ABSTRACT
When Longaville first sees Maria, he asks Boyet, “Pray you, sir, whose daughter?” “Her mother’s, I have heard” (II.1.201–202), 1 quips Boyet, in effect with-holding the information Longaville seeks—Maria’s paternity. Boyet’s witticism intimates that establishing paternity is chancy. Faulconbridge, the Bastard in King John, reminds John that the paternity of “all men’s children” is a secret that lies in their mothers’ keeping (I.1.63); and, coincidentally, Maria of Love’s Labour’s Lost turns out to be “an heir of Falconbridge” (II.1.205).
