Roman heroine
show traces of the intensity that characterises the best of them. The
superior and more evenly sustained energy of the sonnets is to be
attributed, not to the accession of power that comes with increase of
years, but to the innate principles of the poetic form, and to metrical
exigencies, which impelled the sonnetteer to aim at a uniform
condensation of thought and language.

Circulation in manuscript.

In accordance with a custom that was not uncommon, Shakespeare did not
publish his sonnets; he circulated them in manuscript. {88} But their
reputation grew, and public interest was aroused in them in spite of his
unreadiness to give them publicity. A line from one of them:

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds (xciv. 14), {89a}

was quoted in the play of 'Edward III,' which was probably written before
1595. Meres, writing in 1598, enthusiastically commends Shakespeare's
'sugred {89b} sonnets among his private friends,' and mentions them in
close conjunction with his two narrative poems. William Jaggard
piratically inserted in 1599 two of the most mature of the series (Nos.
cxxxviii. and cxliv.) in his 'Passionate Pilgrim.'

Their piratical publication in 1609. 'A Lover's Complaint.'

At length, in 1609, the sonnets were surreptitiously sent to press.
Thomas Thorpe, the moving spirit in the design of their publication, was
a camp-follower of the regular publishing army. He was professionally
engaged in procuring for publication literary works which had been widely
disseminated in written copies, and had thus passed beyond their authors'
control; for the law then recognised no natural right in an author to the
creations of his brain, and the full owner of a manuscript copy of any
literary composition was entitled to reproduce it, or to treat it as he
pleased, without reference to the author's wishes. Thorpe's career as a
procurer of neglected 'copy' had begun well. He made, in 1600, his
earliest hit by bringing to light Marlowe's translation of the 'First
Book of Lucan.' On May 20, 1609, he obtained a license for the
publication of 'Shakespeares Sonnets,' and this tradesman-like form of
title figured not only on the 'Stationers' Company's Registers,' but on
the title-page. Thorpe employed George Eld to print the manuscript, and
two booksellers, William Aspley and John Wright, to distribute it to the
public. On half the edition Aspley's name figured as that of the sel