the remaining 28 into 17 groups. A prose paraphraseoften really helpful-of each sonnet is given. H. W. HUDSON. [Shakespeare, his Life, Art, and Character. Boston, 1872. The Sonnets punning on the name Will were addressed to Anne Hathaway; so also were XCVII.-XCIX.; so also a third cluster of nine, which includes cx., CXI., CXVII. "It will take more than has yet appeared to convince me that when the poet wrote these and other similar lines his thoughts were travelling anywhere but home to the bride of his youth and mother of his children."” F. KREYSSIG. [(i.) Vorlesungen über Shakespeare (2nd ed. 1874. Vol. i. p. 121.) (ii.) Many of the Sonnets (as those concerning love and jealousy) are personal, deep in feeling, dealing with real persons and incidents. Some of the Sonnets are light poetical exercises in the fashion of the time. Some deal with moral questions of a general kind, suggested by Shakspere's real experience.1 1 W. König (Shakespeare als Dichter, Weltweiser und Christ. Leipzig, 1873. pp. 234-245) takes a similar view of the Sonnets. I regret that I have not seen Kreyssig's articles in the Preussiche Jahrbücher, which, I doubt not, are excellent. " R. GRANT WHITE. [The Works of William Shakespeare. Edited by Richard Grant White. Boston, 1872. Sonnets (in vol. i. pp. 145-237).] 66 Begetter" in the Dedication, which is not written in the common phraseology of the period, and is throughout a piece of elaborate quaintness, means procurer. Five of the Sonnets-LXXX., CXXXIII., LXXXV., LXXXVI., and CXXI.—were written to be presented to some lady who had verses addressed to her by at least one other person than the supposed writer of these. The first seventeen sonnets may have been written at the request of a doting mother, who wished to persuade a handsome wayward son into an early marriage. "I hazard this conjecture with little confidence." DR. INGLEBY. On June 25, 1873, Dr. Ingleby read a paper before the Royal Society of Literature, maintaining that the "onlie begetter" of Thorpe's dedication means sole author, and that Mr. W. H. is a misprint for Mr. W. S., ¿.e., William Shakspere. (This is also the view of Mr. E. A. Brae.) PROF. MINTO. [Characteristics of English Poets from Chaucer to Shirley. By William Minto, M.A. (Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London. 1874), pp. 275-292. William Shakespeare-Sonnets.] Sonnets CXXVII.-CLII. are "exercises of skill, undertaken in a spirit of wanton defiance and derision of commonplace." The only sonnet of the series inconsistent with this theory is CXLVI., which is unequivocally serious. Shakespeare having taken up the relation between a lover and a courtesan originally in wanton humorous defiance of somewhat lackadaisical effusions, his dramatic instinct could not be restrained from pursuing the relationship farther into more serious aspects. 66 Sonnets I.-CXXVI. tell of a real friendship; there is a sequence in them; they treat of consecutive themes. Mr. W. H. was Shakespeare's friend and patron; a bookseller would not have dared to divert the poet's promise of immortality from a person of rank; no blind was intended in the dedication; it pointed to William Herbert. "Thy mother's glass" (3rd Sonnet), a reference to the Countess of Pembroke, famous for her beauty and talents. 107th Sonnet refers to the death of Elizabeth; 104th to the three years since Shakespeare first met his friend. Pembroke came to London in 1598, a youth of eighteen. Perhaps the "gaudy spring" of Sonnet I. was the accession of James I. The rival poet was Chapman—“ a man of overpowering enthusiasm, ever eager in magnifying poetry, and advancing fervent claims to supernatural inspiration." His chief patron, Sir F. Walsingham, was connected with Pembroke, being father-in-law of Sidney, Pembroke's uncle. DR. ULRICI. [Shakspeare's Dramatic Art. Translated from the third edition of the German (1874), by L. Dora Schmitz. 1876. Vol. i. pp. 206-217.] Ulrici believes that the Sonnets refer to real persons and incidents. He strenuously opposes "the vagaries of Neil and Massey." 1 The same conclusion was independently arrived at by my friend Mr. Harold Littledale. F. G. FLEAY. [On the Motive of Shakspere's Sonnets (1-125), a Defence of his Morality (Macmillan's Magazine, March, 1875).] The Sonnets I.-cxxv. form a complete poem, written on a single subject. This is indicated by the placing of the six couplets called Sonnet CXXVI. at the end. We have no right to disturb the original arrangement; they were addressed to a youth by Shakspere in his own person. The "shame" which Shakspere speaks of as attaching to him is the feeling produced by unfavourable critical opinions of his productions. (See Sonnets CXII., LXXII., XCV., LXI.). The "idle hours" of Sonnet LXI. are the "idle hours" of the dedication to Venus and Adonis, and the Earl of Southampton was Mr. W. H. The "absence," "journey," "travel," spoken of in the Sonnets is the separation between Southampton and Shakspere, caused by the metaphorical unfaithfulness of the latter to the former in producing, not poems dedicated to him, but only dramas destined for the multitude. Shakspere writes under the allegory of the marriage of poet and patron. The "jade," "horse," or "beast," idden by Shakspere (Sonnets L., LI.), is Pegasus.1 Shakspere's "travelling" means "strolling" as a player. The date of the Sonnets is 1593-1596; the Lord Chamberlain's company was (Mr. Fleay believes) strolling during 1594, 1595, 1596. Southampton forsakes Shakspere by accepting dedications from a rival poet, Nash. Shakspere's lameness (Sonnet LXXXIX.) is the lameness of his verses; the "proud full sail of his (Nash's) great verse (Sonnet 1 Can anything surpass this?—unless it be Mr. Fleay's later suggestion about the rose and the lily. LXXXVI.), refers ironically to a prosaic Sonnet by Nash in Pierce Pennilesse, accompanying a complaint that Amyntas' (? Southampton's) name is omitted in the Sonnet Catalogue of English heroes appended to Spenser's Fairy Queen; for in this paragraph Nash uses the words "full sail." The "affable familiar ghost" (Sonnet LXXXVI.) may be compared with Pierce Pennilesse, p. 80 (Sh. Society's ed.), on spirits "called spies and tale-carriers;" but probably it means only "malicious interpretation." There are so many allusions to Southampton as a rose, that probably the Rose Theatre is alluded to under a figure. The allusions to lilies probably refer to John Lyly. The two poets, Lyly and Nash, are ironically set up in opposition to the "rose" Southampton. The "brand" set on Shakspere's name (Sonnet CXI.) is that set by satire or adverse criticism on his writings. 66 Shakspere had promised, 1593, to dedicate all his poems to Southampton. On the reopening of the theatres, December, 1593, or 1594, he returned to the stage, strolling" with the company. Southampton remonstrated; Shakspere wrote these Sonnets (I.-CXXVI.) as á defence of his conduct. The woman of Sonnets XL.-XLII. is Shakspere's Muse. A short abstract of the contents of the Sonnets I.-CXXVI., as understood by Mr. Fleay, is given. PROF. KARL ELZE. [William Shakespeare. Halle, 1876. pp. 369-380 and pp. 493-505.] "Begetter" in Thorpe's dedication means "procurer" for the publisher. Perhaps Mr. W. H. was, as Neil |