Mrs. D'Avenant, we are told, was "a very beautiful woman, and
of a very good witt and of conversation extremely agreeable." No doubt
Shakespeare made up to her from the first. Her second son, William, who
afterwards became the celebrated playwright, was born in March, 1605,
and according to a tradition long current in Oxford, Shakespeare was his
father. In later life Sir William D'Avenant himself was "contented
enough to be thought his (Shakespeare's) son." There is every reason to
accept the story as it has been handed down. Shakespeare, as Troilus,
brags of his constancy; talks of himself as "plain and true"; but it was
all boasting: from eighteen to forty-five he was as inconstant as the
wind, and gave himself to all the "subtle games" of love with absolute
abandonment, till his health broke under the strain.
In several of the Sonnets, notably in 36 and 37, Shakespeare tells us
that he was "poor and despised ... made lame by fortune's dearest
spite." He will not even have his friend's name coupled with his for
fear lest his "bewailed guilt" should do him shame:
"Let me confess that we two must be twain,
Although our undivided loves are one:
So shall those blots that do with me remain
Without thy help, by me be borne alone.
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