I very probably in a more intermittent manner. am very strongly of the opinion, however, that only a portion of the Sonnets to the "dark lady" have survived, and that many even of the series to the patron have been lost. At some future date I hope to attempt a rearrangement of the whole series. It will be a comparatively easy matter to replace single Sonnets in their true contexts, but the chronological placing of misplaced groups may be done only inferentially. The theory which I am here evolving, and which will develop more clearly in the next and later chapters, will, however, throw much new light on this problem. CHAPTER IV. THE PATRON, AND THE RIVAL POET OF THE SONNETS. We have no record that any other noblemen than Pembroke, his brother Montgomery, and Southampton, ever gave what might be called patronage" to Shakespeare. The dedications to "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucrece" plainly prove that Southampton showed him such favor in the years 1593 and 1594. From a passage in Hemminge and Condell's dedication of the first folio of Shakespeare's plays, “To the most noble and incomparable paire of brethren, William, Earle of Pembroke and Philip, Earle of Montgomery," we may infer that these noblemen, at some period, gave their countenance to our poet. The passage to which I refer reads: "But since your lordships have beene pleas'd to thinke these trifles some-thing, heeretofore; and have prosequted both them, and their Author living, with so much favour: we hope, that (they out-living him, and he not having the fate, common with some, to be exequutor to his own writings) you will use the like indulgence toward them, you have done unto their parent." 50 At the age of eighteen, and in the year 1598, Pembroke first came to Court. As I shall give fairly conclusive proof that the first seventeen Sonnets, wherein the poet urges his young friend and patron to marry, were written previous to 1595, it may be taken for granted that a youth of fourteen was not addressd. If any of the Sonnets can be proved to have been written very near the same time as "Lucrece," Southampton must necessarily be considered the patron and friend addressed in these Sonnets, when the dedication to "Lucrece" is born in mind. The dedication to "Lucrece " reads: "The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end, whereof this pamphlet without beginning is a superfluous moiety. The warrant I have of your honourable disposition, not the worth of my untutored lines, makes it assured of your acceptance. What I have done is yours, what I have to do is yours, being part in all I have devoted yours; were my worth greater my duty would show greater, meantime as it is, it is bound to your lordship, to whom I wish long life still lengthened with all happiness. "Your lordship's in all duty, "WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE." This dedication was prefixed to "Lucrece" and published with it in 1594. In the light of the words, "What I have done is yours, what I have to do is yours, being part in all I have devoted yours," and, if we would credit Shakespeare with even a shred of sincerity, we must admit that the early Sonnets, if they can be proven to have been produced in 1594 or 1595, must also have been addressed to Southampton. If, then, it be admitted that Sonnets written in these years are addressed to Southampton, the later Sonnets of the patron series, 100 to 125, must necessarily be addressed to the same person when we consider their internal evidence. For instance: 66 66 SONNET 102. Our love was new, and then but in the spring, When I was wont to greet it with my lays," etc. SONNET 103. For to no other pass my verses tend Than of your graces and your gifts to tell." SONNET 104. "To me, fair friend, you never can be old, For as you were when first your eye I eyed. Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold Have from the forests shook three summers' pride, Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd In process of the seasons have I seen, Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green," etc. SONNET 105. "Let not my love be call'd idolatry, Nor my beloved as an idol show, Since all alike my songs and praises be SONNET 108. "What's in the brain that ink may character etc. These extracts prove very clearly that the Sonnets from which they are taken were written to the same person to whom the earlier Sonnets were addressed. In order to approximate the dates for the production of the Sonnets, and admitting that Southampton was the patron addressed, it is necessary to consider the earlier dedications of "Venus and Adonis" and 'Lucrece" to this nobleman. In 1593 the first fruits of Shakespeare's pen were given to the world. No atom of proof exists to show that, previous to the publication of "Venus and Adonis," Shakespeare had done any serious literary work. He was known as an actor, and it is true, as an actor who had taken upon himself to revamp the literary work of others, thereby calling |