his copy." W. says: "This dedication is not written in the common phraseology of its period; it is throughout a piece of affectation and elaborate quaintness, in which the then antiquated prefix be- might be expected to occur; beget being used for get, as Wiclif uses betook for took in Mark, xv. i: 'And ledden him and betoken him to Pilate.'" Cf. Gr. 438.
Sonnet I.—As Boswell and Boaden note, this and the following sonnets are only an expansion of V. and A. 169–174: "Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed," etc.
"Herr Krauss (Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 1881) cites, as a parallel to the arguments in favour of marriage in these sonnets, the versified dialogue between Geron and Histor at the close of Sidney's Arcadia, lib. iii." (Dowden).
2. Rose. In the quarto the word is printed in italics and with a capital. See on 20. 8 below.
6. Self-substantial fuel. "Fuel of the substance of the flame itself" (Dowden).
10. Gaudy. Gay and showy. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 812: "Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love," etc.
12. Mak'st waste in niggarding. Cf. R. and J. i. 1. 223:
"Benvolio. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?
Romeo. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste."
13. Pity the world, etc. "Pity the world, or else be a glutton, devouring the world's due, by means of the grave (which will else swallow your beauty—cf. Sonn. 77. 6) and of yourself, who refuse to beget offspring" (Dowden). Steevens conjectured "be thy grave and thee"="be at once thyself and thy grave."
II.—"In Sonn. 1 the Friend is 'contracted to his own bright eyes;' such a marriage is fruitless, and at forty the eyes will be 'deep-sunken.' The 'glutton' of 1 reappears here in the phrase 'all-eating shame;' the 'makest waste' of 1 reappears in the 'thriftless praise' of 2. If the youth addressed were now to marry, at forty he might have a son of his present age, that is, about twenty" (Dowden)[1]
4. Tatter'd. The quarto has "totter'd," as in 26. 11 below. Cf. K. John, p. 178, note on Tottering. For weed (=garment), see M. N. D. p. 149.
- ↑ We reprint Dowden's introductory notes to each sonnet, but we must call attention here to his own comments upon them:
"Repeated perusals have convinced me that the Sonnets stand in the right order, and that sonnet is connected with sonnet in more instances than have been observed. My notes on each sonnet commonly begin with an attempt to point out the little links or articulations in thought and word, which connect it with its predecessor or the group to which it belongs. I frankly warn the reader that I have pushed this kind of criticism far, perhaps too far. I have perhaps in some instances fancied points of connection which have no real existence; some I have set down, which seem to myself conjectural. After this warning, I ask the friendly reader not to grow too soon impatient: and if, going through the text carefully, he will consider for himself the points which I have noted, I have a hope that he will in many instances see reason to agree with what I have said."
