{"id":"01KG6S6RTA5D1CMP6KX1HDS4F6","cid":"bafkreib3l5fopptsnstso7dh5sjysxgh4syngrwymg44h5ovjbebcqn4oe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9740,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T06:24:48.293Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA","start_line":9699,"text":"combines with the far-fetched conceits to suggest that the writer drew much of his inspiration from that vast sonnet literature, which both in France and England abounded in affected allusions to precious gems.¹ The typography of the poem has much the same defects as the sonnets. Among the confusing misprints are the following:—‘a sacred *Sonne*’ for ‘nun’ (260); ‘*Or* cleft effect’ for ‘O’ (293); ‘all *straing* formes’ for ‘strange’ (303); ‘*sounding* palenesse’ for ‘swounding’ or ‘swooning’ (305); ‘*sound*’ for ‘swound’ or ‘swoon’ (308).\n\n¹ Ronsard, and all the poets of the Pléiade, were very generous in their comparison of their mistress’ charms to precious stones. The practice, which was freely imitated by Elizabethan sonneteers, received its most conspicuous illustration in the work of Remy Belleau, in his *Les Amours et nouveaux exchanges des pierres précieuses, vertus et propriétés décibles*, which was first published at Paris in 1576, and figuratively describes, with amorous application, the amethyst, the diamond, the loadstone, the ruby, onyx, opal, emerald, turquoise, and many other precious stones. Shakespeare proves his acquaintance with poems of the kind, when he refers in his sonnets to the sonneteers’ habit of\n\nMaking a complement of proud compare,\nWith sun and moon, with earth and sea’s rich gems.\n(Sonnet XXI.)\n\nIn *Sonnet* CXXX he again derides the common convention:—\n\nMy mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;\n*Coral* is far more red than her lips’ red.\n\n<!-- [Page 462](arke:01KG6QHPG544H1A13E4YJ45X31) -->\nSONNETS OF SHAKESPEARE 51\nV\n\nThorpe’s edition of the *Sonnets* does not seem to have been received by the public with enthusiasm. Edward Alleyn, the actor, purchased a copy of the book for fivepence, in June, 1609, within a month of its publication.¹ Another copy, in the John Rylands Library (No. VI, below), was clearly purchased at the same price for a gift-book, near the same date. Yet a third extant copy (No. VII, below) bears indication that it was acquired in very early days by Milton’s patron, the Earl of Bridgewater. But there is no sign that Shakespeare’s sonnets were widely read. A single edition answered the demand. The copyright proved of no marketable value. Thorpe retained it till he disappeared in 1625, and then no one was found to take it off his hands.\n\nContemporary references to Shakespeare’s sonnets in the printed literature of the day are rare. The poet, Drummond of Hawthornden, seems to have studied them, though he failed to note the purchase of Thorpe’s volume in the list which he prepared of the English books bought by him up to the year 1614. Many reminiscences of Shakespeare’s sonnets figure in Drummond’s early sonnets and poems, which were first collected in 1616. He borrowed, too, some lines from *A Lover’s Complaint*, which was appended to Thorpe’s edition of the *Sonnets*.²\n\n¹ Warner’s *Dulwich Manuscripts*, p. 92.\n² Cf. Drummond’s *Poems*, pt. ii, Sonnet xi, and impression, Edinb. 1616:\ndeare *Napkin* doe not grieve\nThat I this Tribute pay thee from mine *Eine*,\nAnd that (these posting Hours I am to live)\nI laundre thy faire Figures in this Brine.\n\n*A Lover’s Complaint* (15–18):\nOft did she heave her *Napkin* to her *eyne*,\nWhich on it had conceited characters,\nLaundring the silken figures in the brine\nThat season’d woe had pelleted in teares.\n\nG 2\n\n<!-- [Page 463](arke:01KG6QHPV84RVV7BZ37GT2JWT8) -->\n52\nSONNETS OF SHAKESPEARE.\n\nSome twenty years later, Shakespeare's earnest admirer and imitator, Sir John Suckling, literally reproduced many expressions from Shakespeare's sonnets, in his *Tragedy of Brennoralt.*¹\n","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6S4GWST5P4AR5FHFSAMC3Y","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6S6RTD1KP9H7WJ6W51SCEQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6S6RTD2VFRMGC2RJD06JSC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T06:24:48.970Z","ts":"2026-01-30T06:24:59.011Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}