Speeches (Lines) for Moth
in "Love's Labour's Lost"
Total: 78

1

I,2,312

Don Adriano de Armado. Boy, what sign is it when a man of great spirit
grows melancholy?

Moth. A great sign, sir, that he will look sad.

2

I,2,314

Don Adriano de Armado. Why, sadness is one and the self-same thing, dear imp.

Moth. No, no; O Lord, sir, no.

3

I,2,317

Don Adriano de Armado. How canst thou part sadness and melancholy, my
tender juvenal?

Moth. By a familiar demonstration of the working, my tough senior.

4

I,2,319

Don Adriano de Armado. Why tough senior? why tough senior?

Moth. Why tender juvenal? why tender juvenal?

5

I,2,323

Don Adriano de Armado. I spoke it, tender juvenal, as a congruent epitheton
appertaining to thy young days, which we may
nominate tender.

Moth. And I, tough senior, as an appertinent title to your
old time, which we may name tough.

6

I,2,326

Don Adriano de Armado. Pretty and apt.

Moth. How mean you, sir? I pretty, and my saying apt? or
I apt, and my saying pretty?

7

I,2,329

Don Adriano de Armado. Thou pretty, because little.

Moth. Little pretty, because little. Wherefore apt?

8

I,2,331

Don Adriano de Armado. And therefore apt, because quick.

Moth. Speak you this in my praise, master?

9

I,2,333

Don Adriano de Armado. In thy condign praise.

Moth. I will praise an eel with the same praise.

10

I,2,335

Don Adriano de Armado. What, that an eel is ingenious?

Moth. That an eel is quick.

11

I,2,337

Don Adriano de Armado. I do say thou art quick in answers: thou heatest my blood.

Moth. I am answered, sir.

12

I,2,339

Don Adriano de Armado. I love not to be crossed.

Moth. [Aside] He speaks the mere contrary; crosses love not him.

13

I,2,341

Don Adriano de Armado. I have promised to study three years with the duke.

Moth. You may do it in an hour, sir.

14

I,2,343

Don Adriano de Armado. Impossible.

Moth. How many is one thrice told?

15

I,2,345

Don Adriano de Armado. I am ill at reckoning; it fitteth the spirit of a tapster.

Moth. You are a gentleman and a gamester, sir.

16

I,2,348

Don Adriano de Armado. I confess both: they are both the varnish of a
complete man.

Moth. Then, I am sure, you know how much the gross sum of
deuce-ace amounts to.

17

I,2,351

Don Adriano de Armado. It doth amount to one more than two.

Moth. Which the base vulgar do call three.

18

I,2,353

Don Adriano de Armado. True.

Moth. Why, sir, is this such a piece of study? Now here
is three studied, ere ye'll thrice wink: and how
easy it is to put 'years' to the word 'three,' and
study three years in two words, the dancing horse
will tell you.

19

I,2,359

Don Adriano de Armado. A most fine figure!

Moth. To prove you a cipher.

20

I,2,369

Don Adriano de Armado. I will hereupon confess I am in love: and as it is
base for a soldier to love, so am I in love with a
base wench. If drawing my sword against the humour
of affection would deliver me from the reprobate
thought of it, I would take Desire prisoner, and
ransom him to any French courtier for a new-devised
courtesy. I think scorn to sigh: methinks I should
outswear Cupid. Comfort, me, boy: what great men
have been in love?

Moth. Hercules, master.

21

I,2,373

Don Adriano de Armado. Most sweet Hercules! More authority, dear boy, name
more; and, sweet my child, let them be men of good
repute and carriage.

Moth. Samson, master: he was a man of good carriage, great
carriage, for he carried the town-gates on his back
like a porter: and he was in love.

22

I,2,380

Don Adriano de Armado. O well-knit Samson! strong-jointed Samson! I do
excel thee in my rapier as much as thou didst me in
carrying gates. I am in love too. Who was Samson's
love, my dear Moth?

Moth. A woman, master.

23

I,2,382

Don Adriano de Armado. Of what complexion?

Moth. Of all the four, or the three, or the two, or one of the four.

24

I,2,384

Don Adriano de Armado. Tell me precisely of what complexion.

Moth. Of the sea-water green, sir.

25

I,2,386

Don Adriano de Armado. Is that one of the four complexions?

Moth. As I have read, sir; and the best of them too.

26

I,2,390

Don Adriano de Armado. Green indeed is the colour of lovers; but to have a
love of that colour, methinks Samson had small reason
for it. He surely affected her for her wit.

Moth. It was so, sir; for she had a green wit.

27

I,2,392

Don Adriano de Armado. My love is most immaculate white and red.

Moth. Most maculate thoughts, master, are masked under
such colours.

28

I,2,395

Don Adriano de Armado. Define, define, well-educated infant.

Moth. My father's wit and my mother's tongue, assist me!

29

I,2,398

Don Adriano de Armado. Sweet invocation of a child; most pretty and
pathetical!

Moth. If she be made of white and red,
Her faults will ne'er be known,
For blushing cheeks by faults are bred
And fears by pale white shown:
Then if she fear, or be to blame,
By this you shall not know,
For still her cheeks possess the same
Which native she doth owe.
A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason of
white and red.

30

I,2,409

Don Adriano de Armado. Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar?

Moth. The world was very guilty of such a ballad some
three ages since: but I think now 'tis not to be
found; or, if it were, it would neither serve for
the writing nor the tune.

31

I,2,417

Don Adriano de Armado. I will have that subject newly writ o'er, that I may
example my digression by some mighty precedent.
Boy, I do love that country girl that I took in the
park with the rational hind Costard: she deserves well.

Moth. [Aside] To be whipped; and yet a better love than
my master.

32

I,2,420

Don Adriano de Armado. Sing, boy; my spirit grows heavy in love.

Moth. And that's great marvel, loving a light wench.

33

I,2,422

Don Adriano de Armado. I say, sing.

Moth. Forbear till this company be past.

34

I,2,451

Don Adriano de Armado. Take away this villain; shut him up.

Moth. Come, you transgressing slave; away!

35

I,2,453

Costard. Let me not be pent up, sir: I will fast, being loose.

Moth. No, sir; that were fast and loose: thou shalt to prison.

36

I,2,456

Costard. Well, if ever I do see the merry days of desolation
that I have seen, some shall see.

Moth. What shall some see?

37

III,1,766

Don Adriano de Armado. Warble, child; make passionate my sense of hearing.

Moth. Concolinel.

38

III,1,771

Don Adriano de Armado. Sweet air! Go, tenderness of years; take this key,
give enlargement to the swain, bring him festinately
hither: I must employ him in a letter to my love.

Moth. Master, will you win your love with a French brawl?

39

III,1,773

Don Adriano de Armado. How meanest thou? brawling in French?

Moth. No, my complete master: but to jig off a tune at
the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet, humour
it with turning up your eyelids, sigh a note and
sing a note, sometime through the throat, as if you
swallowed love with singing love, sometime through
the nose, as if you snuffed up love by smelling
love; with your hat penthouse-like o'er the shop of
your eyes; with your arms crossed on your thin-belly
doublet like a rabbit on a spit; or your hands in
your pocket like a man after the old painting; and
keep not too long in one tune, but a snip and away.
These are complements, these are humours; these
betray nice wenches, that would be betrayed without
these; and make them men of note—do you note
me?—that most are affected to these.

40

III,1,789

Don Adriano de Armado. How hast thou purchased this experience?

Moth. By my penny of observation.

41

III,1,791

Don Adriano de Armado. But O,—but O,—

Moth. 'The hobby-horse is forgot.'

42

III,1,793

Don Adriano de Armado. Callest thou my love 'hobby-horse'?

Moth. No, master; the hobby-horse is but a colt, and your
love perhaps a hackney. But have you forgot your love?

43

III,1,796

Don Adriano de Armado. Almost I had.

Moth. Negligent student! learn her by heart.

44

III,1,798

Don Adriano de Armado. By heart and in heart, boy.

Moth. And out of heart, master: all those three I will prove.

45

III,1,800

Don Adriano de Armado. What wilt thou prove?

Moth. A man, if I live; and this, by, in, and without, upon
the instant: by heart you love her, because your
heart cannot come by her; in heart you love her,
because your heart is in love with her; and out of
heart you love her, being out of heart that you
cannot enjoy her.

46

III,1,807

Don Adriano de Armado. I am all these three.

Moth. And three times as much more, and yet nothing at
all.

47

III,1,810

Don Adriano de Armado. Fetch hither the swain: he must carry me a letter.

Moth. A message well sympathized; a horse to be ambassador
for an ass.

48

III,1,813

Don Adriano de Armado. Ha, ha! what sayest thou?

Moth. Marry, sir, you must send the ass upon the horse,
for he is very slow-gaited. But I go.

49

III,1,816

Don Adriano de Armado. The way is but short: away!

Moth. As swift as lead, sir.

50

III,1,819

Don Adriano de Armado. The meaning, pretty ingenious?
Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow?

Moth. Minime, honest master; or rather, master, no.

51

III,1,821

Don Adriano de Armado. I say lead is slow.

Moth. You are too swift, sir, to say so:
Is that lead slow which is fired from a gun?

52

III,1,826

Don Adriano de Armado. Sweet smoke of rhetoric!
He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he:
I shoot thee at the swain.

Moth. Thump then and I flee.

53

III,1,833

(stage directions). [Re-enter MOTH with COSTARD]

Moth. A wonder, master! here's a costard broken in a shin.

54

III,1,843

Don Adriano de Armado. By virtue, thou enforcest laughter; thy silly
thought my spleen; the heaving of my lungs provokes
me to ridiculous smiling. O, pardon me, my stars!
Doth the inconsiderate take salve for l'envoy, and
the word l'envoy for a salve?

Moth. Do the wise think them other? is not l'envoy a salve?

55

III,1,850

Don Adriano de Armado. No, page: it is an epilogue or discourse, to make plain
Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been sain.
I will example it:
The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.
There's the moral. Now the l'envoy.

Moth. I will add the l'envoy. Say the moral again.

56

III,1,853

Don Adriano de Armado. The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.

Moth. Until the goose came out of door,
And stay'd the odds by adding four.
Now will I begin your moral, and do you follow with
my l'envoy.
The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.

57

III,1,861

Don Adriano de Armado. Until the goose came out of door,
Staying the odds by adding four.

Moth. A good l'envoy, ending in the goose: would you
desire more?

58

III,1,868

Don Adriano de Armado. Come hither, come hither. How did this argument begin?

Moth. By saying that a costard was broken in a shin.
Then call'd you for the l'envoy.

59

III,1,875

Don Adriano de Armado. But tell me; how was there a costard broken in a shin?

Moth. I will tell you sensibly.

60

III,1,896

(stage directions). [Exit]

Moth. Like the sequel, I. Signior Costard, adieu.

61

V,1,1772

Holofernes. Most military sir, salutation.

Moth. [Aside to COSTARD] They have been at a great feast
of languages, and stolen the scraps.

62

V,1,1779

Costard. O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.
I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon.

Moth. Peace! the peal begins.

63

V,1,1781

Don Adriano de Armado. [To HOLOFERNES] Monsieur, are you not lettered?

Moth. Yes, yes; he teaches boys the hornbook. What is a,
b, spelt backward, with the horn on his head?

64

V,1,1784

Holofernes. Ba, pueritia, with a horn added.

Moth. Ba, most silly sheep with a horn. You hear his learning.

65

V,1,1786

Holofernes. Quis, quis, thou consonant?

Moth. The third of the five vowels, if you repeat them; or
the fifth, if I.

66

V,1,1789

Holofernes. I will repeat them,—a, e, i,—

Moth. The sheep: the other two concludes it,—o, u.

67

V,1,1793

Don Adriano de Armado. Now, by the salt wave of the Mediterraneum, a sweet
touch, a quick venue of wit! snip, snap, quick and
home! it rejoiceth my intellect: true wit!

Moth. Offered by a child to an old man; which is wit-old.

68

V,1,1795

Holofernes. What is the figure? what is the figure?

Moth. Horns.

69

V,1,1797

Holofernes. Thou disputest like an infant: go, whip thy gig.

Moth. Lend me your horn to make one, and I will whip about
your infamy circum circa,—a gig of a cuckold's horn.

70

V,1,1862

Holofernes. Shall I have audience? he shall present Hercules in
minority: his enter and exit shall be strangling a
snake; and I will have an apology for that purpose.

Moth. An excellent device! so, if any of the audience
hiss, you may cry 'Well done, Hercules! now thou
crushest the snake!' that is the way to make an
offence gracious, though few have the grace to do it.

71

V,1,1868

Holofernes. I will play three myself.

Moth. Thrice-worthy gentleman!

72

V,2,2047

Boyet. The trumpet sounds: be mask'd; the maskers come.
[The Ladies mask]
[Enter Blackamoors with music; MOTH; FERDINAND,]
BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN, in Russian habits,
and masked]

Moth. All hail, the richest beauties on the earth!—

73

V,2,2049

Boyet. Beauties no richer than rich taffeta.

Moth. A holy parcel of the fairest dames.
[The Ladies turn their backs to him]
That ever turn'd their—backs—to mortal views!

74

V,2,2053

Biron. [Aside to MOTH] Their eyes, villain, their eyes!

Moth. That ever turn'd their eyes to mortal views!—Out—

75

V,2,2055

Boyet. True; out indeed.

Moth. Out of your favours, heavenly spirits, vouchsafe
Not to behold—

76

V,2,2058

Biron. [Aside to MOTH] Once to behold, rogue.

Moth. Once to behold with your sun-beamed eyes,
—with your sun-beamed eyes—

77

V,2,2062

Boyet. They will not answer to that epithet;
You were best call it 'daughter-beamed eyes.'

Moth. They do not mark me, and that brings me out.

78

V,2,2640

Dumain. Most resolute Pompey!

Moth. Master, let me take you a buttonhole lower. Do you
not see Pompey is uncasing for the combat? What mean
you? You will lose your reputation.