genealogy to which Lord De Tabley refers. For the present, however, it appears safest to reverse the order given by Ormerod, and to take Lougher as the second husband and Polwhele as the first, though this course is certainly not free from difficulty.

The date of Mrs. Fitton's marriage with Captain or Mr. Polwhele can be ascertained with sufficient accuracy. The will of Mrs. Fitton's father is dated 4 March 1604 [1605], and in it he bequeaths to his daughter the Lady Anne Newdigate a bowl or piece of plate of silver of the value of £6. 138. 4d., "wth myne armes in colours thereuppon. And these words vnder them, 'The guift of St Edward Fytton,' ," and a like bowl with arms and inscription to "my daughter Mary Fytton." At this time, then, Mary Fitton still bore her maiden name. The will of her greatuncle Francis Fitton bears date three years subsequently, 31st March 1608. In it he bequeathed to "Mr. William Pollewheele, who married with my nece Mris Marie Fitton younger daughter to Sir Edward Fitton knt. deceased my nephew before in these named my usual riding sword being damasked commonly called a fauchion and my best horse or gelding of mine to his owne best liking as a remembrance and token of my love to him and to his now wief." expression "his now wife" may be taken as implying a recent marriage. This, as already stated, may be placed approximately in 1607, when Mrs. Fitton would be in her twenty-ninth or thirtieth year, a somewhat late age considering her temperament and the usages of the times. But when did she have the two bastard daughters by Sir Richard Leveson? Did this occur in the years between 1601 and 1607? If this was so, how came it about that she stood so well with her father and with her great-uncle?

The

1 For information with regard to these wills I am indebted to particulars kindly communicated to the Rev. W. A. Harrison by Mr. J. P. Earwaker, author of the history of East Cheshire.

And how could Polwhele persuade himself to marry her? Or if Polwhele died after a comparatively short interval, and the liaison with Leveson was subsequently formed, then there will remain some difficulty as to the marriage with Lougher. Are we to look for an explanation to Mrs. Fitton's tact and "warrantise of skill"? (Sonnet 150).

But, whether with Lougher or with some other person, letters in Lord Salisbury's collection give evidence tending to the conclusion that there had been prior to 1599 an actual marriage, or what might be considered as such. On January 29, 1599, Mrs. Fitton's father writes to Sir R. Cecil:

"Good Mr. Secretary help yor poore clyent my daughter to her porçon wch thus longe hath rested in Sr Henry Wallop's hands, yf it might please you but to send for Mr Wallop to you and demand of him whether he haue not good discharge for the same, and such discharge as Mr Tresorer his father him selfe layde downe yo honor shold then know his answer, and see his euasions: by this yor honor byndeth vs both and without this I shalbe much distressed or els my poore daughter hindred, To yor Lo protection therfore do I comend the cause and her that it doth concerne."

It thus appears that Mrs. Fitton's marriage-portion had remained for a good while in the hands of Sir Henry Wallop, the Irish Treasurer, objection being made to paying it over to the lady, on the ground of the discharge not being a good one. This is entirely in accordance with the supposition that there was, or was alleged to be, some person in the background who might possibly come forward and claim the money on the ground of his having been married to Mrs. Fitton.

The claim was destined, however, to remain still for a considerable time unsatisfied. In a letter of Fitton's to Cecil (August 5, 1600) he says that, in order to have them duly allowed, he has sent to Ireland his Bills for £1200,

which he has assigned to his daughter Mary; and he adds, "I now eftsoones besech yor honor to stande good to her and further that Sr Henry Wallop may give her her dues." This £1200 can scarcely be an additional sum.

Supposing that Mrs. Fitton had been married in early youth, and that the marriage had been made out to be illegal and null and void, either on the ground that the previous consent of parents had not been obtained, or from some other cause, we can easily see that a plausible objection might be made to paying over to her her marriageportion. Mrs. Martin's statement about priests marrying

1 As to the setting aside in Elizabethan times of a marriage deemed undesirable, the following quotation from a letter from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir George Carew (June 24, 1602) may be adduced:-"He (i.e., Sir Edward More's son) hath been very lewdly enticed to entangle himself with the daughter of Arthur Milles, by whom he hath no other portion but of suspected fame, her breeding (as it is said) being far from any good discipline. This accident having wounded the father, who had fixed his especial care upon him, makes him desirous by all means possible to remove him from her conversation, to see if it can be possible to make him see his blindness, and be content to further those courses which may be taken to prove the marriage unlawful, whereof they say there be very many just occasions" (Calendar of Carew MSS., 1601-1603, p. 252). In Mrs. Fitton's case a more summary proceeding was probably adopted, the young lady being taken home by her father.

Then, with regard to the consent of parents being required, the following quotation may be made :-"In respect to the Consent of Parents; 'tis said in our Canons that children may not marry without their consent. . . . And marriages that are made contrary to the Consent of Parents are pronounced to be invalid both by the Canon and Civil Law" (Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici, p. 362). Moreover, it is of considerable importance that Mary Fitton's elder brother incurred his father's very serious displeasure by marrying without consent. In a letter to Lord Burleigh (MS. Lansd., 71), his mother, Lady Fitton, speaks of her son as sure to fall into some desperate action, for his father will not yett do any thinge for him.” The letter is inscribed "15 May 1592, La. Phytton to my L. interceding with his Lords to do something for her son: who hauing married wthout his father's consent was vnder his displeasure." It is not unlikely that Mary Fitton's marriage took place at the same time, but that, on account of her youth-she would be somewhat under fourteen, or about this age-a summary proceeding, such as that above adverted to, was adopted.

66

gentlewomen at Court (supra, p. 57) would seem not only consistent with the supposition that Mrs. Fitton had been married, but also with something having occurred which caused her to think lightly of the marriage-bond. Then as to the dark lady being in a position analogous to that in which we have supposed Mrs. Fitton to be, there is evidence of a remarkable character in the Sonnets themselves. The expression "in act" (152, line 3, "In act thy bed-vow broke," &c.) seems to have been overlooked or misinterpreted. As the words in question are, I suppose, commonly regarded, they are not only superfluous, but they are, moreover, inconsistent with the context; the bed-vow was broken in act, when the lady swore to love the poet. If, however (and this is certainly in accordance with Elizabethan usage), we take the words as meaning "in fact,” “in reality," a new light is thrown on the passage. There is no necessity for going outside Shakespeare for examples of this usage. A very good example is to be found in a passage towards the end of the first act of Othello, thus given in the First Folio:—

"For he's embark'd

With such loud reason to the Cyprus Warres,

(Which euen now stands in Act) that for their soules

Another of his Fadome, they haue none,

To lead their Businesse."

In the third line of this quotation the editors have very commonly changed "stands" into the plural "stand" (cf. note, p. 32), evidently supposing that the reference is to the coming Cyprus wars. This change, however, is in opposition to the ancient authorities; and it may be pronounced, with some confidence, to be wrong. Othello is not yet formally appointed to the chief command in the "Cyprus wars." "But," says Iago, "the appointment is already as good as made; it 'even now stands in act.' The thing is as certain as if he were already embark'd;' there is 'such loud reason' for it, the arguments are so cogent; there is

indeed no other man to be found whose ability can equal his." We thus have a very good example of the phrase "in act" being used with the sense above mentioned. And similarly taking "in act" as equivalent to "in reality," "in fact"-the dark lady had broken her marriage-vow "in act," though she may have alleged that the marriage was set aside, or was treated as null and void, and that legally and formally she had been guilty of no breach. It is worthy of note that there is no indication whatever of a husband as likely to interpose between the lady of the Sonnets and her admirers; and we can easily account for this absence, if the lady was in the position just suggested. And if this was also the position of Mrs. Fitton, it is easy to explain Wallop's pretext or contention that, if he paid over to her the marriage-portion, he would have no "good discharge."

Pembroke's refusal to marry Mrs. Fitton, when, early in 1601, her condition was discovered, and he in consequence was subjected to examination, does not seem to have proceeded mainly, if at all, from her having been previously married. The emphatic words employed, with regard to Pembroke, by Cecil in his letter to Carew (supra, p. 56) are very remarkable: he "utterly renounceth all marriage." These words would quite accord with an allegation of unchastity, or of a want of "honesty," using the word "honesty" in the wider Elizabethan sense.1 This matter is important with regard to what is said of the dark lady in 137 and elsewhere. Moreover, there is in Lord Salisbury's collection a letter from Mrs. Fitton's father, Sir Edward Fitton, to Sir R. Cecil, which conveys the impression that the charge of want of "honesty " had actually been brought against Mrs.

1 And so also does what is said of Pembroke's "confessing a fact," a confession which by no means necessarily involves an avowal of paternity. Dr. Furnivall suggested a comparison of Winter's Tale, Act iii. sc. 2, line 86, and the possibility of " fact" meaning "fault."