CHAPTER VIII. THE DARK LADY. As the first series of Sonnets (1 to 126) is mainly occupied with a young male friend of Shakespeare's, and with the relations subsisting between this friend and the poet, so the second series (127 to 152) is chiefly concerned with a certain dark lady, between whom and Shakespeare there was evidently a very close intimacy. This lady was a brunette of strongly marked type, destitute of the characteristics of beauty most highly valued in Shakespeare's time. The poet could note in her " a thousand errors: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks." She had not even-so it would seem-the charm of a soft and melodious voice : : "I love to hear her speak,-yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound" (130). She was, moreover, of blemished character. She could not be satisfied with the attentions of the poet, though she professed fidelity (137, 138, 152). Yet to Shakespeare her looks were "pretty looks" (139); and he could disregard even the blackness of her deeds (131). Though she was abhorred by others (150), her attraction was to him so irre sistible as to overpower both his eyes and his reason. He became mad with love : "My thoughts and my discourse as mad men's are At random from the truth vainly express'd; For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, What, then, was the cause of her thus dominating over "O, from what power hast thou this powerful might, With insufficiency my heart to sway?" "Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill?" (150). Some answer is afforded by the repeated mention of the lady's raven-black, quick-glancing eyes (127, 139). Shakespeare loved those eyes :- "Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, As those two mourning eyes become thy face" (132). Then, again, Shakespeare evidently loved music; and she was skilled in touching the virginal. He was spell-bound as he listened to "the wiry concord," and saw the "jacks" dance and leap, swayed by her gentle fingers (128). She was a woman of quick wit, and she had full command of her powers. She could woo without causing disgust, or so use disdain as to quicken desire. Thus, such was her tact and "warrantise of skill" (150), that she knew well, not only how to ensnare, but how to retain the prize she had won. Probably to such endowments she added superior social rank. This may be implied in her skill as a player on the virginal. It is not at all likely that such an accomplishment, in the time of Elizabeth, would be so common رد as the pianoforte-playing of our own days. A conclusion similar to that drawn from her musical skill may be inferred also from her soft and tender hands (128). And it is in accordance with other indications that Shakespeare speaks of her as his “triumphant prize" and himself as "proud of this pride" (151). 66 Here, however, the question may suggest itself, Is it possible to identify the dark lady of the Sonnets with any person otherwise known? Identifying Shakespeare's friend Mr. W. H. with William Herbert, we must come to the conclusion that William Herbert had amatory relations with the dark lady. Contemporary notices already cited show that he had amatory relations with Mrs. Mary Fitton. This fact may make it not incredible that the one is to be identified with the other. There is certainly a remarkable similarity of characteristics. In both we may see strong passions conjoined with an imperious, masterful will. The dark lady of the Sonnets has been compared with Cleopatra, Thus Professor Dowden :- May we dare to conjecture that Cleopatra, queen and courtesan, black from Phoebus' amorous pinches,' a 'lass unparalleled,' has some kinship through the imagination with the dark lady of the virginal?" And the queenly, commanding qualities of Mrs. Fitton are not to be mistaken. Her character, in its "strength," (150, line 7) resembles that of her royal mistress, who declared, "I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too." She could, as we learn from Mrs. Martin (supra, p. 57), tuck up her clothes, take off her head-dress, and, attired in a large white cloak. march off as though she had been a man," to meet the Earl of Pembroke outside the Court. It is in accordance with Mrs. Martin's description that Mrs. Fitton takes the lead in the masque and dance at Blackfriars, and that she it is who asks Elizabeth to dance, telling the Queen that her name is "Affection." That a lady endowed with characteristics such as those of Mrs. Fitton should become notorious is what 66 we might expect; and this notoriety is probably implied in the designation 'used in connection with Mrs. Martin's testimony, "that Mrs. Fytton." It seems certainly also implied in Tobie Matthew's description of her as "his cause," that is, the cause of Pembroke's getting into trouble (supra, p. 57), without any further indication of the person intended. This description, "his cause," is entirely in accordance with what is said in the Sonnets concerning the dark lady's conduct to both the poet and his young friend. With regard to the latter, she is described as "wooing" him (41, 144), and as "running after him." "So run'st thou after that which flies from thee" (143, line 9). And Shakespeare tells the dark lady that it would be unwise for her to say anything about his "amiss" lest he should be tempted to show that her "sweet self" was guilty of his "faults," and that she had betrayed him into sin (151). Shakespeare's "amiss" and his being "forsworn" (152) resulted, we may presume, from his having already a wife, who was living probably at Stratford-on-Avon. We are not able to connect Mrs. Fitton personally with Shakespeare by proof as direct as that which, in the case of Herbert, is furnished by the Dedication of the First Folio. The Rev. W. A. Harrison, however, some time ago called attention to evidence which brings Mrs. Fitton into connection with a member of Shakespeare's company, that is, the Lord Chamberlain's company, leaving it to be easily inferred that she must have been acquainted with the members of the company generally, and especially with such as were more prominent.1 In 1600 William Kemp, the clown in the company, dedicated his Nine daies wonder to "Mistris Anne Fitton, Mayde of Honour to most sacred Mayde, Royal Queene Elizabeth." The book gives an account of a journey which Kemp had performed, morrisdancing, from London to Norwich. As Dyce maintained, 1 Academy, July 5, 1884. |