William Herbert, Earl of Pembrokedetails

[In 1604] there is an entry in [the Office Books of the Treasurer of the Chamber] of a payment of thirty pounds to John Heminge “for the pains and expenses of himself and the rest of his company in coming from Mortlake in the county of Surrey unto the Court [at Wilton], and there presenting before his Majesty [King James] one play on the 2nd of December last, by way of his Majesty’s rewars.”

Wilton was the seat of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, to whom is has been helpd that Shakespere’s [sic] Sonnets were addressed. We do not yield our assent to this opinion. But we know from good authority that this nobleman, “the most unversally beloved and esteemed of any man of that age,” (accoreding to Clarendon.) befriended Shakespere, and that his brother joined him in his acts of kindness.

The dedication by John Heminge and Henry Condell prefixed to the first collectedf edition of the works of Shakespere, is addressed “To the most noble and incomparable pair of brethren, William Earl of pembroke, and Philip Earl of Montgomery.” (p. 474)