Browning's England Part 7

XVII

"Ah, but so I shall not enter, Scroll in hand, the common heart-- Stopped at surface: since at centre Song should reach _Welt-schmerz_, world-smart!"

"Enter in the heart?" Its sh.e.l.ly Cuira.s.s guard mine, fore and aft!

Such song "enters in the belly And is cast out in the draught."

XVIII

Back then to our sherris-brewage!

"Kings.h.i.+p" quotha? I shall wait-- Waive the present time: some new age ...

But let fools antic.i.p.ate!

Meanwhile greet me--"friend, good fellow, Gentle Will," my merry men!

As for making Envy yellow With "Next Poet"--(Manners, Ben!)

The first stanza of "House"--

"Shall I sonnet-sing you about myself?

Do I live in a house you would like to see?

Is it scant of gear, has it store of pelf?

'Unlock my heart with a sonnet-key?'"--

brings one face to face with the interminable controversies upon the autobiographical significance of Shakespeare's Sonnets. As volumes upon the subject have been written, it is not possible even adequately to review the various theories here. The controversialists may be broadly divided into those who read complicated autobiographical details into the sonnets, those who scout the idea of their being autobiographical at all, and those who take a middle ground. Of the first there are two factions: one of these believes that the opening sonnets were addressed to Lord William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and the other that they were addressed to Shakespeare's patron, the Earl of Southampton. The first theory dates back as far as 1832 when it was started by James Boaden, a journalist and the biographer of Kemble and Mrs. Siddons. This theory has had many supporters and is a.s.sociated to-day with the name of Thomas Tyler, who, in his edition of the Sonnets published in 1890, claimed to have identified the dark lady of the Sonnets with a lady of the Court, Mary Fitton and the mistress of the Earl of Pembroke. The theory, like most things of the sort, has its fascinations, and few people can read the Sonnets without being more or less impressed by it. It is based, however, upon a supposition so unlikely that it may be said to be proved incorrect, namely, that the dedication of the Sonnets to their "Onlie Begettor, Mr. W. H." is intended for "Mr. William Herbert." There was a Mr. William Hall, later a master printer, and the friend of Thomas Thorpe, the publisher of the Sonnets, who is much more likely to be the person meant. Lord Herbert was far too important a person to be addressed as Mr. W. H. As Mr. Lee points out, when Thorpe did dedicate books to Herbert he was careful to give full prominence to the t.i.tles and distinction of his patron. The Sonnets as we have already seen were not published with Shakespeare's sanction. In those days the author had no protection, and if a ma.n.u.script fell into the hands of a printer he could print it if he felt so disposed. Mr. William Hall was in the habit of looking out for ma.n.u.scripts and before he became a printer, in 1606, had one published by Southwell of which he himself wrote the dedication, to the "Vertuous Gentleman, Mathew Saunders, Esquire W. H.

wisheth, with long life, a prosperous achievement of his good desires."

"There is little doubt," writes Mr. Lee, "that the W. H. of the Southwell volume was Mr. William Hall, who, when he procured that ma.n.u.script for publication, was an humble auxiliary in the publis.h.i.+ng army." To sum up in Mr. Lee's words his interesting and convincing chapter on "Thomas Thorpe and Mr. 'W. H.'" "'Mr. W. H.,' whom Thorpe described as the 'only begetter of these ensuing sonnets,' was in all probability the acquirer or procurer of the ma.n.u.script, who, figuratively speaking, brought the book into being either by first placing the ma.n.u.script in Thorpe's hands or by pointing out the means by which a copy might be acquired. To a.s.sign such significance to the word 'begetter' was entirely in Thorpe's vein. Thorpe described his role in the piratical enterprise of the 'Sonnets' as that of 'the well-wis.h.i.+ng adventurer in setting forth,' _i.e._, the hopeful speculator in the scheme. 'Mr. W. H.' doubtless played the almost equally important part--one as well known then as now in commercial operations--of the 'vender' of the property to be exploited."

The Southampton theory is reared into a fine air-castle by Gerald Ma.s.sey in his lengthy book on the Sonnets--truly entertaining reading but too ingenious to be convincing.

Finally Mr. Lee in his book looks at the subject in an unbiased and perfectly sane way. He thinks the opening Sonnets are to the Earl of Southampton, known to be Shakespeare's patron, but he warns us that exaggerated devotion was the hall-mark of the Sonnets of the age, and therefore what Shakespeare says of his young patron in these Sonnets need not be taken too literally as expressing the poet's sentiments, though he admits there may be a note of genuine feeling in them. Also he thinks that some of the sonnets reflecting moods of melancholy or a sense of sin may reveal the writer's inner consciousness. Possibly, too, the story of the "dark lady" may have some basis in fact, though he insists, "There is no clue to the lady's ident.i.ty, and speculation on the topic is useless." Furthermore, he thinks it doubtful whether all the words in these Sonnets are to be taken with the seriousness implied, the affair probably belonging only to the annals of gallantry.

It will be seen from the poem that Browning took the uncompromisingly non-autobiographical view of the Sonnets. In this stand present authoritative opinion would not justify him, but it speaks well for his insight and sympathy that he was not fascinated by the William Herbert theory which, at the time he wrote the poem, was very much in the air.

In "Shop" is given, in a way, the obverse side of the idea. If it is proved that the dramatic poet does not allow himself to appear in his work, the step toward regarding him as having no individuality aside from his work is an easy one. The allusions in the poem to the mercenariness of the "Shop-Keeper" seem to hit at the criticisms of Shakespeare's thrift, which enabled him to buy a home in his native place and retire there to live some years before the end of his life. In some quarters it has been customary to regard Shakespeare as devoting himself to dramatic literature in order to make money, as if this were a terrible slur on his character. The superiority of such an independent spirit over that of those who constantly sought patrons was quite manifest to Browning's mind or he would not have written this sarcastic bit of symbolism, between the lines of which can be read that Browning was on Shakespeare's side.

HOUSE

I

Shall I sonnet-sing you about myself?

Do I live in a house you would like to see?

Is it scant of gear, has it store of pelf?

"Unlock my heart with a sonnet key?"

II

Invite the world, as my betters have done?

"Take notice: this building remains on view, Its suites of reception every one, Its private apartment and bedroom too;

III

"For a ticket, apply to the Publisher."

No: thanking the public, I must decline.

A peep through my window, if folk prefer; But, please you, no foot over threshold of mine!

IV

I have mixed with a crowd and heard free talk In a foreign land where an earthquake chanced: And a house stood gaping, nought to balk Man's eye wherever he gazed or glanced.

V

The whole of the frontage shaven sheer, The inside gaped: exposed to day, Right and wrong and common and queer, Bare, as the palm of your hand, it lay.

VI

The owner? Oh, he had been crushed, no doubt!

"Odd tables and chairs for a man of wealth!

What a parcel of musty old books about!

He smoked,--no wonder he lost his health!

VII

"I doubt if he bathed before he dressed.

A brasier?--the pagan, he burned perfumes!

You see it is proved, what the neighbors guessed: His wife and himself had separate rooms."

VIII

Friends, the goodman of the house at least Kept house to himself till an earthquake came: 'Tis the fall of its frontage permits you feast On the inside arrangement you praise or blame.

IX

Outside should suffice for evidence: And whoso desires to penetrate Deeper, must dive by the spirit-sense-- No optics like yours, at any rate!

X

"Hoity toity! A street to explore, Your house the exception! '_With this same key Shakespeare unlocked his heart_,' once more!"

Did Shakespeare? If so, the less Shakespeare he!

SHOP

I

So, friend, your shop was all your house!

Its front, astonis.h.i.+ng the street, Invited view from man and mouse To what diversity of treat Behind its gla.s.s--the single sheet!

II

What gimcracks, genuine j.a.panese: Gape-jaw and goggle-eye, the frog; Dragons, owls, monkeys, beetles, geese; Some crush-nosed, human-hearted dog: Queer names, too, such a catalogue!