And then I need not crave his courtesy. a cause Mar. Tush, women have been captivate ere now. Suf. Lady, wherefore talk you so? Mar. I cry you mercy, 'tis but Quid for Quo. Suf. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose 110 Your bondage happy, to be made a queen ? For princes should be free. And so shall you, Suf. I'll undertake to make thee Henry's Mar. I am unworthy to be Henry's wife. Suf. No, gentle madam; I unworthy am To woo so fair a dame to be his wife, And have no portion in the choice myself. How say you, madam, are ye so content? Mar. An if my father please, I am content. Suf. Then call our captains and our colors forth. And, madam, at your father's castle walls See, Reignier, see, thy daughter prisoner! 170 To be mine own attorney in this case. praise and prayers Shall Suffolk ever have of Margaret. [Going. Suf. Farewell, sweet madam: but hark you, Margaret; No princely commendations to my king? Mar. Such commendations as becomes a maid, A virgin and his servant, say to him. Suf. Words sweetly placed and modestly directed. But, madam, I must trouble you again; 180 No loving token to his majesty? Mar. Yes, my good lord, a pure unspotted heart, Never yet taint with love, I send the king. [Kisses her Suf. And this withal. sume To send such peevish tokens to a king. [Exeunt Reignier and Margaret. Suf. O, wert thou for myself! But, Suffolk, stay; Thou mayst not wander in that labyrinth; Thou mayst bereave him of his wits with won SCENE IV. Camp of the DUKE OF YORK in Anjou. Enter YORK, WARWICK, and others. York. Bring forth that sorceress condemn'd to burn. Enter LA PUCELLE, guarded, and a Shepherd. Shep. Ah, Joan, this kills thy father's heart outright! Have I sought every country far and near, Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I'll die with thee! Puc. Decrepit miser! base ignoble wretch ! I am descended of a gentler blood: Thou art no father nor no friend of mine. Shep. Out, out! My lords, an please you, 'tis not so; 10 I did beget her, all the parish knows : York. This argues what her kind of life hath been, Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes. Shep. Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle! God knows thou art a collop of my flesh; 20 Puc. Peasant, avaunt! You have suborn'd this man, Of purpose to obscure my noble birth. Shep. 'Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest The morn that I was wedded to her mother. Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl. Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time Of thy nativity! I would the milk Thy mother gave thee when thou suck'dst her breast, Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake! Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs afield, I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee! 30 [Erit. York. Take her away; for she hath lived too long, To fill the world with vicious qualities. Puc. First, let me tell you whom you have condemn'd: Not me begotten of a shepherd swain, 50 thee: Use no entreaty, for it is in vain. Puc. Then lead me hence; with whom I leave my curse : May never glorious sun reflex his beams Upon the country where you make abode ; But darkness and the gloomy shade of death Environ you, till mischief and despair 90 Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves! [Exit, guarded. York. Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes, Thou foul accursed minister of hell! Enter CARDINAL BEAUFORT, Bishop of Car. Lord regent, I do greet your excellence broils, Have earnestly implored a general peace Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French; Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace? 110 War. Be patient, York: if we conclude a peace, It shall be with such strict and severe cove Car. Charles, and the rest, it is enacted thus: That, in regard King Henry gives consent, To ease your country of distressful war, 130 Alen. Must he be then as shadow of him- Adorn his temples with a coronet, Char. 'Tis known already that I am pos- With more than half the Gallian territories, And therein reverenced for their lawful king: Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd, 141 Detract so much from that prerogative, As to be call'd but viceroy of the whole? No, lord ambassador, I'll rather keep That which I have than, coveting for more, Be cast from possibility of all. York. Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret means Used intercession to obtain a league, 150 Of benefit proceeding from our king Alen. To say the truth, it is your policy And therefore take this compact of a truce, Although you break it when your pleasure Is but a preface of her worthy praise; To try his strength, forsaketh yet the lists Her father is no better than an earl, 40 Suf. Yes, my lord, her father is a king, The King of Naples and Jerusalem; And of such great authority in France As his alliance will confirm our peace And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance. Glou. And so the Earl of Armagnac may do. Because he is near kinsman unto Charles. Exe. Beside, his wealth doth warrant a liberal dower, Where Reignier sooner will receive than give. Suf. A dower, my lords! disgrace not so your king. That he should be so abject, base and poor, And not to seek a queen to make him rich: 60 Whom should we match with Henry, being a king. But Margaret, that is daughter to a king? Will answer our hope in issue of a king : As is fair Margaret he be link'd in love. me That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she. King. Whether it be through force of your report, 80 My noble Lord of Suffolk, or for that Agree to any covenants, and procure As did the youthful Paris once to Greece, But I will rule both her. the king and realm. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. (WRITTEN ABOUT 1590.) INTRODUCTION. This play is supposed to be wholly of Shakespeare's own invention, no source of the plot hav ing been discovered. It is precisely such a one as a clever young man might imagine, who had come ely from the country-with its daisies pied and violets blue," its "merry larks," its maidens who Reach their summer smocks," its pompous parish schoolmaster, and its dull constable (a great pable official in his own eyes)-to the town, where he was surrounded by more brilliant unrealities, and affectation of dress, of manner, of language, and of ideas. Love's Labour's Lost is a dramatic plea on behalf of nature and common sense against all that is unreal and affected. It maintains, La gay and witty fashion, the superiority of life, as a means of education, over books; the superirity of the large world into which we are born over any little world we can construct for ourselves, into which we may hedge ourselves by rule; and, while maintaining this, it also asserts that we zust not educate ourselves only by what is mirthful and pleasant in the world, but must recognize its sorrow, and that we cannot be rightly glad without being grave and earnest. Thus, with its ap parent lightness, there is a serious spirit underlying the play; but the surface is all jest, and stir, d sparkle. It is a comedy of dialogue rather than of incident, and in the persons of Don Adriano Armado, a fantastical Spaniard, of Sir Nathaniel the curate, and of Holofernes the schoolmaster, re caricatured various Elizabethan absurdities of speech, pseudo-refinement, and pseudo-learning. The braggart soldier and the pedant are characters well known in Italian comedy, and perhaps it was from that quarter that the hint came to Shakespeare, which stirred his imagination to create these ridiculous figures, Holofernes, some persons have supposed to be a satirical sketch of John Rozio, author of an Italian dictionary, but Shakespeare did not in any ascerned instances satirize Edividual persons, and there is little evidence in this case to warrant the supposition. The play con ains nothing which serves to indicate its precise date, but it certainly belongs to Shakespeare's iniest dramatic period. The first quarto edition was published in 1598, "as it was presented be-for her Highness (Queen Elizabeth] this last Christmas [probably the Christmas of 1598], Newly corpected and augmented." Two traces of the alterations from the original play may still be observed. In Act V se. II., the lines 827-832 ought not to appear, being almost certainly the fragment of the play in its first form which was afterwards marked out in the lines 833-879. Similarly, in great speech, Act IV. sc. III., the lines 296-317 contain passages which are repeated or altered in the lines which follow (318-354), and obviously some of the lines in the original version have here been retained through a mistake. Birch's |