TO. THE. ONLIE. BEGETTER. OF. THESE. INSVING. SONNETS . M2 W. H.1 ALL. HAPPINESSE . AND. THAT. ETERNITIE. PROMISED. BY. OVR. EVER-LIVING. POET. WISHETH .2 THE. WELL-WISHING. ADVENTVRER. IN. SETTING. T. T.1 66 1 The onlie begetter... M? W. H.] "Begetter" seems to mean here "procurer," sc. of the manuscripts which Thomas] Thorpe], the adventurous publisher of the Sonnets, and the signatory of this dedication, was here printing. Beget" is constantly found in Elizabethan English in the sense of "procure" without any implication of "breed" or "generate." Cf. Lucrece, 1004-1005: "the thing... Begets him hate"; Hamlet, III, ii, 7: "acquire and beget a temperance"; Dekker's Satiromastix (1602):. "Some cousins-german at court shall beget you (i. e., procure for you) the reversion of the master of the King's revels." (Hawkins' "Origin of the English Drama," iii, 156.) M: W. H., "the begetter," doubtless a trade friend of the publisher, stood to the volume in much the same relation as John Bodenham, a well-known contemporary anthologist, stood to the collection of miscellaneous poetic extracts, which the stationer Hugh Astley published under the title of "Belvedere, or Garden of the Muses," in 1600. A preliminary dedicatory sonnet to Bodenham addresses him as "first causer and collectour of these floures," and in the colophon the publisher calls Bodenham the "gentleman who was the cause of this collection." In like sense Mr W. H., the publisher's trade friend, was the "causer" and the "cause" of Thorpe's volume. See Oxford facsimile of Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1609 (1905, Preface, p. 37). all happinesse. wisheth] This is a modification of a very common dedicatory formula of the day in which the words "all happiness" and "eternity" were invariably governed by the same inflection "wisheth" of the verb "wish." The poets habitually promised eternity to their patrons, and the dedicator here "wisheth" his friend, Mr W. H., "eternitie" no less grudgingly than Shakespeare “our everliving poet" offered his own friend (whose identity is not revealed) the promise of eternity in the sonnets which follow. • The well-wishing... forth] The benevolent speculator in this venture. “Adventurer in setting forth" is technical mercantile language which is often found in dedications penned by Elizabethan publishers. T. T.] Thomas Thorpe, a publisher in a small way of business, who owned the copyright in the poems contained in the Sonnets, Quarto of 1609. He is not otherwise associated with the ownership or publication of Shakespeare's writing. See Lee's Life of Shakespeare, Appendix V. SONNETS I creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abund- Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. 1, 1-4 From fairest creatures... his memory] The argument which is here initiated and is continued in the first seventeen sonnets that a human being of exceptional beauty owes it to the world to procreate children for the benefit of future ages is a common theme of Renaissance poetry, and is repeatedly found in the addresses of poets to young And only herald to the gaudy spring, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. II When forty winters shall besiege thy brow patrons. Erasmus seems to have set the fashion of the argument in his colloquy, Proci et Puellae (Of a suitor and a maiden). The plea is twice versified elaborately in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (bk. iii), firstly, in the talk between Cecropia and Philoclea and, secondly, in the addresses of the old dependant Geron to his master Prince Histor. In Guarini's Pastor Fido (1585) the old dependant Linco similarly addresses himself to his master, the hero Silvio (Act I). Shakespeare dealt with the theme in Venus and Adonis thrice (129–132, 162–174, 751– 768), as well as in Rom. and Jul., I, i, 213-218. See also Mids. N. Dr., I, i, 76–78; All's Well, I, i, 117 seq.; and Tw. Night, I, v, 225–227. 5 contracted] betrothed; a common usage. Cf. 1 Hen. IV, IV, ii, 16: "contracted bachelors." So infra, lvi, 10. 6 Feed'st... self-substantial fuel] Feedest the brilliance of thy eyes with fuel of thine own substance, i. e., sight of thyself. 10 only herald ... spring] first blossom promising the bright coloured spring. 11 thy content] what is contained in thee, thy individuality. 12 makest waste in niggarding] Cf. Rom. and Jul., I, i, 215–216: “BEN. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste? ROM. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste." 13-14 this glutton be . . . and thee] play the part of the glutton (who absorbs more than is necessary for his sustenance) by wilfully consuming the progeny which you owe the world, in virtue of the two facts that the grave will in due time claim thee, and that thy personal beauty, which deserves to live, must perish if thou diest childless. 11, 2 dig deep trenches . . . field] Cf. Tit. Andr., V, ii, 23: “Witness these trenches made by grief and care." 10 Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now, This were to be new made when thou art old, III Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest 4 a tatter'd weed] a ragged garment. The 1609 Quarto reads totter'd for tatter'd; so again xxvi, 11, infra. 8 thriftless] profitless, useless. 11 Shall sum . . . old excuse] Shall give full account of me, and offer excuse for, or justify, my age. Cf. for the whole context Sidney's Arcadia (bk. iii, 1674 ed., p. 403): "Riches of children pass a prince's throne, Which touch the father's heart with secret joy, When without shame he saith "These be mine own."" III, 5–6 whose unear'd womb... husbandry] Cf. Meas. for Meas., I, iv, 43– 44: "her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry." "Unear'd" is unploughed or untilled. 10 And only herald to the gaudy spring, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. II When forty winters shall besiege thy brow patrons. Erasmus seems to have set the fashion of the argument in his colloquy, Proci et Puellae (Of a suitor and a maiden). The plea is twice versified elaborately in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (bk. iii), firstly, in the talk between Cecropia and Philoclea and, secondly, in the addresses of the old dependant Geron to his master Prince Histor. In Guarini's Pastor Fido (1585) the old dependant Linco similarly addresses himself to his master, the hero Silvio (Act I). Shakespeare dealt with the theme in Venus and Adonis thrice (129–132, 162–174, 751– 768), as well as in Rom. and Jul., I, i, 213–218. See also Mids. N. Dr., I, i, 76–78; All's Well, I, i, 117 seq.; and Tw. Night, I, v, 225–227. 5 contracted] betrothed; a common usage. Cf. 1 Hen. IV, IV, ii, 16: "contracted bachelors." So infra, lvi, 10. 6 Feed'st... self-substantial fuel] Feedest the brilliance of thy eyes with fuel of thine own substance, i. e., sight of thyself. 10 only herald... spring] first blossom promising the bright coloured spring. 11 thy content] what is contained in thee, thy individuality. 12 makest waste in niggarding] Cf. Rom. and Jul., I, i, 215-216: "BEN. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste? ROM. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste." 13-14 this glutton be... and thee] play the part of the glutton (who absorbs more than is necessary for his sustenance) by wilfully consuming the progeny which you owe the world, in virtue of the two facts that the grave will in due time claim thee, and that thy personal beauty, which deserves to live, must perish if thou diest childless. 1, 2 dig deep trenches . . . field] Cf. Tit. Andr., V, ii, 23: “Witness these trenches made by grief and care." 10 |