Note 16 — Chapter II
Reading edition
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.