Imatges de pàgina
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But seek the weary beds of people sick.

But what to me, my love? but what to me?

Dum.
A wife?
Kath. A beard, fair health, and honesty;
With three-fold love I wish you all these three.
Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife?
Kath. Not so, my lord; a twelvemonth and a day
I'll mark no words that smooth-faced wooers say:
Come when the king doth to my lady come;
Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some.

Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then.
Kath. Yet swear not, lest ye be forsworn again.
Long. What says Maria?
Mar.
At the twelvemonth's end
I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend.

Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time is long.
Mar. The liker you; few taller are so young.
Biron. Studies my lady? mistress, look on me;
Behold the window of my heart, mine eye,
What humble suit attends thy answer there:
Impose some service on me for thy love.

Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my Lord Biron,
Before I saw you; and the world's large tongue
Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks,
Full of comparisons and wounding flouts,
Which you on all estates will execute
That lie within the mercy of your wit.

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To weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain,

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And therewithal to win me, if you please,

Without the which I am not to be won,

You shall this twelvemonth term from day to day
Visit the speechless sick, and still converse
With groaning wretches; and your task shall be,
With all the fierce endeavour of your wit

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To enforce the pained impotent to smile.

Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of death?

It cannot be; it is impossible:

Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.

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Ros. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit,

Whose influence is begot of that loose grace

Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools:
A jest's prosperity lies in the ear

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue

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Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears,

Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans,

Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,

And I will have you and that fault withal;

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But if they will not, throw away that spirit,
And I shall find you empty of that fault,
Right joyful of your reformation.

Biron. A twelvemonth! well; befall what will befall,

I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital.

Prin. [To the King] Ay, sweet my Lord; and so I take

my leave.

King. No, madam; we will bring you on your way.

Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy

Might well have made our sport a comedy.

King. Come, sir, it wants a twelvemonth and a day, And then 'twill end.

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Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave.

am a votary; I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the

852. dear] dere Johnson conj. drear

Jackson conj. dire Collier MS.

853. then] them Collier MS.
860. [To the King] Breaking Con-

verse with the King and curtsying.
Capell.

868. not] om. Q2.

plough for her sweet love three years. But, most esteemed
greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned
men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? it
should have followed in the end of our show.

King. Call them forth quickly; we will do so.
Arm. Holla! approach.

Re-enter HOLOFERNES, NATHANIEL, MOTH, COSTARD, and others.

This side is Hiems, Winter, this Ver, the Spring; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.

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880

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WINTER. When icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,

872. years] yeare Q. year Capell. 877. Re-enter...] Enter all. Qq Ff. 882, 883. Theobald. In Ff Qq the order is 883, 882.

883. cuckoo-buds] cowslip-buds Farmer conj. crocus-buds Whalley conj. 884. with delight] much-bedight Warburton.

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And Marian's nose looks red and raw,

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;

Tu-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You that way,-we this way.

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[Exeunt.

The words...Apollo] In

Q, printed in larger type.
913. You that way,- -we this way.]

om. Qr.

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NOTES.

NOTE I.

DRAMATIS PERSONE. Biron is spelt 'Berowne,' Longaville 'Longavill,' in Q, F. Q2; Mercade Marcade,' in Qq Ff. Armado is written sometimes 'Armatho.' Mr Grant White suggests that Moth should be written Mote,' as it was clearly so pronounced. See note (VI). 'Boyet' is made to rhyme with 'debt' in v. 2. 334; Longaville' with 'ill' in IV. 3. 119, and with 'mile' in V. 2. 53; Rosaline' with 'thine,' IV. 3. 217. Costard, in the old stage directions, is called 'Clown.'

NOTE II.

Mason says, 'I believe the title of this play should be 'Love's Labours Lost,' but it is clear, from the form in which it is written in the running title of Qq F, F2 'Loves Labour's Lost,' that the full name was intended to be 'Love's Labour is Lost.' On the title pages however of Q, and Q2 it is written respectively 'Loues labors lost,' and 'Loues Labours lost.' It is called by Meres (1598) 'Love Labour Lost,' and by Tofte 'Love's Labour Lost,' which is in favour of the ordinary spelling.

NOTE III.

As the scene through the play is in the King of Navarre's park, and as it is perfectly obvious when the action is near the palace and when near the tents of the French princess, we have not thought it necessary to specify the several changes.

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