Sir To. First, with a great platter of plum-porridge of pleasure, wherein is stued the mutton of mistrust.
Epi. Excellent loue lappe.
Sir To. Then commeth a Pye of patience, a Henne of honnie, a Goose of gall, a Capon of care, and many other Viandes, some sweete and some sowre; which proueth loue to bee, as it was saide of in olde yeeres, Dulce venenum.
Epi. A braue banquet.
Sir To. But, Epi, I praye thee feele on my chinne, some thing prycketh mee. What dost thou feele or see?
Epi. There are three or foure little haires.
Sir To. I pray thee call it my bearde. Howe shall I bee troubled when this younge springe shall growe to a great wood!
Epi. O, sir, your chinne is but a quyller yet, you will be most maiesticall when it is full fledge. But I maruell that you loue Dipsas, that old Crone,' etc.
The chief literary influence in Love's Labour's Lost is certainly Lyly's, poor though the latter's work seems by contrast. Shakespeare at once differentiates himself from the artificial prose comedy of Lyly by his vindication of common sense against affectation and by his deep interest in sonorous verse effects. It is not unlikely that the play is also related superficially to Marlowe's Massacre at Paris (written toward the end of 1589), in which the historical Navarre and Dumaine are both introduced, and which opens with Navarre's marriage to the Princess of France.[1]
- ↑ Dr. Johnson made the plausible conjecture that Shakespeare's character of Holofernes owes something to the pedantic schoolmaster, Rombus, in Sir Philip Sidney's pastoral play, The Lady of May, acted before Queen Elizabeth in 1578.
