Love's Labour's Lost is a comedy published in a quarto edition in 1598 and which demonstrates a fanciful sense of plot and delights in its own artificiality and witty dialogue. It is a relatively early work, probably performed and printed in 1595, and there has been no source identified for the plot. The story concerns three young men, lords of the king of Navarre who take up a vow between themselves to abstain from worldly ways to devote themselves to study. Inevitably, this well-intentioned plan is soon blasted by the arrival of temptation in the form of the princess of France and three of her ladies. The king falls in love with the princess and 'of mere necessity' the lords begin to set aside their abstinence for the other ladies. In amongst the high spirits and disguises we meet certain other ludicrous characters of note: the seedy Spaniard, Don Armado; the hair-splitting schoolmaster Holofernes; Costard the rustic clown; Dull the constable; and Sir Nathaniel the clergyman. These fellows attempt to entertain the amassed lovers with the 'Nine Worthies' interlude before the discovery of the death of the princess's father. Ironically, the princess and her ladies then impose a year's ordeal on their suitors before the play closes to a song, 'When icicles hang by the wall'.