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النشر الإلكتروني

O, therefore, love, be of Thyself so wary,
As I, not for Myself, but for Thee will;
Bearing Thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.

Presume not on Thy heart when Mine is slain;
Thou gav'st Me Thine, not to give back again.

In this stanza the poet claims a conscious equality with Truth, in those powers needful for his delineation. "My glass shall not persuade me I am old, so long as youth and Thou are of one date" (nothing in his life as it passes shall discourage him in his thoughts, while they reflect truth with vigor). "But when in Thee time's furrows I behold, then look I death my days should expiate" (when they fail of faithful representation, he will abandon work). He is conscious of power to represent Truth in beautiful colors. It pervades and animates his entire being; and he cannot "be elder than Thou art" (cannot fail through any want of ability). But he must protect his thoughts from exposure for the sake of Truth. If the queen, his uncle, Lord Burleigh, or his enemy and rival, Sir Edward Coke, or any of the noblemen composing the court of Elizabeth, should ascertain that he was writing plays, he would be forced to cease. It would require such care as a "tender nurse" bestows upon a babe, to escape their observant eyes. If his heart "is slain" (if his dramatic writings are discovered), his thoughts will be lost to the world, and the grand work he has undertaken will come to an end.

SONNET 23.

As an unperfect actor on the stage,

Who with his fear is put besides his part,

Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say

The perfect ceremony of love's rite.

And in Mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharg'd with burden of Mine own love's might.
O, let my books be, then, the eloquence

And dumb presagers of My speaking breast;
Who plead for love and look for recompense,

More than that tongue that more hath more express'd
O, learn to read what silent love hath writ;

To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

He explains the diffidence with which he enters upon the work of composition. It is like the fear that disturbs an actor who attempts the performance of a part not perfectly committed, like something which seemingly exceeds his powers of delineation. He hesitates to write what his feelings dictate, and then in his own view "seems to decay" (to come short of his purpose), because of the magnitude which the subject assumes as it progresses. "O'ercharg'd with burden of Mine own love's might" (in this exigency his works must declare his success or failure). They are "the dumb presagers of his speaking breast" (they tell in words what he has conceived in silence). They "plead for love and look for recompense" (they will recommend themselves, and be appreciated for what they contain). "More than that tongue that more hath more express'd."

This line, in the words "that more hath more express'd," probably refers to some of the philosophical works of Bacon, in which he had more fully set forth the benefits of Truth. The reference is distinct enough to justify such a conclusion. The last couplet conveys the idea that his readers must be satisfied with his works, without knowing by whom they were written, as it will require "love's fine wit" to find him out by observation. Two of his plays (the Contention of York and Lancaster, and the True Tragedy of the Duke of York, afterwards changed to the second and third parts of Henry VI.) appeared without the name of Shakespeare or any other name as author, and but eleven of them were published with Shakespeare's name during his life. All the others attributed to him first appeared as of his authorship in the folio of 1623, some seven years after his death.

SONNET 24.

Mine eye hath play'd the painter, and hath stell'd

Thy beauty's form in table of My heart;

My body is the frame wherein 't is held,

And perspective it is best painter's art.

For through the painter must You see his skill,
To find where Your true image pictur'd lies;
Which in My bosom's shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazed with Thine eyes.

Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
Mine eyes have drawn Thy shape, and Thine for me
Are windows to My breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on Thee;

Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art, ·
They draw but what they see, know not the heart.

The first step in the preparation of a drama is outlined in this stanza: "Mine eye hath play'd the painter, and hath stell'd thy beauty's form in table of my heart" (he has thought his subject into form, and graven it upon his memory). "My body is the frame wherein 't is held" (it has not been written, but he is inspired with it). He sees it in perspective as a work of which this first conception is the most difficult part, for through the conception he can learn where it should be adorned in the composition. The picture (in his fancy), "bosom's shop," is to be illuminated by Truth; thus having furnished the creation, he subjects it to a philosophical, truthful consideration, or, in the language of the stanza, "Mine eyes have drawn Thy shape, and Thine (Truth) for me are windows to My breast, where-through the sun delights to peep, to gaze therein on Thee" (on his thoughts). But this is only a commencement. This consideration in itself is superficial. It must be followed by another that will reveal "the heart" (the inner nature).

SONNET 25.

Let those who are in favour with their stars,
Of public honour and proud titles boast,
Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars,
Unlook'd for joy in that I honour most.

Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread

But as the marigold at the sun's eye,

And in themselves their pride lies buried,

For at a frown they in their glory die.

The painful warrior famoused for fight,
After a thousand victories once foil'd,
Is from the book of honour razed quite,
And all the rest forgot for which he toil'd:
Then happy I, that love and am belov'd,

Where I may not remove, nor be remov❜d.

In this stanza he contrasts the delight which he derives from the delineation of Truth in dramatic composition, with that enjoyed by those who are honored with titles and favored by their sovereign. While they enjoy these princely favors, the fruit of much toil, and personal consideration, he enjoys a pursuit that has come to him unsought. They, like the marigold which wilts in the excessive heat of the sun, die in the height of their renown, at a frown from their sovereign. The gallant soldier, who has been successful on a thousand battle-fields, is shorn of his glory in a moment, and his great achievements, as well as he himself, forgotten. How much happier is he in an occupation suited to his taste, and subject to none of these terrible reverses !

SONNET 26.

Lord of My Love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To Thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show My wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as Mine

May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,

But that I hope some good conceit of Thine

In Thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it;

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