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LOVE'S LABOUR'S Loft.

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COMEDY.

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Boxcard, Lords, attending upon the Princess of France.

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

Dull, a Conftable.

Holofernes, a Schoolmafter.

Coftard, a Clown.

Moth, Page to Don Adriano de Armado.

A Forefter.

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

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

LOVE'S

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Enter the King, Biron, Longaville and Dumain.

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KING.

ET Fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live regiftred upon our brazen tombs;

And then grace us in the difgrace of death:
When, fpight of cormorant devouring time,
Th' endeavour of this present breath may buy
That honour, which fall 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 fhall be a little academy,
Still and contemplative in living arts.
You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville,
Have fworn for three years term to live with me,
My fellow-fcholars; and to keep those statutes,
That are recorded in this schedule here.

Your oaths are past, and now subscribe your names:

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That

That his own hand may strike his honour down,
That violates the smallest branch herein :
If you are arm'd to do, as fworn to do,
Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep them too.
Long. I am refolv'd; 'tis but a three years
faft:
The mind fhall banquet, tho' the body pine;
Fat paunches have lean pates; and dainty bits
Make rich the ribs, but bankerout the wits.

Dum. My loving Lord, Dumain is mortify'd:
The groffer manner of thefe world's delights
He throws upon the grofs world's bafer flaves :
To love, to wealth, to pomp, I pine and die;
With all these living in philofophy.

Biron. I can but fay their proteftation over,
So much (dear Liege) I have already (worn,
That is, to live and study here three years:
But there are other strict obfervances:
As, not to fee 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 befide;
The which, I hope, is not enrolled there.
And then to fleep 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, (1)
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 fee Ladies, ftudy, faft, not sleep.

- King. Your oath is pafs'd to pafs away from thefe. Biron. Let me fay, no, my Liege, an if you please; I only fwore to study with your Grace,

And stay here in your court for three years space.
Long. You fwore to that, Biron, and to the reft.
Biron. By yea and nay, Sir, then I swore in jeft.

(1) When I was wont to think no harm all night,] i. e. When I was ufed to fleep all night long, without once waking. The Latines have a proverbial expreffion very nigh to the sense of our author's thought here:

Qui bene dormit, nihil mali cogitat.

What

What is the end of study? let me know?

King. Why,that to know, which elfe we should not know. Biron. Things hid and barr'd (you mean) from common fenfe.

King. Ay, that is ftudy's god-like recompence.
Biron. Come on then, I will fwear to study fo,
To know the thing I am forbid to know;
As thus; to study where I well may

dine,
When I to feaft exprefly am forbid ; (2)
Or ftudy where to meet fome mistress fine,
When miftreffes from common fenfe are hid:
Or having fworn too hard a keeping oath,
Study to break it, and not break my troth.
If ftudy's gain be this, and this be fo,
Study knows that, which yet it doth not know:
Swear me to this, and I will ne'er fay, no.

King. Thefe be the ftops, that hinder study quite;
And train our intellects to vain delight.

Biron. Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain, Which, with pain purchas'd, doth inherit pain; As, painfully to pore upon a book,

To feek the light of truth; while truth the while
Doth falfly blind the eye-fight of his look:

Light, feeking light, doth light of light beguile;
So, ere you find where light in darkness lies,
Your light grows dark by lofing of your eyes.
Study me how to please the eye indeed,
By fixing it upon a fairer eye;

Who dazzling fo, that eye shall be his heed,
And give him light, that it was blinded by.

Study is like the heaven's glorious fun,

That will not be deep fearch'd with faucy looks;

(2) When I too faft exprefly am forbid.] This is the reading of all the copies in general; but I would fain ask our accurate editors, if Biron ftudied where to get a good dinner, at a time when he was forbid to faft, how was this studying to know what he was forbid to know? common fenfe, and the whole tenor of the context require us to read, either as I have reftor'd; or, to make a change in the laft word of the verfe, which will bring us to the fame meaning;

When I to faft exprefly am fore-bid;

i. e. when I am enjoin'd before-hand to fast.

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