Some copies instead of "William Apsley" have “Iohn Wright, dwelling at Christ Churchgate."

Description. Sig. A, two leaves; text B to K, in fours; L, two leaves; forty leaves in all. The book contains one hundred and fifty-four Sonnets, ending on the recto of K 1, and on the verso begins A louers Complaint. By William Shakespeare.

Reprints.-I. A Collection of poems, in two volumes; being all the miscellanies of Mr. William Shakespeare, which were publish'd by himself in the year 1609, and now correctly printed from those editions. The first volume contains: I. Venus and Adonis. II. The rape of Lucrece. III. The passionate pilgrim. IV. Some sonnets set to sundry notes of musick. The second volume contains-I. One hundred and fifty-four Sonnets, all of them in praise of his mistress. II. A lover's complaint of his angry mistress. London: B. Lintott. [No date.] This reprint-Lintott's second volume-is advertised in the Post Boy of 24th-27th Feb., 1710-11. The copy Lintott used was furnished by Congreve (according to Malone, An Inquiry into the authenticity of certain miscellaneous papers, etc., p. 28).

II.—In vol. iv. of Steevens's "Twenty Plays," 1766. III.-A lithographic fac-simile of the copy with Wright's imprint, found by Professor Mommsen in the dispersed Bentinck Library at Varel, near Oldenburg, was made in 1857.

IV. In 1862 Lovell Reeve issued, under Staunton's direction, a fac-simile by photo-zincography of the Ellesmere (Apsley imprint) copy.

V.-In 1870, John Russell Smith issued an Apsley reprint "in the orthography and punctuation of the original."

BEN JONSON.

Some critics have supposed that Ben Jonson alludes to Thorpe's dedication of Shakspere's Sonnets in the following words of his own dedication of "Epigrams" to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. "My Lord,—While you cannot change your merit, I dare not change your title; it was that made it and not I. Under which name I here offer to your Lordship the ripest of my studies, my Epigrams; which though they carry danger in the sound, do not therefore seek your shelter; for, when I made them, I had nothing in my conscience, to expressing of which I did need a cypher."

The following from Bartholomew Fair (Act v. Scene 3) has also been pointed out as perhaps referring to the Sonnets. "Cokes. A motion! What's that? [Reads.] The ancient modern history of Hero and Leander, otherwise called the Touchstone of true Love, with as true a trial of friendship between Damon and Pythias, two faithful friends o' the Bankside." Damon and Pythias "have both but one drab." 1

THE SONNETS IN "POEMS," 1640.2

Poems: Written by Wil. Shake-speare, Gent. Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, and are to be sold by Iohn Benson, dwelling in St. Dunstan's Church-yard. 1640.

1 See Karl Elze: William Shakespeare, p. 499.

2 Partly from Mr. Justin Winsor's Bibliography.

Description. Opposite the title is a portrait of Shakespeare. "W. M[arshall] sculpsit."

Title, one leaf; To the Reader, signed I. B., two pages; Poems by L. Digges, three pages; Poem by John Warren, one page; a second title, omitting only the date; sig. A 1; text A 2 to M 4. At sig. L 2 is "an Addition of some Excellent Poems;" 191 pp. sm. 8vo.

Dr. Bliss had a leaf of this edition, with a contemporary manuscript note, showing that it was printed in 1639, and was sold bound for fifteen pence.

Contents. To the reader, by I. B.; Verses by Leon. Digges and John Warren; Poems by Will. Shakespeare, Gent.; An addition of some excellent poems, to those precedent, of renowned Shakespeare, by other gentlemen : His mistresse drawn by B. I.; Her minde by B. I.; To Ben Johnson by F. B.; His mistres shade; Lavinia walking in a frosty morning; A sigh sent to his mistresse; An allegorical allusion of melancholy thoughts to bees by I. G.; The primrose; A sigh; A blush; Orpheus lute; Am I dispised? Vpon a gentlewoman walking on the grasse; On his love going to sea; Aske me no more.

The poems ascribed to Shakespeare are the Sonnets, with the exception of Nos. 18, 19, 43, 56, 75, 76, 96, 126, rearranged under various titles. Interspersed with them are "A lover's complaint," and "The passionate pilgrim," together with the verses from "As you like it," commencing, "Why should this desart be." In addition to these are the following translations from Ovid: “The Tale of Cephalus and Procris, That Menelaus was cause of his owne wrongs, Vulcan was Iupiters Smith, The History how the Mynotaure was begot, This Myno

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. 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. 1x.; 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.;

IV.;

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., CI.; 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. ;