BEROWNE

also spelled Biron, a lord attending on Ferdinand, king of Navarre, in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. Though he is the most sincere scholar among Ferdinand and his lords, Berowne is also the most skeptical of the king's oath to forego the company of women. Cynical and quick-witted, he does not delude himself about the power of love, offering, in Act IV, a kind of manifesto of love. His merciless taunting during a performance of the Nine Worthies, however, reveals that he still has much to learn about gentleness, and he is sent off by his beloved Rosaline to spend a year visiting hospitals.