CHAPTER V. WE could proceed thus, and notice something of a universal character in almost every Sonnet, but might then deprive the student of the satisfaction of making discoveries for himself. 66 The so-called "extern" of the 125th Sonnet is another of the many references to the mere material side of nature. It is the "dull substance of the flesh" of the 44th Sonnet. This flesh it was, that canopied " the spirit within, but which benefited the poet nothing; or, as expressed in the 20th Sonnet, it was "nothing to his purpose." His desire was to be "obsequious" in the heart, that is, the essence, or spirit of life: and this he saw required. the self-denial of Scripture, demanding a complete surrender of the "me," or self, for the spirit, as set out also in the 126th Sonnet; for the truth of the doctrine does not depend upon its having been de 66 clared in an "antique book; " but its truth is recog nized there, because it is now extant" in the nature of things (sonnet 83). In the 127th Sonnet "black" signifies evil; and the poet means to say, that in the early age of the world, sometimes called the golden age, or the age of innocence, evil was not counted good; and he means also to represent that the spirit of truth was in mourning over the degeneracy of his age, which is figured by the "black eyes" of his mistress; and this simply signifies that the poet's own spirit mourned over the depravity of the times in which he lived. There are many evidences in the Sonnets that the poet looked upon the age in which he lived as rude and "unbred;" (he means, uncultivated in art, this being his particular field.) Thus, in the 108th Sonnet, he evidently refers to classical "antiquity," where he saw "the first conceit of love;" and there he saw, Sonnet 104, what he calls the "summer" of Beauty, telling his own unbred age," as he calls it, "Ere you were born, was beauty's summer dead." 66 Mystical writers have sometimes compared the mere physical "extern" of life to wood, fashioned by the spirit into infinite shapes; but this class of writers despise nothing in nature, and therefore honor the material in which the spirit works. This must serve as a hint for understanding the 128th Sonnet. 128. How oft, when thou, my Musick, musick play'st, With thy sweet fingers, &c. In this Sonnet, as elsewhere, the poet shows his desire to penetrate the essence of things, here wishing to "kiss the tender inward of the [spiritual] hand" whose sweet touches bring all nature into harmony, figured by music. Beauty's Rose is here styled the poet's Musick, being the principle of harmony, when in harmony itself. The reader may or may not recognize a pas-' sage in the last scene of Cymbeline as having some connection with the idea expressed in the 128th Sonnet. When the very involved and complicated events of that drama are finally brought into clear day and perfect consistency, a soothsayer is brought forward, who, speaking as an oracle, declares that "the fingers of the powers above do tune the harmony of this peace." There appears to be some error, perhaps typographical, in the 129th Sonnet. If in the place of "till," in the second line, we read in, there will at least be some sense in that part of the Sonnet; whereas, as it now reads, we do not see what to make of it, and are willing to let it pass as incomprehensible. The student of the Sonnets should not form in his mind a rigid image of the object addressed, but should conceive that object poetically through the mind of the poet himself as far as possible; and then he will have no difficulty in understanding such Sonnets as the 138th, which commences: 138. When my love swears that she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she lies. Here the poet does not address a woman, as all the critics appear to think, thereupon making pointed inferences touching the poet's life; but he has in his mind an idea of the feminine side of the double object originally conceived as the mastermistress of his passion; and the purpose here is to show that however "bright and "fair" the mere passion side of life may appear to be, it is not to be trusted when separated from the masculine or reason side of our rational nature. We have already said that in the 144th Sonnet the poet lets us see his double nature, the man and the woman, his reason and his affections-the latter as the passions. The In the 146th Sonnet, the poet concludes to sacrifice the passion side of the master-mistress, the body being called, in the 1st line, sinful earth; in the 4th line, outward walls; in the 6th line, fading mansion; and in the 9th line, the servant. arraigning powers (2d line) are of course the passions, by which the poet had been misled. . These are the fallen angels; for, as already stated, the passions in their own nature are not evil, and it is a mistake to teach that they are so. But now the poet resolves (the same 146th Sonnet) to "buy terms divine, by selling hours of dross;" that is, he determines to surrender the temporal for the eternal; and this he calls "feeding on death, which feeds on men;" and he concludes that, death being dead, there will be no more dying then. In the 147th Sonnet the feminine side of the poet's nature is called love, and is compared to a |