e 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 associated 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 titles
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 manuscript 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 manuscripts 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
manuscript for publication, was an humble auxiliary in the publishing
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 manuscript, who,
figuratively speaking, brought the book into being eith