Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/270

 262 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. VIL APRIL 5,1913. THE MR. W. H. OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. (Concluded from p. 243.) SONNET 67 begins a personal group, in which Shakespeare reproaches his friend with some fault:— Why should false painting imitate his cheek, And steal dead seeing of his living hew? Why should poor beauty indirectly seek Hosts of shadow, since his Bone is true?—L. 5. "Rose" has a capital in the original text. Three words noted elsewhere as allusive are found in close proximity. S. 78 : This Sonnet begins an important group relating to the Rival Poet:— So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse And found such fair assistance in my verse As every alien pen hath got my use And under thee their poesy disperse.—L. 1. A fairly good pun on use and Hews. Note the emphasis on " thee " in fourth line. , how I faint when 1 of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name. S. 80,1.1. This looks like a verbal allusion to the name. Your name from henoe immortal life shall have. S. 81,1. 5. Significant in that the group of Sonnets 78 to 82 may contain several verbal allusions to the name Hews. The dedicated words which writers use. S. 82, 1. 3. Thou art as fair in knowledge aa in hew. L. 5. And their gross painting might be better used Where cheeks need blood, in thee it is abuse/I. L. 13. S. 84 : Another sonnet on the theme " you are you," like S. 13. In my tongue Thy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell. S. 89,1. 9. The name, whatever it was, haunted Shake- speare. How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame Which, like a canker in the fragrant Hose, Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name ! S. 95,1. 1. Naming thy name blesses an ill report. L. 8. Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege ; The hardest knife ill used doth lose his edge. L.13. "Rose" has a capital in the original text. See note on S. 1 on the rose as the emblem, and possible pet-name, of the friend. The last line seems rather an awkward one unless it is introduced in order to bring in a verbal allusion to the friend's Different dowers in odour and in hew. ^i ' N 1 Nor did I wonder at the Lily's white, Nor praise the deep vermilion in the Rose; They were but sweet, butfyures of delight, Drawn after you, you pattern of all those. Yet seemed it winter still; and, you away, As with your nhadoii; I with these did play. L. 9. The fact that several words already noted as allusive are found in close proximity may be significant. S. 99, 1. 8 : " Roses," not significant. Sonnets 100 to 126 are probably con- siderably later in date than the others addressed to the friend. They contain few possible allusions to his name. Your sweet hew.—S. 104,1.11. S. 108: This Sonnet contains distinct allusions to the fact that the friend's beauty had begun to fade :— So that eternal love in love's fresh case Weighs not the dust and injury of age, Nor gives to necessary wrinkles place. But makes antiquity for aye its page ; Finding the first conceit of love there bred, When time and outward form would show it dead L.9. " Outward form " is equivalent to " hew." S. 109 was, perhaps, written in a fit of remorse for the preceding one:— For nothing this wide Universe I call Save thou, my Rose, in it thou art my all.—L. 13. See note on S. 1 on the rose as the emblem, and possible pet-name, of the friend. " Rose " has a capital in the Quarto. S. 113: This Sonnet contains no verbal allusions, but in meaning is simply a varia- tion on the old text, A man in hew, all Hem* in his controlling. Every figure which Shakespeare's imagi- nation can conjure up turns itself to the image of the friend. The Sonnets mainly concerned with, or addressed to, the Dark Woman begin from So. 127. They are probably rather early in date. As Wyndham remarks, Sonnets 133 to 144, dealing with the friend's intrigue with the mistress, form a counterpart to the group S. 33 to 42, evidently written on the same theme and at the same time. S. 130, 1. 5 : " Roses," not significant S. 133, 1. 12: "use," not significant, except that this is the first Sonnet of this series in which the figure of the friend comes on the scene.