taure, when hee come to growth, was incloased in the Laborinth, Achilles his concealement of his sex, The amorous Epistle of Paris to Hellen, Hellen to Paris." Following these are Milton's "Epitaph," "On the death of Shakespeare," by W. B., and "An elegie on the death of that famous writer and actor, M. William Shakspeare." The following is the arrangement of the Sonnets in groups, with the poems of "The Passionate Pilgrim (marked P. P.) interspersed :

The Glory of Beauty, LXVII., LXVIII., LXIX.; Injurious Time, LX., LXIII., LXIV., LXV., LXVI; True Admiration, LIII., LIV.; The Force of Love, LVII., LVIII.; The Beauty of Nature, LIX.; Love's Cruelty, I., II., III.; Youthful Glory, XIII., XIV., XV.; Good Admonition, XVI., XVII.; Quick Prevention, VII.; Magazine of Beauty, IV., V., VI.; An Invitation to Marriage, VIII., IX., X., XI., XII.; False Belief, cxxxvIII.; A Temptation, CXLIV.; Fast and Loose, P. P. I.; True Content, XXI.; A bashful Lover, XXIII.; Strong Conceit, XXII.; A sweet Provocation, P. P. XI.; A constant Vow, P. P. III.; The Exchange, xx.; A Disconsolation, XXVII., XXVIII., XXIX.; Cruel Deceit, P. P. IV.; The Unconstant Lover, P. P. v.; The Benefit of Friendship, XXX., XXXI., XXXII.; Friendly concord, P. P. VI.; Inhumanity, P. P. vII.; A Congratulation, XXXVIII., XXXIX., XL.; Loss and Gain, XLI., XLII.; Foolish Disdain, P. P. Ix.; Ancient Antipathy, P. P. x.; Beauty's Valuation, P. P. XI.; Melancholy Thoughts, XLIV., XLV.; Love's Loss, P. P. VIII.; Love's Relief, XXXIII., XXXIV., XXXV.; Unanimity, XXXVI., XXXVII.; Loth to depart, P. P. XII., XIII.; A Masterpiece, 24; Happiness in Content, xxv.; A Dutiful Message, XXVI; Go and come quickly, L., LI.;

Two Faithful Friends, XLVI., XLVII.; Careless neglect, XLVIII.; Stout resolution, XLIX.; A Duel, P. P. xiv. ; Love-sick, P. P. xv.; Love's Labour Lost, P. P. xvi.; Wholesome Counsel, P. P. XVII.; Sat fuisse, LXII.; A living Monument, LV.; Familiarity breeds Contempt, LII.; Patiens Armatus, LXI.; A Valediction, LXXI., LXXII., LXXIV.; Nil Magnis Invidia, LXX.; Love-sick, LXXX., LXXXI.; The Picture of true Love, CXVI.; In Praise of his Love, LXXXII., LXXXIII., LXXXIV., LXXXV.; A Resignation, LXXXVI., LXXXVII.; Sympathising Love, P. P. XVIII.; A Request to his Scornful Love, LXXXVIII., LXXXIX., XC., XCI.; A Lover's Affection, though his Love prove Unconstant, XCII., XCIII., XCIV., XCV.; Complaint for his Lover's Absence, XCVII., XCVIII., XCIX.; An Invocation to his Muse, C., C.; Constant Affection, CIV., CV., CVI.; Amazement, CII., CIII.; A Lover's Excuse for his long Absence, CIX., Cx.; A Complaint, CXI., CXII.; Self-flattery of her Beauty, CXIII., CXIV., Cxv.; A Trial of Love's Constancy, CXVII., CXVIII., CXIX.; A good Construction of his Love's Unkindness, cxx.; Error in Opinion, CXXI.; Upon the Receipt of a Table-Book from his Mistress, CXXII.; A Vow, CXXIII.; Love's Safety, CXXIV.; An Entreaty for her Acceptance, cxxv.; Upon her playing upon the Virginals, CXXVIII.; Immoderate Lust, CXXIX.; In praise of her Beauty, though Black, CXXVII., CXXX., CXXXI., CXXXII.; Unkind Abuse, CXXXIII., CXXXIV.; Love-suit, cxxxv., cxxxvI.; His heart wounded by her Eye, CXXXVII., CXXXIX., CXL.; A Protestation, CXLI., CXLII; An Allusion, 143; Life and Death, CXLV.; A consideration of Death, CXLVI.; Immoderate Passion, CXLVII.; Love's powerful Subtilty, CXLVIII., CXLIX., CL.;

Retaliation, XXXVIII., LXXIX.; Sunset, LXXIII., LXXVII.; A Monument to Fame, CVII., CVIII.; Perjury, CLI., CLII.; Cupid's Treachery, CLIII., CLIV.

I. B.'s, that is the bookseller Benson's, curious address "To the Reader," is as follows:

"I here presume (under favour) to present to your view some excellent and sweetly composed Poems, of Master William Shakespeare, Which in themselves appeare of the same purity, the Authour himselfe then living avouched; they had not the fortune by reason of their Infancie in his death, to have the due accomodation of proportionable glory, with the rest of his ever-living Workes, yet the lines of themselves will afford you a more authentick approbation than my assurance any way can, to invite your allowance, in your perusall you shall find them Seren, cleere and eligantly plaine, such gentle straines as shall recreate and not perplexe your braine, no intricate or cloudy stuff to puzzell intellect,1 but perfect eloquence, such as will raise your admiration to his praise: this assurance I know will not differ from your acknowledgement. And certaine I am, my opinion will be seconded by the sufficiency of these ensuing Lines; I have been some what solicitus to bring this forth to the perfect view of all men; and in so doing glad to be serviceable for the continuance of glory to the deserved Author in these his Poems."

Reprints. In the editions of Shakspere's works published in 1709-10 (Rowe's ed.; in the vol. of Poems with remarks by Gildon), 1714, 1725, in Ewing's Dublin

Perhaps referring to the obscurity of the reigning "metaphysical " school of poetry."

E

edition (1771), and those published at Boston, U.S.A., 1807, 1810.

In the editions of Shakspere's Poems (Bell), 1774; (Murden, etc.)? about 1780; (Chapple) 2 vols., 1804.

HISTORY OF OPINION ON THE SONNETS DURING
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

[From Shakspeare and his Times. By Nathan Drake. 2 vols. 1817. Vol. ii. pp. 59-61.]

When Gildon reprinted the Sonnets in 1710, he gives it as his opinion that they were all of them in praise of his [Shakspere's] mistress;1 and Dr. Sewell, when he edited them in 1728, had embraced a similar idea, for he tells us, in reference to our author's example, that "A young muse must have a mistress, to play off the beginning of fancy; nothing being so apt to elevate the soul to a pitch of poetry as the passion of love." 2

The conclusion of these editors remained undisputed for more than half a century, when Mr. Malone, in 1780, published his Supplement to the Edition of Shakspeare's Plays of 1778, which includes the Sonnets of the poet, accompanied by his own notes and those of his friends. Here, besides the opinion which he has himself avowed, he has given the conjectures of Dr. Farmer and Mr. Tyrwhitt, and the decision of Mr. Steevens.

1 Rowe writes (1709): "There is a Book of Poems publish'd in 1640, under the name of Mr. William Shakespeare, but as I have but very lately seen it without an opportunity of making any judgment upon it, I won't pretend to determine whether it be his or no."

2 Preface to his revised and corrected edition of Shakspeare's Works,

p. 7.

All these gentlemen concur in believing that more than one hundred of our author's sonnets are addressed to a male object. Dr. Farmer, influenced by the initials in the dedication, supposes that Mr. William Harte, the poet's nephew, was the object in question; but a reference to the Stratford Register completely overturns this hypothesis, for it there appears that William, the eldest son of William Harte, who married Shakspere's sister Joan, was baptized August 28th, 1600, and consequently could not be even in existence when the greater part of these compositions was written.

Mr. Tyrwhitt, founding his conjecture on a line in the twentieth Sonnet, which is thus printed in the old copy,

A man in hew all Hews in his controlling,

conceives that the letters W. H. were intended to imply William Hughes. . When Mr. Steevens, in 1766, annexed a reprint of the Sonnets to Shakspere's plays, from the quarto editions, he hazarded no observations on their scope or origin;1 but in Malone's Supplement he ventured, in a note on the Twentieth Sonnet, to declare his conviction that it was addressed to a male object.

Lastly, Mr. Malone, in the Supplement just mentioned, after specifying his concurrence in the conjecture of Mr. Tyrwhitt, adds:-"To this person, whoever he was, one hundred and twenty-six of the following poems are addressed; the remaining twenty-eight are addressed to a lady." 2

1 Steevens's remark that an Act of Parliament could not compel the perusal of the Sonnets is indignantly commented on by Wordsworth. 2 Malone's Supplement, vol. i. p. 579.