THE

SONNETS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKSPERE,

REARRANGED AND DIVIDED

INTO

FOUR PARTS.

WITH AN

INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

LONDON:

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,

36, SOHO SQUARE.

M.DCCC.LIX.

LONDON:

F. PICKTON, PRINTER,

PERRY'S PLACE, 29, OXFORD STREET.

ON THE

SONNETS OF SHAKSPERE.

THESE Sonnets were published without the consent or knowledge of the author in 1609, with the following dedication:

TO. THE .ONLIE. BEGETTER. OF.

It has been strongly advocated by Mr. Boaden, and very generally believed, that William Herbert, Earl Pembroke, is the person to whom the Sonnets are dressed; but I trust the following pages will satisactorily refute this ingenious supposition. The dedication, in my opinion, merely means, Mr. T. T., Thos. Thorpe, the publisher, wishes Mr. W. H., the collector of these sonnets, all happiness and that eternity, which the Poet promised his friend.