In light of the poem's situation within the group of sonnets expressing separation from the youth and the feelings of betrayal seen in Sonnet 35 and 40-42, Landry argues that the speaker in the last line praises the youth's fidelity not because he is confident of the youth's constancy but because he fitfully hopes that the youth will have a constant heart. Putting it another way, the speaker hopes that by praising the youth for his constancy the youth will become more constant while the pair is separated. This style of cautious advice finds parallels in Renaissance rhetoric. Francis Bacon in his essay, "Of Praise", explains a particular method of addressing kings and great persons with civility in which, "by telling men what they are, they represent to them what they should be". In addition, C.S. Lewis notes that an established feature of praise verse in the Renaissance was that it, "hid advice as flattery and recommended virtues by feigning that they already existed".