LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Navarre. A Park, with a Palace in it.

Enter the KING, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAINE.

King. 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,
Th' endeavour 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,

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 ', Dumaine, 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 past, and now subscribe your names,

You three, Biron,] "Biron" must be pronounced, as in French, with the accent on the last syllable, for the sake of the verse; and in order to secure this, in the old copies, 4to. and folio, the name of Biron is invariably spelt Berowne.

That his own hand may strike his honour down,
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 too2.

Long. I am resolv'd: '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 3.

Dum. My loving lord, Dumaine is mortified.
The grosser manner of these world's delights
He throws upon the gross world's baser slaves:
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,
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.

2 Subscribe to your deep OATHS, and keep it too.] Modern editors have altered "oaths" to oath, but unnecessarily the meaning is, subscribe your oaths, and keep what you have sworn.

:

3 —but bankrupt QUITE the wits.] This is the reading of the 4to, 1598: the folio omits "quite," and prints "bankrupt " as a trisyllable, bankerout. The couplet was proverbial, and it runs thus in " Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina, or Proverbs English and Latine, &c." by John Clarke, 8vo, 1639.

"Fat paunches make lean pates, and grosser bits Enrich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits." Which is also an early authority for the insertion of the adverb.

King. Your oath is pass'd to pass away from these. Biron. Let me say no, my liege, an if you please. I only swore to study with your grace, And stay here in your court for three years' space. Long. 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?

King. Why, that to know which else we should not know.

Biron. Things hid and barr'd, you mean, from common sense?

King. Ay, that is study's god-like recompense.

Biron. Come on, then: I will swear to study so,

To know the thing I am forbid to know;

As thus, to study where I well may dine,

When I to feast expressly am forbid1;
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.

King. These be the stops that hinder study quite,
And train our intellects to vain delight.

Biron. Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain3, Which, with pain purchas'd, 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.

4 When I to FEAST expressly am forbid ;] All the old editions read fast for "feast." Theobald made the change, which seems necessary.

old 4to.

BUT that most vain,] The folio substitutes and for "but," as it stands in the

Study me how to please the eye indeed,

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,

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.

King. How well he's read, to reason against reading!

Dum. Proceeded well, to stop all good proceeding! Long. He weeds the corn, and still lets grow the weeding.

Biron. The spring is near, when green geese are a breeding.

Dum. How follows that?

Biron.

Dum. In reason nothing.

Biron.

Fit in his place and time.

Something, then, in rhyme.

King. Biron is like an envious sneaping frost",

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?

6 Proceeded well,] To "proceed," as Johnson observes, "is an academical term, and means to take a degree, as he proceeded bachelor in physic."

7 an envious SNEAPING frost,] "Sneaping" is snipping, or as we now say, "nipping,"-vide "Winter's Tale," A. i. sc. 2. In Malone's Shakespeare, by Boswell, this speech is given, without warrant, to Longaville.

8 Why should I joy in ANY abortive birth] Such was the authentic reading until the time of Pope, who changed "any to an. "Any" is to be pronounced in the time of an, and the measure is perfect.

At Christmas I no more desire a rose,

Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows;
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'.

King. Well, sit you out': go home, Biron: adieu! 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 sworne3,

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.

King. 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 proclaim'd?

Long. Four days ago.

Biron. Let's see the penalty. [Reads.]

"On pain of losing her tongue."-Who devis'd this penalty? Long. Marry, that did I.

Biron.

Sweet lord, and why? Long. To fright them hence with that dread penalty. Biron. A dangerous law against gentility3!

[Reads.] Item, "If any man be seen to talk with a woman within the term of three years, he shall endure

9 Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate.] The folio, 1623, spoils the line and injures the sense by reading,

"That were to climb o'er the house to unlock the gate."

1 Well, SIT you out :] The folio has "fit you out," which may be right. Malone suggests that " set you out may be the true reading.

2 I'll keep what I have swORNE,] So the old 4to, 1598, and the folio, 1623. The folio, 1632, substitutes swore for the sake of the rhyme, which may have been intended.

3 A dangerous law against gentility!] In the old editions this line, and the "Item" immediately following it, are given to Longaville, whereas they seem to belong, as Theobald suggested, to Biron, who was reading the articles. The 4to, 1598, has gentletie for "gentility," the lection of the first folio.