names given to Navarre's lords. _Berowne_,
as the name appears in the Folio, is an English spelling of the French
name _Biron_, to which it is changed in modernized editions of
Shakespeare. _Longavill_ is an English equivalent of _Longueville_,
and _Dumaine_ or _Dumane_ of De Mayenne, names which also are changed
in the modernized editions, although not consistently. All these names
are associated with Navarre's struggles in France. The Marechal de
Biron and the Duc de Longueville fought prominently on Navarre's side.
The Duc de Mayenne, brother of Henry of Guise, fought on the opposite
side. The Duc d'Alencon long a suitor for the hand of Queen Elizabeth,
is mentioned as the father of Rosaline.

Another veiled reference to a Russian suitor of the Queen's seems to
be made in the incident introduced in the last Act. This scene of the
wooing of the King and his lords when disguised as Russians makes fun,
perhaps, of an actual embassy of Russians to the Court of Elizabeth,
in 1583, when the Queen had arranged to put upon Lady Mary Hastings
the suit which the Czar Ivan had originally hoped to proffer to the
Queen herself. (For information upon these and other incidents of the
period that may be used in the plot see Sources, pp. 106-116 also
Notes in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play).

ACT I

THE VOW AND ITS FIRST ANTAGONISTS

The theme of the Comedy--the exclusion of love for the sake of winning
fame for learning, is made clear by the first speaker. The opposition
Love will make to this is next expressed through another speaker, and
then embodied in a practical example. Bring out the argument, in full,
on both sides, as expressed by the King and his lords, on the one
side, and by one lord who is less subservient on the other side. What
does Berowne object to in the King's idea about study and fame? He
says, practically, that fame is a mere expression of opinion, and that
as anybody can give anyone the name of being learned or the name of
being anything, fame may be given by those who have very little notion
of any real knowledge. Superficial knowledge is knowledge of names but
real knowledge is that which names mean. In a word, we but dull our
minds and blind our eyes in poring over the outsides of things, unless
we study to understand life and act a beneficent part in it.

As children we are rightly put to task work in order to get the means
to go on independently using life and all the products of life
inclu