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THE SONNETS:

NOTICES AND COMMENTS.

'As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras: so the sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous & hony-tongued Shakespeare, witnes his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends.' Thus wrote Francis Meres, Master of Arts of both Universities, in his work entitled 'Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury, being the Second Part of Wits Commonwealth,' published in the year 1598.

This is the earliest notice we have of Shakspeare's Sonnets, and it supplies us with an important startingpoint. From the information given by Meres, we learn that in the year 1598, the sonnets of Shakspeare were sufficiently known and sufficiently numerous to warrant public recognition on the part of a writer, who is remarkable for his compressed brevity; well known enough in certain circles for the critic to class them with Shakspeare's published poems. That the sonnets spoken of by Meres are to a large extent those which have come down to us, cannot be doubted, save, in desperation, by the supporters of an unsound theory. Thus, according to Francis Meres, in 1598, Shakspeare had made the 'private friends' for whom he was composing his sonnets, and if the sonnets be the same, the private friendship publicly

recognised, must include that which is so warmly celebrated in the earliest numbers.

Further, the title to Thorpe's Collection, printed in 1609, reads with an echo to the words of Meres'Shakspeare's Sonnets, never before Imprinted," though so often spoken of, and so long known to exist in MS. An understanding on the subject is implied in the familiarity of phrase. The inscriber appears to say, 'You have heard a great deal about the "Sugred Sonnets," mentioned by the critic, as circulating amongst the poet's private friends; I have the honour to set them forth for the public.'

The sonnets were published in 1609,2 with this inscription:

TO. THE. ONLIE. BEGETTER. OF.

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The book is inscribed by Thomas Thorpe, a well-known publisher of the time, who was himself a dabbler in

1 Hence the title to the present work.

2 According to the following technical account, 'SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS. Neuer before Imprinted. At London by G. Eld for T. T. and are to be solde by William Aspley. 1609.' 4°. Collation. Title, one leaf; Inscription, one leaf; the Sonnets, etc. B to K in fours, and L 2 leaves=40 leaves. In some copies, for William Aspley we have Iohn Wright, dwelling at Christchurch gate. 1609. The sonnets commence on B 1 recto and end on K 1 recto, with FINIS. Then comes, without any advertisement, A Louers complaint by William Shake-speare. It extends from K 1 verso to L 2 verso, with a second FINIS. The sonnets are numbered 1-154, but have neither addresses nor any indication of the subjects. The Louers complaint is a poem in 47 seven-line stanzas.

VARIOUS EDITIONS.

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literature. He edited a posthumous work of Marlowe's, and was the publisher of plays, by Marston, Jonson, Chapman, and others. Shakspeare makes no sign of assent to the publication; whereas he prefaced his 'Venus and Adonis' with dedication and motto; the 'Lucrece' with dedication and argument.

We shall see and say more of Thorpe and his Inscription, by-and-by; for the time being I am only giving a brief account of the sonnets, and the opinions respecting them, up to the present day. After they were printed by Thorpe in 1609, we hear no more of them for thirty-one years. In 1640 appeared a new edition, with an arrangement totally different from the original one. This was published as 'Poems written by Wil. Shakspeare, Gent. Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, and are to be sold by John Benson.' In this arrangement, we find many of the pieces printed in the 'Passionate Pilgrim,' mixed up with the sonnets, and the whole of them have titles which are chiefly given to little groups. Sonnets 18, 19, 43, 56, 75, 76, 96, 126, are missing from the second edition. This publication of the sonnets as poems on distinct subjects shows, to some extent, how they were looked upon by the readers of the time. The arranger, in supplying his titles, would be following a feeling and answering a want. Any personal application of them was very far from his thoughts. Sonnets 88, 89, 90, and 91, are entitled 'A Request to his Scornful Love.' 109 and 110, are called 'A Lover's excuse for his long Absence.' Sonnet 122, Upon the Receipt of a Table Book from his Mistress;' and 125, An Entreaty for her Acceptance.' The greater part of the titles however are general, and only attempt to characterise the sentiment.

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In the editions that followed the two first, sometimes the one order prevailed, sometimes the other. Lintot's, published in 1709, adhered to the arrangement of

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