The Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, from the Text of Johnson and Stevens [sic].

I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight. "But stay-O spite!

"But mark;-Poor knight,
"What dreadful dole is here?
"Eyes, do you see?
"How can it be?

"O dainty duck! O dear !
Thy mantle good,
"What, stain'd, with blood?
Approach, ye furies fell!

"O fates!, come, come; "Cut thread and thrum *; "Quail, crush, conclude, and quell†!" The. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man, look sad. [man. Hip. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the Pyr. O, wherefore, nature, didst thou lions frame? [dear. "Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my "Which is-no, no-which was the fairest dame, [look'd with cheert. "That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that "Come, tears, confound; Out, sword, and wound

"The pap of Pyramus:

Ay, that left pap, "Where heart doth hop: "Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. "Now am I dead, "Now am I fled; My soul is in the sky:

Tongue, lose thy light! "Moon, take thy flight!, Now die, die, die, die, die."

[Dies Exit Moonshine. Dem. No die, but an ace, for him; for he

is but one.

Lys. Less than an ace, man; for he is dead: he is nothing.

The. With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover, and prove an ass.

Hip. How chance Moonshine is gone, before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover? The. She will find him by star light. Here she comes; and her passion ends the play. Enter THISBE.

Hip. Methinks, she should not use a long one, for such a Pyramus: I hope, she will be brief.

Dem. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better.

Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.

ན།

Dem. And thus she moans, videlicet.This. "Asleep, my love?, "What, dead, my dove?, n

O Pyramus, arise, o

Speak, speak. Quite dumb? "Dead, dead? A tomb

"Must cover thy sweet eyes.. "These lily brows,,

"This cherry, nose,,, "These yellow cowslip cheeks,

The. Moonshine, and lion are left to bury the dead,

Dem, Ay, and wall 100.

Bot. No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance, between two of our company?

The. No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your epilogue alone.

[Here a dance of Clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve

Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn,
As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
This palpable gross play hath well beguil'd
The heavy gaits of night. Sweet friends, to
bed.-

A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
In nightly revels, and new jollity. [Exeunt.
SCENE II.
Enter PUCK.

Puck. Now the hungry
lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon;;
Wail with weary task fordone -
the heavy ploughman snores,

wasted brands do glow,

the scritch-owl, scritching loud,
Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night,
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide:
And we fairies, that do run

By the triple Hecat's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
I am sent, with broom, before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.

Countenance.

§ Progress. || Overcome.

Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with their

Train.

Obe. Through this house give glimmering light,

By the dead and drowsy fire:

Every elf, and fairy sprite,

Hop as light as bird from brier2000 And this ditty, after me, Sing, and dance it trippingly.

Tita. First, rehearse this song by rote: To each word a warbling note, Hand in hand, with fairy grace, Will we sing, and bless this place.

SONG, AND DANCE

Obe. Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue, there create,
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:
And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand;
Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity, i

And each several chamber bless, Through this palace with sweet peace : E'er shall it in safety rest,

And the owner of it blest.

Trip away;
Make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Truin. Puck. If we shadows have offended, 1 "Think but this, (and all is mended,) That you have but slumber'd here, While these visions did appear... And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend; If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I'm an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends, ere long: Else the Puck a liar call,

So, good-night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their various modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author designed. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and Spenser's poem had made them great.-JOHNSON.

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LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST.

Persons represented.

FERDINAND, King of Navarre.

BIRON,

Lords, attending on the

LONGAVILLE, King.
DUMAIN,

BOYET, Lords attending on the Prin-
MERCADE, cèss of France.

DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO, a fantastical
Spaniard.

SIR NATHANIEL, a Curate.
HOLOFERNES, a Schoolmaster.

DULL, a Constable.
COSTARD, a Clown.
MOTH, Page to Armado.
A Forester.

Princess of France.
ROSALINE,

MARIA, } Ladies, attending on the

KATHARINE,

Princess.

JAQUENETTA, a country Wench.

Officers and others, Attendants on the King and Princess.

SCENE I.

ACT I.

Navarre. A Park, with a Palace in it. Enter the KING, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN.

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,
The endeavour of this present breath may buy
That honour, which shall bate his scythe's keen
And make us heirs of all eternity. [edge,
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,Birón, Dumain,and Longaville, [me,
Have sworn for three years' term to live with
My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes,
That are recorded in this schedule here: [names;
Your oaths are past, and now subscribe your
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 oath, and keep it too.
Long.Iam 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 bank'rout quite the wits.
Dum. My loving lord, Dumain 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. [these.
King, Your oath is pass'd to pass away from
Biron. Let me say no, my liege, an if you
I only swore, to study with your grace, [please:
And stay here in your court for three years'
[rest.

space.

Long. You swore to that, Biron, and to the Biron. By yea and nay, sir, then I swore in What is the end of study? let me know. [jest.King. Why, that to know, which else we should not know. [common sense! Biron.Things hid and barr'd, you mean,from King.Ay,that is study's god-like recompense. Biron. Come on then, I will swear to study To know the thing I am forbid to know: [so, 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.

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

To seek the light of truth; while truth the

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,

are.

years, he shall endure such public shame as the rest of the court can possibly devise 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 Aquitain

To her decrepit, sick, and bed-rid father:
Therefore this article is made in vain,
Or vainly comes the admired princess hither.
King. What say you, lords? why, this was
quite forgot.

By fixing it upon a fairer eye;
Who dazzling so, that eye shall be his heed,
And give him light that was it blinded by.
Study is like the heaven's glorious sun, [looks;
That will not be deep search'd with saucy
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
[fame;
Too much to know, is, to know nought but
And every godfather can give a name. [reading!
King. How well he's read, to reason against
Dum. Proceeded well, to stop all good pro-
ceeding!
[grow the weeding.
Long. He weeds the corn, and still lets
Biron. The spring is near, when green geese
Dum. How follows that? [are a breeding.
Biron.
Fit in his place and time.
Dum. In reason nothing.
Biron.
Something then in rhyme.cry
Long. Biron is like an envious sneaping t
frost,
[spring.
That bites the first-born infants of the
Biron. Well, say I am; why should proud
summer boast,

Before the birds have any cause to sing?
Why should I joy in an abortive birth?
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!
[to stay with you:
Biron. No, my good lord; I have sworn
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 decreesl'll write my name?
King. How well this yielding rescues thee

from shame!

༢་ནཝོ་

Biron. [Reads.] Item, That no woman shall come within a mile of my court.-. And hath this been proclaim'd?

Long.

Four days ago. Biron. Let's see the penalty. [Reads.]-On pain of losing her tongue. 13 Who devis'd this?

Long. Marry, that did I. Biron. Sweet lord, and why? [penalty. Long. To fright them hence with that dread Biron. A dangerous law against gentility. [Reads.] Item, If any man be seen to talk with a woman within the term of three krobatiasep, & abhw worst ## 11 Dishonestly, treacherously. + Nipping. Lively, sprightly. ** Called.

1 •

*Biron. So study evermore is overshot;
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.
King. We must, of force, dispense with this
She must lies here on mere necessity. [decree';
Biron. Necessity will make us all forsworn
Three thousand times within this three years'
For every man with his affects is boru; [space:
Not by might master'd, but by special grace:
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 others, as to me;
But, I believe, although I seem so loth,
I am the last that will last keep his oath.
But is there no quick recreation granted?
King. Ay, that there is: our court, you
know, is haunted

With a refined traveller of Spain;
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
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 he,
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.
Long. 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?
Dull. I myself reprehend his own person
for I am his grace's tharborough tt: but I
would see his own person in flesh and blood.
Biron. This is he.

༣

Cost. Sir, the contempts thereof are as touching me. King. A letter from the magnificent Armado. Biron. How low soever the matter, I hope in God for high words..

Long. A high hope for a low having: God grant us patience!

Biron. To hear? or forbear hearing? Long. 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.. Cost. The matter is to me, sir, as concerning Jaquenetta. The manner of it is, I was taken with the manner*.

Biron. In what manner?

Cost. In inanner 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?
Cost. As it shall follow in my correction;
And God defend the right! 18

King. Will you hear this letter with attention?
Biron. As we would hear an oracle."
Cost. Such is the simplicity of man to

hearken after the flesh.

King. [Reads.] Great deputy, the welkin's vicegerent, and sole dominator of Navarre, my soul's earth's God, and body's fostering patron,

Cost. Not a word of Costard yet.
King. So it is,

Cost. It may be so: but if he say it is so, he is, in telling true, but so, so.

King. Peace.

King. that unletter'd 'small-knowing
soul,
Cost. Me.

King, that shullow vassal,
Cost. Still me.

King. which, as I remember, hight
Costard,
Cost.. O me!
King. sorted and consorted, contrary
to thy established proclaimed edict and
continent canon, with with,-O with-but
with this I passion to say wherewith,
Cost. With a wench.

King. with a child of our grandmother Eve, a female; or, for thy more sweet un derstanding, a woman. Him I (as my everesteemed duty pricks me on) have sent to thee, to receive the meed of punishment, by thy sweet grace's officer, Antony Dull; a man of good repute, carriage, bearing, and estimation.

Dull. Me, an't shall please you; I am Antony Dull.

King. For Jaquenetta, (so is the weaker vessel called, which I apprehended with the aforesaid swain,) I keep her as a vessel of thy 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 that ever I heard.
King. Ay, the best for the worst. But,
sirrah, what say you to this?

Cost. Sir, I confess the wench.
King. Did you hear the proclamation?
Cost. I do confess much of the hearing it,
but little of the marking of it. ~~

King. It was proclaimed a year's imprison

Cost. -be to me, and every man that dares ment, to be taken with a wench. not fight!

King, No words.

Cost.of other men's secrets, I beseech you. King. 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, us 1 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 ycleped thy park. Then for the place where; where, I mean, I did encounter that obscene and most 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 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, Cost, Me.

Cost. I was taken with none, sir, I was taken with a damosel.

King. Well, it was proclaimed damosel. Cost. This was no damosel neither, sir; she was a virgin.

King. It is so varied too; for it was proclaimed, virgin.

Cost. If it were, I deny her virginity; I was taken with a maid.

King. This maid will not serve your turn, sir.
Cost. This maid will serve my turn, sir.
King. Sir, I will pronounce your sentence;
You shall fast a week with bran and water.
Cost. I had rather pray a month with mut-
ton.and porridge.

King.And Don Armadoshall be your keeper.
My lord Biron see him deliver'd o'er.-
And go we, lords, to put in practice that
Which each to other hath so strongly sworn.--
[Exeunt KING, LONG. and DUM.
Biron. Play my head to any good man's hat,
These oaths and laws will prove an idle
Sirrah, come on.
[scorn.-
Cost. I suffer for the truth, sir: for true it is,
I was taken with Jaquenetta, and Jaquenetta
In the fact.

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