Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/247

 ii s. vii. MAR. 29, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

243

S. 27 : The first of several sonnets on the visions of the friend which haunt Shakespeare at night or in his dreams :

My soul's imaginary sight Presents thy shadow to my sightless view.

See below on S. 43.

Their images I loved I view in thee, And thou, all they, hast all the all of me.

S. 31, 1. 13.

This Sonnet is about the appearances of Shakespeare's old friends. The peculiar expression " thou, all they," may perhaps be equivalent to " thou, all hews."

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done, Roses have thorns. S. 35, 1. 1.

This is an intimate Sonnet dealing with the friend's fault. See note on S. 1 about the rose as the emblem of the friend.

S. 37, 1. 10 : " this shadow" not signifi- cant, but see on S. 43.

S. 40, 1. 6 : " usest" not significant.

S. 43 is about the visions of the friend which haunt Shakespeare's dreams : Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,

How would thy shadoiv's form form happy show To the clear day with thy much clearer light,

When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so. L. 5.

In dead night thy fair imperfect shade L. 11. With this I Would compare S. 53 : What is your substance, whereof are you made

That millions of strange shadows on you tend ? Since every one hath, every one, one shade,

And you, but one, can every shadow lend.

Speak of the spring and foison of the year, The one doth shadow of your beauty show,

The other as your bounty doth appear, And you in every blessed shape we know.

In all external grace you have some part,

But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

The peculiar use of the word " shadow " in the Sonnets has attracted attention. Wilde^thought that there was an allusion to actors* (" the best of this kind are but shadows "). Tyler explains " shadows " as " images of other persons and objects. Shadows and images are taken as identical." Wyndham has a long and interesting note on the word under S. 37. He says that Shakespeare employs " shadow " to mean the reflection or projection of likeness, and applies it metaphorically to paintings, actors, and to a son as the reflection of his father's likeness. But the Renaissance Platonists used " shadow " as a metaphor in expounding Plato's doctrine that the Beauty which we see is the copy of an eternal pattern ; and in the Sonnets Shakespeare uses the word with an approximation to this metaphysical use.

There may be a very slight distinction between the meaning of the word " shadow " and that of " form, image, or hew" but from our point of view it may be held that the one word is employed in order to suggest the other. Accordingly, We may interpret S. 43 to mean " The hews of Hews haunt my dreams," an idea which is also found in S. 27 ; while S. 53 is simply an amplifica- tion of the original text : "A man in hew r all Hews in his controlling " ; and so is. S. 113.

Thy picture's sight. S. 46, 1. 3. Thy fair appearance. S. 46, 1. 8. My love's picture. S. 47, 1. 5. Thy picture or my love. S. 47, 1. 9. Thy picture in my sight. S. 47, 1. 13.

These two Sonnets contain a comparison between W. H.'s picture (apparently a real one) and the image of him in Shakespeare's heart, possibly with a distant allusion to the meaning of the word " hew."

S. 48, 1. 3 : " use," " unused," not signi- ficant.

S. 54 : The rose is mentioned three times in this Sonnet as the emblem of the friend or object with which he is to be compared. See note on S. 1. The idea that the odour of flowers may survive their beauty is an old one, from Sonnets 5 and 6.

S. 57, 1. 13: "Will." The word has a capital in the Quarto. Tyler says, " There is a bare possibility of a pun."

Show me your image in some antique book.

S. 59, 1, 7. Perhaps a distant allusion to " hew."

Is it thy will thy Image should keep open

My heavy eyelids to the weary night ? Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?

S.61.

Another Sonnet on the visions of the friend which haunt Shakespeare's sleep. See note on S. 43 about shadows, images, hews.

W. B. BROWN. (To be continued.)

DAVISON & NEWMAN OF FENCHURCH STREET: A LONDON PROPERTY.

THE following deeds were among the family papers of Abram Newman of Fenchurch Street. From him the property passed to his daughter and coheiress Jane, who, on her marriage with William Thoyts, carried the Essex and London property into the latter family, by whom it was- eventually sold.