Idea in 1599, Drayton must have had an acquaintance with some portion of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Such acquaintance is not discernible in the edition of 1594; and, in accordance with what has been previously said, this fact is of great importance in order to our reaching a just conclusion. as to whether Drayton was or was not indebted to Shakespeare. As several of Shakespeare's Sonnets which have been mentioned did not appear in print till 1609, it follows that, if Drayton had seen them at all, he must have seen them in manuscript. A circulation in this form is pretty evidently implied in what Meres says of Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his priuate friends;" and we may make a similar inference also from Jaggard's getting hold of two of the Sonnets for his Passionate Pilgrim.1

But if Drayton was indebted to Shakespeare, a question of some importance suggests itself as to how far this fact is in accordance with chronological conclusions set forth in preceding pages. To this question I may reply that I can detect no allusion to the Sonnets 100 to 126, placed above in 1601. The allusions and analogies are concerned only with those of 1598 and 1599.2 The latest Sonnet with which we have supposed Drayton to have been acquainted is the 81st; and it is possible that this Sonnet may have been written in 1598 (according to the reckoning of the time). But there are apparently no indications which would enable us to determine this point with precision. It is sufficient if we regard Drayton's allusions as being to Sonnets of 1598 or 1599.

How Shakespeare viewed the use made of his work by Drayton we do not know; but it may be supposed not unlikely that he regarded it with magnanimous indifference.

1 The circulation of works in MS. in Elizabethan times is tolerably well known, but the following example from Newman's Dedication to Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591) is apposite :-" Where as being spred abroade in written Coppies, it had gathered much corruption by ill Writers."

2 Of 141, mentioned above, it is impossible to determine the year.

Perhaps this is to be inferred from the fact that the resemblances did not disappear in later editions of the Idea. On the contrary, it would rather seem that further suggestion was subsequently derived from the same source; and Drayton, moreover, does not appear to have been deterred from afterwards borrowing in his Nymphidia from the description of Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet,1 and, in his Barons' Wars, from the character of Brutus as described by Antony in Julius Cæsar.2 In the latter case this occurred previously to the publication of Julius Caesar in the Folio of 1623. It is, moreover, remarkable and confirmatory of the view just given that already in 1598 Drayton was regarded as a copier or imitator, not to say plagiarist. This appears from the following lines of Edward Guilpin in his Skialetheia (Satyre vi. p. 64, Grosart's reprint) :

"Drayton's condemned of some for imitation,

But others say 'twas the best Poets fashion."

There is another fact, also, with regard to Drayton, of no small importance for our chronology. Although, as above stated, Idea, with its quasi-Shakespearian insertions, was added to England's Heroicall Epistles in 1599, Drayton had in 1598 published an edition of the Epistles without Idea. We have thus grounds for thinking that Drayton had given his Sonnets their Shakespearian colouring during the interval. And this view is entirely in accordance with the date which has been assigned to the commencement of Shakespeare's Sonnets and to the composition of the earlier portion.

1 Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature (ed. Carruthers), vol. i. p. 91.

2 Collier's Introduction to Poems of Drayton, p. xlviii.

CHAPTER VII.

WILLIAM HERBERT.

THE chronological results we have attained place us in a position of advantage for determining the question, Who was "Mr. W. H."? The only answer, of any probability on other grounds, which has been given to this question identifies Mr. W. H. with William Herbert, who became Earl of Pembroke on the death of his father in the January of 1601 (according to our reckoning). To William Herbert, together with his brother Philip, "the most noble and incomparable paire of brethren," was dedicated the First Folio edition of Shakespeare's Plays in 1623, by Shakespeare's friends and fellows, Heminge and Condell. The personal acquaintance with Shakespeare of the noblemen just mentioned is clearly implied when it is said that they had "prosequnted" both the Plays "and their Authour liuing with so much fauour." That "Mr. W. H." should thus be William Herbert is a suggestion lying so ready to hand, that it is almost surprising that no one should seem to have thought of it before the days of Bright (1819) and Boaden (1832).

William Herbert was born on April 8, 1580, and thus he completed his eighteenth year in 1598. It was in the spring of the year just named that, according to Rowland Whyte (Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 43), William Herbert was to commence residing permanently in London.1 Here,

1 "My Lord Harbart hath with much adoe brought his Father to consent that he may liue at London, yet not before the next Springe." And about a week later, April 27, 1597, Whyte again speaks of Herbert's coming to London "next spring," that is, if "Leiden" is a misprint for "London."

however, it must be observed that a fact in Herbert's history of great importance with regard to the Sonnets was discovered in 1884 by the Rev. W. A. Harrison. The fact to which I allude removes pretty completely the difficulty with regard to Shakespeare's urging marriage so strongly on a youth of eighteen (Sonnets 1 to 17). From letters preserved in the Record Office it appears that in 1597 the parents of William Herbert were engaged in negotiations for his marriage to Bridget Vere, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, and granddaughter of the great Lord Burleigh. The year 1597, it will be observed, was the year preceding that in which our chronology places the commencement of the Sonnets. Both the Earl and Countess of Pembroke wrote to Lord Burleigh on August 16, 1597, expressing their satisfaction at the intended match. William Herbert, it would seem, had had an agreeable meeting with the young lady (a damsel of thirteen); and the Countess finds that her son's feelings accord with her own wishes.1 She hopes the affection is reciprocated. A fortnight later (September 3, 1597), it appears, from a letter of Lord Pembroke's to Burleigh, that two chief difficulties had arisen: first, a doubt as to whether the young lady would be bound by a marriage contracted at so early an age; and, secondly, as to where the young lady should live while William Herbert was travelling as intended.2 William Herbert is, however, to come

1 She says, "So far foorth I find my sonns best lykeing affection and resolution to answere my desire heerein as if the late interview have mutually wrought it is suffisient." Her husband, in his letter of the same date (August 16), says, with reference to the matter, "I am not a little glad of that which I heare;" from which it would seem likely that the Countess was the prime mover in the affair.

2 Lord Pembroke writes from Wilton at the date named: "My good L. My servant Massinger hath delivered unto me yore Lps most kinde letters; and further acquainted me wth such matters concerning th'intended marriage between myne eldest sonne and the lady Brigett, wch it pleased yor LP to impart vnto him. First, that yore daughter was but thirteen yeares of age at Ester last, & that yore LP therefore rested doubtfull whether

up to town at the beginning of Parliament (Parliament met in October), and to make arrangements. On September 8 the Earl of Oxford, the father of the young lady, expresses his approval of the match, and says that the young gentleman has good parts, and has been well brought up. He thinks that Lord Pembroke, on account of his state of health,

a marriage would binde her now in like manner as it did my sonne. Second, whether shee should in the time of my sonnes trauell remayn wth yore LP or wth my wife. Thirdly, that for perfecting of conueyaunces between vs yore LP made choice of Justice Owen to ioine wth Baron Ewens whom I had named for my selfe. Lastly, that if I would come vp to the parlament, you conceaved this matter might then be concluded with the more conveniency. ffor the first: I haue often heard it from Lawiers, that after a woman hath atteyned twelve yeares of a[ge] shee is by law enabled to consent, & to be bound by marriage, yf t[his] be true (as yore Lp may therin be soon informed) then the marriage wth yore daughter may lawfully proceed at these her yeares; and shee [therby] shall be no lesse bound then my sonne, yet their continuance together may be differred in respect of their yeares, untill yore LP shall thinke good. as I willed Massinger heertofore to let you vnderstand that for prevent[ing] of many inconveniences I preferred a marriage before a contract; so I now doe (& still shall) remayne of the same mynde vnless yore LP shew me reason t[o] the contrary. For the second; thinke it most convenient (yf yore LP mislike it not) that after the marriage is solemnized & my sonne gonne to travell, yore daughter should remayne wth my wife, whose care of h[er] shall answere the nearness whereby she shall then be linked vnto her. For the third; I doe very well like of Justice Owen to be ioyned wth Baron Ewens; & I doubt not but through their good care and travell all thinges shall be concluded to our contentmentes. for the fouerth; such is the present state of my body that I cannot come to this parlament wthout extreme perrill to my health, as Massinger can more particularly informe you. And that your LP may know that my presence for this priuat business is not of necessity; I first assuer you that I will make a jointure proportionable to that wch I shall finde yore LP will geeue in marriage wth yore daughter. Secondly, I seeke not by this match to inrich my selfe or to advaunce myne younger children. for what soever yore Lp will geeue I am contented that the young coople presently haue; yea & for their more honorable maintenance, I will increase the same wth as great an yearly allowance out of myne owne liuing, as (considering myne estate & course of life) I may conueniently spare. Thirdly, vpon hearing from yore Lp now by my seruant, I will so instruct & authorize Baron Ew[ens] (whom I have sent for to come vnto me) that myne absence shall be no hinderance to the matter. Lastly, my sonne him selfe at the beginning of the parlament