66 to seek the companionship and guidance of such a poetic writer as the author of those majestic and delightful dramas which both herself and her husband had so often witnessed, and which had won for "gentle Shakespeare" golden opinions from all sorts of people." This upon her part would be nothing uncommon, as it was then the custom to place noble youths with favourite poets. It is, however, unnecessary here to adduce the numerous instances which could be given to support this statement. That this was the case with Herbert there is some confirmation in the 77th Sonnet, in which the poet seeks to advance his friend's mental adornments: the youth's mother is also affectionately mentioned in the third Sonnet. Support is given to the conjecture that it was at the desire of the Countess, that the invitations to marriage were penned from the circumstance of a plot having afterwards been formed, between the years 1599 and 1600, among the friends of the youth, to allure him into marriage with the niece of the Lord Admiral. They, however, overshot the mark. Rowland White, in recording this, says " My Lord Herbert is very well; I don't find any disposition at all in this gallant young lord to marry. These events, according to the Rev. Joseph Hunter's opinion, incited Shakespeare to write the Comedy of "Much Ado about Nothing;" and from internal evidence, and Sonnet reference, which he did not adduce, the supposition will be found conclusively proved, and it will be also seen that both the Comedy and the Sonnets originated in Shakespeare's perceiving the distaste Herbert evinced towards marriage, probably وو even before the youth's friends observed it, resolved to show him what may be the result of his folly, to this end produces those sprightly characters, Benedick and Beatrice, who have the same distaste towards wedlock, but become united at last; and as Herbert scorned a mortal mistress, the poet weds him, much to the youth's desire, to a divine one, his Muse. The result is, a poetical memorial is begotten of the poet's youthful and beautiful friend. The earliest reference to be found to Shakespeare's writing Sonnets is in Francis Meres' "Wit's Treasury" of 1598. We are there told that "mellifluous, honeytongued Shakespeare" had produced "sugared Sonnets," which were then in circulation among his his "private friends." It was therefore probably in the spring of this year that he commenced the Herbert series; and as Meres was intimately acquainted with Shakspeare, as one of the private friends, he may have been shown some of the earliest of these honied verses. Meres foresaw that they were but an overture to the concert which was to follow, and in his account of the dramatic and poetic labours of our poet, in the "Wit's Treasury," he concludes by announcing that some Sonnets of a private nature were in progress; and as he gives Shakespeare a full measure of praise, and in all available instances extols the Pembroke family, he may have seen the growing intimacy between our poet and his young patron, and rejoiced at the event. Meres in 1602 became rector of Wing, in Rutlandshire, and continued to hold it for the remainder of his life. 1646, in the eighty-first year of his age. He died there in At the date of his publishing the above-mentioned volume he resided in Southwark, near the Globe Playhouse. He was held in high repute for his learning, and styles himself "Master of Artes of both Universities." Even had he written his discourse "Of our English Poets" previous to 1598, the reference to work Shakespeare had in hand could well have been inserted at that date. The following is the passage in his "Wit's Treasury" to which reference is now made :-" As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweet witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous, honey-tongued Shakespeare: witness his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugared Sonnets among his private friends." Shakespeare, having commenced to write Sonnets, continued to pen them till about 1604, solely for his own. and friends' gratification. The poet seems to have kept copies of them himself. The Sonnets appeared in print in 1609, which was the year in which he is supposed to have left his London residence for his permanent abode at Stratford. They are evidently in their proper order, and arranged into two divisions; their combined number is one hundred and fifty-four. The first portion, almost the bulk of the series, contains one hundred and twenty-six, and are evidently addressed to one person, the "patron friend." The concluding twenty-eight appear to be addressed to a mistress. It will be shown that both these and the poem to the friend are pre-eminently parodies.* The title-page announces, in unusually large capitals, By a singular coincidence, the majestic classic parody upon Homer's heroes, "Troilus and Cressida," was also first published in that year, 1609. the contents of the volume as "Shakes-peare's Sonnets never before imprinted: At London by G. Eld for T. T., and are to be sold by William Apsley, 1609." On the following leaf is inscribed the dedication, of which the following is a copy : TO. THE. ONLIE. BEGGETTER. OF. THESE. INSUING. SONNETS. MR W. H. ALL. HAPPINESSE. BY. OUR. EVER.-LIVING. POET. WISHETH. THE. WELL. WISHING. ADVENTURER. IN. SETTING. FORTH. T. T.* A fitting dedication this to the enigmatical contents of the volume. From this it may be assumed that T. T., Thomas Thorpe,† the printer and publisher, received instructions from the poet himself, hence the result of this singularity. For either Shakespeare or Herbert to appear openly in the publication, would have been, from the contents of the volume containing so much mutual glorification, averse to the feelings of both the poet and patron. Upon such a proceeding hear the poet express himself in a passage from "Alls Well that Ends Well":— "Then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them." *T. T.'s reason for placing his initials alone upon the title-page and inscription appears to have been in humble imitation of W. H. + That T. T. was Thomas Thorpe is proved by an entry on the Stationers' Registers : "20 May, 1609. "Tho. Thorpe] a book called Shakespeare's Sonnets." And again in "Troilus and Cressida " "The worthiness of praise distains his worth, If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth." This mutual praise being at once both parody and truth impelled the poet to take this course. From the poems may be seen that they were intended for publication, and that too in the life-time of the friends they also reveal that the poet was neither ashamed of their merit as the sweetest extraction of his muse, or of the motives which inspired him to pen them. After repeated perusals, I gather from various hints that Shakespeare could not openly publish the friendship to the world, on account of the disgrace his profession cast upon him, at which he unceasingly and bitterly laments. Had they not been bosom friends, he could have openly dedicated to Lord Herbert, as he has done to Southampton: but the burden of the song being upon their private friendship forbade it. It also prevented the poet from entering into any panegyrics upon the young lord's ancestors or parents, since he undoubtedly would gladly have extolled that bright star of their coronet, Sir Philip Sidney, and his ever memorable sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke (to whom the "Arcadia" was dedicated as the "Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia "), and who was the mother of Shakespeare's dear friend. All this was denied the poet, since he had appeared upon the common stage, before the common people; and as a player was entered in the statutes as a rogue and a vagabond; a bar was thus placed between the two friends, to the infinite regret of both poet and patron. Returning to the dedication, that which has puzzled |