Samuel Butler 
Shakespeare’s Sonnets [PDF ebook] 
Reconsidered, and in Part Rearranged With Introductory Chapters, Notes, and a Reprint of the Original 1609 Edition

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. I was led to take up the thorny questions which Shakespeare’s Sonnets so abundantly raise, by the appearance of two articles in the Fortnightly Review for Dec. 1897 and Feb. 1898. In the first Of these, Mr /villiam Archer, inclining to the theory that the Mr W. H. Of Thorpe’s prefatory address was William Herbert Earl of Pembroke (which involves that the Sonnets were mainly inspired by him), shewed how baseless was the contention that most, or indeed any, of them were addressed to Henry Wriothesley Earl of Southampton. In the second Of the articles above referred to, Mr Sidney Lee, inclining to the theory that many Of the Sonnets were addressed to Lord Southampton, shewed how baseless was the conteh tion that Mr W. H. Could have been Lord Pembroke, and declared him to have been a mere go-between, who procured the Oopy for Thomas Thorpe the publisher.