Re-enter ARMADO. Arm. Sweet Majesty, vouchsafe me,— Dum. The worthy knight of Troy. 869 Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave. I am a votary; I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three years. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? it should have followed in the end of our show. King. Call them forth quickly; we will do so. Re-enter HOLOFERNES, NATHANIEL, MOTH, COSTARD, and others. 875 This side is Hiems, Winter, this Ver, the Spring; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin. 880 885 882, 883 Theobald. In FfQq the order is 883, 882. 883 cuckoo-buds] cowslip-buds Rann (Farmer conj.). crocus-buds Whalley conj. 884 with delight] much-bedight Warburton. Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You that way, 899 icicles] Steevens (1778). Isacles Q1 who Qq F1F2F3. Tu-whit, to who NOTES. NOTE I. DRAMATIS PERSONE. Biron is spelt 'Berowne,' Longaville 'Longavill,' in Q, F,Q,; Mercade 'Marcade,' in Qq Ff. Armado is written sometimes 'Armatho.' Mr Grant White suggests that Moth should be written 'Mote,' as it was clearly so pronounced. See note (VI). Boyet' is made to rhyme with 'debt' in v. 2. 334; Longaville' with 'ill' in Iv. 3. 119, and with 'mile' in v. 2. 53; 'Rosaline' with 'thine,' iv. 3. 217. Costard, in the old stage directions, is called 'Clown.' NOTE II. Mason says, 'I believe the title of this play should be 'Love's Labours Lost,' but it is clear, from the form in which it is written in the running title of Q, Loues Labor's Lost,' that the full name was intended to be 'Love's Labour is Lost.' On the title pages however of Q, and Q, it is written respectively 'Loues labors lost,' and 'Loues Labours lost.' It is called by Meres in his Wits Treasury, fol. 282 (1598) 'Love labors lost,' and by Tofte 'Loues Labour Lost,' which is in favour of the ordinary spelling. NOTE III. As the scene through the play is in the King of Navarre's park, and as it is perfectly obvious when the action is near the palace and when near the tents of the French princess, we have not thought it necessary to specify the several changes. NOTE IV. 1. 1. 23. This is an instance of the lax grammar of the time which permitted the use of a singular pronoun referring to a plural substantive, and vice versâ, as in The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act 1. Sc. I.; 'You cannot read it there; there, through my tears, Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream, NOTE V. 1. 1. 110. Singer says that in a copy of F, which he used, the reading is 'sit.' NOTE VI. 1. 2. 86. There is probably an allusion in the words, 'for she had a green wit,' to the 'green withes,' with which Samson was bound. In Shakespeare's time, 'mote' was frequently written 'moth,' as in iv. 3. 157 of this play, and in Much Ado about Nothing (11. 3. 53) the same variety of spelling gives rise to an obscure pun, 'Note notes, forsooth, and nothing.' Compare, also, As You Like It, III. 3. 5. NOTE VII. II. 1. 88. We have retained in this passage the reading of the first Quarto, 'unpeeled,' in preference to the 'unpeopled' of the second Quarto and the Folios, which is evidently only a conjectural emendation, and does not furnish a better sense than many other words which might be proposed. In the same way, in Act III. Sc. 1, line 61, we have followed the first Quarto in reading 'volable' instead of 'voluble,' as it has direct reference to Moth's last words 'thump, then, and I flee,' and is in better keeping with the Euphuistic language of the speaker. NOTE VIII. In 1. 1. 114 sqq. the speakers are 'Berowne' and 'Kather.' in Q1. This is followed by Capell, who justifies it as follows: 'When the King and his lords enter, the ladies mask, and continue mask'd 'till they go: Biron, while the letter is reading, seeks his mistress; accosts Catharine instead of her, finds his error, and leaves her: the King's exit gives him an opportunity to make another attempt, and he then lights on the right but without knowing her; makes a third by enquiry, and is baffled in that too, for he describes Maria, and is told she is Catharine.' In this and other scenes the characters are so confused in the old copies that they can be determined only by the context, in this play a very unsafe guide. NOTE IX. II. 1. 212. In this line, as well as in III. 1. 140, 142, &c. and iv. 3. 279, the 'O' is superfluous and appears to have crept into the text from the last letter of the stage direction 'Bero.' In the first instance in which this occurs the first Quarto stands alone, and the error is corrected in the second Quarto and the Folios, and we have therefore ventured to make the same correction in the other cases. NOTE X. III. 1. 186. As 'wightly,' in the sense of 'nimble,' has no etymological connection with 'white,' we have thought it best to retain the spelling which is least likely to mislead. [Rosaline was a brunette, see IV. 3. 243-273, and the epithet 'whitely' or pale-faced seems inappropriate; but I have restored the original reading and left the inconsistency. W. A. W.] NOTE XI. 4 IV. 2. 27. Which we of taste and feeling are, for those... In Qq Ff this passage stands as follows: 'which we taste and feeling, are for those parts that doe fructifie in vs more then he,' except that Q,F, put a comma after 'taste' and Q, omits 'doe.' Theobald, on Warburton's suggestion, reads, 'parts (which we taste and feel ingradare) that do, &c.' Hanmer is the first to print it as verse, reading, 'And such barren plants are set before us, that we thankful should be, For those parts which we taste and feel do fructifie in us more than he.' Johnson proposes, 'When we taste and feeling are for those parts, &c.' Tyrwhitt conjectured, 'Which we of taste and feeling are, &c.' and is followed by Collier and several modern editors. This reading appears to make the best sense with the least alteration. In Collier MS. we find 'which we hauing taste and feeling &c.' |