First of all she is described in sonnet 131 as "tyrannous"; then
in sonnet 133 as "faithless"; in sonnet 137 as "the bay where all men
ride ... the wide world's commonplace"; in sonnet 138 as "false"; in
139, she is "coquettish"; 140, "proud"; "false to the bonds of love";
"black as hell... dark as night"--in both looks and character; "full of
foul faults "; "cruel"; "unworthy," but of "powerful" personality;
"unkind--inconstant... unfaithful... forsworn."
Now, the first question is: Can we find this "dark lady" of the sonnets
in the plays? The sonnets tell us she was of pale complexion with black
eyes and hair; do the plays bear out this description? And if they do
bear it out do they throw any new light upon Miss Fitton's character?
Did Miss Fitton seem proud and inconstant, tyrannous and wanton, to
Shakespeare when he first met her, and before she knew Lord Herbert?
The earliest mention of the poet's mistress in the plays is to be found,
I think, in "Romeo and Juliet." "Romeo and Juliet" is dated by Mr.
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