ENGLISH CLASSICS
THE
SONNETS
OF
WILLIAM SHAKSPERE
EDITED BY
EDWARD DOWDEN
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON & COMPANY
i, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET
MDCCCLXXXVII
TO THE. ONLIE. BEGETTER. OF.
THESE . INSVING . SONNETS .
Mr. W. H. ALL . HAPPINESSE .
AND. THAT. ETERNITIE •
PROMISED.
BY.
OVR EVER-LIVING POET.
WISHETH .
THE WELL-WISHING.
ADVENTVRER IN
SETTING .
FORTH .
T.T.
CONTENTS.
i. From faireft creatures we defire increafe . i
I. When forty winters (hall bcfiege thy brow . a
H r. Look in thy glafs, and tell the face thou vieweft 3
IV. Unthrifty lovelinefs, why doft thou fpend . 4
V. Thofe hours, that with gentle work did frame 5
vi. Then let not winter's ragged hand deface . 6
vii. Lo, in the orient when the gracious light . 7
Vin. Mufic to hear, why hear'ft thou mufic fadly . 8
ix. Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye ... 9
x. For fhame ! deny that thou bear'ft love to any 10
xi. As faft as thou flialt wane, fo faft thou grow'ft it
xn. When I do count the clock that tells the time 12
xin. O, that you were yourfelf ! but, love, you are 13
Xiv. Not from the ftars do I my judgment pluck . 14
xv. When I confider every thing that grows . 15
xvi. But wherefore do not you a mightier way . 16
xvn. Who will believe my verfe in time to come . 17
xvin. Shall I compare thee to a fummer's day . 18
xix. Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws . 19
xx. A woman's face, with Nature's own hand painted 20
xxi. So is it not with me as with that Mufe . . 21
xxn. My glafs ftiall not perfuade me I am old . 22
xxai. As an unperfect actor on the ftage . . .23
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE
XXIV. Mine eye hath play'd the painter, and hath
ftell'd 24
xxv. Let thofe who are in favour with their ftars . 25
xxvi. Lord of my love, to whom in vaflalage . . 26
xxvii. Weary with toil, I hafte me to my bed . . 27
xxvin. How can I then return in happy plight . . 28
xxix. When, in difgrace with fortune and men's eyes 29
xxx. When to the feflions of fweet filent thought . 30
xxxi. Thy bofom is endeared with all hearts . . 31
xxxii. If thou furvive my well-contented day . . 32
XXXIIL Full many a glorious morning have I feen . 33
xxxiv. Why didft thou promife fuch a beauteous day 34
xxxv. No more be grieved at that which thou haft done 35
xxxvi. Let me confefs that we two muft be twain . 36
xxxvii. As a decrepit father takes delight ... 37
xxxviii. How can my Mufe want fubject to invent . 38
xxxix. O, how thy worth with manners may I fmg . 39
XL. Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all 40
XLI. Thofe pretty wrongs that liberty commits . 41
XLII. That thou haft her, it is not all my grief . 42
XLIII. When moft I wink, then do mine eyes beft fee 43
xuv. If the dull fubftance of my flefti were thought 44
XLV. The other two, flight air and purging fire . 45
XLVI. Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war . 46
XLVII. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took 47
XLVIII. How careful was I, when I took my way . 48
XLIX. Againft that time, if ever that time come . 49
L. How heavy do I journey on the way . . 50
Li. Thus can my love excufe the flow offence . 51
LII. So am I as the rich, whofe blefled key . . 52
Lin. What is your fubftance, whereof are you made 53
LIV. O, how much more doth beauty beauteous feem 54
CONTENTS. v
PAGE
LV. Not marble, nor the gilded monuments . . 55
LVI. Sweet love, renew thy force ; be it not faid . 56
LVII. Being your flave, what (hould I do but tend . 57
LVIII. That God forbid that made me firft your flave 58
LIX. If there be nothing new, but that which is . 59
LX. Like as the waves make towards the pebbled
ihore 60
LXI. Is it thy will thy image fhould keep open . 6x
LXII. Sin of felf-love poflefleth all mine eye . . 62
LXIII. Againft my love (hall be, as I am now . . 63
LXIV. When I have feen by Time's fell hand defaced 64
LXV. Since brafs, nor (tone, nor earth, nor bound-
lefsfea 65
LXVI. Tir'd with all thefe, for reftful death I cry 66
LXVII. Ah, wherefore with infection (hould he live . 67
LXVUI. Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn . 63
LXIX. Thofe parts of thee that the world's eye doth
view 69
LXX. That thou art blam'd (hall not be thy defect . 70
LXXI. No longer mourn for me when I am dead . 71
LXXII. O, left the world (hould taflc you to recite . 72
LXXIII. That time of year thou mayft in me behold . 73
LXXIV. But be contented : when that fell arreft . 74
LXXV. So are you to my thoughts as food to life . 75
LXXVI. Why is my verfe fo barren of new pride . 76
LXXVII. Thy glafs will (how thee how thy beauties wear 77
LXXVIII. So oft have I invok'd thee for my Mufe . 78
LXX ix. Whilft I alone did call upon thy aid . . 79
LXXX. O, how I faint when I of you do write . . 80
LXXXI. Or I (hall live your epitaph to make . . 81
LXXXII. I errant thou wert not married to my Mufe . 82
LXXXIII. I never faw that you did painting need . . 83
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
LXXXIV. Who is it that fays moft ? which can fay more 84
LXXXV. My tongue-tied Mufe in manners holds her ftill 85
LXXXVI. Was it the proud full fail of his great verfe . 86
LXXXVII. Farewell ! thou art too dear for my poflefling 87
LXXXVIII. When thou flialt be difpofd to fet me light . 88
LXXXIX. Say that thou didft forfake me for fome fault 89
xc. Then hate me when thou wilt ; if ever, now . 90
xci. Some glory in their birth, fome in their (kill • 91
xcn. But do thy worft to fteal thyfelf away . . 92
xciii. So fhall I live, fuppofing thou art true . . 93
xciv. They that have power to hurt and will do none 94
xcv. How fweet and lovely doft thou make the fhame 95
xcvi. Some fay, thy fault is youth, fome wantonnefs 96
xcvu. How like a winter hath my abfence been . 97
xcvm. From you have I been abfent in the fpring . 98
xcix. The forward violet thus did I chide . • 99
c. Where art thou, Mufe, that" thou forget'ft fo
long ........ 100
Ci. O truant Mufe, what fhall be thy amends . 101
en. My love is ftrengthen'd, though more weak in
feeming .,....• 102
cm. Alack, what poverty my Mufe brings forth • 103
civ. To me, fair friend, you never can be old • 104
cv. Let not my love be call'd idolatry . . . 105
cvi. When in the chronicle of wafted time . . 106
cvn. Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic foul . 107
cvm. What 's in the brain that ink may character . 108
cix. O, never fay that I was falfe of heart . . 109
ex. Alas, 'tis true, I have gone here and there . 1 10
cxi. O, for my fake do you with Fortune chide » in
cxii. Your love and pity doth the impreflion fill . 112
cxm. Since I left you, mine eye is in my miud . ^13
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
cxiv. Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with
you 214
cxv. Thofe lines that I before have writ do lie . 115
cxvi. Let me not to the marriage of true minds . 116
cxvii. Accufe me thus : that I have fcanted all . 117
cxvui. Like as, to make our appetites more keen . 118
cxix. What potions have I drunk of Siren tears . 119
cxx. That you were once unkind befriends me now 120
cxxi. 'Tis better to be vile than vile efteem'd . 12 1
cxxn. Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain . iaa
CXXHI. No, Time, thou flialt not boaft that I do
change , . 223
cxxiv. If my dear love were but the child of ftate . 124
cxxv. Were't aught to me I bore the canopy , . 125
cxxvi. O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power . 126
cxxvu. In the old age black was not counted fair . 127
cxxvin. How oft, when thou, my mufic, mufic play 'ft 128
cxxix. The expenfe of fpirit in a wafte of fhame . 129
cxxx. My miftrefs' eyes are nothing like the fun . 130
cxxxr. Thou art as tyrannous, fo as thou art . . 131
CXXXH. Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me . 133
cxxx n i. Befhrew that heart, that makes my heart to
groan 133
cxxxiv. So now I have confeff'd that he is thine . 134
cxxxv. Whoever hath her wifti, thou haft thy Will . 135
cxxxvi. If thy foul check thee that I come fo near . 1 36
cxxxvn. Thou blind fool, Love, what doft thou to mine
eyes 137
cxxxvui. When my love fwears that (he is made of truth 138
cxxxix. O, call not me to juftify the wrong . , 139
CXL. Be wife as thou art cruel ; do not prefs . . 140
CXLI. In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes , 141
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
CXLII. Love is my fin, and thy dear virtue hate . 14*
CXLIII. Lo, as a careful houfewife runs to catch . 143
CXLIV. Two loves I have of comfort and defpair . 144
CXLV. Thofe lips that Love's own hand did make . 145
CXLVI. Poor foul, the centre of my fmful earth . . 146
CXLVII. My love is as a fever, longing ftill . . . 147
CXLVIII. O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head . 148
CXLIX. Canft thou, O cruel ! fay I love thee not . 149
CL. O, from what power haft thou this powerful
might . 150
en. Love is too young to know what confcience is 151
CLII. In loving thee thou know'ft I am forfwora . 152
CLIII. Cupid laid by his brand, and fell afleep . . 153
CLIV. The little Love-god lying once afleep . . iS4
INTRODUCTION.
No edition of Shakfpere's Sonnets,1 apart from
his other writings, with fufficient explanatory
notes, has hitherto appeared. Notes are an evil,
but in the cafe of the Sonnets a neceflary evil,
for many paflages are hard to underftand. I
have kept befide me for feveral years an inter-
leaved copy of Dyce's text, in which I fet down
from time to time anything that feemed to throw
light on a difficult paflage. From thefe jottings,
and from the Variorum Shakfpeare of 1821,*
my annotations have been chiefly drawn. I have
had before me in preparing this volume the
1 The poet's name is rightly written Shakefpeare ; rightly
alfo Shakfpere. If I err in choofing the form Shakfpere^ I
err with the owner of the name.
a To which this general reference may fuffice. I often
found it convenient to alter (lightly the notes of the
Variorum Shakfpere, and I have not made it a rule to
refer each note from that edition to its individual writer.
x INTRODUCTION.
editions of Bell, Clark and Wright, Collier,
Delius, Dyce, Halliwell, Hazlitt, Knight, Pal-
grave, Staunton, Grant White; the tranflations
of Fran£ois-Vi&or Hugo, Bodenftedt, and others,
and the greater portion of the extenfive Shakfpere
Sonnets literature, Englifh and German. It is
forrowful to confider of how fmall worth the
contribution I make to the knowledge of thefe
poems is, in proportion to the time and pains
beftowed.
To render Shakfpere's meaning clear has been
my aim. I do not make his poetry an occafion
for giving leffons in etymology. It would have
been eafy, and not ufelefs, to have enlarged the
notes with parallels from other Elizabethan
writers ; but they are already bulky. I have
been fparing of fuch parallel paffages, and have
illuftrated Shakfpere chiefly from his own writ-
ings. Repeated perufals have convinced me that
the Sonnets {land in the right order, and that
fonnet is connected with fonnet in more inftances
than have been obferved. My notes on each
fonnet commonly begin with an attempt to point
INTRODUCTION. xi
out the little links or articulations in thought and
word, which conned it with its predeceffor or the
group to which it belongs. I frankly warn the
reader that I have pufhed this kind of criticifm
far, perhaps too far. I have perhaps in fome
inftances fancied points of connexion which have
no real exiftence ; some I have fet down, which
feem to myfelf conjectural. After this warning,
I alk the friendly reader not to grow too foon
impatient ; and if, going through the text care-
fully, he will confider for himfelf the points
which I have noted, I have a hope that he will
in many inftances fee reafon to agree with what
I have faid.
The text here prefented is that of a conferva-
tive editor, oppofed to conjecture, unlefs con-
jecture be a neceflity, and defirous to abide by
the Quarto (1609) unlefs ftrong reafons appear
for a departure from it.
The portrait etched as frontifpiece is a living
face reftored by Mr. L. Lowenftam from the
celebrated death-mafk found by Ludwig Becker.
The artift clofely follows his original. The
xii INTRODUCTION.
evidence in fupport of the opinion that this mafk
was caft from a wax-mould taken from Shak-
fpere's face is ftrong enough to fatiffy a good
many careful inveftigators ; not ftrong enough to
fatiffy all. The portrait, then, may be viewed
as poffeffing a real and curious intereft, while yet
of doubtful authenticity.1
Sonnets by Shakfpere are firft mentioned in
Meres's Palladis Tamia, 1598: * The fweete
wittie foule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and hony-
tongued Shakefpeare, witnes . . . his fugred
Sonnets among his private friends'. In the
following year, 1599, Sonnets cxxxvm. and
CXLIV. were printed in the bookfeller Jaggard's
furreptitious mifcellany The PaJJionate Pilgrim
(fee Notes, p. 239 and p. 242). Both of thefe
1 ' I muft candidly fay I am not able to fpot a (ingle
fufpicious fac"r. in the brief hiftory of this moft curious
relic '. — C. M. Ingleby, Shakefpeare the Man and the Book,
Part i. p. 84. See on the death-maflc articles by J. S.
Hart in Scribner's Monthly r, July 18745 by Dr. Schaff-
haufen in Shakefpeare Jahrbucb 18755 and by Lord
Ronald Gower in The Antiquary, vol. ii., all of whom
accept it as the veritable death-mafk of Shakfpere.
INTRODUCTION. xiii
refer to a woman beloved by the writer; the
fecond is that remarkable poem beginning
Two loves I have of comfort and defpair.
For ten years we hear no more of the Son-
nets. On May 20, 1609, 'a book called Shake-
fpeares Sonnettes ' was entered on the Stationers'
Regifter by Thomas Thorpe, and in the fame
year the Quarto edition appeared : ' Shake-
fpeares Sonnets. Never before Imprinted. At
London by G. Eld for T. T. [Thomas Thorpe]
and to be folde by William Apfley. 1609'. 1
Edward Alleyn notes in that year that he bought
a copy for fivepence. The Sonnets had not the
popularity of Shakfpere's other poems. No
fecond edition was publifhed until 1 640 (printed
1639), when they formed part of 'Poems:
written by Wil. Shake-fpeare. Gent', a volume
containing many pieces not by Shakfpere. Here
the Sonnets are printed with fmall regard to
their order in the edition of 1609, in groups,
with the poems of The PaJJionate Pilgrim inter-
1 Some copies inftead of ' William Apfley ' have ' lohn
Wright dwelling at Chrift Churchgate \
xiv INTRODUCTION.
fperfed, each group bearing a fanciful title. The
bookfeller Benfon introduced the Poems with an
addrefs to The Reader, in which he aflerts that
they are ' of the fame purity the Authour then
living avouched', and that the reader will find
them 'feren, clear and elegantly plain*. The
titles given to the groups carry the fuggeflion
that the Sonnets, with few exceptions, were ad-
drefled by a lover to his lady.
This edition of 1640 was reprinted feveral
times in the eighteenth century ; the text of the
quarto 1 609, by Lintott 1711, in Steevens's
' Twenty Plays', 1766, and by Malone. Gildon
and Sewell, editors of the firft half of the cen-
tury, having the 1 640 text before them, aflumed
that the Sonnets were addrefled to Shakfpere's
miflrefs. It remained for the editors and critics
of the fecond half of the century to difcover that
the greater number were written for a young
man. To a careful reader of the original it
needed fmall refearch to afcertain that a friend is
addrefled in the firft hundred and twenty-five
fonnets, to which the poem in twelve lines,
INTRODUCTION. xv
numbered cxxvi., is an Envoy ; while the Sonnets
CXXVII.-CLIV. either addrefs a miftrefs, or have
,.
reference to her and to the poet's paffion for her.
The fludent of Shakfpere is drawn to the
Sonnets not alone by their ardour and depth of
feeling, their fertility and condenfation of thought,
jheir exquifite felicities of phrafe, and their fre-
quent beauty of rhythmical movement, but in a
peculiar degree by the poffibility that here, if
nowhere elfe, the greateft of Englifh poets may
— as Wordfworth puts it — have 'unlocked his
heart'.1 It were ftrange if his filence, deep as
1 Poets differ in the interpretation of the Sonnets as
widely as critics :
«< Wth thh fame key
Shakefpeare unlocked hh heart ' once more !
Did Shakefpeare ? If fo the lefs Shakefpeare he ! "
So, Mr. Browning ; to whom replies Mr. Swinburne, ' No
•whit the lefs like Shakefpeare, but undoubtedly the lefs
like Browning.' Some of Shelley's feeling with reference
to the Sonnets may be guefled from certain lines to be
found among the ' Studies for Epipfychidion and Cancelled
Paflages* (Poetical Works: ed. Forman, vol. ii. pp. 392,
393), to which my attention has been called by Mr. E. W.
Gofle:—
If any fliould be curious to difcover
Whether to you I am a friend or lover,
xvi INTRODUCTION.
that of the fecrets of Nature, never once knew
interruption. The moment, however, we regard
the Sonnets as autobiographical, we find our-
felves in the prefence of doubts and difficulties,
exaggerated, it is true, by many writers, yet
certainly real.
If we muft efcape from them, the fimpleft
mode is to affume that the Sonnets are * the free
outcome of a poetic imagination ' (Delius). It
is an ingenious fuggeftion of Delius that certain
groups may be offfets from other poetical works
of Shakfpere ; thofe urging a beautiful youth to
perpetuate his beauty in offfpring may be a
derivative from Venus & Adonis ; thofe declaring
love for a dark complexioned woman may re-
Let them read Shakfpeare's sonnets, taking thence
A whetftone for their dull intelligence
That tears and will not cut, or let them guefs
How Diotima, the wife prophetefs,
Inftrufted the inftru&or, and why he
Rebuked the infant fpirit of melody
On Agathon's fweet lips, which as he fpoke
Was as the lovely ftar when morn has broke
The roof of darknefs, in the golden dawn,
Half-hidden and yet beautiful.
INTRODUCTION. xvii
handle the theme fet forth in Berowne's paflion
for the dark Rofaline of Love's Labour's Lojl ;
thofe which tell of a miftrefs refigned to a friend
may be a non-dramatic treatment of the theme
of love and friendfhip prefented in the later
fcenes of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Per-
haps a few fonnets, as ex. cxi., refer to circum-
ftances of Shakfpere's life (Dyce) ; the main body
of thefe poems may ftill be regarded as mere
exercifes of the fancy.
Such an explanation of the Sonnets has the
merit of fimplicity ; it unties no knots but cuts
all at a blow; if the collection confifts of dif-
conneded exercifes of the fancy, we need not
try to reconcile difcrepancies, nor ftiape a ftory,
nor afcertain a chronology, nor identify perfons.
And what indeed was a fonneteer's paflion but a
painted fire ? What was the form of verfe but
an exotic curioufly trained and tended, in which
an artificial fentiment imported from Italy gave
perfume and colour to the flower ?
And yet, in this as in other forms, the poetry
of the time, which poflefles an enduring vitality,
3
xviii INTRODUCTION.
was not commonly caught out of the air, but —
however large the conventional element in it
may have been — was born of the union of heart
and imagination ; in it real feelings and real
experience, fubmitting to the poetical faftiions
of the day, were raifed to an ideal expreffion.
Spenfer wooed and wedded the Elizabeth of his
Amoretti. The AJlropM 6- Stella tells of a
veritable tragedy, fatal perhaps to two bright
lives and paflionate hearts. And what poems of
Drummond do we remember as we remember
thofe which record how he loved and lamented
Mary Cunningham ?
Some ftudents of the Sonnets who refufe to
trace their origin to real incidents of Shakfpere's
life, allow that they form a connected poem, or
at moft two connected poems, and thefe, they
affure us, are of deeper fignificance than any
mere poetical exercifes can be. They form a
flupendous allegory ; they exprefs a profound
philofophy. The young friend whom Shakfpere
addrefles is in truth the poet's Ideal Self, or
Ideal Manhood, or the Spirit of Beauty, or the
INTRODUCTION. xix
Reafon, or the Divine Logos ; his dark miftrefs,
whom a profaic German translator (Jordan) takes
for a mulatto or quadroon, is indeed Dramatic
Art, or the Catholic Church, or the Bride of the
Canticles, black but comely. Let us not fmile
too foon at the pranks of Puck among the critics ;
it is more prudent to move apart and feel gently
whether that fleek nole with fair large ears, may
not have been flipped upon our own fhoulders.
When we queftion faner critics why Shak-
fpere's Sonnets may not be at once Dicbtung
und Wahrheity poetry and truth, their anfwer
amounts to this : Is it likely that Shakfpere
would fo have rendered extravagant homage to a
boy patron ? Is it likely that one, who fo deeply
felt the moral order of the world, would have
yielded, as the poems to his dark lady acknow-
ledge, to a vulgar temptation of the fenfes ? or
yielding, would have told his fliame in verfe ?
Objections are brought forward againft identify-
ing the youth of the Sonnets with-Southampton
or with Pembroke; it is pointed out that the
writer fpeaks of himfelf as old, and that in a
xx INTRODUCTION.
fonnet publifhed in Shakfpere's thirty-fifth year ;
here evidently he cannot have fpoken in his own
perfon, and if not here, why elfewhere ? Finally,
it is aflerted that the poems lack internal harmony ;
no real perfon can be, what Shakfpere's friend is
defcribed as being — true and falfe, conftant and
fickle, virtuous and vicious, of hopeful expecta-
tion and publicly blamed for carelefs living.
Shakfpere fpeaks of himfelf as old ; true, but
in the fonnet publifried in The Pafflonate Pilgrim
(cxxxvm.), he fpeaks as a lover, contrafting
himfelf (killed in the lore of life with an inex-
perienced youth ; doubtlefs at thirty-five he was
not a Florizel nor a Ferdinand. In the poems
to his friend, Shakfpere is addreffing a young
man perhaps of twenty years, in the frefh bloom
of beauty ; he celebrates with delight the floral
grace of youth, to which the firft touch of time
will be a taint ; thofe lines of thought and care,
which his own mirror (hows, bear witnefs to
time's ravage. It is as a poet that Shakfpere
writes, and his ftatiftics are thofe not of arith-
metic but of poetry.
INTRODUCTION. xxi
That he fliould have given admiration and
love without meafure to a youth highborn,
brilliant, accomplifhed, who fmgled out the
player for peculiar favour, will feem wonderful
only to thofe who keep a conftant guard upon
their affections, and to thofe who have no need
to keep a guard at all. In the Renafcence epoch
among natural products of a time when life ran
fwift and free, touching with its current high and
difficult places, the ardent friendfhip of man with
man was one. To elevate it above mere perfonal
regard a kind of Neo-Platonifm was at hand,
which reprefented Beauty and Love incarnated
in a human creature as earthly vice-gerents of
the Divinity. * It was then not uncommon',
obferves the fober Dyce, ' for one man to write
verfes to another in a ftrain of fuch tender
affection as fully warrants us in terming them
amatory'. Montaigne, not prone to take up
extreme pofitions, writes of his dead Eftienne
de la Boetie with paflionate tendernefs which
will not hear of moderation. The haughtieft
fpirit of Italy, Michael Angelo, does homage to
xxii INTRODUCTION.
the worth and beauty of young Tommafo Cava-
lieri in fuch words as thefe :
Heavenward your fpirit Jlirreth me to flrain ;
E'en as you will I blujb and blanch again,
Freeze in the fun, burn 'neath a frofly fkyy
your will includes and is the lord of mine.
The learned Languet writes to young Philip
Sidney : * Your portrait I kept with me fome
hours to feaft my eyes on it, but my appetite
was rather ihcreafed than diminifhed by the
fight'. And Sidney to his guardian friend:
* The chief object of my life, next to the ever-
lafting bleflednefs of heaven, will always be the
enjoyment of true friendfhip, and there you (hall
have the chiefeft place'. 'Some', faid Jeremy
Taylor, ' live under the line, and the beams of
friendfhip in that pofition are imminent and per-
pendicular '. ' Some have only a dark day and
a long night from him [the Sun], fnows and
white cattle, a miferable life and a perpetual
harveft of Catarrhes and Confumptions, apo-
plexies and dead palfies ; but fome have fplendid
fires and aromatick fpices, rich wines and well
INTRODUCTION. xxiii
».
digefted fruits, great wit and great courage,
becaufe they dwell in his eye and look in his
face and are the Courtiers of the Sun, and wait
upon him in his Chambers of the Eaft ; juft fo
it is in friendship'. Was Shakfpere lefs a cour-
tier of the fun than Languet or Michael Angelo ?
If we accept the obvious reading of the Son-
nets, we muft believe that Shakfpere at fome
time of his life was fnared by a woman, the
reverfe of beautiful according to the conven-
tional Elizabethan ftandard— dark-haired, dark-
eyed, pale-cheeked (cxxxn.) ; (killed in touching
the virginal (cxxvm.) ; flailed alfo in playing on
the heart of man ; who could attract and repel,
irritate and foothe, join reproach with carefs
(CXLV.) ; a woman faithlefs to her vow in wed-
lock (CLII.). Through her no calm of joy came
to him ; his life ran quicker but more troubled
through her fpell, and (he mingled flrange bitter-
nefs with its waters. Miftrefs of herfelf and of
her art, (he turned when it pleafed her from the
player to capture a more diftinguiflied prize, his
friend. For a while Shakfpere was kept in the
xxiv INTRODUCTION.
torture of doubt and fufpicion; then confeffion
and tears were offered by the youth. The
wound had gone -deep into Shakfpere's heart: —
Love knows it is a greater grief
To "bear love's wrong than hate's known injury.
But, delivering himfelf from the intemperance of
wrath, he could forgive a young man beguiled
and led aftray. Through further difficulties and
eftrangements their friendship travelled on to a
fortunate repofe. The feries of Sonnets, which
, is its record, climbs to a high funlit refting-
place. The other feries, which records his paf-
fion for a dark temptrefs, is a whirl of moral
chaos. Whether to difmifs him, or to draw him
farther on, the woman had urged upon him the
claims of confcience and duty ; in the lateft fon-
nets — if this feries be arranged in chronological
order— Shakfpere's paflion, grown bitter and
fcornful (CLI., CLII.), ftrives, once for all, to defy
and wreftle down his better will.
Shakfpere of the Sonnets is not the Shakfpere
ferenely victorious, infinitely charitable, wife with
INTRODUCTION. xxv
all wifdom of the intelled and the heart, whom
we know through The Tempejl and King Henry
vm. He is the Shakfpere of Venus & ^Adonis
and Romeo & Juliet, on his way to acquire fome
of the dark experience of Meafure for Meafure,
and the bitter learning of Troilus & CreJJlda.
Shakfpere's writings aflure us that in the main
his eye was fixed on the true ends of life ; but
they do not lead us to believe that he was in-
acceffible to temptations of the fenfes, the heart,
and the imagination. We can only guefs the
frailty that accompanied fuch ftrength, the rifles
that attended fuch high powers; immenfe de-
mands on life, vaft ardours, and then the void
hour, the deep dejedion. There appears to have
been a time in his life when the fprings of faith
and hope had almoft ceafed to flow; and he
recovered thefe not .by flying from reality and
life, but by driving his fhafts deeper towards the
centre of things. So Ulyfies was tranfformed
into Profpero, worldly wifdom into fpiritual in-
fight. Such ideal purity as Milton's was not
poffeffed nor fought by Shakfpere ; among thefe
xxvi INTRODUCTION.
Sonnets, one or two might be fpoken by Mer-
cutio, when his wit of cheveril was ftretched to
an ell broad. To compenfate — Shakfpere knew
men and women a good deal better than did
Milton, and probably no patches of his life are
quite as unprofitably ugly as fome which dif-
figured the life of the great idealift. His daughter
could love and honour Shakfpere 's memory.
Lamentable it is, if he was taken in the toils,
but at lead we know that he efcaped all toils
before the end. May we dare to conjecture that
Cleopatra, queen and courtefan, black from
'Phoebus' amorous pinches', a <lafs unparal-
leled ', has fome kinfliip through the imagination
with our dark lady of the virginal ? ' Would I
had never feen her ', fighs out Antony, and the
Ihrewd onlooker Enobarbus replies, ' O, fir, you
had then left unfeen a wonderful piece of work ;
which not to have been bleft withal would have
difcredited your travel '.
Shakfpere did not, in Byron's manner, invite
the world to gaze upon his trefpafs and his
griefs. Setting afide two pieces printed by a
INTR OD UCTION. xxvii
pirate in 1599, not one of thefe poems, as far as
we know, faw the light until long after they
were written, according to the moft probable
chronology, and when in 1609 the volume
entitled * Shake-fpeares Sonnets ' was iffued, it
had, there is reafon to believe, neither the fuper-
intendence nor the confent of the author.1 Yet
their literary merits entitled thefe poems to pub-
lication, and Shakfpere's verfe was popular. If
they were written on fanciful themes, why were
the Sonnets held fo long in referve ? If, on the
other hand, they were connected with real per-
fons, and painful incidents, it was natural that
they fhould not pafs beyond the private friends
of their poffeffor.
But the Sonnets of Shakfpere, it is faid, lack
inward unity. Some might well be addrefled to
Queen Elizabeth, fome to Anne Hathaway, fome
to his boy Hamnet, fome to the Earl of Pem-
broke or the Earl of Southampton ; it is impof-
fible to make all thefe poems (i.-cxxvi.) apply
1 The Quarto of 1609, though not careleflly printed, is
far lefs accurate than Venus & Adonis, See note on cxxvi.
xxviii INTRODUCTION.
to a fmgle perfon. Difficulties of this kind may
perplex a painful commentator, but would hardly
occur to a lover or a friend living * where the
beams of friendfhip are imminent '. The youth
addreffed by Shakfpere is ' the mafter-miftrefs of
his paflion ' (xx.) ; fumming up the perfections of
man and woman, of Helen and Adonis (LIII.) ;
a liege, and yet through love a comrade; in
years a boy, cherifhed as a fon might be; in
will a man, with all the power which rank and
beauty give. Love, aching with its own mono-
tony, invites imagination to inveft it in changeful
forms. Befides, the varying feelings of at leaft
three years (civ.) — three years of lofs and gain,
of love, wrong, wrath, iorrow, repentance, for-
givenefs, perfe&ed union— are uttered in the
Sonnets. When Shakfpere began to write, his
friend had the untried innocence of boyhood
and an unfpotted fame; afterwards came the
offence and the difhonour. And the loving
heart pra&ifed upon itfelf the piteous frauds of
wounded affection : now it can credit no evil
of the beloved, now it muft believe the worft.
INTRODUCTION. xxix
While the world knows nothing but praife of
one fo dear, a private injury goes deep into the
foul; when the world affails his reputation,
ftraightway loyalty revives, and even puts a
ftrain upon itfelf to hide each imperfection from
view.
A painftaking ftudent of the Sonnets, Henry
Brown, was of opinion that Shakfpere intended
in thefe poems to fatirize the fonnet-writers of
his time, and in particular his contemporaries,
Drayton and John Davies of Hereford. Pro-
feffor Minto, while accepting the feries i.-cxxvi.
as of ferious import, regards the fonnets ad-
dreffed to a woman, CXXVII.-CLII. as ' exercifes
of (kill undertaken in a fpirit of wanton defiance
and derifion of commonplace'. Certainly if
Shakfpere is a fatirift in i.-cxxvi., his irony is
deep ; the malicious fmile was not noticed during
two centuries and a half. The poems are in
the tafte of the time ; lefs extravagant and lefs
full of conceits than many other Elizabethan
collections, more diftinguifhed by exquifite ima-
gination, and all that betokens genuine feeling ;
xxx INTRODUCTION.
they are, as far as manner goes, fuch fonnets as
Daniel might have chofen to write if he had had
the imagination and the heart of Shakfpere. All
that is quaint or contorted or * conceited ' in
them can be paralleled from paffages of early
plays of Shakfpere, fuch as Romeo & Juliet, and
The Two Gentleman of Verona, where affuredly
no fatirical intention is difcoverable. In the
Sonnets CXXVH.-CLIV. Shakfpere addrefles a
woman to whom it is impoflible to pay the con-
ventional homage of fonneteers ; he cannot tell
her that her cheeks are lilies and rofes, her breaft
is of fnow, her heart is chafte and cold as ice.
Yet he loves her, and will give her tribute of
verfe. He prailes. her precifely as a woman
who without beauty is clever and charming, and
a coquette, would choofe to be praifed. True,
fhe owns ho commonplace attractions ; flie is no
pink and white goddefs; all her imperfections
he fees ; yet (he can fafcinate by fome namelefs
fpell ; flie can turn the heart hot or cold ; if fhe
is not beautiful, it is becaufe fomething more
rare and fine takes the place of beauty. She
INTRODUCTION. xxxi
angers her lover j he declares to her face that
fhe is odious, and at the fame moment he is at
her feet.
A writer whofe diftinction it is to have pro-
duced the largeft book upon the Sonnets, Mr.
Gerald MafTey, holds that he has refcued Shak-
fpere's memory from fhame by the difcovery of
a fecret hiftory legible in thefe poems to rightly
illuminated eyes.1 In 1592, according to this
theory, Shakfpere began to addrefs pieces in
fonnet-form to his patron Southampton. Pre-
fently the Earl engaged the poet to write love
fonnets on his behalf to Elisabeth Vernon ;
affuming alfo the feelings of Elizabeth Vernon,
Shakfpere wrote dramatic fonnets, as if in her
perfon, to the Earl. The table-book containing
Shakfpere's autograph fonnets was given by
Southampton to Pembroke, and at Pembroke's
requeft was written the dark-woman feries ; for
Pembroke, although authentic hiftory knows
nothing of the fads, was enamoured of Sidney's
Stella, now well advanced in years, the unhappy
1 The firft hint of this theory was given by Mrs. Jamefon.
xxxii INTRODUCTION.
Lady Rich. A few of the fonnets which pafs
for Shakfpere's are really by Herbert, and he,
the 'Mr. W. H.' of Thorpe's dedication, is
the 'only begetter', that is, procurer of thefe
pieces .for the publifher. The Sonnets require
rearrangement, and are grouped in an order of
his own by Mr. Mafley.
Mr. Mafley writes with zeal ; with a faith in
his own opinions which finds fcepticifm hard to
explain except on fome theory of intellectual or
moral obliquity ; and he exhibits a wide, mif-
cellaneous reading. The one thing Mr. Mafley's
elaborate theory feems to me to lack is fome
evidence in its fupport. His arguments may
well remain unanfwered. One hardly knows
how to tug at the other end of a rope of fand.
With Wordfworth, Sir Henry Taylor, and Mr.
Swinburne, with Francois-Victor Hugo, with
Kreyflig, Ulrici, Gervinus, and Hermann Ifaac,1
1 A learned and thoughtful ftudent of the fonnets, to
whom I am indebted for fome valuable notes. See his
articles in Archi-v fur das Studium der Neueren Sfrachen
und literal uren, 1878-79.
INTROD UCTION. xxxiii
with Boaden, Armitage Brown, and Hallam,
with Furnivall, Spalding, RoiTetti, and Palgrave,
I believe that Shakfpere's Sonnets exprefs his
own feelings in his own perfon. To whom
they were addreffed is unknown. We fliall
never difcover the name of that woman who
for a feafon could found, as no one elfe, the
inftrument in Shakfpere's heart from the loweft
note to the top of the compafs. To the eyes of
no diver among the wrecks of time will that
curious talifman gleam. Already when Thorpe
dedicated ihefe poems to their ' only begetter',
fiie perhaps was loft in the quick-moving life of
London, to all but a few in whofe memory
were ftirred as by a forlorn, fmall wind, the
grey ames of a fire gone out. As to the name
of Shakfpere's youthful friend and patron, we
conjecture on flender evidence at the beft. Set-
ting claimants afide on whofe behalf the evidence
is abfolutely none, except that their Chriftian
name and furname begin with a W and an H,
two remain whofe pretenfiOns have been fup-
ported by accomplifhed advocates. Drake
4
xxxiv 1NTK OD UCTION.
(1817), a learned and refined writer, was the
firft to suggeft that the friend addreffed in Shak-
fpere's Sonnets was Henry Wriothefley, Earl of
Southampton, to whom Venus fr Adonis was
dedicated in 1593, and in the following year
Lucrece, in words of flrong devotion refembling
thofe of the twenty-fixth Sonnet.1 B. Heywood
Bright (1819), and James Boaden (1832), in-
dependently arrived at the conclufion that the
Mr. W. H. of the dedication, the ' begetter ' or
infpirer of the Sonnets, was William Herbert,
Earl of Pembroke, to whom with his brother,
as two well-known patrons of the great drama-
tift, his fellows Heminge and Condell dedicated
the Firft Folio. Wriothefley was born in 1573,
nine years after Shakfpere ; Herbert in 1580.
Wriothefley at an early age became the lover of
Elizabeth Vernon, needing therefore no entreaties
to marry (i.-xvn.) ; he was not beautiful ; he
1 Drake did not, as is fometimes ftated, fuppofe that
Mr. W. H. was Southampton. ' He took « begetter ' to
mean obtainer ; and left Mr. W. H. unidentified. Others
hold that ' W. H.' are the initials of Southampton's names
reverfed as a blind to the public.
INTRODUCTION. xxxv
bore no refemblance to his mother (in. 9) ; his
life was active, with varying fortunes, to which
allufions might be looked for in the Sonnets,
fuch as may be found in the verfes of his other
poet, Daniel. Further, it appears from the
punning Sonnets (cxxxv. and CXLIIL, fee Notes),
that the Chriftian name of Shakfpere's friend was
the fame as his own, Will, but Wriothefley's
name was Henry. To Herbert the punning
Sonnets and the 'Mr. W. H.' of the dedication
can be made to apply. He was indeed a noble-
man in 1609, but a nobleman might be ftyled
Mr. ; ' Lord Buckhurft is entered as M. Sackville
in 'England's Parnaflus' (Minto); or the Mr.
may have been meant to difguife the truth.
Herbert was beautiful; was like his illuftrious
mother ; was brilliant, accomplifhed, licentious ;
'the moft univerfally beloved and efteemed',
fays Clarendon, 'of any man of his age'. Like
Southampton he was a patron of poets, and he
loved the theatre. In 1599 attempts were un-
fuccefffully made to induce him to become a
fuitor for the hand of the Lord Admiral's
xxxvi INTRODUCTION.
daughter. So far the balance leans towards
Herbert. But his father lived until 1601 (fee
xm. and Notes) ; Southampton's father died
while his fon was a boy ; and the date of
Herbert's birth (1580), taken in connexion with
Meres's mention of Sonnets, and the * Two
loves' of the Pajfionate Pilgrim Sonnet (1599),
CXLIV., may well caufe a doubt.
A clue, which promifes to lead us to clearnefs,
and then deceives us into deeper twilight, is the
chara&erifation (LXXVIII.-LXXXVI.) of a rival
poet who for a time fupplanted Shakfpere in his
patron's regard. This rival, the 'better fpirit'
of LXXX., was learned (LXXVIII.) ; dedicated a
book to Shakfpere's patron (LXXXII. and Notes) ;
celebrated his beauty and knowledge (LXXXII.);
in ' hymns ' (LXXXV.) ; was remarkable for ' the
full proud fail of his great verfe ' (LXXXVI.,
LXXX.) ; was taught ' by fpirits ' to write ' above
a mortal pitch', was nightly vifited by ' an affable
familiar ghoft ' who ' gulled him with intelli-
gence' (LXXXVI.). Here are allufions and
charaderiftics which ought to lead to identifica-
INTROD UCTION. xxxvii
tion. Yet in the end we are forced to confefs
that the poet remains as dim a figure as the
patron.
Is it Spenfer? He was learned, but what
ghoft was that which gulled him? Is it Mar-
lowe ? His verfe was proud and full, and the
creator of Fauftus may well have had dealings
with his own Mephiftophelis, but Marlowe died
in May 1593, the year of Venus & Adonis. Is
it Drayton, or Nam, or John Davies of Here-
ford ? Perfons in fearch of an ingenioufly im-
probable opinion may choofe any one of thefe.
Is it Daniel? Daniel's reputation flood high;
he was regarded as a mafter by Shakfpere in his
early poems ; he was brought up at Wilton, the
feat of the Pembrokes, and in 1601 he infcribed
his Defence of Ryme to William Herbert ; the
Pembroke family favoured aftrologers, and the
ghoft that gulled Daniel may have been the
fame that gulled Allen, Sandford, and Dr. Dee,
and through them gulled Herbert. Here is at
leaft a clever guefs, and Boaden is again the
guefler. But Profeffor Minto makes a guefs
xxxviii INTROD UCTION.
even more fortunate. No Elizabethan poet
wrote ampler verfe, none fcorned 'ignorance*
more, or more haughtily afferted his learning
than Chapman. In The Tears of Peace (1609),
Homer as a fpirit vifits and infpires him ; the
claim to fuch infpiration may have been often
made by the tranflator of Homer in earlier
years. Chapman was pre-eminently the poet of
Night. ' The Shadow of Night', with the motto
V erf us met babebunt aliquantum No fits, appeared
in 1594; the title-page defcribes it as contain-
ing ' two poeticall Hymnes\ In the dedication
Chapman affails unlearned ' paffion-driven men',
* hide-bound with affe&ion to great men's
fancies', and ridicules the alleged eternity of
their 'idolatrous platts for riches'. ' Now what
a fupererogation in wit this is, to think Skill fo
mightily pierced with their loves, that fhe fliould
proftitutely mow them her fecrets, when fhe will
fcarcely be looked upon by others, but with in-
vocation, fafting, watching ; yea not without
having drops of their fouls like a heavenly fami-
iar\ Of Chapman's Homer a part appeared
INTRODUCTION. xxxix
in 1596; dedicatory fonnets in a later edition
are addrefled to both Southampton and Pem-
broke.
Mr. W. H., the only begetter of the Sonnets,
remains unknown. Even the meaning of the
word ' begetter ' is in difpute. ' I have fome
coufm-germans at court', writes Decker in
Satiromajlix, 'mall beget you the reverfion of
the mafter of the king's revels ', where beget
evidently means procure. Was the * begetter ' of
the Sonnets, then, the perfon who procured
them for Thorpe ? I cannot think fo ; there is
fpecial point in the choice of the word ' be-
getter', if the dedication be addreffed to the per-
fon who infpired the poems and for whom they ;
were written. Eternity through offfpring is what
Shakfpere mod defires for his friend ; if he will
not beget a child, then he is promifed eternity
in verfe by his poet,— in verfe *whofe influence
is thine, and lorn of tbee ' (LXXVIII.). Thus was /""
Mr. W. H. the begetter of thefe poems, and from
the point of view of a complimentary dedication
he might well be termed the only begetter. „ — 4-~
xl INTRODUCTION.
I have no fpace to confider fuggeftions which
feem to me of little weight,— that W. H. is a
mifprint for W. S., meaning William Shakfpere ;
that < W. H. all ' mould be read ' W. Hall'; 'that
a full flop mould be placed after ( wifheth ',
making Mr. W. H., perhaps William Herbert or
William Hathaway, the wifher of happinefs to
Southampton, the only begetter (Ph. Chafles and
Bolton Corney) ; nor do I think we need argue
for or againtt the fuppofition of a painful
German commentator (Barnftorff), that Mr. W.
H. is none other than Mr. William Himfelf.
When Thorpe ufes the words 'the adventurer
in fetting forth,' perhaps he meant to compare
himfelf to one of the young volunteers in the
days of Elizabeth and James, who embarked on
naval enterprifes, hoping to make their fortunes
by difcovery or conqueft ; fo he with good
wifhes took hisjrifk on the fea of public favour
in this light venture of the Sonnets.1
The date at which the Sonnets were written,
like their origin, is uncertain. In Willolie's
1 See Dr. Grofart's Donne, vol. ii. pp. 45-46.
INTRODUCTION. xli
Avifa, 1594, in commendatory verfe prefixed
to which occurs the earlieft printed mention of
Shakfpere by name, H. W. (Henry Willobie)
pining with love for Avifa bewrays his difeafe to
his familiar friend W. S., ' who not long before
had tried the curtefy of the like paflion, and was
now new^ly recovered of the like infection'.
W. S. encourages his friend in a paflion which
he knows muft be hopelefs, intending to view
this * loving Comedy ' from far off, in order to
learn * whether it would fort to a happier end
for this new actor than it did for the old player'.
From Canto XLIV. to XLVIII. of Avifa, W. S. ad-
drefles H. W. on his love-affair, and H. W.
replies. It is remarkable that Canto XLvn. in
form and fubftance bears refemblance to the
ftanzas in 'The Paflionate Pilgrim' beginning
'When as thine eye hath chofe the dame'.
Afluming that W. S. is William Shakfpere, we
learn that he had loved unwifely, been laughed
at, and recovered from the infection of his paflion
before the end of 1 594. It feemed impoflible to
pafs by a poem which has been defcribed as
xlii INTRODUCTION.
'the one contemporary book which has ever
been fuppofed to throw any direct or indirect
light on the myftic matter ' of the Sonnets. But
although the reference to W. S., his paffion for
Avifa fair and chafte, and his recovery, be
matter of intereft to inquirers after Shakfpere's
life, WiUobiJs Avifa feems to me to have no
point of connexion with the Sonnefs of Shak-
fpere.1
Individual fonnets have been indicated as help-
ing to afcertain the date :
I. It has been confidently ftated that cvn. con-
taining the line
The mortal moon hath her edipfe endured
muft refer to the death of Elizabeth (1603), the
poets' Cynthia ; but the line may well bear
another interpretation. (See Notes.)
II. Mr. Tyler (Athenaum, Sept. n, 1880)
ingenioufly argues that the thought and phraf-
1 The force of the allufion to tragedy and comedy is
weakened by the fact that we find in Alcllia (1595) the
courfe of love fpoken of as a tragl-comedy, where no
reference to a real actor on the ftage is intendeds Sic
incipit ftultorum Tragicomoedia.
INTRODUCTION. xliii
ing of lines in Sonnet LV. are derived from a
paffage in Meres's Palladis Tamia, 1598, where
Shakfpere among others is mentioned with
honour :
< As Ovid faith of his worke ;
Jamque opus exegi, quod nee Jovis ira, nee ignis,
Nee poterit ferrum, nee edax dbolere vetuftas ;
And as Horace faith of his,
Exegi monumentum aere perennius,
Regalique fitu pyramidum altius ;
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotent
PoJJit diruere, aut innumerdbilis
Annorum feries et fuga temporum :
So fay I feverally of Sir Philip Sidney's, Spen-
fer's, Daniel's, Drayton's, Shakefpeare's and
Warner's workes ;
Nee Jovis ira, imbres, Mars,ferrum,flamma,feneftus,
Hoe opus unda, lues, turbo, venena ruent.
Et quanquam ad pulcherrimum hoc opus
evertendum tres illi Dii confpirabunt, Chronus,
Vulcanus, et Pater ipfe gentis ;
Nee tamen annorum feries, non flamma, nee enjist
Aeternum potuit hoe abolere deeus*.
xliv INTRODUCTION.
III. The laft line of Sonnet xciv.
Lilies that fefter fmell far worfe than weeds
occurs alfo in the play King Edward in. (printed
1596), in a part of the play afcribed by fome
critics to Shakfpere. We cannot fay for certain
whether the play borrows from the fonnet, or
the fonnet from the play. The latter feems to
me the more likely fuppofition of the two.
The argument for this or that date from coin-
cidences in expreflion between the Sonnets and
certain plays of Shakfpere has no decifive force.
Coincidences may often be found between Shak-
fpere's late and early plays. But the general
chara&eriftics of ftyle may lead us to believe
that fome Sonnets, as i.-xxiv., belong to a
period not later than Romeo & Juliet ; others, as
LXIV.-LXXIV., feem to echo the fadder tone heard
in Hamlet and Meafure for Meafure. I cannot
think that any of the Sonnets are earlier than
Daniel's 'Delia* (1592), which, I believe, fup-
plied Shakfpere with a model for this form of
verfe ; and, though I can allege no ftrong evi-
INTRODUCTION. xlv
dence for the opinion, I fhould not be difpofed
to place any later than 1 60 5 »
Various attempts have been made by Englifh,
French, and German ftudents to place the Son-
nets in a new and better order, of which at-
tempts no two agree between themfelves. That
the Sonnets are not printed in the Quarto, 1 609,
at haphazard, is evident from the fad that the
Envoy, cxxvi. is rightly placed ; that poems
addrefled to a miftrefs follow thofe addrefled to
a friend ; and that the two Cupid and Dian Son-
nets ftand together at the clofe. A nearer view
makes it apparent that in the firft feries, i.-cxxvi.,
a continuous ftory is conducted through various
ftages to its termination; a more minute in-
fpedion difcovers points of contact or connexion
between fonnet and fonnet, and a natural fe-
quence of thought, paffion and imagery. We
are in the end convinced that no arrangement
which has been propofed is as good as that of
the Quarto. But the force of this remark feems
to me to apply with certainty only to Sonnets
i.-cxxvi. The fecond feries, CXXVH.-CLIV., al-
xlvi INTRODUCTION.
though feme of its pieces are evidently con-
nected with thofe which ftand near them, does
not exhibit a like intelligible fequence ; a better
arrangement may perhaps be found ; or, it may
be, no poffible arrangement can educe order
out of the ftruggles between will and judgement,
between blood and reafon; tumult and chaos
are perhaps a portion of their life and being.
A piece of evidence confirming the opinion
here advanced will be found in the ufe of thou
and you by Shakfpere as a mode of addrefs to
his friend. Why thou or you is chofen, is not
always explicable ; fometimes the choice feems
to be determined by confiderations of euphony ;
fometimes of rhyme; fometimes intimate affec-
tion feems to indicate the ufe of youy and refpecV
ful homage that of thou ; but this is by no
means invariable. What I would call attention
to, however, as exhibiting fomething like order
and progrefs in the arrangement of 1609 is
this : that in the firft fifty fonnets, you is of
extremely rare occurrence, in the fecond fifty
you and thou alternate in little groups of fonnets,
INTRODUCTION. xlvii
thou having ftill a preponderance, but now only
a flight preponderance ; in the remaining twenty-
fix, you becomes the ordinary mode of addrefs,
and thou the exception. In the fonnets to a
miftrefs, thou is invariably employed. A few
fonnets of the firft feries as LXIII.-LXVIII. have
'my love ', and the third perfon throughout.1
Whether idealifin-g reality or wholly fanciful,
an Elizabethan book of fonnets was — not always,
but in many inftances — made up of a chain
or feries of poems, in a defigned or natural
fequence, viewing in various afpeds a fingle
1 I cannot here prefent detailed ftatiftics. Thou and you
are to be confidered only when addrefling friend or lover,
not Time, the Mufe, etc. Six fets of fonnets may then
be diftinguilhed : i. Ufing thou. 2. Ufing you. 3. Ufing
neither, but belonging to a tbou group. 4. Ufing neither,
but belonging to a you group. 5. Ufing neither, and
independent. 6. Ufing both (xxiv.). I had hoped that
this inveftigation was left to form one of my gleanings.
But Profeflbr Goedeke in the Deutfche Rundfchau, March
1877, looked into the matter} his refults feem to me
vitiated by an arbitrary divifion of the fonnets ufing neither
thou nor you into groups of eleven and twelve, and by a
fantaftic theory that Shakfpere wrote his fonnets in books
or groups of fourteen each.
xlviii INTRODUCTION.
theme, or carrying on a 3ove-ftory to its ifllie,
profperous or the reverfe. Sometimes advance
is made through the need of difcovering new
points of view, and the movement^ always
delayed, is rather in a circuit than ftraight for-
ward. In Spenfer's Amoretti we read the pro-
grefs of love from humility through hope to
conqueft. In Aftropbd & Stella, we read the
ftory of paffion ftruggling with untoward fate,
yet at laft mattered by the refolve to do high
deeds :
Sweet ! for a while give refpite to my heart
Which pants as though itftill would leap to thee ;
And on my thoughts give thy Lieutenancy
To this great Caufe.
In Parthenophil & Parthenophe the ftory is of
a new love fupplanting an old, of hot and cold
fevers, of defpair, and, as laft effort of" the defper-
ate lover, of an imagined attempt to fubdue the
affections of his cruel lady by magic art. But in
reading Sidney, Spenfer, Barnes, and ftill more
Watfon, Conftable, Drayton, and others, although
a large element of the art-poetry of the Renafcence
INTRODUCTION. xlix
is common to them and Shakfpere, the ftudent of
Shakfpere's fonnets does not feel at home. It is
when we open Daniel's ' Delia ' that we recognife
clofe kinlhip. The manner is the fame, though
the mafter proves himfelf of tardier imagination
and lefs ardent temper. Diction, imagery, rhymes,
and, in fonnets of like form, verification diftindly
referable thofe of Shakfpere. Malone was furely
right when he recognifed in Daniel the mafter of
Shakfpere as a writer of fonnets — a mafter quickly
excelled by his pupil. And it is in Daniel that
we find fonnet ftarting from fonnet almoft in
Shakfpere's manner, only that Daniel often links
poem with poem in more formal wife, the laft or
the penultimate line of one poem fupplying the
firft line of that which immediately follows.
Let us attempt to trace briefly the fequence
of incidents and feelings in the Sonnets i.-cxxvi.
A young man, beautiful, brilliant, and accom-
plifhed, is the heir of a great houfe; he is
expofed to temptations of youth, and wealth,
and rank. Poffibly his mother defires to fee
him married ; certainly it is the defire of his
1 INTRODUCTION.
friend. 'I fhould be glad if you were caught',
writes Languet to Philip Sidney, ' that fo you
might give to your country fons like yourfelf '.
1 If you marry a wife, and if you beget children
like yourfelf, you will be doing better fervice
to your country than if you were to cut the
throats of a thoufand Spaniards and Frenchmen'.
'"Sir", faid Crcefus to Cambyfes', Languet
writes to Sidney, now aged twenty-four, "I
confider your father muft be held your better,
becaufe he was the father of an admirable prince,
whereas you have as yet no fon like yourfelf".'
It is in the manner of Sidney's own Cecropia
that Shakfpere urges marriage upon his friend.1
* Nature when you were firft born, vowed you
a woman, and as fhe made you child of a
mother, fo to do your beft to be mother of a
child' (Sonnet xm. 14); 'fliegave you beauty
to move love ; fhe gave you wit to know love ;
(he gave you an excellent body to reward love ;
1 Arcadia, Lib. in. Noticed by Mr. Mafley in his
* Shakefpeare's Sonnets and his Private Friends ', pp. 36-
INTRODUCTION. li
which kind of liberal rewarding is crowned with
an unfpeakable felicity. For this as it bindeth
the receiver, fo it makes happy the beftower;
this doth not impoverifh, but enrich the giver
(vi. 6). O the comfort of comforts, to fee your
children grow up, in whom you are as it were
eternifed ! . . . Have you feen a pure Rofe-water
kept in a cryftal glafs, how fine it looks, how
fweet it fmells, while that beautiful glafs im-
prifons it ! Break the prifon and let the water
take his own courfe, doth it not embrace the
duft, and lofe all his former fweetnefs and fair-
nefs ; truly fo are we, if we have not the ftay,
rather than the reflraint of Cryftalline marriage
(v.) ; . . . And is a folitary life as good as this ?
then, can one firing make as good mufic as a
confort (viii.)'.
In like manner Shakfpere urges the youth to
perpetuate his beauty in offfpring (i-xvu.).1 But
if Witt refufes, then his poet will make war
againft Time and Decay, and confer immortality
1 In what follows, to avoid the confufion of he, and him,
call Shakfpere's friend, as he is called in cxxxv., Will.
lii INTRODUCTION.
upon his beloved one by Verfe (xv.-xix.). Will
is the 'pattern and exemplar of human beauty
(xix.), so uniting in himfelf the perfe&ions of
man and woman (xx.) ; this is no extravagant
praife but fimple truth (XXL). And fuch a being
has exchanged love with Shakfpere (xxn.), who
muft needs be filent with excefs of paffion
(XXIIL), cherifhing in his heart the image of his
friend's beauty (xxiv.), but holding ftill more
dear the love from which no unkind fortune can
ever feparate him (xxv.). Here affairs of his
own compel Shakfpere to a journey which re-
moves him from Will (xxvi., xxvu.). Sleeplefs
at night, and toiling by day, he thinks of the
abfent one (xxvu. xxvm.) ; grieving for his
own poor eftate (xxix.), and the death of friends,
but finding in the one beloved amends for all
^(xxx., xxxi.) ; and fo Shakfpere commends to
his friend his poor verfes as a token of affedion
which may furvive if he himfelf fhould die
(XXXIL). At this point the mood changes — in
his abfence his friend has been falfe to friend-
fiiip (xxxm.) ; now, indeed, Will would let the
INTRODUCTION. liii
fimfhine of his favour beam out again, but that
will not cure the difgrace ; tears and penitence
are fitter (xxxiv.) ; and for fake of fuch tears
Witt fhall be forgiven (xxxv.) ; but henceforth
their lives muft run apart (xxxvi.) ; Shakfpere,
feparated from Will, can look on and rejoice in
his friend's happinefs and honour (xxxvn.),
fmging his praife in verfe (XXXVIIL), which he
could not do if they were fo united that to
praife his friend were felf-praife (xxxix.) ; fep-
arated they muft be, and even their loves be no
longer one; Shakfpere can now give his love,
even her he loved, to the gentle thief; wronged
though he is, he will ftill hold Will dear (XL.) ;
what is he but a boy whom a woman has
beguiled (XLI.) ? and for both, for friend and
miftrefs, in the midft of his pain, he will try to
feign excufes (XLIL). Here there feems to be
a gap of time. The Sonnets begin again in
abfence, and fome ftudents have called this,
perhaps rightly, the Second Abfence (XLIIL,
fqq.). His friend continues as dear as ever, but
confidence is fhaken, and a deep diftruft begins
liv INTRODUCTION.
to grow (XL viii.). What right indeed has a
poor player to claim conftancy and love (XLIX.) ?
He is on a journey which removes him from
Witt (L. LI.). His friend perhaps profefles un-
fhaken loyalty, for Shakfpere now takes heart,
and praifes WilVs truth (LIII. LIV.)— takes heart,
and believes that his own verfe will for ever
keep that truth in mind. He will endure the
pain of abfence, and have no jealous thoughts
(LVII. LVIIL); driving to honour his friend in
fong better than ever man was honoured before
(LIX.); in fong which fhall outlaft the revolu-
tions of time (LX.). Still he cannot quite get
rid of jealous fears (LXI.) ; and yet, what right
has one fo worn by years and care to claim all
a young man's love (LXII.) ? Witt, too, in his
turn muft fade, but his beauty will furvive in
verfe (LXIII.). Alas! to think that death will
take away the beloved one (LXIV.) ; nothing but
Verfe can defeat time and decay (LXV.). For
his own part Shakfpere would willingly die,
were it not that, dying, he would leave his
friend alone in an evil world (LXVI.). Why
INTRODUCTION. Iv
fhould one fo beautiful live to grace this ill
world (LXVII.) except as a furvival of the genuine
beauty of the good old times (LXVIII.) ; yet
beautiful as he is, he is blamed for carelefs
living (LIX.), but furely this muft be flander
(LXX.). Shakfpere here returns to the thought
of his own death ; when I leave this vile world,
he fays, let me be forgotten (LXXI. LXXII.) ; and
my death is not very far off (LXXIII.) ; but when
I die my fpirit ftill lives in my verfe (LXXIV.).
A new group feems to begin with LXXV. Shak-
fpere loves his friend as a mifer loves his gold,
fearing it may be ftolen (fearing a rival poet?).
His verfe is monotonous and old-fafhioned (not
Kke the rival's verfe ?) (LXXVI.) ; fo he fends
Will his manufcript book unfilled, which Will
may fill, if he pleafe, with verfe of his own;
Shakfpere choofes to fmg no more of Beauty and
of Time ; Will's glafs and dial may inform him
henceforth on thefe topics (LXXVII.) The rival
poet has now won the firft place in Will's efteem
(LXXVIII.-LXXXVL). Shakfpere muft bid his
friend farewell (LXXXVIL). If Will fhould fcorn
Ivi INTRODUCTION.
him, Shakfpere will fide againft himfelf (LXXXVIII.
LXXXIX.). But if his friend is ever to hate him,
let it be at once, that the bitternefs of death may
foon be paft (xc.). He has dared to fay fare-
well, yet his friend's love is all the world to
Shakfpere, and the fear of lofmg him is mifery
(xci.) ; but he cannot really lofe his friend, for
death would come quickly to fave him from fuch
grief; and yet Will may be falfe and Shakfpere
never know it (xcn.) ; fo his friend, fair in
feeming, falfe within, would be like Eve's apple
• (xcni.) ; it is to fuch felf-contained, pamonlefs
perfons that nature entrufts her rareft gifts of
grace and beauty; yet vicious felf-indulgence
will fpoil the faireft human foul (xciv.). So let
Will beware of his youthful vices, already
whifpered by the lips of men (xcv.) ; true, he
makes graces out of faults, yet this fhould be
kept within bounds (xcvi.). Here again, per-
haps, is a gap of time.1 Sonnets XCVIL-XCIX.
1 The laft two lines of xcvi. — not very appropriate I
think in that fonnet — are identical with the laft two lines
of xxxvi. It occurs to me as a poffibility that the MS. in
Thorpe's hands may here have been imperfect, and that
INTRODUCTION. Ivii
are written in abfence, which feme ftudents,
perhaps rightly, call Third Abfence. Thefe
three fonnets are full of tender affection, but at
the clofe of xcix. allufion is made to Will's
vices, the canker in the rofe. After this followed
a period of filence. In c. love begins to renew
itfelf, and fong awakes. Shakfpere excufes his
filence (ci.) ; his love has grown while he was
filent (en.) ; his friend's lovelinefs is better than
all fong (cm.) ; three years have paffed fince
firft acquaintance ; Witt looks as young as ever,
yet time muft infenfibly be altering his beauty
(civ.). Shakfpere fmgs with a monotony of
love (cv.). All former fingers praifmg knights
and ladies only prophefied concerning Witt
(cvi.) ; grief and fear are paft ; the two friends
are reconciled again; and both live for ever
united in Shakfpere's verfe (cvn.). Love has
conquered time and age, which deftroy mere
beauty of face (GVIII.). Shakfpere confeffes his
errors, but now he has returned to his home
he filled it up fo far as to complete xcvi. with a couplet
from an earlier fonnet.
Iviii INTRODUCTION.
of love (cix.), he will never wander again (ex.) ;
and his paft faults were partly caufed by his
temptations as a player (cxi.) ; he cares for no
blame and no praife now except thofe of his
friend (CXIL). Once more he is abfent from
his friend (Fourth Abfence?), but full of loving
thought of him (cxin. cxiv.). Love has grown
and will grow yet more (cxv.). Love is uncon-
querable by Time (cxvi.). Shakfpere confefles
again his wanderings from his friend; they
were lefts of Will's conftancy (cxvn.) ; and
they quickened his own appetite for genuine
love (cxvm.). Ruined love rebuilt is ftronger
than at firft (cxix.) ; there were wrongs on both
fides and muft now be mutual forgiven efs (cxx.).
Shakfpere is not , to be jtfdged by the report of
malicious cenfors (cxxi.) ; he has given away
his friend's prefent of a table-book, becaufe he
needed no remembrancer (cxxn.) ; records and
regifters of time are falfe ; only a lover's memory
is to be wholly trufted, recognifmg old things
in what feem new (cxxm.) ; Shakfpere's love
is not bafed on felf-intereft, and therefore is
INTRODUCTION: HX
uninfluenced by fortune (cxxiv.) ; nor is it
founded on external beauty of form or face,
but is fimple love for love's fake (cxxv.). Will
is dill young and fair, yet he fhould remember
that the end muft come at lad (cxxvi.).
Thus the feries of poems addreffed to his
friend clofes gravely with thoughts of love and
death. The Sonnets may be divided at pleafure
into many fmaller groups, but I find it poffible
to go on without interruption from I. to XXXIL ;
from xxxin. to XLII. \ from XLIII. to LXXIV. ;
from LXXV. to xcvi, ; from xcvn. to xcix. ;
from c. to cxxvi.1
I do not here attempt to trace a continuous
fequence in the Sonnets addrefled to the dark-
haired woman CXXVII.-CLIV. ; I doubt whether
fuch continuous fequence is to be found in
them; but in the Notes fome points of con-
nexion between fontiet and fonnet are pointed
out.
1 Perhaps there is a break at LVIII. The moft careful
ftudies of the fequence of the Sonnets are Mr. Furnivairs
in his preface to the Leopold Shakfpere, and Mr. Spalding's
in The Gentleman's Magazine t March 1878.
Ix INTRODUCTION.
If Shakfpere 'unlocked his heart' in thefe
Sonnets, what do we learn from them of that
great heart? I cannot anfwer otherwife than
in words of my own formerly written. ' In
the Sonnets we recognife three things : that
Shakfpere was capable of meafurelefs perfonal
devotion ; that he was tenderly fenfitive, fenfitive
above all to every diminution or alteration of
that love his heart fo eagerly craved ; and that,
when wronged, although he fuffered anguifh, he
tranfcended his private injury, and learned to
forgive. . . . The errors of his heart originated
in his fenfitivenefs, in his imagination (not at
firft inured to the hardnefs of fidelity to the
fad), in his quick confcioufnefs of exiftence, and
in the felf-abandoning devotion of his heart.
There are fome noble lines by Chapman in
which he pictures to himfelf the life of great
energy, enthufiafms and paflions, which for ever
ftands upon the edge of utmoft danger, and yet
for ever remains in abfolute fecurity : —
Give me a fpirit that on this life's rough fea
Loves to have his fails fill'd with a lufty wind
INTRODUCTION. hi
Ev en till his fail-yards tremble, his mafts crack.
And his rapt fhip runs on her fide fo low
That Jhe drinks water, and her keel ploughs air ;
There is no danger to a man that knows
What life and death is, — there's not any law
Exceeds his knowledge ; neither is it lawful
That he Jhould floop to any other law.
Such a mafter-fpirit, prefTmg forward under
{trained canvas was Shakfpere. If the fhip
dipped and drank water, Ihe rofe again ; and at
length we behold her within view of her haven
failing under a large, calm wind, not without
tokens of ftrefs of weather, but if battered, yet
unbroken by the waves'. The laft plays of
Shakfpere, The Tempeft, Cymleline, Winter's Tale,
Henry r///., illuminate the Sonnets and juftify
the moral genius of their writer.
I thank ProfelTor Atkinfon for help given in
reading the proof-meets of my Introduction ;
Mr. W. J. Craig, for illuftrations of Delete
words ; Mr. Furnivall, for hints given from time
to time in our difcuflion by letter of the group-
ing of the Sonnets. Mr. Edmund GoiTe and
Ixii INTRODUCTION.
Dr. Grofart, for the loan of valuable books ; Mr.
Halliwell-Phillipps, for a note on the date of
Lintott's reprint ; Mr. Hart, for feveral ingenious
fuggeftions ; Dr. Ingleby, for fome guidance in
the matter of Shakfpere portraiture; and Mr.
L. C. Purfer, for tranflations of the Greek epi-
grams conneded with Sonnets CLIIL, CLIV.
I.
From faired creatures we deflre increafe,
That thereby beauty's rofe might never die,
But as the riper fhould by time deceafe,
His tender heir might bear his memory :
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'ft thy light's flame with felf-fubftantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyfelf thy foe, to thy fweet felf too cruel.
Thou that art now the world's frefli ornament
And only herald to the gaudy fpring,
Within thine own bud burieft thy content
And, tender churl, makeft wafte in niggarding.
Pity the world, or elfe this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
When forty winters fhall befiege thy brow
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery, fo gazed on now,
Will be a tatter 'd weed, of fmall worth held :
Then being afk'd where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treafure of thy lufty days,
To fay, within thine own deep-funken eyes,
Were an all-eating fhame and thriftlefs praise.
How much more praife deferved thy beauty's use,
If thou couldft anfwer * This fair child of mine
Shall fum my count and make my old excufe,7
Proving his beauty by fucceffion thine !
This were to be new made when thou art old.
And fee thy blood warm when thou feel'ft it cold.
SONNETS.
m.
v
Look in thy glafs, and tell the face thou viewed
Now is the time that face (hould form another ;
Whofe frefh repair if now thou not renewed,
Thou doft beguile the world, unblefs fome mother.
For where is (he fo fair whofe unear'd womb
Difdains the tillage of thy hu(bandry ?
Or who is he fo fond will be the tomb
Of his felf-love, to flop pofterity ?
Thou art thy mother's glafs, and fhe in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime ;
So thou through windows of thine age (halt fee,
Defpite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remembered not to be,
Die (ingle, and thine image dies with thee.
SONNETS.
rv.
Unthrifty lovelinefs, why doft thou fpend
Upon thyfelf thy beauty's legacy ?
Nature's bequeft gives nothing, but doth lend,
And being frank, fhe lends to thofe are free :
Then, beauteous niggard, why doft thou abufe
The bounteous largefs given thee to give ?
Profitlefs ufurer, why doft thou ufe
So great a fum of fums, yet canft not live ?
For having traffic, with thyfelf alone,
Thou of thyfelf thy fweet felf doft deceive :
Then how, when Nature calls thee to be gone,
What acceptable audit canft thou leave?
Thy unufcd beauty muft be tomb'd with thee,
Which, ufed, lives th' executor to be.
SONNETS.
V.
Thofe hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very fame
And that unfair which fairly doth excel ;
For never-refting time leads fummer on
To hideous winter, and confounds him there ;
Sap check' d with froft, and lufty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'erfnow'd and barenefs every where :
Then, were not fummer's diftillation left,
A liquid prifoner pent in walls of glafs,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was :
But flowers diftilTd, though they with winter meet,
Leefe but their (how; their fubftance (tin lives
fweet.
SONNETS.
VI.
»
Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
In thee thy fummer, ere thou be diftill'd :
Make fweet fome vial ; treafure thou fome place
With beauty's treafure, ere it be felf-kill'd.
That ufe is not forbidden ufury,
Which happies thofe that pay the willing loan
That 's for thyfelf to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier, be it ten for one ;
Ten times thyfelf were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigured thee ;
Then what could death do, if thou fhouldft depart,
Leaving thee living in pofterity ?
Be not felf-wilTd, for thou art much too fair
To be death's conqueft and make worms thine heir.
SONNETS.
<
7.
vn.
Lo, in the orient when the gracious light
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye
Doth homage to his new-appearing fight,
Serving with looks his facred majefty ;
And having climb'd the fleep-up heavenly hill,
Refembling ftrong youth in his middle age,
Yet mortal looks adore his beauty ftill,
Attending on his golden pilgrimage ;
But when from highmoft pitch, with weary car,
Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day,
The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are
From his low trad, and look another way :
So thou, thyfelf outgoing in thy noon,
Unlook'd on dieft, unlefs thou get a fon.
SONNETS.
VIII.
Mufic to hear, why hear'ft thou mufic fadly ?
Sweets with fweets war not, joy delights in joy :
Why loveft thou that which thou receiveft not gladly,
Or elfe receiveft with pleafure thine annoy ?
If the true concord of well-tuned founds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but fweetly chide thee, who confounds
In fmglenefs the parts that thou Ihouldft bear.
Mark how one ftring, fweet hufband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering ;
Refembling fire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleating note do iing :
Whofe fpeechlefs fong, being many, feeming one,
Sings this to thee : 'Thou fmgle wilt prove none.'
SONNETS.
IX. i
Is it fpr fear to wet a widow's eye
That thou confumeft thyfelf in fmgle life ?
Ah ! if thou ifluelefs fhalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee, like a makelefs wife ;
The world will be thy widow, and ftill weep
That thou no form of thee haft left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes her hufband's fhape in mind.
Look, what an unthrift in the world doth fpend
Shifts but his place, for ftill the world enjoys it ;
But beauty's wafte hath in the world an end,
And, kept unufed, the ufer fo deftroys it.
No love toward others in that bofom fits
That on himfelf fuch murderous fhame commits.
io SONNETS.
For fhame ! deny that thou bear'ft love to any,
Who for thyfelf art fo unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,
But that thou none loveft is moft evident ;
For thou art fo poffefTd with murderous hate
That 'gainft thyfelf thou ftick'ft not to confpire,
Seeking that beauteous Foof to ruinate
Which to repair fliould be thy chief defire.
O, change thy thought, that I may change my mind !
Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love ?
Be, as thy prefence is, gracious and kind,
Or to thyfelf at lead kind-hearted prove :
Make thee another felf, for love of me,
That beauty ftill may live in thine or thee.
SONNETS. 1 1
XI.
As;faft as thou (halt wane, fo faft thou grow'ft
In one of thine, from that which thou departeft ;
And that frefh blood which youngly thou beftow'ft
Thou mayft call thine when thou from youth con-
Herein lives wifdom, beauty and increafe ; [verteft.
Without this, folly, age and cold decay :
If all were minded fo, the times fhould ceafe
And threefcore year would make the world away.
Let thofe whom Nature hath not made for ftore,
Harm, featurelefs and rude, barrenly perim :
Look, whom me beft endowM (he gave the more ;
Which bounteous gift thou (houldft in bounty cherim:
She carved thee for her feal, and meant thereby
Thou (houldft print more, nor let that copy die.
ia SONNETS.
xn.
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And fee the brave day funk in hideous night ;
When I behold the violet paft prime,
And fable curls all filver'd o'er with white ;
When lofty trees I fee barren of leaves,
Which erft from heat did canopy the herd,
And fummer's green all girded up in (heaves,
Borne on the bier with white and briftly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I queftion make,
That thou among the waftes of time muft go,
Since fweets and beauties do themfelves forfake
And die as faft as they fee others grow ; [fence
And nothing 'gainft Time's fcythe can make de-
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
SONNETS. 13
xra. Y
O, that you were yourfelf P but, love, you are
No longer yours than you yourfelf here live :
Againft this coming end you fhould prepare,
And your fweet femblance to fome other give :
So fhould that beauty which you hold in Jeafe
Find no determination ; then you were
Yourfelf again, after yourfelf 's deceafe,
When your fweet iffue your fweet form fhould bear.
Who lets fo fair a houfe fall to decay,
Which hufbandry in honour might uphold
Againft the ftormy gufts of winter's day
And barren rage of death's eternal cold ?
O, none but unthrifts ! Dear my love, you know
You had a father : let your fon fay fo.
i4 SONNETS.
xiv.
Not from the ftars do I my judgement pluck ;
And yet methinks I have aftronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or feafons' quality ;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or fay with princes if it fhall go weH,
By oft predict that I in heaven find . .
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, conftant ftars, in them I read fuch art
As ' Truth and beauty lhall together thrive,
If from thyfelf to ftore thou wouldft convert ; '
Or elfe of thee this I prognofticate :
* Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.'
SONNETS. 15
XV.
When I confider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge ftage prefenteth nought but (hows
Whereon the ftars in fecret influence comment ;
When I perceive that men as plants increafe,
Cheered and check'd even by the felf-fame fky,
Vaunt in their youthful fap, at height decreafe,
And wear their brave ftate out of memory ;
Then the conceit of this inconftant (lay
Sets you moft rich in youth before my fight,
Where wafteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to fullied night ;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.
1 6 SONNETS.
ft,
XVI. V
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time ?
And fortify yourfelf in your decay
With means more blefled than my barren rime ?
Now (land you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens, yet unfet,
With virtuous wifli would bear your living flowers
Much liker than your painted counterfeit :
So mould the lines of life that life repair,
Which this, Time's pencil, or my pupil pen,
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair,
Can make you live yourfelf in eyes of men.
To give away yourfelf keeps yourfelf dill ;
And you muft live, drawn by your own fweet fkill.
SONNETS. . 17
xvn. /'
Who will believe my verfe in time to come,
If it were filTd with your moft high deferts ?
Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and fhows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in frefh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would fay ' This poet lies ;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So mould my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be fcorn'd, like old men of lefs truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And flretched metre of an antique fong :
But were fome child of yours alive that time,
You fliould live twice, in it and in my rime.
1 8 SONNETS.
xvm.
Shall I compare thee to a fummer's day ?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate :
Rough winds do fhake the darling buds of May,
And fummer's leafe hath all too fhort a date :
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven fhines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd ;
And every fair from fair fometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing courfe untrimm'd ;
But thy eternal fummer fhall not fade,
Nor lofe pofleffion of that fair thou oweft,
Nor fhall death brag thou wander'ft in his lhade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'ft ;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can fee,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
SONNETS. 19
XIX.
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own fweet blood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood ;
Make glad and forry feafons as thou fleets,
And do whate'er thou wilt, fwift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading fweets ;
But I forbid thee one moft heinous crime :
O, carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen ;
Him in thy courfe untainted do allow
For beauty's pattern to fucceeding men.
Yet do thy worft, old Time : defpite thy wrong,
My love (hall in my verfe ever live young.
20 SONNETS.
xx.
A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Haft thou, the mafter-miftrefs of my paffion ;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With fhifting change, as is falfe women's fafhion ;
An eye more bright than theirs, lefs falfe in rolling,
Gilding the objeft whereupon it gazeth ;
A man in hue all hues in his controlling,
Which fteals men's eyes and women's fouls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou firft created ;
Till Nature, as fhe wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpofe nothing.
But mice fhe prick' d thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love, and thy love's ufe their treafure.
S&NNETS. 21
XXI.
So is it not with me as with that Mufe
Stirr'd by a painted beauty to his verfe,
Who heaven itfelf for ornament doth ufe
And every fair with his fair doth rehearfe,
Making a couplement of proud compare,
With fun and moon, with earth and fea's rich gems,
With April's firft-born flowers, and all things rare
That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.
O, let me, true in love, but truly write,
And then believe me, my love is as fair
As any mother's child, though not fo bright
As thofe gold candles fix'd in heaven's air :
Let them fay more that like of hear-fay well ;
I will not praife that purpofe not to fell.
22 SONNETS.
XXII.
My glafs fhall not perfuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date ;
But when in thee time's furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days ftiould expiate.
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the feemly raiment of my heart,
Which in thy breaft doth live, as thine in me :
How can I then be elder than thou art ?
O, therefore, love, be of thyfelf fo wary
As I, not for myfelf, but for thee will ;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep fo chary
As tender nurfe her babe from faring ill.
Prefume not on thy heart when mine is flain ;
Thou gaveft me thine, not to give back again.
SONNETS.
xxiir.
As an unperfe& aftor on the ftage,
Who with his fear is put befides his part,
Or ibme fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whofe ftrength's abundance weakens his own heart ;
So I, for fear of truft, forget to fay
The perfed ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's ftrength feem to decay,
Overcharged with burthen of mine own love's might.
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb prefagers of my fpeaking brealt,
Who plead for love, and look for recompenfe,
More than that tongue that more hath more exprefTd.
O, learn to read what filent love hath writ :
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.
24 SONNETS.
XXIV.
Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath flelPd
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart ;
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,
And perfpedive it is beft painter's art.
For through the painter muft you fee his fkill,
To find where your true image pictured lies,
Which in my bofom's fhop is hanging ftill,
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.
Now fee what good turns eyes for eyes have done :
Mine eyes have drawn thy fhape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breaft, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee ;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art,
They draw but what they fee, know not the heart.
SONNETS. 25
XXV.
Let thofe who are in favour with their ftars
Of public honour and proud titles boaft,
Whilft I, whom fortune of fuch triumph bars,
Unlook'd for joy in that I honour moft.
Great princes' favourites their fair leaves fpread
But as the marigold at the fun's eye,
And in themfelves their pride lies buried,
For at a frown they in their glory die.
The painful warrior famoufed for fight,
After a thoufand victories once foil'd,
Is from the book of honour razed quite,
And all the reft forgot for which he toil'd :
Then happy I, that love and am beloved
Where I may not remove nor be removed.
26 SONXETS.
XXVI.
Lord of my love, to whom in vaflalage
Thy merit hath my duty ftrongly knit,
To thee I fend this written ambaflage,
To witnefs duty, not to fhow my wit :
Duty fo great, which wit fo poor as mine
May make feem bare, in wanting words to fhow it,
But that I hope fome good conceit of thine
In thy foul's thought, all naked, will beftow it ;
Till whatfoever ftar that guides my moving
Points on me gracioufly with fair afpeft,
And puts apparel on my tatter'd loving,
To fhow me worthy of thy fweet refpeft :
Then may I dare to boaft how I do love thee ;
Till then not fhow my head where thou mayft
prove me.
SONNETS. 27
27 -
XXVII.
Weary with toil, I hafte me to my bed,
The dear repofe for limbs with travel tired ;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work *s expired :
For then my thoughts, from far where I abide,
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darknefs which the blind do fee :
Save that my foul's imaginary fight
Prefents thy fhadow to my fightlefs view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghaftly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo, thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myfelf no quiet find.
28 SONNETS.
xxvm.
How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarr'd the benefit of reft?
When day's oppreffion is not eafed by night,
But day by night, and night by day, opprefTd ;
And each, though enemies to cither's reign,
Do in confent (hake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, ftill farther off from thee ?
I tell the day, to pleafe him, thou art bright
And doft him grace when clouds do blot the heaven :
So flatter I the fwart-complexion'd night ;
When fparkling ftars twire not thou gild'ft the even.
But day doth daily draw my forrows longer,
And night doth nightly make griefs length seem
ftronger.
SONNETS. 29
XXIX.
When, in difgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcaft ftate,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootlefs cries,
And look upon myfelf, and curfe my fate,
Wifhing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends poflefTd,
Defiring this man's art, and that man's fcope,
With what I moft enjoy contented leaft ;
Yet in thefe thoughts myfelf almoft defpifmg,
Haply I think on thee, and then my ftate,
Like to the lark at break of day arifmg
From fullen earth, fmgs hymns at heaven's gate :
For thy fweet love rememb'red fuch wealth brings
That then I fcorn to change my ftate with kings.
3o SONNETS.
0 xxx.
When to the feffions of fweet filent thought*
I fummon up remembrance of things paft,
I figh the lack of many a thing I fought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's wafte :
Then can I drown an eye, unufed to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's datelefs night,
And weep afrefh love's long fmce cancell'd woe,
And moan the expenfe of many a vanifh'd fight :
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The fad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All loffes are reftored and forrows end.
SONNETS. 31
31
XXXI.
Thy bofom is endeared with all hearts,
Which J by lacking have fuppofed dead ;
And there reigns Love, and all Love's loving parts.
And all thofe friends which I thought buried.
How many a holy and obfequious tear
Hath dear religious love ftol'n from mine eye,
As intereft of the dead, which now appear
But things removed that hidden in thee lie !
Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,
Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,
Who all their parts of me to thee did give ;
That due of many now is thine alone :
Their images I loved I view in thee,
And them, all they, .haft all the all of me.
32 SONNETS.
32- . '
XXXII.
If thou furvive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dud (hall
And malt by fortune once more re-furvey [cover,
Thefe poor rude lines of thy deceafed lover,
Compare them with the bettering of the time,
And though they be outftripp'd by every pen,
Referve them for my love, not for their rime,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O, then vouchfafe me but this loving thought :
'Had my friend's Mufe grown with this growing
A dearer birth than this his love had brought, [age,
To march in ranks of better equipage :
But fmce he died, and poets better prove,
Theirs for their ftyle I '11 read, his for his love.'
SONNETS. 3j
XXXIIL
Full many a glorious morning have I feen
Flatter the mountain tops with fovereign eye,
Rifling with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale ftreams with heavenly alchemy ;
Anon permit the bafeft clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celeftial face,
And from the forlorn world his vifage hide,
Stealing unfeen to weft with this difgrace :
Even fo my fun one early mprn did Ihine
With all-triumphant fplendour on my brow ;
But, out, alack ! he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath mafk'd him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no whit difdaineth ;
Suns of the world may ftain when heaven's fun
ftaineth.
34 SONNETS,
34-
xxxrv.
Why didft thou promife fuch a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let bafe clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten fmoke ?
'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my florin-beaten face,
For no man well of fuch a falve can fpeak
That heals the wound and cures not the difgrace :
Nor can thy fliame give phyfic to my grief;
Though thou repent, yet I have flill the lofs :
The offender's forrow lends but weak relief
To him that bears the ftrong offence's crofs.
Ah, but thofe tears are pearl which thy love flieds,
And they are rich and ranfom all ill deeds.
SONNETS.
XXXV.
No more be grieved at that which thoii haft done :
Rofes have thorns, and filver fountains mud ;
Clouds and eclipfes ftain both moon and fun,
And loathfome canker lives in fweeteft bud.
All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorizing thy trefpafs with compare,
Myfelf corrupting, falving thy amifs,
Excufmg thy fins more than thy fins are ;
For to thy fenfual fault I bring in fenfe —
Thy adverfe party i£ thy advocate —
And 'gainft myfelf a lawful plea commence :
Such civil war is in my love and hate,
That I an acceffary needs muft be
To that fweet thief which fourly robs from me.
36 SONNETS.
XXXVI.
Let me confefs that we two mufl be twain,
Although our undivided loves are one :
So ftiall thofe blots that do with me remain,
Without thy help, by me be borne alone.
In our two loves there is but one refpecl:,
Though in our lives a feparable fpite,
Which, though it alter not love's fole effeft, -
Yet doth it Heal fweet hours from love's delight.
I may not evermore acknowledge thee,
Left my bewailed guilt fhould do thee fhame,
Nor thou with public kindnefs honour me,
Unlefs thou take that honour from thy name :
But do not fo ; I love thee in fuch fort
. As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report.
SONNETS. 37
xxxvn.
As a decrepit father takes delight
To fee his adive child do deeds of youth,
So I, made lame by fortune's deareft fpite,
Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth ;
For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit,
Or any of thefe all, or all, or more,
Entitled in thy parts do crowned fit,
I make my love engrafted to this {lore :
So then I am not lame, poor, nor defpifed,
Whilft that this fhadow doth fuch fubftance give
That I in thy abundance am fufficed
And by a part of all thy glory live.
Look, what is beft, that beft I wifh in thee :
This wifh I have ; then ten times happy me 1
3 8 SONNETS.
xxxvm.
How can my Mufe want fubject to invent,
t
While thou doft breathe, that pour'ft into my verfe
Thine own fweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearfe ?
O, give thyfelf the thanks, if aught in me
Worthy perufal ftand againft thy fight ;
For who 's fo dumb that cannot write to thee,
When thou thyfelf doft give invention light ?
Be thou the tenth Mufe, ten times more in worth
Than thofe old nine which rimers invocate ;
And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth
Eternal numbers to outlive long date.
If my flight Mufe do pleafe thefe curious days,
The pain be mine, but thine fhall be the praife.
SONNETS. 59
XXXIX.
O, how thy worth with manners may I {ing,
When thou art all the better part of me ?
What can mine own praife to mine own felf bring ?
And what is 't but mine own when I praife thee ?
Even for this let us divided live,
And our dear love lofe name of fmgle one,
That by this feparation I may give
That due to thee which thou deferveft alone.
O abfence, what a torment wouldft thou prove,
Were it not thy four leifure gave fweet leave
To entertain the time with thoughts of love,
Which time and thoughts fo fweetly doth deceive,
And that thou teacheft how to make one twain,
By praifmg him here who doth hence remain !
40 SONNETS.
XL.
Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all ;
What haft thou then more than thou hadft before ?
No love, my love, that thou mayft true love call ;
All mine was thine before thou hadft this more.
Then if for my love thou my love receiveft,
I cannot blame thee for my love thou ufeft ;
But yet be blamed, if thou thyfelf deceiveft
By wilful tafte of what thyfelf refufeft.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou fteal thee all my poverty ;
And yet love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong than hate's known injury.
Lafcivious grace, in whom all ill well fhows,
Kill me with fpites ; yet we muft not be foes.
SONNETS. 41
XLI.
Thofe pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
When I am fometime abfent from thy heart,
Thy beauty and thy years full well befits,
For ftill temptation follows where thou art.
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be affailed ;
And when a woman woos, what woman's fon
Will fourly leave her till (he have prevailed ?
Ay me ! but yet thou migjitft my feat forbear,
And chide thy beauty and thy ftraying youth,
Who lead thee in their riot even there
Where thou art forced to break a twofold truth,
Hers, by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
Thine, by thy beauty being falfe to me.
42 SONNETS.
XLII.
That thou haft her, it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be faid I loved her dearly ;
That me hath thee, is of my wailing chief,
A lofs in love that touches me more nearly.
Loving offenders, thus I will excufe ye :
Thou doft love her, becaufe thou know'ft I love her ;
And for my fake even fo doth fhe abufe me,
Suffering my friend for my fake to approve her.
If I lofe thee, my lofs is my love's gain,
And lofing her, my friend hath found that lofs ;
Both find each other, and I lofe both twain,
And both for my fake lay on me this crofs :
But here 's the joy ; my friend and I are one ;
Sweet flattery ! then fhe loves but me alone.
SONNETS. 4$
XLIII.
When moft I wink, then do mine eyes beft fee,
For all the day they view things unrefpected ;
But when I fleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whofe fhadow fhadows doth make bright,
How would thy fhadow's form form happy fhow
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unfeeing eyes thy lhade fhines fo !
How would, I fay, mine eyes be bleffed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imp erf eel: fhade
Through heavy fleep on fightlefs eyes doth flay !
All days are nights to fee till I fee thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do fhow thee
me.
44 SONNETS.
XLIV.
If the dull fubftance of my flefli were thought,
Injurious diftance fhould not flop my way ;
For then, defpite of fpace, I would be brought,
From limits far remote, where thou doft flay,
No matter then although my foot did ftan4
Upon the fartheft earth removed from thee ;
For nimble thought can jump both fea and land,
As foon as think the place where he would be.
But, ah, thought kills me that I am not thought,
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
But that, fo much of earth and water wrought,
I muft attend time's leifure with my moan ;
Receiving nought by elements fo flow
But heavy tears, badges of either's woe.
SONNETS. 45
The other two, flight air and purging fire,
Are both with thee, wherever I abide ;
The firft my thought, the other my defire,
Thefe prefent-abfent with fwift motion flide.
For when thefe quicker elements are gone
In tender embaffy of love to thee,
My life, being made of four, with two alone
Sinks down to death, opprefTd with melancholy ;
Until life's compofition be recured
By thofe fwift meffengers return'd from thee,
Who even but now come back again, aflured
Of thy fair health," recounting it to me :
This told, I joy ; but then no longer glad,
I fend them back again, and ftraight grow fad.
46 SONNETS.
XLVI.
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conqueft of thy fight ;
Mine eye my heart thy pi&ure's fight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him doft lie,
A clofet never pierced with cryftal eyes,
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And fays in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impannelled
A queft of thoughts, all tenants to the heart ;
And by their verdicl: is determined
The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part :
As thus ; mine eye's due is thine outward part,
And my heart's right thine inward love of heart.
SONNETS. 47
XLVII.
Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other :
When that mine eye is famifh'd for a look,
Or heart in love with fighs himfelf doth fmother,
With my love's pi&ure then my eye doth feaft,
And to the painted banquet bids my heart ;
Another time mine eye is my heart's gueft,
And in his thoughts of love doth fhare a part :
So, either by thy pi&ure or my love,
Thyfelf away art prefent ftill with me ;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canft move,
And I am ftill with them and they with thee ;
Or, if they fleep, thy pi&ure in my fight
Awakes my heart, to heart's and eye's delight.
48 SONNETS.
XLVIII.
How careful was I, when I took my way,
Each trifle under trueft bars to thruft,
That to my ufe it might unufed flay
From hands of falfehood, in fure wards of truft
But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are,
Moft worthy comfort, now my greateft grief,
Thou, befl of dearefl and mine only care,
Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.
Thee have I not lock'd up in any chefl,
Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,
Within the gentle clofure of my breaft,
From whence at pleafure thou mayfl come and part ;
And even thence thou wilt be ftoPn, I fear,
For truth proves thievifh for a prize fo dear.
SONNETS. 49
XLIX. ^-~"
Againft that time, if ever that time come,
When I fhall fee thee frown on my defeds,
When as thy love hath caft his utmoft fum,
CalTd to that audit by advifed refpeds ;
Againft that time when thou fhalt ftrangely pafs,
And fcarcely greet me with that fun, thine eye,
When love, converted from the thing it was,
Shall reafons find of fettled gravity ;
Againft that time do I enfconce me here
Within the knowledge of mine own defert,
And this my hand againft myfelf uprear,
To guard the lawful reafons on thy part :
To leave poor me thou haft the ftrength of laws,
Since why to love I can allege no caufe.
50 SONNETS,
fr
L.
How heavy do I journey on the way,
"When what I feek, my weary travel's end,
Doth teach that eafe and that repofe to fay,
_J Thus far the miles' are measured from thy friend !'
The bead that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by fome inflind the wretch did know
jjis rider loved not fpeed, being made from thee :
The bloody fpur cannot provoke him on
That fometimes anger thrufts into his hide,
Which heavily he anfwers with a groan
More fharp to me than fpurring to his fide ;
For that fame groan doth put this in my mind :
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
SONNETS. 51
LI,
Thus can my love excufe the flow offence
Of my dull bearer when from thee I fpeed :
From where thou art why fhould I hade me thence ?
Till I return, of pofting is no need.
O, what excufe will my poor beaft then find,
When fwift extremity can feem but flow ?
Then fhould I fpur, though mounted on the wind,
In winged fpeed no motion fhall I know :
Then can no horfe with my defire keep pace ;
Therefore defire, of perfecYft love being made,
Shall neigh, no dull flefh in his fiery race ;
But love, for love, thus fhall excufe my jade, —
' Since from thee going he went wilful-flow,
Towards thee I '11 run and give him leave to go.'
SONNETS.
LII.
So am I as the rich, whofe blefled key
Can bring him to his fweet up-locked treafure,
The which he will not every hour furvey,
For blunting the fine point of feldom pleafure.
Therefore are feafts fo folemn and fo rare,
Since, feldom coming, in the long year fet,
Like ftones of worth they thinly placed are,
Or captain jewels in the carcanet.
So is the time that keeps you as my cheft,
Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide,
To make fome fpecial inftant fpecial bleft,
By new unfolding his imprifon'd pride.
Bleffed are you, whofe worthinefs gives fcope,
Being had, to triumph ; being lack'd, to hope.
SONNETS. S3
LIII.
What is your fubftance, whereof are you made,
That millions of ftrange fhadows on you tend ?
Since every one hath, every one, one {hade,
And you, but one, can every lhadow lend.
Defcribe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you ;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty fet,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new :
Speak of the fpring and foifon of the year,
The one doth fhadow of your beauty (how,
The other as your bounty doth appear ;
And you in every bleffed fhape we know.
In all external grace you have fome part,
But you like none, none you, for conftant heart.
54 SONNETS.
LIV.
O, how much more doth beauty beauteous feem
By that fweet ornament which truth doth give !
The rofe looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that fweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tindure of the rofes,
Hang on fuch thorns, and play as wantonly
When fummer's breath their mafked buds difclofes :
But, for their virtue only is their fhow,
They live unwoo'd and unrefpe&ed fade ;
Die to themfelves. Sweet rofes do not fo ;
Of their fweet deaths are fweeteft odours made :
„ And fo of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that fhall vade, by verfe diftils your truth.
SONNETS. 55
LV.
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, (hall outlive this powerful rime ;
But you fhall fhine more bright in tliefe contents
Than unfwept ftone, befmear'd with fluttifh time.
When wafteful war fhall ftatues overturn,
And broils root out the work of mafonry,
Nor Mars his fword nor war's quick fire fhall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainft death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth ; your praife fhall flill find room
Even in the eyes of all pofterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgement that yourfelf arife,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.
SONNETS.
LVI.
Sweet love, renew thy force ; be it not faid
Thy edge fhould blunter be than appetite,
Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd,
To-morrow fharp'ned in his former might :
So, love, be thou ; although to-day thou fill
Thy hungry eyes even till they wink with fullnefs,
To-morrow fee again, and do not kill
The fpirit of love with a perpetual dullnefs.
Let this fad interim like the ocean be
Which parts the fhore, where two contracted new
Come daily to the banks, that, when they fee
Return of love, more bleft may be the view ;
Or call it winter, which, being full of care,
Makes fummer's welcome thrice more wifh'd,
more rare.
SONNETS. 57
5 ?
LVII.
Being your flave, what fhould I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your defire ?
I have no precious time at all to fpend,
Nor fervices to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilft I, my fovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitternefs of abfence four
When you have bid your fervant once adieu ;
Nor dare I queftion with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs fuppofe,
But, like a fad flave, (lay and think of nought
Save, where you are how happy you make thofe.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do any thing, he thinks no ilL
5 8 SONNETS.
LVIII.
That god forbid that made me firft your flave,
I mould in thought control your times of pleafure,
Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,
Being your vaffal, bound to ftay your leifure !
O, let me fuffer, being at your beck,
The im'prifon'd abfence of your liberty ;
And patience, tame to fufferance, bide each check,
Without accufmg you of injury.
Be where you lift, your charter is fo ftrong
That you yourfelf may privilege your time
To what you will ; to you it doth belong
Yourfelf to pardon of felf-doing crime.
I am to wait, though waiting fo be hell,
Not blame your pleafure, be it ill or well.
SONNETS. 59
LIX.
If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amifs
The fecond burthen of a former child !
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courfes of the fun,
Show me your image in fome antique book,
Since mind at firft in character was done !
That I might fee what the old world could fay
To this compofed wonder of your frame ;
Whether we are mended, or whe'r better they,
Or whether revolution be the fame.
0, fure I am, the wits of former days
To fubje&s worfe have given admiring praife.
60 SONNETS.
LX.
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled fliore,
So do our minutes haften to their end ;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In fequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown' d,
Crooked eclipfes 'gainft his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth tranffix the flourim fet on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing ftands but for his fcythe to mow :
And yet to times in hope my verfe fhall ftand,
Trailing thy worth, defpite his cruel hand.
SONNETS. 6 1
LXI.
Is it thy will thy image Ihould keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Doft thou defire my flumbers fliould be broken,
While fhadows like to thee do mock my fight ?
Is it thy fpirit that thou fend'ft from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out fhames and idle hours in me,
The fcope and tenour of thy jealoufy ?
O, no ! thy love, though much, is not fo great :
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake ;
Mine own true love that doth my reft defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy fake :
For thee watch I whilft thou doft wake elfewhere,
From me far off, with others all too near.
62 SONNETS.
LXII.
Sin of felf-love poffeffeth all mine eye
And all my foul and all my every part ;
And for this fin there is no remedy,
It is fo grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face fo gracious is as mine,
No fhape fo true, no truth of fuch account ;
And for myfelf mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths furmount.
But when my glafs fhows me myfelf indeed,
Beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity,
Mine own felf-love quite contrary I read ;
Self fo felf-loving were iniquity.
'Tis thee, myfelf, that for myfelf I praife,
Painting my age with beauty of thy days.
SONNETS. 63
LXIII.
Againft my love {hall be, as I am now,
With Time's injurious hand crufh'd and o'erwortiN
When hours have drain'd his blood and filPd his brow
With lines and wrinkles ; 'when his youthful morn
Hath travell'd on to age's fleepy night ;
j&
And all thofe beauties whereof now he's king
*— - -^zf
Are vanishing or vanifh'd out of 1'ight,
Stealing away the treafure of his fpring ;
For fuch a time do I now fortify
Againft confounding age's cruel knife,
>£\ """'"
That he {Kail never _cut from memory
My fweet love's beauty, though my lover's life :
His beauty ftiall in thefe black lines be feen,
And they (Hall live, and he in them ftill green.
64 SONNETS.
LXIV.
When I have feen by Time's fell hand defaced
The rich-proud coft of outworn buried age ;
When fometime lofty towers I fee down-razed,
And brafs eternal flave to mortal rage ;
When I have feen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the fhore,
And the firm foil win of the watery main,
Increafmg flore with lofs and lofs with ftore ;
When I have feen fuch interchange of ftate,
Or ftate itfelf confounded to decay ;
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate,
That Time will come and take my love away.
This thought is as a death, which cannot choofe
But weep to have that which it fears to lofe.
SONNETS. 65
LXV.
Since brafs, nor ftone, nor earth, nor boundlefs fea>
But fad mortality o'erfways their power,
How with this rage fhall beauty hold a plea,
Whofe a&ion is no ftronger than a flower ?
O, how fhall fummer's honey breath hold out
Againft the wreckful fiege of battering days,
When rocks impregnable are not fo ftout,
Nor gates of fteel fo ftrong, but Time decays ?
O fearful meditation ! where, alack,
Shall Time* beft jewel from Time's cheft lie hid?
Or what ftrong hand can hold his fwift foot back ?
Or who his fpoil of beauty can forbid ?
O, none, unlefs this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may ftill fhine bright.
66 SONNETS.
LXVI.
Tired with all thefe, for reftful death I cry,
As, to behold defert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,
And pureft faith unhappily forfworn,
And gilded honour fhamefully mifplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely ftrumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully difgraced,
And flrength by limping fway difabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly, dodor-like, controlling fkill,
And fimple truth mifcalled fimplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill :
Tired with all thefe, from thefe would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.
SONNETS. 67
LXVII.
Ah, wherefore with infection fhould he live
And with his prefence grace impiety,
That fin by him advantage fhould achieve
And lace itfelf with his fociety ?
Why mould falfe painting imitate his cheek,
And fteal dead feeing of his living hue ?
Why fhould poor beauty indirectly feek
Rofes of fhadow, fmce his rofe is true ?
Why fhould he live, now Nature bankrupt is,
Beggar'd of blood to blufh through lively veins ?
For fhe hath no exchequer now but his,
And, proud of many, lives upon his gains.
O, him fhe flores, to fhow what wealth fhe had
In days long fmce, before thefe laft fo bad.
10
68 SONNETS.
LXVIII.
Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,
When beauty lived and died as flowers do now,
Before thefe baftard figns of fair were born,
Or durft inhabit on a living brow ;
Before the golden treffes of the dead,
The right of fepulchres, were Ihorn away,
To live a fecond life on fecond head ;
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay :
In him thofe holy antique hours are feen,
Without all ornament, itfelf and true,
Making no fummer of another's green,
Robbing no old to drefs his beauty new ;
And him as for a map doth Nature flore,
To fhow falfe Art what beauty was of yore.
SONNETS. 69
LXIX.
Thofe parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend ;
All tongues, the voice of fouls, give thee that due,
Uttering bare truth, even fo as foes commend.
Thy outward thus with outward praife is crown'd ;
But thofe fame tongues, that give thee fo thine own,
In other accents do this praife confound
By feeing farther than the eye hath fhown.
They look into the beauty of thy mind,
And that, in guefs, they meafure by thy deeds ;
Then, churls, their thoughts, although their eyes
were kind,
To thy fair flower add the rank fmell of weeds :
But why thy odour matcheth not thy fhow,
The foil is this, that thou doft common grow.
70 SONNETS.
LXX.
That thou art blamed fhall not be thy defeft,
For flander's mark was ever yet the fair ;
The ornament of beauty is fufpeft,
A crow that flies in heaven's fweeteft air.
So thou be good, (lander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time ;
For canker vice the fweeteft buds doth love,
And thou prefent'ft a pure, unftained prime.
Thou haft paff'd by the ambufti of young days,
Either not affaiFd, or vidor being charged ;
Yet this thy praife cannot be fo thy praife,
To tie up envy evermore enlarged :
If fome fufpecl: of ill mafk'd not thy fhow,
Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts fhouldft owe.
SONNETS. 71
LXXI.
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you fhall hear the furly fallen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vileft worms to dwell :
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it ; for I love you fo,
That I in your fweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then fhould make you woe.
O, if, I fay, you look upon this verfe
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not fo much as my poor name rehearfe,
But let your love even with my life decay ;
Left the wife world fhould look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.
72 SONNETS.
LXXII.
O, left the world fhould talk you to recite
What merit lived in me, that you fhould love
After my death, dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove ;
Unlefs you would devife fome virtuous lie,
To do more for me than mine own defert,
And hang more praife upon deceafed I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart :
O, left your true love may feem falfe in this,
That you for love fpeak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to fhame nor me nor you.
For I am fhamed by that which I bring forth,
And fo fhould you, to love things nothing worth.
SONNETS. 75
73
LXXIII.
That time of year thou mayft in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang/
Upon thofe boughs which fliake againfl the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the fweet birds fang.
In me thou fee'ft the twilight of fuch day
As after funfet fadeth in the weft ;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's fecond felf, that feals up all in reft.
In me thou fee'ft the glowing of fuch fire, >
That on the afhes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it muft expire,
Confumed with thpt yViiV-h i* *yp«? n^HfbM by
This 'thou perceiyeft, which makes thy love more
ftrong,
To love that well which thou muft leave ere long.
74 SONNETS.
LXXIV.
But be contented ; when that fell arreft
Without all bail fhall carry me away,
My life hath in this line fome intereft,
Which for memorial ftill with thee fhall ftay.
When thou revieweft this, thou doft review
The very part was confecrate to thee :
The earth can have but earth, which is his due ;
My fpirit is thine, the better part of me :
So then thou haft but loft the dregs of life,
The prey of worms, my body being dead ;
The coward conqueft of a wretch's knife,
Too bafe of thee to be remembered.
The worth of that is that which it contains,'
And that is this, and this with thee remains.
SONNETS. 75
LXXV.
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as fweet-feafon'd fhowers are to the ground ;
And for the peace of you I hold fuch ftrife
As 'twixt a mifer and his wealth is found ;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will fteal his treafure ;
Now counting beft to be with you alone,
Then better'd that the world may fee my pleafure :
Sometime, all full with feafting on your fight,
And by and by clean flarved for a look ;
PofTeffmg or purfuing no delight,
Save what is had or muft from you be took.
Thus do I pine and furfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
76 SONNETS.
LXXVI.
Why is my verfe fo barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change ?
Why with the time do I not glance afide
To new-found methods and to compounds ftrange ?
Why write I ftill all one, ever the fame,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almoft tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?
O, know, fweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are ftill my argument ;
So all my beft is dr effing old words new,
Spending again what is already fpent :
For as the fun is daily new and old,
So is my love ftill telling what is told.
SONNETS. 77
LXXVH.
Thy glafs will fhow thee how thy beautie
Thy dial how thy precious minutes wafte ;
The vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
And of this book this learning mayft thou tafte.
The wrinkles which thy glafs will truly fhow
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory ;
Thou by thy dial's fhady ftealth mayft know
Time's thievifh progrefs to eternity.
Look, what thy memory cannot contain
Commit to thefe wafte blanks, and thou flialt find
Thofe children nurfed, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
Thefe offices, fo oft as thou wilt look,
Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.
78 SONNETS.
LXXVIII.
So oft have I invoked thee for my Mufe
And found fuch fair affiftance in my verfe
As every alien pen hath got my ufe
And under thee their poefy difperfe.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to flng
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly,
Have added feathers to the learned's wing
And given grace a double majefty.
Yet be moft proud of that, which I compile,
Whofe influence is thine and born of thee :
In others' works thou doft but mend the flyle,
And arts with thy fweet graces graced be ;
But thou art all my art, and doft advance
As high as learning my rude ignorance.
SONNETS. 79
LXXIX.
Whilft I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verfe alone had all thy gentle grace ;
But now my gracious numbers are decay 'd,
And my Tick Mufe doth give another place.
I grant, fweet love, thy lovely argument
Deferves the travail of a worthier pen ;
Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent
He robs thee of, and pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue, and he ftole that word
From thy behaviour ; beauty doth he give,
And found it in thy cheek ; he can afford
No praife to thee but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth fay,
Since what he owes thee thou thyfelf doft pay.
8o SONNETS.
LXXX.
O, how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better fpirit doth ufe your name,
And in the praife thereof fpends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied, fpeaking of your fame !
But fmce your worth, wide as the ocean is,
The humble as the proudeft fail doth bear,
My faucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your fhalloweft help will hold me up afloat,
Whilft he upon your foundlefs deep doth ride ;
Or, being wreck'd, I am a worthlefs boat,
He of tall building and of goodly pride :
Then if he thrive and I be caft away,
The worft was this ; my love was my decay.
SONNETS. 8 1
LXXXI.
Or I (hall live your epitaph to make,
Or you furvive when I in earth am rotten ;
From hence your memory death cannot take,,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name from hence immortal life fhall have,
Though I, once gone, to all the world muft die :
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombed in men's eyes fhall lie.
Your monument fhall be my gentle verfe,
Which eyes not yet created fhall o'er-read ;
And tongues to be your being fhall rehearfe,
When all the breathers of this world are dead ;
You ftill fhall live — fuch virtue hath my pen —
Where breath moft breathes, even in the mouths
of men.
82 SONNETS.
LXXXII.
I grant thou wert not married to my Mufe,
And therefore mayft without attaint o'erlook
The dedicated words which writers ufe
Of their fair fubjeft, bleffing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,
Finding thy worth a limit paft my praife ;
And therefore art enforced to feek anew
Some frefher ftamp of the time-bettering days.
And do fo, love ; yet when they have devifed
What {trained touches rhetoric can lend,
Thou truly fair wert truly fympathifed
In true plain words by thy true-telling friend ;
And their grofs painting might be better ufed
Where cheeks need blood ; in thee it is abufed.
SONNETS. 83
LXXXIIL
I never faw that you did painting need,
And therefore to your fair no painting fet ;
I found, or thought I found, you did exceed
The barren tender of a poet's debt :
And therefore have I flept in your report,
That you yourfelf, being extant, well might fhow
How far a modern quill doth come too fhort,
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow.
This filence for my fin you did impute,
Which fhall be mod my glory, being dumb ;
For I impair not beauty being mute,
When others would give life and bring a tomb.
There lives more life in one of your fair eyes
Than both your poets can in praife devife.
ii
84 SONNETS.
LXXXIV.
Who is it that fays moft ? which can fay more
Than this rich praife, that you alone are you ?
In whofe confine immured is the ftore
Which mould example where your equal grew.
Lean penury within that pen doth dwell
That to his fubjecl: lends not fome fmall glory ;
But he that writes of you, if he can tell
That you are you, fo dignifies his (lory,
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worfe what nature made fo clear,
And fuch a counterpart (hall fame his wit,
Making his ftyle admired every where.
You to your beauteous bleffings add a curfe,
Being fond on praife, which makes your praifes
worfe.
SONNETS. 85
LXXXV.
My tongue-tied Mufe in manners holds her ftill,
While comments of your praife, richly compiled,
Referve their character with golden quill,
And precious phrafe by all the Mufes filed.
I think good thoughts, whilft other write good words,
And, like unlettered clerk, ftill cry ' Amen '
To every hymn that able fpirit affords,
In polifh'd form of well-refined pen.
Hearing you praifed, I fay ' 'Tis fo, 'tis true/
And to the moft of praife add fomething more ;
But that is in my thought, whofe love to you,
Though words come hindmoft, holds his rank before.
Then others for the breath of words refpeft,
Me for my dumb thoughts, fpeaking in effed.
86 SONNETS.
LXXXVI.
Was it the proud full fail of his great verfe,
Bound for the prize of all too precious you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearfe,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his fpirit, by fpirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that ftruck me dead ?
No, neither he, nor his compeers^ by night
Giving him aid, my verfe aftonilhed.
He, nor that affable familiar ghoft
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence,
As victors, of my filence cannot boaft ;
I was not fick of any fear from thence :
But when your countenance filTd up his line,
Then lack'd I matter ; that enfeebled mine.
SONNETS. 87
n
LXXXVH.
Farewell I thou art too dear for my pofleffing,
And like enough thou know'ft thy eftimate :
The charter of thy worth gives thee relealing ;
My bonds in thee are all determinate.
For how do I hold thee but by thy granting ? '
And for that riches where is my deferving?
The caufe of this fair gift in me is wanting, ;
And fo my patent back again is fwerving. ' [ing,
ThyCelf thou gaveft, thy own worth then not know-
Or me, to whom thou gaveft it, elfe miftaking ;
So thy great gift, upon mifprifion growing, '.
Comes home again, on better judgement making.
Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,
In deep a king, but waking no fuch matter.
88 SONNETS.
LXXXVIII.
When thou (halt be difpofed to set me light,
And place my merit in the eye of fcorn,
Upon thy fide againft myfelf I '11 fight,
And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forfworn.
With mine own weaknefs being beft acquainted,
Upon thy part I can fet down a ftory
Of faults conceal'd, wherein I am attainted ;
That thou in lofing me malt win much glory :
And I by this will be a gainer too ;
For bending all my loving thoughts on thee,
The injuries that to myfelf I do,
Doing thee vantage, double-vantage me.
Such is my love, to thee I fo belong,
That for thy right myfelf will bear all wrong.
SONNETS. 89
LXXXIX.
Say that thou didft forfake me for fome fault,
And I will comment upon that offence :
Speak of my lamenefs, and I ftraight will halt,
Againft thy reafons making no defence.
Thou canft not, love, difgrace me half fo ill,
To fet a form upon defired change,
As I'll myfelf difgrace ; knowing thy will,
I will acquaintance ftr angle and look ftrange ;
Be abfent from thy walks ; and in my tongue
Thy fweet beloved name no more fhall dwell,
Left I, too much profane, fhould do it wrong,
And haply of our old acquaintance tell.
For thee, againft myfelf I '11 vow debate,
For I muft ne'er love him whom thou doft hate.
90 SONNETS.
xc.
Then hate me when thou wilt ; if ever, now ;
Now, while the world is bent my deeds to crofs,
Join with the fpite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after-lofs :
Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'fcaped this forrow,
Come in the rearward of a conquered woe ;
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,
To linger out a purpofed overthrow.
If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me laft,
When other petty griefs have done their fpite,
But in the onfet come : fo fhall I tafte
At firft the very worft of fortune's might ;
And other ftrains of woe, which now feem woe.
Compared with lofs of thee will not feem fo.
SONNETS. 91
xci.
Some glory in their birth, fome in their fldfl,
Some in their wealth, fome in their body's force ;
Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill ;
Some in their hawks and hounds, fome in their horfe ;
And every humour hath his adjunct pleafure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the reft :
But thefe particulars are not my meafure ;
All thefe I better in one general beft.
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' coft,
Of more delight than hawks or horfes be ;
And having thee, of all men's pride I boaft :
Wretched in this alone, that thou mayft take
All this away and me moil wretched make.
92 SONNETS.
XCII.
But do thy worft to fteal thyfelf away,
For term of life thou art aflured mine ;
And life no longer than thy love will ftay,
For it depends upon that love of thine.
Then need I not to fear the worft of wrongs,
When in the leaft of them my life hath end.
I fee a better ftate to me belongs
Than that which on thy humour doth depend :
Thou canft not vex me with inconftant mind,
Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie.
O, what a happy title do I find,
Happy to have thy love, happy to die !
But What's fo bleffed-fair that fears no blot ?
Thou mayft be falfe, and yet I know it not.
SONNETS. 93
XCIII.
So fhall I live, fuppofmg thou art true,
Like a deceived hufband ; fo love's face
May ftill feem love to me, though alter'd new ;
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place :
For there can live no hatred in thine eye,
Therefore in that I cannot know thy change.
In many's looks the falfe heart's hiftory
Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles ftrange,
But heaven in thy creation did decree
That in thy face fweet love mould ever dwell ;
Whatever thy thoughts or thy heart's workings be,
Thy looks mould nothing thence but fweetnefs tell.
How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow,
If thy fweet virtue anfwer not thy fliow I
94 SONNETS.
xcrv.
They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they moft do fhow,
Who, moving others, are themfelves as (tone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation flow ;
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And hufband nature's riches from expenfe ;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but ftewards of their excellence.
The fummer's flower is to the fummer fweet,
Though to itfelf it only live and die,
But if that flower with bafe infection meet,
The bafeft weed outbraves his dignity :
For fweeteft things turn soureft by their deeds ;
Lilies that fefter fmell far worfe than weeds.
SONNETS. 95
xcv.
How fweet and lovely doft thou make the fhame
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rofe,
Doth fpot the beauty of thy budding name !
O, in what fweets doft thou thy fins inclofe 1
That tongue that tells the ftory of thy days,
Making lafcivious comments on thy fport,
Cannot difpraife but in a kind of praife ;
Naming thy name bleffes an ill report.
O, what a manfion have thofe vices got
Which for their habitation chofe out ihee,
Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot
And all things turn to fair that eyes can fee !
Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege ;
The hardeft knife ill-ufed doth lofe his edge.
SONNETS.
XCVI.
Some fay, thy fault is youth, fome wantonnefs ;
Some fay, thy grace is youth and gentle fport;
Both grace and faults are loved of more and lefs :
Thou makeft faults graces that to thee refort.
As on the finger of a throned queen
The bafeft jewel will be well efteem'd,
So are thofe errors that in thee are feen
To truths tranflated and for true things deem'd.
How many lambs might the ftern wolf betray,
If like a lamb he could his looks tranflate !
How many gazers mightft thou lead away,
If thou wouldft ufe the ftrength of all thy ftate !
But do not fo ; I love thee in fuch fort,
As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.
SONNETS. 97
n
xcvn.
How like a winter hath my abfence been
From thee, the pleafure of the fleeting year !
What freezings have I felt, what dark days feen !
What old December's barenefs every where !
And yet this time removed was iiimmer's time ;
The teeming autumn, big with rich increafe,
Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime,
Like widow'd wombs after their lords' deceafe :
Yet this abundant iflue feem'd to me
But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit ;
For fummer and his pleafures wait on thee,
And, thou away, the very birds are mute :
Or, if they fmg, 'tis with fo dull a cheer
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter s near.
c>8 SONNETS.
XCVIII.
From you have I been abfent in the fpring,
When proud-pied April, dreff'd in all his trim,
Hath put a fpirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the fweet fmell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any fummer's ftory tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew :
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praife the deep vermilion in the rofe ;
They were but fweet, but figures of delight,
Drawnvafter you, you pattern of all thofe.
Yet feem'd it winter ftill, and, you away,
As with your fhadow I with thefe did play.
SONNETS. 99
n.
XCIX.
The forward violet thus did I chide : * [fmells, •
Sweet thief, whence didft thou fteal thy fweet that
If not from my love's breath ? The purple pride -
Which on thy foft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou haft too grofily dyed.
The lily I condemned for thy hand, V,
And buds of marjoram had ftol'n thy hair ;
The rofes fearfully on thorns did ftand, c.
One blufhing Ihame, another white defpair ;
A third, nor red nor white-, had ftol'n of both,
And to his robbery had annex' d thy breath ; ..•
But, for his theft, in pride of -all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could fee
But fweet or colour it had ftol'n from thee.
ioo SONNETS.
c.
Where art thou, Mufe, that thou forget'ft fo long
To fpeak of that which gives thee all thy might ?
Spend'ft thou thy fury on fome worthlefs fong,
Darkening thy power to lend bafe fubje&s light ?
Return, forgetful Mufe, and flraight redeem
In gentle numbers time fo idly fpent ;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays efteem
And gives thy pen both fkill and argument.
Rife, refty Mufe, my love's fweet face furvey,
If Time have any wrinkle graven there ;
If any, be a fatire to decay,
And make Time's fpoils defpifed every where.
Give my love fame fafter than Time waftes life ;
So thou prevent'fl his fcythe and crooked knife.
SONNETS: ifes
ci.
O truant Mufe, what fhall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed ?
Both truth and beauty on my love depends ;
So doft thou too, and therein dignified.
Make anfwer, Mufe : wilt thou not haply fay,
4 Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix'd ;
Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay ;
But beft is bed, if never intermix'd '?
Becaufe he needs no praife, wilt thou be dumb ?
Excule not filence fo ; for 't lies in thee
To make him much outlive a gilded tomb
And to be praifed of ages yet to be.
Then do thy office, Mufe ; I teach thee how
To make him feem long hence as he ftiows now.
SONftETS.
CII.
My love is flrengthen'd, though more weak in feem-
I love not lefs, though lefs the fhow appear : [ing ;
That love is merchandized whofe rich efteeming
The owner's tongue doth publifh every where.
Our love was new, and then but in the fpring,
When I was wont to greet it with my lays ;
As Philomel in fummer's front doth fing,
And flops her pipe in growth of riper days :
Not that the fummer is lefs pleafant now
Than when her mournful hymns did hufh the night,
But that wild mufic burthens every bough,
And fweets grown common lofe their dear delight.
Therefore, like her, I fometime hold my tongue,
Becaufe I would not dull you with my fong.
SONNETS. 103
cm.
Alack, what poverty my Mufe brings forth,
That having fuch a fcope to fhow her pride,
The argument, all bare, is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praife belide !
O, blame me not, if I no more can write !
Look in your glafs, and there appears a face
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines and doing me difgrace.
Were it not fmful then, ftriving to mend,
To mar the fubjecl that before was well?
For to no other pafs my verfes tend
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell ;
And more, much more, than in my verfe can fit,
Your own glafs {hows you when you look in it.
104 SONNETS.
I O^
civ.
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when firft your eye I eyed,
Such feems your beauty ftill. Three winters cold
Have from the forefts fhook three fummers' pride,
Three beauteous fprings to yellow autumn turn'd
In procefs of the feafons have I feen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,
Since firft I faw you frefh, which yet are green.
Ah, yet dolh beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived ;
So your fweet hue, which methinks ftill doth ftand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived :
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred :
Ere you were born was beauty's fummer dead.
SONNETS. I0$
cv.
Let not my love be call'd idolatry,
Nor my beloved as an idol fliow,
Since all alike my fongs and praifes be
To one, of one, ftill fuch, and ever fo.
Kind is my love to-day, to-morrow kind,
Still conftant in a wondrous excellence ;
Therefore my verfe, to conftancy confined,
One thing expreffing, leaves out difference.
* Fair, kind, and true,' is all my argument,
' Fair, kind, and true,' varying to other words ;
And in this change is my invention fpent,
Three themes in one, which wondrous fcope affords.
' Fair, kind, and true,' have often lived alone,
Which three till now never kept feat in one.
io6 SONNETS.
CVI.
When in the chronicle of wafted time
I fee defcriptions of the faireft wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rime
In praife of ladies dead and lovely knights,
Then, in the blazon of fweet beauty's beft,
Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
I fee their antique pen would have expreff'd
Even fuch a beauty as you mafter now.
So all their praifes are but prophecies
Of this our time, all you prefiguring ;
And, for they look'd but with divining eyes,
They had not fkill enough your worth to fing :
For we, which now behold thefe prefent days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praife.
SONNETS. N^24!r 107
CVII.
Not mine own fears, not the prophetic foul
Of the wide world dreaming on things to come,
Can yet the leafe of my true love control,
Suppofed as forfeit to a confined doom.
The mortal moon hath her eclipfe endured,
And the fad augurs mock their own prefage ;
Incertainties now crown themfelves aflured,
And peace proclaims olives of endlefs age.
Now with the drops of this moft balmy time
My love looks frefh, and Death to me fubfcribes,
Since, fpite of him, I '11 live in this poor rime,
While he infults o'er dull and fpeechlefs tribes :
And thou in this fhalt find thy monument,
When tyrants' crefts and tombs of brafs are spent.
io8 SONNETS.
CVIII.
What's in the brain, that ink may character,
Which hath not figured to thee my true fpirit ?
What's new to fpeak, what new to regifter,
That may exprefs my love, or thy dear merit ?
Nothing, fweet boy ; but yet, like prayers divine,
I muft each day fay o'er the very fame ;
Counting no old thing old, thou mine, I thine,
Even as when firft I hallow'd thy fair name.
So that eternal love in love's frefh cafe
Weighs not the duft and injury of age,
Nor gives to neceffary wrinkles place,
But makes antiquity for aye his page ;
Finding the firft conceit of love there bred,
Where time and outward form would fhow it dead.
SONNETS. io9
/ ' ° 1
cix.
O, never fay that I was falfe of heart,
Though abfence feem'd my flame to qualify.
As eafy might I from myfelf depart
As from my foul, which in thy breaft doth lie :
That is my home of love : if I have ranged,
Like him that travels, I return again ;
Juft to the time, not with the time exchanged,
So that myfelf bring water for my ftain.
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd
All frailties that befiege all kinds of blood,
That it could fo prepofteroufly be ftain'd,
To leave for nothing all thy fum of good ;
For nothing this wide univerfe I call,
Save thou, my rofe ; in it thou art my all.
no SONNETS.
ex.
Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there,
And made myfelf a motley to the view,
Gored mine own thoughts, fold cheap what is moft
Made old offences of affedions new ; [dear,
Moft true it is that I have look'd on truth
Afkance and ftrangely ; but, by all above,
Thefe blenches gave my heart another youth,
And worfe effays proved thee my beft of love.
Now all is done, have what mail have no end :
Mine appetite I never more will grind
On newer proof, to try an older friend,
A god in love, to whom I am confined.
Then give me welcome, next my heaven the beft,
Even to thy pure and moft moft loving breaft.
SONNETS. in
CXI.
O, for my fake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddefs of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide
Than public means which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
And almoft thence my nature is fubdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand :
Pity me then and wifh I were renew'd ;
Whilft, like a willing patient, I will drink
Potions of eifel, 'gainft my ftrong infection ;
No bitternefs that I will bitter think,
Nor double penance, to correct correction.
Pity me then, dear friend, and I affure ye
Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
ii2 SONNETS.
CXII.
Your love and pity doth the impreflion fill
Which vulgar fcandal ftamp'd upon my brow ;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow ?
You are my all the world, and I muft ftrive
To know my fliames and praifes from your tongue ;
None elfe to me, nor I to none alive,
That my fteel'd fenfe or changes right or wrong.
In fo profound abyfm I throw all care
Of others' voices, that my adder's fenfe
To critic and to flatterer Hopped are.
Mark how with my neglecl: I do difpenfe :
You are fo ftrongly in my purpofe bred
That all the world befides methinks they 're dead.
SONNETS. 113
CXIII.
Since I left you mine eye is in my mind,
And that which governs me to go about
Doth part his function and is partly blind,
Seems feeing, but effectually is out ;
For it no form delivers to the heart
Of bird, of flower, or fhape, which it doth latch :
Of his quick objects hath the mind no part,
Nor his own vifion holds what it doth catch ;
For if it fee the rudeft or gentleft fight,
The moft fweet favour or deformed'ft creature,
The mountain or the fea, the day or night,
The crow or dove, it fhapes them to your feature :
Incapable of more, replete with you,
My moil true mind thus maketh mine untrue.
ii4 SONNETS.
CXIV.
Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you,
Drink up the monarch's plague, this flattery ?
Or whether mall I fay, mine eye faith true,
And that your love taught it this alchemy,
To make of monfters and things indigeft
Such cherubins as your fweet felf refemble,
Creating every bad a perfect beft,
As faft as objects to his beams affemble?
O, 'tis the firft ; 'tis flattery in my feeing,
And my great mind moft kingly drinks it up :
Mine eye well knows what with his guft is 'greeing,
And to his palate doth prepare the cup :
If it be poifon'd, 'tis the lefTer fin
That mine eye loves it and doth firft begin.
SONNETS. 115
cxv.
Thofe lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even thofe that faid I could not love you dearer :
Yet then my judgement knew no reafon why
My moft full flame fhould afterwards burn clearer.
But reckoning Time, whofe million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,
Tan facred beauty, blunt the fharp'ft intents,
Divert ftrong minds to the courfe of altering things ;
Alas, why, fearing of Time's tyranny,
Might I not then fay ' Now I love you beft,J
When I was certain o'er incertainty,
Crowning the prefent, doubting of the reft ?
Love is a babe ; then might I not fay fo,
To give full growth to that which ftill doth grow ?
n6 SONNETS.
CXVI.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove :
O, no ! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempefts and is never fhaken ;
It is the ftar to every wandering bark, [taken.
Whole worth's unknown, although his height be
Love 's not Time's fool, though rofy lips and cheeks
Within his bending Tickle's compafs come ;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
SONNETS. 117
- " 7
cxvn.
Accufe me thus : that I have fcanted all
Wherein I fhould your great deferts repay,
Forgot upon your deareft love to call,
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day ;
That I have frequent been with unknown minds,
And given to time your own dear-purchafed right ;
That I have hoifted fail to all the winds
Which mould tranfport me fartheft from your fight.
Book both my wilfulnefs and errors down,
And on juft proof furmife accumulate ;
Bring me within the level of your frown,
But moot not at me in your waken'd hate ;
Since my appeal fays I did ftrive to prove
The conftancy and virtue of your love.
n8 SONNETS.
CXVIII.
Like as, to make our appetites more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge ;
As, to prevent our maladies unfeen,
We ficken to fhun ficknefs when we purge ;
Even fo, being full of your ne'er-cloying fweetnefs,
To bitter fauces did I frame my feeding ;
And fick of welfare found a kind of meetnefs
To be difeafed, ere that there was true needing.
Thus policy in love, to anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults allured,
And brought to medicine a healthful ftate,
Which, rank of goodnefs, would by ill be cured :
But thence I learn, and find the leffon true,
Drugs poifon him that fo fell fick of you.
SONNETS. 119
CXIX.
What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,
Diftill'd from limbecks foul as hell within,
Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears,
Still lofmg when I faw myfelf to win !
What wretched errors hath my heart committed,
Whilft it hath thought itfelf fo blefled never !
How have mine eyes out of their fpheres been fitted.,
In the diftraclion of this madding fever !
O benefit of ill ! now I find true
That better is by evil ftill made better ;
And ruin'd love, when it is built anew,
Grows fairer than at firft, more ftrong, far greater.
So I return rebuked to my content,
And gain by ills thrice more than I have fpent.
SONNETS.
cxx.
That you were once unkind befriends me now,
And for that forrow which I then did feel
Needs muft I under my tranfgreffion bow,
Unlefs my nerves were brafs or hammer' d fteel.
For if you were by my unkindnefs Ihaken,
As I by yours, you 've paff'd a hell of time ;
And I, a tyrant, have no leifure taken
To weigh how once I fuffer'd in your crime.
O, that our night of woe might have remember'd
My deepeft fenfe, how hard true forrow hits,
And foon to you, as you to me, then tender'd
The humble falve which wounded bofoms fits !
But that your trefpafs now becomes a fee ;
Mine.ranfoms yours, and yours muft ranfom me.
SONNETS. 121
CXXI.
'Tis better to be vile than vile efteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being ;
And the juft pleafure loft, which is fo deemed
Not by our feeling, but by others' feeing :
For why mould others' falfe adulterate eyes
Give falutation to my fportive blood ?
Or on my frailties why are frailer fpies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good ?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abufes reckon up their own :
I may be ftraight, though they themfelves be bevel ;
By their rank thoughts my deeds muft not be fhown ;
Unlefs this general evil they maintain,
All men are bad and in their badnefs reign.
122 SONNETS.
CXXII.
Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
Full chara&er'd with lafting memory,
Which mall above that idle rank remain,
Beyond all date, even to eternity :
Or, at the leaft, fo long as brain and heart
Have faculty by nature to fubfift ;
Till each to razed oblivion yield his part
Of thee, thy record never can be mifTd.
That poor retention could not fo much hold,
Nor need I tallies thy dear love to fcore ;
Therefore to give them from me was I bold,
To truft thofe tables that receive thee more :
To keep an adjunft to remember thee
Were to import forgetfulnefs in me.
SONNETS. 123
CXXIH.
No, Time, thou fhalt not boaft that I do change :
Thy pyramids built up with newer might
To me are nothing novel, nothing ftrange ;
They are but dreffings of a former fight.
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire
What thou doft foift upon us that is old ;
And rather make them born to our defire
Than think that we before have heard them told.
Thy regifters and thee I both defy,
Not wondering at the prefent nor the paft,
For thy records and what we fee doth lie,
Made more or lefs by thy continual hafte.
This I' do vow, and this fhall ever be,
I will be true, defpite thy fcythe and thee.
124 SONNETS.
cxxrv.
If my dear love were but the child of ftate,
It might for Fortune's baftard be unfather'd,
As fubject to Time's love or to Time's hate,
Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers
No, it was builded far from accident ; [gather'd.
It fuffers not in fmiling pomp, nor falls
Under the blow of thralled difcontent,
Whereto th' inviting time our fafhion calls :
It fears not policy, that heretic,
Which works on leafes of fhort number'd hours,
But all alone ftands hugely politic, [mowers.
That it nor grows with heat nor drowns with
To this I witnefs call the fools of time, *
Which die for goodnefs, who have lived for crime.
SONNETS. 125
cxxv.
Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy,
With my extern the outward honouring,
Or laid great bafes for eternity,
Which prove more fhort than wafte or ruining ?
Have I not feen dwellers on form and favour
Lofe all, and more, by paying too much rent,
For compound fweet foregoing fimple favour,
Pitiful thrivers, in their gazing fpent ?
No, let me be obfequious in thy heart,
And take thou my oblation, poor but free,
Which is not mix'd with feconds, knows no art
But mutual render, only me for thee.
Hence, thou fuborn'd informer ! a true foul
When moft impeached ftands leaft in thy control.
125 SONNETS.
CXXVI.
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Doft hold Time's fickle glafs, his fickle, hour ;
Who haft by waning grown, and therein fhow'ft
Thy lovers withering as thy fweet felf grow'ft ;
If Nature, fovereign miftrefs over wrack,
As thou goeft onwards, ftill will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpofe, that her flull
May time difgrace and wretched minutes kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleafure !
She may detain, but not ftill keep, her treafure :
Her audit, though delay'd, anfwer'd muft be,
And her quietus is to render thee. -
SONNETS. 127
CXXVII.
In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were, it bore not beauty's name ;
But now is black beauty's fucceffive heir,
And beauty flander'd with a baftard fhame :
For fmce each hand hath put on nature's power,
Fairing the foul with art's falfe borrow'd face,
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,
But is profaned, if not lives in difgrace.
Therefore my miftrefs' eyes are raven black,
Her eyes fo fuited, and they mourners feem
At fuch who, not born fair, no beauty lack,
Slandering creation with a falfe efteem :
Yet fo they mourn, becoming of their woe,
That every tongue fays beauty fliould look fo.
128 SONNETS.
CXXVIII.
How oft, when thou, my mufic, mufic play'ft
Upon that bleffed wood whofe motion founds
With thy fweet fingers, when thou gently fway'ft
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy thofe jacks that nimble leap
To kifs the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilft my poor lips, which fhould that harveft reap,
At the wood's boldnefs by thee blufhing ftand !
To be fo tickled, they would change their ftate
And fituation with thofe dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more bleft than living lips.
Since faucy jacks fo happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kifs.
SONNETS. 129
CXXIX.
The expenfe of fpirit m a wafte of fhame
Is luft in a&ion : and till aftion, luft
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to truft ;
Enjoy'd no fooner but defpifed ftraight;
Paft reafon hunted ; and no fooner had,
Paft reafon hated, as a fwallow'd bait,
On purpofe laid to make the taker mad :
Mad in purfuit, and in poffeffion fo ;
Had, having, and in queft to have, extreme ;
A blifs in proof, and proved, a very woe ;
Before, a joy propofed; behind, a dream. [well
All this the world well knows ; yet none knows
To fhun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
1 3o SONNETS.
cxxx.
My miftrefs' eyes are nothing like the fun ;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red :
If fnow be white, why then her breafts are dun ;
If hairs be wires, black wrires grow on her head.
I have feen rofes damafk'd, red and white,
But no fuch rofes fee I in her cheeks ;
And in fome perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my miftrefs reeks.
I love to hear her fpeak, yet well I know
That mufic hath a far more pleafmg found :
I grant I never faw a goddefs go,
My miftrefs, when flie walks, treads on the ground :
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any fhe belied with falfe compare.
SONNETS, 131
CXXXI.
Thou art as tyrannous, fo as thou art,
As thofe whofe beauties proudly make them cruel ;
For well thou know'ft to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairefl and moft precious jewel.
Yet, in good faith, fome fay that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan :
To fay they err I dare not be fo bold,
Although I fwear it to myfelf alone.
And to be fure that is not falfe I fwear,
A thoufand groans, but thinking on thy face,
One on another's neck, do witnefs bear
Thy black is faireft in my judgement's place.
In nothing art tho\i black fave in thy deeds,
And thence this (lander, as I think, proceeds.
132 SONNETS.
CXXXII.
Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torments me with difdain,
Have put on black and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And truly not the morning fun of heaven
Better becomes the gray cheeks of the eaft,
Nor that full ftar that ufhers in the even
Doth half that glory to the fober weft,
As thofe two mourning eyes become thy face :
O, let it then as well befeem thy heart
To mourn for me, fince mourning doth thee grace,
And fuit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I fwear beauty herfelf is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.
SONNETS. 133
cxxxm.
Befhrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me !
Is Jt not enough to torture me alone,
But {lave to flavery my fweet'ft friend muft be ?
Me from myfelf thy cruel eye hath taken,
And my next felf thou harder haft engroffed :
Of him, myfelf, and thee, I am forfaken ;
A torment thrice threefold thus to be crofled.
Prifon my heart in thy fteel bofom's ward,
But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail ;
Whoe'er keeps me, let my heart be his guard ;
Thou canft not then ufe rigour in my gaol :
And yet thou wilt ; for I, being pent in thee,
Perforce am thine, and all that is in me.
134 SONNETS.
CXXXIV.
So, now I have confefFd that he is thine,
And I myfelf am mortgaged to thy will,
Myfelf I '11 forfeit, fo that other mine
Thou wilt reftore, to be my comfort ftill :
But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free.
For thou art covetous and he is kind ;
He learn' d but furety-like to write for me,
Under that bond that him as faft doth bind.
The ftatute of thy beauty thou wilt take,
Thou ufurer, that put'ft forth all to ufe,
And fue a friend came debtor for my fake ;
So him I lofe through my unkind abufe.
Him have I loft ; thou haft both him and me :
He pays the whole, and yet am I not free.
SONNETS. 135
or"
cxxxv.
Whoever hath her wifh, thou haft thy Will,
And Will to boot, and Witt in overplus ;
More than enough am I that vex thee ftill,
To thy fweet will making addition thus.
Wilt thou, whofe will is large and fpacious,
Not once vouchfafe to hide my will in thine ?
Shall will in others feem right gracious,
And in my wilLno fair acceptance fhine ?
The fea, all water, yet receives rain ftill,
And in abundance addeth to his ftore ;
So thou, being rich in Will, add to thy Will
One will of mine, to make thy large Will more.
Let no unkind, no fair befeechers kill ;
Think all but one, and me in that one Will.
136 SONNETS.
CXXXVI.
If thy foul check thee that I come fo near,
Swear to thy blind foul that I was thy Will,
And will, thy foul knows, is admitted there ;
Thus far for love, my love-fuit, fweet, fulfil.
Will will fulfil the treafure of thy love,
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my wrill one.
In things of great receipt with eafe we prove
Among a number one is reckoned none :
Then in the number let me pafs untold,
Though in thy flore's account I one muft be ;
For nothing hold me, fo it pleafe thee hold
That nothing me, a fomething fweet to thee :
Make but my name thy love, and love that flill,
And then thou lovest me, for my name is Will.
SONNETS. 137
127
CXXXVII,
Thou blind fool, Love, what doft thou to mine eyes,
That they behold, and fee not what they fee?
They know what beauty is, fee where it lies,
Yet what the beft is take the worft to be.
If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks,
Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride,
Why of eyes' falfehood haft thou forged hooks,
Whereto the judgement of my heart is tied ?
Why mould my heart think that a feveral plot
Which my heart knows the wide world's common
Or mine eyes feeing this, fay this is not, [place ?
To put fair truth upon fo foul a face ?
In things right true my heart and eyes have erred,
And to this falfe plague are they now tranfferred.
1 38 SONNETS.
CXXXVIII.
When my love fwears that fhe is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know fhe lies,
That fhe might think me fome untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's falfe fubtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that fhe thinks me young,
Although fhe knows my days are paft the beft,
Simply I credit her falfe-fpeaking tongue :
On both fides thus is fimple truth fuppreft.
But wherefore fays fhe not fhe is unjuft ?
And wherefore fay not I that I am old ?
O, love's beft habit is in feeming truft,
And age in love loves not to have years told :
Therefore I lie with her, and fhe with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.
SONNETS. 139
cxxxrx.
O, call not me to juftify the wrong
That thy unkindnefs lays upon my heart ;
Wound me not with thine eye, but with thy tongue ;
Ufe power with power, and flay me not by art.
Tell me thou loveft elfewhere ; but in my fight,
Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye afide :
What need'ft thou wound with cunning, when thy
might
Is more than my o'erpreff'd defence can bide ?
Let me excufe thee : ah, my love well knows
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies ;
And therefore from my face (he turns my foes,
That they elfewhere might dart their injuries :
Yet do not fo ; but fmce I am near flain,
Kill me outright with looks, and rid my pain.
i4o SONNETS.
CXL.
Be wife as thou art cruel ; do not prefs
My tongue-tied patience with too much difdain ;
Left forrow lend me words, and words exprefs
The manner of my pity-wanting pain,
If I might teach thee wit, better it were,
Though not to love, yet, love, to tell me fo ;
As tefty fick men, when their deaths be near,
No news but health from their phyficians know ;
For, if I fliould defpair, I fhould grow mad,
And in my madnefs might fpeak ill of thee :
Kow this ill-wref^mg world is grown fo bad,
Mad flanderers by mad ears believed be.
That I may not be fo, nor thou belied,
Bear thine eyes ftraight, though thy proud hear;
go wide,
SONNETS. 141
CXLI.
In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thoufand errors note ;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they defpife,
Who, in defpite of view, is pleafed to dote ;
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted ;
Nor tender feeling, to bafe touches prone,
Nor tafte, nor fmell, defire to be invited
To any fenfual feafi with thee alone :
But my five wits nor my five fenfes can
Difluade one foolifh heart from ferving thee,
Who leaves unfway'd the likenefs of a man,
Thy proud heart's Have and vaffal wretch to be :
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That ftie that makes me fin awards me pain,
142 SONNETS.
CXLII.
Love is my fin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my fin, grounded on fmful loving :
O, but with mine compare thou thine own ftate,
And thou fhalt find it merits not reproving ;
Or, if it do, not from thofe lips of thine,
That have profaned their fcarlet ornaments
And feal'd falfe bonds of love as oft as mine,
Robb'd others' beds' revenues of their rents.
Be it lawful I love thee, as thou loved thofe
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee :
Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows,
Thy pity may deferve to pitied be.
If thou doft feek to have what thou dolt hide,
By felf-example mayfl thou be denied !
SONNETS. 143
« cxun.
Lo, as a careful houfewife runs to catch
One of her feather'd creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe, and makes all fwift defpatch
In purfuit of the thing fhe would have ftay ;
Whilft her neglected child holds her in chafe,
Cries to catch her whofe bufy care is bent
To follow that which flies before her face,
Not prizing her poor infant's difcontent :
So runn'ft thou after that which flies from thee,
Whilft I thy babe chafe thee afar behind ;
But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me,
And play the mother's part, kifs me, be kind :
So will I pray that thou mayft have thy Will,
If thou turn back and my loud crying ftill.
144 SONNETS.
CXLIV.
Two loves I have of comfort and defpair,
Which like two fpirits do fuggeft me {till :
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worfer fpirit a woman colour'd ill.
To win me foon to hell, my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my fide,
And would corrupt my faint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend
Sufpect I may, yet not directly tell ;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guefs one angel in another's hell :
Yet this fhall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
SONNETS. 145
CXLV.
Thofe lips that Love's own hand did make
Breathed forth the found that faid <I hate/
To me that languifh'd for her fake :
But when fhe faw my woeful ftate,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever fweet
Was ufed in giving gentle doom ;
And taught it thus anew to greet ;
'I hate' fhe altered with an end,
That followed it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who, like a fiend,
From heaven to hell is flown away ;
'I hate' from hate away fhe threw,
And faved my life, faying — * Not you.'
146 SONNETS.
CXLVI.
Poor foul, the centre of my fmful earth,
[Preff'd by] thefe rebel powers that thee array,
Why doft thou pine within and fuffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls fo coftly gay ?
Why fo large coft, having fo fhort a leafe,
Doft thou upon thy fading manfion fpend ?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excefs,
Eat up thy charge ? Is this thy body's end ?
Then, foul, live thou upon thy fervant's lofs,
And let that pine to aggravate thy ftore ;
Buy terms divine in felling hours of drofs ;
Within be fed, without be rich no more :
So flialt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.
SONNETS. 147
7
CXLVII.
My love is as a fever, longing dill
For that which longer nurfeth the difeafe ;
Feeding on that which doth preferve the ill,
The uncertain fickly appetite to pleafe.
My reafon, the phyfician to my love,
Angry that his prefcriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I defperate now approve
Defire is death, which phyfic did except.
Paft cure I am, now reafon is paft care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unreft ;
My thoughts and my difcourfe as madmen's are,
At random from the truth, vainly exprefTd ;
For I have fworn thee fair, and thought thee
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night, [bright,
1 48 SONNETS.
cxLVin.
O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head,
Which have no correfpondence with true fight !
Or, if they have, where is my judgement fled,
That cenfures falfely what they fee aright ?
If that be fair whereon my falfe eyes dote,
What means the world to fay it is not fo ?
If it be not, then love doth well denote
Love's eye is not fo true as all men's : no,
How can it ? O, how can Love's eye be true,
That is fo vex'd with watching and with tears ?
No marvel then, though I miftake my view ;
The fun itfelf fees not till heaven clears.
O cunning Love ! with tears thou keep 'ft me blind,
Left eyes well-feeing thy foul faults fhould find.
SONNETS. 149
CXLIX.
Canft thou, O cruel ! fay I love thee not,
When I againft myfelf with thee partake ?
Do I not think on thee, when I forgot
Am of myfelf, all tyrant, for thy fake ?
Who hateth thee that I do call my friend ?
On whom frown'ft thou that I do fawn upon ?
Nay, if thou lour'ft on me, do I not fpend
Revenge upon myfelf with prefent moan ?
What merit do I in myfelf refpeft,
That is fo proud thy fervice to defpife,
When all my beft doth worfhip thy defect,
Commanded by the motion of thine eyes ?
But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind ;
Thofe that can fee thou loveft, and I am blind.
1 50 SONNETS.
CL.
O, from what power haft thou this powerful might
With infufficiency my heart to fway ?
To make me give the lie to my true fight,
And fwear that brightnefs doth not grace the day ?
Whence haft thpu this becoming of things ill,
That in the very refufe of thy deeds
There is fuch ftrength and warrantife of (kill,
That, in my mind, thy worft all beft exceeds ?
Who taught thee how to make me love thee more,
The more I hear and fee juft caufe of hate ?
O, though I love what others do abhor,
With others thou fhouldft not abhor my date :
If thy unworthinefs raifed love in me,
More worthy I to be beloved of thee.
SONNETS. 151
yj-7
CLI.
Love is too young to know what confcience is ;
Yet who knows not confcience is born of love ?
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amifs,
Left guilty of my faults thy fweet felf prove :
For, thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my grofs body's treafon ;
My foul doth tell my body that he may
Triumph in love ; flefh ftays no farther reafon,
But rifmg at thy name doth point out thee
As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To (land in thy affairs, fall by thy fide.
No want of confcience hold it that I call
Her f love ' for whofe dear love I rife and fall.
152 SONNETS.
CLII.
In loving thee thou know'ft I am forfworn,
But thou art twice forfworn, to me love fwearing ;
In ad thy bed-vow broke, and new faith torn,
In vowing new hate after new love bearing.
But why of two oaths' breach do I accufe thee,
When I break twenty ? I am perjured moft ;
For all my vows are oaths but to mifufe thee,
And all my honeft faith in thee is loft :
For I have fworn deep oaths of thy deep kindnefs,
Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy conftancy ;
And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindnefs,
Or made them fwear againft the thing they fee ;
For I have fworn thee fair ; more perjured I,
To fwear againft the truth fo foul a lie !
SONNETS. 153
CLIII.
Cupid laid by his brand and fell afleep :
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly deep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground ;
Which borrow'd from this holy fire of Love
A datelefs lively heat, ftill to endure,
And grew a feething bath, which yet men prove
Againft ftrange maladies a fovereign cure.
But at my miftrefs' eye Love's brand new-fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breaft ;
I, fick withal, the help of bath defired,
And thither hied, a fad diftemper'd gueft,
But found no cure : the bath for my help lies
Where Cupid got new fire, my miftrefs* eyes.
i54 SONNETS.
Xi
CLIV.
The little Love-god lying once afleep
Laid by his fide his heart-inflaming brand,
Whilft many nymphs that vow'd chafte life to keep
Came tripping by ; but in her maiden hand
The fair eft votary took up 'that fire
Which many legions of true hearts had warm'd ;
And fo the general of hot defire
Was fleeping by a virgin hand difarm'd.
This brand fhe quenched in a cool well by,
\Vhich from Love's fire took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy
For men difeafed ; but I, my miftrefs' thrall,
Came there for cure, and this by that I prove,
Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.
NOTES.
I. The theme of this and other early fonnets is
fimilarly treated in Venus & Adonis, 11. 162-174: —
Torches are made to light, jewels to wear,
Dainties to tajle, frejh beauty for the ufey
Herbs for their fmell, and fappy plants to bear :
Things growing to themf elves are growth's abufe :
Seeds fpring from feeds and beauty breedeth beauty ;
Thou wajl begot ; to get it is thy duty.
Upon the earth's increafe why fhouldft thou feed f
Unlefs the earth with thy increafe be fed ?
By law of nature thou art bound to breedt
That thine may live when thou thyfelf art dead :
And fof in fpite of death, thou dojl furvive,
In that thy likenefs Jlill is left alive.
6. Self-fubjlantial fuel, fuel of the fubftance of
the flame itfelf.
12. Makejl wajle in niggarding. Compare Romeo
fr Juliet, Ad I. fc. i, 1. 223 : —
BEN. Then fhe hath fworn that fhe will Jlill live chajle ?
ROM. She hath, and in that fparing makes huge wafte.
13, 14. Pity the world, or elfe be a glutton de-
vouring the world's due, by means of the grave
156 NOTES.
(which will fwallow your beauty — compare Sonnet
LXXVII. 6, and note), and of yourfelf, who refufe to
beget offfpring. Compare All 's Well, Aft I. fc. I,
Parolles fpeaking, ' Virginity ... confumes itfelf
to the very paring, and fo dies with feeding his own
ftomach '. Steevens propofed ' be thy grave and thee ',
i.e. be at once thyfelf and thy grave.
II. In Sonnet I. the Friend is ' contracted to his own
bright eyes'; fuch a marriage is fruitlefs, and at
forty the eyes will be ' deep-funken'. The 'glutton*
of i. reappears here in the phrafe ' all-eating fhame' ;
the ' makeft wafte ' of I. reappears in the ' thriftlefs
praife' of n. If the youth addreffed were now to
marry, at forty he might have a fon of his prefent
age, i.e. about twenty.
8. Thriftlefs praife, unprofitable praife.
I 1 . Shall fum my count and make my old excufe f
fhall complete my account, and ferve as the excufe
of my oldnefs. Hazlitt reads whole excufe.
III. A proof by example of the truth fet forth in
ii. Here is a parent finding in a child the excufe
for age and wrinkles. But here that parent is the
mother. Were the father of Shakfpere's friend
living, it would have been natural to mention him
xiii. 1 4 ' you had a father ' confirms our impreflion
that he was dead.
There are two kinds of mirrors— firft, that of
glafs ; fecondly, a child who reflects his parent's
beauty.
5. Unear'd, unploughed. Compare the Dedica-
NOTES. 157
tion of Venus & Adonis, ' I fhall . . . never after
ear fo barren a land, for fear it yield me ftill fo bad
a harveft*.
5, 6. Compare Meafurefor Meafure, Aft I. fc. 4,
11. 43,44: —
Her plenteous womb
Expreffeth Ins full tilth and hujbandry.
7, 8. Compare Venus & Adonis, 11. 757-761 : —
Wlmt is thy body hit a /wallowing grave
Seeming to bury that pofterity,
Which by the rights of time thou needs mujl have,
If thou dejlroy them not in dark obfcurity ?
9, 10. Compare Lucrece, 11. 1758, 1759 (old
Lucretius addreffing his dead daughter) : —
Poor broken glafs, I often did behold
In thy fweet femblance my old age new-born.
11. Compare A Lover 's Complaint, 1. 14 '• •
Some beauty peeped through lattice of feared age.
12. Golden time. So King Richard in., A& I.
fc. 2, 1. 248, 'the golden prime of this fweet prince*.
13. If thou live ; Capell fuggefts love.
IV. In Sonnet in. Shakfpere has viewed his
friend as an inheritor of beauty from his mother ;
this legacy of beauty is now regarded as the bequeft
of nature. The ideas of unthriftinefs (1. i) and
niggardlinefs (1. 5) are derived from Sonnets I. n. ;
the * audit' (1. 12) is another form of the 'fum my
count' of H. ii. The new idea introduced in this
158 NOTES.
fonnet is that of ufury, which reappears in vi.
5,6.
3. So Meafiire for Meafure, Acl: i. fc. i, 11. $6-41.
Spirits are not finely touched
But to fine iffues, nor Nature never lends
'the fmalleft fcruple of her excellence
But, like a thrifty goddefs, jhe determines
Herfelf the glory of a creditor ,
Both thanks "and ufe.
Compare with this fonnet the arguments put into
the mouth of Comus by Milton : Comus, 679-684
and 720-727.
4. Free, liberal.
8. Live, fubfift. With all your ufury you have not
a livelihood, for, trafficking only with yourfelf, you
put a cheat upon yourfelf, and win nothing by fuch
ufury.
14. 77;' executor, Malone reads 'thy executor'.
V. In Sonnets v. vi. youth and age are compared
to the feafons of the year : in vn. they are compared
to morning and evening, the feafons of the day.
1. Hours, a diffyllable, as in The Tempejl, Ad v.
1.4.
2. Ga^e, object gazed at, as in Macbeth, Aft v.
fc. 8, 1. 24.
4. Unfair, deprive of beauty; not elfewhere
ufed by Shakfpere, but in Sonnet cxxvu. we find
* Fairing the foul '.
9. Summer's dijlillation, perfumes made from
flowers. Compare Sonnet LIV. and A Midfummer
Night's Dream, Ad i. fc. i, 11. 76, 77 : —
NOTES. 159
Earthlier happy is the rofe diflilVd,
Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows f lives and dies in Jingle lleffednefs.
14. Leefe, lofe.
VI. This fonnet carries on the thoughts of iv.
and v. — the diftilling of perfumes from v., and
the intereft paid on money lent from iv.
5. Ufe, intereft. Compare with this fonnet the
folicitation of Adonis by Venus, 11. 767, 768.
Foul cankering rujl the hidden treafure frets.
But gold that 's put to ufe more gold begets.
And Merchant of Venice, Ad I. fc. 3, 11. 70-97.
The mediaeval theologians argued againft requiring
intereft on money on the ground that ' all money is
fterile by nature ', an abfurdity of Ariftotle. * The
Greek word for intereft (TOKOS, from TIKTO>, I beget)
was probably connected with this delufion.'
Lecky : Hi ft, of Rationalifm in Europe, chap. vi.
note.
13. Self-wilVd, Delius conjectures, ' felf-kilTd*.
VII. After imagery drawn from fummer and
winter, Shaklpere finds new imagery in morning
and evening.
3. Each under eye. Compare The Winter's Tale,
Act iv. fc. 2, 1. 40 : — * I have eyes under my
fervice*.
5. Steep-up heavenly. Mr. W. J. Craig fuggefts
that Shakfpere may have written 'fteep up-heavenly'.
7, 8. Compare Romeo & Juliet, Act I. fc. 1, 11.
125, 126: —
160 NOTES.
Madam, an hour before the worfhipp'd fun
Peered forth the golden window of the eajl.
10. He reeleth from the day; Compare Romeo
6- Juliet, Aft ii. fc. 3,1. 3 :—
Flecked darknefs like a drunkard reels
From forth day's path.
n, 12. Compare Timon of Athens, Aft i. fc. 2,
1. 150:-—
Men fhut their doors again/I a fetting fun.
13. Thyfelf, etc., paffing beyond your zenith.
VIII. In- the Additional MS. 15,226, Britifh
Mufeum, is a copy, written in James i.'s reign, of
this Sonnet.
i. Thou, whom to hear is mufic, why, etc.
Compare The Merchant of Venice, Ad v. fc. i , 1. 69,
* I am never merry when I hear fweet mufic '.
8. Bear. Staunton propofes fhare.
13, 14. Perhaps an allufion to the proverbial ex-
preffion that one is no number. Compare Sonnet
CXXXVL, * Among a number one is reckoned none '.
Since many make but one, one will prove alfo lefs
than itfelf, that is, will prove none.
IX. The thought of married happinefs in vm.
— hufband, child, and mother united in joy — fug-
gefts its oppofite, the grief of a weeping widow.
1 Thou fmgle wilt prove none ' of VIIL 1 4, is carried
on in ' confum'ft thyfelf in fmgle life ' of IX. 2.
4. Makelefs, companionlefs.
12. Ufer. Sewell has ufrer.
NOTES. 161
X. The * murderous fliame ' of ix. 1 4 reappears
in the ' For fhame ' ! and * murderous hate ' of x.
In ix. Shakfpere denies that his friend loves any
one ; he carries on the thought in the opening of
x., and this leads up to his fri-end's love of Shak-
fpere, which is firft mentioned in this fonnet.
7, 8. Seeking to bring to ruin that houfe (i.e.
family), which it ought to be your chief care to
repair. Thefe lines confirm the conjecture that
the father of Shakfpere's friend was dead. See
Sonnet xin. 9-14. Compare 3 King Henry VL,
Adv. fc. i, 11. 83, 84: —
/ will not ruinate my father's houfe,
Who gave bis blood to lime the Jlones together
and The 'Two Gentlemen of Verona, Aft v. fc. 4,
11. 9-1 1.
9. O change, etc. O be willing to marry and
beget children that I may ceafe to think you a being
devoid of love.
XL The firft five lines enlarge on the thought
(x. 14) of beauty living (in thine'; fhowing how
the beauty of a child may be called 'thine.
2. Departefl, leaveft. 'Ere I depart his houfe',
King Lear, Aft in. fc. 5, 1. I.
4. Convertejl, doft alter, or turn away. Compare
Sonnot xiv. 1 2 : —
If from thyfelf to Jlore thou wouldjl convert.
7. The times, the generations of men.
1 62 NOTES.
9. Store, * i.e. to be preferved for ufe', Malone;
'increafe of men, fertility, population', Schmidt.
Compare Othello, Ad iv. fc. 3, 11. 84-86:—
DES. / do not think there is any fuch woman.
EMIL. Yes, a do^en ; and as many to the vantage
as would (lore the world they played for.
1 1 . To whom fhe gave mudi, ftie gave more.
Sewell, Malone, Staunton, Delius, read ' gave thee
more '.
1 4. Nor let that copy die. Here * copy ' means
the original from which the impreffion is taken. In
Twelfth "Nighty Aft i. fc. 5, 1. 261, it means the
tranfcript impreffion taken from an original : —
Lady, you are the cruell'ft Jhe alive,
If you will lead thefe graces to the grave
And leave the world, no copy.
XII. This fonnet feems to be a gathering into
one of v., vi., vn. Lines I, 2, like vn., fpeak of
the decay and lofs of the brightnefs and beauty of
the day ; lines 3-8, like v., vi., of the lofs of the
fweets and beauties of the year.
3. Violet pajl prime. Compare Hamlet , Acl: I.
fc. 3, 1. 7. 'A violet in the youth of primy nature '.
4. Sable curls all filver'd. The Quarto, 1609,
reads ' or filver'd '. An anonymous critic fuggefts
* o'er-filvered with white '. Compare Hamlet, Ad I.
fc. 2, 1. 242 (Horatio, of the ghoft's beard), *A
fable filver'd '.
8. Compare A Midfummer Night's Dream, Act n.
fc. i, 1. 95 : —
NOTES. 163
The green corn
Hath rotted ere Ins youth attained a beard.
9. Quejlion make, confider.
XIII. Shakfpere imagines his friend in Xii. 14,
borne away by Time. It is only while he lives
here that he is his own, xm. 1,2. Note 'you* and
'your* inftead of 'thy', 'thine', and the addrefs
'my love' for the firft time.
5. So Daniel : Delia, XLVH. : —
in beauty's leafe expired appears
The date of age, the calends of our death.
6. ' Determination in legal language means end '.
Malone.
9-13. The fame thought of thriftlefs wafte which
appears in Sonnets i., rv.
14. You had a father. Compare All's Well that
ends Well, Ad I. fc, I, 11. 19, 20. 'This young
gentlewoman had a father, — O, that "had"! how
fad a paflage 'tis P The father of Shakfpere's friend
was probably dead,
XIV. In xm. Shakfpere predi&s ftormy winter
and the cold of death ; he now explains what his
aftrology is, and at the clofe of the fonnet repeats
his melancholy prediction,
i, 2. So Sidney, Arcadia, Book m. *O fweet
Philoclea . . . thy heavenly face is my aftronomy',
Ajlrophel and Stella (ed. 1591), Sonnet xxvi. : —
Though dujly wits dare f corn ajlrology
[I] oft forejudge my after-following race
By only thofe two Jlars in Stella 's face.
16
1 64 NOTES.
So Daniel : Delia, Sonnet xxx. (on Delia's eyes) : —
Stars are they fure, whofe motions rule defires ;
And calm and tempejl follow their af peels.
6. Pointing. ' Write 'Pointing, i.e. appointing ;
or at leaft fo underftand the word. Tarquin &
Lucrece, ftanza cxxvi. : —
" Whoever plots the fin, thou [Opportunity] poinfjl
thefeafon"'. W. S. WALKER.
8. Oft predicl, frequent prognostication. Sewell
(ed. 2) reads 'By ought predict'.
10-14. I introduce the inverted commas before
truth after convert, before Thy and after date.
10. Readfuch art, gather by reading fuch truths
of fcience as the following.
12. Store, fee note on XL 9.
Convert, rhyming here with ' art ' ; fo in Daniel,
Delia, Sonnet xi. 'convert' rhymes with * heart'.
9, 10. Compare Love's Labour's Lojl, Act IV.
fc. 3,11. 350-353:—
From women's eyes this doctrine I derive :
They fparkle Jlill the right Promethean fire ;
They are the books, the arts, the academes.
That fhow, contain, and nourifh all the world.
XV. Introduces Verfe as an antagonift of Time.
The ftars in xiv. determining weather, plagues,
dearths, and fortune of princes reappear in xv. 4,
commenting in fecret influence on the fhows of this
world.
NOTES. 165
3. Stage, Malone reads ftate. But the word
prefent like flow is theatrical, and confirms the
text of the Quarto* Compare Antony fr Cleopatra,
A& m. fc» 13, 1L 29-31 : —
Yes, like enough, high-battled Cafar will
Vnjlate his happinefs, and be ftaged to the (how,
Again/I a fw order.
9. Conceit, conception, imagination.
1 1 . Debateth with Decay, holds a difcuflion with
Decay ; or combats along with Decay. Debate is
ufed frequently by Shakfpere in each of thefe fenfes.
XVI. The gardening image 'engraft' in xv. 14
fuggefts the thought of ' maiden gardens ', and
' living flowers * of this fonnet.
7. Bear your living flowers; 'bear you' Lintott,
Gildon, Malone, and others ; but ' your living flowers '
Hands over againft ' your painted counterfeit '.
8. Counterfeit, portrait.
9. Lines of life, i.e. children. The unufual ex-
preffion is felected becaufe it fuits the imagery of
the fonnet, lines applying to (i) Lineage, (2) de-
lineation with a pencil, a portrait, (3) lines of verfe
as in xviii. 12. Lines of life are living lines, living
poems and pictures, children.
10. This, Time's pencil. The Quarto reads ' this
(Times penfel or my pupill pen) '. G. Maffey con-
jedures 'this time's pencil', adding: — 'This pencil
of the time may have been Mirevelt's ; he painted
the Earl [of Southampton's] portrait in early man-
hood '. Shakfpere's Sonnets and his Private Friends,
1 66 NOTES.
pp. 115, 116 (note). Are we to underftand
the line as meaning 'Which this pencil of Time
or this my pupil pen'; and is Time here con-
ceived as a limner who has painted the youth fo fair,
but whofe work cannot laft for future generations ?
In xix. 'Devouring Time* is tranfformed into a
fcribe ; may not ' tyrant Time ' be tranfformed here
into a painter ? In xx. it is Nature who paints the
face of the beautiful youth. This mafterpiece of
twenty years can endure neither as painted by
Time's pencil, nor as reprefented by Shakfpere's
unfldlful, pupil pen. Is the ' painted counterfeit ' of
1. 8 Shakfpere's portrayal in his verfe? Cf. Lin.,
l.S.
11. Fair, beauty.
XVII. In xvi. Shakfpere has faid that his ' pupil
pen' cannot make his friend live to future ages.
He now carries on this thought ; his verfe, although
not fliowing half his friend's excellencies, will not be
believed in times to come.
12. Keats prefixed this line as motto to his
Endymion ; ' ftretched metre ' means overftrained
poetry.
13. 14. If a child were alive his beauty would
verify the defcriptions in Shakfpere's verfe, and fo
the friend would poffefs a twofold life, in his child
and in his poet's rhyme.
XVIII. Shakfpere takes heart, expects immortality
for his vedJe, and fo immortality for his friend as
furviving in it.
NOTES. 167
3. May, a futnmer month; May in Shakfpere's
time ran on to within a few days of our mid June.
Compare Cymbeline, Act I. fc. 3, 1. 36 : —
And like the tyrannous breathing of the north
Shakes all our buds from growing.
5. Eye of heaven, fo King Richard n., Ad in.
fc. 2, 1. 37, 'the fearching eye of heaven'.
10. That fair thou owejl, that beauty thou
poffeffeft.
n, 12. This anticipation of immortality for their
verfe was a commonplace with the Sonnet-writers
of the time of Elizabeth. See Spenfer: Amoretti,
Sonnets 27, 69, 75 ; Drayton : Idea, Sonnets 6, 44 ;
Daniel: Delia, Sonnet 39.
XIX. Shakfpere, confident of the immortality of
his friend in verfe, defies Time.
I . Devouring. S. Walker conjectures dejlroying.
5. Fleets. The Quarto has fleet' 'Jl ; I follow Dyce,
believing that Shakfpere cared more for his rhyme
than his grammar. Compare confounds, Sonnet vm.
1.7.
XX. His friend is ' beauty's pattern ', xix. 1 2 ;
as fuch he owns the attributes of male and female
beauty.
1. A woman's face, but not, as women's faces
are, painted by art.
2. Majler-mijlrefs of my paflion, who fways my
love with united charms of man and woman. Mr.
H. C. Hart fuggefts to me that paffion ma/ be ufed
in the old senfe of love-poem, frequent in Watfon.
1 68 NOTES.
5. Lefs falfe in rolling. Compare Spenfer,
Faerie Queene, B. m. c. i. s. 41 : —
Her wanton eyes (ill fignes of womanhed)
Did roll too lightly.
8. In the Quarto, * A man in hew all Hews in
his controwling '. The italics and capital letter
fuggefted to Tyrwhitt that more is meant here than
meets the eye, that the Sonnets may have been
addreffed to fome one named Hews or Hughes, and
that Mr. W. H. may be Mr. William Hughes. But
the following words have alfo capital letters and
are in italics : — Rofe I. 2 ; Audit iv. 12 ; Statues LV.
5 ; Intrim LVI. 9 ; Alien LXXVIII. 3 ; Satire c. 1 1 ;
Autumn e civ. 5 ; Abifme cxn. 9 ; Alcumie cxiv. 4 ;
Syren cxix. I ; Heriticke cxxiv. 9 ; Informer cxxv.
13 ; Audite cxxvi. n ; Quietus cxxvi. 12. The
word Mme' was ufed by Elizabethan writers not
only in the fenfe of complexion, but alfo in that of
fhape, form. In Faerie Queene, B. v. c. ix. s. 1 7,
1 8, Talus tries to feize Malengin, who tranfforms
himfelf into a fox, a bum, a bird, a ftone, and then a
hedgehog: —
Then gan it [the hedgehog] run away incontinent
Being returned to his former hew.
The meaning of lines 7, 8 in this Sonnet then
may be 'A man in form and appearance, having
the maftery over all forms in that of his, which
fteals, etc.' With the phrafe 'controlling hues'
compare Sonnet cvi. 8 : —
Even fuch a beauty as you mafter now.
NOTES. 169
1 1. Defeated, defraudec}, difappointed ; fo A Mid-
fummer Night1 $ Dream, Aft iv. fc. i , 1L 1 5 3 - 1 5 5 : -
They would have Jlolen away ; they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me,
You of your wife and me of my confent.
XXL The firft line of xx. fuggefts this fonnet.
The face of Shakfpere' s friend is painted by Nature
alone, and fo too there is no falfe painting, no
poetical hyperbole in the defcription. As containing
examples of fuch extravagant comparifons, amorous
fancies, far-fetched conceits of Sonnet- writers as
Shakfpere here fpeaks of, Mr. Main (Treafury of
Englijh Sonnets, p. 283) cites Spenfer's Amoretti, 9
and 64 ; Daniel's Delia, 1 9 ; Barnes's Parthenophil
andParthenophe, Sonnet XLVIII.; compare alfo Griffin's
Fideffa, Sonnet xxxix. ; and Conftable's Diana
(1594), the sixth Decade, Sonnet i.
5. Making a couplement of proud compare, joining
in proud comparifons.
8. Rondure, circle, as in King John, Aft n. fc. I,
1. 259, 'the roundure of your old-faced walls'.
Staunton propofes * vault ' in place of ' air ' in this
line/
12. Gold candles, compare 'Thefe blefled candles
of the night '. The Merchant of Venice, Ad v.
1. 220; alfo Romeo and Juliet, A£t in. fc. 5, 1. 9 ;
Macbeth, Act H. fc. I, 1. 5.
1 3 . That like ofhearfay well. ' To like of mean-
ing * to like ' is frequent in Shakfpere. Schmidt's
explanation is ' that fall in love with what has been
170 NOTES.
praifed by others * ; but does it not rather mean,
' that like to be buzzed about by talk '?
1 4. Compare Love's Labour's Loft, Ad IV. fc. 3 ,
11. 259, 240: —
Fie, painted, rhetoric I O, Jhe needs it not :
To things of f ale a feller's praife belongs.
XXII. The praife of his friend's beauty fuggefts
by contraft Shakfpere's own face marred by time.
He comforts himfelf by claiming his friend's beauty
as his own. Lines 11-14 give the firft hint of
poflible wrong committed by the youth againft
friendship.
4. Expiate, bring to an end. So King Richard m.,
Ad m. fc. 3, 1. 23 : —
Make hajle : the hour of death is expiate
(changed in the fecond Folio to ' now expired *).
In Chapman's Byron's Confpiracie, an old courtier
fays he is —
A poor and expiate humour of the court.
Steevens conjectures in this fonnet expiratey which
R. Grant White introduces into the text.
10. As I, etc., as I will be wary of myfelf for
thy fake, not my own.
XXIII. The fmcerity and filent love of his verfes ;
returning to the thought of xxi.
i> 2. So Coriolanusy Ad v. fc. 3, 11. 40-42 :—
Like a dull aclor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am outt
Even to a full dif grace.
NOTES. 171
5. For fear of truft, fearing to truft myfelf.
Schmidt explains ' doubting of being trufted *, but
the comparifon is to an imp erf e& ador, who dare
not truft himfelf. Obferve the conftru&ion of the
firft eight lines ; 5, 6, refer to I, 2 ; 7, 8, to 3, 4.
9. Books. Sewell has *O, let my looks'. But
the Quarto text is right ; fo 1. 13.
O learn to read what filent love hath writ.
The books of which Shakfpere fpeaks are pro-
bably the manufcript books in which he writes his
fonnets. In fupport of looks H. Ifaac cites Spenfer :
Amoretti, 43.
12. More than, etc., more than that tongue (the
tongue of another) which hath more fully exprefled
more ardours of love, or more of your perfections.
XXIV. Suggefted by the thought, xxn. 6, of
Shakfpere's heart being lodged in his friend's breaft,
and by the conceit of xxm. 1 4 ; there eyes are able
to hear through love's fine wit ; here eyes do other
fmgular things, play the painter.
1 . StelVd, fixed : Jleeld, Quarto. Compare Lu-
crece, 1 444 : —
To find a face where all diftrefs is ftelPd.
2. Table, that on which a pi&ure is painted.
Compare All's Well that Ends Well, Ad I. fc. I,
11. 104-106 : —
To fit and draw
His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
In our heart's table.
172 NOTES.
4. Perfpetiive. Perfpeftive meant a cunning
picture, which feen directly feemed in confufion
and feen obliquely became an intelligible compofi-
tion ; alfo " a glafs fo cut as to produce optical
illufion. See King Richard n., Aft n. fc. 2, 1. 18.
But here does it not limply mean that a painter's
higheft art is to produce the illufion of diftance, one
thing feeming to lie behind another ; you muft look
through the painter (my eye or myfelf) to fee your
picture, the product of his (kill, which lies within
him (in my heart).
The ftrange conceits irr this fonnet are paralleled
in Conftable: Diana (1594); Sonnet 5, (p. 4, ed.
Hazlitt) :—
Thine eye, the glaffe where I behold my heart,
Mine eye, the window through the which thine eye
May fee my heart, and there thyfelfe efpy
In bloody colours how thou painted art.
Compare alfo Watfon's ' The Teares of Fancie ',
(I593)> Sonnets 45, 46 (p. 201, Thomas Watfon,
Poems, ed. Arber, p. 201) : —
My Miflres feeing her fair e counterfet
So fweetelie jramed in my bleeding brejl
But it fo fajl was fixed to my heart, etc.
XXV. In this fonnet Shakfpere makes his fir ft
complaint againft Fortune, againft his low condition.
He is about to undertake a journey on fome needful
bufmefs of his own (xxvi. xxvu.), and rejoices to
think that at leaft in one place he has a fixed abode,
in his friend's heart (1. 14).
, NOTES. 173
Thoughts of the cruelty of Fortune reappear and
become predominant in xxix.-xxxi.
6. The marigold : Compare Conftable : Diana ;
Sonnet 9 : —
The marigold abroad his leaves doth fpread
Becaufe the fun's and her power are the fame,
and Lucrece, 1. 397.
There are three plants which claim to be the old
Marigold : I . The marfh marigold ; this does not
open and clofe its flowers with the fun. 2. The
corn marigold ; there is no proof that this was called
marigold in Shakfpere's day. 3 . The garden mari-
gold or Ruddes (calendula officinalis) ; it turns its
flowers to the fun, and follows his guidance in their
opening and (hutting. The old name is goldes ; it
was the Heliotrope, Solfequium, or Turnefol of our
forefathers. (Condenfed from * Marigold ', in Ella-
combe's ' Plant Loreand Garden Craft of ' Shakefpeare1 .)
9. Famoufed for fight. The Quarto reads for
worth. The emendation is due to Theobald, who
'likewife propofed if worth was retained to read
ra^ed forth \ — Malone, Capell fuggefted/or might.
XXVI. In xxv. Shakfpere is in diffavour with
his ftars, and unwillingly — as I fuppofe — about to
undertake fome needful journey. He now fends
this written embaflage to his friend (perhaps it is
the Envoy to the preceding group qf fonnets), and
dares to anticipate a time when the < ftar that guides
his moving', now unfavourable, may point on him
gracioufly with fair afped (1. 10).
I74 NOTES.
Drake writes (Shakfpeare and His Times, vol. ii.
p. 63) : — * Perhaps one of the moft ftriking proofs
of this pofition [that the Sonnets are addreffed to
the Earl of Southampton] is the hitherto unnoticed
fad that the language of the Dedication to the Rape of
Lucrece, and that of part of the twenty-fixth fonnet are
almoft precifely the fame. The Dedication runs
thus: — The love I dedicate to your Lordfhip is
without end. . . . The warrant I have of your honour-
able difpofition, not the worth of my untutored lines,
makes it allured of acceptance. What I have is
yours, what I have to do is yours ; being part of all
I have devoted yours. Were my worth greater,
my duty would mow greater*. C. [Capell] had
previously noted the parallel.
i, 2. Compare Macbeth, Ad m. fc. i, 11. 15-18,
6 Duties . . . knit'.
8. Bejlow it, lodge it. As in The Tempejl, Ad
v. 1. 299 : —
Hence, and lejlow your luggage where you found, it.
Shakfpere fays — I hope fome happy idea of yours
will convey my duty, naked as it is, into your foul's
thought.
12. Thy fweet refpeft, regard. The Quarto reads
their for thy, an error which occurs feveral times.
XXVII. Written on a journey, which removes
Shakfpere farther and farther from his friend.
3 . Modern edd. put a comma after ' head '. But
is not the conftrudion ' a journey in my head begins
to work my mind'?
6. Intend, bend, purfue : ufed frequently of
NOTES. 175
travel. ' Caefar through Syria intends his journey '
Antony & Cleopatra, Ad v. fc. I, 1. 200.
10. Thy. The duarto reads their. See
XXVI. 12.
u, 12. Compare Romeo fr Juliet , Ad I. fc. 5,
11. 47,48 :-
// /££W5 Jhe hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear.
13, 14. By day my limbs find no quiet, for my-
felf, i.e. on account of bufinefs of my own ; by night
my mind finds no quiet for thee, i.e. thinking of you.
XXVIII. A continuation of Sonnet xxvn.
9. Cambridge edd. and Furnefs read * I tell the
day, to pleafe him thou art bright*.
12. Twire, peep. Compare Ben Jonfon, Sad
Shepherd, Ad n. fc. I : —
Which maids will twire at, tween their fingers, thus.
Marfton: Antonio & Mellida, Ad rv. (Works,
vol. i. p. 5 2, ed. Halliwell), ' I fawe a thing ftirre
under a hedge, and I peep't, and I fpyed a thing,
and I peer'd and I tweerd underneath*.
Malone conjectured ' twirl not ' ; Steevens, * twirk
not ' ; Mafley, ' tire not ', in the fenfe of attire.
12. Gild' ft. The duarto reads 'guil'ftV
13, 14. Dyce and others read 'And night doth
nightly make grief's ftrength feem ftronger ', which
poffibly is right. The meaning of the Quarto text
muft be : Each day's journey draws out my forrows
to a greater length; but this procefs of drawing-out
ij6 NOTES.
does not weaken my forrows, for my night-thoughts
come to make my forrows as ftrong as before, nay
ftronger. C. [Capell] fuggefted to Malone 'draw
my forrows ftronger . . . length feem longer \
XXIX. Thefe are the night-thoughts referred to
in the lad line of xxvm. ; hence a fpecial appro-
priatenefs in the image Of the lark rifmg at break of
day.
8. With what I moft enjoy contented leajl. The
preceding line makes it not improbable that Shak-
fpere is here fpeaking of his own poems.
12. Sings hymns at heaven's gate. Compare
Cymbeline, Ad n. fc. 3, 11. 21, 22 :—
Hark, hark ! the lark at heaven's gate Jingst
And Pbcebus ygins arife.
Lyly : Campafpe, Ad v. fc. i : —
How at heaven's gates fhe [the lark] claps her wings,
The morne not waking till Jhee Jlngs.
XXX. Sonnet xxix. was occupied with thoughts
of prefent wants and troubles ; xxx. tells of thoughts
of paft griefs and lofles.
i, 2. Compare Othello, Ad m. fc. 3, 11. 138-141,
' apprehenfions ... in feflion fit'.
6. DateJefs, endlefs, as in Sonnet CLIII., < a date-
lefs, lively heat, ftill to endure*.
8. Moan the expenfe. Schmidt explains expenfe
as lofs, but does not ' moan the expenfe ' mean pay
my account of moans for ? The words are explained
by what follows :—
NOTES. 177
Tell o'er
The fad account of fore-bemoaned moan
Which I new pay as if not paid "before.
Malone has a long note idly attempting to (how
that fight is ufed for figh.
10. Tell o'er, count over.
XXXI. Continues the fubjed of xxx.— Shakfpere's
friend compenfates all lofles in the paft.
5. Obfequious, funereal, as in Hamlet, A& I. fc.
2, 1. 92, ' To do obfequious forrow'.
6. Dear religious love. In A Lover's Complaint,
the beautiful youth pleads to his love that all earlier
hearts which had paid homage to him now yield
themfelves through him to her fervice (a thought
fimilar to that of this fonnet) ; one of thefe fair
admirers was a nun, a lifter fandified, but (1.
250):—
Religious love put out Religion's eye.
8. In thee lie. The Quarto reads ' in there lie '.
10. Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone.
Compare from the fame paffage of A Lover's Com-
plaint (I- 218):—
Lo, all thefe trophies of affeftions hot
. . . mujl your ollations le.
XXXII. From the thought of dead friends of
whom he is the furvivor, Shakfpere pafles to the
thought of his 'own death, and his friend as the
furvivor. This fonnet reads like an Envoy.
173 NOTES.
4. Lover, commonly ufed by Elizabethan writers
generally for one who loves another, without refer-
ence to the fpecial paflion of love between man and
woman. In Coriolanus, Ad V. fc. 2, 1. 13,
Menenius fays : —
/ tell thee, fellow,
Thy general is my lover*
'Ben Jonfon concludes one of his letters to Dr.
Donne, by telling him that he is his " ever true
lover " ; and Drayton, in a letter to Mr. Drummond
of Hawthornden, informs him that Mr. Jofeph Davies
is in love with him'. — MALONE.
5. 6. May we infer from thefe lines (and 10)
that Shakfpere had a fenfe of the wonderful progrefs
of poetry in the time of Elizabeth ?
7. Referve, preferve ; fo Pericles, Ad iv. fc. I,
1. 40, ' Referve that excellent complexion*.
XXXIII. A new group feems to begin with this
fonnet. It introduces the wrongs done to Shakfpere
by his friend.
4. Compare King John, Ad m. fc. i, 11. 77-80:—
The glorious fun
. Stays in his courfe and plays the alchemijl, etc.
6. Rack, a mafs of vapoury clouds.
' The winds in the upper region, which move the
clouds above (which we call the rack),1 Bacon, Sylva
Sylvarum, § 115, p. 32, ed. 1658 (quoted by
Dyce, Glo/ary under rack). Compare with 5, 6,
i King Henry iv., Ad I. fc. 2, 11.- 221-227 : —
NOTES. 179
Herein will I imitate tin fun,
Who doth permit the bafe contagious clouds
To f mother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he pleafe again to be himfelf,
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mijls
Of vapours that did feem to fir angle him.
8. To weft, Steevens propofes to reft.
12. The region cloud, compare Hamlet, Acl: n.
fc. 2, 1. 606, ' the region kites'. Region ' originally
a divifion of the fky marked out by the Roman
augurs. In later times the atmofphere was divided
into three regions, upper, middle, and lower. By
Shakefpeare the word is ufed to denote the air
generally'. — Clarendon Prefs Hamlet.
14. Stain, ufed in the tranfitive and intranfltive
fenfes for dim. Watfon, Tears of Fancie, Sonnet
LV., fays of the fun and the moon * his beauty ftains
her brightnefs'. Faithleflhefs in friendfhip is fpoken
of in the fame way as a ftain in Sonnet cix. 1 1, 12.
XXXIV. Carries on the idea and metaphor of xxxm.
4. Rotten fmoke ; we find fmoke meaning vapour
in i King Henry vi., Aft n. fc. 2, 1. 27 : compare
Coriolanus, Ad in. fc. 3, 1. 121, 'reek o' the
rotten fens'.
12. Crofs, the Quarto reads lo/e. The forty-
fecond fonnet confirms the emendation, and
explains what this crofs and this lofs were : —
Loftng her [his miftrefs], my friend hath found that
Both find each other, and I lofe both twain, [lofs ;
And both for my fake lay on me this crofs.
i8o NOTES.
See alfo Sonnet cxxxm. addreffed to his lady, in
which Shakfpere fpeaks of himfelf as 'croffed' by
her robbery of his friend's heart; and Sonnet cxxxiv.
1. 13, 'Him have I lojl\
XXXV. The ' tears ' of xxxiv. fugged the open-
ing. Moved to pity, Shakfpere will find guilt in
himfelf rather than in his friend.
5, 6. And even I, etc., and even I am faulty in
this, that I find precedents for your mifdeed by
comparifons with rofes, fountains, fun, and moon.
7. Salving thy amifs, Shakfpere's friend offers a
falve, xxxiv. ; fee alfo cxx. 1 2 ; here Shakfpere in
his turn tries to ' falve ' his friend's wrong-doing.
Capell propofes ' corrupt in falving'.
8. The word thy in this line is twice printed their
in the Quarto. Steevens explains the line thus : —
' Making the excufe more than proportioned to the
offence '. Stanton propofes * more than thy £ns
bear ', i.e. I bear more fins than thine.
9. Infenfe, Malone propofed incenfe. Senfe here
means reafon, judgment, difcretion. If we receive
the prefent text, 'thy adverfe party* (1. 10) muft
mean Shakfpere. But may we read : —
For to thy fenfual fault I bring in fenfe, [i.e.
judgment, reafon]
Thy adverfe party, as thy advocate.
Senfe— againft which he has offended— brought in
as his advocate ?
14. Sweet thief y etc., compare Sonnet XL. : —
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief.
NOTES. 181
XXXVI. According to the announcement made
in xxxv., Shakfpere proceeds to make himfelf out
the guilty party.
i . We two mujl be twain. So Troilus & CreJJida,
Act m. fc. i,l. no, ' She '11 none of him ; they two
are twain '.
5. Refpeft, regard, as in Coriolanus, Act in. fc. 3,
1. 112.
6. Separable fpite. ' A cruel fate, that fpitefully
feparates us from each other. Separable for fepa-
rating '.—M ALONE.
9. Evermore^ 'Perhaps ever more'. — W. S.
WALKER.
10. My bewailed guilt. Explained by Spalding
and others as ' the blots that remain with Shakfpere
on account of his profeffion ' as an actor. But per-
haps the paflage means : ' I may not claim you as a
friend, left my relation to the dark woman — now a
matter of grief — fhould convict you of faithleflhefs in
friendfhip*.
1 2. That honour y i.e. the honour which you give
me.
13, 14. Thefe lines are repeated in Sonnet xcvi.
XXXVII. Continues the thought of xxxvi. 13, 14.
3. /, made lame. Compare Sonnet LXXXIX. : —
Speak of my lamenefs and I Jlraight will halt.
Shakfpere ufes ' to lame ' in the fenfe of ' difable';
here the worth and truth of his friend are fet over
againft the lamenefs of Shakfpere ; the lamenefs then
1 82 NOTES.
is metaphorical ; a difability to join in the joyous
movement of life, as his friend does. Capell and
others conje&ured that Shakfpere was literally lame.
3 . Dearejl, chief, ftrongeft ; as in Hamlet, A£t I.
fc. 2, 1. 182 : —
Would I had met my deareft/o£ in heaven.
7. Entitled in thy parts do crowned fit. The
Quarto reads c their parts'; but the mifprint their
for thy happens feveral times. Schmidt accepts the
Quarto text and explains, ' i.e. or more excellencies,
having a juft claim to the firft place as their due.
Blundering M. Edd. e. in thy parts'. 'Entitled means,
I think, ennobled '. — MALONE. ' Perhaps '. — DYCE.
Perhaps it means * having a title in, having a claim
upon', as in Lucrece, 57 : —
But beauty in that white [the palenefs of Lucrece].
intituled,
From Venus' doves doth challenge that fair field.
XXXVIII. The fame thought as that of the two
preceding fonnels : Shakfpere will look on, delight
in his friend, and fmg his praife. In xxxvu. 14,
Shakfpere is 'ten times happy' in his friend's happi-
hefs and glory; thus he receives ten times the
infpiration of other poets from his friend who is * the
tenth Mufe, ten times more in worth ' than the old
nine Mufes.
XXXIX. In xxxvm. Shakfpere declares that he
will fmg his friend's praifes, but in xxxvu. he had
fpoken of his friend as the better part of himfelf.
NOTES. 183
He now aflcs how he can with modefty fmg the
worth of his own better part. Thereupon he
returns to the thought of xxxvi. 'we two muft
be twain'; and now., not only are the two lives to
be divided, but ' our dear love' — undivided in xxxvi.
— muft Mofe name of fmgle one'.
12. Doth. The Quarto has <doft'.
13, 14. Abfence teaches how to make of the
abfent beloved two perfons, one, abfent in reality,
the other, prefent to imagination.
XL. In xxxix. Shakfpere defires that his love and
his friend's may be feparated, in order that he may
give his friend what otherwife he muft give alfo to
himfelf. Now, feparated, he gives his beloved all
his loves, yet knows that, before the gift, all his
was his friend's by right. ' Our love lofmg name
of fmgle one' (xxxix. 6) fuggefts the manifold loves,
mine and thine.
5. Then if for love of me thou receiveft her
whom I love.
6. For, becaufe : I cannot blame thee for ufing
my love, i.e. her whom I love.
7. 8. The Quarto has 'this felfe' for thyfelf.
Yet you are to blame if you deceive yourfelf by an
unlawful union while you refufe loyal wedlock.
1 1 . And yet love knows it. Printed by many
editors, ' And yet, love knows, it '.
XLI. The thought of XL. 13,* Lafcivious grace,
in whom all ill well fhows ' is carried out in this
fonnet.
1 84 NOTES.
i. Pretty wrongs. Bell and Palgrave read petty.
5, 6. Compare I King Henry vi., Ad v. fc. 3,
H. 77, 78 :-
She's beautiful and therefore to be woo'd ;
She is a woman, therefore to be won.
8. Till fhe have prevailed. The Qjuarto has * till
/;<?', which may be right.
9. Thou mi ghtjl my feat forbear. Malone reads
'Thou might'ft, my fweet, forbear'; but 'feat' is
right, and the meaning is explained by Othello,
Ad II. fc. i, 1. 304, (lago jealous of Othello) :—
/ do fufpeft the lujly Moor
Hath leaped into my feat.
Dr. Ingleby adds, as a parallel, Lucrece, 412, 41 3.
XLII. In XLI. 13, 14, Shakfpere declares that he
lofes both friend and miftrefs ; he now goes on to
fay that the lofs of his friend is the greater of the two.
10, 12. The 'lofs' and 'crofs*' of thefe lines are
fpoken of in xxxiv.
11. Both twain. This is found alfo in Love's
Labours Loft, Ad v. fc. 2, 1. 459.
XLIII. Does this begin a new group of Sonnets ?
1. Wink, to clofe the eyes, not neceffarily for a
moment, but as in fleep. Compare Cymbeliney
Ad ii. fc. 3,11. 25, 26:—
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes.
2. Unrefpeftedy unregarded.
4. And darkly, etc. And illumined, although
clofed, are clearly direded in the darknefs.
NOTES. 185
5. Whofe fhadow Jhadows, etc. Whofe image
makes bright the ftiades of night.
6. Shadow's form, the form which cafts thy
fhadow.
1 1 . Thy. The Quarto has their.
13, 14. All days are nights to fee, etc. Malone
propofed 'nights to me\ Steevens defending the
Quarto text explains it ' All days are gloomy to 'be-
hold, i.e. look like nights '. Mr. Lettfom propofed : —
All days are nights to me //// thee I fee, [thee.
And nights bright days when dreams do Jhow me
<To fee till I fee thee', is probably right in this
fonnet, which has a more than common fancy for
doubling a word in the fame line, as in lines 4, 5,6.
XLIV. In XLIII. he obtains fight of his friend in
dreams ; XLIV. expreffes the longing of the waking
hours to come into his friend's prefence by fome
preternatural means.
4. Where thou dofl Jlay. I would be brought
where (i.e. to where) thou doft flay.
9. Thought kills me. Perhaps 'thought' here
means melancholy contemplation, as in Julius Cafar
Ad ii. fc. 1,1. 187, 'Take thought and die for Caefar'.
10. So much of earth and water wrought. So
large a proportion of earth and water having
entered into my compofition. Twelfth Night, Ad
ii. fc. 3, 1. 10, 'Does not our life confift of the
four elements?' Antony & Cleopatra, Ad v. fc. 2,
1. 292 ; King Henry v., Act IIL fc. 7, L 22 ;
1 86 NOTES.
'He is pure air and fire; and the dull elements
of earth and water never appear in him, but only
in patient ftillnefs, etc.*
XLV. Sonnet XLIV. tells of the duller elements of
earth and water; this fonnet, of the elements of
air and fire.
9. Recur ed, reftored to wholenefs and foundnefs.
Venus & Adonis, 1. 465.
12. Thy fair health. The Quarto has their for
thy.
XL VI. As XLIV. and XLV. are a pair of com-
panion fonnets, fo are XLVI. and XLVII. The theme
of the firft pair is the oppofition of the four elements
in the perfon of the poet ; the theme of the 'fecond
is the oppofition of the heart and the eye, i.e. of
love and the fenfes.
3. Thy pifturis fight. The Quarto has their,
fo alfo in lines 8, 13, 14.
I o. A quejl of thoughts, an inqueft or jury.
12. Moiety, portion.
XLVII. Companion fonnet to the laft.
3. Famijhed for a look. Compare Sonnet LXXV.
10. So Comedy of Errors, Ad II. fc. I, 1. 88 : —
Whilfl I at home Jlarve for a merry look.
10. Art prefenf. The Quarto has are.
11, 12. Not. Quarto nor. The fame thought
which appears in XLV.
Compare Sonnets xix., xx. of Watfon's Tears of
Fancie, 1593 (Watfon's Poems, ed. Arber, p. 1 88) : —
NOTES.
My hart impofd this penance on mine eies,
(Eies the firjl caufers of my harts lamenting) :
That they Jhould weepe till loue andfancie diesf
Fond love the lajl caufe of my harts repenting.
Mine eies vpon my hart inflifl, this paine
(Bold hart that dard to harbour thoughts of loue)
That it fhould loue and pur chafe fell difdainef
A grieuous penance which my heart doth proue,
Mine eies did weep as hart had them impofed,
My hart did pine as eies had it conjlrainedf etc.
Sonnet xx. continues the fame : —
My hart accufd mine eies and was offendedf
Hart f aid that loue did enter at the eiesf
And from the eies defcended to the hart ;
Eies f aid that in the hart didfparkes arifef etc.
Compare alfo Diana (ed. 1584), Sixth Decade,
Sonnet vn. (Arber's Englifh Garner , vol. ii. p. 254);
and Drayton, Idea, 3 3 .
XL VIII. Line 6 of XLVL, in which Shakfpere fpeaks
of keeping his friend ^in the clofet of his breaft : —
A clofet never pierced with cryjlal eyest
fuggefts XLVIII. ; fee lines 9-12. I have faid he is
fafe in my breaft ; yet ah ! I feel he is not.
1 1 . Gentle clofure of my breajl. So Venus &
Adonisy 1. 782, * the quiet clofure of my breaft '.
14. Does not this refer to the woman, who has
fworn love (CLII. 1. 2), and whofe truth to
Shakfpere (fpoken of in XLI. 13) now proves
thievifh? Compare Venus & Adonis, 1. 724,
'Rich preys make true men thieves'.
1 88 NOTES.
XLIX. Continues the fad ftrain with which XLVin.
clofes,
3. Caft his utmojl fum, clofed his account and
caft up the fum total.
4. Advifed ref peels, deliberate, well-confidered
reafons. So King John, Aft iv. fc. 2, 1. 214.
8. Reafons, i.e. for its converfion from the thing
it was.
9. Enfconce, ' protect or cover as with a fconce
or fort'.— DYCE.
I o. Defert. Quarto defart, rhyming with part.
L. This fonnet and the next are a pair, as XLIV.
XLV. are, and XLVI. XLVII. The journey L I is
that fpoken of in XLVIII. 1. i.
6. Dully. The Quarto has duly, but compare
LI. 2, ' my dull bearer ', and 1. 1 1, ' no dull flefh*.
LI. Companion to L.
6. Swift extremity, the extreme of fwifmefs. So
Macbeth, Ad I. fc. 4, 1. 17 :—
Swifted wing of recommence is flow.
7. Mounted on the wind. So 2 King Henry rv. .
Induction, 1. 4, * Making the wind my pojl-horfe '.
Compare Cymbeline, Ad in. fc. 4,1. 38; Macbeth,
Ad i. fc. 7, 11. 21-23.
10. PerfecVft. The Quarto \izsperfefts.
11. Malone and other editors print: —
Shall neigh (no dull flefh) in, etc.
i.e. Defire fliall neigh, being no dull flefli, etc. But
does it not mean, Defire, which is all love, fhall neigh,
NOTES. 189
there being no dull flefli to cumber him as he nifties
forward in his fiery race ? Compare the neighing
ftallion of Adonis, Venus & Adonis, 11. 300-312.
14. Go, move ftep by ftep, walk, as in The
Tempejl, Ad HI. fc. 2, 1. 22.
STEPHANO. — We'll not run, Monfieur Monjler.
TRINCULO. — Nor go neither.
I have placed the laft two lines, fpoken as I take
it, by Love, within inverted commas.
LII. The joy of hope, the hope of meeting his
friend fpoken of in the laft fonnet (LI.).
4. For Hunting, becaufe it would blunt. So The
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Ad I. fc. 2, 1. 136,
'Yet here they ftiall not lie, for catching cold*.
7-12. So I King Henry iv., Ad in. fc. 2, 11.
55-59'-
Thus did I keep my perfon frefh and new ;
My prefence, like a robe pontifical f
Ne'r feen but wonder' d at : and fo my Jlate,
Seldom but fumptuous, flowed like a feaft
And won ly rarenefs fuch folemnity.
8. Captain, chief. So Timon of Athens, Ad m.
fc. 5,1. 49 (Dyce ; but qu.? captain fubftantive) : —
' The afs more captain than the lion*.
Carcanet, necklace, or collar of jewels. Comedy
of Errors, Ad m. fc. i, 1. 4.
LIII. Not being able, in abfence, to poflefs his
friend, he finds his friend's fhadow in all beautiful
things.
190 NOTES.
4. You, although but one perfon, can give off all
manner of fhadowy images. Shakfpere then, to
illuftrate this, choofes the moft beautiful of men,
Adonis, and the moft beautiful of women, Helen;
both are but fhadows or counterfeits (i.e. pictures,
as in Sonnet xvi.) of the ' mafter-miftrefs ' of his
paflion.
8. Tires, head-dreffes, or, generally, attire.
9. Foifon, abundance. As in The Tempejl, Ad
iv. fc. i, 1. no. Compare Antony dr Cleopatra,
Ad v. fc. 2, 1. 86 :—
For his bounty
There was no winter in 't ; an autumn 'twas
That grew the more by reaping.
12. Ble/ed. The fancy Shakfpere has taken for this
word in LII. 1 , 1 1 , 13, runs on into this fonnet.
LIV. Continues the thought of Lin. There Shak-
fpere declared that over and above external beauty,
more real than that of Helen and Adonis, his friend
was pre-eminent for his conftancy, his truth. Now
he proceeds to celebrate the worth of this truth.
5. Canker-blooms, bloffoms of the dog-rofe.
Much Ado about Nothing, Ad I. fc. 3, 1. 28, 'I
had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rofe in his
grace*.
8. Difdofes, opens, as in Hamlet, Ad I. fc. 3,
1. 40: —
The canker galls the infants of the fpring
Too oft before their buttons be difclofed.
NOTES. 191
9. For their virtue, becaufe their virtue. For as
in Othello, Ad m. fc. 3, 1. 263, * Haply, for I am
black'.
10. Unref petted, unregarded.
n, 12. See the quotation from A Midfummer
Night's Dream, in note on Sonnet v. 9.
14. When that, beauty, the general fubjecl: of the
fonnet ; or youth, taken from * fweet and lovely
youth ' of L. 13.
Fade, fade, as in PaJ/ionate Pilgrim, x. I.
By verfe. So the Quarto. Malone reads ' my verfe '.
LV. A continuation of Liv. This looks like an
Envoy, but LVI. is ftill a fonnet of abfence. See on
this fonnet, Introduction, p. xliii.
i. Monuments. The Quarto has monument.
3. Thefe contents, what is contained in this
rhyme.
1 4 . 77/7 the judgement that yourfelf arife, till the de-
cree of the judgment-day that you arife from the dead.
LVI. This, like the fonnets immediately preceding,
is written in abfence (lines 9, 10). The 'love*
Shakfpere addreffes, 'Sweet love, renew thy force',
is the love in his own breaft. Is the fight of his
friend, of which he fpeaks, only the imaginative
feeing of love ; fuch fancied fight as two betrothed
perfons may have although fevered by the ocean?
6. Wink. See note on XLIII. i. Here, to fleep
as after a full meal.
8. Dullnefs. Taken in connection with 'wink',
meaning Deep, dullnefs feems to mean drowfinefs, as
1 92 NOTES.
when Profpero fays of Miranda's flumber (The
Tempejl, Ad I. fc. 2, 1. 185) < 'Tis a good dulnefs'.
1 3 . Or. The Quarto has As. Mr. Palgrave
reads Elfe.
LVII. The abfence fpoken of in this fonnet feems
to be voluntary abfence on the part of Shakfpere's
friend.
5. World-witbout-end hour, the tedious hour,
that feems as if it would never end. So Love's
Labour's Lojl, Ad v. fc. 2, 1. 799, *a world-
without-end bargain*.
13. Will. The Quarto has Will (capital <W,
but not italics). If a play on words is intended, it
muft be ' Love in your Will (i.e. your Will Shak-
fpere) can think no evil of you, do what you pleafe' ;
and alfo 'Love can difcover no evil in your will'.
LVIII. A clofe continuation of LVII. ; growing
diftruft in his friend, with a determination to refift
fuch a feeling. Hence the attempt to difqualify
himfelf for judging his friend's conduct, by taking
the place of a vaflal, a fervant, a Have, in relation to
a fovereign.
6. The imprifon*d abfence of your liberty, the
feparation from you, which is proper to your ftate
of freedom, but which to me is imprifonment. Or
the want of fuch liberty as you poffefs, which I, a
prifoner, fuffer.
8. Tame to fuffer ance, bearing tamely even cruel
diftrefs ; or, tame even to the point of entire fub-
milfion.
NOTES. 193
II. To what you will. Malone reads ' time : Do
what you wilF.
LIX. Is this conneded with the preceding fonnet?
or a new ftarting-point ? Immortality conferred by
verfe, LIV.-LV., is again taken up in Sonnet LX. con-
neded with LIX., and jealoufy, LVII. in LXI.
8. Since mind, etc., ' Since thought was firfl
expreffed in writing'. — Schmidt.
1 1 . Wliether, etc. ' Whether * is often mono-
fyllabic in Elizabethan verfe. In this line the
Quarto prints the fecond * whether ' where ; fo in
Venus & Adonis, 1. 3 04, ' And where he run or
fly they know not whether '. The Cambridge
editors read ' Whether we are mended, or whether
better they '. Dyce reads * Whether we're mended
or wher better they'.
12. Or whether, etc., i.e. whether the ages, re-
volving on themfelves, return to the fame things.
LX. The thought of revolution, the revolving
ages, LIX. 12, fets the poet thinking of changes
wrought by time.
5 . The main of light ; The entrance of a child
into the world at birth is an entrance into the main
or ocean of light ; the image is fuggefted by 1. I ,
where our minutes are compared to waves.
FlouriJJ) fet on youth, external decoration of
youth. So in Nafli's Summer's Lajl Will & Tejla-
ment (Hazlitt's Dodjley, vol. viii. p. 73), 'Folly
Erafmus fets a flour ijh on '.
10. Compare Sonnet n. i, 2.
1 3 . Times in hope, future times.
194 NOTES.
LXI. The jealous feeling of LVII. reappears in
this fonnet.
7. Idle hours. So in the dedication of Venus &
Adonis, 'I ... vowe to take advantage of all idle
hours, till I have honoured you with fome graver
labour '.
1 1 . Defeat, deftroy. Othello, A3: iv. fc. 2,1 1 60,
' His unkindnefs may defeat my life '.
LXII. Perhaps the thought of jealoufy in LXI.
fuggefts this. 'How felf-loving to fuppofe my
friend could be jealous of fuch an one as I — beated
and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity ! My apology
for fuppofing that others could make love to me is
that my friend's beauty is mine by right of friendfhip.'
7. And for my f elf, etc. Sidney Walker conjec-
tures */o define'; Lettfom 'And/o myfelP. Does
' for myfelf ' mean ' for my own fatiffaction '?
8. As I, [define] in fuch a way that I.
10. Beated and chopp'd. 'Beated was perhaps a
mifprint for 'bated. 'Bated is properly overthrown;
laid low; abated; from dbattre, Fr. . . . Beated,
however, the regular participle from the verb to
beat, may be right. ... In King Henry v. we find
cajled, and in Macbeth, thru/led '. — MALONE.
Steevens conjedured blafted ; Collier, beaten.
Compare The Merchant of Venice, Act in. fc. 3,
1. 32, < Thefe griefs and lofles have fo bated me '.
Chopp'd. Dyce reads chapp'd.
13.' Tis thee, myfelf, etc. Tis thee my alter ego,
my fecond felf, that I praife as if myfelf.
LXIII. Obvioufly in clofe continuation of LXII.
NOTES. 195
5. Sleepy night. So King Richard in., Ad IV.
fc. 4, 1. 1 6 ; ' dimm'd your infant morn to aged
night '. The epithet * fteepy ' is explained by
Sonnet vn. 5, 6. Youth and age are on the fleep
afcent, and the fteep decline of heaven.
9. For fucb a time. In anticipation of fuch a
time.
Fortify, ered defensive works. Compare 'the
wreckful fiege of battering days', Sonnet LXV. 6.
LXIV. In LXIII. 12, the thought of the lofs of his
* lover's life ' occurs ; this fonnet (fee 1. 1 2) carries
on the train of reflection there ftarted. * Time's fell
hand', 1. i repeats * Time's injurious hand' of LXIII. 2,
5,9. Compare 2 King Henry IV., Ad in. fc. i,
11. 45-53:—
O God ! that one might read the book of fate
And fee the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent.
Weary of f olid firmnefs, melt itfelf
Into the fea ! and, other times, to fee
The beachy girdle of the ocean
Too wide for Neptune's hips.
The king goes on to meditate on the * interchange
of ftate ' in his time in England.
13. Which cannot choofe ; this thought, which
cannot choofe, etc., is as a death.
LXV. In clofe connexion with LXIV. The firft
line enumerates the *conquefts of time recorded in
LXIV. 1-8.
3. This rage. Malone propofed * his rage'.
18
196 NOTES.
4. Aftion. Is this word ufed here in a legal
fenfe? fuggefted perhaps by * hold a plea' of 1. 3.
6. Wreckful fiege. See Sonnet LXIII. 9, and note.
i o. Time's cheft. Theobald propofed ' Time's
quefl '. Malone mows that the image of a jewel in
its cheft or cafket is a favourite one with Shakfpere.
See Sonnet XLVIIL, King Richard n., A& I. fc. i,
1. 1 80 ; King John, Act v. fc. i, 1. 40.
12. Of beauty. The Quarto has or, a manifefl
error.
LXVI. From the thought of his friend's death
Shakfpere turns to think of his own, and of the ills
of life from which death would deliver him.
i. All tbefe. The evils enumerated in the
following lines.
4. Unhappily, evilly. See in Schmidt's Shake-
fpeare-Lexicon the words, unhappied, unhappily,
unhappinefs, and unhappy.
9. Art made tongue-tied by authority ; art is
commonly ufed by Shakfpere for letters, learning,
fcience. Can this line refer to the cenforfhip of
the ftage ?
1 1 . Simplicity, i.e. in the fenfe of folly.
LXVII. In clofe connexion with LXVI. Why
fhould my friend continue to live in this evil world ?
4. Lace, embellifh, as in Macbeth, Ad n. fc. 3,
1. 118.
6. Dead feeing. Why fhould painting fteal the
lifelefs appearance of beauty from his living hue?
Capell and Farmer con]Qd.uj:Q feeming.
NOTES. 197
12. Proud of many lives, etc. Nature, while (he
boafts of many beautiful perfons, really has no
treafure of beauty except his.
13. Stores. See note on Sonnet XL 9.
LXVIII. Carries on the thought of LXVIL 13,
1 4 ; compare the laft two lines of both fonnets.
i. Map of days out-worn, compare Lucrece,
1. 1 3 50, * this pattern of the worn-out age'. * Map',
a picture or outline. King Richard IL, Acl: v. fc. I,
1. 12,' Thou map of honour '.
3. Fair, beauty.
Born. The Quarto prints borne, and fo Malone.
But the Quarto borne probably is our born, the word
* baftard ' fuggefting the idea of birth.
5, 6. Malone notes that Shakfpere has inveighed
againft the practice of wearing falfe hair in The
Merchant of Venice, Ad in. fc. 2, 11. 92-96, and
again in Timon of Athens, Ad IV. fc. 3, 1. 144.
10. Without all ornament, all, i.e. any, as Sonnet
LXXIV. 2, ' without all bail '.
Itfelf. Malone propofed himfelf.
LXIX. From the thought of his friend's external
beauty Shakfpere turns to think of the beauty of his
mind, and the popular report againft it.
3. Due. The Quarto has end, which, Malone
obferves, arofe from the printer tranfpofmg the
letters of due, and inverting the u ; but more pro-
bably the printer's eye caught the end of ' mend '
1. 2, and his fingers repeated it in the next line.
5. Thy outward. The Quarto has Their out-
198 NOTES.
ward; Malone read Thine, but thy is fometimes
found before a vowel, and the miftake ' their ' for
* thy ' is of frequent occurrence in the Quarto.
14. The foil is this. The Quarto has folye.
Malone and Dyce read folve. Caldecott conjectures
foil. The Cambridge editors write : * As the verb
" to foil" is not uncommon in Old Eriglifh, meaning
" to folve ", as for example : " This queftion could
not one of them all foile" (UdaVs Erafmus, Luke,
fol. 1 34 £), fo the fubftantive " foil " may be ufed in
the fenfe of "folution". The play upon words
thus fuggefted is in the author's manner '.
LXX. Continues the fubjeft of the laft Sonnet,
and defends his friend from the fufpicion and flander
of the time.
3 . Sufpeft, fufpicion, as in 1. 13, and Venus &
Adonis, 1. i o i o.
6. Thy worth. The Quarto has their.
Being woo'd of time. * Time is ufed by our early
writers as equivalent to the modern expreflion,
the times'. — Hunter, New Illujlrations of Shake-
fpearef\o\. ii. p. 240. Hunter quotes King Richard in.,
Ad iv. fc. 4, 1. 1 06, where, however, the propofed
meaning feems doubtful. Steevens quotes from
Ben Jonfon, Every Man out of His Humour, Prologue,
' Oh, how I hate the monftroufnefs of time,3 i.e.
the times. * Being woo'd of time ' feems, then, to
mean being folicited or tempted by the prefent times.
Malone conjectured and withdrew * being void of
crime*. C. [probably Capell] fuggefted * being wood
of time/ i.e. flander being wood or frantic. Delius
NOTES. 199
propofes * weighed of time *, Staunton, * being woo'd
of crime *.
7. For canker vice, etc. So The Two Gentlemen
of Verona, Ad I. fc. i, 1. 43 : —
In the fweeteft bud
The eating canker dwells.
14. Owe, own, poffefs.
LXXI. Shakfpere goes back to the thought of
his own death, from which he was led away by
LXVI. 14, ' to die, I leave my love alone '. The
world in this fonnet is the ' vile world ' defcribed
in LXVI.
2. The furly fullen lell. Compare 2 King
Henry iv., Ad I. fc. i, 1. 102 : —
A fullen bell,
Remembered knolling a departed friend.
10. Compounded am with clay. 2 King Henry IV.,
Ad IV. fc. 5, 1. 116:—
Only compound me with forgotten duft.
LXXII. In clofe continuation of LXXI. * When I
die let my memory die with me*.
LXXIII. Still, as in LXXI.-LXXII. thoughts of
approaching death.
2. Compare Macbeth, Ad v. fc. 3, 1. 23 : —
My way of life
Is falVn into the fearf the yellow leaf.
200 NOTES.
3 . Bare ruin'd choirs. The Quarto has ' rn'wd
quiers '. The edition of 1 640 made the corre&ion.
Capell propofed ' Barren'd of quires '. Malone
compares with this paflage Cymbeline, A& m. fc. 3,
11. 60-64 :—
'Then was I as a tree
Whofe boughs did lend with fruit : but in one night,
A Jlorm or robbery, call it what you will,
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves,
And left me bare to weather ;
and Timon of Athens, A& iv. fc. 3, 11. 263-266.
7. So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A6t I.
fc. 3, 1. 87 :-
And by and by a cloud takes all away.
12. Conj "timed, etc. Wafting away on the dead
afhes which once nourifhed it with living flame.
LXXIV. In immediate continuation of LXXIII.
1,2. The Quarto has no flop after contented.
That fell arrejl. So Hamlet, Ad v. fc. 2, 11. 347,
348:-
Had I but time — as this fetyfergeant, death,
Is Jlricl in his arreft.
1 1 . The coward conqueft, etc. Does Shakfpere
merely fpeak of the liability of the body to untimely
or violent mifchance? Or does he meditate fuicide?
Or think of Marlowe's death, and anticipate fuch a
fate as poffibly his own ? Or has he, like Marlowe,
been wounded ? Or does he refer to diffedion of dead
NOTES. 201
bodies ? Or is it * Confounding age's cruel knife ' of
LXIII. 1. 10?
13, 14. The worthy etc. The worth of that (my
body) is that which it contains (my fpirit), and that
(my fpirit) is this (my poems).
LXXV. The laft Sonnet, LXXIV., feems to me like
an Envoy, and perhaps a new manufcript book of
Sonnets begins with LXXV.-LXXVII.
3. And for the peace of you, the peace, content, to
be found in you ; antithefis to Jlrife.
Doubting the filching age, etc. Perhaps this is the
firft allufion to the poet, Shakfpere's rival in his
friend's favour.
8. Better' d. H. Ifaac propofes letter.
10. Clean Jlarved for a look. See -Sonnet XLVII.
3, and note.
11, 12. Poffeffing no delight fave what is had from
you, purfuing none fave what muft be taken from
you.
14. 'That is, either feeding on various difhes, or
having nothing on my board, — all being away\ —
MALONE.
LXXVI. Is this an apology for Shakfpere's own
Sonnets — of which his friend begins to weary — in
contraft with the verfes of the rival poet,-fpoken of
in LXXVIIL-LXXX. ?
6. Keep invention in a noted weed, keep imagina-
tion, or poetic creation, in a drefs which is obferved
and known.
7. Tell. The Quarto has fel.
8. Where. Capell propofed whence.
202 NOTES.
LXXVII. ' Probably ', fays Steevens, < this fonnet
was defigned to accompany a prefent of a book
confirming of blank paper '. * This conjecture ', fays
Malone, * appears to me extremely probable '. If
I might hazard a conjecture, it would be that Shak-
fpere, who had perhaps begun a new manufcript-
book witn Sonnet LXXV., and who, as I fuppofe,
apologized for the monotony of his verfes in LXXVL,
here ceafed to write, knowing that his friend was
favouring a rival, and invited his friend to fill up the
blank pages himfelf (fee note below; 1. 12). Beauty,
Time, and Verfe formed the theme of many of Shak-
fpere's fonnets ; now that he will write no more,
he commends his friend to his glafs, where he may
difcover the truth about his beauty; to the dial,
where he may learn the progrefs of time ; and to
this book, which he himfelf — not Shakfpere — muft
fill. C. A. Brown and Henry Brown treat this
fonnet as an Envoy.
4. This book. Malone propofed ' thy book '.
6. Mouthed graves. So Venus & Adonis, 1. 757,
* A fwallowing grave '.
10. Blanks. The Quarto has Hacks: the
correction is from Theobald.
12. Perhaps this is faid with fome feeling of
wounded love — my verfes have grown monotonous
and wearifome; write yourfelf, and you will find
novelty in your own thoughts when once delivered
from your brain and fet down by your pen. Per-
haps, alfo, ' this learning mayft thou tafte ', 1. 4, is
fuggefted by the fact that Shakfpere is unlearned in
comparifon with the rival. I cannot bring you
NOTES. 203
learning ; but fet down your own thoughts, and
you will find learning in them.
LXXVIII. Shakfpere, I fuppofe, receives fome
renewed profeflion of love from his friend, and
again addreffes him in verfe, openly fpeaking of the
caufe of his eftrangement, the favour with which
his friend regards the rival poet.
3. Got my ufe, acquired my habit [of writing
verfe to you].
6. Heavy ignorance. So Othello, Ad n. fc. I,
1. 144, ' O heavy ignorance ' /
Fly. The Quarto has flee.
7. The I earners wing. Quarto, learneds. Com-
pare Spenfer Js Teares of the Mufes : —
Each idle wit at will prefumes to make,
And doth the learneds ta/k upon him take. — DYCE.
9. Compile, write, compofe. So Sonnet LXXXV.
2, 'Comments of your praife, richly compiled';
Love's Labour's Loft, Ad rv. fc. 3, 1. 134.
12. Arts, learning, fcholarfhip, Love's Labour's
Loft, Ad 2, fc. i, 1. 45.
13. Advance, lift up. As in The Tempeft, Ad I.
fc. 2, 1. 408 :—
The fringed curtains of thine eyes advance.
LXXIX. In continuation of Sonnet LXXVIII.
5. Thy lovely argument, the lovely theme of your
beauty and worth.
204 NOTES.
LXXX. Same fubjed continued.
2. A letter fpirit. For the conjectures made
with refped to this ' better fpirit ', fee the Introduc-
tion, pages xxxvi.-xxxix.
6, 7. The humble, etc. Compare Troilus &
CreJJida, Ad I. fc. 3, 11. 34-42 : where 's then the
fancy boat ?
LXXXI. After depreciating his own verfe in
companion with that of the rival poet, Shakfpere
here takes heart, and afferts that he will by verfe
confer immortality on his friend, though his own
name may be forgotten.
i. Or I. Staunton propofes ' Wh'er I ', i.e.
Whether I.
12. Breathers of this world; this world, i.e. this
age. Compare As You Like It, Ad in. fc. 2,
1. 297 : 'I will chide no breather in the world but
myfelf'. Sidney Walker propofes to point as
follows: —
Shall o'er-read,
And tongues to be your being fhall rehearfe ;
When all the breathers of this world are dead,
You Jlill flail live, etc.
It is rare, however, with Shakfpere to let the
verfe run on without a paufe at the twelfth line of
the fonnet.
LXXXIL His friend had perhaps alleged in play-
ful felf-juftification that he had not married Shakfpere's
Mufe, vowing to forfake all other and keep him only
unto her.
NOTES. 205
3. Dedicated words. This may only mean de-
voted words, but probably has reference, as the next
line feems to fhow, to the words of fome dedication
prefixed to a book.
5. TJjou art as fair in knowledge as in hue.
Shakfpere had celebrated his friend's beauty (hue) ;
perhaps his learned rival had celebrated the patron's
knowledge; fuch excellence reached 'a limit paft
the praife ' of Shakfpere, who knew fmall Latin and
lefs Greek.
1 1 . Sympathy *d, anfwered to, tallied. So Lu-
crece, 1. 1113 : —
True for row then is feelingly fufficed
When with like femblance it is fympathized.
LXXXIII. Takes up the laft lines of LXXXII. and
continues the fame theme.
2. Fair, beauty.
5. Slept in your report, negle&ed to found your
praifes.
7. Modern, trite, ordinary, common. So Antony
& Cleopatra, Ad v. fc. 2, 1. 167.
8. What worth. Malone fuggefted ' that worth '.
12. Bring a tomb. Compare Sonnet xvn. 3.
LXXXIV. Continues the fame theme. Which
of us, the rival poet or I, can fay more than that
you are you ?
i, 4. Staunton propofes to omit the note of in-
terrogation after mojl (1. i) and to introduce one
after grew (1. 4).
206 NOTES.
8. Story. W. S. Walker propofes to retain the
period of the Quarto after Jlory — perhaps rightly.
14. Being fond on praife, doting on praife. A
Midfummer Night's Dream, Aft n. fc. I, 1. 266 : —
That he may prove
More fond on her than Jhe upon her love.
Palgrave has * of praife'.
LXXXV. Continues the fubjeft of LXXXIV. Shak-
fpere's friend is fond on praife ; Shakfpere's Mufe is
filent while others compile comments of his praife.
1 . My tongue-tied Mufe. Compare Sonnet LXXX. 4.
2. Compiled. See note on Sonnet LXXVIII. 9.
3 . Referve their char after. Referve has here, fays
Malone, the fenfe of preferve ; fee Sonnet xxxn. 7.
But what does 'preferve their character ' mean?
An anonymous emender fuggefts ' Rehearfe thy ', or
' Rehearfe your '. Pombly ' Deferve their character '
may be right, i.e. ' deferve to be written'.
4. Filed, polifhed, refined (as if rubbed with a
file). Love's Labour's Loft, A& v. fc. i, 1. n,
' his tongue filed '. See note on Sonnet LXXXVI. 1 3.
1 1 . But that, i.e. that which I add.
LXXXVI. Continues the fubjeft of LXXXV., and
explains the caufe of Shakfpere's filence.
i . Proud full fail. The fame metaphor which
appears in Sonnet LXXX.
4. Making their tonib the womb, etc. So Romeo
6- Juliet, Ad n. fc. 3, 1. 9 : —
The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb ;
What is her burying grave that is her womb.
NOTES. 207
5-10. See Introduction, pages xxxvii.-xxxix.
8. AJloniJfrd, ftunned as by a thunder-ftroke, as
in Lucrece, 1. 1730.
1 3 . FilVd up Ms line. Malone, Steevens, Dyce,
read fiVd, i.e. polifhed. Steevens quotes Ben
Jonlbn's Verfes on Shakefpeare :
In his well-torned and true-filed lines.
But ' fill'd up his line ' is oppofed to ' then lack'd I
matter '. Filed in LXXXV. 4, is printed in the
Quarto _/*/'d; filled is printed xvn. 2 ; LXIII. 3, as it
is in this
LXXXVII. Increafmg coldnefs on his friend's
part brings Shakfpere to the point of declaring that
all is over between them. This fonnet in form is
diftinguimed by double-rhymes throughout.
4. Determinate, limited ; or out of date, expired.
'The term is ufed in legal conveyances '. — MALONE.
8. Patent, privilege. As in A Midfummer Night's
Dream, Ad I. fc. I, 1. 80, *my virgin patent*.
1 1 . Upon mifprifwn growing, a miftake having
arifen. i King Henry rv., Act I. fc. 3, 1. 27,
' mifprifion is guilty of this fault '.
1 3 . As fome dream doth flatter. So Romeo &
Juliet, Aft v. fc. I, 11. i, 2 : —
If I may trujl the flattering truth of Jleep,
My dreams prefage fome joyful news at hand.
LXXXVIII. In continuation. Shakfpere ftill
afferts his own devotion, though his unfaithful
208 NOTES.
friend not only fhould forfake him, but even hold
him in fcorn.
i. Set me light, efteem me little. So King
Richard IL, Aft I. fc. 3, 1. 293.
8. Shalt. Quarto, flail.
LXXXIX. Continues the fubjeft of LXXXVIIL,
fhowing how Shakfpere will take part with his
friend againft himfelf.
3. My lamenefs. See note on Sonnet xxxvu. 3.
6. Tofet a form, etc., to give a becoming appear-
ance to the change which you defire. So A Mid-
fummer Night's Dream, Aft I. fc. i, 1. 233 : —
Things lafe and, vile, holding no quantity.
Love can tranfpofe to form and dignity.
8. / will acquaintance Jlr angle, put an end to our
familiarity. So Twelfth Night, Aft v. fc. i , 1. 150;
Antony & Cleopatra, Aft n. fc. 6, 1. 130: 'You
fhall find, the band that feems to tie their friendfhip
together will be the very Jlr angler of their amity*.
13. Debate, cont§ ft, quarrel. 2 King Henry iv.,
Aft iv. fc. 4, 1. 2 : * this debate that bleedeth at our
door '.
XC. Takes up the laft word of LXXXIX., and
pleads pathetically for hatred; for the worft, fpeedily,
if at all.
6. The rearward of a conquered woe. Much Ado
About Nothing, Aft iv. fc. i, 1. 128 : —
Thought I thy fpirit were Jlronger than thy fhames,
Myfelf would, on the rearward of reproaches.,
1 Strike at thy life.
NOTES. 209
13. Strains of woe. So Much Ado About Nothing,
Aft v. fc. i, 1. 12:—
Meafure Ins woe the length and breadth of mine
And let it anfwer every drain for ftrain.
XCI. Having in xc. thought of his own perfecu-
tion at the hand of Fortune, Shakfpere here contrafts
his ftate with that of the favorites of Fortune, main-
taining that if he had but allured pofleffion of his
friend's love, he would lack none of their good
things.
4. Horfe. Probably the plural, meaning horfes,
as in The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, 1. 61.
I King Henry vi., Aft I. fc. 5, 1. 3 I.
10. Richer than wealth, prouder than garments'
cojl. So Cymbeline, Aft m. fc. 3, 11. 23, 24 : —
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rujlling in unpaid-for filk.
XCII. In clofe connexion with xci. This fonnet
argues for the contradictory of the laft two lines
of that immediately preceding it. No : you cannot
make me wretched by taking away your love, for
with fuch a lofs, death muft come and free me from
forrow.
10. My life on thy revolt doth lie, my life hangs
upon, is dependent on, your defertion, Macbeth, Aft v.
fc. 4, 1. 12 : —
Both more and lefs have given him the revolt,
- And none ferve with him but conflrained things
Whofe hearts are abfent too.
Compare Sonnet xcm. 4.
210 NOTES.
XCIII. Carries on the thought of the laft line of
XCII.
n, 12. So Macbeth, A<5t I. fc. 4, 1. 12 : —
There *s no art
To find the mind's conftruftion in the face.
XCIV. In XGIII. Shakfpere has defcribed his friend
as able to (how a fweet face while harbouring falfe
thoughts ; the fubject is enlarged on in the prefent
Sonnet. They who can hold their paffions in
check, who can feem loving yet keep a cool heart,
who move paffion in others, yet are cold and
unmoved themfelves— fhey rightly inherit from
heaven large gifts, for they hufband them ; where-
as paflionate intemperate natures fquander their
endowments ; thofe who can affume this or that
femblance as they fee reafon are the matters and
owners of their faces ; others have no property in
fuch excellences as they poflefs, but hold them
for the advantage of the prudent felf-contained
perfons. True, thefe felf-contained perfons may
feem to lack generofity ; but, then, without mak-
ing voluntary gifts they give inevitably, even as the
fummer's flower is fweet to the fummer, though
it live and die only to itfelf. Yet, let fuch an one
beware of corruption, which makes odious the
fweeteft flowers.
6. Expenfe, expenditure, and fo lofs.
1 1 . Safe. Staunton propofes foul.
12. The lafefl weed. Sidney Walker propofes
< the "bar eft weed '.
NOTES. in
14. Lilies, etc. This line occurs in King Ed-
ward in., A&. ii. fc. I (near the clofe of the fcene).
I quote the paffage that the reader may fee how the
line comes into the play, and form an opinion as to
whether play or fonnet has the right of firft owner-
fhip in it.
±A fpacious field of reafons could I urge
Between Ms glory, daughter, and thy Jhame :
That poifon flows worft in a golden cup ;
Dark night feems darker by the lightning flafh ;
Lilies, that fejler, fmell far worfe than weeds ;
And every glory, that inclines to fin,
The fame is treble by the oppojite.
It fliould be remembered that feveral critics aflign
to Shakfpere a portion of this play, which was firft
printed in 1596. In a fcene afcribed to Shakfpere
occur the lines which have been quoted.
Fejler, rot. As in Romeo & Juliet, Ad iv. fc. 3,
1.43.
XCV. Continues the warning of xciv. 13, 14.
Though now you feem to make (hame beautiful,
beware ! a time will come when it may be other-
wife.
8. Naming thy name bleffes, etc. Antony &
Cleopatra, Ad n. fc. 2, 11. 243-245 :—
Vilejl things
Become themf elves in her ; that the holy priefls
Blefs her when fhe is riggifh.
19
212 NOTES.
XCVI. Continues the fubjed of xcv. Pleads
againft the mifufe of his friend's gifts ; againft youth-
ful licentioufnefs.
2. Gentle f port. As in the laft fonnet * making
lafcivious comments on thy fport\
3. More and lefs, great and fniall, as in i King"
Henry iv., Ad iv. fc. 3, 1. 68 :—
The more and lefs came in with cap and knee.
9, 10. The fame thought expreffed in different
imagery appears in xcm.
Tranjlate, tranfform ; as in Hamlet, Ad in. fc. I ,
1. 113.
12. The flrength of all thy Jl ate, the ftrength of
all thy majefty, fplendour. Schmidt fays 'ufed
periphraftically, and = all thy ftrength'.
13, 14. The fame couplet clofes Sonnet xxxvi.
XCVII. A new group of Sonnets feems to begin
here.
5 . Tins time removed. This time of abfence.
Twelfth Night, Ad v. fc. i, 1. 92, 'A twenty
years removed thing'.
6. The teeming autumn, etc. So A Midfummer
Night's Dream, Ad n. fc. i, 11. 111-114, 'The
childing autumn'. Ifaac propofes Then teeming.
7. Prime, fpring.
I o. Hope of orphans, fuch hope as orphans bring ;
or, expectation of the birth of children whofe father
is dead. Staunton propofes ' crop of orphans '.
XCVIII. The fubjed of xcvu. is Abfence in
NOTES. 213
Summer and Autumn; the fubject of xcvm.-ix.
Abfence in Spring.
2, 3. Proud-pied April, etc. So Romeo & Juliet,
Ad I. fc. 2, 1. 27 : —
Such comfort as do lujly young men feel
When well-apparell'd April on the heel
Of limping winter treads.
4. That. So that.
7. Summer's ftory. 'By a fummer's flory Shak-
fpeare feems to have meant fome gay fiction. Thus,
his comedy founded on the adventures of the king
and queen of the fairies, he calls A Midfummer
Night's Dream. On the other hand, in The Win-
ter's Tale he tells us, " a. fad tale's beft for winter".
So alfo in Cymbeline, Ad m. fc. 4, 11. 12-14 : —
— if it be fummer news,
Smile to it before : if winterly f thou need' ft
But keep that countenance ftill' . MALONE.
8. The lily's white. The Quarto has lilies; fo
Malone and other editors.
1 1 . They were but fweet. Malone propofed ' they
were, my fweet, but, etc.' The poet declares, as
Steevens fays, that the flowers ' are only fweet, only
delightful, fo far as they refemble his friend '.
Lettfom propofes, ' They were but fleeting figures
of delight '.
XCIX. In connexion with the laft line of Sonnet
XGVIII. The prefent fonnet has fifteen lines.
214 NOTES.
6. Condemned for thy hand, condemned for theft
of the whitenefs of thy hand.
7. And buds of marjoram, etc. Compare Suckling's
Tragedy of Brennoralt, Ad iv. fc. I : —
Hair curling, and cover' d like buds of marjoram ;
Part tied in negligence, part loofely flowing.
Mr. H. C. Hart tells me that buds of marjoram
are dark purple-red before they open, and afterwards
pink; dark auburn I fuppofe would be the neareft
approach to marjoram in the colour of hair. Mr.
Hart fuggefts that the marjoram has flolen not
colour but perfume from the young man's hair.
Gervafe Markham gives fweet marjoram as an
ingredient in * The water of fweet fmells', and
Culpepper fays * marjoram is much ufed in all
odoriferous waters '. Cole {Adam in Eden, ed.
1657) fays * Marjerome is a chief ingredient in
molt of thofe powders that Barbers ufe, in whofe
ftiops I have feen great ftore of this herb hung up'.
8. On thorns did Jland. To 'ftand on thorns' is
an old proverbial phrafe.
9. One. The Quarto has * our '.
12. A vengeful canker eat him, etc. So Venus &
Adonis , 1. 656 : —
This canker that eats up Love's tender fpring.
14. But fweet. Sidney Walker proposes f cent.
C. Written after a ceflation fron* fonnet-writing,
during which Shakfpere had been engaged in author-
NOTES. 215
{hip, — writing plays for the public as I fuppofe, in-
ftead of poems for his friend.
3. Fury, poetic enthufiafm, as in Love's Labour's
Loft, Ad iv. fc. 3, 1. 229.
9. Rejly, torpid ; * Refty, piger, hntus \ Coles's
Latin and Englijh Dictionary (quoted by Dyce).
1 1 . Satire. * Satire is fatirijl. Jonfon, Mafque
of Time Vindicated , Gifford, vol. viii. p. 5 : —
Who's this ?
EARS. *Tis Chronomaftixf ihe brave fatyr.
NOSE. The gentleman-like fatyr f cares for nobody.
Poetajler, V. i, vol. ii. p. 524 : —
The honeft fatyr hath the happieft foul'.
W. S. WALKER.
14. Prevent' ft, doft fruftrate by anticipating.
CI. Continues the addrefs to his mufe, calling
on her to fmg again the praifes of his friend ; c. calls
on her to praife his beauty ; ci. his * truth in beauty
dyed'.
6. His colour, the colour of my love (i.e. my
friend).
7. To lay, to fpread on a furface, to lay on.
Twelfth Night, Ad I. fc. 5, 1. 258 : —
' Tis beauty truly blent, whofe red and white
Nature's own fweet and cunning hand laid on.
CII. In continuation. An apology for having
ceafed to fmg.
3. That love is merchandised, etc. So in Love's
Labour's Loft, Ad n. fc. i, 11. 13-16: —
216 NOTES.
My beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourifh of your praife :
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eyef
Not utter* d by bafe fale of chapmen's tongues.
7. Summer's front. So A Winter's Tale, Aft IV.
fc. 4, 1. 3 :—
No Jbepherdefs, but Flora
Peering in April's front.
8. Her pipe. The Quarto has ' his pipe'.
Compare Twelfth Night, Ad I. fc. 4, 1. 32.
GUI. Continues the fame apology.
3. The argument, all bare, the theme of my
verfe merely as it is in itfelf. -
6, 7. So The Tempeft, Ad iv. fc. i, l.'io :—
For thou fh alt find fhe will outftrip all praife
And make it halt behind her.
9. 10. So King Lear, Ad I. fc. 4, 1. 369 : —
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well,
and King John, A6t iv. fc. 2, 11. 28, 29.
CIV. Refumes the fubjeft from which the poet
darted in Sonnet c. After abfence and ceflation
from fong, he refurveys his friend's face, and
inquires whether Time has ftolen away any of its
beauty. Note the important reference to time,
three years * fmce firft I faw you frefh'.
2. Eyed. So in The Two Noble Kinsmen, 'I ear'd
her language*.
NOTES. 217
3 . Three winters cold. Dyce reads c winters1 cold '.
The Quarto in 3, 4, has * Winters cold . . .
fummers pride'.
4. Three fummers' pride. So Romeo '& Juliet,
Act i. fc. 2, 1. 10 : —
Z,e/ two more fummers wither in their pride.
10. Steal from his figure, creep from the figure
on the dial. So in Sonnet LXXVIL, ' thy dial's fhady
Jlealth*.
13. For fear of which, becaufe I fear which.
CV. To the beauty praifed in c., and the truth
and beauty in ci., Shakfpere now adds a third
perfection, kindnefs ; and thefe three fum up the
perfections of his friend.
i, 4. Let not my love, etc. l Becaufe the continual
repetition of the fame praifes feemed like a form of
worfhip'.— W. S. WALKER. Cf. cvm. 1-8.
CVI. The laft line of Sonnet cv. declares that
his friend's perfections were never before poffefled
by one perfon. This leads the poet to gaze back-
ward on the famous perfons of former ages, men
and women, his friend being poffeffor of the united
perfections of both man and woman (as in Sonnets
xx. and LIII).
8. Majler, poffefs, own as a matter. So King
Henry v., Act n. fc. 4, 1. i 37 : —
You'll find a difference
Between the promife of his greener days
And thefe he matters now.
2i 8 NOTES.
9. Compare Conftable's Diana : —
Miracle of the world I never will deny
That former poets praife the beauty of their days ;
But all thofe beauties were but figures of thy praife,
And all thofe poets did of thee but prophecy.
12. They had not Jkill enough. The Quarto has
' Jlill enough '.
CVII. Continues the celebration of his friend,
and rejoices in their reftored affedion. Mr. Mafley
explains this fonnet as a fong of triumph for the
death of Elizabeth, and the deliverance of South-
ampton from the Tower. Elizabeth (Cynthia) is
the eclipfed mortal moon of 1. 5 ; compare Antony
& Cleopatra, Aft m. fc. 13, 1. 153 : —
Alack, our terrene moon (Le* Cleopatra)
Is now eclipfed.
But an earlier reference to a moon-eclipfe (xxxv.
1. 3) has to do with his friend, not with Elizabeth,
and in the prefent fonnet the moon is imagined as
having endured her eclipfe, and come out none the
lefs bright. I interpret (as Mr. Simpfon does,
Philofophy of Shakfpere's Sonnets, p. 79) : 'Not my
own fears (that my friend's beauty may be on the
wane, Sonnet civ. 9-14) nor the prophetic foul of
the world, prophefying in the perfons of dead
knights and ladies your perfections (Sonnet cvi.),
and fo prefiguring your death, can confine my
Jeafe of love to a brief term of years. Darknefs and
fears are paft, the augurs of ill find their predictions
falfified, doubts are over, peace has come in place
of ftrife ; the love in my heart is frefti and young
(fee cvin. 1. 9), and I have conquered Death, for in
this verfe we both Ihall find life in the memories
of men.
4. Suppofed, etc., fuppofed to be a leafe expiring
within a limited term.
10. My love looks frejh. I am not fure whether
this means ' the love in my heart', or *my love1
= my friend. Compare civ. 1. 8, and cvm. 1. 9.
Subfcribes, fubmits. As in The Taming of the
Shrew, Ad. I. fc. i, 1. Si.
12. Infults o'er, triumphs over. As in 3 King
Henry vi., A6t I. fc. 3, 1. 14.
CVIII. How can * this poor rhyme ' which is to
give us both unending life (evil. 10-14) be carried
on? Only by faying over again the fame old things.
But eternal love, in * love's frefh cafe ' (an echo of
'my love looks frefh', cvn. 10), knows no age,
and finds what is old ftill frefh and young.
3. What new to regifter. So Malone. The
Quarto has * What now '. Sidney -Walker con-
jectures ' what 's now to fpeak, what now, etc/.
5. Nothing fweet boy. Altered in ed. 1640 to
* Nothing fweet love*.
9. Love's frefh cafe, love's new condition ana
circumftances, the new youth of love fpoken of cvn.
i o. But Schmidt explains * cafe ' here as * queftion
of law, caufe, queftion in general ' ; and Malone
fays < By the cafe of love the poet means his own
compofitions '.
220 NOTES.
13, 14. Finding the firft conception of love, i.e.
love as paffionate as at firft, felt by one whofe
years and outward form fhow the effects of age.
CIX. The firft ardour of love is now renewed as
in the days of early friendfhip (cvm. 13, 14).
But what of the interval of abfence and eftrange-
ment? Shakfpere confeffes his wanderings, yet
declares that he was never wholly falfe.
2. Qualify, temper, moderate, as in Troilus &
Crejjida, Ad n. fc. 2, 1. 118.
4. My foul which in thy breafl doth lie. So King
Richard m., Ad L fc. I, 1. 204 : —
Even fo thy Ireajl enclofeth my poor heart.
7. Jujl to the time, not with the time exchanged,
pundual to the time, not altered with the time. So
Jeffica in her boy's difguife, Merchant of Venice,
Aft II. fc. $, 1. 35 :—
I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,
For I am much afhamed of my exchange.
1 1 . Stain' d. Staunton propofes 'Jlrain'd '.
14. My rofe. Shakfpere returns to the loving
name which he has given his friend in Sonnet I.
CX. In cix. Shakfpere has fpoken of having
wandered from his * home of love ' ; here he con-
tinues the fubjeft, 'Alas, 'tis true I have gone
here and there '. This fonnet and the next are
commonly taken to exprefs diftafte for his life as a
player.
NOTES. 22.1
2. A motley, a wearer of motley, a fool or
jefter.
3 . Gored mine own thoughts, deeply wounded my
own thoughts. Troilus & CreJJida, Aft m. fc. 3,
1. 228 : ' My fame is fhrewdly £-0ra2 '. Xm^ Lear,
Aft v. fc. 3, 1. 320.
4. Madtf o/d offences, etc., entered into new friend-
fhips and loves which were tranfgreflions againft
my old love.
6. Strangely, in a diftant, miftruftful way.
7. Blenches, ftarts afide. Meafure for Meajure,
Ad iv. fc. 5, 1. 5 :—
Sometimes you do blench from this to that.
9. Now all is donef have what fhall have no end.
Malone accepted Tyrwhitt's conje&ure, * Now all is
done fave, etc/; but the meaning is, 'Now that
all my wanderings and errors are over, take love
which has no end '.
10. Grind, i.e. whet.
1 1 . Newer proof, newer trial or experiment.
12. This line feems to be a reminifcence of the
thoughts exprefled in Sonnet cv., and to refer to
the Firft Commandment.
CXI. Continues tne apology for his wanderings
of heart, afcribing them to his ill fortune — that, as
commonly underftood, which compels him to a
player's way of life.
I. With Fortune. The Quarto has 'wijh
fortune '.
10. Eifel, 'gain/I my Jlrong infection. Eifel or
222 NOTES.
eyfell is vinegar. O. Fr. aijfel, Gr. of aAt's. Skelton
(quoted in Nares's Gloffary) fays of Jefus —
He drank eifel and gall.
' Vinegar is efteemed very efficacious in preventing
the communication of the plague and other conta-
gious diftempers'. — MALONE.
CXII. Takes up the word * pity V from cxi. 14,
and declares that his friend's love and pity compen-
fate the difhonours of his life, fpoken of in the laft
fonnet.
4. Allow, approve, as in King Lear, Aft n. fc. 4,
1. 194.
7, 8. No one living for me except you, nor I
alive to any, who can change my feelings fixed as
fteel either for good or ill (either to pleafure or
pain). Malone propofed ' e'er changes '. Knight,
*/o changes.' * Senfe ' may be the plural.
1 1 . Critic, cenfurer, as in Troilus & Crejfida,
Aft v. fc. 2, 1. 131.
12. Difpenfe with, excufe, pardon. So Lucrece,
1. 1070, and 1. 1279 :— •
Yet with the fault I thus far can difpenfe.
13. So Jlrongly in my purpofe bred. Schmidt gives
as an explanation : ' So kept and harboured in my
thoughts'.
14. They're dead. The Quarto has *y'are\
Malone (1780) reads 'are', (1790) 'they are';
Dyce ' they 're'. The Quarto / = th' = they.
NOTES. 223
CXIII. In connexion with cxn. ; the writer's
mind and fenfes are filled with his friend ; in cxn.
he tells how his ear is flopped to all other voices
but one beloved voice ; here he tells how his eye
fees things only as related to his friend.
i. Mine eye is in my mind. Hamlet, Act I. fc. 2,
1.185: 'In my mind's eye, Horatio '. So too Lucrece,
1. 1426.
3. Part his function, divide its function.
6. Latch, catch, feize. Macbeth, Ad iv. fc. 3,
1. 195: —
I have words
That would be howl'd out in the defer t air
Where hearing fhould not latch them.
The Quarto has ' lack '.
10. Favour, afpecl:, appearance, countenance, as
in Meafure for Meafure, Acl: iv. fc. 2, 1. 185.
14. Mine untrue. If we accept this, the text of
the Quarto, we muft hold ' untrue 'to be a fubftan-
tive ; explaining, with Malone, * The fmcerity of my
affe&ion is the caufe of my untruth, i.e. my not
feeing objects truly, fuch as they appear to the reft
of mankind '. So in Meafure for Meafure, Ad n.
fc. 4, 1. 170: —
As for you,
Say what you can, my falfe o'erweighs your true.
Malone propofed and withdrew < makes mine eye
untrue'. Collier, <maketh my eyne untrue'; Lett-
fom, ' mak'th mine eye untrue '.
CXIV. Continues the fubje£i treated in cxin., and
224 NOTES.
inquires why and how it is that his eye gives a falfe
report of obje&s.
5. Indigeft, chaotic, formlefs. As in 2 King
Henry vi., Ad v. fc. i, 1. 157; 'indigefted lump'.
So 3 King Henry vi., Aft v. fc. 6, 1. 51.
9. Compare. Twelfth Night, Ad i. fc. 5, 1. 328 :-—
I do I know not what, and fear to find
Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind.
1 1 . Wlmt with his gujl is 'greeing, what is pleafmg
to his (the eye's) tafte ; 'gree ; to agree.
13, 14. 'The allufion here is to the tafters to
princes. So, in King John : —
" who did tafte to him ?
HUB. A monk whofe bowels fuddenly burjl out"'.
STEEVENS.
CXV. Shakfpere now defires to fhow that love
has grown through error and feeming eftrangement.
4. My flame. So in cix. 1. 2, * abfence feemed
my flame to qualify '.
1 1, 12. Certain o'er incertainty, crowning the pre-
fent : So Sonnet cvn. 7 : —
Incertainties now crown themfelves a/ured.
CXVI. Admits his wanderings, but love is fixed
above all the errors and trials of man and man's life.
2. Impediments (to the marriage of true minds).
So Form of Solemnisation of Matrimony : f If any of
you know caufe or juft impediment f etc.'.
2, 3. Love is not love, etc. So King Leart A£t I.
fc. i, 1. 241 : —
NOTES. 22 5
Love's not love
When it is mingled with regards that Jland
Aloof from the entire point.
5, 6. An ever-fixed mark, etc. So Coriolanus,
Adv. fc. 3, 1. 74: —
Like a great fea-mark jlanding every flaw.
7. // is the ftar, etc. ' Apparently, whofe ftellar
influence is unknown, although his angular altitude
has been determined'. — F. T. PALGRAVE. Schmidt
explains unknown here as inexprejfible, incalculable,
immenfe. The paflage feems to mean, As the ftar,
over and above what can be afcertained concerning
it for our guidance at fea, has unknowable occult
virtue and influence, fo love, befide its power of
guiding us, has incalculable potencies. This inter-
pretation is confirmed by the next Sonnet (cxvn.)
in which the fnnile of failing at fea is introduced ;
Shakfpere there confeffes his wanderings, and adds
as his apology
/ did ftrive to prove
The conftancy and virtue of your love —
conftancy, the guiding fixednefs of love ; virtue, the
' unknown worth '. Sidney Walker propofed ' whofe
north's unknown', explaining 'As, by following the
guidance of the northern ftar, a fhip may fail an
immenfe way, yet never reach the true north ; fo
the limit of love is unknown. Or can any other
good fenfe be made of " north" ? Judicent rei aftro-
nomica periti.' Dr. Ingleby (The Soule Arayed,
226 NOTES.
1872, pp. 5, 6, note) after quoting in connexion
with this paffage the lines in which Caefar fpeaks of
himfelf (Julius Cafar, in. i) as 'conftant as the
northern ftar ', writes : * Here human virtue is
figured under the ' true-fix'd and refting quality ' of
the northern ftar. Surely, then, the " worth " fpoken
of muft be conjlancy or fixednefs. The failor muft
know that the ftar has this worth, or his latitude
would not depend on its altitude. Juft fo without
the knowledge of this worth in love, a man " hoifts
fail to all the winds ", and is "frequent with unknown
minds".'
Height, it fhould be obferved, was ufed by Eliza-
bethan writers, in the fenfe of value, and the word
may be ufed here in a double fenfe, altitude (of the
ftar) and value (of love), * love whofe worth is un-
known however it may be valued '.
9. Time's fool, the fport or mockery of Time.
So i King Henry IV., Aft V. fc. 4, 1. 81 : —
But thought's the Jlave of life } and life time's fool.
1 1 . His brief hours, i.e. Time's brief hours.
12. Bears it out even to the edge of doom. So
All's Well that Ends Well, Aft m. fc. 3, 11. 5, 6 :—
We'll jirive to bear it for your worthy fake
To the extreme edge of hazard.
CXVII. Continues the confeflion of his wander-
ings from his friend ; but aflerts that it was only to
try his friend's conftancy in love.
NOTES. 227
5. Frequent, converfant, intimate.
With unknown minds, perfons who may not be •
known, or obfcure perfons.
6. Given to time ; given to fociety, to the world ;
fee note on Sonnet LXX. 1. 6. Or, given away to
temporary occafion what is your property and there-
fore an heirloom for eternity. Staunton propofes
' given to them '.
1 1 . Level, the diredion in which a miflive weapon
is aimed; as in A Winter's Tale, Ad n. fc. 3, 1. 6.
CXVIII. Continues the fubjed; adding that he
had fought ftrange loves, only to quicken his appe-
tite for the love that is true.
2. Eager, four, tart, poignant. Aigre Fr., as in
Hamlet, Ad I. fc. 5, 1. 69.
9. Policy, prudent management of affairs.
12. Rank, 'fick (of hypertrophy).'— SCHMIDT.
So 2 King Henry iv., Aft iv. fc. I, 1. 64 : —
To diet rank minds fick of happinefs.
CXIX. In clofe connexion with the preceding
fonnet ; fhowing the gains of ill, that ftrange loves
have made the true love more ftrong and dear.
2. Limbecks, alembics, ftills. Macbeth, Ad I. fc.
7, 1. 67.
4. Either, lofmg in the very moment of vidory,
or gaining vidories (of other loves than thofe of his
friend) which were indeed but lofles.
7. How have mine eyes out of their fpheres been
fitted, etc., how have mine eyes flarted from their
228 NOTES.
hollows in the fever-fits of my difeafe. Compare
Hamlet, Ad I. fc. 5, 1. 17 : —
Make thy two eyes, like jlars, Jlart from their fpheres.
Lettfom would read * been flitted '.
1 1 . Ruined love . . . built anew. Note the
introdudion of the metaphor of rebuilt love,
reappearing in later fonnets. Compare The Comedy
of Errors, Ad in. fc. 2, 1. 4 : —
Shall love, in building, grow fo ruinous,
and Antony & Cleopatra, Aft m. fc. 2, 11. 29, 30.
1 4. Ills. So the Quarto ; altered by Malone and
other editors, perhaps rightly (fee 1. 9) to ill.
CXX. Continues the apology for wanderings in
love ; not Shakfpere alone has fo erred, but alfo his
friend.
3. I muft needs be overwhelmed by the wrong I
have done to you, knowing how I myfelf fuffered,
when you were the offender.
6. A hell of time. So in Othello, Aft m. fc. 3,
H. 169, 170 : —
But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes yet doubts, fufpefts, yet Jlrongly loves,
and Lucrece, 11. 1286, 1287.
9. Our night. Staunton propofes ' four night '.
Remember d, reminded, an adive verb governing
fenfe in 1. 10. So The Tempejl, Ad I. fc. 2, 1. 243.
ii. And foon to you, as you to me, then ten&er'a.
* Surely the fenfe requires that we Ihould point, —
And foon to you, as you to me then, tendered \
W. S. WALKER.
NOTES. 229
Staunton propofes —
And mame to you — as you to me then — tendered.
12. Salve. Compare Sonnet xxxiv. 1. 7.
CXXI. Though admitting his wanderings from
his friend's love (cxvm.-cxx.), Shakfpere refufes to
admit the fcandalous charges of unfriendly cenfors.
Dr. Burgerfdijk regards the fonnet as a defence
of the ftage againft Puritans.
2. Not to be, i.e. not to be vile.
3, 4. And the legitimate pleafure loft, which is
deemed vile, not by us who experience it but by
others who look on and condemn.
6. Give falutation to my fportive Uood. Compare
King Henry vm., Ad n. fc. 3, 1. 103 : —
Would I had no being,
If this falute my blood a jot.
8. In their wills, according to their pleafure.
9. No, I am that I am. Compare Othello, Ad
I. fc. i, 1. 65, * I am not what I am'.
1 1 . Bevel, * i.e. crooked ; a term ufed only, I
believe, by mafons and joiners'. — STEEVENS.
CXXII. An apology for having parted with tables
(memorandum-book), the gift of his friend.
i, 2. So in Hamlet, Ad I. fc. 5, 11. 98-103 : —
Yea, from the table of my memory, etc.
So alfo Two Gentlemen of Verona, Ad n. fc. 7, 11.
3,4-
230 NOTES.
3. That idle rank, that poor dignity (of tables
written upon with pen or pencil).
9. That poor retention, that poor means of retain-
ing impreflions, i.e. the tables given by his friend.
10. Tallies, flicks on which notches and fcores
are cut to keep accounts by. So 2 King Henry vi.,
Aft iv. fc. 7, 1. 39.
CXXIII. In the M fonnet Shakfpere boafts of
his * lafting memory ' as the recorder of love ; he
now declares that the regifters and records of Time
are falfe, but Time fhall impofe no cheat upon his
memory or heart.
2. Thy pyramids. I think this is metaphorical ;
all that Time piles up from day to day, all his new
ftupendous erections are really but * dreffings of a
former fight '. Is there a reference to the new love,
the * ruined love built anew* (Sonnet cxix.),
between the two friends? The fame metaphor
appears in the next Sonnet (cxxiv.) * No, it [his love]
was builded far from accident', and again in cxxv.
'Laid great bafes for eternity etc.'. Does Shak-
fpere mean here that this new love is really the
fame with the old love; he will recognize the
identity of new and old, and not wonder at either
the pad or prefent ?
5 . Admire, wonder at, as in Twelfth Night, Act
m. fc. 4, 1. 165.
7. And rather maize them. ' Them ' refers to
'what thou doft foift etc/; we choofe rather to
think fuch things new, and specially created for our
fatiffadion, than, as they really are, old tilings of
which we have already heard.
NOTES. 231
CXXIV. Continues the thought of cxxin. 13, 14.
The writer's love being unconnected with motives
of felf-intereft, is independent of Fortune and Time.
i. The child of Jlate, born of place and power
and pomp.
4. Weeds, etc. My love might be fubjecl: to Time's
hate and fo plucked up as a weed, or fubjed to Time's
love, and fo gathered as a flower.
7, 8. When time puts us, who have been in
favour, out of fafhion.
9. Policy, that heretic, the prudence of felf-
intereft, which is faithlefs in love. Compare Romeo
& Juliet, A3: i. fc. 2, 1. 9 5 . Romeo, fpeaking of eyes
unfaithful to the beloved: —
TranJ "parent heretics le burnt for liars.
1 1 . Hugely politic, love itfelf is infinitely prudent,
prudent for eternity.
12. That it nor grows. Steevens propofes glows.
13. 14. Does this mean, 'I call to witnefs the
tranfitory unworthy loves (fools of time = fports
of time. See cxvi. 9), whofe death was a virtue
fince their life was a crime'?
CXXV. In connexion with Sonnet cxxiv. ; there
Shakfpere afferted that his love was not fubjecl: to
time, as friendfhips founded on felf-intereft are ;
here he aliens that it is not founded on beauty of
perfon, and therefore cannot pafs away with the
decay of fuch beauty. It is pure love for love.
i . Bore the canopy, i.e. rendered outward homage
as one renders who bears a canopy over a fuperior.
232 NOTES.
King James I. made his progrefs through London
1603-4, under a canopy. In the account of the
King and Queen's entertainment at Oxford 1605, we
read : ' From thence was carried over the King and
Queen a fair canopy of crimfon taffety by fix of the
Canons of the Church '. — Nichol's Progreffes of King
James, vol. i. p. 546.
2. The outward. Cf. Sonnet LXIX., 1-5. Staun-
ton propofes ' thy outward', or ' thee outward'.
3 . Or laid, etc. The love of the earlier fonnets,
which celebrated the beauty of Shakfpere's friend,
was to laft for ever, and yet it has been ruined.
5. Favour, outward appearance, as in Sonnet
cxm. 10.
6. Lofe all and more, ceafe to love and through
fatiety even grow to diflike.
9. Obfequious, zealous, devoted, as in Merry
Wives of Windfor, Ad iv. fc. 2, 1. 2.
1 1 . Mix'd with feconds, mixed with bafer matter.
' I am juft informed by an old lady, that feconds is a
provincial term for the fecond kind of flour, which is
collected after the fmaller bran is fifted. That our
author's oblation was pure, [an offering of fine flour]
unmixed with bafer matter is all that he mearit to
fay'. — STEEVENS.
13. Suborn' d informer. Does this refer to an
aftual perfon, one of the fpies of Sonnet cxxi. 7, 8 ?
Or is the ' informer ' Jealoufy, or Sufpicion ? as in
Venus & Adonis, 1. 655 : —
This four informer, this bate-breeding fpy,
This canker that eats up Love's tender Spring,
This carry-tale, diffentious Jealoufy.
NOTES. 235
CXXVI. This is the concluding poem of the
feries addrefled to Shakfpere's friend ; it confifts of
fix rhymed couplets. In the Quarto parenthefes
follow the twelfth line thus : —
c )
c )
as if to (how that two lines are wanting. But there
is no good reafon for fuppofmg that the poem is
defective. In William Smith's * Chloris ', 1596, a
'fonnet' (No. xxvu.) of this fix-couplet form appears.
2. Sickle, hour. Lintott reads 'fickle hour';
S. Walker conjectures 'fickle-hour'; 'Capell in his
copy of Lintott's edition has corrected " hower " to
" hoar " leaving " fickle ". Doubtlefs he intended to
read "fickle hoar ".'—CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE.
12. Quietus. As in Hamlet's soliloquy, Ad m.
fc. i, 1. 75, 'This is the technical term for the
acquittance which every (heriff [or accountant]
receives on fettling his accounts at the Exchequer.
Compare Webfter, Duchefs of Malfi [i. i., vol. i.
p. 198, Works, ed. Dyce] : — 'And 'caufe you fhall
not come to me in debt, Being now my fteward, here
upon your lips I fign your Quietus eft".' — STEEVENS.
To render thee, to yield thee up, furrender thee.
When Nature is called to a reckoning (by Time ?)
fhe obtains her acquittance upon furrendering thee,
her chief treafure.
CXXVII. The fonnets addreffed to his lady begin
here. Steevens called attention to the fact that
' almoft all that is faid here on the fubject of com-
234
NOTES.
plexion, is repeated in Love's Labour's Loft, Act rv.
fc. 3, 11. 250-265.
Of if in Hack my lady's brow be deck\iy
It mourns that painting and ufurping hair
Should ravijh doters with a falfe afpeft ;
And therefore is fhe born to make black fair1.
Compare Sonnet 7 of ' Aftrophel and Stella '.
3. Succejfive heiry heir by order of fucceffion, as
in 2 King Henry vi., Act in. fc. i, 1. 49.
7. No holy bower. Malone reads 'no holy
hour '.
10. Suited, clad.
And they. Dyce reads ' as they '. Walker
propofes inftead of * my miftrefs' eyes ' in this line
' my miftrefs' hairs '. The editors of the Globe
Shakefpeare read * My miftrefs' brows '. Staunton,
' eyes ' 1. 9, * brows ' 1. i o.
12. Slandering creation, etc., difhonoring nature
with a fpurious reputation.
1 3. Becoming of, gracing, so ' fearing of Sonnet
cxv. 1. 9, 'licking of Venus & Adonis^ 1. 915.
CXXVIII.
5. Envy. The accent is on the laft fyllable.
Compare Titus Andronicus, Aft n. fc. 4, 1. 44 (of
fingers on a lute) : —
And make the filken firings delight to kifs them.
Jacks, keys of the virginal.
1 1 . Thy fingers. The Quarto has ' their fingers '.
CXXIX.
i. Expenfe, expenditure.
NOTES. 235
9. Mad. The Quarto has
1 1 . Proved a very woe. The Quarto has * proud
and very wo '.
CXXX. For the Sonneteer's conventional praife
of beauty, cf. Spenfer, Amoretti, 9, 15; Sidney,
AJlrophel and Stella, 9 ; and Lodge, Phillis, 8, with
reference to which H. Ifaac fuppofes this Sonnet to
have been written.
2. Lips' red. The Quarto has ' lips red J.
CXXXI. Connected with Sonnet cxxx. ; praife of
his lady, black but, to her lover, beautiful.
3 . Dear doting. Dyce reads ' dear-doting '.
14. This Jlander. The flander that her face has
not the power to make love groan.
CXXXII. Connected with Sonnet cxxxi. ; there
Shakfpere complains of the cruelty and tyranny of
his lady ; here the fame fubje& is continued and a
plea made for her pity.
2. Knowing thy heart torments me. The Quarto
has ' heart torment ', and Malone reads * Knowing
thy heart, torment '. The correction ' torments '
was made in ed. 1640.
5. Cf. Sonnet cxxx. i ; after all, her eyes are
like fun and ftars in a dim fky (her black brows and
hair).
9. Mourning. The Quarto has ' morning ', and
probably a play was intended on the words ' morning
fun ' and * mourning eyes '. This line has a ring
like that of Taming of the Shrew, Ad iv. fc. 5,
1. 32:-
236 NOTES.
What ftars do fpangle heaven with fuck beauty
As thofe two eyes become that heavenly face.
12. Suit, clothe, array.
CXXXIII. Here Shakfpere's heart < groans ' (fee
cxxxi.) for the fuffering of his friend as well as
his own.
8. Crojfd. See Sonnet xxxiv. 12, and XLII. 12.
CXXXIV. In clofe connexion with Sonnet cxxxm.
3 . That other mine, my alter ego.
5 . Wilt not, wilt not reftore him.
9. Statute. ' Statute has here its legal fignifica-
tion, that of a fecurity or obligation for money*.
— MALONE.
ii. A friend came, eic.t a friend who became, etc.
CXXXV. Perhaps fuggefted by the fecond line
of the laft fonnet, * I myfelf am mortgaged to thy
will'.
i. Will. In this Sonnet, in the next, and in
Sonnet CXLIII. the Quarto marks by italics and
capital W the play on words, Will = William
[Shakfpere], Will = William, the Chriftian name of
Shakfpere's friend [? Mr. W. H.] and Will= defire,
volition. Here * Witt in overplus ' means Will
Shakfpere, as the next line ftiows, ' more than enough
am I '. The firft * Will ' means defire ; (but as we
know that his lady had a hufband, it is poffible that
he alfo may have been a 'Will', and that the firft
' Will ' here may refer to him befides meaning
< defire '); the fecond 'Will' is Shakfpere's friend.
' In Shakefpeare's time quibbles of this kind were
NOTES. 237
common. Compare the following in the Booke of
Merry Riddles, ed. 1617: —
THE LI RIDDLE.
My love's will
I am content for to fulfill,
Within this rime his name is framed,
Tell me then how he is named.
['Will I am* (in lines i , 2) = William.] '— HALLIWELL.
9. Compare Twelfth Night, Ad: n. fc. 4, 1. 103,
and Ad i. fc. I, 1. n, * Thy [love's] capacity re-
ceiveth as the fea.'
I 5 . Let no unkind, no fair befeechers kill. If this
be the true reading, we muft take ' unkind ' as a
fubftantive, meaning * unkind one' (i.e. his lady).
So in Daniel's ' Delia', Sonnet n. : —
And tell ih* Unkind how dearly I have loved her.
Poffibly * no fair ' may mean ' no fair one ', as often
in Daniel. But perhaps the line ought to be printed
thus : —
Let no unkind ' No ' fair befeechers kill,
i.e. let no unkind refufal kill fair befeechers.
Mr. W. M. Roffetti propofes ' (kill ', meaning
avail, profit, for ' kill '.
CXXXVI. Continues the play on words of Sonnet
cxxxv.
6. Ay fill. The Quarto has ' I fill', T being
the ufual way of printing our 'Ay* at the time;
but poffibly there may here (as often elfewhere in
Shakfpere) be a play on the words ' T=ay, yes, and
T=myfelf.
238 NOTES.
9. See note on Sonnet vm. 11. 13, 14.
i o. Store's. The Quarto has * ftores ' ; the
Cambridge editors follow Malone in reading 'Jtores";
Schmidt fays of Store ; * ufed only in the fmg. ; there-
fore in Sonnet cxxxvi. io,Jlore's notjlores". Lines
9,10 mean ' You need not count me when merely
counting the number of thofe who hold you dear,
but when eftimating the worth of your poffeflions,
you muft have regard to me*. ' To fet Jlore by a
thing or perfon' is a phrafe connected with the
meaning of ' flore ' in this pafTage.
12. Something fweet. Sidney Walker propofed
and Dyce reads * fomething, fweet'.
13, 14. Love only my name (fomething lefs
than loving myfelf), and then thou loveft me, for
my name is Will, and I myfelf am all will, i.e. all
defire.
CXXXVII. In cxxxvi. he has prayed his lady to
receive him in the blindnefs of love ; he now mows
how Love has dealt with his own eyes.
6. Anchored. The fame metaphor is found in
Antony & Cleopatra, Aft I. fc. 5, 1. 33.
9, 10. Several plot, etc. So Love's Labour's Lojl,
Ad ii. fc. I, 1. 223 :—
My lips are no common though feveral they le.
' Fields that were enclofed were called federals
in oppofition to commons, the former belonging to
individuals, the others to the inhabitants generally.
When commons were enclofed, portions allotted to
owners of freeholds, copyholds, and cottages, were
fenced in, and termed feverah\ — HALLIWELL.
NOTES. 239
CXXXVIII. Conneaed with cxxxvn. The frauds
pra&ifed by blind love, and the blinded lovers,
Shakfpere and his lady, who yet muft ftrive to blind
themfelves. This fonnet appeared as the firft
poem of The Pajfionate Pilgrim (1599) in the
following form : —
When my love fwears that Jhe is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know Jhe lies,
That Jbe might think me fome untutor'd youth,
Vnfkilful in the world's falfe forgeries.
Thus vainly thinking that Jhe thinks me young.
Although I know my years he pajl the bejl,
Ifmiling credit her falfe-f peaking tongue,
Outfacing faults in love with love's ill reft.
But wherefore fays my love that Jhe is young ?
And wherefore fay not I that I am old ?
O, love's bejl habit is a foothing tongue,
And age, in love, loves not to have years told,
Therefore I 'II lie with love, and love with me.
Since that our faults in love thus fmother'd be.
ii. Habit, bearing, deportment, or garb.
CXXXIX. Probably connected with cxxxvur. ;
goes on to fpeak of his lady's untruthfulnefs ; he
may try to believe her profeflions of truth, but do not
afk him to juftify the wrong {he lays upon his heart.
CXL. In connexion with Sonnet cxxxix. ; his
lady's ' glancing afide ' of that fonnet (1. 6) reap-
pears here, 1. 14 'Bear thine eyes flraight*. He
complains of her excefs of cruelty.
6. To tell me Jo, 'to tell me thou dojl love me*.
— MALONE.
240 NOTES.
14. Bear thine eyes Jlraight, etc. 'That is (as it
is expreffed in a former fonnet),
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place '.
MALONE.
CXLI. In connexion with CXL. ; the * proud
heart' of 1. 14 of that fonnet reappears here 1. 12.
His foolifh heart loves her, and her proud heart
punifhes his folly by cruelty and tyranny. Compare
with this fonnet, Dray ton, Idea, 29.
5. Tongue's tune. So Venus fr Adonis, 1. 431.
' Heavenly tune harfh-founding ' ; fo too * the tune
of Imogen*.
9. Five wits. 'From Stephen Hawes's poem
called Graunde Amoure [and La Belle Pucel], ch.
xxiv. edition 1 5 54, it appears that \hzfive wits were
" common wit, imagination, fantafy, eftimation [i.e.
judgment] and memory". Wit in our author's
time was the general term for the intellectual power.
— MALONE'. — DYCE'S GloffarytoShakefpeare^. 507.
n, 12. My heart ceafes to govern me, and fo
leaves me no better than the likenefs of a man — a
man without a heart — in order that it may become
Have to thy proud heart.
1 4. Pain. * Pain in its old etymological fenfe of
punijhment'.—W. S. WALKER.
CXLII. In connexion with CXLI. ; the firft line
takes up the word * fin ' from the laft line of that
fonnet. ' Thofe whom thine eyes woo ' (1. i o)
carries on the complaint of cxxxix. 6, and CXL. 14.
NOTES. 241
6. Scarlet ornaments. So in King Edward in.,
(printed 1 596) Act n. fc. 1, 1. 10 : —
His cheeks put on their fcarlet ornaments.
This line occurs in the part of the play attributed
by feveral critics to Shakfpere.
7. SeaVd falfe bonds of love, given falfe kiffes.
So in Venus & Adonis, 1. 511 : —
Pure lips, fweet feals in my foft lips imprinted,
What bargains may I make, Jlill to be fealing ?
Again in Meafure for Meafure, Act IV. fc. I, 11.
5, 6; and The Merchant of Venice, Aft n. fc. 6,
11. 5, 6.— MALONE.
8. Robb'd others' beds' revenues. The Quarto
has 'beds revenues'. Sewell (ed. i) reads 'beds,
revenues'. Capell MS. has * bed-revenues '.
13, 14. If thou dojlfeek to have, etc. If you feek
to poffefs love, and will (how none, you may be
denied on the precedent of your own example.
Staunton propofes ' chide ' in place of 'hide'.
CXLIII. Perhaps the laft two lines of Sonnet
CXLII. fuggeft this. In that fonnet Shakfpere fays
' If you fhow no kindnefs, you can expect none from
those you love ' ; here he fays ' If you fhow kindnefs
to me, I fhall wifh you fuccefs in your purfuit of
him you feek'.
4. Purfuit. For examples of this pronunciation
of purfuit and purfue fee W. S. Walker's Critical
Examination of the Text of Shakefpeare, vol. iii.
pp. 366, 367.
242 NOTES.
8. Not pricing, making no account of. — SCHMIDT.
13. Will. Poffibly, as Steevens takes it, Will
Shakfpere ; but it feems as likely, or perhaps more
likely, to be Shakfpere's friend 'Will' [? W. H.].
The laft two lines promife that Shakfpere will pray
for her fuccefs in the chafe of^the fugitive (Will?),
on condition that, if fucceffful, fhe will turn back to
him, Shakfpere, her babe.
CXLIV. This fonnet appears as the fecond poem
in The PaJJionate Pilgrim with the following varia-
tions: 1. 2, 'That like'; 1. 3, * My better angel';
1. 4, * My worfer fpirit'; 1. 6, 'From myjide'; 1.
8, 'fair pride'; 1. 1 1, 'For being both to me'; 1. 13,
'The truth I fliall not know'. Compare with this
fonnet the twentieth of Drayton's Idea : —
An evil fpirit, your beauty, haunts me Jlill,
Which ceafeth not to tempt me to each ill ;
Thus am I Jlill provoked to every evil
By that good-wicked fpirit, fweet angel-devil.
2. Suggefl, tempt, as in The Two Gentlemen of
Verona, Ad in. fc. i, 1. 34.
6. From my fide. The Quarto has ' from my
fight*. The Pajfionate Pilgrim fupplies the correction.
1 1 . From me, away from me.
14. Compare 2 King Henry iv., Ad n. fc. 4,
1.365:-
PRINCE. For the women ?
NOTES. 243
FALSTAFF. For one of them, fhe is in hell already ;
find burns poor fouls.
CXLV. The only fonnet written in eight-fyllable
verfes. Some critics, with no fufficient reafon,
reject it, as not by Shakfpere.
13, 14. Steevens propofes ' away from hate fhe
flew\ and explains the meaning thus : * having pro-
nounced the words I hate, fhe left me with a declara-
tion in my favour '. Malone writes : ' The meaning
is — fhe removed the words I hate to a diftance from
hatred. . . . We have the fame kind of expreffion
in The Rape of Lucrece (11. 1534-1537): —
" It cannot be", quoth fhe, " that fo much guile" —
She would have f aid " can lurk in fuch a look" ;
But Tarqutn's fhape came in her mind the while,
And from her tongue " can lurk" from " cannot"
took'.
Malone's explanation is probably the right one ; it
is however poffible that the meaning may be from
hatred to fuch words as 'I hate*, <fhe threw them
away'.
CXLV1.
1 . Centre of my finful earth. So Romeo fr Juliet,
Ad ii. fc. i, 11. i, 2 :—
Can I go forward when my heart is here ?
Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.
2. [Prejf'd by] thefe rebel powers that thee array.
The Quarto has, ' My finful earth thefe rebel, etc.*
21
244 NOTES.
but the line is manifeftly corrupt. Probably, as
Malone fuggefts, the compofitor inadvertently
repeated the laft three words of the firft verfe
in the beginning of the fecond, omitting two
fyllables. Malone propofed ' Fool'd by thofe rebel,
etc. ' Steevens, * Starv'd by the rebel, etc. ' Dyce,
< Fool'd by thefe rebel, etc.* F. T. Palgrave,
' Foil'd by thefe rebel, etc. ' Furnivall, * Hemm d with
thefe rebel, etc. ' Bullock, 'My fins thefe rebel, etc.*
An anonymous writer, ' Thrall to thefe rebel'.
Cartwright, 'Slave of thefe rebel, etc.* Gerald
Maffey, * My fmful earth thefe rebel powers array*.
What is the meaning of * array ' ? Does it mean
to put raiment on? So Malone feems to un-
derftand it. *" Array" here', fays Gerald Maffey,
* does not only mean drefs, I think it alfo fignifies that
in the flefh thefe rebel powers fet their battle in array
againft the foul'. — Shakfpere's Sonnets never before
interpreted: 1866, p. 379. Dr. Ingleby, in his
pamphlet, ' The Soule Arayed\ 1872, endeavours to
mow that 'array* here means abufe, afflift, ill-
treat. There is no doubt the word 'aray ' or 'array '
was ufed in this fenfe by Elizabethan writers, and
Shakfpere, in TJie Taming of the Shrew, m. 2, and
iv. i, ufes 'raied', though nowhere 'aray', except
perhaps here, in this or a kindred fenfe. Taking
'aray' to mean ' afflict ', Dr. Ingleby accepts
Mr. A. E. Brae's fuggeftion ' Leagued with thefe rebel,
etc. ' * It is ', he writes., ' the earth that is in league
with the rebel powers, and the earth itfelf is there-
fore called " fmful". Here we have the flefh, and
NOTES. 245
its refident lufts, reprefented as leagued or com-
paded in the work of defrauding the foul of her
rightful nutriment, whereby ftie " pines and fuffers
dearth'" (The Soule Arayed, p. 15). In fupport of
the general opinion that ' array * means inveft in
raiment, compare The Merchant of Venice, Ad v.
fc. i, 1. 64:—
Such harmony is in immortal fouls ;
But whiljl this muddy vefture of decay
Doth grojfly clofe it inf we cannot hear it.
The * rebel powers ' and the ' outward walls '
perhaps receive fome illuftration from the following
lines, Lucrece, 11. 722-728 : —
She fays her fubjefts with foul infurredion
Have latter d down her confecrated wall,
And by their mortal fault brought in fubjeftion
Her immortality f and made her thrall
To living death and pain perpetual.
I, with much hesitation, propofe Pre/'d by. Com-
pare * o'er-preff'd defence', cxxxix. 8.
10. To aggravate thy Jlore. 'Malone fays that
the original copy and all the fubfequent impreflions
read "my" inftead of "thy". The copies of the
edition of 1609 in the Bodleian, one of which
belonged to Malone himfelf, in the Bridgewater
Library, and in the Capell collection as well as
Steevens's reprint, have "thy" '. — CAMBRIDGE
SHAKESPEARE.
Aggravate, increafe.
246 . NOTES.
1 1 . Terms. * Terms in the legal, and academic
fenfe. Long periods of time, oppofed to hours'. —
W. S. WALKER.
CXLVII. In connexion with CXLVI. ; in that
fonnet the writer exhorts the foul to feed and let the
body pine, 'within be fed', <fo fhalt thou feed on
Death'; here he tells what the food of his foul
actually is — the unwholefome food of a fickly
appetite. Compare Drayton, Idea, 41, 'Love's
Lunacie'.
5. My reafon, the phyfician to my love. Compare
The Merry Wives of Windfor, Ad n. fc. I, 1. 5 :
' Afk me no reafon why I love you ; for though
Love ufe Reajon for his phyjician [fo Farmer and
moft editors ; precifian Folio], he admits him not
for his counfellor'.
7, 8. / defperate now approve Dejire, etc. The
Quarto has a comma after approve, which Malone
retains. But the meaning is ' I, who am defperate,
now experience that defire which did object ('except*
= object) to phyfic, is death'.
9. Pajl cure, etc. ' So Love's Labour's Loft, Act V.
fc. 2, 1. 28 :—
Great reafon ; for pajl cure is Jlill pajl care.
It was a proverbial faying. See Holland's Leaguer,
a pamphlet publifhed in 1632: "She has got the
adage in her mouth ; Things pajl cure, pajl care'" —
MALONE.
14. Who art as Hack as hell, as dark as night.
NOTES. 247
So Love's Labour's Loft, Ad iv. fc. 3, 11. 254, 255
(the King fpeaking of Rofaline) : —
Black is the badge of hell
The hue of dungeons and thefuit of night.
CXLVIII. Suggefted apparently by the laft two
lines of Sonnet CXLVII. : ' I have thought thee bright
who art dark'; 'what eyes, then, hath love put in
my head'?
4. Cenfures, judge, eflimate, as in Julius Cafar,
Ad in. fc. 2, 1. 1 6.
8. Love's eye is not fo true as all men's: no,
Walker writes, ' Ought we not to affix a longer flop
to no ? Otherwife the flow feems not to be Shake-
fpearian ; compare the context'. Lettfom adds a note •
to Walker's remark: 'Ought we to flop here?
Ought we not to expunge the colon before no, and
write: —
Love's eye is not fo true as all men's no ?
Shakfpere feems to intend a pun on eye and /, i.e.
ay'.
13. O cunning Love! Here, he is perhaps
fpeaking of his miftrefs, but if fo, he identifies her
with 'Love', views her as Love perfonified, and fo
the capital L is right.
CXLIX. Conneded with Sonnet CXLVIII. as
appears from the clofmg lines of the two fonnets. -
2. Partake, take part. So i King Henry vi.,
Ad II. fc. 4, 1. 100, 'Your partaker Pole ' i.e.
partifan.
248 NOTES.
4. All tyrant, i.e. thou complete tyrant ! Malone
conjectures ' All truant'.
CL. Perhaps connected with Sonnet CXLIX. ;
* worfhip thy defect ' in that fonnet (1. 1 1), may have
fuggefted f with infufficiency my heart to fway ' in
this.
2. WM infufficiency, etc., to rule my heart by
defeds.
5. Tins becoming of things ill. So Antony fr
Cleopatra, A6t n. fc. 2, 1. 243 :—
Vilejl things
Become themf elves in her.
7. Warrantife of fkill, furety or pledge of fagacity
and power.
CL1.
3 . Then, gentle cheater. Staunton writes * " Cheater"
here fignifies efcheator, an official who appears to
have been regarded by the common people in
Shakefpeare's day much the fame as they now look
upon an informer'. The more obvious meaning
'rogue* makes better fenfe.
10. Triumphant pri%t, triumphal prize, the prize
of his triumph. Walker cites Lord Brooke, Alaham
v. i, 1. 8, 'this triumphant robe', this role in
which I triumph.
CLII. Carries on the thought of the laft fonnet ;
fhe cannot juftly complain of his faults fince (he
herfelf is as guilty or even more guilty.
UK 7
^UFCRN\ 249
ii. To enlighten tbee gave eyes to llindnefs, to
fee thee in the brightnefs of imagination I gave away
my eyes to blindnefs, made myfelf blind.
13. More perjurd I. The Quarto has 'more
perjurde eye1 \ corre&ed by Sewell.
CLIII. Malone writes ' This and the following
fonnet are compofed of the very fame thoughts
differently verfified. They feem to have been early
efTays of the poet, who perhaps had not determined
which he mould prefer. He hardly could have
intended to fend them both into the world*.
Herr Hertzberg (Jahrbuch der Deutfchen Shake-
fpeare-Gefellfchaft 1878, pp. 158-162) has found
a Greek fource for thefe two fonnets. He writes :
* Dann ging ich an die palatinifche Anthologie und
fand dafelbft nach langem Suchen im ix. Buche
('ETriSeiKTiKa) unter N. 637 die erfehnte Quelle.
. . . Es lautet :—
VTTO rets irXaravovs a,7raA<J) Ttrpvptvos v
cSScv "E/xos, vvftc^ats Aa^TraSa
Trvp Kpas p,€p-
'E/xoriaSes Aovr/ao^oevcrtv vSw/).1
The poem is by the Byzantine Marianus, a writer
probably of the fifth century after Chrift. The
1 Epigrammata (Jacob) ix. 65.
250 NOTES.
germ of the poem is found in an Epigram by
Zenodotus :—
Tts yXv\//as rbv "Epwra Trapa Kprjvycrw ZOrjKW ;
Qiofjicvos Travcrctv TOVTO TO irvp vSaTi.1
How Shakfpere became acquainted with the poem
of Marianus we cannot tell, but it had been tranflated
into Latin: *Seleda Epigrammata, Bafel 1529',
and again feveral times before the clofe of the
fixteenth century.
I add literal translations of the epigrams : ' Here
'neath the plane trees, weighed down by foft
flumber, flept Love, having placed his torch befide the
Nymphs. Then faid the Nymphs to one another,
"Why do we delay? Would that together with
this we had extinguifhed the fire of mortals' heart I"
But as the torch made the waters alfo to blaze, hot
is the water the amorous Nymphs (or the Nymphs
of the region of Eros 2) draw from thence for their
bath'.
' Who was the man that carved [the ftatue of]
Love, and fet it by the fountains, thinking to quench
this fire with water?'
In Surrey's ' Complaint of the Lover Difdained '
(Aldine ed. p. 1 2), we read of a hot and a cold well
of love. Shenftone (Works, ed. 1777, vol. i. p.
144) verfifies anew the theme of this and the
following fonnet in his 'Anacreontic'. Hermann
1 Epigrammata i. 57.
2 See Hertzberg, S/t. Jahrbuch, p. 161.
NOTES. 251
Ifaac fuggefts that the valley-fountain may fignify
marriage, but this will hardly agree with CLIV.
12, 13.
6. Datelefs, eternal, as in Sonnet xxx. 1. 6.
Lively, living.
1 1 . Bath. Steevens fuppofes this a proper name,
the place Bath. The Quarto has 'bath*.
14. Eyes. The Quarto has 'eye'.
CLIV. A variation on the theme of Sonnet CLHI.
1 3 . This ly that I prove, this ftatement which
follows (in 1. 14).
DAY USF
09144
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