'Cyril pointed out also that Pembroke's father did not die till 1601; whereas it was evident from the line,
You had a father; let your son say so,
that the father of Mr. W. H. was dead in 1598. Besides,it was absurd to imagine that any publisher of the time, and the preface is from the publisher's hand,would have ventured to address William Herbert,Earl of Pembroke, as Mr. W. H.; the case of Lord Buckhurst being spoken of as Mr. Sackville being not really a parallel instance, as Lord Buckhurst was not a peer, but merely the younger son of a peer,with a courtesy title, and the passage in England'sParnassus, where he is so spoken of, is not a formal and stately dedication, but simply a casual allusion.So far for Lord Pembroke, whose supposed claims Cyril easily demolished while I sat by in wonder.With Lord Southampton Cyril had even less difficulty.Southampton became at a very early age the lover of Elizabeth Vernon, so he needed no entreaties to marry;he was not beautiful; he did not resemble his mother,as Mr. W. H. did—