Sonnet 111

O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,That did not better for my life provideThan public means which public manners breeds. 4Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,And almost thence my nature is subdu'dTo what it works in, like the dyer's hand:Pity me, then, and wish I were renew'd; 8Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drinkPotions of eisel 'gainst my strong infection;No bitterness that I will bitter think,Nor double penance, to correct correction. 12Pity me, then, dear friend, and I assure yeEven that your pity is enough to cure me.

2 guilty goddess . . . deeds: goddess guilty of . . . deeds5 brand: stigma6 subdu'd: reduced10 eisel: vinegar12 correct correction: chastise chastisement, make my correction doubly sure