Earthlier happy is the rofe diflill'd, Than that which withering on the virgin thorn 14. Leefe, lofe. VI. This fonnet carries on the thoughts of IV. and v.-the diftilling of perfumes from v., and the interest paid on money lent from IV. 5. Use, interest. Compare with this fonnet the folicitation of Adonis by Venus, ll. 767, 768. Foul cankering ruft the hidden treasure frets, But gold that's put to use more gold begets. And Merchant of Venice, A& 1. fc. 3, 11. 70-97. The The medieval theologians argued against requiring intereft on money on the ground that 'all money is fterile by nature', an absurdity of Aristotle. Greek word for intereft (Tókos, from TíкTW, I beget) was probably connected with this delufion.' Lecky: Hift. of Rationalism in Europe, chap. VI. note. 13. Self-will'd, Delius conjectures, 'felf-kill'd'. VII. After imagery drawn from fummer and winter, Shakspere finds new imagery in morning and evening. 3. Each under eye. Compare The Winter's Tale, A& iv. fc. 2, 1. 40:-'I have eyes under my service'. 5. Steep-up heavenly. Mr. W. J. Craig suggests that Shakspere may have written 'fteep up-heavenly'. 7, 8. Compare Romeo & Juliet, A& 1. fc. 1, ll. 125, 126: : Madam, an hour before the worshipp❜d sun 10. He reeleth from the day; Compare Romeo & Juliet, A&. fc. 3, 1. 3 : Flecked darkness like a drunkard reels 11, 12. Compare Timon of Athens, A& 1. fc. 2, 1. 150: Men fhut their doors against a fetting fun. 13. Thyself, etc., paffing beyond your zenith. VIII. In the Additional мs. 15,226, British Museum, is a copy, written in James 1.'s reign, of this Sonnet. 1. Thou, whom to hear is mufic, why, etc. Compare The Merchant of Venice, A& v. fc. 1, l. 69, 'I am never merry when I hear sweet music'. 8. Bear. Staunton proposes share. 13, 14. Perhaps an allusion to the proverbial expreffion that one is no number. Compare Sonnet CXXXVI., 'Among a number one is reckon'd none'. Since many make but one, one will prove also less than itself, that is, will prove none. IX. The thought of married happiness in VIII. -husband, child, and mother united in joy-fuggefts its oppofite, the grief of a weeping widow. Thou fingle wilt prove none' of VIII. 14, is carried on in 'consum'st thyself in single life' of IX. 2. 4. Makelefs, companionless. 12. Ufer. Sewell has us'rer. X. The murderous fhame' of Ix. 14 reappears in the For fhame'! and murderous hate' of x. In Ix. Shakspere denies that his friend loves any one; he carries on the thought in the opening of X., and this leads up to his friend's love of Shakfpere, which is first mentioned in this fonnet. 7, 8. Seeking to bring to ruin that house (i.e. family), which it ought to be your chief care to repair. These lines confirm the conjecture that the father of Shakfpere's friend was dead. See Sonnet XIII. 9-14. Compare 3 King Henry VI., A& v. fc. 1, 11. 83, 84: I will not ruinate my father's house, Who gave his blood to lime the flones together and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A& v. fc. 4, 11. 9-11. 9. O change, etc. O be willing to marry and beget children that I may cease to think you a being devoid of love. XI. The first five lines enlarge on the thought (x. 14) of beauty living in thine'; fhowing how the beauty of a child may be called thine. 2. Departeft, leavest. 'Ere I depart his house', King Lear, A& ш. fc. 5, 1. 1. 4. Converteft, doft alter, or turn away. Compare Sonnet XIV. 12: If from thyfelf to flore thou wouldst convert. 7. The times, the generations of men. L 9. Store, i.e. to be preserved for use’, Malone; 'increase of men, fertility, population', Schmidt. Compare Othello, A& iv. sc. 3, 11. 84-86:— DES. I do not think there is any fuch woman. EMIL. Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as would store the world they played for. 11. To whom she gave much, she gave more. Sewell, Malone, Staunton, Delius, read' gave thee more'. 14. Nor let that copy die. Here 'copy' means the original from which the impression is taken. In Twelfth Night, A& 1. sc. 5, 1. 261, it means the tranfcript impreffion taken from an original : Lady, you are the cruell'ft fhe alive, If you will lead thefe graces to the grave XII. This fonnet feems to be a gathering into one of V., VI., VII. Lines 1, 2, like vII., speak of the decay and loss of the brightness and beauty of the day; lines 3-8, like v., VI., of the lofs of the fweets and beauties of the year. 3. Violet paft prime. Compare Hamlet, A& 1. fc. 3, 1. 7. "A violet in the youth of primy nature'. 4. Sable curls all filver'd. The Quarto, 1609, reads 'or filver'd'. An anonymous critic fuggefts 'o'er-filvered with white'. Compare Hamlet, A& 1. fc. 2, 1. 242 (Horatio, of the ghost's beard), 'A fable filver'd'. 8. Compare A Midfummer Night's Dream, A& II. fc. 1, 1. 95: The green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard. 9. Queftion make, confider. XIII. Shakspere imagines his friend in XII. 14, borne away by Time. It is only while he lives here that he is his own, XIII. I, 2. Note 'you' and 'your' instead of 'thy', 'thine', and the address 'my love' for the first time. 5. So Daniel: Delia, XLVII. :- in beauty's leafe expired appears The date of age, the calends of our death. 6. Determination in legal language means end'. Malone. 9-13. The fame thought of thriftless wafte which appears in Sonnets I., IV. 14. You had a father. Compare All's Well that ends Well, A& 1. fc. 1, ll. 19, 20. This young gentlewoman had a father, -O, that "had"I how fad a paffage 'tis !' The father of Shakspere's friend was probably dead. XIV. In XIII. Shakspere predicts ftormy winter and the cold of death; he now explains what his aftrology is, and at the close of the fonnet repeats his melancholy prediction. 1, 2. So Sidney, Arcadia, Book III. 'O fweet Philoclea... thy heavenly face is my aftronomy', Afrophel and Stella (ed. 1591), Sonnet xxvI. :Though dufty wits dare fcorn afrology [I] oft forejudge my after-following race |