Kath. A wife!-A beard, fair health, and honesty; With three-fold love I wish you all these three. Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife ? Kath. Not so, my lord;-a twelvemonth and a day I'll mark no words that smooth-faced wooers say: Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then. I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend. Behold the window of my heart, mine eye, Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Birón, Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be; it is impossible: Ros. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Of him that hears it, never in the tongue * Vehement. + Immediate, And I shall find you empty of that fault, Biron. A twelvemonth? Well, befal what will befal, I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital. Prin. Ay, sweet my lord; and so I take my leave. [To the King. King. No, madam: we will bring you on your way. Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy Might well have made our sport a comedy. King. Come, Sir, it wants a twelvemonth and a day, And then 'twill end. Biron, That's too long for a play. Enter ARMADO, Arm. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,- Dum. The worthy knight of Troy. Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary; I have vow'd to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three years. But, most esteem'd greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled, in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? It should have follow'd in the end of our show. King. Call them forth quickly, we will do so. Enter HOLOFERNES, NATHANIEL, MOTH, COSTARD, and others. This side is Hiems, winter; this Ver, the spring; the one maintain'd by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. -Ver. begin. SONG. Spring. When daisies pied, and violets blue, Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men, for thus sings he, Cuckoo; Cuckoo, cuckoo, word of fear, II. When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks, When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, Mocks married men, for thus sings he,- Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear, III. Winter. When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And milk comes frozen home in pail, Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note. IV. When all aloud the wind doth blow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw, Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this way. [Exeunt. . Cool. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST.]-In this play, which all the editors have concurred to censure, and some have rejected as unworthy of our poet, it must be confessed that there are many passages mean, childish, and vulgar: and some which ought not to have been exibited, as we are told they were, to a maiden queen. But there are scattered through the whole many sparks of genius; nor is there any play that has more evident marks of the hand of Shakspeare. JOHNSON. PERSONS REPRESENTED. DUKE OF VENICE. PRINCE OF MOROCCO, OF Suitors to Portia. ANTONIO, the Merchant of Venice: BASSANIO, his friend. SALANIO, SALARINO, GRATIANO, } Friends to Antonio and Bassanio. LORENZO, in love with Jessica. SHYLOCK, a Jew. TUBAL, a Jew, his friend. LAUNCELOT Gовво, а Clown, Servant to Shylock. OLD GOBBO, Father to Launcelot. SALERIO, a Messenger from Venice. LEONARDO, Servant to Bassanio. BALTHAZAR, STEPHANO, Servants to Portia. PORTIA, a rich Heiress. NERISSA, her Waiting-maid. JESSICA, Daughter to Shylock. Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Gaoler, Servants, and other Attendants. Scene, partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portia, on the Continent. |