The most widely known version of Sonnet 138 was published in a text known as the 1609 Quarto. However, ten years earlier a different version had been published in a collection called The Passionate Pilgrim. Though it is the same poem, there are substantial differences between the two versions. Some scholars describe the 1599 sonnet as a pirated version that may have been misremembered when it was copied down. Other scholars describe the 1599 sonnet as an early draft and the 1609 version as the final draft. Either way, looking at the 1599 version helps bring out some particularities of the accepted 1609 version as it has come down to us.
The two poems are quite similar on a first glance. However, some differences in word choice create a very different tone. In the accepted 1609 version, the speaker pretends not to notice his lover’s lies so that he can seem like “some untutored youth, / Unlearnèd in the world’s false subtleties.” However, in the 1599 draft, the speaker is “unskillful in the world’s false forgeries” rather than “false subtleties.” In “Loves of Comfort and Despair: A Reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 138,” scholar Edward A. Snow says that the tone of the 1599 version is harsher. “Unskillful” suggests a personal failing (perhaps failure in sexual matters) rather than just the inexperience of a youth who is “unlearned.” Similarly, Snow writes that “subtleties” is a more “ethically neutral” world than “forgeries.” Again, the earlier draft is more strict about what is true or false rather than focusing on what is easy to understand and what is harder.
In the accepted 1609 version of Sonnet 138, the most famous line reads: “Oh, love’s best habit is in seeming trust.” Instead, the earlier version gives us: “O, love's best habit is a soothing tongue.” While the lines sound similar, the meaning is quite different. The phrase “seeming trust” has multiple meanings. It can refer to “trust in how things seem” and also “seeming/pretending to trust.” Instead of this, the 1599 version refers to “a soothing tongue” as the best habit of love. Soothing suggests temporary relief, unlike “trust” which is a state lovers achieve. Also, the “soothing tongue” refers back to the “false-speaking tongue” mentioned earlier in the poem. There is more of a sense here that the lover is tricking the speaker and vice versa.
The biggest difference between the two versions is in the final couplet. The famous 1609 version gives us: “Therefore I lie with her and she with me, / And in our faults by lies we flattered be.” The 1599 version is different: “Therefore I'll lie with love, and love with me, / Since that our faults in love thus smother'd be.” The earlier draft is more abstract. Instead of the lovers “lying” down together in bed, the speaker is sleeping with an abstraction (not “her” but the idea of “love”). The final 1609 version has the lovers “flattered” by lies. These lies allow them to see each other and themselves in the best light possible, thus making their relationship continue. However, in the early version their “faults in love” are “smothered.” The image of the bed again comes to mind, but the lies become pillows that suffocate them.
The 1599 version of Sonnet 138 is much darker. It judges the lovers harshly and suggests that their lies will have a bad end. Instead, the 1609 version is hopeful. It is still ironic, pointing out the lover’s faults and inconsistencies, but its tone is more accepting. It seems comfortable with the paradox that one can both be faulty and flattered. It argues that perhaps pretending to believe is the best kindness lovers can give each other. Comparing the two versions of the poem brings out the gentle humor that characterizes Sonnet 138 in its final version.
Here is the 1599 version of Sonnet 138 from The Passionate Pilgrim in full:
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unskilful in the world's false forgeries.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although I know my years be past the best,
I smiling credit her false-speaking tongue,
Outfacing faults in love with love's ill rest.
But wherefore says my love that she is young?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is a soothing tongue,
And age, in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore I'll lie with love, and love with me,
Since that our faults in love thus smother'd be.
