Than you expect; unfeal this letter foon,
There you fhall find, three of your Argofies
Are richly come to Harbour fuddenly.
You fhall not know by what strange accident
I chanced on this letter.

Ant. I am dumb.

Baff. Were you the Doctor, and I knew you not? Gra. Were you the clerk, that is to make me cuckold?

Ner. Ay, but the clerk, that never means to do it, Unless he live until he be a man.

Baff. Sweet Doctor, you shall be my bedfellow; When I am absent, then lye with my wife.

Ant. Sweet lady, you have giv'n me life and living; For here I read for certain, that my ships Are fafely come to road.

Por. How now, Lorenzo?

My clerk hath fome good comforts too for you.
Ner. Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee.'
There do I give to you and Jeffica,
From the rich Jew, a fpecial Deed of Gift,
After his death, of all he dies poffefs'd of.

Lor. Fair ladies, 4 you drop Manna in the way
Of starved people.

Por. It is almoft morning,

And yet, I'm fure, you are not fatisfy'd
Of these events at full. Let us go in,
And charge us there upon interr'gatories,
And we will answer all things faithfully.

Gra. Let it be fo: the firft interr❜gatory, That my Nerilla fhall be fworn on, is,

you Manna in the

"Of Rarved people.] Shakespear is not more exact in any thing, than in adapting his images with propriety to his speakers; of which he has here given an instance in making the young Jeefs call good fortune, Manna.

Whether

Whether 'till the next night he had rather stay,
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day.
But were the day come, I should with it dark,
'Till I were couching with the Doctor's clerk.
Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing
So fore, as keeping fafe Neriffa's ring.

[Exeunt omnes.

+

Dramatis Perfonæ.

FERDINAND, King of Navarre.

Biron,

Longaville,}

Dumain,

three Lords, attending upon the King in

his retirement.

Boyet,
Macard,

}

Lords, attending upon the Princess of
France.

Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical Spaniard.
Nathaniel, a Curate,

Dull, a Conftable.

Holofernes, a Schoolmaster.

Coftard, a Clown.

Moth, Page to Don Adriano de Armado,

A Forefter.

Princess of France.

Rofaline,

Maria,
Catharine,

}

Jaquenetta, a Country Wench.

Ladies, attending on the Princefs.

Officers, and others, Attendants upon the King and Princefs.

SCENE, the King of Navarre's Palace, and the Country near it.

LOVE'S LABOUR's loft.

ACT I. SCENE I

The PALACE.

Enter the King, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain.

L

KING.

ET Fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live registred upon our brazen tombs ;
And then grace us in the difgrace of death:
When, fpight of cormorant devouring
time,

Th' endeavour of this prefent breath may buy
That honour which fhall 'bate his fcythe's keen edge;
And make us heirs of all eternity.
Therefore, brave Conquerors! for so you are,
That war against your own Affections,
And the huge army of the world's defires;
Our late edict shall strongly stand in force.
Navarre fhall be the wonder of the world;
Our Court shall be a little academy,
Still and contemplative in living arts.
You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville,

Have