[16] The dedication of _Venus and Adonis_ (and subsequently of _Tarquin and Lucrece_) to the Earl of Southampton is undoubted; nor are intimate friendly relations doubted; but the further supposition--long accredited--that the major part of the Sonnets were addressed to the same Earl--is now generally abandoned--entirely so by the new Shakespearean scholars. William Herbert (Earl of Pembroke)--to whom is dedicated the 1623 folio--is counted by many the “begetter” of these, and the rival of the poet in loves of the “dark-eyed” frail one, whose identity has so provoked inquiry. A late theory favors a Miss Fitton, of whom a descendant, the Rev. Fred. Fitton, has latterly made himself advocate. See _Athenæum_ for February 20, 1886. [17] A very good exhibit of best opinions on such points may be found briefly summarized in Stopford Brooke’s little _Primer of English Literature_; see also Mr. Fleay’s recent _Chronical History of Shakespeare_; and fuller discussion (though somewhat antiquated) in Dr. Drake’s interesting discussion of _Shakespeare and his Times_. I name this book, not as wholly authoritative, or comparable with the mass of newer criticism which has been developed under the auspices of the different Shakespeare societies, but as massing together a great budget of information from cotemporaneous authors and full of entertaining reading. In America, the Shakespearean labors of Hudson, Grant White, and Dr. Rolfe are to be noted; and also--with larger emphasis--the beginnings of the monumental work of Mr. Furniss. [18] Seven editions of this poem were published between 1593 and 1602. [19] The _Nation_ (N. Y.), of March 7, 1884, has this: “In an indenture between the R^t Hon. Sir Rich^d Saltonstall, Knt., Lord Mayor of London, and 2 others, Commissioners of her Majesty (fortieth yr of Queen Elizabeth), and the parties deputed to collect the first of these subsidies granted by Parliament the yr preceding--(bearing date Oct. 1598), for the _rate of S^t Helen’s Parish_, Bishopsgate ward--the name of _Wm. Shakespeare_ is found as liable, with others, to that rate.” This, if it be indeed our William who is named, would serve to show residence in “S^t Helen’s Parish”--in which is the venerable Crosby Hall. [20] See Halliwell-Phillips (vol. i., p. 130; 7th ed.). [21] Edmond Shakespeare was buried in St. Saviour’s in 1607. [22] I append table from French’s _Shakespeareana Genealogica_: