Love's Labour's Lost

Please see the bottom of the page for explanatory notes.

ACT I SCENE I	The king of Navarre's park.
	Enter FERDINAND king of Navarre, BIRON, LONGAVILLE and DUMAIN.
FERDINAND	Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
	Live register'd upon our brazen tombs
	And then grace us in the disgrace of death;
	When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,	5
	The endeavor of this present breath may buy
	That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge
	And make us heirs of all eternity.
	Therefore, brave conquerors,--for so you are,
	That war against your own affections	10
	And the huge army of the world's desires,--
	Our late edict shall strongly stand in force:
	Navarre shall be the wonder of the world;
	Our court shall be a little Academe,
	Still and contemplative in living art.
	You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville,
	Have sworn for three years' term to live with me
	My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes
	That are recorded in this schedule here:
	Your oaths are pass'd; and now subscribe your names,
	That his own hand may strike his honour down	20
	That violates the smallest branch herein:
	If you are arm'd to do as sworn to do,
	Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep it too.
LONGAVILLE	I am resolved; 'tis but a three years' fast:
	The mind shall banquet, though the body pine:
	Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits
	Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.
DUMAIN	My loving lord, Dumain is mortified:
	The grosser manner of these world's delights
	He throws upon the gross world's baser slaves:	30
	To love, to wealth, to pomp, I pine and die;
	With all these living in philosophy.
BIRON	I can but say their protestation over;
	So much, dear liege, I have already sworn,
	That is, to live and study here three years.
	But there are other strict observances;
	As, not to see a woman in that term,
	Which I hope well is not enrolled there;
	And one day in a week to touch no food
	And but one meal on every day beside,	40
	The which I hope is not enrolled there;
	And then, to sleep but three hours in the night,
	And not be seen to wink of all the day--
	When I was wont to think no harm all night
	And make a dark night too of half the day--
	Which I hope well is not enrolled there:
	O, these are barren tasks, too hard to keep,
	Not to see ladies, study, fast, not sleep!
FERDINAND	Your oath is pass'd to pass away from these.
BIRON	Let me say no, my liege, an if you please:	50
	I only swore to study with your grace
	And stay here in your court for three years' space.
LONGAVILLE	You swore to that, Biron, and to the rest.
BIRON	By yea and nay, sir, then I swore in jest.
	What is the end of study? let me know.
FERDINAND	Why, that to know, which else we should not know.
BIRON	Things hid and barr'd, you mean, from common sense?
FERDINAND	Ay, that is study's godlike recompense.
BIRON	Come on, then; I will swear to study so,
	To know the thing I am forbid to know:	60
	As thus,--to study where I well may dine,
	When I to feast expressly am forbid;
	Or study where to meet some mistress fine,
	When mistresses from common sense are hid;
	Or, having sworn too hard a keeping oath,
	Study to break it and not break my troth.
	If study's gain be thus and this be so,
	Study knows that which yet it doth not know:
	Swear me to this, and I will ne'er say no.
FERDINAND	These be the stops that hinder study quite	70
	And train our intellects to vain delight.
BIRON	Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain,
	Which with pain purchased doth inherit pain:
	As, painfully to pore upon a book
	To seek the light of truth; while truth the while
	Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look:
	Light seeking light doth light of light beguile:
	So, ere you find where light in darkness lies,
	Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes.
	Study me how to please the eye indeed	80
	By fixing it upon a fairer eye,
	Who dazzling so, that eye shall be his heed
	And give him light that it was blinded by.
	Study is like the heaven's glorious sun
	That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks:
	Small have continual plodders ever won
	Save base authority from others' books
	These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights
	That give a name to every fixed star
	Have no more profit of their shining nights	90
	Than those that walk and wot not what they are.
	Too much to know is to know nought but fame;
	And every godfather can give a name.
FERDINAND	How well he's read, to reason against reading!
DUMAIN	Proceeded well, to stop all good proceeding!
LONGAVILLE	He weeds the corn and still lets grow the weeding.
BIRON	The spring is near when green geese are a-breeding.
DUMAIN	How follows that?
BIRON	Fit in his place and time.
DUMAIN	In reason nothing.
BIRON	Something then in rhyme.
FERDINAND	Biron is like an envious sneaping frost,	100
	That bites the first-born infants of the spring.
BIRON	Well, say I am; why should proud summer boast
	Before the birds have any cause to sing?
	Why should I joy in any abortive birth?
	At Christmas I no more desire a rose
	Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
	But like of each thing that in season grows.
	So you, to study now it is too late,
	Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate.
FERDINAND	Well, sit you out: go home, Biron: adieu!	110
BIRON	No, my good lord; I have sworn to stay with you:
	And though I have for barbarism spoke more
	Than for that angel knowledge you can say,
	Yet confident I'll keep what I have swore
	And bide the penance of each three years' day.
	Give me the paper; let me read the same;
	And to the strict'st decrees I'll write my name.
FERDINAND	How well this yielding rescues thee from shame!
BIRON	[Reads] 'Item, That no woman shall come within a mile of my court?
	Hath this been proclaimed?	120
LONGAVILLE	Four days ago.
BIRON	Let's see the penalty.
	[Reads.]
	'On pain of losing her tongue.' Who devised this penalty?
LONGAVILLE	Marry, that did I.
BIRON	Sweet lord, and why?
LONGAVILLE	To fright them hence with that dread penalty.
BIRON	A dangerous law against gentility!
	[Reads.]
	'Item, If any man be seen to talk with a woman
	within the term of three years, he shall endure such
	public shame as the rest of the court can possibly devise.'	130
	This article, my liege, yourself must break;
	For well you know here comes in embassy
	The French king's daughter with yourself to speak--
	A maid of grace and complete majesty--
	About surrender up of Aquitaine
	To her decrepit, sick and bedrid father:
	Therefore this article is made in vain,
	Or vainly comes the admired princess hither.
FERDINAND	What say you, lords? Why, this was quite forgot.
BIRON	So study evermore is overshot:	140
	While it doth study to have what it would
	It doth forget to do the thing it should,
	And when it hath the thing it hunteth most,
	'Tis won as towns with fire, so won, so lost.
FERDINAND	We must of force dispense with this decree;
	She must lie here on mere necessity.
BIRON	Necessity will make us all forsworn
	Three thousand times within this three years' space;
	For every man with his affects is born,
	Not by might master'd but by special grace.	150
	If I break faith, this word shall speak for me;
	I am forsworn on 'mere necessity.'
	So to the laws at large I write my name:
	[Subscribes.]
	And he that breaks them in the least degree
	Stands in attainder of eternal shame:
	Suggestions are to other as to me;
	But I believe, although I seem so loath,
	I am the last that will last keep his oath.
	But is there no quick recreation granted?
FERDINAND	Ay, that there is. Our court, you know, is haunted
	With a refined traveller of Spain;	161
	A man in all the world's new fashion planted,
	That hath a mint of phrases in his brain;
	One whom the music of his own vain tongue
	Doth ravish like enchanting harmony;
	A man of complements, whom right and wrong
	Have chose as umpire of their mutiny:
	This child of fancy, that Armado hight,
	For interim to our studies shall relate
	In high-born words the worth of many a knight	170
	From tawny Spain lost in the world's debate.
	How you delight, my lords, I know not, I;
	But, I protest, I love to hear him lie
	And I will use him for my minstrelsy.
BIRON	Armado is a most illustrious wight,
	A man of fire-new words, fashion's own knight.
LONGAVILLE	Costard the swain and he shall be our sport;
	And so to study, three years is but short.
	Enter DULL with a letter, and COSTARD.
DULL	Which is the duke's own person?
BIRON	This, fellow: what wouldst?	180
DULL	I myself reprehend his own person, for I am his
	grace's tharborough: but I would see his own person
	in flesh and blood.
BIRON	This is he.
DULL	Signior Arme--Arme--commends you. There's villany
	abroad: this letter will tell you more.
COSTARD	Sir, the contempts thereof are as touching me.
FERDINAND	A letter from the magnificent Armado.
BIRON	How low soever the matter, I hope in God for high words.	190
LONGAVILLE	A high hope for a low heaven: God grant us patience!
BIRON	To hear? or forbear laughing?
LONGAVILLE	To hear meekly, sir, and to laugh moderately; or to
	forbear both.
BIRON	Well, sir, be it as the style shall give us cause to
	climb in the merriness.
COSTARD	The matter is to me, sir, as concerning Jaquenetta.
	The manner of it is, I was taken with the manner.
BIRON	In what manner?	200
COSTARD	In manner and form following, sir; all those three:
	I was seen with her in the manor-house, sitting with
	her upon the form, and taken following her into the
	park; which, put together, is in manner and form
	following. Now, sir, for the manner,--it is the
	manner of a man to speak to a woman: for the form,--
	in some form.
BIRON	For the following, sir?
COSTARD	As it shall follow in my correction: and God defend
	the right!	210
FERDINAND	Will you hear this letter with attention?
BIRON	As we would hear an oracle.
COSTARD	Such is the simplicity of man to hearken after the flesh.
FERDINAND	[Reads] 'Great deputy, the weklin's vicegerent and
	sole dominator of Navarre, my soul's earth's god,
	and body's fostering patron.'
COSTARD	Not a word of Costard yet.
FERDINAND	[Reads] 'So it is.' --
COSTARD	It may be so: but if he say it is so, he is, in
	telling true, but so.	220
FERDINAND	Peace!
COSTARD	Be to me and every man that dares not fight!
FERDINAND	No words!
COSTARD	Of other men's secrets, I beseech you.
FERDINAND	Reads. 'So it is, besieged with sable-coloured
	melancholy, I did commend the black-oppressing humour
	to the most wholesome physic of thy health-giving
	air; and, as I am a gentleman, betook myself to
	walk. The time when. About the sixth hour; when
	beasts most graze, birds best peck, and men sit down
	to that nourishment which is called supper: so much
	for the time when. Now for the ground which; which,
	I mean, I walked upon: it is y-cleped thy park. Then
	for the place where; where, I mean, I did encounter
	that obscene and preposterous event, that draweth
	from my snow-white pen the ebon-coloured ink, which
	here thou viewest, beholdest, surveyest, or seest;
	but to the place where; it standeth north-north-east	235
	and by east from the west corner of thy curious-
	knotted garden: there did I see that low-spirited
	swain, that base minnow of thy mirth,'--
COSTARD	Me.	240
FERDINAND	[Reads.] 'that unlettered small-knowing soul,' --
COSTARD	Me.
FERDINAND	[Reads.] 'that shallow vassel'--
COSTARD	Still me.
FERDINAND	[Reads.] 'which, as I remember, high Costard,'--
COSTARD	O, me!
FERDINAND	[Reads.] 'sorted and consorted, contrary to thy
	established proclaimed edict and continent canon,
	which with,--O, with--but with this I passion to say
	wherewith,' --
COSTARD	With a wench.	250
FERDINAND	[Reads.] 'with a child of our grandmother Eve, a
	female; or, for thy more sweet understanding, a
	woman. Him I, as my ever-esteemed duty pricks me on,
	have sent to thee, to receive the meed of
	punishment, by thy sweet grace's officer, Anthony
	Dull; a man of good repute, carriage, bearing, and
	estimation.'
DULL	'Me, an't shall please you; I am Anthony Dull.
FERDINAND	[Reads.] 'For Jaquenette, -- so is the weaker essel
	called which I apprehended with the aforesaid
	swain,--I keep her as a vessel of the law's fury;
	and shall, at the least of thy sweet notice, bring
	her to trial. Thine, in all compliments of devoted
	and heart-burning heat of duty.
	DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO.'
BIRON	This is not so well as I looked for, but the best	264
	that ever I heard.
FERDINAND	Ay, the best for the worst. But, sirrah, what say
	you to this?
COSTARD	Sir, I confess the wench.
FERDINAND	Did you hear the proclamation?
COSTARD	I do confess much of the hearing it but little of
	the marking of it.	270
FERDINAND	It was proclaimed a year's imprisonment, to be taken
	with a wench.
COSTARD	I was taken with none, sir: I was taken with a damosel.
FERDINAND	Well, it was proclaimed 'damosel.'
COSTARD	This was no damosel, neither, sir; she was a virgin.
FERDINAND	It is so varied, too; for it was proclaimed 'virgin.'
COSTARD	If it were, I deny her virginity: I was taken with a maid.
FERDINAND	This maid will not serve your turn, sir.	280
COSTARD	This maid will serve my turn, sir.
FERDINAND	Sir, I will pronounce your sentence: you shall fast
	a week with bran and water.
COSTARD	I had rather pray a month with mutton and porridge.
FERDINAND	And Don Armado shall be your keeper.
	My Lord Biron, see him deliver'd o'er:
	And go we, lords, to put in practise that
	Which each to other hath so strongly sworn.
	Exeunt FERDINAND, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN.
BIRON	I'll lay my head to any good man's hat,	290
	These oaths and laws will prove an idle scorn.
	Sirrah, come on.
COSTARD	I suffer for the truth, sir; for true it is, I was
	taken with Jaquenetta, and Jaquenetta is a true
	girl; and therefore welcome the sour cup of
	prosperity! Affliction may one day smile again; and	290
	till then, sit thee down, sorrow!
	Exeunt

Love's Labour's Lost, Act 1, Scene 2

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Explanatory Notes for Act 1, Scene 1
From Love's Labour's Lost. Ed. William Rolfe. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Abbreviations Used in the Notes
______

Scene I.

3. And then, etc. Pope puts this line in the margin as spurious.

6. Bate. Blunt; not to be printed "'bate," as by H. and some other editors. Cf. bateless in R. of L. 9: "bateless edge;" and unbated in Ham. iv. 7. 139: "A sword unbated;" and Id. v. 2. 328: "Unbated and envenom'd."

11. Edict. Accented by S. on either syllable, as suits the measure. Cf. the present instance and M. N. D. i. 1. 151 with Rich. III. i. 4. 203, etc.

13. Academe. The spelling of the 2d quarto and 2d folio; the 1st quarto and 1st folio have "Achademe," and the 3d and 4th folios "Academy."

14. Living art. "Immortal science" (Schmidt). For art=letters, learning in general, cf. iv. 2. 106 below.

23. Deep oaths. For the use of deep, cf. Sonn. 152. 9: "I have sworn deep oaths;" R. of L. 1847: "that deep vow " and K. John, iii. 1. 231: "deep-sworn faith." Steevens changed oaths to "oath" on account of the following it; but, as the Camb. editors remark, we have here "an instance of the lax grammar of the time, which permitted the use of a singular pronoun referring to a plural substantive, and vice versa." Cf. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. I:

"You cannot read it there; there, through my tears,
Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,
You may behold 'em."

The second folio changes it to "them." We may explain it as = "that which you have vowed to do" (Clarke).

27. Bankrupt quite. The 1st quarto has "bancrout quite," the folios only "bankerout." Pope was the first modern editor to restore quite. For the spelling of bankrupt, see R. and J.

29. These world's delights. These worldly delights. The Coll. MS. changes these to "this."

32. All these. That is, his companions, to whom he may be supposed to point. Johnson took these to refer to love, wealth, and pomp. Mr. P. A. Daniel conjectures "all three."

43. Wink. Shut the eyes; as often in S. Cf. Sonn. 43. 1, 56. 6, Temp. ii. 1. 216, C. of E. iii. 2. 58, etc.

62. Feast. The quartos and folios all have "fast;" corrected by Theo[bald]. Ile suggested as an alternative "fore-bid" ( = "enjoined beforehand") for forbid.

64. From common sense. That is, from ordinary sight or perception. Cf. "the sense of sense" (=the sight of the eye) in v. 2. 260 below.

65. Too hard a keeping oath. For the transposition of the article, cf. K. John, iv. 2. 27: "So new a fashion'd robe;" C. of E. iii. 2. 186: "so fair an offer'd chain;" T. and C. v. 6. 20: "much more a fresher man," etc. Gr. 422. Most editors follow Hanmer in printing "hard-a-keeping."

67. Be thus. Changed by Pope to "be this."

72. And that. The reading of the folios; the 1st quarto has "but that."

80. Study me. The me is the expletive pronoun, or "dativus ethicus," often used, as here, "with a slight dash of humour" (H[udson].). Cf. Gr. 220.

82. Who dazzling so, etc. "That when he dazzles, that is, has his eye made weak, by fixing his eye upon a fairer eye, that fairer eye shall be his heed, his direction or lodestar, and give him light that was blinded by it" (Johnson).

87. Base. Perhaps, as Walker conjectures, a misprint for "bare."

91. Wot. Know; used only in the present and the participle wotting, for which see W. T. p. 175.

92. Too much to know, etc. "The consequence, says Biron, of too much knowledge, is not any real solution of doubts, but mere reputation; that is, too much knowledge gives only fame, a name which every godfather can give likewise" (Johnson); or, as Clarke puts it: "To know overmuch is not to be wise, but to get the name of being wise: and every godfather (like these earthly godfathers that name the stars) can give a man a name for wisdom."

95. Proceeded well, etc. There is a play upon proceed, which, as Johnson notes, is "an academical term, meaning to take a degree, as he proceeded bachelor in physic."

100. Sneaping. Snipping, or nipping. Cf. W. T. 2. 13: "Sneaping winds;" and R. of L. 333: "the sneaped birds." For the noun sneap (=snubbing) see 2 Hen. IV. p. 161.

104. An abortive. The early eds. have "any" for an; corrected by Pope. The error was probably due to the any in the line above.

106. Mirth. The early eds. have "showes" or "shows." Theo. substituted "earth" for the sake of the rhyme, but we prefer Walker's conjecture of mirth. Malone thinks that a line rhyming with 104 may have been lost.

107. Like of. Cf. Much Ado, v. 4. 59: "I am your husband, if you like of me." See also iv. 3. 153 below. Gr. 177.

108. So you, to study, etc. This is the quarto reading, and is generally adopted, though we cannot help thinking that there is some corruption. The folio has:

So you to studie now it is too late,
That you were to clymbe ore the house to vnlocke the gate."

W. reads:

"So you to study now;— it is too late:
That were to climb the house o'er to unlock the gate;"

which he explains thus: "Birone, in justification of his ridicule of these literary pursuits, says that they are untimely, that he likes not roses at Christmas or snow in May, and adds, 'So it is too late for you to study now: that were to climb over a house to unlock a gate; or, in other words, 'you are beginning at the wrong end — doing boys' work at men's years.' But, according to the quarto, he says, 'I like of each thing that in season grows; so you, now it is too late to study, climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate:' whereas it was not so (that is, like Birone) at all, but exactly not so." We take it, however, that to study now it is too late is = in studying now that it is too late; the infinitive being used in the "indefinite" way, as Abbott calls it (Gr. 356), so common in S. But, as Lettsom has noted, the so is awkward in either case. He conjectures:

"But you'll to study, now it is too late:
That were to climb o'er the house to unlock the gate."

If the folio is to be followed, it is better to take it just as it is, making it a line of five feet with slurred syllables, than to turn it into an alexandrine, as W[hite]. does. Alexandrines are extremely rare in the early plays of S[hakespeare]. Mr. Fleay (Dr. Ingleby's S. the Man and the Book, Part II. p. 71) finds only four in L. L. L., one of which is doubtful. The Coll. MS. has "by study" for to study, and "Climb o'er the house-top to unlock the gate."

110. Sit you out. The reading of the quartos and the later folios; the 1st folio has "fit" for sit. The expression is one used in card-playing for taking no part in the game.

114. Swore. The reading of the later folios, and required by the rhyme. The quartos and 1st folio have "sworne." Elsewhere S. has sworn for the participle, but we find broke for broken, froze for frozen, smote for smitten, etc. See Gr. 343. Cf. forgot in 139 below, and chose in 167.

127. Gentility. Refinement, courtesy. Theo. conjectures "garrulity," and St[aunton]. "scurrility." H[udson]. points thus: "A dangerous law, — against gentility." The early eds. make the line a part of Longaville's speech; but Theo. is clearly right in transferring it to Biron.

134. Complete. Accented on the first syllable because preceding a noun so accented. See M. for M. p. 139, and cf. Cymb. p. 174 (on Supreme) or Cor. p. 255 (on Divine).

145. Of force. Perforce, of necessity.

146. Lie. Lodge, reside. See 2 Hen. IV. p. 185, or Oth. p. 193. Reed quotes Wotton's definition: "An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." Mere. Absolute. See Temp. p. ill, note on We are merely cheated, etc. Cf. i. 2. 33 below.

149. Affects. Affections, inclinations; as in Rich. II. 1. 4. 30 and Oth. i, 3. 264.

156. Suggestions. Temptations; the usual meaning in S. See Temp. p. 127. Cf. the verb in v. 2. 760 below.

158. I am the last that will last keep his oath. Mr. P. A. Daniel conjectures "one" for the first last, on the ground that Biron is made to say the contrary of what he means; but S. sometimes twists the sense of a word a little for the sake of a repetition like this. Walker would read "last will" for will last.

159. Quick. Lively, animated; as in i. 2. 23, 29, v. 1. 54, and v. 2. 284 below. Cf. its use = living; for which see Ham. p. 262.

164. One whom. The 1st folio has "One who," which might be retained. Cf. iv. 1. 71 below, and see Gr. 274.

166. Complements. Probably = accomplishments, as Johnson and others explain it. Schmidt takes it to be = external show. The early eds. make no distinction between complement and compliment.

168. Hight. Is called; used by S. only as an archaism. Cf. 245 below. See also M. N. D. v. 1. 140 and Per. iv. prol. 18.

171. Debate. Contest, quarrel; the only sense in S. Cf. M. N. D. ii. I. 116, 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4. 2, etc.

174. I will use him for my minstrelsy. "I will make a minstrel of him, whose occupation was to relate fabulous stories" (Douce).

176. Fire-new. Brand-new, fresh from the mint. Cf. Rich. III. I. 3. 256: " Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current;" T. N. iii. 2. 23: "fire-new from the mint," etc.

179. Duke's. Changed by Theo. to "King's;" but cf. i. 2. 35 and 118 below, where Armado uses it in the same blundering way. We find it even in the mouth of the princess in ii. 1. 38 below. Dogberry applies the word to the prince in Much Ado, iii. 5. 22. Cf. M. N. D. p. 125.

182. Tharborough. For thirdborough, a kind of constable. See T of S. p. 125.

187. Contempts. Contents. Cf. M. W. p. 135.

191. Having. Possession. The early eds. have "heaven;" corrected by Theo. The Coll. MS. has "hearing." The Camb. editors, St., and Clarke retain "heaven." St. remarks: "The allusion may be to the representations of heaven, and the attendant personifications of Faith, Hope, etc., in the ancient pageants."

193. Laughing. The early eds. have "hearing;" corrected by Capell.

196. Style. There is an evident play on stile; as in iv. 1. 92 below. See also Much Ado, v. 2. 6. The Coll. MS. has "chime" for climb.

199. Taken with the manner. A law term = taken in the fact, or in the act. See W. T. p. 205, or 1 Hen. IV. p. 168.

203. Form. Bench. For the play upon the word, cf. R. and J. ii. 4. 36: "who stand so much on the new form that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench."

220. But so. Equivalent to "but so-so," which Hanmer substituted.

232. Ycleped. Called; an archaism put only into the mouths of Armaclo and Holofernes. Cf. v. 2. 593 below.

237. Curious-knotted. Elaborately laid out in knots, or interlacing beds. Cf. Rich. II. iii. 4. 46: "Her knots disorder'd ;" and Milton, P. L. iv. 242 : "In beds and curious knots."

243. Vassal. The Coll. MS. has "vessel." Possibly there is a play on the word.

247. Sorted. Associated; as in 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 162 and Ham. ii. 2.

274. Cf. Bacon, Essay 7: "Makes them sort with meane Company."

248. With — with. The early eds. have "which with;" corrected by Theo.

249. Passion. Sorrow, grieve. Cf. T. G. of V. iv. 4. 172: "Ariadne passioning For Theseus' perjury;" and V. and A. 1059: "Dumbly she passions, franticly she doteth." Cf. the noun in v. 2. 118 below.

258. The weaker vessel. Taken from I Peter, iii. 7 (cf. A. Y. L. ii. 4. 6, 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 66, and R. and J. i. I. 20), as vessel of thy law's fury from Romans, ix. 22. In the latter passage Theo. changes vessel to "vassal."

274. Damosel. The folio has "damosell" here and in the next two lines, the 1st quarto "damsel." Holofernes makes it "damosella" in iv. 2. 122 below.

290. Lay. Stake, wager. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 1. 242: "lay twenty French crowns to one," etc. Capell conjectured "man's good hat."

296. Till then, sit thee, etc. The reading of the 1st quarto. The folio has "vntill then sit thee," etc. The Coll. MS. reads "untill then set thee."

How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Love's Labour's Lost. Ed. William Rolfe. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/LLL_1_1.html >.

How to cite the sidebar:
Mabillard, Amanda. Thoughts on Love's Labour's Lost. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/LLL_1_1.html >.

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Thoughts on Love's Labour's Lost

Ferdinand's opening passage in Love's Labour's Lost, Act 1, Scene 1, parallels Shakespeare's sonnets both in theme and imagery. In the sonnets the poet tries to save himself and his young man from the grip of "black night" by penning immortal verse and urging his young man (Mr. W. H.) to become a father. Here, Ferdinand will escape the finality of the grave through fame. He will become renowned for his ability to give up pleasures for three long years as his Court becomes an Academe of art. The fear of devouring Time (which is also the opening phrase of Sonnet 19), seems always present in Shakespeare's mind. For more on this topic, please see the analysis of Sonnet 19 and Sonnet 55, and Hamlet (5.1).

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Shakespeare's Early Style ... "If he found a pair of indistinguishable twins producing amusing confusion in a Roman play, he capped them with a second pair, to produce confusion worse confounded in the English Comedy of Errors. And so with love. Navarre (in Love's Labour's Lost) and his three lords, like the four horses of an antique quadriga, go through the same adventure side by side. All four have forsworn the sight of women; all four fall in love, not promiscuously but in order of rank, with the French princess and her ladies, whose numbers, by good fortune, precisely go round. But love itself is not, as yet, drawn with any power. Berowne's magnificent account of its attributes and effects (IV, iii., mainly re-written in 1597) is not borne out by any representation of it in the play." C. H. Herford. Read on...

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