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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 491 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SOUTHAMPTON, See also:HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, 3RD See also:EARL OF (1J73—1624) , one of See also:Shakespeare's patrons, was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd earl of Southampton, and his wife See also:Mary See also:Browne, daughter of the 1st See also:Viscount Montague. He was See also:born at Cowdray See also:House, near See also:Midhurst, on the 6th of See also:October 1573, and succeeded to the See also:title in 1581, when he became a royal See also:ward, under the immediate care of See also:Lord See also:Burghley. He entered St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, in 1585, graduating M.A. in 1589; and his name was entered at See also:Gray's See also:Inn before he See also:left the university. At the See also:age of seventeen he was presented at See also:court, where he was soon counted among the See also:friends of the earl of See also:Essex, and was distinguished by extraordinary marks of the See also:queen's favour. He became a munificent See also:patron of poets. See also:Nashe dedicated his See also:romance of lack See also:Wilton to him, and Gervase See also:Markham his poem on See also:Sir See also:Richard See also:Grenville's last fight. His name is also associated with Barnabe See also:Barnes's Parthenophil and Parihenope, and with the Worlde of Wordes of John See also:Florio, who was for some years in his See also:personal service as teacher of See also:Italian. But it is as a patron of the See also:drama and especially of Shakespearethat he is best known. " My Lord Southampton and Lord See also:Rutland," 1 writes See also:Rowland See also:White to Sir See also:Robert See also:Sydney in 1599, " come not to the court . . . They pass away the See also:time in See also:London merely in going to plays every See also:day " (Sydney Papers, ed. See also:Collins, ii.

132). See also:

Venus and See also:Adonis (1593) is dedicated to Southampton in terms expressing respect, but no See also:special intimacy; but in the See also:dedication of Lucrece (1594) the See also:tone is very different. " The love I dedicate to your lordship is without end . . . What I have done is yours; what I have to do is yours; being See also:part in all I have, devoted yours." See also:Nicholas Rowe, on the authority of Sir See also:William See also:Davenant, stated in his See also:Life of Shakespeare that Southampton on one occasion gave Shakespeare a See also:present of £loon to See also:complete a See also:purchase. Nathan See also:Drake in his Shakespeare and his Times (1819; vol. ii. pp. 62 seq.) first suggested that Lord Southampton was the See also:person to whom the sonnets of Shakespeare were addressed. He set aside See also:Thomas See also:Thorpe's dedication to the " onlie begetter " of the sonnets, " Mr W. H.," by adopting the very unusual significance given by See also:George See also:Chalmers to the word " begetter," which he takes as See also:equivalent to " procurer." " Mr W. H." was thus to be considered only as the bookseller who obtained the MS. Other adherents of the Southampton theory suggest that the See also:initials H. W.

(Henry Wriothesley) were simply reversed for the See also:

sake of concealment by the publisher. It is possible in any See also:case that too much stress has been laid on Thomas Thorpe's mystification. The See also:chief arguments in favour of the Southampton theory are the agreement of the sonnets with the tone of the dedication of Lucrece, the friendly relations known to have existed between Southampton and the poet, and the See also:correspondence, at best slight, between the energetic See also:character of the earl and that of the See also:young See also:man of the sonnets. Mr See also:Arthur Acheson (Shakespeare and the See also:Rival Poet, 1903) brings much See also:evidence in favour of the theory, first propounded by William See also:Minto, that George See also:Chapman, whose See also:style is parodied by Shakespeare in the 21st See also:sonnet and in Love's Labour's Lost, was the rival poet of the 78th and following sonnets. Mr Acheson goes on to suppose that Chapman's erotic poems were written with a view to gaining Southampton's patronage, and that that nobleman had refused the dedication as the result of Shakespeare's expostulations. The obscurity surrounding the subject is hardly lightened by the See also:dialogue between H. W. and W. S. in See also:Willobie his Avisa, a poem printed in 1549 as the See also:work of Henry Willobie (q.v.) If the sonnets were indeed addressed to Southampton, the earlier ones urging See also:marriage upon him must have been written before the beginning (1595) of his intrigue with See also:Elizabeth See also:Vernon, See also:cousin of the Earl of Essex, which ended in 1598 with a hasty marriage that brought down Queen Elizabeth's anger on both the contracting parties, who spent some time in the See also:Fleet See also:prison in consequence. The " Southampton " theory of the sonnets cannot be regarded as proved, and must in any case be considered in relation to other interpretations (see SHAKESPEARE). Meanwhile in 1596 and 1597 Southampton had been actively employed, having accompanied Essex on his two expeditions to See also:Cadiz and to the See also:Azores, in the latter of which he distinguished himself by his daring See also:tactics. In 1598 he had a brawl at court with See also:Ambrose See also:Willoughby, and later in the same See also:year he attended Sir Robert See also:Cecil on an See also:embassy to See also:Paris. In 1599 he went to See also:Ireland with Essex, who made him See also:general of his See also:horse, but the queen insisted that the See also:appointment should be cancelled, and Southampton returned to London.

He was deeply involved in Essex's See also:

conspiracy against the queen, and in See also:February 16o1 was sentenced to See also:death. Sir Robert Cecil obtained the See also:commutation of the See also:penalty to imprisonment for life. On the See also:accession of See also:James I. Southampton resumed his See also:place at court and received numerous honours from the new See also:king. On the See also:eve of the abortive See also:rebellion of Essex he had induced the players at the Globe See also:theatre to revive Richard II., and on his See also:release from prison in 1603 he resumed his connexion with the See also:stage. In 1603 he entertained Queen See also:Anne with a performance See also:Roger See also:Manners, 5th earl of Rutland, a See also:close ally and friend of Southampton. of Love's Labour's Lost by See also:Burbage and his See also:company, to which Shakespeare belonged, at Southampton House. Southampton took a considerable See also:share in promoting the colonial enterprises of the time, and was an active member of the See also:Virginia company's See also:council. He seems to have been a born fighter, and engaged in more than one serious See also:quarrel at court, being imprisoned for a See also:short time in 1603. He was in more serious disgrace in 1621 for his determined opposition to See also:Buckingham. He was a volunteer on the See also:Protestant See also:side in See also:Germany in 1614, and in 1617 he proposed to See also:fit out an expedition against the See also:Barbary pirates. In 1624 he and his See also:elder son enrolled themselves as See also:volunteers for the See also:United Provinces of the See also:Netherlands against See also:Spain.

Immediately on landing they were attacked with See also:

fever, to which both succumbed, the See also:father surviving until the loth of See also:November 1624. There exist numerous portraits of Southampton, in which he is depicted with dark See also:auburn See also:hair and See also:blue eyes, compatible with Shakespeare's description of a " man right See also:fair. " Sir John See also:Beaumont (1583–1627) wrote a well-known See also:elegy in his praise, and Gervase Markham wrote of him in a See also:tract entitled See also:Honour in his Perfection, or a See also:Treatise in See also:Commendation of . . . Henry, Earl of See also:Oxenford, Henry, See also:Earle of Southampton, Robert, Earl of Essex (1624). For further See also:information see " See also:Memoirs of Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton," in See also:Boswell's Shakespeare (1821), xx. 427 sqq., where many of the elegies on Southampton are printed; also Nathan Drake, Shakespeare and his Times (1817), ii. 1—20; See also:Sidney See also:Lee, Life of William Shakespeare (1898) ; Gerald See also:Massey, The See also:Secret Drama of Shakespeare's Sonnets (1888) ; See also:Samuel See also:Butler, Shakespeare's Sonnets Reconsidered (1899), where there is some distinctive See also:criticism of the Southampton theory (ch. v.—vii.); an See also:article by William See also:Archer, " Shakespeare's Sonnets. The Case against Southampton," in the Fortnightly See also:Review (Dec. 1897) ; and Sidney Lee's article on Southampton in the Dict. Nat. Biog., arguing in favour of his identity with the See also:hero of the sonnets.

P. Alvor in Das neue Shakespeare Evangelium (See also:

Munich, 1906), brings forward a theory that Southampton and Rutland were the authors of the Shakespeare tragedies and comedies respectively, and borrowed William Shakespeare's name to secure themselves from Elizabeth's suspicion.

End of Article: SOUTHAMPTON, HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, 3RD EARL OF (1J73—1624)

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