INTRODUCTION

The earliest reference to Sonnets by Shakespeare occurs in Meres' Palladis Tamia, 1598: “The sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tqngued Shakespeare, witnes … his sugred Sonnets among his private friends.” In 1599 two sonnets, cxxxviii. and cxliv., were published by Jaggard in The Passionate Pilgrim. The second of these is what Dr. Furnivall calls the “key-sonnet” – “Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,” &c. For ten years nothing further is heard of the Sonnets. Then on May 20th, 1609, A book called Shakespeares Sonnettes was entered on the Stationers' Register, and published, in Quarto, the same year. Of this Quarto the title-page, in some copies, is as follows:– SHAKE-SPEARES, ∣ SONNETS. ∣ Neuer before Imprinted. T. T. and are By G. Eld for AT LONDON. to be solde by William Aspley. ∣ 1609. ∣ Others have the imprint: AT LONDON ∣ By G. Eld for T. T. and are to be solde by John Wright, dwelling ∣ at Christ Church gate. ∣ 1609. ∣ This was the only Quarto edition of the Sonnets that was published. Evidently they did not meet with the popularity which fell to Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, and it was not till 1640 that any reprint appeared. In that year they were given, in rather haphazard fashion, in a volume of Poems: written by Wil Shakespeare, Gent; the volume containing The Passionate Pilgrim and many poems not written by Shakespeare.