Speeches (Lines) for Ferdinand
in "Love's Labour's Lost"
Total: 117

1

I,1,3

Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live register'd upon our brazen tombs
And then grace us in the disgrace of death;
When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,
The endeavor of this present breath may buy
That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge
And make us heirs of all eternity.
Therefore, brave conquerors,—for so you are,
That war against your own affections
And the huge army of the world's desires,—
Our late edict shall strongly stand in force:
Navarre shall be the wonder of the world;
Our court shall be a little Academe,
Still and contemplative in living art.
You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville,
Have sworn for three years' term to live with me
My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes
That are recorded in this schedule here:
Your oaths are pass'd; and now subscribe your names,
That his own hand may strike his honour down
That violates the smallest branch herein:
If you are arm'd to do as sworn to do,
Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep it too.

2

I,1,51

Your oath is pass'd to pass away from these.

3

I,1,58

Why, that to know, which else we should not know.

4

I,1,60

Ay, that is study's godlike recompense.

5

I,1,72

These be the stops that hinder study quite
And train our intellects to vain delight.

6

I,1,96

How well he's read, to reason against reading!

7

I,1,104

Biron is like an envious sneaping frost,
That bites the first-born infants of the spring.

8

I,1,114

Well, sit you out: go home, Biron: adieu.

9

I,1,122

How well this yielding rescues thee from shame!

10

I,1,145

What say you, lords? Why, this was quite forgot.

11

I,1,151

We must of force dispense with this decree;
She must lie here on mere necessity.

12

I,1,167

Ay, that there is. Our court, you know, is haunted
With a refined traveller of Spain;
A man in all the world's new fashion planted,
That hath a mint of phrases in his brain;
One whom the music of his own vain tongue
Doth ravish like enchanting harmony;
A man of complements, whom right and wrong
Have chose as umpire of their mutiny:
This child of fancy, that Armado hight,
For interim to our studies shall relate
In high-born words the worth of many a knight
From tawny Spain lost in the world's debate.
How you delight, my lords, I know not, I;
But, I protest, I love to hear him lie
And I will use him for my minstrelsy.

13

I,1,196

A letter from the magnificent Armado.

14

I,1,217

Will you hear this letter with attention?

15

I,1,220

[Reads] 'Great deputy, the welkin's vicegerent and
sole dominator of Navarre, my soul's earth's god,
and body's fostering patron.'

16

I,1,224

[Reads] 'So it is,'—

17

I,1,227

Peace!

18

I,1,229

No words!

19

I,1,231

[Reads] 'So it is, besieged with sable-coloured
melancholy, I did commend the black-oppressing humour
to the most wholesome physic of thy health-giving
air; and, as I am a gentleman, betook myself to
walk. The time when. About the sixth hour; when
beasts most graze, birds best peck, and men sit down
to that nourishment which is called supper: so much
for the time when. Now for the ground which; which,
I mean, I walked upon: it is y-cleped thy park. Then
for the place where; where, I mean, I did encounter
that obscene and preposterous event, that draweth
from my snow-white pen the ebon-coloured ink, which
here thou viewest, beholdest, surveyest, or seest;
but to the place where; it standeth north-north-east
and by east from the west corner of thy curious-
knotted garden: there did I see that low-spirited
swain, that base minnow of thy mirth,'—

20

I,1,249

[Reads] 'that unlettered small-knowing soul,'—

21

I,1,251

[Reads] 'that shallow vassal,'—

22

I,1,253

[Reads] 'which, as I remember, hight Costard,'—

23

I,1,255

[Reads] 'sorted and consorted, contrary to thy
established proclaimed edict and continent canon,
which with,—O, with—but with this I passion to say
wherewith,—

24

I,1,260

[Reads] 'with a child of our grandmother Eve, a
female; or, for thy more sweet understanding, a
woman. Him I, as my ever-esteemed duty pricks me on,
have sent to thee, to receive the meed of
punishment, by thy sweet grace's officer, Anthony
Dull; a man of good repute, carriage, bearing, and
estimation.'

25

I,1,268

[Reads] 'For Jaquenetta,—so is the weaker vessel
called which I apprehended with the aforesaid
swain,—I keep her as a vessel of the law's fury;
and shall, at the least of thy sweet notice, bring
her to trial. Thine, in all compliments of devoted
and heart-burning heat of duty.
DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO.'

26

I,1,277

Ay, the best for the worst. But, sirrah, what say
you to this?

27

I,1,280

Did you hear the proclamation?

28

I,1,283

It was proclaimed a year's imprisonment, to be taken
with a wench.

29

I,1,286

Well, it was proclaimed 'damsel.'

30

I,1,288

It is so varied, too; for it was proclaimed 'virgin.'

31

I,1,290

This maid will not serve your turn, sir.

32

I,1,292

Sir, I will pronounce your sentence: you shall fast
a week with bran and water.

33

I,1,295

And Don Armado shall be your keeper.
My Lord Biron, see him deliver'd o'er:
And go we, lords, to put in practise that
Which each to other hath so strongly sworn.

34

II,1,580

Fair princess, welcome to the court of Navarre.

35

II,1,584

You shall be welcome, madam, to my court.

36

II,1,586

Hear me, dear lady; I have sworn an oath.

37

II,1,588

Not for the world, fair madam, by my will.

38

II,1,590

Your ladyship is ignorant what it is.

39

II,1,600

Madam, I will, if suddenly I may.

40

II,1,618

Madam, your father here doth intimate
The payment of a hundred thousand crowns;
Being but the one half of an entire sum
Disbursed by my father in his wars.
But say that he or we, as neither have,
Received that sum, yet there remains unpaid
A hundred thousand more; in surety of the which,
One part of Aquitaine is bound to us,
Although not valued to the money's worth.
If then the king your father will restore
But that one half which is unsatisfied,
We will give up our right in Aquitaine,
And hold fair friendship with his majesty.
But that, it seems, he little purposeth,
For here he doth demand to have repaid
A hundred thousand crowns; and not demands,
On payment of a hundred thousand crowns,
To have his title live in Aquitaine;
Which we much rather had depart withal
And have the money by our father lent
Than Aquitaine so gelded as it is.
Dear Princess, were not his requests so far
From reason's yielding, your fair self should make
A yielding 'gainst some reason in my breast
And go well satisfied to France again.

41

II,1,647

I do protest I never heard of it;
And if you prove it, I'll repay it back
Or yield up Aquitaine.

42

II,1,654

Satisfy me so.

43

II,1,658

It shall suffice me: at which interview
All liberal reason I will yield unto.
Meantime receive such welcome at my hand
As honour without breach of honour may
Make tender of to thy true worthiness:
You may not come, fair princess, in my gates;
But here without you shall be so received
As you shall deem yourself lodged in my heart,
Though so denied fair harbour in my house.
Your own good thoughts excuse me, and farewell:
To-morrow shall we visit you again.

44

II,1,670

Thy own wish wish I thee in every place!

45

IV,3,1341

Ay me!

46

IV,3,1345

[Reads]
So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose,
As thy eye-beams, when their fresh rays have smote
The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows:
Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright
Through the transparent bosom of the deep,
As doth thy face through tears of mine give light;
Thou shinest in every tear that I do weep:
No drop but as a coach doth carry thee;
So ridest thou triumphing in my woe.
Do but behold the tears that swell in me,
And they thy glory through my grief will show:
But do not love thyself; then thou wilt keep
My tears for glasses, and still make me weep.
O queen of queens! how far dost thou excel,
No thought can think, nor tongue of mortal tell.
How shall she know my griefs? I'll drop the paper:
Sweet leaves, shade folly. Who is he comes here?
[Steps aside]
What, Longaville! and reading! listen, ear.

47

IV,3,1370

In love, I hope: sweet fellowship in shame!

48

IV,3,1421

And I mine too, good Lord!

49

IV,3,1459

[Advancing] Come, sir, you blush; as his your case is such;
You chide at him, offending twice as much;
You do not love Maria; Longaville
Did never sonnet for her sake compile,
Nor never lay his wreathed arms athwart
His loving bosom to keep down his heart.
I have been closely shrouded in this bush
And mark'd you both and for you both did blush:
I heard your guilty rhymes, observed your fashion,
Saw sighs reek from you, noted well your passion:
Ay me! says one; O Jove! the other cries;
One, her hairs were gold, crystal the other's eyes:
[To LONGAVILLE]
You would for paradise break faith, and troth;
[To DUMAIN]
And Jove, for your love, would infringe an oath.
What will Biron say when that he shall hear
Faith so infringed, which such zeal did swear?
How will he scorn! how will he spend his wit!
How will he triumph, leap and laugh at it!
For all the wealth that ever I did see,
I would not have him know so much by me.

50

IV,3,1506

Too bitter is thy jest.
Are we betray'd thus to thy over-view?

51

IV,3,1519

Soft! whither away so fast?
A true man or a thief that gallops so?

52

IV,3,1524

What present hast thou there?

53

IV,3,1526

What makes treason here?

54

IV,3,1528

If it mar nothing neither,
The treason and you go in peace away together.

55

IV,3,1532

Biron, read it over.
[Giving him the paper]
Where hadst thou it?

56

IV,3,1536

Where hadst thou it?

57

IV,3,1539

How now! what is in you? why dost thou tear it?

58

IV,3,1547

What?

59

IV,3,1555

Hence, sirs; away!

60

IV,3,1564

What, did these rent lines show some love of thine?

61

IV,3,1573

What zeal, what fury hath inspired thee now?
My love, her mistress, is a gracious moon;
She an attending star, scarce seen a light.

62

IV,3,1591

By heaven, thy love is black as ebony.

63

IV,3,1598

O paradox! Black is the badge of hell,
The hue of dungeons and the suit of night;
And beauty's crest becomes the heavens well.

64

IV,3,1612

And Ethiopes of their sweet complexion crack.

65

IV,3,1616

'Twere good, yours did; for, sir, to tell you plain,
I'll find a fairer face not wash'd to-day.

66

IV,3,1619

No devil will fright thee then so much as she.

67

IV,3,1626

But what of this? are we not all in love?

68

IV,3,1628

Then leave this chat; and, good Biron, now prove
Our loving lawful, and our faith not torn.

69

IV,3,1711

Saint Cupid, then! and, soldiers, to the field!

70

IV,3,1717

And win them too: therefore let us devise
Some entertainment for them in their tents.

71

IV,3,1726

Away, away! no time shall be omitted
That will betime, and may by us be fitted.

72

V,2,2075

Say to her, we have measured many miles
To tread a measure with her on this grass.

73

V,2,2096

Blessed are clouds, to do as such clouds do!
Vouchsafe, bright moon, and these thy stars, to shine,
Those clouds removed, upon our watery eyne.

74

V,2,2101

Then, in our measure do but vouchsafe one change.
Thou bid'st me beg: this begging is not strange.

75

V,2,2106

Will you not dance? How come you thus estranged?

76

V,2,2108

Yet still she is the moon, and I the man.
The music plays; vouchsafe some motion to it.

77

V,2,2111

But your legs should do it.

78

V,2,2114

Why take we hands, then?

79

V,2,2117

More measure of this measure; be not nice.

80

V,2,2119

Prize you yourselves: what buys your company?

81

V,2,2121

That can never be.

82

V,2,2124

If you deny to dance, let's hold more chat.

83

V,2,2126

I am best pleased with that.

84

V,2,2174

Farewell, mad wenches; you have simple wits.

85

V,2,2227

Fair sir, God save you! Where's the princess?

86

V,2,2230

That she vouchsafe me audience for one word.

87

V,2,2253

A blister on his sweet tongue, with my heart,
That put Armado's page out of his part!

88

V,2,2259

All hail, sweet madam, and fair time of day!

89

V,2,2261

Construe my speeches better, if you may.

90

V,2,2263

We came to visit you, and purpose now
To lead you to our court; vouchsafe it then.

91

V,2,2267

Rebuke me not for that which you provoke:
The virtue of your eye must break my oath.

92

V,2,2277

O, you have lived in desolation here,
Unseen, unvisited, much to our shame.

93

V,2,2282

How, madam! Russians!

94

V,2,2311

We are descried; they'll mock us now downright.

95

V,2,2354

Teach us, sweet madam, for our rude transgression
Some fair excuse.

96

V,2,2358

Madam, I was.

97

V,2,2360

I was, fair madam.

98

V,2,2363

That more than all the world I did respect her.

99

V,2,2365

Upon mine honour, no.

100

V,2,2368

Despise me, when I break this oath of mine.

101

V,2,2377

What mean you, madam? by my life, my troth,
I never swore this lady such an oath.

102

V,2,2381

My faith and this the princess I did give:
I knew her by this jewel on her sleeve.

103

V,2,2443

Biron, they will shame us: let them not approach.

104

V,2,2446

I say they shall not come.

105

V,2,2467

Here is like to be a good presence of Worthies. He
presents Hector of Troy; the swain, Pompey the
Great; the parish curate, Alexander; Armado's page,
Hercules; the pedant, Judas Maccabaeus: And if
these four Worthies in their first show thrive,
These four will change habits, and present the other five.

106

V,2,2474

You are deceived; 'tis not so.

107

V,2,2479

The ship is under sail, and here she comes amain.

108

V,2,2577

Hector was but a Troyan in respect of this.

109

V,2,2579

I think Hector was not so clean-timbered.

110

V,2,2667

How fares your majesty?

111

V,2,2669

Madam, not so; I do beseech you, stay.

112

V,2,2681

The extreme parts of time extremely forms
All causes to the purpose of his speed,
And often at his very loose decides
That which long process could not arbitrate:
And though the mourning brow of progeny
Forbid the smiling courtesy of love
The holy suit which fain it would convince,
Yet, since love's argument was first on foot,
Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it
From what it purposed; since, to wail friends lost
Is not by much so wholesome-profitable
As to rejoice at friends but newly found.PRINCESS. I understand you not: my griefs are double.

113

V,2,2728

Now, at the latest minute of the hour,
Grant us your loves.

114

V,2,2755

If this, or more than this, I would deny,
To flatter up these powers of mine with rest,
The sudden hand of death close up mine eye!
Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast.

115

V,2,2816

No, madam; we will bring you on your way.

116

V,2,2820

Come, sir, it wants a twelvemonth and a day,
And then 'twill end.

117

V,2,2834

Call them forth quickly; we will do so.