799). The unfortunate thing is that this play, though revised in 1597, was written much earlier, so that no argument ought to be based on its parallels, which are many and interesting, without attention to the style of the passages in which they are found; a consideration which would seriously complicate the investigation. But the date of Henry IV is beyond dispute. Compare, then, Sonnet 33, Anon permit the basest clouds to ride with 1 Henry IV, I. ii. 194, The sun Who doth permit the base contagious clouds Compare, again, besides the individual expressions, the concurrence of the images of a feast and a robe in the following: Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare, So is the time that keeps you as my chest, Sonnet 52. My presence, like a robe pontifical, 1 Henry IV, III. ii. 56. To take an example from a later play, in Othello (I. i. 63) there is a conjunction of the word "outward" with the curious synonym extern," which occurs only there and in Sonnet 125. It seems to me a reasonable conclusion that these parallel passages are in each case of the same date. But this use of repeated expressions must not be confused with a general parallelism of sentiment or image from which little or nothing can be argued. It is, for instance, quite idle to compare for our present purpose two such passages as Such comfort as do lusty young men feel When well-apparell'd April on the heel 'It has been pointed out, as a sign that this sonnet is of early date, that "carcanet" occurs only here and in Comedy of Errors, III. i. 4. But no conclusion could possibly be drawn from the recurrence of a single word in two places of a poet's works. Of limping winter treads. Romeo and Juliet, I. ii. 26. and When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim Sonnet 98. or Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy.1 Sonnet 33. and The eastern gate, all fiery red, Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams because what is common in each case is little more than a commonplace. The only conclusion that ought to be drawn from the comparison is that the passages in the Sonnets have gained just that touch of the exquisite, of perfection, which the earlier use of the image lacked. The argument, which I have thus illustrated, depends for its validity upon a large number of instances confirming each other; and it cannot be developed here. But the general argument from style can be shortly stated, and this is much more convincing to those whose ear is trained to appreciate it. I am persuaded that if we would find a parallel in the plays to the balance of style and substance, thought and imagination, that is so striking in the greater number of the sonnets, we must turn not to the rimed scenes of the early plays but to the more lyrical passages of the blank verse in plays of the middle period; such lines, for instance, as these from the Merchant of Venice: A day in April never came so sweet To show how costly summer was at hand, or these from the same play : II. viii. 92. There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st V. i. 60. But as there are a few sonnets which seem earlier than the majority 'This line occurs in the same sonnet (33) as the passage quoted above, the date of which seems to be fixed by a parallel in 1 Henry IV. (24, 46, 47), so there are others which seem to be later. Just as in the plays we see the perfect balance between the lyrical and intellectual impulse begin to be overset in Hamlet, while in such plays as Coriolanus and Troilus and Cressida the intellectual interest has triumphed, so among the Sonnets we can distinguish some, notably the group 71-74, which correspond to the Hamlet period, and others, such as 117-124, which suggest affinities with Troilus and Cressida. 5. A much canvassed question is, who is the poet spoken of in the section 78-86 as Shakespeare's rival? I am inclined to think there are two. Sonnet 82 clearly refers to more than one. In 83 Shakespeare's own silence is contrasted with the "praises" of "both your poets." In 78 they seem to be distinguished as the poet who has "learning" and the poet who has "grace." If this is so, the one is described in 85 as writing With golden quill And precious phrase by all the Muses filed; the other in 86 as distinguished by "the proud full sail of his great verse." Perhaps they are contrasted again in 79 and 80. A possible candidate for the graceful poet would be Samuel Daniel, who was an "arts-man" (78, l. 12) and was in the habit of presenting his poems to distinguished people with a special dedication in each case, and he may have thus honoured Shakespeare's friend. For the "learned" rival the favourite is George Chapman, who published in 1598 the first instalment of that version of Homer which so delighted Keats. It has been supposed, too, that Chapman is more likely than any of his contemporaries to have dabbled in spiritualism, as the poet described in 86 seems to have done. At any rate in 1598 he wrote a poem to the celebrated Doctor Harriot, of whom Marlowe had said that he could juggle better than Moses. But the question cannot be settled. 6. A word may be added in conclusion on the sequence of the Sonnets. They fall into two groups, the first 126 being addressed to the unknown youth, the remainder, forming an appendix, being addressed to, or written about, the woman who figures so illomenedly in the main series. Most critics are agreed that the sonnets of the first series are approximately in the order intended by the poet, but some few appear to be misplaced; 36-39 do not explain their position, 75 would come better after 52, 77 and 81 interrupt the series on the rival poets, and 97-99 have no connexion with what precedes or follows. The sonnets in the appendix do not form a connected series. They are concerned for the most part with an incident handled in 40-42, and describe the poet's attraction and repulsion for this woman, who without great beauty and without virtue, had laid a spell on him. The mood varies from tender or playful supplication, to pathetic remonstrance, or fierce denunciation, mingled with brutal jests. The two concluding sonnets, which are alternative versions of a Greek epigram, have no connexion with the series, and the 146th, which, on the model of the concluding sonnet of Astrophel and Stella, would be the Envoy, comes next to a merely pretty piece of vers de société. It looks as if all the sonnets not addressed to the friend had been thrown together without arrangement. The text of the editio princeps, the Quarto of 1609, is full of stupid misprints, a proof that the poet himself was not concerned in its publication. H. C. BEECHING. TH THE PORTRAITS OF SHAKESPEARE. HE passion to know what manner of man Shakespeare really was the yearning that has even given rise to a demand on both sides of the Atlantic that his curse should be braved and his bones exhumed-has resulted in a collection of portraits so vast and so curious that we cannot but marvel at the credulity of people who are willing calmly to accept as true likenesses a host of portraits utterly inconsistent and incompatible as types of one and the same man. In order to flatter this unreasoning adaptability, resemblances have been traced where no resemblance exists, equal faith is expressed in portraits which in their bony structure are absolutely inter-contradictory, and a too ready ear is given to transparent explanations of pedigrees and to stories which judicious. reflexion would inevitably dismiss. There are, of course, the two portraits the authenticity of which is unchallenged. There is the group which, with some show of serious evidence, claim, although they do not deserve, the respect due to life-portraits, whatever may be thought of them as early portraits that are true even though executed after Shakespeare's death. There is the more numerous class of genuine works, more or less co-temporaneous, representing unknown gentlemen, to which, either honestly by tradition, tentatively by guess-work, or impudently by bad faith, the name of Shakespeare has been associated without any sort of authority or seriously-attempted justification. Then there are the spurious portraits, deliberate fabrications entire or in part-that is to say, either pictures wholly made up by the forger, or genuine pictures of men or women altered or tricked up into so-called portraits of the Poet. English, German, and Italian hands have been busy in this wholesale trade of imposture, and it is hard to say who has shown the greatest skill at the business. Of the numerous ideal pictures, memorial portraits as they may be called, nothing need here be said, save that, interesting as they may be in themselves, they pretend to no value as historical documents. |