1

Fitton at this time, and had been adduced by Pembroke as a reason for discarding her. The letter bears date May 16 [or 18], 1601, and was written from Stanner (spelt also Staner), where Sir Edward was compelled to stop on account of his daughter's weakness. She must be left there till he returns, probably from Gawsworth or Macclesfield. With regard to Pembroke he says:

"I can saye nothinge of the Erle but my daughter is confident in her chance before God and wishethe my Lo and she might but meet before in different senes. but for my self I expect no good from hyme that in all this tyme hathe not showed any kindnes, I count my daughter as good a gentlewoman as my Lo is though the dignity of honor [be greater onlye in him] wch hathe begiled her I ffeare, except my los honesty bee the greater vertuoes."

Mrs. Fitton's alleged confidence as to the result of an appearance before a divine tribunal may seem at first somewhat mysterious. Her wish that Pembroke and she, before the last account, may meet in "different scenes may possibly allude to a still lingering desire for marriage. Her father, on the other hand, entertains no such expectation: he " expects no good from him." Since the affair of now two or three months ago his conduct has not been such as to justify any anticipation of this kind; he has not shown "any kindness." What follows certainly gives some probability to the supposition that Sir Edward has in view the suggested marriage and Pembroke's rejection of any such idea. In his judgment Mrs. Fitton in point of social status is as good as Pembroke, except, indeed, he allows that the latter is a nobleman, and has such dignity as attaches to a title. Her father is afraid that this has be

1 There is a place called Stanner Nab (presumably a hill or eminence) a few miles S. E. of Chester city. If the place intended was situated here, a somewhat circuitous route from London to Gawsworth or Macclesfield must have been taken. But the route adopted was probably chosen for the sake of a more level road.

guiled her, and led her astray. Then follows what is, for our present purpose, a very important, though somewhat ambiguous clause. The meaning may possibly be "unless my Lord's honesty have greater power than his noble rank," or, "unless my Lord's honesty be greater than my daughter's virtues," or, "unless my Lord's honesty be the greatest of his virtues and endowments." But, in any case, the reference to Pembroke's "honesty" is certainly ironical. And, considering the context, it is difficult or impossible to find any other reason for this ironical reference than Pembroke's having refused to marry Mrs. Fitton on the ground of her want of "honesty." With this sense in view it is easy to understand the allusion to the divine tribunal, and to Mrs. Fitton's being "confident in her chance before God." Sir Edward Fitton was not a master of literary or epistolary style, but the construction of this last clause is very peculiar, and so is the spelling of the word "vertuoes "1 -a mode of spelling remarkable, even in view of the laxity and eccentricity of Elizabethan orthography. The subject was, however, an unpleasant one for Sir Edward; and, probably enough, facts had come to his knowledge which made him feel awkward in alluding to it. Very likely this state of feeling is reflected in the construction and orthography. Though Mrs. Fitton's previous marriage may, quite possibly, have had little or no influence on Pembroke's refusal to marry her, yet it is in every way likely that it had very much to do with the development of her character and conduct, as depicted in the Sonnets and elsewhere.2

1 Mr. R. T. Gunton, Lord Salisbury's librarian, was so kind as to reexamine the MS. with reference to the spelling. If this were alone, however, it might be held to be a mere slip in writing.

2 It may seem a prosaic view of the renewed association between Shakespeare and Pembroke in 1601 to imagine that one of its causes may have been the testimony which Shakespeare might be able to give, if called upon, with respect to Mrs. Fitton's character. I am, however, far from

The numerous particulars in the Sonnets which thus agree with what we know from other sources concerning Mrs. Fitton make the argument identifying her with the "dark lady" very cogent indeed, even if we have not— what the Dedication to the First Folio gives us in the case of Herbert-direct external testimony to the existence of personal relations between Mrs. Fitton and Shakespeare. On the whole, however, the evidence concerning Mrs. Fitton can scarcely be looked upon as less decisive.

regarding this view as improbable. The Queen was greatly enraged; and if she had commanded a marriage with Mrs. Fitton, it might have been difficult or impossible to disobey. It would be important for Pembroke to fortify himself against being constrained in this matter contrary to his settled resolve. The letter cited just above shows that the idea of a marriage had not yet quite dropped out of view even in May, more than three months after Pembroke had "utterly renounced all marriage." Sir Edward, however, was in despair; but he was scarcely likely to abandon the project on any slight grounds. We may well believe that he would use on behalf of the matrimonial scheme any influence at Court which he could command.

CHAPTER IX.

SHAKESPEARE'S BELIEF IN THE IMMORTALITY OF HIS

WORKS.

IT has been said not uncommonly that Shakespeare had no
consciousness of his own greatness, and that he did not
write with a view to posthumous fame. The alleged proof
is, either that he did not publish a collected edition of his
plays, or that he published none of them himself, even
separately. Assertions of this kind may be sufficiently
refuted by a comparison of the separate editions of a single
play-Hamlet.
Whether the Hamlet of 1604 was or was
not actually published by the authority of Shakespeare, it
gives evidence of changes in the text which could have pro-
ceeded only from him-changes, moreover, which, on account
of their subtlety or special character, were certainly not made
chiefly, if at all, with a view to presentation on the stage.
The only reasonable conclusion is, that Shakespeare had
in view those who would carefully study his work in time
to come.1 That he did not himself collect his plays was a
fact connected possibly with the laws of dramatic copy-
right.

We are not, however, left to decide the question by such inferences as those just mentioned. The Sonnets contain predictions of posthumous fame expressed in terms of the strongest confidence. It has been said that no very particular weight should be assigned to such predictions, since they were

1 Changes of the kind adverted to were pointed out in my essay, The Philosophy of "Hamlet."

sufficiently common with the Elizabethan poets. And no doubt predictions of this kind are to be found not only in works of the Elizabethan era, but also in those of poets who had lived long ages before. The doubt, however, suggests itself whether, in the whole range of Elizabethan literature—to limit ourselves to that—there can be found, within a compass as narrow as that of these Sonnets, predictions of the writer's literary immortality equally numerous, and expressed in terms of similarly strong confidence. But the poet's verse, it has been justly remarked, is regarded as the means through which his friend is to be held in eternal remembrance. And certainly these predictions lose thereby something of the egotistic character which they would otherwise possess. In one case, indeed, the poet disavows immortality for himself. He himself is to be lost in the common oblivion, while his verse confers on his friend eternal renown :

+

"From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.
Your monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read;
And tongues to be, your being shall rehearse,
When all the breathers of the world are dead;

You still shall live (such virtue hath my pen)

Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men" (81).

This self-abnegation is, of course, a poetical fiction; but it is perhaps worth considering whether the so frequent assertion of the immortality of his verse may not have had some connection with Shakespeare's social rank being so far inferior to that of his friend. There is no doubt that he felt this inferiority very deeply, and as a reaction from the impression caused by such disesteem, there may have arisen within him a consciousness of his innate dignity. Though his