Sonnets

Sonnets

Shakespeare, William. ed. Alexander Chalmers

London: Bohn, 1854. The Complete Works of Shakespeare with a Memoir. pp. 689-703

Internet Archive

1854

1855-03-16: "Friday 16. A still lovelier day. A brisk wind carried about great masses of cloud below an arch of clear blue. I read Shakspeare's [sic] "Passionate Pilgrim" at breakfast and found a sonnet in which he expresses admiration of Spenser ( Sonnet VIII) "Douland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense: Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such, As passing all conceit needs no defence." I must send word of this to G. who has written in his Goethe that Shakspeare [sic] has left no line in praise of a contemporary. [inserted later: (G. writes that this sonnet is Barnwell's)] I could not resist the temptation of walking out before I sat down to work. Came in at 1/2 past 10 and translated Spinoza till nearly 1. Walked out again till 2. After dinner read "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and some of the "Sonnets". That play disgusted me more than ever in the final scene where Valentine on Proteus' mere begging pardon where he has no longer any hope of gaining his ends, says: "All that was mine in Silvia I give thee"! -Silvia standing by. Walked up the Castle hill again and came in at 6. Read Scherr and found an important hint that I have made a mistake in a sentence of my article on Austria about the death of Franz von Sickingen. Wrote to Sara Rennell and to Miss Parkes." Diary 1854-1861 54
1869-08-01: "Aug. 1. Since last Sunday I have had an uncomfortable week from mental and bodily disturbance. I have finished eleven Sonnets on "Brother and Sister", read Littr Nisard; part of 22nd Idyll of Theocritus, Sainte Beuve aloud to G. two evenings. On Thursday: the evening was occupied with Gertrude and Charles, Monday evening with looking through Dickson's Fallacies of the Faculty. On Tuesday afternoon we went to the British Museum to see a new bronze, and I was enchanted with some fragments of glass in the Slade Collection, with dyes of sunset in them. Yesterday, sitting in Thornie's room I read through all Shakspeare's sonnets. Poor Thornie has had a miserably unsatisfactory week, making no progress. After lunch came Miss N. Smith and Miss Blythe, Mr. Burton, Mr. and Mrs. Burne Jones and Mr. Sanderson." Diary 1861-1877 137

Shakespeare, William. ed. Alexander Chalmers, Sonnets, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57217

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/535ca1c961bce0bcc4ee21f6b2b94b8f.pdf