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

✓

A

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

CHAPTER I

The Sonnets contain a message from their author; they

portray his real emotions, and are to be read and

interpreted literally

PAGES

I-5

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 con-

siderably 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

CHAPTER IV

49-58

The known facts of Shakespeare's history reveal a charac-
ter entirely inconsistent with, and radically different
from, the revelations of the Sonnets as to the character
of their author

59-72