against usury in principle but often tolerated it in practice: the Act against Usury of 1571, while providing punishments for usury above and below 10%, unwittingly legitimized a standard interest rate of 10%. Thus, Shakespeare plays with tens, and a tenfold return on the investment is to be desired. References Further reading Baldwin, T. W. On the Literary Genetics of Shakspeare's Sonnets. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1950. Hubler, Edwin. The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952. External links An analysis and paraphrase of the sonnet Commentary British poems Sonnets by William Shakespeare