a

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.

Baj. Sweet Doctor, you shall be my bedfellow; 1 When I am absent, then lie with

my

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

Por. How now, Lorenzo ?
My clerk hath some 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 special Deed of Gift,
After his death, of all he dies pofsefs'd of.
Lor. Fair ladies, * you drop Manna in the way

, Of starved people.

Por. It is almost morning,
And yet, I'm sure, you are not satisfy'd
Of these events at fúll. Let us go in,
And charge us there upon interr'gatories,
And we will answer all things faithfully.

Gra. Let it be so: the first interr’gatory,
That my Nerisa shall be sworn on, is,
Whether 'till the next night she had rather stay,
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day.
But were the day come, I should wish it dark,
'Till I were couching with the Doctor's clerk.
Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing
So sore, as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.

[Exeunt onines,

- you drop Manna in the

way Of starved people.] Shakespear is not more exa& in any Thing, than in adapting his Images with Propriety to his Speakers ; of which he has here given an Initance in making the young Jewess call gool Fortune, Manna,

Dramatis Personæ.

} Loretan etending upon the Princess of

FERDINAND, King of Navarre.
Biron,

three Lords, attending upon the King in Longaville,

his retirenient.
Dumain,
Boyet,
Macard,
Don Adriano de Armadó, a fantoftical Spaniard.
Nathaniel, a Curate.
Dull, a Constable.
Holofernes, a Schoolmaster.
Costard, a Clown.
Moth, Page to Don Adriano de Armado.
A Forefter.

Princess of France.
Rosaline,
Maria, Ladies, attending on the Princess.
Catharine,
Jaquenetta, a Country Wench.

Officers, and others, Attendants upon the King and

Princess.

SCENE, the King of Navarre's Palace, and the Country

Love's Labour's Loft.

A CT 1. SCENE I.

The

P A LA CE.

Enter the King, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain.

KING.

L ,

ET Fame, that all hunt after in their lives,

Live registred upon our brazen tombs ; And then grace us in the disgrace of death : When, spight of cormorant devouring time, Th' endeavour of this present breath may buy That honour which shall'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 desires ; Our late edict shall strongly stand in force. Navarre shall 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 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: That his own hand

may

strike his honour down,
That violates the smallest branch herein:
Vol. II
N

If