both ; 
 others are but stewards, giving an account of their posses- 
 sions. The summer's flower is sweet to summer, though 
 it lives and dies to itself ; but if that flower becomes 
 infected, its worth is exceeded by the basest weed : for as 
 festering lilies smell worse than weeds, so the sweetest by 
 ill deeds become sourest. The friend is thus warned not 
 
 C f The marriage of the muse was also the occasion of the marriage of 
 ncls, in which the poet claims his feminine friend in a platonic wedlock, 
 as pictured in Sonnet 20. 
 
104 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 to be guilty of the rank fault of deserting him to whom 
 he is firmly pledged ; and having given himself up to 
 another, is thus guilty of the vilest connubial sin. Shake- 
 speare, being complete master of his art, delighted in the 
 most striking and vivid contrasts, in opposing the brightest 
 lights to the deepest shades ; more and more fervently he 
 harps upon the mystic theme, from its lowest note to its 
 highest pitch. Upon the present topic jealousy, the 
 great dramatist could not lightly speak. The last line of 
 this Sonnet appears to have been a proverbial expression ; 
 there are several such used throughout these Sonnets 
 and they are also sprinkled throughout the plays. 
 
 As a picture of inconstancy in the marriage of minds 
 
 it is declared, in the two following Sonnets, that the friend 
 
 has become as Eve's apple, and has unfeignedly turned 
 
 towards others. He is accused of the same vice as when 
 
 the lady wished to secure him for herself. These Sonnets 
 
 are a climax to the rivalry which the poet has experienced, 
 
 the whole of which undoubtedly amused the " private 
 
 friends," the language being of such a magical nature 
 
 that oftentimes, both with poet and patron, innocence is 
 
 made to appear guilt, and the world confounded; but 
 
 anon the poet removes his mask of vice from his picture 
 
 of virtue. The poet, like the Duke in " Measure for 
 
 Measure," has an object in view ; for it may be said of 
 
 almost all his Sonnets, as of the Duke's missives to 
 
 Angelo : 
 
 " ESCAL. Every letter lie hath writ hath disvouched other. 
 ANG. In most uneven and distracted manner. 
 
 His actions show much like to madness : pray heaven, 
 His wisdom be not tainted." 
 
 He does not, as one of Fletcher's characters, " exchange a 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 105 
 
 'eal innocence to gain a mere fantastisal report," but to 
 ulfil a purpose which we shall fully show. 
 
 Sonnet 95. The poet now, as one of his lordly master's 
 tewards, speaks of himself as recording the story of his 
 )atron's early life, and making wanton comments upon his 
 11 behaviour. His vilest faults become him, in him 
 hey appear graces ; his dispraise becomes praise ; 
 lis very name is a guard against ill report. Oh ! 
 sighs the poet) thy adulterous friendship makes thee 
 Lppear but as a mansion inhabited by vices, and though 
 jvery blot is hid by the veil of beauty, and all things 
 Turned fair, beware of thy advantage ; you must not 
 3elie your appearance : take heed, dear heart, the best 
 tempered steel, ill used, loses its temper ; thus apologising 
 for the passionate outburst. The friend now receives 
 the most bitter though loving reproof, because this touched 
 the poet more nearly than the feignings referring to the 
 lady rival. 
 
 Sonnet 96. On the previous occasion of the breach 
 of friendship the friend is forgiven on account of his 
 youth and beauty ; he is now pardoned because the poet's 
 rivals are attracted by " his state ' and partly on account 
 of the plea others made for him (the private friends), 
 declaring it to be but youthful wantonness. Being alone 
 Shakespeare's, he is warned to be more regardful of his 
 actions, and not to lead away others by making use of 
 his high station, and he is beseeched not to do so, because 
 Shakespeare so loves him by reason of his being his 
 second self that he does not wish by lascivious comments 
 to report ill of him. 
 
106 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 The concluding couplet is a repetition of the closing 
 one of the 36th. In the earlier one the poet, fearful lest 
 his friend should become disgraced by him, desired him to 
 rejoice in the separation then occasioned by absence, as 
 the friendship would then bring no disgrace upon him. 
 Now he is blamed for a stain upon his own character. In 
 the earlier one there are fears expressed lest the despised 
 player may disgrace the peer ; now the tables are turned, 
 it is the earl who may disgrace the player. This is an 
 apt and loving retort, hence the repetition of the 
 couplet. The friend's fault in the early part of the poem 
 is quickly forgiven, as it is proved to the poet's advan- 
 tage ; but as it is not in the present instance to his 
 honour, the friend is doubly blamed ; besides, this apt 
 couplet contains the secret of their mystical union, and 
 the poet repeats the admonition because he is his friend's 
 chronicler, and desires not to allegorise his vices, but to 
 extol his virtues. 
 
 These expostulations have the desired effect ; recon- 
 ciliation follows, and no more wanton comments are 
 made upon him, and a far stronger and more lasting 
 friendship grows between them ; their ruined love is 
 built anew on a broader principle, and endless peace pro- 
 claimed. A retrospect is now given of the poet's past 
 absence, wherein is recapitulated his past and still 
 growing love, and to keep the jest alive the womanly 
 significance of the love the dual Muse entertained for 
 him is again denoted, and the ceremony of love is again 
 renewed, in language at once passionate, delicate, and 
 tender ; and as upon their first alliance the sex addressed 
 was undenoted, even so it is upon the renewal of the 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 107 
 
 song and their reunion, upon which Shakespeare spends 
 :he most honied wedding verse, to celebrate the marriage 
 f soul to soul and mind to mind, and as testimony that 
 lis love had not lessened. 
 
 In the following trio of Sonnets it is indicated that the 
 cessation of writing was not more than one year, as 
 omnised in note to Sonnet 77. The poet also intimates 
 ;hat during the cessation he had been in the intervening 
 >ummer widely separated from his friend, probably at 
 Stratford, and that, being away from his friend, the glory 
 f the summer seemed but a barren waste. 
 
 Sonnet 97. My absence from thee (the poet exclaims) 
 th been like a winter lasting throughout the year, 
 et this cold dark time, when removed from you, was 
 summer. The plenteous autumn bore in all its rich 
 abundance the full increase of the prime of summer ; 
 yet all this abounding issue seemed but the prospect of 
 orphans and unfathered fruit, for thine is the pleasant 
 summer, and, thou away, the birds either ceased to sing 
 or sang only in sadness, fearing the winter near. Thus in 
 the full spirit of parody the poet poui trays, while relating 
 his own pangs, the sufferings of an inamorato during a 
 weary absence. The very seasons appeared to him, when 
 bereaved of the sunshine of the patron friend, as to the 
 lover ; and the birds on this account were mute or sang 
 in sadness, therefore his own silence may be fully 
 forgiven. 
 
 Sonnet 98. Though absent in the propitious spring, 
 when all nature and all things seemed gladdened, the 
 poet was borne down by a weight of care ; in him alone 
 the spirit of youth was wanting. His friend absent from 
 his verse, he could not write gladsomely, nor did he care 
 
 
108 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 to pluck the gay flowers fresh from the lap of Flora. To 
 beguile the weary time he compared the sweet flowers 
 with his sweeter friend ; yet it still seemed winter, and, 
 his friend being absent, he addressed them as being his 
 similitude. Being but poor shadows of him, he makes 
 them his sport. The poet thus hints that he had retired 
 from the metropolis to his native place, as was his custom, 
 to write for the stage ; but, in the words of Brathwaite, 
 he feared " his ' Midsummer Night's Dream ' was but a 
 ' Winter's Tale.' " 
 
 Sonnet 99. Thus he chided the forward violet : 
 From whom hast thou stolen thy sweet smell, if not 
 from the breath of my loved friend ? The proud purple 
 complexion dwelling on thy soft cheek thou hast too 
 deeply empurpled in my love's veins.* The lily he 
 blamed as less fair than his friend's hand, and the 
 marjoram buds had stolen the softness of his hair. The 
 roses on thorns fearfully stood ; one blushed with shame, 
 another white with envy ; a third, neither red nor white, 
 had stolen of both, to which robbery he added his breath, 
 and for his theft, in spite of all his show, a vengeful 
 canker was destroying him. The poet observed other 
 flowers, but saw none but what had stolen sweet or 
 colour from his friend. Thus even the red rose, the 
 favourite of his song, blushed with disgrace, but the 
 white utterly despaired. 
 
 From this point the Muse is ever and a.non chided for 
 having left the friend, her all the world, for the world, 
 which is nothing in respect of the friend. 
 
 In the two following Sonnets the poet divides himself 
 
 * See Sonnet 20, the poet defeated hy nature. 
 
OF TEE SONNETS. 109 
 
 from his other self, his Muse, and calls his friend his own 
 ove, because she, by neglecting her beloved, is supposed 
 to love the less. From this charge she defends herself in 
 :he 102nd. 
 
 Sonnet 100. The poet now accuses his Muse of for- 
 retfulness in having for some time ceased to speak of 
 hat which gave her all her power. Is she spending her 
 ury on some worthless song (referring to his remark in 
 Sonnet 98, line 7), casting a shade upon her glory, 
 lending unworthy subjects light (i. e., writing for the 
 public) ? Let her return, and at once redeem her idly 
 spent time, sing to the ear that esteems her lays* and 
 gives to her tongue both skill and argument. Eise (he 
 says), Muse, weary of rest, survey my sweet love's face ; if 
 any mark of time appears, satirise decay, and make the 
 defacings of time everywhere despised. Give my love 
 me faster than time destroys the living, that thou 
 yest oppose his destructive scythe's oblivion, and his 
 rooked (i. e., marring) knife's defacings. Shakespeare 
 thus flatters the unrivalled strength of his Muse to 
 induce her to renew her efforts ; he also hints that the 
 friend's beauty is now at the best, or may soon pass its 
 prime ; but as the Muse does not observe a wrinkle she 
 does not pen a satire on decay. 
 
 Sonnet 101. The muse is again personally rebuked, 
 and the fault of silence is imputed to her ; she has for- 
 gotten her beloved task. What shall be her recompense 
 
 * See Additional Notes to this Sonnet, extract from a poem by Chettle 
 on the death of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare is blamed for refraining 
 from writing an ode to her memory. It appears as if he had Chettle's 
 poem before him when writing the above to the sovereign of his own choice. 
 
110 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 for neglecting beauty's truthful rose? As truth and 
 beauty receive their glory from his friend, so by him is 
 his muse dignified. She may perchance excuse her silence 
 by saying that truthful beauty needs no colouring, and 
 that best is best ; but this will not avail, she is told to 
 fulfil her task, and to make him long outlive a gilded 
 tomb, and appear to future ages as he now appears. The 
 Muse perchance discovers his beauty is unimpaired by 
 time, and may say he needs not her painted praise to 
 revive it ; and though the poet is willing to pursue the 
 song, the Muse upon her part having fulfilled her office, 
 though unwilling to proceed, at once pens her sweetest 
 love lines. 
 
 Sonnet 102. She apologises by comparing her love 
 with that of others who have addressed the patron, and 
 published the offerings of their pens for self profit. She 
 was wont before they appeared to sing lays upon their 
 love. It was then new and in its spring ; and as the 
 nightingale who sings in the early summer, ceases to 
 sing in mellower days, not that the summer is less 
 pleasant than wken her plaintive hymns lulled the night, 
 but that every bough is burdened with wild music now, 
 and sweets, become common, are less delightful ; so she, of 
 late has held her tongue, lest her songs should become 
 wearisome. The song of the poet's Muse, like the 
 nightingale's, ceased to contend with the common herd ; 
 and though her love has not appeared so strong as upon 
 the celebration of their unity, yet in this, the summer of 
 their love, it has increased rather than diminished. 
 
 Sonnet 103. Having written one of her best Sonnets, 
 
OF THE SONNETS. Ill 
 
 the poet speaks of his Muse's effort with feigned contempt 
 and rebuke, because she will not retouch the portrait she 
 has drawn so well, and as an excuse for her ceasing 
 singing, he apologises for her, and reminds his friend that 
 she had not ceased the song till she had accomplished her 
 object, and that he now is best, as he is without art's 
 adornment ; and if he is not dulled by the song, the song 
 is dulled by the better reflection of him which his glass 
 will present. All this is but a variation of L'Envoy 
 (77), the termination of the first part ; and, as before 
 shown, the song was prolonged only at the patron's insti- 
 gation. In the sixth couplet, Shakespeare states that his 
 sole object is to tell of his friend's graces and gifts, 
 which has been fulfilled as far as the Muse's power would 
 admit of: her office was to portray the beauty of his 
 spring, the fresh May morn of his days ; in the next he 
 sfers to the brief time this season exists. 
 
 Sonnet 104. Having intimated that the friend had 
 ow become a man, and that consequently his freshest 
 eauties were leaving him, which he might himself dis- 
 over, the poet says To me, beautiful friend, you will 
 never appear old, for as you were when first my eye 
 viewed yours, such you seem still, though three cold 
 winters have shaken three summers' pride from the 
 orest, and three beauteous springs have turned to yellow 
 utumn ; though in the seasons change I have seen three 
 ragrant Aprils burned in three hot Junes, since first I saw 
 you fresh, who art still green ; ah ! yet doth beauty, like 
 i dial-hand, steal from thy face, and no change is perceived ; 
 jo ynm sweet line, which methinks still remains, hath 
 
 j 
 
112 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 motion, and mine eye may be mistaken. Lest it is so, hear 
 this, thou unborn age, ere you lived, beauty's summer 
 died. 
 
 The allusion is to the time when the poet first saw him 
 a boy, prior to the date of the commencement of the song, 
 when first he recorded his bright eyes and fair hue, which 
 still stand fresh in his verse. Thus, now circa 1603-4 refers 
 to 1597-8,thedate of the first Sonnet, from which date Time 
 has been withheld. He reminds his friend he first saw 
 him three years before this date 1597-8, i.e. in 1594-5, 
 and resolves to consider him still as young, and give him 
 an eternal youth. Three years would not cause so much 
 change in the boy's aspect, but nearly nine years, the 
 actual period, might produce the difference. The poet in 
 the first 77 Sonnets celebrated youthful, manly beauty ; 
 and now, though the friend declines from the top of happy 
 hours, the poet lovingly sees him in the ascendant, such as 
 he first saw him three years before 1598, and the song in 
 this spirit is concluded. He is not spoken of as the man 
 of the opening Sonnets, but as the " lovely boy" of their 
 first acquaintanceship. In 1595, Master Herbert was at 
 Oxford completing his studies, and probably their first 
 meeting was there, and as there is a tradition that Shake- 
 speare visited this city on his way to the metropolis from 
 his native town, it tends to confirm the supposition. 
 The poet also denotes this date by reminding him that 
 the reference is not to the time of their having first 
 become friends, but to the time he first beheld him, where- 
 ever it might have been, as a bright-eyed youth. It will 
 be observed that the poet does not in this renewal descant 
 as hitherto on his own years, but upon the advancing years 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 
 
 113 
 
 his friend; for as he denotes in Sonnet 110, this 
 ival gives his heart " another youth." There was no 
 casion to again dilate upon the theme of age and 
 death ; in the former part he had said all he had to say 
 upon that subject. 
 
 Sonnet 105. The unborn age mentioned in the last, is 
 not to call the love of the Muse idolatry, nor her beloved 
 an idol, because she is true to one that is true, and whose 
 beauty is true ; he is both truly beautiful, truly loving, 
 and truly constant ; and she contends three such virtues 
 never before dwelt in one ; and it may be said to her 
 
 onour, she never offered panegyrics to any other ; the 
 
 restitution of praise offended her. 
 
 Sonnet 106. A backward look is now given into the 
 ironicles of the past, to discover if there is record of any 
 :her of such worthiness. It is found that writers of 
 atiquity would have expressed such beauty as he masters 
 ow, and, as in Sonnet 59, to which this is a decided 
 wer, through his dual nature, all praise ever penned to 
 ies dead, or lovely knights, he is alone entitled to.* 
 their praises were but prophecies prefiguring him, 
 ough neither the ancients nor the moderns can rightly 
 sing his praise. t The poet evidently viewed these poems 
 something more than parodies ; as before denoted, they 
 art's offering at the shrine of beauty. The opening 
 es of this Sonnet appear to refer to the rhymed 
 mances of the French and Italian poets. The term 
 ladies dead " may refer to those idealized ladies, Beatrice 
 
 * The fourth line of the last Sonnet and the fifth in this are wedded 
 
 ither, the one begetting the other, 
 t This is a further excuse for ceasing the song, all eyes admire him, but 
 
 tongue can praise him sufficiently. 
 
 I 2 
 
114 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 and Laura, these ladies being sonnetted after their deaths 
 by both their poet lovers. 
 
 In the next he asserts, in self vindication, that his love 
 is not confined to a limited period, but is of endless date. 
 
 Sonnet 107. Having looked into times past, he now 
 looks into times present. If the poet affects to fear his 
 verse cannot praise his friend to his desire, he relies upon 
 its endurance, as upon his own love. He speaks thus in 
 favour of the constancy of his love and verse I have 
 no fear that coming events will alter my vow, or that 
 the lease of my love will end ; my friendship will endure 
 in spite of death itself, nor is it affected by passing circum- 
 stances. The mortal moon (Elizabeth) has suffered eclipse 
 (died 24th of March, 1603, between the cessation and 
 renewal of the song, which may have begun again 
 in the April following), and the serious augers, i.e., the 
 poet's envious detractors, are deceived in their foolish 
 guesses, in supposing the friendship was ended with the 
 cessation of address. Doubts are now ended, the poet 
 has proved the friend's sincerity, by his friend desiring 
 him to renew the address, and mutual peace is ever 
 more agreed upon. Now, he continues, in this most joyful 
 time, my love I still behold young, and death submits to 
 me, since, in spite of him, I and my friend shall live in this 
 poor rhyme, while he tyrannises over tyrants, and those 
 not blessed by the voice of poetry. The moon's eclipse 
 (Elizabeth's death) is followed by (this most balmy time) 
 the sunrise of the accession of James.* This is also to 
 be looked upon as an excuse for the Muse to cease her 
 song ; her task is now accomplished, her love still looks 
 
 * See additional notes to Sonnet 107, as to Pembroke's joy on the acces- 
 >ion of James. 
 

 OF THE SONNETS. 115 
 
 oung. Time thus submits to her power, and oblivious 
 eath is defeated. This Sonnet appears to be imitated in 
 ae by Drayton, upon the alterations made by Time, 
 since first his love began/ 7 in which mention is made of 
 le "quiet end of that long living queen" and "this 
 ing's fair entrance." 
 
 Having, so oft repeated what ha,s before been said, the poet 
 emands in the next what more he can say whether still to 
 idress his friend as the beautiful boy he first saw him, now 
 me and outward form belie his words ? No ! he will then 
 speak of himself, and no more addresses his friend as such, 
 till he arrives at the UEnvoy, and to keep his plea good 
 though finally addressing him as a boy, alters the form 
 of the Sonnet, so that though to him, it virtually belongs 
 not to the series. 
 
 The song of friendship having commenced with an 
 overture of Seventeen Sonnets, when the youth was 
 seventeen, the concert being brought to a happy termina- 
 tion, is now finished with a voluntary of the same number 
 the song opened with, in which the poet speaks as much 
 of himself as he" did of the friend in the beginning ; and the 
 following is the poet's -most solemn plea for ending the 
 song of praise. 
 
 
 Sonnet 108. Continuing the plea for the Muse, he 
 says Now, when so much is done, what more need be 
 said ? What is there to say, sweet boy ? There is 
 nothing ! Then, if all is said, must I repeat the same 
 daily, like a divine prayer ? Must I still say, you are 
 young, as of old, and not consider you are daily grow- 
 
 g older, I first loved you for the beauty of your 
 
116 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 youth, but time and outward appearance prove you are 
 not youthful now \ This plea is deemed all sufficient, 
 and having alluded to the first address, wherein he styled 
 him beauty's rose, he in the next asserts that though he 
 has been a traveller since then, he is still his Muse's all in 
 all her most beloved rose. 
 
 Sonnet 109. Now all is done, the friend is told he is 
 never more to doubt the poet's actions, either of the past 
 or the future ; and as he has lasciviously commented upon 
 the friend's assumed adultery of friendship, he now also 
 vindicates what has been supposed vile in his own con- 
 duct. He thus begins Oh ! never say that my heart 
 was false, though absence seemed to subdue my passion ; 
 as easy might I depart from myself, as from my soul, 
 which lies in thy breast (Sonnet 22), that is its abode. 
 If I have ranged (which cannot be) like a traveller, I 
 return again, still sincere, not changed with the time, 
 so that I wash away my guilt. Never believe, though 
 my nature were governed by all the frailties of mankind, 
 that it could so outrageously be stained, as to leave for 
 nothing all thy goodness ; for to thee the universe is 
 nothing, thou art my all in all. The absence giving rise 
 to the appearance of coldness was the poet's only fault. 
 In the following Sonnets, he intimates that the friend's 
 pure flame was not subdued. In the next, he admits 
 in sadness having left him, how he spent the time, and 
 its most joyful results. 
 
 Sonnet 110. Alas ! I have gone from place to place,' 5 ' 
 
 * Probably referring to the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres, of both ol 
 which he was a shareholder, and at both of which he had appeared upon 
 the stage. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 
 
 117 
 
 the poet continues (giving to others your time), arrayed 
 to public view in garments of varied stain, wounding my 
 thoughts, selling cheap that (my reputation) which is 
 most dear, anew offending my better judgment. It is 
 also most true that I have viewed askance, and strangely 
 thy truth (Sonnet 101), i.e., not devoted myself fully 
 to you ; but by all above these frailties gave my heart a 
 fresh youth (the song being renewed to the youth of former 
 days) and worst trials have proved thee my best friend. 
 Now all is done, accept my love without end, for never- 
 more will I seek new friends, to try the patience of my old 
 one ; a god in love, to whom I am entirely given up, 
 then accept my heart's offering, and place it in the heaven 
 of thy bosom. In the 1 09th, they were again said to be one ; 
 in this, by being so, the poet is no more old, but receives 
 by this return a new youth, though an older friend. 
 
 He now pens the climax to the undignified publicity, 
 first touched upon in Sonnet 29. 
 
 Sonnet 111. 0, for my sake, accuse fortune, the guilty 
 goddess,* the cause of my ill deeds, (compelling the poet to 
 leave his friend for the public), that did not provide better 
 for my life than public means, which breed public manners ; 
 thence comes it that my name is branded, and almost 
 thence my nature is reduced to the level of its grade, 
 being stained, like a dyer, with my avocation. Pity me 
 then, and desire me cleansed, while I, a willing patient, 
 will drink the bitterest potions, and no penance will I 
 think too severe to be absolved. Pity me then, dear 
 
 t The "guilty goddess," the occasion of all his sorrows, is thus contrasted 
 with his friend, " a god in love," the cause of all loving joy. 
 
118 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 friend, and that alone will cure me. The friend doing so, 
 he will never more regret the public shame. 
 
 In the 1 1 Oth he is renewed in youth, in this he desires 
 to be renewed from the stains so much lamented. He 
 may also refer to the plague which was raging in London 
 in 1603, if so, the language would be peculiarly appro- 
 priate. It is known that after this date the poet appeared 
 no more upon the stage, and from 1597 to this date, he 
 but on particular occasions appeared on the public stage. 
 About 1604, the Earl of Pembroke was offended at young 
 Massinger, a son of one of his father's chief retainers, for 
 following dramatic writing, instead of the law, upon 
 which the Earl withdrew his patronage, and Massinger 
 left college. The theatric festivities the young student 
 had witnessed at Wilton, may have first inspired him 
 to become a votary of the muses. Shakespeare, for these 
 reasons, may thus speak of his own actions and writings 
 in such terms. We may also infer from the apparent dis- 
 regard he evinced for his plays in regard to their pub- 
 lication, and the not altogether feigned sorrow he here 
 expresses at his fate, that he thought fortune might have 
 used his genius better, in this opinion he was not alone. 
 
 Sonnet 112. The request being tendered, he is ab- 
 solved from these compelled sins of his life. The love 
 and pity of his patron ennobles his brow, and erases the 
 brand vulgar scandal stamped upon it. Then what cares 
 he for the opinion of others ? since his friend puts a 
 good colour upon his bad, and approves his good. Hence 
 he puts the world into his friend's person, and by him 
 alone will he be judged. To both critic and flatterer he 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 119 
 
 turns a deaf ear. His friend being so replete to his 
 purpose, he will believe all others are naught. 
 
 Sonnet 113. The four foregoing Sonnets open the 
 poet's vindication ; the ensuing four recount his devoted- 
 ness during absence, his increased love, and how it 
 remained a fixed star during his wanderings. He begins 
 by declaring that his mind's eye had ever presented the 
 image of his friend to view, continually keeping him in 
 remembrance. He is so much his all the world that his 
 eye converts every object to his resemblance. His eye 
 was intoxicated with the excess of beauty, though not as 
 Spenser said of a knight whose eye was enthralled by 
 wantonness : 
 
 " Made drunk by drugs of dear voluptuous receipt." 
 
 It is such whom Shakespeare, in majestic language, thus 
 covertly satirises. The reader will not fail to observe 
 that the poet harps upon the similarity of sound in 
 " mine " and " my eyne " in the last line of the Sonnet. 
 
 Sonnet 114. It is doubtful whether his speaking eye 
 saith (a pun on seeth) true, or whether his great mind 
 loves flattery. He saith that his eye loves flattery, and 
 prepares the delicious cup for his kingly mind to drink up. 
 If it be poisoned, the sin is less, his eye loving it reflects its 
 love upon his great mind. Thus he has charged himself 
 with a sin of a parallel tendency to the one (Sonnet 84) 
 imputed to the friend. In this double Sonnet the poet 
 evidently parodies such sonnetteering as Spenser's 86th. 
 
 Sonnet 115. Those lines written before the renewal of 
 their love " do lie ;" thus the poet's eye and mind and 
 tongue are alike proved innocently false. The avowals 
 
120 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 of love his pen had uttered were all too weak ; but then 
 he knew not that the lamp of love, though burning 
 brightly, might afterwards burn clearer. Thinking of 
 the many accidents that happen as time advances, creep- 
 ing in betwixt vows and changing the decrees of kingly 
 minds (alluding to their seemingly severed vows and 
 changed decrees), staining with age holy beauty (Sonnets 
 68 and 104), turning aside the strongest minds to change 
 with changing things, fearing time's changeful tyranny, 
 might he not then say : Now I love you best. Doubt- 
 ful of the future, he is, however excused. Love being a 
 babe, he might then say so, giving full growth to that 
 which is still growing ? 
 
 Assuming that the foregoing may amount to an admit- 
 tance that love when urged to the extreme may be 
 compelled to alter, that he neither has nor will know 
 change is the purport of the following Sonnet, in which 
 he alludes to the vow and decree which bound them 
 together in a religious friendship. 
 
 Sonnet 116. Arrived at the crowning height of the 
 Epithalamium in mutual purity, the poet might well 
 exclaim : Let me not admit impediments to the 
 marriage of true minds (i. e., unalterable friendship). 
 Love is not love that alters as eYelfts alter. Oh, no ! it 
 is ever fixed, come what will; it is never -shaken ; it is 
 the guiding star to every wandering bark (Sonnet 117, 
 Shakespeare himself) whose worth is unknown, although 
 his dimensions may be taken. Love is not the fool of 
 Time, though rosy lips and cheeks come within his 
 bending sickle's compass ; nor is it altered by brief hours 
 and weeks, but is borne out to the end of time. If this 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 121 
 
 not so and proved upon me, neither I ever writ nor 
 man ever loved. He thus proves that friendship, like 
 marriage, is made for life, or, as Caesar said, " the die 
 is cast." Neither the spiteful misrepresentations of 
 others, who, as will be seen, slandered him to his 
 patron, or the poet's own groundless jealousies and sus- 
 picions, were permitted to dissolve the bond of faithful 
 loving friendship. 
 
 Sonnet 117. Assuming that this may be thought 
 more than truth, the friend is told to charge the poet as 
 appearances gave out, that he might at once make a plea ;* 
 the friend is told to accuse him of neglect in repaying 
 the rich merit as he deserved, of being forgetful of the 
 loving bond of fellowship which united them, of having 
 given to unknown minds, i.e., to the public, the time and 
 the society which were the due of one alone, whom he 
 should have invoked daily as the tenth Muse, to charge him 
 with setting sail to all the winds which should transport 
 him furthest from his friend's sight. His friend is bid to 
 frown upon him, not to be suddenly wrathful against 
 him, since the defence that he will make is that he but 
 strove to test the virtues and constancy of his friendship. 
 The poet is now commenting upon his own (allegorical) 
 lasciviousness. This is in contrast to Sonnet 40, last 
 couplet. He would not then be his friend's foe ; his 
 friend must not now be his. 
 
 In the next he descants upon the means he took to try 
 his goodness. 
 
 Sonnet 118. The poet and his Muse being one, he 
 
 * Since he resolves to make no more vindications or palliations, when 
 this series is ended. 
 
122 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 now speaks in his own name of her having been sick 
 (Sonnet 79), asserting that it arose from excess of love, 
 which forms another plea for the silence, in which love, 
 as in Sonnets 56 and 75, is compared to appetite. Being 
 full of never cloying sweet friendship (Sonnet 75), he 
 thought it policy to put it to the trial when there was no 
 occasion, that he might enjoy his friend's sweet society 
 better after bitter separation, even as we use medicine 
 when in health to avoid sickness. The poet, however, 
 finds, and need no more repeat the lesson, that the drugs 
 taken to cure his love sickness were considered poison 
 ending their love. This especially refers to the delightful 
 intercourse the wished- for meeting occasioned, which was 
 a surfeit of love, of which the Muse he feigns fell sick. 
 
 Sonnet 119. The Muse's ravings during absence are 
 now depicted,""" and thus, in the masquerade of language, 
 are pictured a lover's maddening forebodings during 
 absence. The course of medicine is now described, and 
 its effects. She has imbibed deeply of siren tears, being 
 the distillation of a hell of thought, giving fears to hopes, 
 and hopes to fears, still fearing to lose him she had ever 
 won. What wretched errors for the heart to commit 
 when it thought itself never so blest, arising from cause- 
 less doubt, starting her eyes from their spheres in this 
 maddening fever's distraction. But thence she learns oh, 
 benefit of ill ! that which was before good is still bettered 
 by evil, and renewed love becomes stronger and greater 
 than at first ; so she returns gladly rebuked, since she 
 gains by it thrice more than was spent in tearful separa- 
 tion. Her offence is, then, an advantage, as it occasions 
 an increase of love. 
 
 * Alluding to the mistress series. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 123 
 
 Sonnet 120. A plea is now made for mutual forgive- 
 ness, as they have each been assumed guilty of the crime 
 of frailty in friendship ; so it is now to the poet's benefit 
 that the friend was once faithless, since they prove alike 
 guilty on the one side for ceasing to write, on the other 
 for accepting the love of another (Sonnets 33 and 43). 
 If the friend has felt the pangs of neglect as much as the 
 Muse then did his crime, he has passed an insupportable 
 time ; but as the Muse has by silence been most in error, 
 she is the first to ask forgiveness, and as they have each 
 transgressed they must pardon each other. The reader 
 will not fail to observe that the " night of woe " and the 
 " dark days " of the 9 7th refer to one and the same 
 event ; and, as in Sonnet 34, the friend sought pardon 
 from the poet for his trespass, so now the Muse seeks 
 pardon of the friend ; and as the Muse freely forgave 
 her beloved's severest wrong, so he must now forgive 
 her, as she, a tyrant to herself, seeks not to show how 
 much she then suffered. 
 
 A final and complete vindication is now written. It 
 is levelled at those who have accused him to his patron 
 of having been guilty of the crime of frailty in friend- 
 ship, which he has so grievously acknowledged, but 
 shown it to be on account of the constrained blemishes of 
 fortune. The accusation is now turned against his 
 accusers, it being the base only who believe all men 
 are, like themselves, base. He urges if others (the evil 
 augurs of Sonnet 109) choose to consider him a wayward 
 unloving friend, he cares not for their thoughts, he knows 
 himself best, let them look to themselves. The Sonnet, 
 divested of allegory, is thus rendered. 
 
124 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 Sonnet 121. It were better I had been frail to you 
 and enjoyed the pleasure of other friendships, than not to 
 have been fickle and yet be esteemed so by jealous 
 observers. Why should their false eyes see in me such 
 inconstancy ? Or if I have proved so, why am I 
 accused by others far worse, who in their thoughts reckon 
 that (the absence and neglect) bad, which I think good \ 
 (See Sonnet 119.) No; I am that I am, i. e., constant 
 and unalterable, and the crime they charge me with, they 
 are guilty of themselves. I may be true, though they be 
 false ; my deeds must not be judged by their gross 
 thoughts, unless they can prove that all men are alike 
 guilty, and live triumphing in it. If so, and his friend 
 does not forgive him, it were better he became as way- 
 ward as others, and not be falsely esteemed so. 
 
 Sonnet 122. The poet now confesses himself guilty 
 of a fault, but proves it not to be one. He appears to 
 have received, in return for the present he made 
 (Sonnet 77) a gift of memorandum tablets. The poet, 
 to his patron's surprise, and his enemies' delight, bestowed 
 the gift on another, for which he purposed making this 
 complimentary excuse : I had no need for thy gift of 
 tables, so I gave them to another, as I have you fixed 
 past erasure upon the far more enduring tablets of my 
 brain and heart. It would denote forgetfulness in me 
 to carry tables to keep thee in remembrance. They were 
 possibly too costly for use, and the poet cared not to 
 retain any such outward sign of remembrance of that 
 love ever fixed upon his brain and heart ; hence he con- 
 sidered it a mark of truer love to part with them, perhaps 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 125 
 
 to another who needed them more. May not this have 
 been the lady rival ? She might be assumed to require 
 them more than the Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 123. A final declaration is now made to Time, 
 with whom he has warred and come off victorious, and 
 who would therefore rejoice to see the poet's protestations 
 fail. He vauntingly challenges him to show among the 
 wonders of the world (Time's registers), anything so 
 lasting as the poet's newly erected verse (the poet's 
 register). He instances the foremost of Time's trophies 
 the Pyramids, exclaiming No ! Time thou shalt not 
 boast that I do change ; thy pyramids rebuilt with greater 
 strength (referring to his love), would occasion no surprise 
 in me. They would be but that which has been before ; 
 our lives being brief, we admire the things palmed upon 
 us as old, and remain in doubt as to the date of their origin 
 and ending. I defy both thee and thy registers, and am 
 neither astonished at what has been or what still exists ; 
 for thy trophies, as those which have been, will become 
 razed ; as you hasten onward they continually change, but 
 T vow that for ever I will remain unchanged, regardless 
 of thee and thy scythe. 
 
 Sonnet 124. Continues extolling this erection of love 
 and verse, denoting that it was built on a firm basis, and 
 cannot be overthrown, and is not like others short lived. 
 He then continues If my dear love were but the offspring 
 of ceremony, it might, as a bastard of fortune, be un- 
 fathered, being subject to love or hate as time offered, 
 receiving hate in hate, and love in love. No ! it was 
 built beyond the chance of such accident ; it is neither 
 
126 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 exalted by smiling pomp, nor becomes a ruin hurled 
 down by discontent, which is the fashion of these times. 
 It fears not faithless policy, which soon comes to an end, 
 but stands by itself, hugely politic ; it is the same in the 
 warmth of love, as in the storms of hate. To this I am 
 witness, and calls those friendships the fools of time, 
 which begin and end for self-interest, and but exist for 
 this crime. 
 
 In the next, he makes a final and serious apology for 
 ceasing writing, his plea being that he has seen others lose 
 everything by offering too much. 
 
 Sonnet 125. We now come to the ending protestation 
 it is a variation of the 25th, and takes up the theme of 
 the last, in which he defines other's friendships as short- 
 lived fallacies, compared to his own. He further weighs the 
 advantages, assuming that his love was but as theirs is at 
 the best. He exclaims What were it to me if " I bore the 
 canopy," i.e., were one of mere outward ceremony of friend- 
 ship, or sought to build an eternal love upon such a basis, and 
 thus fall far short of the intent ? Have I not seen dwellers 
 upon form and favour lose more than all by offering too 
 much, while existing upon a passing smile. Pitiful thrivers, 
 gazing is their all. No ! I will not be such : let my 
 heart be placed in thy heart ; take the offering, poor, but 
 given freely, my pure undivided love, without guile, only 
 mutual, render me for thee. Henceforth, thou perjurer 
 (to the person who falsely accused him to his friend as 
 faithless, see Sonnets 107 and 121), a truthful soul when 
 tested to the utmost stands free from thy slanderous 
 charges. In the concluding lines, Shakespeare imitates, 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 127 
 
 or rather parodies, Spenser's 89th Sonnet, which is 
 addressed in the bitterest language to one who had spoken 
 falsely of him to his love. The poet thus concludes, by 
 asserting that from this time they shall be no more 
 livided, hence there is no more need of sonnetting. 
 
 We have now arrived at the conclusion of the poem ; 
 md more especially to mark its distinctive ending, this 
 L/Envoy is written in half a dozen couplets. The friend 
 s gently warned, both as the boy of their first acquain- 
 tanceship, resplendent with youth and beauty, and as the 
 ull grown man of the present time: Like the theme, it 
 s a complete inversion, and may be thus rendered. 
 
 Sonnet 126. thou, my lovely boy, who hast the 
 >ower to hold the sickle, glass, and fickle hour of Time, 
 vho hast gone back while advancing, by which thou ob- 
 ervest thy lovers withering'" while thou art growing ; if 
 Mature, mistress of us all, will still, as I do, hold thee 
 >ack as thou goest forward, it is for this purpose she 
 zeeps thee young, that these times of adulterous art may 
 >e disgraced by her skill,t and triumph over wretched 
 ainutes. Yet take heed, thou sport of her pleasure ; 
 he may detain, though still not keep thee ; and though 
 ter final account is delayed, it must be answered, and 
 v T hen she renders thee her chief glory she will be silent, 
 or all is ended. He shows that Nature, like the Muse, 
 /ill lose her best subject. 
 
 * See Sonnets 1 and 10. The song thus ends attesting that fatherly love 
 r his friend which has been repeatedly expressed throughout the poem ; 
 ie one has gained a lost son, the other a lost father. In Sonnet 37 the 
 Det alludes to his having lost his son Hammet, " the crutch of his age." 
 Terbert now supplies his place, he is the support of his years. 
 
 t See Sonnets 67 and 68. 
 
 K 
 
128 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 SONNETS 127 TO 154, 
 
 FORMING THE COMPANION PICTURE TO THE FOREGOING 
 
 SONNETS* 
 
 " Hearts remote, yet not asunder." Phoenix and Turtle. 
 
 : ' Who shall compare love's mean and gross desire 
 To the chaste zeal of friendship's sacred fire ? 
 By whining love our weakness is confest, 
 But stronger friendship shows a virtuous breast." Massinger. 
 
 " How can I, then, be free 
 To love another, having once loved thee 1" Pembroke's Poems. 
 
 11 My friend and I are one : 
 Sweet flattery ! then she loves but me alone." SJiakespeare's Sonnet 42. 
 
 " Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy hour, 
 But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace." Shakespeare's Sonnet 127. 
 
 " Had I not vowed to confine 
 Myself to no more wives than only nine, 
 Parnassus brood." Randolph. 
 
 IN the poem to the friend, he is upbraided for turning 
 from his allegiance to Shakespeare's Muse for the love of 
 a mistress ;f in these succeeding Sonnets the poet 
 upbraids the mistress for stealing his friend from him, 
 and this in far bitterer terms than he had blamed his 
 friend, in consequence of the love the Muse had for the 
 
 * Though these Sonnets as will be shown were written to Herbert's Mis- 
 tress they were covertly levelled at Lady Rich, " the fair woman with a dark 
 soul," whom Sidney had previously sonnetted as an angel of perfection ; 
 and though allegorical with regard to the mutual loving, were intended to 
 be literal satires on this notable frail married lady, and on the times. 
 
 t The term mistress is here used by Shakespeare as denoting " a woman 
 beloved and courted." 
 
OF THE SONNE' 
 
 friend being of the closest and most tender kind. It 
 may be thought that the allegory was of such a nature as 
 to be unfit for a pure lady's ear ; but if the reader turns 
 to the works of our poet he will find some of the purest 
 and loveliest of Shakespeare's heroines use similar lan- 
 guage. The times are changed since then, and we are 
 more scrupulous, but perhaps no purer. What should we 
 now say to the ladies Beatrice and Helena ? The former 
 would speak of these Sonnets, if she had had the key, 
 knowing they were allegorical, and to be applied literally 
 co another, as all " mirth and no matter ;" and what maiden 
 would now discourse upon virginity to a soldier as Helena 
 does to ParollesJlIn these Sonnets to the mistress it is the 
 poet who speaks in allegory, in the dramas it is the ladies who 
 speak in unadorned simplicity ; hence that which Shake- 
 speare wrote, though to a pure lady, in those plain spoken 
 imes might have been well received. , The first eighteen 
 )f these Sonnets bear internal evidence of having been 
 vvritten during the first journey from the friend. Thus 
 n Sonnet 144 the poet speaks of the friend and the 
 nistress being " both from me," and several of the earliest 
 jf these Sonnets are but variations of the theme of 
 bonnets 33 to 43, and in the 152nd Sonnet the language 
 ised is the exact counterpart of that used in the 41st. 
 Che 143rd, too, seems a natural reference to the 37th. 
 [n the poem to the friend, the simile used is a " decrepid 
 'ather " a man ; in that to the mistress the simile used 
 s a " careful housewife " a woman. 
 
 Besides being apparently written to abuse the friend's 
 nistress, the poet had in view a higher and more difficult 
 >bject : he designed to paint the great vice of the times 
 
 K 2 
 
130 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 incontinence in wedded life in the black terms it 
 deserved, as if to brand the times, at which he has so 
 much railed in the poem to the friend. That this scheme 
 would please the patron is evident from the poems 
 written by Lord Herbert himself, for he eventually 
 became a votary of the Muses ;* and as the patron's 
 taste lay that way, so also his servant Shakespeare 
 moulded his verse. r'The poet being himself married 
 (allegorically, in mind) to the friend, turns round upon 
 the mistress who has seduced him, and under the guise of 
 upbraiding her, has left a picture of the times in which 
 he lived. Smarting under the wrong his friend had 
 done him, and for which he had forgiven him, he pictures 
 the mistress who had taken his friend from him, and the 
 occasion of wrong in one is the occasion of mutual 
 implication, but the poet ends by proving himself to be 
 the most blameworthy for loving her after her ill deed. 
 The friend, as Sonnets 1 and 10 denote, reserved his love 
 for the poet alone, and up to the 32nd kept it for Shake- 
 speare's Muse only. For this reason, Shakespeare paints the 
 mistress in the darkest colours, and commences sonnetting 
 her as the symbo] of the adulterous art and profanity of 
 her sex, though finally he palliates her offence by turning 
 the blame upon himself. With these remarks, we pro- 
 ceed to the first address to her, which commences by the 
 poet speaking of her as his own, which is true, not only 
 according to the "sweet flattery" of the 42nd Sonnet, 
 but also with the ending of the poem (Sonnet 125), in 
 which the poet and his friend are made anew but one 
 
 * Wood says this earl was not only a favourer of learned and ingenious 
 men, but was also himself endowed to admiration with a poetical genius. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 131 
 
 person. He commences by way of prologue, with up- 
 braiding the women of the age. 
 
 Sonnet 127. It would appear from this Sonnet that 
 the friend's mistress was a dark lady, and the most is 
 certainly made of her black complexion ; but it is her 
 leeds alone that give rise to this assumed blackness 
 (Sonnet 131), or, as explained in a line by Marlowe 
 
 " Now inward faults thy outward form disgrace," 
 
 though she was evidently a brunette, with very dark star 
 like eyes and dark brown hair, besides which, it was cus- 
 tomary to speak of those with such hair and eyes as black. 
 She it is who was the dark cloud of the 33rd Sonnet that 
 Dbscurerl thebright friend from the poet. Compared to the 
 Muse, to whom the friend is virtuously allied, and who was, 
 of course, of radiant brightness, the lady may well be said 
 to have been pre-eminently black ; and as the poem to 
 the friend commenced by praising the friend's eyes, so he 
 commences hers by praising her eyes. They are raven 
 black, and her brows are arrayed in the same hue, which 
 makes them appear like lovely mourners, grieving for 
 bhose who are not born beautiful, yet are in no want of 
 beauty, since they disgrace creation with false show ; and 
 it is so becoming of her thus to appear to mourn, that all 
 3xtol her as beauty's self. 
 
 As before observed in preliminary observations, we 
 rind in one of our poet's earliest plays, that the witty 
 Biron loved to flout at sonnetteering, and in some con- 
 ceited lines, he speaks in the same paradoxical manner of 
 lis mistress, black being fair, as the poet does in this 
 Sonnet. From this it may be inferred, that as beauty 
 
132 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 was profaned by woman, the poet has given the praise to 
 man, even to such a one as St. Gregory would have 
 termed an "angel friend." Thus he may well, now 
 beauty is desecrated, lament that in woman it has " no 
 holy hour," which stands in contrast to Sonnet 68. 
 Hence the friend is pictured fair, the mutual mistress 
 dark ; she is to be the emblem of the profanity and cor- 
 ruption of the age, and yet, when divested of the sur- 
 rounding allegorical vesture, like the friend, she stands 
 revealed -as beautiful and as pure as Imogen. 
 
 Her mournfulness is much dilated upon in this and the 
 following Sonnet, to which those tearful Sonnets, the 33rd, 
 34th, and 35th, among others, are especially referable. 
 In those, it is the tears of the lady-love that are pearls, 
 and are sufficient atonement for both her fault and the 
 friend's. The poet thus rejoices in her sorrow, she is 
 forgiven, and he commences sonnetting her upon it ; 
 though it is manifest, that even while the poet was pur- 
 suing the mystical conceit, he freely forgave her from the 
 first ; but because she will not love and pity him, he affects 
 not to do so. His entreaty for her love and pity arises 
 in the desire that she will assume he is her real lover, just 
 as he assumes she is his real mistress, and make, as he him- 
 self does, his loss gain. As the poet, upon the first alliance 
 by verse, viewed the friend as his own, so upon the friend 
 allying himself with the lady, the poet viewed her as his 
 own, and addressed her as such. In Sonnet 36, addressing 
 his friend, he says, We two are twain, but " our undivided 
 loves are one;" and in the 38th Sonnet, we are told that 
 the friend was the originator of the conceit.""" This Sonnet, 
 
 * And it is highly probable he conceived the idea of satirising by this 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 133 
 
 and all up to the 144th, were written and sent at the same 
 time, as the ten detailing the same event, to the friend. 
 The poet has thus made this in direct contrast to the first 
 Sonnet in the first series ; and it is written in her praise on 
 account of the sweet flattery that his friend and himself 
 are but one, and that she alone loves him. 
 
 Sonnet 128. The poet now, in the name of his friend 
 as her lover, makes a lawful demand. The lady, who 
 appears to have been a player upon the virginal, seems 
 to have ravished the poet with harmony, which he 
 has infused in the Sonnet. He prettily quibbles on 
 jacks, the keys of the instrument, and Jack's meddlers, to 
 whom she offers her hands to kiss, but a real lover 
 desires and deserves to kiss her lips. In the 5th couplet, 
 he makes allusion to having changed his state and situa- 
 tion by impersonating the friend ; nevertheless, he does 
 not get more than her hand to kiss, and is no better off 
 than the " saucy Jacks/' though he ought as the friend 
 to reap the harvest from her lips. The poet would have 
 continued to address his friend's lady-love in this pleasing 
 strain, had he not had in view a far higher purpose ; yet 
 the Sonnet has its object, it reminds her of the time when 
 the poet was with her in happy innocence, before she had 
 wantonly sought to win his friend from his Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 129. Having described her beauty and accom- 
 plishments, he pictures allegorically the sin of this loving 
 delusion ; he sees the futility of seeking to possess her love 
 alone, illicit love is despised as soon as possessed, yet he 
 
 marriage allegory, that Comet of ill-omen as she has been called, the dis- 
 grace at once of Sidney the Pembrokes, and the Court of Elizabeth. 
 
134 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 excuses this delusive dream he like all the world is en- 
 thralled by love. 
 
 He denounces their mutual sin, to induce the mistress to 
 give up the friend, who is already married to Shakespeare's 
 Muse, and thus cannot, without a threefold crime, be 
 another's. By her love for the friend she is thus the inno- 
 cent occasion of their mutual sin. This stands as pro- 
 logue, and epitomises the argument which follows its 
 theme being infidelity in love. 
 
 Sonnet 130. A satirical picture of the mistress, in con- 
 trast to the high-flown terms used by the sonnetteers of 
 the day, and is referable to the 21st, to the friend. This the 
 poet asserts in the person of the friend, and, while acknow- 
 ledging her to be but an ordinary mortal, she is said, 
 nevertheless, to be as rare as the goddesses of others, 
 belied by false comparisons. This, of course, is a totally 
 opposite picture to what she really was. Nevertheless, 
 in the following, she is said to be like other beauties, 
 proudly cruel ; so that, apart from the allegorical disguise, 
 the poet has both the best of friends and the best of 
 mistresses. 
 
 Sonnet 131. The lady still keeps the friend, in despite 
 of which the poet, in the name of his friend, confesses his 
 love for her ; and though she is blamed by others (as 
 personating Lady Eich in the vale of years), and said 
 to be unworthy of love, he will think her the best, in 
 spite of being the worst (through taking the friend), 
 it being her deeds alone that occasion this slander. 
 Though she is tyrannous in keeping the friend from the 
 poet's Muse, yet she is the fairest and most precious 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 135 
 
 jewel. The poet and the friend being one, he perforce 
 loved what the friend loved, yet the mistresses beauty 
 caused a thousand groans in the poet, as she had seduced 
 the friend from his Muse. The 8th line denotes the 
 poet's absence. He is now, as in Sonnet 29, by himself 
 alone, and swears that though she is not fair, she is as 
 tyrannous as those that are, by causing in his breast the 
 severest pangs of love. He is still harping on the paradox 
 black being fair, i.e., beautiful, which is true, it being her (i.e. 
 Lady Eich's) deeds alone that give rise to this black slander. 
 
 Sonnet 132. In this Sonnet the conceit of the dark 
 eyes being in mourning is again used. This time they 
 ire in mourning for the poet's Muse, pitying her sorrow. 
 They thus appear loving mourners for the ill they have 
 lone ; and if she will also array her heart in sorrow, even 
 thought it be feigned, the poet will then swear so well 
 does sorrow suit her that beauty is black, and there is no 
 beauty but that which partakes of her complexion. As 
 before observed, this was written at the time of the 33rd. 
 Shakespeare had received a missive stating them both to 
 be in sorrow, and as her eyes appear to mourn, so let her 
 aeart also. He knows that her heart will not recognize 
 aim as her real lover, her eyes but torment him ; but if her 
 aeart will mourn also, he will then swear that all those 
 ivho are not dark like her are not beautiful. 
 
 The next and the three following Sonnets are the 
 counterparts of the 40th, 41st, and 42nd, addressed to 
 he friend, in which the friend, the mistress, and the poet 
 orm an equilateral triangle, and bear the same loving 
 egard for each other. The friend loves the mistress 
 >ecause the poet loves her ; and the poet loves her because 
 
136 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 the friend loves her, and she loves the friend because the 
 poet loves him ; finally she loves the poet alone because 
 the poet and the friend are one, and that the friend may be 
 the Muse's love alone ; the poet offers himself as bail for 
 him, that he may be set free from loving servitude, and 
 that his own love may be accepted. 
 
 Sonnet 133. Her heart will not love him, then ill betide 
 it for wounding not only himself, but his friend with him. 
 The poet endeavours in this and the three following 
 Sonnets to prove that he is alone loved by her, or at least 
 that she accepts his love by accepting the love of the 
 friend. He pleads his case as before the Court of Love ; 
 111 betide that heart for the deep wound it has made 
 through the united hearts of both me and my friend. Is 
 it not enough to torture me alone 1 but must my sweetest 
 friend be, like myself, slave to thy love (the poet having 
 first loved her) ; you have won both my love and his, I 
 am forsaken altogether (Sonnet 40, lines 9 and 10) and 
 bereft of all, which is a threefold torment to be thus 
 crossed. Take my heart prisoner in thy unrelenting 
 breast, but let my friend's heart be free. I will guard his 
 heart, thou canst not then prove a rigorous jailer, and yet 
 thou wilt, for if I give myself up to thee, in doing so I 
 give my friend's heart up also. 
 
 The poet is contented, as in the Epistle to the friend, 
 that she should love him ; but on condition that if 
 she enjoys the love of the friend, for this permission 
 she must accept the poet's love. His plea for desiring 
 to be incorporated with his friend, is that he might 
 guard his heart and senses. The friend, having become 
 enthralled by her beauty, after having devoted his 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 137 
 
 love to the poet's Muse, is the occasion to the three 
 parties of mutual love and mutual sin ; the friend, though 
 blamed for his fault, was at once forgiven ; but as for the 
 lady, " her dear virtue " should have kept her from this 
 attaint, and the poet affects that he will never forgive her 
 for bringing this disgrace upon his Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 134. Having confessed that the friend belongs 
 to the mistress, the poet declares that he is mortgaged to her 
 will, and is willing to forfeit himself if she will restore the 
 friend to be still the consoler of his Muse ; but the mistress 
 is too covetous to give him up, and the friend is too loving 
 to be free. The friend has, like a surety, written for the 
 poet under that bond that binds both poet and friend 
 fast ; the statute of her beauty she will use and sue a 
 friend, debtor for the poet's sake, who has lost him through 
 her unkind abuse, and she has both the friend and poet. 
 
 The poet has lost the friend, and the mistress has them 
 both, yet though the friend pays the whole the poet is 
 not free. Compare this with the 42nd, in which the poet 
 has both the mistress and the friend, yet there is no 
 contradiction between them, it is merely looking at the 
 same event in two different lights. If it was true to say 
 that on account of the mutual love between the poet and 
 his friend, they were both the poet's, it is, of course? 
 equally true to assert that on account of their mutual 
 love she holds them both, and thus, though the friend 
 pays the whole debt of love, the poet is not free. In the 
 plain matter-of-fact view too, the poet might say that he 
 has lost the friend, since he has become estranged from 
 him on account of the love of the mistress. Thus, she is 
 
138 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 made against her will to claim both, and both against 
 their will claim her. In the 12th line of this Sonnet 
 there is a misprint in all the editions : " my abuse " should 
 be (as converted above) "thy abuse," namely, that of 
 taking the friend (see Sonnet 42, line 7). This Sonnet is 
 also in contrast to the 40th, to the friend. She is to take 
 all his loves, and yet merit blame for doing so. Having 
 chided her for making use of her beauty like a usurer his 
 gold, taking two for one, he now views it as her chief 
 grace, and entreats her still to do so. 
 
 Sonnet 135. Euns on the trio of wills the mistress 
 now possesses, in which she must be happy beyond a 
 number, she having her own sweet will, the loving will 
 of the poet's friend, and the goodwill (favour and love) of 
 the poet himself; so she having all, has, indeed, more 
 than enough. The theme is thus continued : Whoever 
 hath her heart's desire, thou hast thy loving will, and 
 will to spare, and will in abundance. I am more than 
 enough that still vex thee, thus making addition to thy 
 sweet will. Wilt thou, whose will is boundless, not once 
 condescend to secrete my will in thine. Shall will in 
 others seem right gracious, and no fair acceptance appear 
 in mine ? The full sea receives rain, and though bound- 
 less, still addeth to his store ; so thou, rich in will, add my 
 one will to increase thine. Let no fair beseecher unkindly 
 put me aside think only of me and of my love. 
 
 In this Sonnet she is the pivot around which so many 
 mysticisms revolve, and is desired to believe that the poet 
 is the only one that she loves, or that loves her, that his 
 friend may be reserved for his Muse alone, the poet's 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 139 
 
 name being William, she may well consider him, the one 
 she loves of that name. 
 
 ^Sonnet . 1 3 frr^In what Butler styles " the ingenious 
 elegancies of quibble," the poet reharps upon the punning 
 word " Will/' and ends the Sonnet attesting that it is his 
 own Christian name, as it also was the friend's. It pro- 
 ceeds thus : " If thy soul should deter thee from accept- 
 ing my love, thou mayst swear I was thy will, and will thou 
 knowest is admitted there ; thus far, sweet love, thou can'st 
 fulfil my love suit ; Will will fulfil the treasure of thy love 
 suit, aye, fill it full of love, and my will one. In things of 
 great receipt one is reckoned nothing, then let me in the 
 number pass untold, though I must be one in the account; 
 but hold me as nought, so that thou wilt consider that 
 nothing me, a something sweet to thee. Make but my 
 name thy love, and then, if thou lovest that thou lovest 
 me, for my name is Will. In the Sonnet she is desired 
 to swear this to her " blind soul/' that is, entirely give 
 herself up to that belief. 
 
 Though widely absent, he wishes to be received in her 
 breast as her real lover ; but this Sonnet proves that the 
 poet had no claim whatever to the love of the lady, 
 though he had loved her previously to the friend. The 
 claim is merely by poetical license. A line from Troilus 
 and Cressida may denote his former love for her, " But, 
 though I lov'd you well, I woo'd you not." Thus, 
 though rejected as her lover, he desires her friendship 
 Dray ton's llth and 24th Sonnets are of a precisely similar 
 tendency to this quartet of Shakespeare's. Drayton 
 declares himself bewitched by his mistress ; they are so 
 
140 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 much one, that they know not themselves from each 
 other, hence Shakespeare's parody. 
 
 Having as fruitlessly entreated her to love him as he 
 had besought his wilful friend to marry, he, as on that 
 occasion, changes the theme, and despairingly claims her 
 love, the while breaking forth against himself and the 
 mistress in the severest loving abuse. Thus, the Muse 
 triumphs over her rival by placing her in the worst con- 
 ceivable light. 
 
 Sonnet 137. The lines in the last Sonnet 
 
 " Among a number one is reckoned none, 
 Then in the number let me pass untold." 
 
 is the occasion of the renewal of this loving abuse, which 
 he retorts upon her for the abuse she has done him. She 
 who has so many " saucy Jacks," probably alluding to her 
 position at Court, must be common to all, hence she is 
 now disdained as altogether unworthy of his love, espe- 
 cially as she is his greatest enemy. He begins by telling her 
 that his eyes are like her soul blind, though not blinded 
 by bright visions as they were for the friend ; but she is 
 viewed as black and deformed, by reason of her evil 
 actions, and though her eyes can rightly judge beauty, 
 yet she, that is the best, they take to be the worst. If 
 he knows that he but stands one among the number of 
 her lovers, how is it that she has not only befooled his 
 eyes, but his heart also \ Why should his heart think 
 she is for one alone, when it knows that she is common to 
 all the world* ; or why, his eyes seeing this, does he not 
 say it is so ? why seek to make the best that which 
 
 * Even as the sun and moon may be said to be by their pre-eminence. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 141 
 
 is the worst. But his heart and his eyes are no true 
 guides (alluding to his having falsely judged his true 
 friend), and they are now turned to this false torment. 
 
 The lady is thus proved to be even as the poet's Muse 
 guilty, yet innocent ; who, though seen and admired by 
 all, was constantly devoted to one. This begets the 
 theme : If she is my love, what blindness to love her, 
 who loves another. 
 
 In the following Sonnet he continues the imaginary 
 conversation with her, as he had done to his friend's 
 shadow, and protests that if she will declare him her 
 lender, he will believe himself young and her truthful. 
 
 Sonnet 138. The theme of the last being the true and 
 false, it is reharped upon in this. Knowing her truth, 
 she boldly declares it, but this feigned declaration the 
 poet converts to his own purpose. Being one with his 
 friend, he assumes that she is alone his, and he hers ; his 
 words are explained thus : When his love declares that she 
 is all truth he believes her, though he knows she speaks 
 falsely (having seduced the friend), that she might think 
 him some simple youth (which Herbert at that time was) 
 for being one with the friend. The poet vainly believes 
 that she thinks him also young, although she knows he is 
 past the flower of his youth, and he credits her tongue, 
 well knowing it is speaking falsely ; so on either side the 
 simple truth is suppressed. But why does not she own 
 that she is unjust in taking away the poet's friend \ 
 md why does he not at once say he is old ? Because 
 love cannot exist without trust, and the lover that is past 
 his best does not like to count the years he has lived. 
 
142 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 The friend being in love with the mistress, the poet must 
 needs be also, and it is assumed for this reason that the 
 poet and the mistress thus flatter themselves with lies. 
 
 This and the 144th Sonnet appeared in 1599 in the 
 u Passionate Pilgrim," in the year in which they were 
 written, and transmitted to the friend. Jaggard the printer 
 may have obtained a copy of them from one of the " pri- 
 vate friends." However this may be, they were careful in 
 letting no more appear till 1609. 
 
 It appears from this Sonnet that the poet was older 
 than the lady, as it also appears in others that the mis- 
 tress was older than Herbert ; and as the poet denoted 
 his friend's age, in the first portion of his poem, so 
 eighteen, the number of Sonnets in this poem may 
 denote hers ; and as the poet, for reasons given, had 
 spoken of his being in the yellow leaf in the poem to the 
 friend, so he again denotes it here, though he had at this 
 date only reached his thirty-fifth year. Herbert's age 
 was, as shown, at the date of the first Sonnets, between 
 sixteen and seventeen, and the mistress, at the time this 
 was written, was probably eighteen or nineteen years of 
 age. Consequently the Muse will not view her rival as so 
 young or so beautiful as her beloved. 
 
 Sonnet 139. Having written pleasingly of her, it is 
 assumed she will desire him to continue to do so, and 
 excuse her as he had excused the friend ; but the unity is 
 now separated, the dream is dispelled, and she is again 
 chided for the grievous wrong she has done him and his 
 friend, as if it caused the deepest grief. He makes this 
 pathetic lament : Oh ! do not look to me to make fair 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 143 
 
 thy foul faults, which weigh heavily upon my heart, the 
 taking of the friend. See Sonnet 35, in which the poet 
 pleads against himself to justify the wrong done to him 
 by both the friend and the mistress. Tell me thou 
 lovest another (the friend), but by thy looks let me 
 believe it to be me. Thou needest not use art to slay me 
 (by being silent), but when in my presence by a loving 
 look lead me to suppose you alone love me. You need 
 not thus trifle with me ; I should die at once at a frown. 
 But I excuse you ; it is (as in the 42nd) your love for 
 me that induced you to love my friend. Your pretty 
 looks have well nigh been my death, so you kindly turn 
 your gaze toward my friend, that he may groan under 
 the wound of love ; but do not so (he says) since I am 
 nearly slain, kill me at once by thy loving looks. 
 
 These addresses to the visionary mistress, as those to 
 the friend, were made in derision of the fantastical con- 
 ceits used by the Italian and English sonnetteers, and 
 these shifting changes give his satire fuller scope. The 
 argument of this and the foregoing Sonnet is : Am I for 
 bhy injury to justify thy conduct, or to remain in tongue- 
 tied patience, whilst you neither pity my state nor offer 
 me your love ? The Muse warns either that if they con- 
 tinue thus to err, the crime, by being recorded alle- 
 yorically, " now this ill wresting world is grown so bad," 
 will be believed by mad ears, and then what will the 
 nazed world think of them 1 But lest this should be so, 
 :hey are both bid to assent to the will of the Muse. 
 
 Sonnet 149. The poet bids her ; Be wise as thou art 
 do not too much oppress me by disdaining me, 
 
 L 
 
144 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 lest my sorrow breaks out into words, and I, wanting 
 pity, express my pain. If you were wise, you would 
 declare you love me, even if you love me not. Like im- 
 patient sick men when they are near their death (as he is 
 by the darts of her eyes) who will hear nothing from 
 their physicians but health, so I desire not to hear from 
 you the word hate, but love ; for if I despair I shall go 
 mad, and may speak ill of thee ; and now this ill wresting 
 world is grown so bad that mad slanderers are believed 
 by mad ears, that I may not go mad or say false things 
 of you, look lovingly at me alone, though thy heart loves 
 another. The concluding couplet resembles thatof the 3 6th. 
 As she does not comply with his request, in the next 
 he at once becomes mad, and gives vent to his tongue- 
 tied patience, and thus mocks the frenzied sonnetteers. 
 
 Sonnet 141 again reverts to the theme of still loving, 
 though seeing every reason to hate. The poet is now 
 both blindly and madly in love, since he still seeks to 
 gain that which grieves him most ; yet in spite of his 
 judgment telling him that inward faults disgrace her 
 outward form, being united with the friend, he must 
 both love her and seek her love. His words may be thus 
 translated : In truth, my eyes do not love thee, because 
 they observe a thousand errors in thee, but what they 
 despise my heart loves, though in all things my every 
 sense abhors thee. Neither in sense taste, or smell do I 
 desire to be invited to any feast of the senses with thee 
 alone (in contrast to that which he had written to the 
 friend, Sonnet 35, line 9), but my friend and I being one, 
 I cannot dissuade my foolish heart from serving thee, for 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 145 
 
 still I remain thy proud heart's wretched vassal, so that 
 all I gain is but torment (the lady, Sonnet 42), inasmuch 
 as the sin you occasion me to commit (i. e. } loving the 
 sweet thief see Sonnet 35) brings me but anguish (since 
 she will neither give him her love nor give up his friend). 
 He thus finds that he had hitherto misjudged in his com- 
 putation of loss and gain. Our view becomes more and 
 more evident, that it was the office of Shakespeare's Muse to 
 praise man, as also it was her office by allegory to dis- 
 praise woman ; hence this strikingly contrasted picture. 
 
 Sonnet 142. The poet now expostulates with the 
 vision of the mistress upon the sin mentioned in the last 
 Sonnet, and it is assumed the virtuous mistress hates the 
 sinfulness of his loving, to which he contrasts her sin ; 
 and he denotes that as much as she loves his friend he will 
 love her with equal right ; and as she desires the love of 
 his friend, betrothed to his Muse, he will desire her love, 
 trothed to his friend ; and because, though the two 
 friends are one, she turns from him to the friend, he will 
 protest his love for her in spite of its sin, for if he sins, 
 she also sins ; if she seeks the friend's love he will seek 
 hers. In the 35th, the poet has already spoken of having 
 corrupted himself with their sins. The Sonnet is thus 
 interpreted : My sin is love, and you virtuously hate 
 my sin in loving you who are another's. Oh ! but with 
 my state compare thine own, and you shall find that it 
 does not merit reproof, or if it does, not from thy lips 
 that have disgraced their scarlet hue (by seducing the 
 friend, who is married to his Muse) and sealed false bonds 
 of love as oft as my tongue (his pen) has forsworn itself, 
 
 L 2 
 
146 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 robbed that which is another's (the friend belonging to 
 the poet's Muse) for thy own use. Is it not as lawful for 
 me to love thine eyes as for you to love the eyes of my 
 friend, whom thine woo (see Sonnet 41), as mine solicit 
 thee ? Eoot pity in thy heart, that you may, when occa- 
 sion serves, deserve that pity you give others ; but if you 
 seek to have that which you hide (the friend whom she 
 has taken away from the poet, and who is spoken of as 
 lost or hid see Sonnet 135), may you be denied the pity 
 you deny others. Thus they both seek to possess that 
 which neither have and yet both have, hence the quarrel ; 
 and though the poet knows the mistress virtuous, he 
 proves her not so, since she detains, like a thief, the 
 friend from the Muse's garden, and prevents the flowers 
 of fancy springing from her beds to her beloved's honour. 
 
 Sonnet 143. The poet now pictures this mutual 
 seeking to have, and allegorises this taking the poet to 
 her bosom, even as he had done the taking of the friend's 
 heart to his own breast (see Sonnet 22 ; it also has an 
 opposite reference to Sonnet 37). The mistress is now 
 represented as turning her eyes from the poet and pur- 
 suing the poet's other self (the friend), who is virtuously 
 pictured as turning from her, knowing that he is allied to 
 the Muse. The simile is a careful housewife (the mis- 
 tress), who has lost one of her feathered creatures (Her- 
 bert), and who sets down her babe* (Shakespeare) in 
 order to pursue what she would have stay, not prizing 
 
 * She, like the Muse, pursues and desires to possess her beloved (see 
 Sonnet 75). The fourth, ninth, and last lines of this Sonnet (143) are in 
 contrast to the ninth line of Sonnet 129. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 147 
 
 the discontent of her child, who tries to catch her. But 
 if, having found her hope, she will turn back to him and 
 play the mother's part by taking his love to her breast, he 
 will then pray that she may obtain her will (i. e., William, 
 her heart's desire) and silence his loud complain- 
 ing. The concluding couplet is echoed in the 136th, 
 the idea still being Believe me your own loving Will.* 
 The reason why the friend is represented as flying from 
 the mistress is seen in the 41st to the friend : the tempter 
 is there shown following the youth. It is observable that 
 he would not at first listen to her temptations, but being 
 an untutored youth, unlearned in the world's subtleties, 
 and the poet being absent, he had no one to advise him. 
 The reason why the poet represents himself as her child 
 is because she had his innocent love, seeking to be 
 admitted into her bosom, a loving prisoner. The reader 
 will not fail to observe the reference of the " loud crying " 
 of this Sonnet to the "wailing chief" of the 42nd. f- 
 
 This reharping upon the word "Will/' the Christian 
 name of both the poet and the friend, is both an appro- 
 priate conclusion to his entreaty, and excuse for his love 
 suit, and is the ending to her first epistle. 
 
 Sonnet 144. Now all alone bereft of both her and the 
 friend's love, the poet soliloquises his thoughts and makes 
 an epitome of the relation between himself, the friend, 
 and the mistress. He now places his two loves in con- 
 
 * Even the poet's contemporaries thus made this endearing use of his 
 name, styling him "good Will.'' The epithet "good" is also applied to his 
 daughter upon her epitaph, in the line 
 
 " Wise to salvation was good Mistress Hall/' 
 
 t The poet evidently parodies in this, the puling, whining, childish, 
 blubbering sonneteers of his own day. 
 
148 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 trast. The Muse has for the friend all the love of Venus 
 for Adonis, and all the jealousy and hate for her mortal 
 rival, which is emblematical of her sex. In the 134th, 
 the Muse has entreated her rival to restore the friend to 
 be her comfort. The love of the one prompts the poet 
 like a better angel, the love of the other like an evil spirit 
 a woman coloured ill (spoken of as vile by the poet, not 
 alluding to her hue, but her deeds in seducing the friend), 
 thus causing the poet a hell of torment. (Sonnet 58) He 
 claims two loves the friend, whom he loves for himself, 
 and his Muse, and the mistress, whom, in his own despite, 
 he is compelled to love, because the friend loves her. She 
 is again accused of tempting the friend from his side, i.e., 
 separating them, wooing him from the poet's Muse ; and 
 converts the poet's heaven to a hell, by thus corrupting 
 his sainted friend to be a devil, though as the poet was 
 absent (Sonnet 41), he could not know how far she had 
 corrupted him, but guesses each angel in the other's hell, 
 i.e., committing the same fault the friend, adultery in 
 loving the mistress, the mistress in loving the friend, but 
 this the poet shall not know till the mistress relinquishes 
 the friend. Shakespeare, while fearing that the mistress 
 will make the friend as inconstant as herself, yet makes his 
 Muse console herself with the thought that eventually the 
 friend will discover that woman is faithless as the rose 
 on her cheek, and will then perceive the full force of her 
 (the Muse's) own truth and devotedness. The reader will 
 at once see that this Sonnet is allied to the 67th and 68th } 
 the doctrine there being as in this Why should true 
 beauty live with the false. The friend's cheek is of holy 
 beauty, but the painted rose on woman's cheek is an 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 149 
 
 impiety. Olivia, on a like loving, hating, occasion, says to 
 her supposed Csesario, 
 
 " Fare thee well, 
 A friend like thee might bear my soul to hell." 
 
 And Viola tells Olivia, 
 
 " But if you were the devil, you are fair." 
 
 The expression " suggest me still " in the second line of 
 the Sonnet, shows at once that this was not one of the first 
 written to or of her, and is in its proper sequence. That 
 the Sonnet was written shortly after the mystical union 
 between the friend, is attested by this and the 138th 
 appearing in the " Passionate Pilgrim " in 1599, and by the 
 allusion to the same event in the early portion of the poem 
 to the friend. It is remarkable of this and the Sonnet, above- 
 mentioned, that they are neither addressed to the friend 
 nor the mistress, but are self-reflections on the scheme in 
 which the poet was then involved. They appeared in the 
 above-mentioned miscellany the year they were written. 
 The publisher (Jaggard) may have, as observed, ob- 
 tained copies from one of the private friends, and finding 
 they were newly written and of importance, places them 
 first in the collection. Possibly the rest of this group of 
 Sonnets, which were also recently written, would have 
 been given up by the private friends, had they possessed 
 copies. Hence it may be inferred that the Sonnets 
 directly addressed to both the friend and the mistress 
 respectively, were not handed about, they were merely 
 read. This would account for no others appearing till 
 the entire series in 1609, and with them the two printed 
 in 1599, but revised with a few effective touches. These 
 two Sonnets were sufficient to create a sensation, as they 
 
150 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 contained the heart of the mystery, and they evidently 
 caused some scandal among the unknowing, some of 
 which has reached these times, but as it rests on no 
 foundation, it serves now as when invented, merely for 
 jest books. 
 
 Having in this summed up the epistle addressed to the 
 mistress, the poet has to wait till his return to know the 
 result of her epistle of seventeen Sonnets. With this one 
 appended, they were evidently sent with the set of seven- 
 teen to the friend, while the poet was pursuing his journey ; 
 and he writes no more to hor till his return, but he refers 
 (as has been seen) to her influence over his other self, 
 his friend, in the 57th 58th, and 61st Sonnets. 
 
 Upon his return, which was not till after an absence of 
 several months, as seen in the series to the friend, after 
 having written twenty-three Sonnets more to him while 
 away, being the series from the 42nd to the 65th, at which 
 point he returns, and pens the two following to the mis- 
 tress. The conceit in the first arises from his having 
 supplicated her to tell him she loved him (Sonnet 140), 
 even though she loved him not. We find she now 
 complies with his request, upon which the ill expressions 
 used towards her in the last are atoned for, by the poet 
 declaring that the spirit of evil has left her heaven and 
 flown to hell, as the night from day. 
 
 Sonnet 145. Is a far more cheerful self-reflection and 
 self-flattery. The poet considers that since the mistress 
 loves him, he should not hate her. He has returned from 
 the journey, and to mark it he alters the stanza to the 
 octo-syllabic ; and the lips he has chided tell him in the 
 most loving manner that she does not hate, but loves him, 
 
OF THE SONN 
 
 :br which she is indulged with a playful^concelt. Being 
 )f a loving nature, she takes pity upon the poet's woful 
 state, and, patterned by him, converts the word hate to 
 .ove, and thus saves his life, (which he despaired of in ab- 
 sence,) by saying I do not hate, but love you. As in 
 :he last she is proved to hate him, so now she is said to 
 .ove him, which she must needs do, as he is one with 
 iie friend. Had she declared she did not love him, she 
 v^ould have been his hate, night, and hell, but sweet 
 lattery, she is his love, his light, and his heaven. 
 
 Sonnet 146. This Sonnet refers especially to Sonnets 
 37 and 68, belonging to the group written on the return 
 ;0 the friend in the most solemn strain, even so he pens 
 ler a self-reflection. The parting admonition, the farewell 
 ,o the friend, is supposed to occasion in the breast of the 
 nistress this sad lament, and this, with the last, are the 
 mly lines addressed to her on his return. Thus the poet 
 reated her in the same manner as the friend, whom, how- 
 ever, the Muse indulged with thirteen Sonnets, though she 
 ian spare but two for the mistress. It is to be observed in 
 enewing the song he translated the " coloured ill " of the 
 1 4 4th to " false of hue," to give wider scope to the satire. 
 Phis is, indeed, a noble Sonnet. It attests the poet's 
 aith in the immortality of the soul ; and shows that he 
 hought, as he elsewhere expresses it, " nobly of the soul." 
 !n this Sonnet we view the poet reading a homily to the 
 nistress, upon the vanity of earthly things ; and as the 
 nd of the poem is now contemplated, she is warned of 
 )f her end, and besought to defy death and live for ever ; 
 )ut it is not to be by verse, but by despising outward 
 
 
152 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 vanities, i.e., painting and cost, and to rather seek divine 
 love, which exists beyond the grave. This, like the rest, 
 though addressed to her, alludes directly to the women of 
 the age, for had she been a painted woman, she would 
 have been loathed, rather than loved by two such sensi- 
 tive upholders of nature's own painting, and detesters of 
 all artificial aids to beauty. She is besought to let her 
 mind banquet though her body pine, and bid her soul 
 adorn itself with divine graces, to gain an eternal life ; and 
 not be the despised servant of the body, but its master, 
 since all painting and cost soon become food for worms.** 
 
 EENEWAL. 
 
 The poet renews the complaint, and the following eight 
 Sonnets are evidently written during the time of the 
 renewal of the song to the friend, between Sonnets 77 
 and 126 ; and as the poet had told his friend that his 
 love still continued for him, so he tells the mistress (that in 
 spite of the Muse's allegorical dislike to her), he still con- 
 tinues to love her, and that he has been love-sick for her, 
 his food having been his loving thoughts. It is worthy of 
 remark in these last Sonnets and their counterparts to the 
 friend, that the allegory is further developed, for the 
 purpose of a more direct satire upon the marriages a-la- 
 mode of the age. He also ceases to speak of the friend, 
 but vainly supposes the friend and himself are one, and 
 that she loves him only ; for the same reason in the 
 counterpart renewal to the friend, Sonnets 77 to 126, no 
 mention is made of her. 
 
 * In the second line of the Sonnet there is a misprint, the words "my 
 sinful earth" are repeated, instead of, I conjecture, "Poor soul ;" the line 
 will then stand thus, " Poor soul, those rebel powers that thee array." 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 153 
 
 Sonnet 147. Returning to the former theme of his 
 mpure love for the sweet thief, he now likens his love to 
 . fever, and he has a sickly appetite, for that which 
 ucreases it, and he holds this weak state, bordering upon 
 isanity, to be an additional reason why she should give 
 p the friend ; and yet, as in Sonnet 118, he would not 
 )se the love, of whose sweetness he is so sick. In the 
 eight of his delirium he cries, I have sworn thee fair and 
 bought thee radiant, when thou art black as hell, and 
 ark as night, alluding to the praise he had given her 
 uring the interim of silence, when he had supposed she 
 ras his alone, by her sweet flattery, Sonnet 145. 
 
 As in the last, he pictures her fair without but foul 
 within, merely outside show, because she refuses to give 
 p the friend married to the Muse ; nevertheless his 
 )ve exceeded during absence what it was before ; and as 
 i the last he speaks of life, its support, and death, so 
 ow he renews the song by speaking of love, its support, 
 nd death. 
 
 Sonnet 148. Love reasons without reason is again the 
 hieme ; and, as in the last, he still affirms his judgment 
 as left him. Harping upon the concluding lines of the 
 ist Sonnet, he continues upbraiding love : O me ! what 
 yes has love given me, which bear no resemblance to 
 rue seeing eyes, or if they do, my judgment has left me, 
 ince they estimate falsely that which they see truly ! If 
 liat be fair on which my false eyes love to dwell, why do 
 thers say it is not so 1 (reverting to the paradox of black 
 eing fair). If it be not, then the eye of love observes 
 ruly. But love's eye cannot be true, it is so obscured by 
 
 itching (lest she should take the friend entirely), and 
 
154 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 in tears (for his having proved guilty), that it is no 
 wonder that I do not see clearly ; the sun itself sees 
 not till heaven clears. He concludes that she purposely 
 keeps him blind, lest he should discover her treacherous 
 faults (the seducing the friend from Shakespeare's Muse). 
 That the friend is not now recognised is imputed to her 
 cunning love keeping the poet blind. 
 
 Sonnet 149. The mistress, like the friend (Sonnet 
 102) thinks that on account of the poet having ceased 
 the mystic song addressed to her, he has ceased loving ; 
 but how can he cease to love her, or she him, while she 
 loves Herbert, and he her ? Can she say that the poet does 
 not love her, when he arms himself in her cause, and thus 
 for her sake plays the tyrant to himself, just as he had for 
 the friend, and proves himself her slave in all loving sub- 
 missiveness ? He exclaims : Would I call any my 
 friend who does not love you, or whom you do not love ? 
 and if you frown upon me, am T not at once full of 
 grief? or, in other words, if he is hated by her he will 
 hate himself. He asks what worthiness he values in 
 himself that should make him so proud as to despise 
 being her servant, while all his best, obedient to the 
 command of her eye, worships her fault, and convert it to 
 her best grace. As in the 92nd he tells his friend that if 
 he ever ceases loving he will not observe it, so he now 
 tells her that though he observes she loves another, he will 
 be blind, and not see it. The quibbling is at once 
 evident upon the sounds of the words eye and I. As 
 before observed, the language to both the friend and the 
 mistress on the renewal is of a like tendency. Compare 
 also with this Sonnets 89 and 120. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 155 
 
 Sonnet 150. Though the poet has seen and heard 
 more of her faults (during the interim), yet he now 
 loves her more. He is thus led to ask whence the mis- 
 tress has gained this powerful might, so as to make him 
 palliate all her Avorst deeds and belie his own vision. 
 How is it he converts her worst of all worsts to the best 
 of all bests'? (by taking the friend from the Muse, by 
 which she gives a triumphant proof of her skill in the 
 art and mystery of love). Who taught him to love the 
 more the more cause he saw for hate ? (in her seeking to 
 possess the friend) ; and though he loves what others 
 hate (a divider and corrupter of loving friends), she 
 should not abhor his despised state. However unworthy 
 his love may be, it should be received, since her un- 
 worthiness has raised love in him, he is the more 
 worthy to be loved by her. This Sonnet not only refers 
 to the same event, but is a renewed counterpart of 
 Sonnets 40 and 93. It is perceivable that under the mask 
 of allegory the mistress was to translate this loving abuse 
 to her praise. 
 
 Sonnet 151. This was evidently written about the 
 time of the 1 1 5th. The poet's love for her is a growing 
 love, and his soul tells him she is alone his own. In this 
 and the following Sonnet, which ends the loving war, it is 
 decided that both are in fault, but the poet mostly so, 
 and he finally pays her the highest compliment the argu- 
 ment admits of, when he says in the following Sonnet 
 
 " But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee, 
 When 1 break twenty ?" (I am perjured most). 
 
 Having spoken of her soul's sin being outward show, he 
 now declares it to be also love, and discourses upon his 
 
 
156 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 soul's sin (love) ; at the same time, stating that his soul is 
 master of his " gross body/' not, as was the case with the 
 mistress, the body triumphing over the soul. He makes 
 apology for the loving fault of her un worthiness raising 
 love in him, but he does not accuse himself for this sinful 
 loving of a want of conscience. He thus justifies it : 
 Love is too young to know what conscience is, yet con- 
 science may be the offspring of love. She is not, then, 
 to urge the poet's fault in loving her, when she is equally 
 guilty in loving the friend. They are thus both guilty of 
 the same fault ; but since she has acted treacherously to 
 him, he will act so to her. He will direct towards her 
 his full soul of love (which he may do in the name of his 
 friend, as they are but one), and having, by this union 
 with the friend, both the friend and the mistress, he may 
 well triumph in love, and stay no further examination of 
 conscience, and though she is the love of the friend, he 
 may point her out as his triumphant prize. Having 
 gained so much, he is contented to be her vassal, and to 
 rise and fall in her love and hate as she purposes, for he 
 counts it no want of conscience to seek her love, even 
 though she may refuse to give it ; and since he and his 
 friend are one, she is unquestionably the poet's own dear 
 mistress. Thus the poet offers himself, both body and 
 soul, as her devoted servant, to be loved or hated as she 
 chooses, and he bids her tell her soul, as in the 136th, to 
 deceive itself, and love but him alone. This Sonnet is 
 the very counterpart of the 124th to the friend; it also 
 has a covert allusion to Antony Scoloker's* " Diaphantas ; 
 
 * Scoloker may however have seen this Sonnet of Shakespeare's, they 
 appear to have been friends, and he styles him " friendly Shakespeare." 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 157 
 
 the Passions of Love," edit. 1604, stanza 2. The con- 
 ceit of the Sonnet itself arose in the concluding couplet 
 3f the last ; but, as observed, it stands in contrast to the 
 Brection of loving verse to the friend, Sonnetsl23, 124. 
 
 Sonnet 152. He continues his own betrayal, and 
 urges hers. The mistress having said she also loves the 
 poet, they are thus mutually in fault, both have now newly 
 protested love (she in the 145th, he in the 149th). He 
 lovingly rebukes her, and as in the 36th and 11 7th he 
 flings the greatest disgrace upon himself, so he does with 
 equal truth upon the present occasion. He exclaims : 
 Thou knowest that in loving thee I am forsworn (having 
 promised to love only the friend), but thou art twice for- 
 sworn, to me, love swearing (the two friends being but one, 
 she has protested her love for the poet alone, yet given it 
 to the friend) ; he demands why he accuses her of breaking 
 two oaths, when he breaks twenty. He is perjured most, 
 since all he has said in her praise in the interim of peaceful 
 love proves to her dispraise, and all the honest faith he had 
 in her is gone ; for he has sworn she was not unloving, in- 
 constant, or ill-coloured, and to give her brightness he 
 gave light to his own blindness, or made his eyes swear 
 against the object of their vision. Because (he says) I 
 have sworn thee fair (Sonnet 127) I am most perjured to 
 swear in the face of truth so foul a lie."* She is then 
 proved both false without and within, and the aim and 
 end of the satire fulfilled ; and as in the 35th the poet 
 excused his friend's sins more than his sins were, so the 
 
 * He thus finally protests that she was not fairer than the fair, but 
 blacker than the black. 
 
158 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 sins of the mistress are blamed more than her sins were ; 
 and as she deserves the severest indignation of the poet's 
 Muse, she is not to be entirely forgiven. She has now 
 received her final denunciation, which, however, bears 
 love in itself. In the two concluding Sonnets the poet 
 pleads that his having left her arose from excess of love, 
 which was also the plea he made to the friend for leaving 
 him ; and as on his return and renewal of the Sonnets his 
 love for the friend had increased, so also his love for the mis- 
 tress must needs have increased. So now we have witnessed 
 .that the poet's computation of loss and gain, summed up in 
 Sonnet 42, was in vain, for the mistress has won the friend 
 from the Muse, and the poet has not gained her love, 
 though the Muse despairingly claimed the friend, and the 
 poet the mistress, and the friend and mistress each other. 
 As the poet began Sonnet 127 by praising her mourn- 
 ing eyes, and claiming her as his own, he now ends with 
 the like claim and the like praise. 
 
 Sonnet 153. The poet ends the series with an allusion 
 to Cupid, and offers the highest praise to the mistress. 
 This was evidently written about the time of the 1 1 8th and 
 1 1 9th to the friend ; and the poet, as observed, now excuses 
 his having left the mistress on account of his seeking a cure 
 for his mad loving. In this and the following Sonnet 
 he sports with a conceit in which he refers to his 
 present mad state and to the absence of the past ; and as 
 he has told the friend in the above denoted Sonnets that 
 he left him being replete with his sweet love, and 
 " sickened to shun sickness," in like manner he excused 
 his absence to the mistress, and left her to get cured of 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 159 
 
 his mad loving fever.* In doing this, he relates a poetic 
 origin of the Bath waters. He is led to do so by 
 issuming that he sought these waters as a cure for his 
 ' strange malady," i. e., excess of love. So hither he 
 lied, " a sad, distempered guest." But at these efficacious 
 waters he " found no cure." The only bath, he flatters 
 ler, that would cure him is her tearful eyes. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that though the city of Bath is 
 lot directly named, the allusions may be to it, as the most 
 amous of waters. The Eomans termed them " the waters 
 >f the sun," and there erected altars to Diana. But. 
 ? rom the following, Shakespeare may equally allude to the 
 veils of Buxton. 
 
 J. Jones dedicated his "Bathes of Bathes Ayde" to 
 lenry, Earl of Pembroke. This work Shakespeare ap- 
 ears to have perused. The author enters into a long 
 iscussion upon the properties of the waters and the cause 
 'f their heat. Upon the latter subject no definite conclu- 
 ion is arrived at. In his description he uses the term 
 valley fountains." Jones further says, " The well springs 
 >e situated in a valley, hard by a running brook." This 
 Bonnet denotes the same situation. He adds " and those 
 'ery excellent and beneficial for divers distemperatures, 
 ;riefs, and sicknesses." Bath is also referred to by 
 tumerous contemporary writers as being a place of 
 ashionable resort. He makes allusion to Cupid on 
 ccount of the mystery of his own enduring love, thus 
 nputing the blame of his loving to the god of love ; the 
 ath being heated by the torch of love, has added love to 
 
 This grows out of the 147th ; his reason left him, and he without 
 m left her. 
 
 M 
 
160 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 his already love inflamed heart, the trial upon his heart 
 having proved far too effectual. 
 
 Sonnet 154. This is a variation of the last/" and 
 possibly the last Sonnet that Shakespeare ever wrote ; 
 and, like Cupid, who laid by his brand, he laid by his 
 pen the pen of love. The argument ends by the poet 
 claiming the mistress as his own, and protesting his love 
 for her without mentioning the friend, even as the poem 
 to the friend ends by his claiming him without mention 
 of the mistress. He has now ended his poem as he com- 
 'menced it, by extolling her mournfulness, and her lover's 
 only cure for his complaint is, that he may be submerged 
 in her tearful eyes, a bath which also increases his love 
 for her, on account of her sorrow for her fault; and 
 though his Muse will not forgive her, he does so, and 
 will claim her love. 
 
 Thus, by the magic of verse, the poet has celebrated 
 the mystical marriage of his Muse, and drawn all love to 
 himself ; defied time, and that iconoclast death, the 
 destroyer of living images ; erected a time-defying monu- 
 ment to his friend, and rendered himself immortal ; and 
 though the friend was permitted to become forgotten, 
 partly owing to the poet dying within seven years of the 
 publication of these poems, but more especially by the 
 poet's glory becoming a few years later eclipsed by the 
 cloud of envious rivalry, insomuch, that we are told by a 
 poet of the period, that 
 
 " Shakespeare no glory was allowed, 
 His sun quite sunk beneath a cloud," 
 
 * In the first the relation is equally divided, this is chiefly concerning 
 the cold fruitless votary of Diana. This singular repetition may also mark 
 a distinctive ending. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 161 
 
 referring to the works of Jonson and Beaumont and 
 Fletcher taking the place of Shakespeare's ; and as the 
 mystical Sonnets were understood but by a few during 
 the life-time of the friends, and less so after their deaths, 
 :ind as the poet's sun had . set, though in glory, to rise 
 again with still greater splendour, yet, consequent upon 
 this setting, a shade was cast over his memory, and his 
 Sonnets were permitted to sink into oblivion, though both 
 the poet and the patron, and other far-seers foresaw, that 
 though the age in which they lived slighted the mystic 
 memorial of their friendship, that the time would come 
 when both poet and patron would receive by the Sonnets 
 both honour and glory. 
 
 That the friend would live in them the poet was 
 assured, on account of the description given of him and 
 his initials in the dedication, even if the allusions to the 
 rival poets did not discover him ; and on the part of the 
 patron, by his having the poet's collected plays dedicated 
 to him, seven years after the poet's death, as the work of his 
 servant Shakespeare, whom he had prosecuted while living 
 with so much favour, which at once connects him with 
 the Sonnets as the poet's exalted patron and loving friend. 
 A nd was not the marriage of Herbert to the Muse a theme 
 worthy of our great poet, apart from the sacred wedlock 
 3f friendship, which rite and ceremony, the most lovely 
 ind most loving Muse has so divinely and exquisitely 
 celebrated. 
 
 Thus the whole of this confession of sins, the crimes, 
 stains, and blots, prove, when divested of allegory, in the 
 words by which the Comedy is known, in which Herbert 
 is personified, to be but " Much Ado about Nothing ;" 
 
 M 2 
 
 
162 THE EXPLANATION 
 
 but the object of both the patron and the poet was accom- 
 plished in this satire upon mistress sonnetting, and to one 
 poet's mistress evidently especial allusion is made, for 
 whoever will glance at the life of the lady Kich, the Stella 
 whom Sidney sonnetted so divinely, will discover that she 
 was just such a woman as is here described. King James 
 designated her " a fair woman, with a black soul." At this 
 famous frail married woman, Shakespeare, in all proba- 
 bility, chiefly levels his allegorical satire.* Who the lady 
 was our poet addressed I have not been able to discover, 
 but from various hints I conjecture she was a star of the 
 Court of Elizabeth, whom Shakespeare admired for her 
 wit and beauty ; and upon Herbert becoming her lover, as 
 shown, it was arranged between them, Shakespeare should 
 picture allegoricalry their love as a satire upon mistress 
 sonnetting, probably out of spite to the lady Eich, both upon 
 the part of the lady whom Herbert loved,t and upon the 
 young lord's, who may have had some family reason for 
 this, for we know not what offence this scandalous woman 
 
 * It is recorded that in the years 1599-1600, Lady Rich was more closely 
 attached to Mountjoy than to her husband. Herbert's aversion to marriage 
 might have arisen from the example he had witnessed in Sidney's mistress ; 
 she presented a totally opposite picture to Herbert, to that which she had 
 some years previously to Sidney, both as regards her beauty and virtues. 
 Herbert being a melancholy young man ; devoted more to the Muses 
 than Mistresses, upon his becoming a friend of Shakespeare, at once fell in 
 with his notions of the absurdity of the Sonneteers, each extolling the 
 object of his own choice as the most beautiful though she were the most 
 deformed, as supremely virtuous though she were extremely immoral, and 
 each loudly proclaiming the immortality of their goddesses ; seeing this 
 Herbert instigated Shakespeare, who readily complied, to make sport of 
 them, and desired him to direct the allusions chiefly to Lady Rich, the Stella 
 of Sidney's song. The reader has seen how Shakespeare effected this, and 
 how Herbert suggested and delighted in the satire. 
 
 f She must unquestionably have been as great a wit, as volatile, and as 
 strong minded as Beatrice. 
 
OF THE SONNETS. 163 
 
 ave to the Pembrokes, through the dishonour she brought 
 .pon her sex, upon the Court, and upon the noble Sidney, 
 .e having -prostituted his pen in sonnetting her. 
 
 I find mention o'f her as the evil angel of Sidney in 
 he poems of Ann Bradstreet, the daughter of T. Dudley, 
 ( ]sq. She wrote some of her poems in America, and is 
 tyled the tenth Muse, lately sprung up there. In her 
 Slegy upon Sir Philip Sidney, written in 1638, she 
 everely censures that blazing star of the Elizabethian 
 onstellation as having been of ill omen. 
 
 After a long panegyric upon Sidney, she says of 
 illustrious Stella " 
 
 " I fear thou wert a comet, did portend, 
 Such prince as he, his race should shortly end ; 
 If such stars as these, such presagers be, 
 I wish no more such blazes we may see ;! 
 But thou art gone, such meteors never last, 
 And as thy beauty, so thy name would waste ; 
 But that it is record by Philip's hand, 
 That such an omen once was in our land." 
 
 )ur poetess does not omit to state that however adul- 
 3rate others, love may have been, his was pure. She con- 
 ludes with an eulogy on Sidney, and ends the elegy 
 ath these lines 
 
 " So Sidney's fame I leave to England's rolls, 
 His bones do lie interr'd in stately Pauls." 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 TO THE DOUBLE POEM, CONSISTING OF ONE HUNDRED 
 AND TWENTY-SIX SONNETS. 
 
 The following notes are extracted from a large series 
 which I had collected to illustrate every Sonnet. I 
 have inserted only those I thought of most interest to 
 general readers, as illustrating the theme. 
 
 The booksellers who were to sell Shakespeare's Sonnets 
 had their names and addresses placed at the bottom of 
 the title-page. Eld printed them, Aspley and Wright 
 sold them, and Thorpe paid the expenses of typography. 
 W. Aspley, in 1623, was one of the four printers of the 
 first folio. 
 
 THE DEDICATION. 
 
 " Shakespeare's Sonnets, author's edition, with an inscriptional dedica- 
 tion, at Althorpe, in Lord Spenser's library, is a very fine copy, inscribed 
 " To my very kind friend," which may or may not be a presentation copy 
 from Shakespeare himself." Lowndes' Biblio. Man., 1863. 
 
 " Begetare : as a father, genitor." Promptorium Parvulorum. 
 " Like the father that begets them." 1 Henry IV. 
 
 The title-page of the second edition runs thus : 
 " Poems written by Wil. Shakespeare, Gent., London : 
 by T. Cotes for John Benson, 16 40." Thos. Cotes, in 
 1632, was the printer of the second folio for Eobert 
 Allot. Every right leaf of the volume has " Shakespeare's " 
 name at the top, and every left, the word " Sonnets." 
 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 165 
 
 SONNET l. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 " DAU. No, faith ! how mean you with encrease, Sir John ? 
 DAW. Why, with encrease is when I court her for the common cause of 
 lankind. 
 
 DAW. Then this is a ballad of procreation. 
 CLEIR. A madrigal of procreation ; you mistake." Jonson's Epiccene. 
 
 Line 2. 
 " The rose and expectancy of the fair state." Hamlet. 
 
 SONNET 2. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 " These forty winters have I married been." Sidney's Arcadia. 
 Lines 10, 11, 12. 
 
 " Looking on the lines 
 Of my hoy's face, methought I did recoil 
 Twenty-three years." Winter's Tale. 
 
 SONNET 4. 
 Lines 3, 4. 
 
 " Nature never lends 
 The smallest scruple of her excellence, 
 But, like a thrifty goddes, she determines 
 Herself the glory of a creditor, 
 Both thanks and use." Measure for Measure. 
 
 Lines 7, 8. 
 
 " Beauty is nature's coin ; must not be hoarded, 
 But must be current." Comus. 
 
 SONNET 5. 
 Lines 9 to 14. 
 
 " But earthlier happy is the rose distilled 
 Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn, 
 Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 Line 14. 
 
 <( Leese " is an old word for loose. Dogberry, stumbling over this word 
 when he intends to say " leases," stupidly says " leeses." The joke is spoilt 
 by being printed "losses", he was an householder. 
 
 SONNET 7. 
 Lines 1 to 6. 
 
 " Eros, turn from me, then, that noble countenance 
 Wherein the worship of the whole world lies." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Lines 12, 13. 
 "Men shut their doors against a setting sun." Timon of Athens. 
 
 SONNET 8. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " I can sing 
 
 And speak to him in many sorts of music, 
 That will allow me, very worth his service." Twelfth Night. 
 11 It is the tune surely of Sonnets, they are all the choice ; 
 Poets do keep them as a charming thing." 
 
 Scoloker's Diaphantas, 1604. 
 Lines 1 to 10. 
 " My untuned, stringed verse do thou excuse." 
 
 R. Chester's Love's Martyr, 1601. 
 Lines 12 and 13. 
 " Better music ne'er was known 
 Than a quire of hearts in one." 
 
 Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle. 
 
 SONNET 9. 
 Lines 13 and 14. 
 
 " Immortal be preserved, 
 If thus thou murder thy posterity ; 
 Thy very being thou hast not deserved." Sidney's Arcadia- 
 
 SONNET 10. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " The young courtier William Herbert is exceedingly beloved of a ll 
 men" "he greatly wants advice." Again, " My lord Herbert is very well. 
 I don't find any disposition at all in this gallant young Lord to marry." 
 " He is also very well beloved here of all, especially by 200 and 40 who 
 protest in all places they love him." " My Lord Herbert is not come up 
 according to his appointment, and writes unto me ; but if it be possible he 
 will be here before Christmas or New Year's day. There passes most kind 
 letters between him and 40 such, as are shown to 1500 (the Queen), and 
 I find 40 most willing to do him any service." 
 
 Extracts from Letters of Robert WJiite to Sir Robert Sydney, 1599. 
 
 " It is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted ; and I would I 
 could find it in my heart, that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none." 
 ^ " The world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I 
 
 did not think that I should live till I were married." 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 Lines 7, 8. 
 " O luster seek within thyself to flourish, 
 
 Thy house by thee must live or else be gone," 
 
 Sidney's Arcadia. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 167 
 
 SONNET 11. 
 
 Line 1. 
 " I grow and wither both together." George Whither, cetat 21, 1611. 
 
 Lines 7, 8. 
 
 " But this I am sure, quoth Coridon, if all maidens were of her mind, the 
 world would grow to a mad fray, for then would be such store of wooing 
 and little wedding." Lodge's Rosalynde. 
 
 Lines 9, 10. 
 
 "Sir, I know you not, but that you live an injury to nature. " 
 
 Fletcher's Pilgrim. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " Yet, put it by, lest thou dear Lord, Narcissus 
 Like, should dote upon thyself, and die, and rob 
 The world of nature's copy, that she works 
 Forms by." Massinger's Fatal Dowry. 
 
 SONNET 13. 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " Thou art not thyself, 
 
 For thou existed on many a thousand grains, 
 That issue out of dust." Measure for Measure. 
 
 SONNET 15. 
 
 Line 3. 
 
 " All the world's a stage, 
 And all the men and women merely players." As You Like it. 
 
 Lines 3, 4. 
 " But, O you powers 
 That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts." Pericles. 
 
 Line 11. 
 
 " Nature and sickness 
 Debate it at their leisure." A ll's Well that Ends Well. 
 
 Line 12. 
 lt Hath dimmed your infant morn to aged night." King Richard III 
 
 SONNET 16. 
 Line 9. 
 
 " For though his line of life went soon about, 
 The life yet of his lines shall never out." 
 
 Hugh Holland on Shakespeare. 
 
168 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " With his sweet skill my skilless youth he drew." Sidney's Arcadia. 
 
 SONNET 17. 
 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 *' Some misbelieving and profane in love, 
 When I do speak of miracles by thee, 
 May say thou art flattered by me." Dray ton's Sonnets. 
 
 SONNET 18. 
 
 Lines 1 and 2. 
 
 And she is fair too, is she not, 
 As a fair day in summer, wondrous fair." Pericles. 
 
 SONNET 19-. 
 
 Line 14. 
 
 " If there may be a perpetual youth bestowed on man, I am that soul 
 shall win it. Fletcher's Queen of Corinth. 
 
 SONNET 20. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 " A youth so sweet of face, 
 That many thought him of the female race." Marlowe. 
 
 Line 2. 
 
 "Our general himself makes a mistress of him our general is cut i' 
 the middle, and but one half of what he was yesterday, for the other has 
 half, by the entreaty and grant of the whole table." Coriolanus. 
 ALMANZ. The man who dares like you in fields appear, 
 
 And meet my sword shall be my mistress here. 
 D'ARCOS. I shall be glad by which ere means I can, 
 
 To get the friendship of so brave a man." Dryden. 
 
 Line 7. 
 
 " Nevertheless, however, they are restrained to their several similitudes, 
 it is certain that all of them desire no form or figure so much as the likeness 
 of a man, and do think themselves in heaven, when they are infeast in that 
 hue." Of the Naids and Nereides, Nash's Pierce Penniless. 
 " But if in living colours and bright hue, 
 Thyself thou covet to see pictured. 
 Who can do it 1 lively or more true, 
 
 Than that sweet verse with nectar sprinkled.." Fairy Queen. 
 Line 10. 
 
 " For still 
 
 Nature did dote on him (her-Bellamour 
 Or masterpiece) the wonder of her skill." 
 The Muse's Tears for Henry, Prince of Wales. J. Davies, 1613. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 169 
 
 SONNET 21. 
 Line 1. 
 
 Fletcher in the following passage in the "Woman Hater" 
 (1608) has an allusion to the mistress-sonnetteers. Gonda- 
 ius exclaims " The women of this age (if there be any 
 legree of comparison amongst their sex) are worse than 
 those of former times, for I have read of women of that 
 ith and constancy, that were they now living, I would 
 endure to see them ; but I fear the writers of the time 
 belied them, for how familiar a thing is it with the poets 
 of our age to extol their whores (which they call mis- 
 tresses) with heavenly praises ; but I thank their furies 
 and crazed brains beyond belief. Nay, how many that 
 would fain seem serious, have dedicated works to ladies 
 toothless, hollow-eyed, their hair shedding, purple faced, 
 their nails apparently coming off, and the bridges of their 
 noses broken down, and have called them the choice 
 handy words of nature, the patterns of perfection, and the 
 wonderment of women." It will be seen from this alone 
 the opinion the wits of the day would have upon Shake- 
 peare's Sonnets to his friend ; they could well participate 
 in the poet's object. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 I have discovered that the lady whom Drayton ad- 
 dressed bore the initials L. S. (query, a Sidney ?). I gain 
 my knowledge of this from the circumstance, that among 
 the Dedicatory Poems by Drayton, which are prefixed to 
 his collected works in Chalmer's collection, one is thus 
 headed : " To the lady L. S.," beginning with the words, 
 " Bright star of beauty." In the " Ideas " it stands the 
 4th. There are many improvements in the one so titled. 
 
170 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Line 2. 
 
 " Women who do paint themselves to seem beautiful do clean deface the 
 image of their Creator." Mere's Wit's Commonwealth, 1598. 
 
 Line 2. 
 
 " Though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make 
 thyself fair ; thy lovers will despise thee." Jeremiah. 
 
 The 9th line of this Sonnet contains the poet's motto, 
 " True in Love." His seal, preserved at Stratford, bears 
 the initials " W. S," entwined with the true lovers' 
 knot. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 "Well not commend what we intend not to sell." Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 SONNET 22. 
 
 Line 4. 
 " Make haste, the hour of death is expiate." Richard III. 
 
 Lines 5 to 12. 
 
 " His heart in me keeps me, and him in me ; 
 My heart in him his thoughts and senses guide ; 
 He loves my heart, for once it was his own ; 
 I'll cherish his because in me it bides." Sir P. Sidney. 
 
 Lines 11 to 14. 
 
 " My heart I gave thee, not to do it pain, 
 But to preserve it to thee was taken. 
 I served thee, not that I should be forsaken, 
 But that I should receive reward again." Sir T. Wyatt, 1552. 
 
 SONNET 23. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 " Like a dull actory now 
 " I have forgat my part, and I am out, 
 Even to a full disgrace." Coriolanus. 
 
 Line 4. 
 
 " Weakens you are, dare you with your strength fight, 
 Because your weakness weakens all your might ?" 
 
 Sidney's Arcadia. 
 Lines 5 to 9. 
 
 11 My lord will go away to-night ; 
 A very serious business calls on him, 
 The prerogative and rite of love, 
 Which, as your due time claims, he doth acknowledge, 
 But puts it off by a compelled restraint." 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES 171 
 
 Line 12. 
 " My tongue is the pen of a reader writer." Psalms. 
 
 Lines 9 to 14. 
 
 " My looks shall be love, and wit's record-books, 
 Wherein she still may read what I conceive 
 Of her sweet words, and what replies I give." 
 
 Sonnet ly J. Davies. 
 
 SONNET 24. 
 
 Lines 1 to 12, 
 Love in my heart thy heavenly shape doth paint ; 
 Thine eye the glass wherein I behold my heart, 
 Thine eye the window through the which mine eye 
 May see my heart, and thee thyself espy." Constable's Diana. 
 
 SONNET 25. 
 
 Line 4. 
 
 " Love sought is good, but given unsought is better." Twelfth Night. 
 Lines 5 to 8. 
 
 The lowly flower we call the marigold is not that 
 which Shakespeare meant. The flower he describes is 
 the sunflower, which was formerly called the Mary Gold. 
 So in Greene's " FareweU to FoUy :" " The nature of 
 this herb, Lady Frances, which we call the Mary Gold, is 
 called by the Latinists Sol Sequiam." 
 
 " you, thrice famoused for rarity !" N. Deeble on John Davies, 1603. 
 
 SONNET 28. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 " A labour'd line is too busy for my brain, 
 That is well nigh distracted with much thought." 
 
 Sonnet by J. Davies. 
 Line 9. 
 
 " Thou standest in the rising sun, 
 And in the setting thou art fair." In Memoriam. 
 
 Line 12. 
 ' I saw the wench that twirred and twinkled at thee." 
 
 Fletcher Women Phased. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Belarius (of the princes) : 
 
 " They are worthy 
 To inlay heaven with stars." Cymbeline. 
 
 SONNET 29. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " You do surely but bar the door upon your own liberty if you deny 
 your griefs to your friend." Hamlet. 
 
 Line 3. 
 " Witness my throat made hoarse with thundering cries." 
 
 Sonnet in Poetical Rhapsody, 1602. 
 
 SONNET 30. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 " I and my bosom must debate awhile, 
 And then I would no other company." Henry V. 
 
 Line 3. 
 
 " You draw my spirits from me 
 With new lamenting ancient oversights." 
 
 Henry IV., Part 2. 
 Line 8. 
 
 " And cursed man 
 Shall ne'er more renew his vanished face/' 
 
 Byrom's Tragedy by Chapman, 1608. 
 Line 12. 
 " Which I will be ever to pay, and yet pay still." Cymbeline. 
 
 SONNET 31. 
 
 Lines 9, 10. 
 
 " Since I their altar, you empatron me." Lover's Complaint. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " True and perfect friendship is to make one heart and mind of many 
 hearts and bodies." Mere's Wit's Commonwealth. 
 
 SONNET 32. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " Be absolute for life or death ; either death or life 
 Shall thereby be the sweeter." Measure for Measure. 
 
 Line 4. 
 
 " It is the witness still of excellency 
 To put a strange face on his own perfection." 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 173 
 
 Lines 4, 5, 13, 14. 
 
 * But weak and lowly are these tun'd lays, 
 If for such favour they have worthless striven : 
 Since love their cause was, be that love forgiven." 
 
 Dedication by W. Brown to Lord Pembroke. 
 
 Line 14. 
 No style is held for base where love well named is." Sidney's Arcadia. 
 
 SONNET 33. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " But in this clear and brightsome day 
 I see a black suspicious cloud appear 
 That will encounter with our glorious sun ; 
 I mean those powers which the queen hath got in France 
 Are landed, and mean once more to menace us." 
 
 Second Part of the original King Henry the Sixth. 
 
 Line 12. 
 " Behold the clouds which have eclipsed my sun." Dray ton. 
 
 Line 12. 
 
 " Clouds, when they intercept our sight, 
 Deprive us of celestial light ; 
 Let me proclaim it then aloud 
 That every woman is a cloud." Swift. 
 
 SONNET 34. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " Eke Romeus, when he saw his long desyred sight, 
 His mourning cloke of mone put off." - Old Poem. 
 
 Line 3. 
 " In my way" : query, " on my way." 
 
 Line 6. 
 
 " Witness the showers which still fall from mine eyes, 
 And breast with sighs like stormy winds near rived." 
 
 Sonnet in Poetical Rhapsody, 1602. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " Alas ! my lord, it is your shine must comfort us. 
 Alas ! I shine in tears like the sun in April." Tourneir. 
 
 SONNET 35. 
 
 Line 9. 
 " Receive the incense which I offer here." Drayton, Sonnet 54. 
 
 Lines 9 to 14. 
 
 " THEOD. What ! my Varannes, will you be so cruel 
 As not to see my bride before you go ? 
 Or are you angry at your rival's charms, 
 Who has already ravished half my heart, 
 Which once was all your own ?" Lee's Theodosius. 
 
174 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 SONNET 36. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " My stars shine darkly over me ; the malignity of my fate might 
 perhaps distemper yours ; therefore I shall crave of you your leave that I 
 may bear my evils alone ; it were a sad recompense to lay any of them on 
 you." Twelfth Night. 
 
 Lines 11, 12. 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke was well reputed for being con- 
 stant in his patronage and friendship, not weighing dif- 
 ferences of state. Among the poems of George Whithers, 
 of which there were two editions, there is an epigram to 
 William Earl of Pembroke. The first edition, 1611, has 
 a line which stands thus : 
 
 " Thou whom respect of kin makes not unjust." 
 
 In the edition of 1613, it is altered to : 
 
 " Thou whom no private ends can make unjust." 
 
 Dr. Chalmers has shown that, as Lord Chamberlain, 
 he endeavoured, upon the publication of Shakespeare's 
 plays, seven years after the death of the poet, to pro- 
 tect his writings from surreptitious publication, and tried 
 to transmit the poet's fame to eternal date. Thus Shake- 
 speare had no real cause to fear he would desert him. 
 
 SONNET 37. 
 
 Line 4. 
 
 " You have confirmed me. Who would love a woman 
 That might enjoy in such a man a friend ?" 
 
 Massinger's Fatal Dowry. 
 
 Line 7. 
 
 " Csesar's better parts 
 Shall be crowned in Brutus." Julius Ccesar. 
 
 SONNET 39. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " Friendship ought to resemble the love between man and wife that is, 
 two bodies to be made one will and affection." Mere's Wit's Commonwealth. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 175 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " Sith God, and king, and your mind's sympathy, 
 Hath made you two an undivided one." 
 
 John Dames to Lord Ph. Herbert and 
 Sir James Haies, Knt. 
 
 To praise thee, being what I am to thee, 
 Were (in effect) to dispraise thee and me ; 
 For who doth praise himself deserves dispraise ; 
 Thou art myself, then thee I may not praise." 
 
 R. Davies to his brother, John Davie*. 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " Our separation so abides and flies 
 That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me, 
 And I, hence fleeting, yet remain with thee." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 "To A FRIEND. 
 
 " What though our absent hands may not enfold 
 Real embraces, yet we firmly hold 
 Each other in possession." Sonnet by Lord Pembroke. 
 
 SONNET 40. 
 
 Line 1. 
 
 " My love without retention, or restraint, 
 All his in dedication." Twelfth Night. 
 
 Lines 1 to 10. 
 " Either was the other's mine." 
 
 " Property was thus appalled 
 That the self was not the same." 
 
 Shakespeare, The Phoenix- and Turtle, 1601. 
 
 SONNET 42. 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 " Her love to both, 
 
 And each to other, and all loves to both, 
 Draw after her ; pardon what I have spoke, 
 For 'tis a studied, not a present thought, 
 By duty ruminated." Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 'T\vas never merry world, 
 Since lowly feigning was call'd compliment. 
 You are servant to the Count Orsino, youth ? 
 VIOL. And he is yours, and his must needs be yours ; 
 Your servant's servant is your servant, madam." 
 
 Twelfth Night. 
 
 N 
 
 OLI. 
 
176 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 SONNET 44. 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " Distempered messengers of wit, 
 Badges of bitterness." Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 SONNET 45. 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 " Love is, and was, my lord and king, 
 And in his presence I attend, 
 To hear the tidings of my friend, 
 Which every hour his couriers bring." In Memoriam. 
 
 SONNET 46. 
 Lines 5 to 12. 
 
 " The matter is grown to an issue ; there must be a jury impanelled, and 
 I would desire and entreat you to be one of the guests." Greeene's Quip for 
 an Upstart Courtier, 1597. 
 
 Lines 5 to 14. 
 " My eyes should surfeit by my heart's content." 
 
 Lines prefatory to Greene's Arcadia, 1589. 
 
 SONNET 48. 
 
 Line 8. 
 " The rising sun night's vulgar lights destroys." Waller. 
 
 Line 14. 
 "Rich preys make true men thieves." Venus and Adonis. 
 
 SONNET 49. 
 
 Line 14. 
 "For he himself is subject to his birth." Hamlet. 
 
 SONNET 51. 
 Lines 1 to 8. 
 IMO. O for a horse with wings." Cymbeline. 
 
 SONNET 52. 
 
 Line 8. 
 But her hand my muse captain holds." Dames' Sonnets. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 177 
 
 SONNET 53. 
 
 Lines 1 to 6. 
 
 " I will think thy pictures be 
 (Image like of saints' perfection) poorly counterfeiting thee." 
 
 Sir P. Sidney's Sonnets. 
 Line 8. 
 
 " And antique praises unto present persons fit." Fairy Queen. 
 " His native hue is a lily white, 
 Youthful and blithe, if suited in a rosy tire." Phineas Fletcher. 
 
 SONNET 54. 
 
 This Sonnet has been imitated by Henry Peacham in 
 the " Minerva Britannia/' 1612, p. 100. 
 
 SONNET 55. 
 
 " CONCERNING THE HONOUR OP BOOKS. 
 " Since honour from the honourer proceeds, 
 How well do they deserve that memory 
 And leave in books for all posterities 
 The names of worthies, and their vertuous deeds 
 When all their glory else, like water weeds 
 Without their element, presently dies, 
 And all their greatness quite forgotten lies ; 
 And when, and how they flourish't no man heeds. 
 How poor remembrances, are statues, tombs, 
 And other monuments that men erect 
 To Princes, which remain in closed rooms 
 Where but a few behold them ; in respect 
 Of books, that to the universal eye 
 Show how they liv'd, the other where they lie. 
 
 A Sonnet attributed to Shakespeare, prefixed to the 
 second edition of Florio's translation of Montaigne's 
 Essays 1613. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 Shakespeare, during absence, appears to have written 
 about the year 1600 according to Sir William Dugdale, 
 an epitaph for the monument of Sir Thomas Stanley, 
 Knight, which was erected in Tong Church, Salop. One 
 ialf of the double epitaph is as follows : 
 
 " Not monumental stone preserves our fame, 
 Nor sky-aspiring pyramids our name. 
 The memory of him for whom this stands 
 Shall outlive marble and defacers' hand : 
 When all to time's consumption shall be given, 
 Stanley, for whom this stands, shall stand in heaven." 
 
 N 2 
 
178 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " That when at the last great assize 
 All women shall together rise, 
 Men straight shall cast their eyes on thee. 
 And know at first that thou art she." Cowley. 
 
 SONNET 56. 
 
 Lines 5, 6. 
 
 " My hungry eyes, though greedy, covetise 
 Still to behold the object of their pain." Spenser's Sonnets. 
 
 SONNET 57. 
 Lines 6 to 9. 
 
 From the Dedication of the Collected Works of Shake- 
 speare to the Lords, William, Earl of Pembroke, and 
 Philip, Earl of Montgomery, folio, 1623 :- 
 
 " But since your L. L. have been pleased to think these trifles something 
 heretofore, and have prosecuted both them, and their Author living, with as 
 much favour, we hope that (they outliving him, and he not having 
 the fate, common with some, to be executor to his own writings) 
 you will use the like indulgence toward them, you have done unto their 
 parent." 
 
 SONNET 58. 
 Lines 11, 12. 
 
 " I have given over ; I will speak no more ; 
 Do what you will ; your wisdom be your guide." 
 
 King Henry IV., Part 2. 
 
 SONNET 59. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " Make kings his subjects by exchanging verse." 
 
 /. M. S. on Shakespeare, 1632. 
 
 SONNET 60. 
 
 Line 5. 
 " His youth in flood." Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 Strong as a tower, in hope I say, Amen." Richard II. 
 
 SONNET 64. 
 
 Line 1. 
 " Young years, conceiving, bring forth many years." 
 
 Davies to Lord Herbert. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 179 
 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " God ! that one might read the book of fate, 
 And see the revolution of the times 
 Make mountains level, and the continent, 
 Weary of solid firmness, melt itself 
 Into the sea; and, other times, to see 
 The beachy girdle of the ocean 
 Too wide for Neptune's hips. How chances mock, 
 And changes fill the cup of alteration 
 With divers liquors ! Oh ! if this were seen, 
 The happiest youth, viewing his progress through, 
 What perils past, what crosses to ensue, 
 Would shut the book, and sit him down and die." 
 
 Second Part King Henry IV. 
 
 SONNET 65. 
 Lines 9, 10. 
 
 " Merely thou art death's fool ; 
 For him thou labourest by thy flight to shun, 
 And yet thou runn'st towards him still." 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 SONNET 66. 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 " The time is out of joint ; O cursed spite ! 
 
 That ever I was born to set it right. " Hamlet, 
 " Thou whom respect of kin makes not unjust, 
 True noble spirit, free from hate or guile, 
 Thou whom thy prince hath, for thy care and trust, 
 Plac't for to keep the entrance of this isle : 
 See here th' abuses of these wicked times ; 
 I have exposed them open to thy view, 
 Thy judgment is not blinded with like crimes, 
 And therefore niay'st perceive that all is true. 
 Take it ; though I seem a stranger, yet I know thee, 
 And for thy virtues, Pembroke, this I owe thee." 
 
 G. Witlwrs? Dedication of " Abuses Whipt and Stript" 1611, 
 
 " Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg." Hamlet. 
 
 " Did I brand the times, 
 
 And myself most, in some self-boasting rhymes, 
 Then why this fire ?" Ben Jonson's Execration upon Vukan. 
 
 SONNET 67. 
 Lines 1 to 10. 
 
 " Now, get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch 
 thick, to this favour she must come." Ham-let. 
 
180 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 SONNET 68. 
 Lines 5 to 12. 
 
 " Thatch your poor thin roofs 
 " With burdens of the dead." Timon of Athens. 
 
 SONNET 70. 
 
 Line 8. 
 " Your youth, 
 
 And the pure blood which peeps so purely throught it, \ 
 
 Do plainly give you out an unstained shepherd." Winter's Tale. 
 
 Lines 1 to 10. 
 
 " Nor could the age have missed thee in this strife 
 Of vice and virtue." 
 
 " Whose life even those who envy it must praise, 
 Thou art so reverenced." 
 
 " But thou, whose nobless keeps one stature still, 
 
 And one true posture though besieged with ill." 
 Extracts from Epigram by Jonson on William Earl of Pembroke, 1616. 
 
 " It often happens that those are the best people whose characters have 
 been most injured by slanderers ; as we usually find that to be the sweetest 
 fruit which the birds have been pecking at." Swift. 
 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 " In the morn and liquid dew of youth, 
 Contagious blastments are most imminent : 
 Be wary then." Hamlet. 
 
 SONNET 71. 
 
 Lines, 9, 10. 
 
 " Only compound me with forgotten dust ; 
 Give that which gave thee life unto the worms." 
 
 Henry IV., Part 2. 
 
 SONNET 73. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 "A PARADOX IN PRAISE OF A PAINTED WOMAN. 
 But when old age their beauty hath in chase, 
 And ploughs up furrows in their own smooth face ; 
 Then they become forsaken, and do show 
 Like stately abbies ruined long ago." Lord Pembroke's Poems. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES. 181 
 
 Line 7. 
 "And by and by a cloud takes all away." Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 Lines 9 to 12. 
 
 " He measured the flames of youth by his own dead cinders." 
 Greene's Never too Late, &c., 1616. 
 
 SONNET 74. 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 " Be absolute for death : either life or death 
 
 Shall thereby be the sweeter." Measure for Measure. 
 
 " This fell sergeant death, 
 Is strict in his arrest." Hamlet. 
 
 Line 11. 
 ** Death's dishonourable victory." Henry IV., part 1. 
 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 " Death makes no conquest of this conqueror, 
 He now lives in fame though not in life." Richard III. 
 
 Line 11. 
 
 " On death, thy murderer, this revenge I take, 
 I slight his terror and just question make : 
 Which of us two the best procedure have, 
 Mine to this wretched world, thine to the grave." 
 
 Sir J. Beaumont, 1615. 
 Lines 1 to 10. 
 "To A FRIEND. 
 
 " Like to a hand which hath been used to play 
 One lesson long, still turns the usual way : 
 And waits not what the hearer bids it strike, 
 But doth presume by custom, this will like." 
 
 Lord Pembroke's Poems. 
 
 SONNET 77. 
 
 Line 2. 
 "The clock upbraids me with the waste of time." Twelfth Night. 
 
 Lines, 7, 8. 
 " The Pilot's glass 
 Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass." 
 
 Alls Well that Ends Well. 
 
 SONNET 78. 
 
 Line 1. 
 " Muses I oft invoke your holy aid." Sidney's Sonnets. 
 
182 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 . Line 3. 
 
 " Every alien pen," " a lean pen ;" this suggested the punning line in 
 the 84th. 
 
 Line 5. 
 
 " Lo where she lies, 
 Whose beauty made him speak that else was dumb." Daniel's Sonnets. 
 
 Lines 6, 7. 
 " My mistress worth gave wings unto my muse." Constable's Diana. 
 
 SONNET 80. 
 
 Line 15. 
 " That ever I should call thee cast away." Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 SONNET 81. 
 Lines 5, 6. 
 
 " When I am forgotten, as I shall be, 
 And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention 
 Of me more must be heard of." Henry VIII. 
 
 Lines 7, 8. 
 
 " When I am dead, and rotten in the dust 
 Thou 'gin to live." Bishop Hall's Satires, 1597. 
 
 Lines 8 to 14. 
 
 " Ensuing ages yet my rhymes shall cherish, 
 Where I emtombed my better part shall save." 
 
 Drayton's Sonnets. 
 Line 14. 
 
 " There is nothing liveth so in men's mouths as his name and his works," 
 i.e., Homer's. Montaigne's Essay s } 1603. 
 
 SONNET 84. 
 Lines 7, 8. 
 " Would you praise Caesar, say Caesar, go no further." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 Lines 9, 10. 
 
 " We all know that the wretched Settle was the rival of the mighty 
 Dryden, who for a time both feared and hated him ; and Shakespeare, who 
 appears to have been modest by nature, may have been tongue-tied by some 
 petty poet." Chalmers. 
 
NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS, 
 
 ILLUSTRATING SONNETS 78 TO 86. 
 
 POETICAL WORKS AND DEDICATIONS REFERRED 
 TO BY SHAKESPEARE : 
 
 Davison's " Poetical Rhaspody," Dedicated to Lord Herbert, 1602. 
 Davies's " Minim in Modum," do. do. 1602. 
 
 Do. " Microcosmos," Sonnets. do. do. 1603. 
 
 Do. " Wits Pilgrimage," do. do. n. d.* 
 
 Do. " Humours Heaven on Earth," 1609. 
 
 In which are evident signs of Davies being offended with Shakespeare. 
 Do. " Scourge of Folly," do. do. 1611. 
 
 Do. " Scourge for Paper Persecutors," printed with the 
 
 " Scourge of Folly," 1611. 
 
 The later contains a Satire upon Shakespeare and Lord Herbert, of which 
 notice has been given in Preliminary Observations, with Epigram 180 from 
 the " Scourge of Folly." 
 
 REFERENCE LINES TO THE ABOVE POEMS. 
 
 SONNET 78. 
 " And under thee their poesy disperse." Davison. 
 
 This Sonnet has reference to the following dedication, 
 prefixed to the " Poetical Khapsody." 
 
 " To the most Noble, Honorable, and Worthy Lord William Earl of 
 Pembroke, Lord Herbert of Cardiff, Marmion, and Quentin. 
 " Great Earl whose high and noble mind is higher, 
 And noble than thy noble high desire : 
 Whose outward shape though it most lovely be, 
 
 * This volume is printed without date, but the poem referred to must have 
 been written either in 1602 or 1603. T. Roe, also in the year 1603, in his 
 " Ideas," gives an elaborate and favourable character of this Earl, for beauty, 
 modesty, chivalry, talents, &c. 
 
184 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 Doth in fair robes, a i'airer soul attire ; 
 Who rich in fading wealth in endless treasures 
 Of virtue, valour, learning, richer art, 
 Whose present greatest men esteem but part 
 Of what by line of future hopes thy measure ! 
 Thou worthy son unto a peerless mother ! 
 And nephew to great Sidney of renown, 
 Who has deserved thy coronet, to crown 
 With laurel crown ; a crown excelling the other : 
 I consecrate these rhymes to thy great name, 
 Which if thou like they seek no other fame." 
 The devoted admirer of your Lordship's virtues, Francis Davison, (1602). 
 
 From the Sonnet-like praise in the third line it seems 
 probable that Davison had either seen or heard of Shake- 
 speare's addresses. The friend is everywhere proved to 
 have been composed of all the amiable softnesses which 
 make a woman. 
 
 SONNET 79. 
 " He lends thee virtue * * * 
 
 * Beauty doth he give." Davison's dedication. 
 
 SONNET 82. 
 " The dedicated words which writers use." Davison and Davies's dedications. 
 
 " Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue." Davison and^Davies's dedications. 
 
 SONNET 83. 
 " The barren tender of a poet's debt." Davies's dedicated Sonnets : 
 
 And the dedication of the "Mirum in Modum," 1602, in 
 which Davies divides his broken heart between his 
 patron and two other friends, and, as usual, evidences a 
 painful endeavour to be highly conceited. It is to 
 the honour of Shakespeare's patron that though this 
 verbose rhymer aimed repeatedly at gaining the honour of 
 his patronage, it was never granted him ; for Shakespeare, 
 as shown, blames his friend merely for giving partial 
 countenance to his vain, conceited, petty contemporary. 
 Davies, failing to gain the elder brother, is far more sue- 
 
NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 185 
 
 sful in his attempt on the younger one, a man of a 
 much lower standard of intellect. Davies, probably out 
 of spite, dedicates a whole volume of Sonnets to him. 
 The " Mirum in Modum " above referred to was the first 
 dedication Davies laid before Earl William. A s observed, 
 with him he couples two of the Earl's friends ; they were 
 also his own. This is the dedicatory address : 
 
 " To the most noble, judidious, and my best beloved Lord William, Earle 
 D Pembroke, the most honorable Sir Robert Sidney, Knight, and the right 
 worshipful Edward Herbert, of Montgomery, Esquire, my most honored and 
 respected friends. 
 
 " To subdivide souls indivisible 
 (Being wholly in the whole, and in each part) 
 For me were more than most impossible, 
 Though I were Art itself, or more than Art. 
 Yet must I make my soul a trinity, 
 So to divide the same between you three ; 
 For Understanding, Will, and Memory 
 Makes his own soul, yet they three virtues be, 
 The Understanding being first (for order so doth crave), 
 And Will (good-will) the second shall receive, 
 Then Memory the last shall ever have. 
 And as I part my soul, my book I part 
 Betwixt you three that share my broken heart." 
 
 " When .others would give life and bring a tomb." Davies's dedicated Sonnets. 
 
 " Their lives more life in one of your fair eyes 
 Than both your poet's can in praise devise." 
 
 Davies's dedicated Poem. 
 
 SONNET 84. 
 " Lean penury within that pen doth dwell," i.e., Davies. 
 
 SONNET 86. 
 
 Davies's alluded to principally. Apply also to Sonnet 
 83 the following from the " Microcosmos :" 
 
 mt To the Right Noble, and no less Learned than Judicious, Lord William, 
 
 Earl of Pembroke, etc. 
 
 " Dear Lord, if so I could I would make known, 
 How much I long to keep thee still alive. 
 
186 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 These lines (though short), so long shall be thine own, 
 
 As they have power vitality to give. 
 I consecrate this mite of my devotion, 
 
 To the rich treasury of thy dear fame, 
 Which shall serve (though nought else worth) as a notion, 
 
 For time to sever thy fame from thy name. 
 William's sons, son of William, dreaded Earl 
 
 Of Pembroke, made by England's* dreadfull'st king, 
 Nephew to Sidney (rare worths, his richest pearl), 
 
 That to this land her richest fame did bring. 
 These worthies worths are treasured in thee ; 
 
 So, three in one, makes one as dear as three. 
 
 " To the same. 
 " Within my soul I sensibly do feel, 
 
 A motion, which my mind's attraction makes : 
 That is, to strike love's flint against truth's steel 
 
 More hard to kindle thy love by the sparks : 
 But if the fire comes not so freely forth, 
 
 As may influence the tinder of thy love, 
 The tender of my zeal shall be henceforth, 
 
 Offered in flames, that to your grace shall move ; 
 Which is their sphere, where they desire to rest, 
 
 And resting there they will in glory shine, 
 I am thine own by double interest ; 
 
 Sith once I vowed myself to thee and thine ; 
 O, then had I but single love of you, 
 
 I should be double bound to W. 
 
 Your Honour's peculiar John Davies. 
 
 It was the custom of this writer in his dedicated books 
 to pen an epistle to the person to whom he dedicated, 
 which was for their eyes alone. One such volume is 
 extant, with an elegantly written address to the Earl of 
 Northumberland, in which he speaks of the difficulty he 
 found in 1609, of obtaining license for publication. He 
 was an amazing caligraphist,t which was almost his sole 
 
 * Henry VIII. 
 
 t It is highly probable that Herbert had received lessons in writing from 
 the celebrated master of the caligraphic art. This may account for the 
 apparent familiarity. Davies, in the same volume, in a poem, on the death 
 of Herbert's father, speaks of the Earl having been his friend, " My friend 
 did die, and so would God might I." 
 
TOTES UPON SHAKESPEARES Rl 
 
 ierit. He was writing-master to Prince Henry and 
 umerous great personages, which may account for the 
 reedom of his pen with the nobility. As before 
 bserved in the peculiarity of language in Sonnet 84, 
 here appears to be allusion to this capacity of the rival, 
 leath, the Epigrammatist, told Davies 
 
 " There's none were fitter than thou to indite, 
 If thou could pen as well as thou canst write." 
 
 uch a written epistle may have been sent with the 
 olume of Lord, Herbert, which, if extant, would pro- 
 ably give more force to the Sonnet satires of Shakespeare. 
 Tn the "Wit's Pilgrimage,"' 55 ' he addresses William Earl 
 f Pembroke as having but of late become Earl, "" That 
 ow is." After alluding to his eyes, he says:- Look, 
 ^ord, with those sharp eyes of thine (though lately open ") 
 ;c., alluding to his having just succeeded to his father's 
 [ties, and continues the poem of 50 lines -to the same 
 )rd, to whom he repeatedly applies the epithet of 
 sweet." Harping upon the trio he struck in the last, 
 e says 
 
 " Fair featured soul, well shapen spright, in which subsisting be, 
 Grace, goodness, glory ; three in one, and one including three." 
 
 In the rest of the poem he gives the young Earl pro- 
 erbial advice in abundance, that he may act wisely, and 
 bat the corrupt times may be bettered by his example. 
 Ee concludes the poem by ardently persuading the young 
 arl to marry. Honourable mention is made of Shake-' 
 
 * The volume is printed uniform with the " Microcosmos," it appeared 
 itween 1603 and 1611 it being alluded to in the "Scourge of Folly." 
 is dedicated to Philip Herbert Earl of Pembroke, the younger 
 other of our poet's patron, in these words : " To the truly noble 
 irl, and his most honourable other half, Sir James Haies, Kn., &c." He 
 yles the volume " Wit's Pilgrimage " (by poetical essays), through a world 
 
 Amorous Sonnets," &c., &c., the number of which is 152 ; and may 
 ien have written (being Sonnets, and as to number) in imitation of the 
 Ties Shakespeare addressed to the elder brother. 
 
188 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 speare in Davies' well-known stanzas, as well as in the 
 Epigram from the " Scourge of Folly," beginning, " Some 
 say, Good Will, &c.," inserted in the Preliminary Obser- 
 vations. It is but a repetition of that which he has 
 said in the stanzas above mentioned, and confirms what 
 Shakespeare said of himself, that he had become dis- 
 honoured by his profession, or as Davies said 
 
 " The stage doth stain pure gentle blood, 
 Yet generous ye are in mind and mood." 
 
 Both in stanzas in the " Microcosmos " and " Humour's 
 Heaven on Earth/' Davies alludes to Shakespeare, though 
 in the latter it is but to deride him. Davies, in 1609, in 
 his " Humour's Heaven on Earth," denotes that our poet 
 had become rich : his words are, " When men have 
 gotten wealth they are said to be made." (See marginal 
 note to stanza 79, part 2, referring especially to Shake- 
 speare playing the King's parts in conjunction with Bur- 
 bage, stanza 76. He derides them as being but " Nature's 
 zanies, Fortune's spite !") The tenour is that " Fortune had 
 not guerdoned them their deserts " (see stanzas 76, 77, 79). 
 Also in the " Humour's Heaven on Earth," when de- 
 nouncing the enemies to a state (Part 1, stanza 244), he 
 adds to the word " poets " this marginal note, " A great tor- 
 ment in the life to come is due to those that can and will 
 take such an immortal revenge for any mortal injury." 
 This, coupled with Davies's satire, mentioned in Prelimi- 
 nary Observations, reveals his own opinion of his defects, 
 which, indeed, prove his highest honour, and of which he 
 himself was prophetic. " In the Scourge for Paper Per- 
 secutors," which he feigned to be paper's complaint that 
 he intended " Paper Personified" for himself (Shakespeare's 
 designation, Sonnet 38), is evident by the next poem in 
 
NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 lie volume it runs thus : " To the right well deserved 
 praise and honour of my dear friend, Mr. Philemon Hoi- 
 and, Doctor of Physic, who has given Paper no cause 
 :o complain."'* From a dedication poem, every line of 
 .vhich tends to support all that has been advanced as to 
 :he rivalry, we gather that in 1610 or 1611, Davies was 
 iddressing his friends among the nobility, and con- 
 sequently to have omitted a Sonnet address to Lord 
 Berbcrt, to whom he had promised so much, would have 
 ippeared strange without apology ; hence he says : - 
 f Learned and judicious Lord, worthy of all Honorable 
 Titles, for Courage, Wit, and .Learning, William Earl of 
 Pembroke." 
 
 " Learned and judicious Lord, if I should balke, 
 Thine honoured name, it being in my way ; 
 My Muse unworthy were of such a walk, 
 Where honor's branches make it ever May !t 
 O could my might with my proportion hold, 
 My May should be as glorious in effect, 
 That it should work what might and glory could ; 
 Wherewith thy glories still, should still be deckt. 
 But though I may, I cannot wanting might, 
 Which makes my May to work as cold, as bare ; 
 So then (like winter) I must pinch thy right, 
 Although to right thee be my Muse's care. 
 But when the sun of favour shines on me, 
 My May may then have might to flourish thee." 
 
 In the 3rd line he imitates Shakespeare in his 89th 
 Sonnet, and, as if exampled by Shakespeare, he speaks 
 significantly of his Muse. It is plain his vaunting vein 
 
 * The " Scourge of Folly " has an engraving for its title-page represent- 
 ing Folly scourged by the author on the back of Time. It is doubtful who 
 the person is Davies is represented scourging. The British Museum copy is 
 without the engraving ; so I can guess only from the contents of the 
 volume, and should say, from a close perusal, that he may have intended it 
 as a squib on Shakespeare. 
 
 t Referring to the supposed propitious patronage consequent on a dedica- 
 tion in the month of May, and his Muse's desire to keep the Earl of Pem- 
 broke's memory ever fresh and green. 
 
190 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 is humbled. He seems to have been quelled by Shake- 
 speare's reproof in the 38th Sonnet, and is compelled to 
 admit that his Muse " wants might/' the sun of favour 
 being withdrawn from him, his May is nipped, hence his 
 lines are " wintry bare." He can offer Lord Herbert but 
 a meagre, wintry garland, although he conceives it is the 
 ofiice of his Muse, in spite of all reproof, to give the Earl 
 his due ; but as another stands in his way he must await 
 his removal. Then he consoles himself when he receives 
 the sunshine of favour, he may have power to make him 
 flourish. In the last line he plainly imitates the last lines 
 of Shakespeare's 86th. He also alludes to the 4th line 
 of the 79th, and intimates that the place then given his 
 Muse, she was worthy to keep, and might, as well as any 
 other, preserve the glory of his spring ever flourishing? 
 which was the peculiar ofiice of Shakespeare's Muse. 
 
 Davies was entirely silenced by Shakespeare's reproofs, 
 since he, in spite of his early promises, in but the above 
 instance addressed the Earl till the year of Shakespeare's 
 death (1616), but this dedication volume, through its 
 excessive rarity, I have not been able to see ; but I find 
 from the Biblio Anglo Poetica, that the inscription opens 
 in his usual fantastic fashion, " To the right right noble, 
 for all that is in nobility, art or nature, William Earl of 
 Pembroke," etc. His satire, "The Scourge of Folly," is 
 too long for insertion ; the reader will probably have had 
 quite enough with these extracts towards its conclusion. 
 They are given to show his jealous feeling and rivalry. 
 
 " Alas ! 
 
 That e'er this dotard made me such an ass ; 
 To hear such, and that in such a thing 
 We call chronicle, so on rne bring 
 A world of shame ; a shame upon them all, 
 That make mine injuries historical, 
 
NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 191 
 
 To wear out time : that never (without end) 
 
 My shame may last, without some one it mend. 
 
 And if a sens'less creature (as I am 
 
 And so am made by those whom thus I blame), 
 
 My judgment give, from those I know it well, 
 
 His notes for art and judgment doth excel. 
 
 Well fare thee, man of art and world of wit, 
 
 That by supremest mercy li vest yet. 
 
 Yet dost but live, yet liv'st thou to the end, 
 
 But so thou past for time, which thou dost spend." 
 
 Ending with 
 
 " So may ye grace me with eternal lines, 
 That compass can and gage the deep's t designs." 
 
 3n account of Da vies taking a vulgar view of the sub- 
 ect, his poem, for the chief part, is but a picture of his 
 )wn jealousy, rivalry, and spite, and proves, as he himself 
 )redicted, both his lasting shame and glory. In an address 
 o the reader at the end of the volume, he apologises for 
 ds foolish " licentious reprehensions/' He confesses he 
 las taxed some with his " pen's tongue," whose " names 
 uppressed are/' he imputes his licentious writing to the 
 hange his " pleasant disposition " had received. He had 
 )een " disgraced with fell disasters/' or, in other words, 
 ome shame he had received put him in a bitter mood, 
 nd instigated him to pen " The Scourge of Folly." 
 
 It is evident the satire was written in revenge for 
 Shakespeare having made sport of him to the Earl, and 
 mder the name of Paper he pours forth his own 
 ;rievances, and directs his utmost indignation against one 
 dio had obtained the patronage he himself had sought, the 
 lore so as that writer was a dramatic writer, one who was 
 ot content with his gains by the stage, but must seek to 
 hrive better by recording the unworthy actions of a lord. 
 )avies throughout the piece severely censures the chro- 
 
 o 
 
192 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 niclers of petty events, from the historians of English 
 history to the relator of a living noble's " sedges," as he 
 derisively called them ; but what most grieved him to 
 the heart was to be perpetually chronicled in Shakespeare's 
 poetic diary, in terms only of ridicule. He, therefore, 
 pens in imitation of Shakespeare a satirical poem, and 
 speaks sometimes in the name of Paper Personified, and 
 sometimes in his own name. He mentions two disre- 
 putable dramatic writers, Marlowe and Greene ; the latter 
 he triumphantly says is "now well nigh forgot." He 
 blames Shakespeare's " Venus and Adonis/' for which its 
 author had apologised, and had redeemed himself in the 
 following year by penning a graver labour, " The Lucrece." 
 To Shakespeare Davies couples himself, admitting faults 
 in his own pen, which he briefly censures for its style, not 
 its matter ; and as a parallel to their enmity, he com- 
 plains of Nash and Harvey's paper war, and blames their 
 " ugly satirising ;" but, in his opinion, the doctor got 
 the best of it. Users of " new affected words/' said to 
 be " the death of Poetry," are upbraided. He instances 
 the word " Equipage," used by Shakespeare in Sonnet 32, 
 hence fortune, he avows, frowns upon poetry as a work 
 of darkness, whose soul is all satire. Yet he jeeringly tells 
 it to be blythe to feed on air, adding 
 
 " But if air fat thee not as through thee it passes, 
 Live upon sentences 'gainst golden asses." 
 
 He relates how Ben Jonsen and Dekker made themselves 
 public laughing stocks through a quarrel, and is especially 
 indignant at writers for the stage exalting kings to gods, 
 by putting majestic words into their mouths. But of 
 what avail is that, he exclaims, " if for an hunger starven 
 
NOTES CJPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 193 
 
 ? ee, they foolishly make an idol of a golden ass :" he gives 
 idvice ; be scanty of praise to your kind patrons, and not 
 ? or a little gain " with rich praise books to lade," such 
 ' shadowing beauty forth in other's praise " is folly, when 
 bhey soon die, forgotten. This is but an echo of Shake- 
 speare's Sonnets 71 to 74, but this consolation is offered 
 bo those against whom his satire is levelled : 
 
 " You are half gods and more, so cannot die 
 By reason of your wit's divinity." 
 
 They are blamed also for writing in a subtle manner, 
 3rcating obscure mysteries, but their chief offence lay in 
 penning epistles to lords. Davies wisely points at others, 
 test his object should appear too obvious ; he feared to 
 point at his great rival in too open a manner. Davies 
 3ould not see that by his own foolish verses he became 
 the subject of his own satire. He again and again speaks 
 Df the folly of dedicating to a lord, imputing to Shake- 
 speare the worst of motives, for to no other can the 
 allusion apply, no one having written as he did to a 
 patron ; and I have reasons to suspect that Davies was 
 prompted to this by Drayton, who, perhaps, was the 
 intelligencer alluded to in Sonnet 86, as aiding Davies. 
 like an evil spirit, with dark suggestions. I partly infer 
 this from the turn the satire takes, being a direct echo of 
 Drayton's lines upon Shakespeare, see p. 15, and also on 
 account of that poet being a friend of Davies's, as sonnets 
 between them prove, but more especiaily as Drayton 
 luring Shakespeare's life and also after his death, appears 
 DO have been extremely jealous of him, besides the latter 
 bas several satirical allusions to him in his Sonnets before 
 Davies appeared as a rival ; but it appears in this, as in 
 
194 NOTES UPON SHAKESPEARE'S RIVALS. 
 
 every other instance of Shakespeare's connexion with his 
 contemporaries, that he, like Eaphael, occasioned enmity 
 more by his merit then his manners, both being of a like 
 gentle loving nature. Whenever Shakespeare is men- 
 tioned it is almost always either as " loving country- 
 man/' " loving good friend," " friendly Shakespeare," 
 " gentle Shakespeare," " Sweet swan of Avon," etc. 
 
 Shakespeare cared but little whether the Sonnet writers 
 of his day were offended, he knew the foremost wits of the 
 time, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, and Fletcher, and others, 
 looked upon the mistress-sonnetters with contempt, and 
 would view his Sonnets as of a satirical tendency, and 
 delight in the scheme. They would at once see that the 
 Sonnets were used in an order and continuity, and 
 with a mastery the halting sonnet- writers had never con- 
 ceived, and could never equal, in regard to whom Shake- 
 speare looked upon himself as a nightingale among a 
 choir of common song birds. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES TO SONNETS 86 TO 126- 
 
 SONNET 86. 
 Lines 5 to 9. 
 
 " They say thou hast a familiar spirit, 
 By whom thou cans't accomplish, 
 What thou wilt." Marlowe. 
 
 Lines 6 to 10. 
 SATIRE TO A BAD POET. 
 " Great famous wit, whose rich and easy vein, 
 Free and unus'd to drudgery or pain, 
 Has all Apollo's treasury at command." Butkr* 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have 
 Lost his argument." Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 SONNET 87. 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " Or to live 
 But in a dream of friendship." Timon of Athens, 
 
 SONNET 88. 
 
 Lines 6, 7. 
 
 " I have exchanged a real innocence, 
 To gain a mere fantastical report." Fktcher. 
 
 SONNET 89. 
 
 Line 3. 
 
 " For you shall find she will outstrip all praise, 
 And make it halt behind her." Tempest. 
 
 " But words came halting forth." Sidney's Arcadia. 
 " And straight leaps forth a poet, but as lame 
 As Vulcan or the founder of Cripplegate." Jonson. 
 
196 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 Line 3. 
 
 GEL. " Come, lame me with reasons." 
 Ros. " Then there were two cousins* laid up ; 
 
 When the one should be lamed with reasons, 
 And the other mad without any." As you Like it. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " I will never love that which my friend hates." 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 SONNET 90. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 ON ACTORS. 
 
 " They forget they are i' th' statutes, the rascals, 
 They are blazoned there, there they are tricked : 
 They and their pedigrees, they need no other herald, Sirs ; 
 Methinks if nothing else, yet this alone, the 
 Very reading of the public edicts, should 
 Fright thee from commerce with them, and give thee 
 Distaste enough of their actions.' 1 The Poetaster. 
 
 SONNET 93. 
 Lines 1 to 2. 
 
 " Hearts that are tied together with these consecrated bonds, are like man 
 and wife, joined together inseparable ; no encomiums could be too lavish for 
 them : certainly there is nothing more ravishing upon earth than a friendship 
 thus entertained. It is indeed that^which surmounts the possibility of an 
 exact description, and reserves its full discovery to the prize of experience." 
 
 The Gentleman's Calling, 1682, 
 By the Author of the " Whole Duty of Man." 
 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 11 The vow of marriage may be properly considered as a vow of perpetual 
 indissoluble friendship. It is easy by pursuing the parallel between friend- 
 ship and marriage to show how exact a conformity there is between them ; 
 to prove that all the precepts laid down with respect to the contraction, and 
 the maxims advanced with regard to the effects of friendship are true of 
 aiarriage, in a more literal sense and a stricter interpretation." 
 
 Sermon by J. Taylor, LL.D., 1790. 
 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 SONNET OF FRIENDSHIP. 
 " Friendship on earth, we may as easily find 
 As he, the North East Passage, that is blind ! 
 Sophistical affection is the best 
 This age affords, no friend abides the test : 
 
 * Two cousins, meaning also two cozens, i.e., cheats. 
 
SONNETS 86 TO 126. 197 
 
 They make a glorious show a little space, 
 But tarnish in the raiii like copper lace. 
 So by degrees when we embrace so many, 
 We courted are like whores, not lov'd of any. 
 Choose one of two companions of thy life, 
 Then be as true as thou woulds't have thy wife ; 
 Though he live joyless that enjoys no friend, 
 He that hath many pays for't in the end." 
 
 William Earl of Pembroke. 
 Lines 12, 13. 
 " Bear a fair presence, although your heart be tainted." 
 
 Comedy of Errors. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 " Two pictures of a married life, 
 
 I look on thee, and thought of thee, 
 In vastness and in mystery ; 
 And of thy spirit as of a wife." In Memorian. 
 
 SONNET 95. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " Lilies that fester smeU far worse than weeds." Edward III., 1597. 
 
 SONNET 96. 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 Shakespeare elsewhere repeats himself, using word for 
 word. Thus in the "Taming of the Shrew," the line 
 " Pisa renowned for grave citizens," is repeated in the 1st 
 and 4th acts. 
 
 SONNET 97. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " If, as I say, I compare it all unto the four years, I so happily enjoyed the 
 sweet company and dear, dear society of that worthy man, it is nought but a 
 vapour ; nought but a dark and irksome night, since the time I have lost 
 him, which I shall ever hold a bitter day." Montaigne's Essays, Edit. 1603. 
 
 SONNET 98. 
 Lines 1 to 6. 
 
 " Then came fair May, the fairest maid on ground. 
 Lord ! how all creatures laught when her they spied, 
 And leap'd and danced as they had ravished been." 
 
 Fairy Queen. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 Lines 5 to 14. 
 
 " What art thou then ? I cannot guess : 
 But though I seem in star and flower 
 To feel thee some diffusive power, 
 I do not therefore love thee less." In Memorian. 
 
 SONNET 99. 
 Lines 1 to 5. 
 
 " The rose and expectancy of the fair state, 
 A violet in the youth of primy nature ; 
 Forward, not permanent ; sweet, not lasting." Hamlet. 
 
 Line 7. 
 " Marjoram comforteth the brain." Hyl 
 
 " The soft marjoram." Peacham (1613). 
 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " My ladie's presence makes the roses red, 
 Because to see her lips they blush for shame ; 
 The lilies' leaves, for envy, pale become, 
 And her white hands in them this envy bred ; 
 The marigold abroad the leaves doth spread, 
 Because the sun's and her power is the same ; 
 The violet of purple colour came, 
 Dy'd with the blood she made my heart to shed : 
 In brief all flowers from her their virtue take : 
 From her sweet breath their sweet smells do proceed." 
 
 Constable's Diana. 
 
 SONNET 100. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 In a conversation between Shakespeare and Ben 
 Jonson, recorded in Lansdowne's "Essays on Poetry" 
 (1721), Ben is said to have asked Shakespeare why he 
 wrote historical plays. He replied, that finding the 
 people generally very ignorant of history, he wrote them 
 in order to instruct them in that particular, which this 
 Sonnet seems to confirm. 
 
 " I thought all words were lost that were not spent on thee." 
 
 Sidney's Sonnets. 
 Line 7. 
 
 " Our Shakespeare wrote, too, in an age as blest, 
 The happiest poet of his time, and best ; 
 A gracious prince's favour cheer'd his Muse, 
 A constant favour he ne'er fear'd to lose." Otway. 
 
SONNETS 86 TO 12 
 
 Lines 1 to 8. 
 Elizabeth to his lays open'd her royal ear, 
 Yet he does not drop from his honied verse 
 One sable tea.i."Chettle of Shakespeare, 1603 
 
 SONNET 102. 
 Lines 7 to 12. 
 
 " The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark 
 When neither is attended ; and I think 
 The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
 When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
 No better a musician than the wren." Merchant of Venice. 
 
 SONNET 103. 
 
 Lines 9, 10. 
 Striving to better, oft we mar what's well." King Lear. 
 
 SONNET 104. 
 
 Lines 9 to 12. 
 
 " The fixure of her eye hath motion in it." Winter's Tale. 
 
 SONNET 105. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " Thy image should be sung, for thou that goddess art 
 Which only we without idolatry adore." Constable's T)iana, 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 "To MY MUSE. 
 
 " Away and leave me, thou thing most abhorred, 
 That hast betrayed me to a worthless lord, 
 Made me commit most fierce idolatry 
 To a great image through thy luxury. ' 
 
 Extract from an Epigram by Jonson, evidently levelled at 
 Shakespeare, his patron lord, and Muse. 
 
 Line 4. 
 Only in you my song begins and endeth." Sidney's Sonnets. 
 
 " One will I serve." Motto of the Pembroke Family. 
 
 " Man praises man ; and Garrick's memory next, 
 AVhen time hath somewhat mellowed it, and made 
 The idol of our worship while he lived 
 The god of our idolatry once more, 
 ShalLhave an altar." Coivper. 
 
200 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 SONNET 106. 
 
 Line 4. 
 " Fit for such ladies and such lovely knights." Fairy Queen. 
 
 Lines 9, 10. 
 
 " Miracle of the world, I never will deny 
 That former poets praise the beauty of their days ; 
 But all those beauties were but figures of thy praise, 
 And all those poets did of thee but prophecy." 
 
 Constable's Diana. 
 
 SONNET 107. 
 Lines 5 to 8. '> 
 
 " Alack ! our terrene moon 
 Is now eclipsed, and it portends alone 
 The fall of Antony." Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Lines 5 to 14. 
 
 " Pembroke to court (to which thou wert made strange) ; 
 Go, do thy homage to thy sovereign ; 
 Weep and rejoice for this sad joyful change, 
 Then weep for joy, thou need'st not tears to feign, 
 Such late thine eyes did naught else entertain, 
 If I mistake thee not ; and thy best part, 
 Thy virtues, will thy liege's favour gain, 
 For virtue virtue loves, as art doth art, 
 Then will he love thee, loved for thy desert." 
 
 Davies' Microcosmos, 1603. 
 
 SONNET 108. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " What can I write that hath not yet been said ? 
 What have I said that others have not affirmed ? 
 What is approved that ought to be assayed 1 
 Or what is vowed that shall not be performed ?" 
 
 Paradise of Dainty Devices. 
 
 " What should I say ? what yet remains to do ?" Dray ton's Sonnets. 
 
 Lines 8, 9. 
 
 "With ditties so sensibly expressing Amphialus' case that every word 
 seemed to be but a diversifying of the name of Amphialus." Sidney's 
 Arcadia. 
 
 SONNET 109. 
 
 Lines 1 to 5. 
 
 " Friendships are marriages of the soul, and of fortunes and interests and 
 counsels. Jeremy Taylor's Measures of Friendship. 
 
SONNET 110. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 SONNETS 86 TO 126. 201 
 
 Lines 1 to 6. 
 
 ; For when men have contracted friendship, and espoused their souls and 
 linds to one another, there arises a new relation between them, for in this 
 lose and new relation men give each other a property in themselves." 
 
 Whole Duty of Man. 
 
 Shakespeare, in 1603, condescended to grace with his 
 resence the " Sejanus " of Jonson, upon its first appear- 
 nce upon the stage. This was at the Globe, to which 
 >hakespeare belonged, by this our poet seemed desirous 
 o give his rival a fair chance of applause ; but on this 
 'Ccasion, in spite of even Shakespeare's presence, more 
 aurnmrs than plaudits were raised. It is remarkable 
 hat Drayton, in his 47th Sonnet, makes direct allusion 
 o the Globe Playhouse, "the proud round/' where he 
 at, as he himself says, an envious observer of other's 
 ame ; but Shakespeare, who could have made triumphal 
 llusion to it, is silent. 
 
 SONNET 111. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 " Players, I love ye, and your quality, 
 As ye are men that pass time not abused ; 
 And [W.S. R.B.] some I love for painting poesy, 
 And say fell fortune cannot be excused 
 That hath for better uses you refused 
 Wit, courage, good shape, and all good, 
 So long as all these goods are no worse used : 
 And though the stage doth stain pure gentle blood, 
 Yet generous ye are in mind and mood." 
 On Shakespeare and Richard Burtage J. Darned Microcosmus, 1603. 
 
 SONNET 112. 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 " The censure of which one must in your allowance outweigh an whole 
 ,ieatre of others." Hamlet. 
 
202 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 
 
 Lines I to 12. 
 
 " In so thick and dark an ignorance as now almost covers the age, I 
 crave leave to stand near your light, arid by that light to be read." Jonson's 
 Dedication of Catiline to Lord Pembroke, 1616. 
 
 " None can move 
 Shakespeare out of Adonis' grove, 
 There sullenly he sits." Davenport, 1650. 
 
 Lines 5 to 14. 
 
 " I, from the blind and faithless world aloof, 
 Nor fear its envy nor desire its praise, 
 But choose my path through solitary ways." 
 
 M. Angelo, Sonnet. 
 
 SONNET 113. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " It is mine (my eyne ?) or Valentine's praise." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " My love talked with rocks and trees ; 
 He finds on misty mountain ground 
 His own sweet shadow glory crownM, 
 He sees himself in all he sees." In Memoriam. 
 
 SONNET 114. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 " Mine eye too great a flattery for my mind." Twelfth Night. 
 
 Line 6. 
 
 " A sompnour was with us in that place, 
 That hadde a fire-red cherubinne face ? " 
 
 Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. 
 
 " Nos grands docteurs au cherubin visage." 
 
 Old French Ep. 
 
 SONNET 116. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " The love of men to women is a thing common and of course, but the 
 friendship of man to man infinite and immortal." Allot' $ Wit's Common- 
 wealth, 1598. 
 
 SONNET 117. 
 
 Lines I to 4. 
 
 " There belongs to this religion of friendship certain due rites and decent 
 ceremonies, as visits, messages, missives, &c. Howel's Familiar Letters. 
 
SONNETS 86 TO 126. 
 
 Line 5. 
 
 " Garrick, who long was married to the town, 
 At length a fashionable husband grown, 
 Forsakes his spouse : base man ! for, truth to tell, 
 She loved her own dear Davy wondrous well." 
 
 Prologue to the Contract. Foote, 1776. 
 
 Lines I to 14. 
 
 " All thy vexations 
 
 Were but my trials of thy love, and thou 
 Hast strangely stood the test." Tempest. 
 
 203 
 
 SONNET 118. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 /'Cordials of pity give me now, 
 
 For I too weak for purgings strow." Cowley's Mistress. 
 
 Lines 1 to 8. 
 " Surfeit is the father of much fast." Measure for Measure. 
 
 SONNET 119. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " This Troilus in teares 'gan distill 
 As licour out of Allambike full fast." 
 
 Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida, v. 432. 
 
 Line 7. 
 
 " The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 
 Doth glance from earth to heaven." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 
 Line 10. 
 " Sweet are the uses of adversity." As You Like it. 
 
 SONNET 120. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " So in the rites of friendship as of love, 
 Suspicion is not seldom an improper 
 Advantage, for the knitting faster joints 
 Of faithfull est affection." Massinger. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " As you from crimes would pardoned be, 
 Let your indulgence set me free." Tempest. 
 
204 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 SONNET 121. 
 
 Lines I to 6. 
 
 " Friendship is a divine excellency wrapt up in a common name, and 
 nothing less than the uttermost perfection of flesh and blood for wisdom 
 and virtue can entitle a man to the character of a true friend." Sir R. 
 L 1 Estrange. 
 
 Line 9. 
 
 " I care not so much what I am with others as I respect what I am with 
 myself." Montaigne's Essays, 1603. 
 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 " Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes." Hamlet. 
 
 SONNET 123. 
 Lines 1 to 4. 
 
 ' My happy verse, 
 The strong built trophies of her living fame." 
 
 Drayton's Sonnets. 
 Lines 2, 3. 
 
 " Ev'ry song shall be 
 A pyramid built to thy memory." 
 
 W. Brown to Lord Pembroke, 1613. 
 
 SONNET 124. 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 " They hate for ever, who have lov'd for hours." 
 
 W.A. Earl of Stirling. 
 
 SONNET 125. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 When my outward actions doth demonstrate 
 The native act and figure of my heart, 
 In complement extern." Othello. 
 
 SONNET 126. 
 
 Lines 5, 6. 
 
 " This good being done, 
 The hand could pluck her back that shov'd her on." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 Lines 11, 12. 
 
 " Nature that made thee with herself at strife, 
 Saith that the world hath ending with thy life." 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 " Shakespeare with whom 
 Quick nature died." Monumental Epitaph. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES TO SONNETS 127 TO 154. 
 
 SONNET 127. 
 
 FROM the original edition of Lord Herbert's poems 
 printed in 1660, we learn that this nobleman, later 
 in life, also formed a poetical friendship with Sir 
 Benjamin Ruddyard, Knt./ r in conjunction with whom 
 :he greater number of the poems were written, being 
 mswered by the latter by way of repartee. There 
 ire also several distinct poems, written by them apart. 
 The poems by Herbert are signed P, as a safeguard to 
 mthenticity. That this lord was 'worthy the name of a 
 ooet, and that the best poem imputed to him was really 
 3y him, we have the authority of William Brown, author 
 )f " Britannia's Pastorals." 
 
 Jonson, also in 1621, attests his ability to use his pen, 
 in these lines from a masque presented at court 
 
 " You know how to use your sword and your pen, * 
 And you love not alone the arts, but the men ; 
 The graces and Muses eVry where follow 
 You, as you were their second Apollo."t 
 
 * Jonson addresses this knight in three of his Epigrams, and in these he 
 3xtols his " holiest friendship," and also his " learned muse," and questions 
 vvhich is his chief merit 
 
 " Writing thyself, or judging others writ." 
 
 t Jonson also denotes that the King loved him for the chaste example he 
 set the court. 
 
206 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 Pembroke and Ruddyard have pleasant attacks upon 
 " painted women." Among them -is one in which P is 
 the man and R is the woman. P also writes " an 
 ironical praise of his mistress/' One of the poems written 
 by this lord is entitled " A Paradox : that beauty lies 
 not in women's faces, but in lover's eyes/' and bears a 
 strong resemblance to a remarkable passage in " Troilus 
 and Cressida," a late play, and one which Shakespeare 
 appears to have written for his patron friend, as the preface 
 to the edition of 1609 intimates that it was written for 
 some noble personage for private use. Some of the 
 headings of Pembroke's Sonnets are as follows : 
 
 " That lust is not his aim." 
 
 " On one heart made of two." 
 
 " That he would not be beloved." 
 
 " I left you and now the gain of you is a double gain." 
 
 Pembroke and Ruddyard have also long serious dialogues 
 upon " Love and Reason." Pembroke is " Sir Love/' 
 Ruddyard, " Reason." They thus conduct their argument: 
 
 " E. ' And now to you, Sir Love, your love I crave, 
 Of you no mastery I desire to have ; 
 But that we may like honest friends agree, 
 Let us to reason, fellow servants be.' 
 P. * Love here the husband. is, reason the wife, 
 Not grudging at her husband's active sway, 
 But thinks she rules so just laws to obey. 
 He is no mounteback, his wares do teach, 
 Beyond the setting forth of any speech : 
 Nor alchemist, but that elixir old, 
 Which turns lust mercury, to friendship gold.' 
 R. ' Whenever you can love to reason marry, 
 I will not from that happy wedding tarry." 
 
 Their long argument ends thus : 
 
 " Yet for all this we will not disagree, 
 Each lover thinks none ever lov'd but he ! " 
 
SONNETS 127 TO 154. 207 
 
 Pembroke has a poem " To his mistress, of his friend's 
 opinion of her, and his answer to his friend's objection, 
 with his constancy towards her." This is the first stanza : 
 
 
 One with admiration told me, 
 He did wonder much and marvel, 
 (As by chance he did behold thee) 
 How I could become so servile, 
 To thy beauty, which he swears, 
 Every ale house lattice wears." 
 
 Among various ironical Sonnets " To his Mistress " on 
 painting, he has one to her in which he declares that 
 die sole occasion of his love for her is on account of her 
 false adornments. 
 
 Buddy ard and Pembroke were schoolfellows together 
 it Oxford ; he married a relative of the Earl of Pembroke. 
 This would account for the nearness of their friendship. In 
 he poems which they wrote in conjunction, the task is in- 
 rariably assigned to Euddyard of replying to his lordship's 
 omantic ideas they both alike favoured poets and 
 earned men. There is no clue to the date of their 
 writing together, but it was prior to 1615. 
 
 We must not omit to observe that Clarendon in his 
 History of the Rebellion " has drawn a noble portrait of 
 /ord Pembroke, pourtraying him as a most liberal and 
 3complished courtier ; yet while paying him the highest 
 Dmpliments, he admits his defects. He says he was a 
 )ver of women, but it was their wit rather than their 
 eauty by which he was charmed ; but for his defects 
 larendon offers sufficient plea. The difference between 
 le comments of Shakespeare and Clarendon upon this 
 rd is, that one reveals allegorically the sunrise of his 
 virtuous manhood, the other, the sunset of his 
 
208 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 years, somewhat obscured by the cloud of blighted hope, 
 yet of a dazzling radiance. Clarendon also bears testimony 
 to his great zeal for friendship, which he marks as a 
 distinguishing feature of his character. 
 
 It is worthy of observation that though Sidney wrote 
 passages in the " Arcadia " upon the folly of poets sonnet- 
 ting their angry loves, yet he himself fell into the same 
 folly ; but it was not so with Shakespeare, for he re- 
 mained constant to his doctrine. 
 
 SONNET 134. 
 Lines 1 to 14. 
 
 " To FANTASIE. 
 
 " I gave my faith to love, love his to me, 
 That he and I sworn brothers should remain ; 
 Thus faith received faith given back again : 
 Who could imagine bond more sure could be, 
 Love flies to her, yet holds he my faith taken ; 
 And from my virtue raising my offence, 
 Making me guilty of my innocence ; 
 And only bond for being so forsaken. 
 He makes her ask what I before had vowed, 
 Giving her that which he had given to me, 
 I bound by him, and he by her made free, 
 Whoever so hard breach of faith allowed. 
 Speak you which should of right and wrong discuss, 
 Was right ere wronged, or wrong ere righted thus." Drayton. 
 
 SONNET 140. 
 Lines 9 to 12. 
 
 This is evidently a parody upon such Sonnets as 
 Dray ton's 9th, headed " Loves Lunacy/' in which he 
 avouches his own madness. 
 
 SONNET 141. 
 Lines I to 13. 
 " >Tis very true, I thought you as fair, 
 
 As women in th' idea are." 
 
 Nay, but when the world but knows how false you are, 
 There's not a man will think you fair." Cowley's Mistress " Not Fair." 
 
SONNETS 127 TO 154. 209 
 
 SONNET 142. 
 
 Lines 1, 2. 
 
 " If that be sin, which in love's heart doth breed, 
 A loathing of all loose unchastitie, 
 Then love is sin, and let me sinful be." Sidney to Stella. 
 
 SONNET 143. 
 
 Lines 1 to 9. 
 
 " Love ; like a shadow flies when substance love pursues, 
 Pursuing that which flies, and flying what pursues." 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 Lines 1 to 12. 
 
 " So holy and so perfect, is my love, 
 And I in such a poverty of grace, 
 That I shall think it a most plenteous crop, 
 To glean the broken ears after the man, 
 That the man's harvest reaps ; loose now and then 
 A scattered smile, and that I'll live upon." 
 
 As You Like it. 
 
 SONNET 144. 
 
 Lines I to 8. 
 
 " An evil spirit, your, beauty, haunts me still, - 
 Wherewith, alas ! I have been long possest, 
 Which ceases not to tempt me to each ill, 
 Nor gives me once but one poor minute's rest. 
 Thus am I still provoked to every evil 
 By this good wicked spirit, sweet angel-devil." 
 
 Drayton's 24th Idea. 
 Line 3. 
 " Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel." Julius Ccesar. 
 
 SONNET 145. 
 
 Lines 13, 14. 
 
 " Your love and hate is this, I now do prove you ; 
 Your love is hate, by hate to make me love you." 
 
 Drayton's Sonnets. 
 
 SONNET 146. 
 
 Lines 4 to 7. 
 
 " I have heard of your paintings too, well enough : God hath given 
 ,rou one face, and you make yourselves another." Hamlet. 
 
210 ADDITIONAL NOTES TO 
 
 juine 12. 
 
 li I will begin the fashion 
 Less without and more within." Cymbeline. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " Kill'd like to slaves, and cannot kill again." Fletchers Bmduca. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking ?" 
 
 Venus and Adonis. 
 
 SONNET 147. 
 Lines 1 to 8. 
 
 " Your affections are 
 
 A sick man's appetite, who desires that most 
 Which would increase his evil." Ooriolanus. 
 
 Lines 9 to 12. 
 
 In this the poet appears to level at such sonnetteering 
 as Drayton's 38th, in which there is an argument be- 
 tween love and reason for supremacy. This poet also 
 addresses his mistress (Sonnet 9), and seriously tells her 
 he has been nine years deranged. He begins thus : 
 
 " I will resolve you I am lunatic, 
 Thus talking idly in this bedlam fit, 
 And bedlam like, thus raving in my grief." 
 
 SONNET 148. 
 
 Line 12. 
 " The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears." Romeo and Juliet 
 
 SONNET 151. 
 Line 9. 
 
 " My heart shall be 
 The faithful compass that still points to thee." Gray. 
 
 SONNET 153. 
 Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me." Venus and Adonis. 
 
 Line 14. 
 " At whose pure eyes Love lights his hallowed fire." 
 
 Drayton's Sonnets. 
 
SONNETS 127 TO 154. 211 
 
 SONNET 154. 
 
 Lines 3, 4. 
 " And all the greekish girls shall tripping sing." 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 Line 8. 
 
 " Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand 
 Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatched." Hamlet. 
 
 REMARKS UPON NOTES. 
 
 Many more extracts might have been brought forward 
 from the dramas and poems of Shakespeare illustrative of 
 the duo-uno idea so frequently recurring in the Sonnets, 
 and, in fact, their very theme throughout. Shakespeare 
 has more such passages embracing this idea than all the 
 writers of his own age put together, and perhaps more 
 than all other secular writers. 
 
 In 1601, during the period of his writing the Sonnets, 
 he wrote a most remarkable poem, involving this theme 
 in its entirety, called "The Phoenix and Turtle," for 
 Robert Chester's " Love's Martyr, or Rosalin's Complaint," 
 allegorically shadowing the truth of love in the constant 
 fate of the Phoenix and Turtle. Shakespeare's mystical 
 ines, beginning with 
 
 " Let the bird of loudest lay " 
 
 are now to be found appended to the " Passionate Pil- 
 grim." The idea or theme arises from a poetical legal 
 dew of marriage law, the husband and wife, though 
 ;wain, being considered but one. 
 
212 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 
 
 FOR PENELOPE DEVEREUX, 
 
 AND 
 
 LADY HIGH'S ILLICIT AMOURS KEVEALED. 
 
 PRESUMING that the readers may desire to know some- 
 thing more of Sidney's love for the lady whom he has 
 immortalised, and that lady's love for Sidney, and after- 
 wards for others, and to show that which very likely caused 
 Shakespeare to dislike sonnetting, and also probably gave 
 rise to the allegory, and to give its application to the last 
 twenty-eight Sonnets/" as a satire upon corrupt wedded 
 love, I have penned these remarks. 
 
 Penelope Devereux, the lady whose love Sidney so 
 heedlessly lost and then so rashly strove to win, was at 
 once both his bliss and bane ; the ornament of her times and 
 their blackest disgrace. She it was, whose darkest shades 
 (for which, however, apology can be made) were used to 
 set off the bright picture Shakespeare paints of his friend. 
 Her history belongs to the secret history of the times. Sir 
 Philip Sidney and Penelope Devereux were truly a pair of 
 " star-crost lovers." The end of her brother's life (the earl 
 of Essex), though in another way, was equally disgraceful 
 with hers. All Sidney's misfortunes may be attributed to 
 
 * As remarked, these Sonnets were not intended to represent her loving 
 alone, hut as a satire on the times, though flie is chiefly alluded to. 
 
LADY RICH'S ILLICIT AMOURS. 213 
 
 LIS passion for Penelope ; losing her he lost all, and 
 jemed utterly regardless of his honour and life. 
 Her history, which makes truth seem far stranger than 
 ction, remains to be fully told. The outline of it will 
 LOW the truth of Shakespeare's pictures of her late in 
 fe, and contrast with Sidney's descriptions of her in her 
 mdding beauties and seeming virtues. The extreme folly 
 of Sidney, blasting his reputation in Sonnets, Shakespeare 
 justly ridicules ; bat Sidney's fame becoming brighter and 
 brighter, and setting in glory, received national homage ; 
 while the fame of the mistress of his song became darker 
 and darker, and ended in the deepest shame. The 
 impartial reader will, however, see that her fate deserves 
 pity, and that Sidney's heedless loving, which he himself 
 blames, merits censure. There were faults on either side, 
 neither knowing, till too late, their own mind. 
 
 It was early decided by the friends of Sidney and those 
 of Penelope that Sidney should marry her. She was 
 extremely beautiful and witty, and was viewed as a fit 
 mate for him. But her beauty had made her wayward 
 and proud, and Sidney was not in such haste to marry as 
 her friends desired him to be. This was in 1576, when 
 he was twenty-two years of age, and she was fifteen. He 
 was at this time devoted to his studies, and becoming a 
 friend of Spenser's, he for a time forgot Penelope, and 
 she, perhaps, indignant at his neglect, and at the sugges- 
 tion of ill-advised friends, accepted the love of Lord 
 Robert Rich, a man altogether unworthy of her. He is 
 described as being of a most mean despicable nature. Had 
 he been capable of so much felicity, he would have become 
 r of the love of this heaven of joy. But what was 
 
214 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 such purity and beauty to one of such a debased nature as 
 her husband proved. By her marriage with Lord Kich, rich 
 not only in name, but in immense wealth, she was at once 
 the cause of mutual grief and sin. Sidney lost his peace 
 of mind for life, and sought despairingly and futilely to 
 gain her love (though but delusively in verse), which he 
 saw was in reality lost to him for ever, as she was 
 another's, and what another's " Hyperion to a Satyr." 
 Sidney lost the foremost beauty, Penelope the foremost 
 wit of which those chivalrous times could boast. Eobert 
 Lord Eich could not estimate the value of that Kose of 
 Beauty, that pearl of price of which he became the reck- 
 less possessor. He did not see, as her poet-lover did, that 
 the sum of all wealth was the possession of her. He did 
 not seek to gain her love, nor did she give him hers, and 
 though she was true to him, she loved him not. 
 
 Sidney to beguile his grief retired to Wilton, and com- 
 menced writing that quaint though charming romance, 
 the " Arcadia." His sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke, 
 desired him to pen this work to divert him from his 
 sorrows, and to this lady he dedicated the volume. Sidney 
 has pourtrayed Penelope in it as the principal heroine, 
 arrayed in all her supremacy of beauty, as Philoclea ; 
 he also shadowed himself under the appellation of Phili- 
 sides, in the discourses of these lovers he devised to em- 
 body his own passion. But his overcharged heart was 
 forced to give vent to his feelings in another channel. 
 He desired another subject to invent ; what should he 
 pen to give respite to his woe \ His Muse exclaimed 
 
 "Fool, look in thy heart and write." 
 
 And that which he wrote was printed in 1591, five 
 
LADY RICH'S ILLICIT AMOURS. 215 
 
 years after his death, under the title of " Astrophel and 
 Stella." Sidney is Astrophel, and Lady Eich is Stella. 
 Sidney resolved, nay, felt compelled, in spite of his con- 
 science, to " Joy therein " and proclaim his love, " though 
 nations count it shame/' (Sonnet 28 ;) and he asks himself 
 in the 34th, " whether he is not ashamed to publish his 
 disease V 9 " No," he says, " it being so rare, it will bring 
 him fame ; and lest wise men should view his loving as 
 folly, he will write close, that is, in a riddle-like way, so 
 that none seeing his drift, he will offend none ;" he thus 
 resolved to address Sonnets, 108 in number, to another 
 man's wife, and in them to deride her husband as a " Eich 
 fool," an expression which he again and again repeats, and 
 his only excuse is, that her husband is not worthy of her, 
 nor does he trat her worthily. In one Sonnet he exclaims 
 
 " But tliat Rich fool, who by blind fortune's lot, 
 The richest gern of love and life enjoys, 
 And can with foul abuse such beauties blot ; 
 Let him deprived of sweet and unfelt joys, 
 (Exiled for aye from those high treasures, which 
 He knows not) grow in only folly rich." Sonnet 22. 
 
 And again, he says, though she is rich in beauty, nature, 
 wit, and 
 
 
 " Rich in those gifts which give th' eternal crown ; 
 Who though most rich in these and ev'ry part, 
 Which makes the patents of true earthly bliss, 
 Hath no misfortune, but that Rich she is." Sonnet 37. 
 
 Such was Sidney's excuse for his passion, and to some 
 extent he might claim her love as his own by right, 
 though another's, for he had long been taught to view 
 her as reserved for him alone. 
 
 Two years after Penelope's marriage, Sidney married 
 the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, yet, according 
 
21 G THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 to Sidney's confession and the assertions of others, his 
 heart remained with Stella. Sidney tells us that Stella's 
 love for him, and his love for her grew stronger, after they 
 were divided by marriage, than it had been before. 
 Sidney's wife devoted her love to her husband to the 
 last ; she was never poisoned with jealousy, she possessed 
 one whom she sincerely loved, and, perhaps, even sym- 
 pathised with for his grievous loss. To be the wife of 
 Sidney was her heart's sole desire ; "* and after his death, 
 she permitted Spenser, in a panegyric upon Sidney, 
 to address her as Stella, that the world might not cast 
 any aspersion upon Sidney's fair name, as he had be- 
 come glorified. by a heroic and patriotic death. 
 
 Had Sidney taken his friend Languet's constant advice 
 to find a wife, he, would not have penned these Sonnets, 
 which have brought shame upon him ; nor need he have 
 blamed himself in his 18th Sonnet, for having allowed 
 his best days to slip before he married ; neither need he 
 have called on " Lordings " to listen 
 
 " For of my life I must a riddle tell." 
 
 The simple solution to which is, that he loved a lady who 
 richly excelled all others in rich gifts, but whose great 
 misfortune was that she was Eich Sidney himself tells 
 us in Sonnet 2, that he knew not at first whether he loved 
 her or not 
 
 " I saw and liked, I liked and loved not," 
 
 and that by his delay he lost his chance, so that Penelope 
 was not so much to blame, and it was her pure, though 
 
 * To the 1633 edition of the Arcadia, there are added certain Sonnets 
 written by Sir Philip Sidney, never before printed. Among them are four 
 "made when his lady had a pain in her face." They are not addressed to 
 Stella, but appear to be written to hi* wife, in as painful a mood as the 
 subject demanded. 
 
LADY RICH'S ILLICIT AMOURS. 217 
 
 Alighted love for him, that won his soul to sing her 
 praise. He then resolved, as he says 
 
 
 To make myself believe that all is well, 
 While, with a feeling skill, I paint my hell ! " 
 
 For this reason he determined to write alone of her 
 (Sonnet 3), and to virtuously love her (Sonnet 4) ; truth 
 ind beauty being virtue, it was virtuous for him to love 
 her (Sonnet 5) ; and when he said he loved her, it was 
 a real grief (Sonnet 6), and she appeared in mourning, 
 by reason of her dark eyes, for her lover's fruitless love 
 (Sonnet 7) ; and he then told her how it was that he 
 must still love her (Sonnet 8). The idea evolved in this 
 Sonnet, Shakespeare has varied in his 153rd and 154th 
 Sonnets. In Sonnet 9 it is Stella's eyes that have in- 
 flamed Sidney's heart ; and in this way he goes on, idea 
 after idea. In Sonnet 1 1 he says he has played the baby 
 in her eyes, but has not sought to get into her heart. 
 In the 1 3th Sonnet he says that even he could not have 
 won her heart easily. In the 14th he blames his love, 
 but declares it to be chaste. In the 15th Sonnet, in self- 
 excuse, he says, any poet beholding Stella would praise 
 her. In the 17th Sonnet, her brows are the bows with 
 which Cupid shot him to the heart. Thus he goes on ex- 
 cusing and urging his love, but in Sonnet 19 his words 
 are spent in vain ; since he can never win her, though he 
 has her love, as she is the wife of another. He says 
 
 " My best wits still their own disgrace invent." 
 
 And though he felt that it was a crime to write love-verses 
 to her, yet his grief and passion were too much for him.'"" 
 
 * He tells us he used his utmost effort to conquer his passion, but foiled 
 in the attempt, his desire triumphed over his conscience. 
 
218 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 Penelope, on her part, though the wife of a husband 
 she had just cause to hate, yet resolved to remain true 
 to him, and sought by example and entreaty to teach 
 Sidney virtue and prudence. In the 6* 9th Sonnet Sidney 
 joyfully says that he possesses her heart, and so may say 
 that she is his; but he says she gave it only on condition 
 
 " While virtuous course I take." 
 
 And he declares that though they sometimes had private 
 interviews, yet their loves were pure. In the 83rd 
 Sonnet we are told in a riddle-like way though the solu- 
 tion is simple, that she possessed a bird, that she lovingly 
 called Sir Phip ; it loved to nestle in her soft white 
 bosom, and to be billing her lips. Her lover implies by 
 this that her bird has favours which he is denied ; but 
 Stella is so modest, that Sidney tells the bird to desist, 
 lest in her virtue she should wring its neck. In one 
 Sonnet he speaks of a kiss he stole from her while she 
 slept, and that kiss transported him into ecstacies. In 
 other Sonnets he affects to have changed situation with 
 the bird, to be it, and thus delusively receives loving 
 favours. He pleads, in a puzzling way, for the bird, 
 implying that though it playfully bites her, it is but in 
 loving sport. 
 
 While Sidney lived, she deserved the praises he gave 
 her for her virtue and beauty, and his sister, the Countess 
 of Pembroke, spoke of his " love lays " to Stella as merely 
 m erry riddles." She would not see a fault in her 
 beloved brother ; and his having written them to a 
 married woman before, and very probably many of them 
 after his own marriage was a fault innocently overlooked 
 by her. She might have said, in her chaste religious 
 spirit, " To the pure all things are pure." 
 
LADY RICH'S ILLICIT AMOUKS. 219 
 
 Lady Kich, while Sidney lived, gave scandal no tongue, 
 but after his death, either through excessive grief, or 
 hate of her lord, she forsook the path of virtue and fair 
 fame, and eventually her husband behaved cruelly to her ; 
 abandoned her, though not without just cause, and treated 
 her in a manner that drove her to despair and revenge. 
 Neglected by her husband for years, she, following his 
 example, transferred her affections to another : she gave her 
 love to Mountjoy, afterwards Earl of Devonshire, who 
 doated upon her, and after some years married her. But 
 disaster now followed disaster. Elizabeth banished her 
 the Court ; but upon James coming to the crown she and 
 Lord Mountjoy came again into high favour. Scandal 
 however, followed her, and the illegality of her marriage 
 with the earl while her husband was still living, which 
 had just been effected to put a good colour upon their 
 illicit loving, was discussed ; and the king, exceedingly 
 wrathful, told Mountjoy that he had "purchased a fair 
 woman with a black soul," and though Mountjoy, in a 
 letter to the King, showed legal reasons' 5 '" sufficient to 
 show his right to marry her, it would not avail. This 
 was more than he could bear : he retired from Court, 
 and was soon after taken with a severe illness, consequent 
 on his excessive grief, and died. His wife attended him 
 to the last, and never survived this disgrace ; she died 
 shortly after, in 1606. A relative of Mountjoy declared 
 she had brought shame upon her and her whole kindred. It 
 would seem that Mountjoy, though deluded with the belief, 
 
 - 
 
 Heylin says that Mountjoy, having had some children by the lady 
 before she actually separated from the bed of Rich, conceived he might make 
 them legitimate by this subsequent marriage. 
 
220 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 was not her only lover. It also appears, during the latter 
 years of the time she spent under the roof of her first 
 husband, that he was not so much the tyrant as tyran- 
 nized over ; for she, at her own option, sometimes left 
 her husband's roof, and returned again to it ; and upon 
 her first fit of love for Mountjoy, she left her husband 
 to live with him, and upon his being sent, by order 
 of the Queen, to Ireland to aid Essex to suppress the 
 rebellion, she returned to her husband, though but to 
 leave him on Mountjoy 's return ; and as remarked, 
 she was not indifferent to the proffered love of others, 
 though in a more guarded way. So, taking her for 
 all in all, possibly no woman ever presented two such 
 contrasted pictures, both in feature and in morals : she 
 was radiant fair, yet intensely dark in the lustrous depth 
 of her black eyes ; she was, while Sidney lived, an 
 example of virtue ; after his death, blot upon blot 
 darkened her illicit loving, till she sunk, like a luminous 
 star, from dazzling radiance to oblivious infamy. 
 
 Among the dedication Sonnets appended to the 
 " Microcosmos," I find one that has long nestled in its 
 hiding-place, written by that prolific penman, John 
 Davies of Hereford, and as it relates to Stella, and is 
 interesting, it is put before the reader. In the opening 
 lines he alludes to the manner in which Sidney had 
 descanted upon her name : 
 
 "TO THE BIGHT NOBLE LADY, LADY RlCH. 
 
 " To descant on thy name as others do 
 
 (Since it is fit t' express thine excellence), 
 
 I should, dear lady, but attend unto 
 That which to it compared is indigence. 
 
 Yet to be rich was to be fortunate, 
 
 As all esteem'd ; and yet, though so thou art, 
 
LADY RICH'S ILLICIT AMOURS. 221 
 
 Thou wast much more than most unfortunate, 
 
 Though richly well thou playd'st that hapless part ; 
 
 Thou didst express what art could never show, 
 The soul's true grief for loss of her love's soul, 
 
 Thine action speaking passion made ; but oh ! 
 It made thee subject to a jail's coiitroul : 
 
 But such a jail-bird, heavenly nightingale, 
 
 For such a cause sings best in greatest bale." 
 
 Davies in the opening lines makes allusion to her 
 unfortunate marriage, and in the closing lines to her 
 soul's deep grief for the loss of her beloved, though 
 also unfortunate, brother Essex, who in 1601 paid the 
 penalty of his rash rebellious act ; and she, in her urgent 
 endeavour to obtain his pardon and liberty, was herself 
 detained in prison for a brief period, where she, Davies 
 tells us, made, like the nightingale with its breast against 
 a thorn, a doleful sweet lamentation. Both brother and 
 sister were equally unfortunate, though each had received 
 the highest honours; one as the favourite mistress of a great 
 poet, the other as the favourite courtier of a great queen. 
 
 In the poem by Anne Bradstreet, already mentioned 
 she looks upon Sidney's sonnetting Lady Rich as a blot 
 on his fair fame, though she offers no excuse for her idol ; 
 but as beautiful poems, she gives them high praise. She 
 undoubtedly reports the current opinion as to Sidney and 
 Stella. She speaks of England's halcyon days, when Sidney 
 wore the laurel crown, an honour to our British soil 
 
 " Witness Arcadia, penn'd in his youth." 
 
 Having spoken fully of all to his praise, she refers to 
 " his love for Stella " as his dispraise. She says she 
 c< honours him for what is honourable, but leaves the 
 rest as most unprofitable." His wiser days condemned 
 his " witty works." It is interesting to know that Sidney 
 repented of his folly. She says of his love for Lady Rich : 
 
222 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 " Which makes severe eyes but scorn thy story, 
 And modest maids and wives blush at thy glory ; 
 Yet he's a little head that can't descry 
 A world of treasure in that rubbish, lye." 
 
 She has only grave doubts about Stella : 
 
 " Illustrious Stella, thou didst shine full well 
 If thine aspect was mild to Astrophel." 
 
 She will but slightly blame her idol Sidney ; since, as 
 the reader has seen (ante p. 163), the utmost blame is 
 given to his poor mistress. She was to him a comet of 
 i]l omen, and afterwards proved the shame of her sex. 
 The poetess declares she had thought better of Sidney, 
 but as others have fallen, gods and men, he must be for- 
 given. She asks of him : 
 
 " How could this Stella so confine thy will 
 To wait till she her influence distill ?" 
 
 But as he loved truly but one, that must be sufficient 
 apology. 
 
 The reader will now see Shakespeare's scope for satire, 
 and his object in feigning futilely and sinfully to claim 
 his friend's mistress as his own, and why he assumed her 
 darker and darker in act and deed. It was Sidney's 
 misfortune to become infected with the Petrarchian 
 element, but lacking that great master's wisdom and 
 forbearance, he wove his thoughts into Sonnets, and ren- 
 dered himself miserable and ridiculous in vainly pursuing 
 a futile love. Sidney pictured Stella (the Lady Eich) for 
 his sister, in her early prime of beauty and virtue ; 
 Shakespeare pictured, for her son, the same lady late in 
 life, as Lady Bich and the mistress of Mount] oy. Shake- 
 speare takes his key note partly from a Sonnet in which 
 Sidney asks Stella, in allusion to her eyes, why nature 
 made her so black, and yet so bright ? was it to please 
 
LADY EICHS ILLICIT AMOURS. 223 
 
 " Or would she her miraculous power show, 
 
 That whereas black seems beauty's contrary, 
 She even in black doth make all beauty flow ?"* 
 
 .nd when Shakespeare tells her to " buy terms divine," 
 he but recals to her Sidney's words, in which she was told 
 that she was 
 
 " Rich in those gifts which give the eternal crown." f 
 
 Sidney, we are told, repented of his crime ; * it is to be 
 hoped the still more unfortunate Penelope Devereux also 
 became penitent.^ Their love history is summed up in 
 one line : 
 
 " The course of true love never did run smooth." 
 
 * The reason why Shakespeare speaks so vaguely of the colour of the 
 mistress's hair, and yet mentions her eyes and brows as being black, is on 
 account of her not being blest, as Penelope was, with that rich though rare 
 contrast, black eyes and golden hair, or, as Sidney says 
 
 " Rather call them her beams." 
 
 The colour of the hair of Herbert's mistress being, though dark, not abso- 
 lutely black, the poet avoids alluding to it (except ironically), that his satire 
 may be more direct in its application to the mistress of Sidney. Shake- 
 speare also in Love's Labours Lost, spends some sparkling wit on the conceit 
 of Sidney's mistress being beyond all others the fairest, yet the darkest, 
 and though the brightest yet the blackest. This boast of her poet lover 
 alas proved too true. In the comedy, the allusion to the " gracious moon " 
 may be to Queen Elizabeth, as the "attending star " denotes Stella. 
 
 t The excuse Bryskett records Sidney made for others, should be ac- 
 corded to Sidney himself:" Let us love men for the good is in them, and 
 not hate them for their evil." 
 
 J It is somewhat remarkable that the letter which Sir Fulke Greville, 
 the friend of Sidney, wrote " to a right honorable lady" should have been 
 permitted to have lain so long unnoticed by the critics, since it is unmistak- 
 ably addressed to the Lady Rich. It was not printed till after Sir Fulke's 
 death. The letter itself, though unfinished, occupies a large number of 
 pages. A mere outline of it will discover to whom alone it must refer. 
 The letter was written when she was contemplating divorce from her lord, 
 at the time Mountjoy became her lover. The epistle is throughout a moral 
 and religious exhortation to act true to her husband, even though he fails 
 to merit it. She is told that to leave him, according to the laws of 
 England, would brand her with infamy ; the only divorce she may 
 
 Q 
 
224 THE LOVE OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND 
 
 Sidney's folly is a spot upon his sun, though only 
 observable to discerning eyes, his Sonnets having been so 
 seldom reprinted that few readers have met with them, 
 and his biographers have been silent upon the subject of 
 
 virtuously look for is the divorce of death. The opening lines tell us 
 that she had sought his advice how to act to effect a separation in the best 
 mode : "Right honorable Lady, You are desirous, in regard of the 
 trust you put in me, to understand mine opinion how you should carry 
 yourself through that labyrinth wherein it seems time and mischance hath 
 imprisoned you." Her excuse to Greville was the injustice of her husband 
 of his having a mistress, of which Lady Rich elsewhere speaks, whom, it 
 appears from the letter, was far inferior in beauty to the wife ; but 
 Greville will not take part in her resolution. He exhorts her to bear all, 
 live amicably with her lord, and leave the rest to heaven. He evidently 
 viewed her at this time (and perhaps justly) as a virtuous, injured wife ; 
 but for her fair name, and for the sake of her children, she is to bear all 
 patiently. She will then gain her husband's love, the good opinion of the 
 world, and "receive the immortality of good ;" but if she fails to take his 
 counsel, she will receive universal shame, her errors will lead her to " the 
 eternal curse of sin." He speaks emphatically of her unfortunate marriage 
 with a rich lord, whose wealth gives him power. The description he gives 
 of her husband is exactly the character of Lord Rich. " I know your 
 husband's nature rather weakly than strongly evil ; full of respects, 
 desires, fears ; jealous and careless ; factious and unresolute ; rather in- 
 clining to craft than to violence ; a tyrant (in words) valiant over a 
 wife." Greville wishes her to view her misfortune as an interposition of 
 Providence, all for the best, and in this extract appears to refer to Sidney's 
 death, and the romantic love they bore for each other. Referring to his 
 discourse, he calls her attention to its application : " Now, inadam, if you 
 apply this to yourself, it hath this morality in it, to let you know that 
 without your husband's unkind dealing, you would perchance have doted 
 too much on the worship of one man, rejecting for that one humour all 
 other ways of honour, as bewitched affections used to do. It seems by the 
 providence of mischance you are driven from these narrow sanctuaries of 
 self-affections." He apologises for his impertinent counsel, because it may 
 lead so much to her ad vantage ; and though she is greatly tempted, she is to 
 imitate Job's constancy. It appears she could not endure the grave, moral, 
 unsympathetic tone of the letter, and acted according to her own dictates ; 
 hence the letter was left unfinished. Greville saw the inevitable conse- 
 quences arising from such a course, and deserves praise for seeking to avert 
 them. Greville imitated Sidney in all his better parts ; he even wrote the 
 same number of sonnets, but they neither deserve the censure due to Sir 
 Philip's as to subject, nor the praise as to merit ; they are 'of an innocent 
 
LADY RICHS ILLICIT AMOURS. 
 
 225 
 
 
 his romantic love affair ; or have but touched slightingly 
 upon it,' but the time is now come when the explanation is 
 called for, and as his Sonnets are in part the object of 
 Shakespeare's satire, it is given here. 
 
 nature, and poor in conception. Sir Fulke wrote a memoir of his friend, in 
 which he highly extolled the " Arcadia," but says not a word of his great 
 poetical work, " Astrophel and Stella." He undoubtedly viewed that per- 
 formance as a blot upon his fame. The letter above referred to is only to 
 be found in the edition of Sir Fulke Greville's poems printed in 1633. 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 THE singularity of the conceit of Shakespeare claiming 
 the mistress of his friend as his own, though she was 
 really the friend's love alone, was a purposed imitation of 
 the extravagant assertions and eccentric loving of the 
 Italian and English sonnetteers. As remarked in Pre- 
 liminary Observations, it was their custom to entertain a 
 futile love. ^Sidney we have seen declared he was not 
 ashamed to address Stella in bewitching sonnets as his 
 own after she was the wife of another ; hence Shake^ 
 speare's fantastic imitation with ajiejs^f_sj,tire." x " 
 
 That it was a concerted scheme between the poet and 
 his friend that a poetical diary should be formed of 
 passing events connected with their mystical friendship is 
 shown in Sonnets 34, 36, 88, 95, and 96, in which the 
 poet reminds his friend that he is to record his faults, 
 and in Sonnets 6 1 and 117 the friend is reminded that 
 he is to record the errors of the poet. This mutual 
 record is kept in the last twenty- eight. In Sonnets 139 
 and 140, the poet is to speak of the faults of the mistress, 
 and in the 142nd she is to speak of her own, as he does 
 
 * The reader must remember that the poet does not point alone at Lady 
 Rich, though by her being the foremost sonnetted lady of the age, and 
 having proved, as represented, so corrupt in her wedded love to wedded 
 lovers, the allusions are chiefly to her. 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 227 
 
 of his; and in the 151st, were she to denounce the 
 poets's faults, she would be but urging her own. Hence 
 the scheme was of mutual approval, and each understood 
 its significance and application. The friend of Shake- 
 speare, like the poet, may have merely affected to be in 
 love with the mistress ; he was probably delighted with 
 her for joining them in their sonnet scheme, and making 
 up the friendly trio. It may have been her office to 
 speak of the Sonnets, and circulate them so as to come 
 into the hands of Lady Rich, the one whom they (the 
 last series) were intended to represent in not very flatter- 
 ing pictures, reflecting, as shown, her image and acts.* 
 Upon the part of Herbert's lady friend, she would well 
 know that Shakespeare's allegorical love for her was but in 
 
 contrast to the Muse's allegorical love for the friend ; for 
 in the address to the mistress the poet not only conceives 
 that she is his mistress, but that she is wedded to him in 
 like mystic allegory as is the friend to the Muse ; and she 
 is also desired to view their mutual friendship, as con- 
 verted, by the process of allegory, to loving wedlock, 
 to pursue a scheme perhaps unattainable any other 
 way, and in which she delighted to join, though she 
 
 
 * It is on record that Herbert, Southampton, and other lords, were fre- 
 quently in the company of Lady Rich at the date 1598 to 1602, which 
 was just the time these Sonnets were written ; they, being friends of 
 Mountjoy, would witness more of her mode of life than was observed by the 
 world, and would perhaps see the effect these Sonnets, apparently penned for 
 another, would have on her. This would resemble the play scene in 
 Hamlet. The Sonnets may have been the things to touch her conscience. 
 See letters of Rowland White, the post-master, to Sir Robert Sidney, 
 Governor of Flushing, by whom he was employed to notify to him the news 
 of the court. Collins Memorials of State, 2 vols, folio, 1746. We have seen 
 Shakespeare warns his friend in Sonnet 70 to avoid mixing too much with 
 those whom the world censures, lest he should be slandered with them. 
 
 
228 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 did not think it prudent to comply with every condition 
 of the allegory, not even in idea alone, since the poet 
 entreats her in vain to delude herself with the belief 
 that the two friends are but one. Though he some 
 times deludes himself that he has taught her, not in 
 vain, to deceive herself with the same belief with which 
 he deceives himself, that he is alone her lover, and she 
 alone his love, yet this self delusion he discovers to be 
 but a dream. She will not give her soul up to this 
 belief;* but the poet resolves, upon his part, though she 
 may still disregard his love, to blindly think she loves 
 him and no other ; and in the 151st, which is a reflex of 
 the 136th,f he feigns to give himself entirely up to the 
 belief that he is her real lover, and is beloved by her. 
 The poet sportingly uses every argument to induce her to 
 believe so ; he requests her to devise any self flattery to 
 accomplish it to love him among a number, or to accept 
 his love as nothing, so she loves that nothing, or to love 
 but his name ; she will then have her heart's desire, her 
 loving William. In the 138th he pictures to her the 
 happy result of such mutual flattery. The mere appre- 
 hension delights him ; he will not only gain an attractive 
 mistress, but in idea will be also young and beautiful. If 
 she will fully believe this, he will consider his wish to be 
 
 * Shakespeare may, for the definite purpose already shown, appear to 
 speak slightingly of the soul ; yet he evidently viewed our bodies but as 
 worthless cases containing that heavenly jewel. The 146th Sonnet, addressed 
 to the soul, proves the poet's belief in a future reward of virtue ; the 55th 
 also attests his belief in the day of judgment; his will, in the divinity of 
 Christ ; and his dramas in the Bible as the book of God. 
 
 t In the 135th and 136th, Will is harped upon in imitation of Rich in 
 the Sonnets of Sidney ; in the 135th, line 2, he pleasantly hints that though 
 she is not Lady Rich, she is "rich in Will." 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 229 
 
 accomplished. If demanded why this belief is enter- 
 tained, an excuse is proposed : the poet may say, love 
 being trust, he lovingly believed his mistress ; and as the 
 lover does not like to have his years told, the mistress 
 
 I will be silent. Thus each will lovingly deceive the other. 
 But all without avail. Had she complied, he would have 
 ceased blaming her ; but since she would not, in pur- 
 suance of the satirical allegory, she who is the most 
 beautiful he views as least so, on account of the sweet 
 thief of love taking his friend from his Muse, for which 
 reason he assumes he has a right to poetically feign he is 
 her lover and she his love. Thus the poet alternately 
 praises and blames her, feigns to be rejoiced and then 
 again to be depressed. Sometimes he views her in 
 mental vision as a bright angel, sometimes as a dark one ; 
 
 I sometimes, in a brief interim of self delusion, he praises 
 her, but, for reasons fully shown, she is far oftener 
 denounced and reproached in the severest and bitterest 
 language he could devise. In strong allegorical language 
 he had also blamed the friend, though not to the extent 
 he blamed the mistress. Besides, the Muse everywhere 
 apologises or makes the most loving excuses for the 
 friend, who is praised almost throughout the entire poem 
 to him ; and even in the section devoted to the mistress 
 his cause is advocated. But it is not so with the mis- 
 tress ; she receives an equal measure of praise and 
 blame, and finally is left, in her relation to both the poet 
 and the friend, open to allegorical censure. Sometimes 
 the poet offers feigned excuses for her, at other times she 
 is told she has a right to excuse herself by saying : " I once 
 loved you, but finding my eyes too killing for you, I 
 
230 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 turned them from you ; but I am justified in doing so, it 
 being to your other self, your friend ;" implying that she 
 justly regards him with loving looks only, but she really 
 loves the friend (see Sonnet 139). She can thus give a 
 just and loving reason, so the poet must not think him- 
 self slighted. Again, placing the picture in a different 
 light, he tells how he madly views her, seeing her false- 
 ness, as altogether unlovely in his mind's eye, and un- 
 worthy of being loved (Sonnet 141), arid all he has 
 gained is but pain the pain of unrequited love. So he 
 resolves to make love to her spirit, which he had conjured 
 up, since he cannot have the substance. In the 142nd he 
 refused, for his Muse's sake, to give up the friend, at 
 which denial she flies from his vision, thus implying that 
 her spirit had pursued the poet ; to discover if it was in 
 his heart to give up the friend. At his refusal she at once 
 leaves him, but the poet in imitation of Sidney and 
 others, childishly pursues her love, entreating her to return 
 to him, as he assumes that he is her real lover, both 
 in Christian name and person. But as she does not, 
 he consoles himself with the belief that his friend will 
 eventually return to his side, to be the comfort of his 
 Muse (Sonnet 144) ; so that at times, during absence, 
 the spirits of both the friend and the mistress visit 
 him, and then again fly from his vision. The friend 
 is an object of joy to his musings ; the mistress 
 necessarily one of grief. The one he fears losing, the 
 other he despairs of gaining ; and as he had concluded 
 the counterpart series to the friend with self reflections 
 (Sonnees 63, 64, 65), so he appends Sonnet 144 to the 
 series addressed to the mistress. 
 
FINAL REMAKKS. 231 
 
 " STTY)) 
 
 After an interim of some months, upon his return he 
 praises her lips (Sonnet 145), but only for the words of pity 
 which he feigns, she uttered when she saw his woful 
 state, how much he must have pined for her society and 
 love, which is but an echo of what he had told the friend 
 (Sonnet 28) would be the case when they again met ; and 
 though the mistress pities him, she does not actually say 
 she loves him, but he imagines her words imply as much. 
 Having deluded himself with the feigned belief that 
 he has won her love, and that she views him as her real 
 lover, and as .he views himself as the young and beautiful 
 friend (see Sonnets 22, 39, 42, and 62),* and flatters 
 himself that she believes so too, he may well consider 
 himself as young and beautiful, and the possessor of a 
 fair lady for his mistress. This induces him to end his 
 complainings and pen her the love Sonnet under notice 
 (the 145th) ; and to mark the change in her, and as an 
 end to the argument, he alters its structure ; and as 
 
 
 
 * It is worthy of remark that the poet does not, in the renewal to the 
 friend, pen any more Sonnets bearing the mystic burthen, " My friend and I 
 are one." The reason is explained in the counterpart renewal to the 
 mistress. The poet may now no more merely assume so, he natters himself 
 that he actually is the young friend, and that lie has attained the object 
 sought for when giving this idea expression, so that in the renewal series 
 to the friend there is no further occasion to recur to it ; but in the renewal 
 series to the mistress the fallacy of the delusion is too evident for silence or 
 satisfaction in the belief. It is too apparent she does not think him the 
 young and beautiful friend, and that she has robbed both the poet and his 
 Muse of the love first devoted to and claimed by them ; hence the alle- 
 gorical jealousy and expostulation ; and because the mistress shall be 
 defeated in the possession of the friend, in the renewal to him the poet 
 again and again asserts or denies the wedlock of friendship, and the 
 marriage to the Muse. Thus the poet is ever ready to bend to his friend's 
 will, the while their mental alliance becomes faster bound, by enduring 
 vreaths of perennial verse. 
 
 
232 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 conclusion to the foregoing set penned to her, which he 
 purposed should be mainly satirical, he appends one 
 alluding indirectly, like the rest of the latter Sonnets, to 
 the immoral lady before referred to, who was the soul of 
 the age of vanity and false outward show. She is 
 earnestly besought to prepare for a pure eternal life : 
 
 " Within be fed, without be Rich no more" (Son. 146.) 
 
 After a few months' interval he pursues the theme again, 
 finding he had but deceived himself in his conclusions ; 
 yet, in spite of this, he resolves to renew the loving war, 
 and assert a final claim. To effect his object, the friend is 
 no more mentioned a few allusions are merely made to 
 him, since his purpose is not now to be his friend's 
 second, but actual self, that he might become in imagi- 
 nation the entire possessor of the fair enslaver, which is 
 indirectly the highest flattery he could offer to her 
 beauty or his friend's choice ; and though he, as heretofore, 
 is self deceived, yet he will feign in imitation of Sidney 
 and others, to have claimed the victory. 
 
 He declares he is still longing, in loving madness 
 (Sonnet 147), to gain her love ; and though she will not 
 consent, yet, against her will, she is allegorically proved 
 to do so ; and, as a natural conclusion to his sonnetto- 
 inania, and in derision of others' fantastic " Ideas," he 
 now declares that his reason has left him ; he is desperate, 
 he is past cure and care, 
 
 " And frantic mad with evermore unrest." 
 
 Personifying the mistress as Lady Eich, the poet de- 
 clares to her that she had led him to believe she was 
 radiant and beautiful, when she (the fair woman with a 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 233 
 
 )lack soul) proves as dark as night and black as hell.* He 
 then turns off into the lachrymal strain : he blames his 
 eyes for viewing her as fair who is false, but excuses their 
 mistaking vision, they being full of tears. He thus 
 artfully mocks the childish sonnetteers, whose eyes were 
 ever showering large rain drops. He may now well ask 
 her whether she does not think that he loves her. He 
 offers her all devotion (Sonnet 149) ; he would renounce 
 his dearest friend if that friend did not love her ; but he 
 despairingly and derisively tells her to love the eyes of 
 another who can see she loves him (the friend) ; but he 
 will still delude himself, he will be blind, i. e., not observe 
 it. Having such influence over him, he may well ask her 
 how she gained such power over his heart, his eyes, 
 and his mind (Sonnet 150) ; how is it, when he sees 
 more cause to hate her, he loves her the more "? Then, 
 if he loves the sweet thief who has unjustly sought to 
 steal the friend from the poet and his Muse, she should 
 love him, even though he seeks to steal her from the 
 friend. 
 
 The excuse for such apparent want of conscience 
 (Sonnet 151) is that Love is too young to know what it 
 is ; yet all know a knowledge of right or wrong proceeds 
 from love, and his loving conscience tells him he may 
 justly claim her, so the gentle cheater is from henceforth 
 to accuse the poet no more of what she has supposed a 
 fault, lest she should turn the accusation against herself. 
 Each being guilty of the same fault, the poet, upon his 
 
 - 
 
 * The reader has seen she proved no true star as predicted by Sidney, 
 she would ever appear but an ominous flaming Comet, converting the para- 
 ise of love to its abode of torment and despair. 
 
234 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 part, can see no reason to accuse himself, and he, having 
 shown that he and the friend are one, may well boast of 
 her love, and profess himself her most loving, most 
 humble servant. Though finally accusing both himself 
 and the mistress, and summing up their mutual faults 
 (Sonnet 152), he declares she knows that by loving her he 
 is forsworn, having vowed his poetical love to the friend, 
 and by now vowing it to his friend's mistress ; but she is 
 (allegorically) twice forsworn, which makes her resemble a 
 deceiving wife (Lady Rich). But the mistress's faults are 
 trifling in comparison with the poet's, for he has tried to 
 view her, as he had viewed and proved the friend with a 
 happy result, as not allegorically vile. The mistress's 
 actions, however, would not stand the ordeal, and the 
 poet, in the endeavour to place her in a fair light, though 
 using the most subtle reasons for her allegorically sensual 
 fault, has but corrupted himself, and appears ten times 
 more guilty than she had proved ; and he in the end 
 but personates a deluded self-deluding husband and a 
 frantic idiotic sonnetteer. 
 
 And since he has now lost all faith in her, and his 
 words, in seeking to vindicate her, prove so foully false, 
 he ceases to advocate her cause, and determines to 
 reconcile himself by the loving delusion that she is 
 alone his mistress and he is alone her lover ; hence the 
 loving war is ended. 
 
 He concludes the Sonnets addressed to her, written in 
 derision of the self-described lunatic lovers (the sonnet- 
 teers), and as a covert satire on corrupt wedded love, with 
 an allusion to the famous medicinal Bath waters, and to 
 those who resorted to them. Harrington, in an Epigram, 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 235 
 
 says they were chiefly visited by those who desired " to see 
 and to be seen." The allegory is ended by the poet relating 
 how he had sought to cure his mad loving fever, but without 
 effect ; in which he resembles the poets of that day they 
 began in despair, and ended despairing of either ceasing 
 loving or of gaining the object of their love. As an apology 
 for her coldness for him, he being a rejected lover, and 
 for the strange loving malady, with which he feigns he 
 was possessed, he assumes that the torch of love was 
 extinguished in the wells, now a bath, hence Cupid had not 
 warmed her breast with love for him because a maiden of 
 Diana's, a lover of chastity, had put out the torch of Cupid 
 while the love God was sleeping, i.e., asleep to the poet's 
 loving interest. From love's fire the waters received per- 
 petual heat, but at the eyes of the poet's mistress Love again 
 lit his torch, and to try its effects, inflamed the poet's breast 
 with love ; and though the waters put out Love's fire, they 
 could not his his loving desire for her could not be 
 extinguished. Thus, the poet ends his allegory of the 
 triumphant power of his love, showing that he is forced to 
 love, in spite of all his Muse inspires him to say against 
 her ; and the poet and the Muse are alike flattered that 
 they gain the victory of love over even Love himself. 
 He finally claims her as his own ; as in the counterpart 
 series the friend is claimed alone for himself and his 
 Muse. There was no remedy but for the poet to remain 
 her devoted lover, and, to believe in the sweet flattery, 
 that she loved him and no other, just as the sonnetteers 
 and the doting " cornuted gentry " gave themselves up to 
 a like delusion. 
 
 It is true Shakespeare could have effected this object in a 
 
23 6 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 drama, but certainly not so effectually as in the same species 
 ofverse, which it was his object to parody. Cervantes, when 
 he desired to ridicule the romaricists, wrote a romance. 
 Each aaccomplished the task they set themselves in their 
 own method. The fashionable absurdity Sonnetteering 
 had become, like the tales of knight-errants, extremely 
 ridiculous both are now of the past. Shakespeare and 
 Cervantes brought them to the crowning-point of ridicule. 
 All the great dramatists of Shakespeare's day have spoken 
 contemptuously of Sonnets. It is then no wonder that 
 their chief should take the lead in bringing them into 
 complete derision, in an allegory, written, perhaps, in imi- 
 tation of Spenser's "dark conceit." Probably Shake- 
 speare intended the Sonnets to remain a mystery, since 
 he has enshrouded every clue to their unravelling with 
 a veil. He appears to deny the Marriage to the 
 Muse ; in the poem to the friend he uses every artifice 
 throughout many of the Sonnets to conceal the sex 
 addressed. It is also equally perplexing (without the 
 key) to discover who is the speaker, whether it is the 
 poet or his Muse, or both in one person, and the 
 person addressed, whether a male or a female, or both, as 
 the poet assumes actually was the case. The difficulty is 
 as great in the poems to the mistress, to find whether she 
 really was the mistress of the poet or of the friend, or 
 whether each could with equal right claim her. The 
 key, which the reader possesses, fitting all the wards of 
 this most cunningly devised and most intricate lock, we 
 believe to be the one long lost, and formerly in the pos- 
 session of the 4C private friends " only. Shakespeare him- 
 self would give no explanation more than the Sonnets 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 237 
 
 contained ; nor would he make further excuse, as the 
 poems themselves contain every apology : they praise 
 marriage ; they uphold virtue, and denounce vice ; they 
 extol pure friendship, and censure corrupt wedlock. What 
 apology was needed for poems bearing such arguments ? 
 It is evident it was not the intention of the poet to 
 explain the mystery, nor would it have been wise for 
 him to have pointed out the poets, the great persons, 
 and their illicit loves, whom he, so subtly and fear- 
 lessly satirises ; he preferred letting the Sonnets take their 
 course, for or against him. Possibly, had he lived 
 longer he might have given the solution of the Sonnets, 
 and explained to whom they referred. It probably never 
 occurred to Shakespeare that the incredible depravity 
 some have wrongly imputed to ancient poets, would 
 also be imputed to him. He evidently, justly viewed in 
 the right light the love evinced by philosphers, poets, 
 and others of antiquity for noble youths, and the love of 
 discreet matrons for maidens, as friendships of most 
 virtuous purity as affections becoming the dignity and 
 years of maturity ; and like them looked on the season of 
 youth as the fittest time to set the seeds of wisdom and 
 example, " Honi soit qui mal y pense." Prynne, who 
 would have said the worst of Shakespeare, is silent in dis- 
 praise of his moral character. 
 
 I have not discovered whether any writer anterior to 
 Shakespeare treated his Muse as a real person ; but I find 
 a few years later, in 1634, that an anonymous writer, 
 probably a dramatic poet, published an ingenious poem, 
 which he styled " Pasquils Palinados," in which the Muse 
 is so much a real person that the poet describes her as 
 
238 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 madly running away from him, through Temple Bar, along 
 the Strand to Westminster. He entreats her to return, 
 but to no purpose. She is very severe in censuring the 
 times, and the poet warns the good, easy cuckolds to keep 
 in-doors, lest his Muse should spy out their horns. She 
 becomes nearly mad, and the poet has great difficulty in 
 restraining her ; to bring her to a pleasant humour, he 
 resorts to a tavern, and, says the poet, " My Muse arid I " 
 fell to drinking sherry and sack. She soon becomes 
 merry, and sings a long, witty, and most pleasant song on 
 the efficacy of sack. 
 
 That Shakespeare dearly loved his friend is evident, 
 and that he loved him for his beauty, wit, and accomplish- 
 ments is also clear, but that for which he loved him most 
 was the proffer of friendship he made, unsought for, 
 unlocked for." 5 ' 5 " The poet probably never loved any other 
 friend so much ; at least, he has left no testimony of 
 such an affection, though he ertainly received at one 
 time the patronage of the Earl of Southampton, but 
 there is no proof that that existed more than a few 
 years. Shakespeare's lofty intellect was pre-eminently 
 formed for a male friendship ; not that he was a myso- 
 gynist, or that while penning the Sonnets he disliked 
 the virtuous of the sex ; these very Sonnets prove that 
 he loved them, but, as observed, it was not the purpose 
 of his allegory to praise them. The full witness of his 
 love for them he has left in his dramas, wherein he 
 expresses his true sentiments in regard to them. 
 
 * Lord Pembroke's epistles to his friend?, evince great love and a strong 
 zeal for friendship, unusual even for those times, when friendship was 
 justly looked upon as the foremost attribute of a gentleman. 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 23'J 
 
 And here it may be as 'well to observe the great mis- 
 take many commit in viewing these Sonnets as a literal 
 record, made by the poet for self-condemnation, as if the 
 poet, extolled by his contemporaries for his shrewdness 
 and wisdom, would have had the incredible folly to have 
 exposed a sinful life, and design that work to remain a 
 perpetual and glorious monument. We hope from this time 
 to hear no more such malicious charges made against our 
 great, wise, and highly moral poet. If Shakespeare was 
 a slave to anything, it was to his profession and interests, 
 and not to such a love as he pictures here. When he 
 speaks of a deep grief for the loss of his son (Sonnet 37)> 
 or for the loss of early friends (Sonnets 30, 31), he is 
 speaking of real sorrows ; but the feigned heart- wound, for 
 the assumed loss of the mistress, is at once evident as 
 but feigning the loss is merely in idea, like the assumed loss 
 of the friend. And can there be greater proof that the 
 whole is but allegorical than the language used toward the 
 friend, merely for giving countenance to and accepting the 
 offerings of another Muse, and in Sonnet 116 it is clearly 
 seen that it is a marriage of the mind alone. In brief, 
 I contend that it is impossible to solve the Sonnets, if 
 viewed as literal, either by rearranging them, or by sup- 
 posing them as written to various people, or for others, 
 as was sometimes the custom. They bear a mystic 
 burden, in which they resemble no other Sonnets : besides 
 which the poet repeatedly tells us they are, to one, of 
 one, and for one, and that the mistress series was 
 written at the instigation of the friend, who was " the only 
 begetter " of them in other words, it was at his desire the 
 
 whole of them were written. We have seen the poet had 
 
 E 
 
240 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 three objects in view, firstly, writing allegorically of pure 
 friendship and the Marriage of the Muse, secondly, of his 
 friend's loving and patronage to others, thirdly, satirising 
 mistress's sonnetting, and pointedly alluding to Lady Rich. 
 
 If it should be contended that both the friend and the 
 mistress are but imaginary characters ; it will not affect 
 the explanation of the Sonnets as a satirical allegory ; 
 there can be but one solution of them in their order and 
 entirety ; but as to the reality of the friend and the mis- 
 tress, there can be no reasonable doubt. 
 
 In his devoted friendship for a young nobleman 
 Shakespeare resembles the great Michael Angelo, who bore 
 unbounded love for the noble youth, Cavalieri."* Vasari 
 says he could have obtained anything from Michael 
 Angelo, Varchi, the professor extolled in the highest 
 terms the young Cavalieri, in a lecture he gave at the 
 Florentine Academy, as the most attractive young man 
 he had ever become acquainted with. This lecture was 
 on a sonnet by Michael Angelo to Cavalieri, which Varchi 
 recited. It contained the highest flattery a beautiful youth 
 could receive from intellectual age, yet who ever doubted 
 the morality of the divine Michael Angelo ; and what 
 should we now say to an essay by Bacon on a sonnet by 
 Shakespeare to Herbert. The lecturer's object was to 
 incite the young Florentine students to emulate Cavalieri, 
 so that they might like him become worthy of the friend- 
 ship of such a man as Michael Angelo. The artist 
 was delighted with his young, beautiful, and intellectual 
 patron-friend, and besides writing sonnets to him, he 
 
 * See Herman Grimm's Life of Michael Angelo, translated by Fanny 
 Elizabeth Bunnet, 1865. 
 
FINAL REMARKS. 241 
 
 executed for him many fine drawings and other works ; 
 he could not have obtained a better man for his friend ; 
 the great sculptor was at once rigidly moral, eminently 
 intellectual, and religious. His wonderful compeer, 
 RafFaelle, also wrote sonnets ; but what have come down 
 to us are but of the ordinary amorous character : they, 
 however, show the hand of a master. 
 
 Herbert appears to have been the very counterpart of 
 Cavalieri ; for nobility, beauty, refinement, and friend- 
 ship. The engraved portrait of him in Walpole's Royal 
 and Noble Authors, fully bears out the praise given him, 
 by Shakespeare's Muse.* 
 
 Some have spoken of Shakespeare's Sonnets as his 
 greatest works. Without going to such a length, it is 
 true they are his masterpiece in a strictly poetical sense, 
 being written in alternate rhyme ; others view them 
 in the opposite extreme, and speak of them as being 
 unworthy of the poet, which they would be, were they 
 written merely for the sake of writing sonnets ; had they 
 but observed that Shakespeare devised to ridicule sonnetto- 
 mania they would then, read our poet's work 
 
 " In the same spirit that its author writ." 
 
 And though his Sonnets are but a species of parody, yet, 
 coming from the hand of such a master, they are of such 
 beauty and majesty, and of such lofty diction, that no other 
 sonnets can be in any way compared with them, unless it 
 be the few Milton penned with a like masterly vigour ; 
 
 * And though this praise has received from various writers a gross inter- 
 pretation, instances need not be given of pure fervent love, having been 
 construed into the vilest derangement of lust ; the world being prone to 
 view in the worst light, that which they cannot comprehend. 
 
242 FINAL REMARKS. 
 
 in brief, Shakespeare's Sonnets are works of the highest 
 art. But Shakespeare had a higher purpose than deriding 
 sonnetting to fulfil ; his destined " fine issue " was to teach 
 philosophy, justice, morality, virtue, and religion, to thou- 
 sands who would never listen to any other than the voice 
 of an actor, for whom the poet has conceived acts and 
 declamations that have ever, and ever will, receive rounds 
 of applause. 
 
 Finally, the author apologises to his readers for all 
 the wearisome repetitions and defects. The former, the 
 nature of the work at least to some extent, rendered 
 unavoidable ; for the latter, he entreats their pardon, 
 since the only apology he can make is, that he has sought 
 assiduously to be of some service in the unfolding of 
 our great Poet's Book of Mystery. 
 
 H. BKOWN. 
 
 31, Albert /Street, Newington Butts. 
 
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 S. AND J. BRAWN, PRINTERS, 13, PRINCES STREET, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, HOLBOKN. 
 
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