Produced by D Alexander, Stephanie Eason, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Testimony of the Sonnets as to the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays and Poems By Jesse Johnson G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press 1899 Copyright, 1899 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Entered at Stationers' Hall, London The Knickerbocker Press, New York DEDICATED TO ALBERT E. LAMB PARTNER AND FRIEND FOR TWENTY YEARS OF THE ROYAL LINE OF LOYAL GENTLEMEN CONTENTS Introductory Scope and effect of the discussion 1-5 Chapter I The Sonnets contain a message from their author; they portray his real emotions, and are to be read and interpreted literally 7-18 Chapter II They indicate that the friend or patron of the poet was a young man, and of about the age of Shakespeare; and that their author was past middle life, and considerably older than Shakespeare 19-48 Chapter III Direct statements showing that the Sonnets were not written by their accredited author--were not written by Shakespeare 49-58 Chapter IV The known facts of Shakespeare's history reveal a character entirely inconsistent with, and radically different from, the revelations of the Sonnets as to the character of their author 59-72 Chapter V The general scope and effect of the Sonnets inconsistent with the theory that they were written by Shakespeare 73-96 Chapter VI The results of the discussion summarized 97-99 INTRODUCTORY The Shakespearean Sonnets are not a single or connected work like an ordinary play or poem. Their composition apparently extended over a considerable time, which may be fairly estimated as not less than four years. Read literally they seem to portray thoughts, modes or experiences fairly assignable to such a period. Though variable and sometimes light and airy in their movement, the greater portion appear to reveal deep and intense emotion, the welling and tumultous floods of the inner life of their great author. And their difficulty or mystery is, that they indicate circumstances, surroundings, experiences and regrets that we almost instinctively apprehend could not have been those of William Shakespeare at the time they were written, when he must have been in the strength of early manhood, in the warmth and glow of recent and extraordinary advancement and success.