tion. But in connection with this preliminary view it is unnecessary to adduce further evidence. The burden of proof lies on those who object to the order in which the Sonnets were first printed. It is for them to show that the order thus given is not the right order. $5. Poetical Merit.-As to the poetical merit of the Sonnets, a few remarks may not be out of place, though it is scarcely necessary that very much should be said; and the enumeration of single lines or phrases which excel in strength or beauty cannot be attempted. Some inequality with regard to poetical merit was of course inevitable. Moreover, the laudation of the youth addressed, and especially of his personal beauty, may seem sometimes overstrained,1 and perhaps, on a first perusal, a little monotonous. Of this fault, if such it be, the poet appears himself to have been conscious : "Therefore my verse, to constancy confin'd, And in this change is my invention spent, Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords" (105). 76 also may be compared, where the poet speaks of his verse being "barren of new pride," and of his "writing still all one, ever the same." That there should be sometimes exhibited the tendency of the age to quaint conceits is not wonderful. Moreover, since Shakespeare is the author, we may expect to find highly metaphoric language and not infrequent obscurity. But there is also Shakespeare's exuberant strength, like "teeming autumn, big with rich increase." There is majesty and surpassing beauty. In majestic strength the Sonnet on sexual passion (129) must claim pre-eminence. 1 Compare some severe but not quite unjust remarks of Hallam (Literature of Europe, Part III. chap. v. § 48). As to beauty, among several claimants, it is difficult to say which should be preferred. There is remarkable beauty in Sonnet 116, especially in the first eight lines: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Or bends with the remover to remove : O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests, and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken." Then there is the 33rd Sonnet, with its magnificent description of a brilliant morning, whose splendour becomes darkened by dense and threatening clouds : "Full many a glorious morning have I seen In neither case, however—though for different reasons— do the six lines concluding the Sonnet seem equal to those which have preceded. I may omit some Sonnets deserving mention, but there are two (29, 30) which must not be passed over. In the second of these (30), the poet declares that the disappointments he has endured and the grievous bereavements which death has inflicted are all compensated for by the love of his friend : : "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste: And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,. The reader should remark in passing the frequent use of alliteration, of which, however, he may find plenty of examples elsewhere in these poems. The chief fault of this Sonnet is in the concluding couplet, which seems somewhat disappointing and inadequate. The 29th Sonnet may not be in all respects quite equal to that last given, but it certainly has not in its conclusion the fault just alluded to: "When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings, 1 Wordsworth selected on account of "the various merits of thought and language in Shakespeare's Sonnets" the following, adding, however, that there are 66 many others":-27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 54, 64, 66, 68, 73, 76, 86, 91, 92, 93, 97, 98, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113, 114, 116, 117, 129. Mr. T. Hall Caine, in his Sonnets of Three Centuries, gives 29, 30, 33, 55, 64, 66, 70, 71, 73, 90, 94, 97, 107, 116, 129, 138, 146. Mr. J. Dennis, English Sonnets, gives 8, 17, 18, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 38, 54, 55, 60, 61, 64, 65, 66, 71, 73, 76, 87, 91, 92, 98, 104, 106, 116, 129, 139, 146. Mr. S. Waddington, English Sonnets by Poets of the Past, selects 30, 33, 54, 66, 71, 73, 98, 99, 106, 139, 143, 146. It will thus be seen that, with regard to the excellence of certain Sonnets, as 30, 33, 116, there is a remarkable consensus of opinion. Mr. Swinburne, however (quoted by Dowden), speaks of the Sonnets 127 to 154 as "incomparably the more important and altogether precious division of the Sonnets." Mr. F. T. Palgrave, in his Songs and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, prints the whole, with the exception only of 20, 151, 153, 154. § 6. Concerned with Fact.-But it is neither from beauty and sweetness, nor majestic strength, that the Sonnets derive their chief attractiveness. Rather-in accordance with what was said at the commencement of this chaptermust we attribute the keen interest with which they are investigated to the hope of gaining some additional knowledge with regard to Shakespeare and his surroundings, or of making a nearer approach to the poet's personality. But are the Sonnets concerned with actual facts? Are they not rather to be regarded as mere exercises in verse? If this question could be answered in the affirmative, still the interest and value of the Sonnets would be great, as showing the themes on which Shakespeare elected to discourse. But that any competent critic should have looked on the Sonnets as mere exercises in verse can scarcely be other than surprising. The intensity of feeling which they display is not to be mistaken, and the incidents alluded to cannot be conceived of as fictions. Are we to suppose Shakespeare urging in seventeen Sonnets an ideal youth to beget ideal offspring? Then, as to the incident alluded to in the 40th and various other Sonnets, is it in the least degree probable that the poet speaks of a purely imaginary offence and grievance? Or, if this be thought not incredible, take the Sonnets relating to the rival poet (86 al.). Fortunately it has become possible to 2 indicate the person actually intended. But if this had not been the case, the evidence of jealous feeling would have been sufficiently clear. It has been suggested, however, that though in relation to the first series of Sonnets the evidence of fact and reality is not to be denied, yet the case is otherwise with the later Sonnets concerned with the dark lady (127 to 152). In all probability this suggestion had its origin in the wish to free Shakespeare's moral character from certain possible imputations. But however commendable the motive, such a view must be rejected. The impress of reality is stamped on these Sonnets with unmis takable clearness; and besides, several of them are linked indissolubly to the first series (as 40 to 144). We must therefore maintain—whatever may be the consequences resulting from this position-that the Sonnets as a whole are concerned with actual fact. At the same time we must beware of treating them as though they were mere prosaic history. Their language is the language of poetry, sometimes of compliment, and as such it should certainly be interpreted. |