That you were once unkind, befriends me now, But that your trespass now becomes a fee; Mine ransoms yours, and yours must ransom me.-120. II. We have thus selected all the Sonnets, or stanzas, that appear to have reference to the subject of love,-whether those which express the light playfulness of affection, the abiding confidence, the distracting doubts, the reproaches for pride or neglect, the fierce jealousies, the complaints that another is preferred. Much of this may be real, much merely dramatic. But it appears to us that it would have been quite impossible to have maintained that these fragments relate to a particular incident of the poet's life-the indulgence of an illicit love, with which the equally illicit attach ment of a youthful friend interfered—unless there had been a forced association of the whole series of Sonnets with that youthful friend to whom the first seventeen Sonnets are clearly addressed. Mr. Brown groups the Sonnets from the 27th to the 55th as the "Second Poem," which he entitles, 'To his Friend-who had robbed him of his mistress-forgiving him.' Now, literally, the Sonnets we have already given, the 33rd, 34th, 35th, 40th, 41st, and 42nd, are all that within these limits can be held to have reference to such a subject. The 27th and 28th Sonnets have not the slightest allusion to this supposed injury; and we shall presently endeavour to show that they have been wrested from their proper place. The 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd are Sonnets of the most confiding friendship, full of the simplest, and therefore the deepest pathos, and which we have no hesitation in classing amongst those which are strictly personal-those to which the lines of Wordsworth apply: "Scorn not the Sonnet: Critic, you have frown'd Mindless of its just honours. With this key The following exquisite lines are familiar to most poetical students: When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, ILLUSTRATION OF THE SONNETS. Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remember'd, such wealth brings, When to the sessions of sweet silent thought And with old woes new wail my dear times' waste: But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts, Who all their parts of me to thee did give; That due of many now is thine alone: Their images I lov'd I view in thee, And thou (all they) hast all the all of me.-31. If thou survive my well-contented day, When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover, A dearer birth than this his love had brought, To march in ranks of better equipage: But since he died, and poets better prove, Theirs for their style I 'll read, his for his love.-32. Immediately succeeding these are the three stanzas we have already quoted, in which the poet is held to accuse his friend of having robbed him of his mistress. In these stanzas the friend is spoken of in connexion with a "sensual fault,” a trespass," &c. But in those which follow, the "bewailed guilt" belongs to the poetthe "worth and truth" to his friend. Surely these are not continuous. In the 36th, 37th, 38th, and 39th Sonnets, we have the expression of that deep humility which may be traced through many of these remarkable compositions, and of which we find the first sound in the 29th Sonnet : Let me confess that we two must be twain, Sc shall those blots that do with me remain, I may not evermore acknowledge thee, But do not so; I love thee in such sort, As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report.-36. As a decrepit father takes delight To see his active child do deeds of youth, So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite, So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis'd, Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give, And by a part of all thy glory live. Look what is best, that best I wish in thee; This wish I have; then ten times happy me!-37. How can my muse want subject to invent, While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse For every vulgar paper to rehearse? O, give thyself the thanks, if aught in me If my slight muse do please these curious days, O, how thy worth with manners may I sing, P What can mine own praise to mine own self bring? And our dear love lose name of single one, That due to thee which thou deserv'st alone. And that thou teachest how to make one twain, By praising him here, who doth hence remain !-39. The 40th, 41st, and 42nd Sonnets return to the complaint of his friend's faithlessness. Surely, then, the Sonnets we have just quoted must be interpolated. The 43rd is entirely isolated from what precedes and what follows. But in the 39th we have allusions to "separation" and "absence;" and in the 44th we return to the subject of "injurious distance." With some alterations of arrangement we can group nine Sonnets together, which form a connected epistle to an absent friend, and which convey those sentiments of real affection which can only be adequately transmitted in language and imagery possessing, as these portions do, the charm of nature and simplicity. The tone of truth and reality is remarkably contrasted with those artificial passages which have imparted their character to the whole series in the estimation of many : How heavy do I journey on the way, When what I seek,-my weary travel's end,— "Thus far the miles are measur'd from thy friend!" Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me, As if by some instinct the wretch did know His rider lov'd not speed, being made from thee: For that same groan doth put this in my mind, Thus can my love excuse the slow offence Of my dull bearer, when from thee I speed: From where thou art why should I haste me thence? Till I return, of posting is no need. O, what excuse will my poor beast then find, When swift extremity can seem but slow? Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind; In winged speed no motion shall I know : So am I as the rich, whose blessed key So is the time that keeps you as my chest, Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope, Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, To work my mind, when body's work 's expir'd: And keep my drooping eyelids open wide, Save that my soul's imaginary sight Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new How can I then return in happy plight, I tell the day, to please him, thou art bright, And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night; When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even. But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer, And night doth nightly make grief's length seem stronger.-28. Is it thy will thy image should keep open My heavy eyelids to the weary night? Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken, While shadows, like to thee, do mock my sight? Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee So far from home, into my deeds to pry; To find out shames and idle hours in me, |