Love's Labour's Lost 1.2 - Armado confesses his love for Jaquenetta

Love's Labour's Lost

Please see the bottom of the page for explanatory notes.

ACT I SCENE II	The same.
	Enter ARMADO and MOTH.
ARMADO	Boy, what sign is it when a man of great spirit
	grows melancholy?
MOTH	A great sign, sir, that he will look sad.
ARMADO	Why, sadness is one and the self-same thing, dear imp.
MOTH	No, no; O Lord, sir, no!
ARMADO	How canst thou part sadness and melancholy, my
	tender juvenal?
MOTH	By a familiar demonstration of the working, my tough senior.
ARMADO	Why tough senior? why tough senior?	10
MOTH	Why tender juvenal? why tender juvenal?
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.
ARMADO	Pretty and apt.
MOTH	How mean you, sir? I pretty, and my saying apt? or
	I apt, and my saying pretty?		20
ARMADO	Thou pretty, because little.
MOTH	Little pretty, because little. Wherefore apt?
ARMADO	And therefore apt, because quick.
MOTH	Speak you this in my praise, master?
ARMADO	In thy condign praise.
MOTH	I will praise an eel with the same praise.
ARMADO	What, that an eel is ingenious?
MOTH	That an eel is quick.
ARMADO	I do say thou art quick in answers: thou heatest my blood.	30
MOTH	I am answered, sir.
ARMADO	I love not to be crossed.
MOTH	[Aside.] He speaks the mere contrary; crosses love not him.
ARMADO	I have promised to study three years with the duke.
MOTH	You may do it in an hour, sir.
ARMADO	Impossible.
MOTH	How many is one thrice told?
ARMADO	I am ill at reckoning; it fitteth the spirit of a tapster.	40
MOTH	You are a gentleman and a gamester, sir.
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.
ARMADO	It doth amount to one more than two.
MOTH	Which the base vulgar do call three.
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.	52
ARMADO	A most fine figure!
MOTH	[Aside.] To prove you a cipher.
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.	63
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.	69
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.
ARMADO	Of what complexion?
MOTH	Of all the four, or the three, or the two, or one of the four.
ARMADO	Tell me precisely of what complexion.
MOTH	Of the sea-water green, sir.	81
ARMADO	Is that one of the four complexions?
MOTH	As I have read, sir; and the best of them too.
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.
ARMADO	My love is most immaculate white and red.
MOTH	Most maculate thoughts, master, are masked under
	such colours.
ARMADO	Define, define, well-educated infant.
MOTH	My father's wit and my mother's tongue, assist me!
ARMADO	Sweet invocation of a child; most pretty and
	pathetical!	92
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.	100
	A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason of
	white and red.
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.
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.	111
MOTH	[Aside.] To be whipped, -- and yet a better love han my master.
	my master.
ARMADO	Sing, boy; my spirit grows heavy in love.
MOTH	And that's great marvel, loving a light wench.
ARMADO	I say, sing.
MOTH	Forbear till this company be past.
	Enter DULL, COSTARD, and JAQUENETTA
DULL	Sir, the duke's pleasure is, that you keep Costard
	safe: and you must suffer him to take no delight
	nor no penance; but a' must fast three days a week.
	For this damsel, I must keep her at the park: she
	is allowed for the day-woman. Fare you well.	122
ARMADO	I do betray myself with blushing. -- Maid!
JAQUENETTA	Man!
ARMADO	I will visit thee at the lodge.
JAQUENETTA	That's hereby.
ARMADO	I know where it is situate.
JAQUENETTA	Lord, how wise you are!
ARMADO	I will tell thee wonders.
JAQUENETTA	With that face?	130
ARMADO	I love thee.
JAQUENETTA	So I heard you say.
ARMADO	And so, farewell.
JAQUENETTA	Fair weather after you!
DULL	Come, Jaquenetta, away!
	Exeunt DULL and JAQUENETTA
ARMADO	Villain, thou shalt fast for thy offences ere thou
	be pardoned.
COSTARD	Well, sir, I hope, when I do it, I shall do it on a
	full stomach.
ARMADO	Thou shalt be heavily punished.	140
COSTARD	I am more bound to you than your fellows, for they
	are but lightly rewarded.
ARMADO	Take away this villain; shut him up.
MOTH	Come, you transgressing slave; away!
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.
COSTARD	Well, if ever I do see the merry days of desolation
	that I have seen, some shall see.	150
MOTH	What shall some see?
COSTARD	Nay, nothing, Master Moth, but what they look upon.
	It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their
	words; and therefore I will say nothing: I thank
	God I have as little patience as another man; and
	therefore I can be quiet.
	Exeunt MOTH and COSTARD.
ARMADO	I do affect the very ground, which is base, where
	her shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, which
	is basest, doth tread. I shall be forsworn, which
	is a great argument of falsehood, if I love. And
	how can that be true love which is falsely
	attempted? Love is a familiar; Love is a devil:
	there is no evil angel but Love. Yet was Samson so
	tempted, and he had an excellent strength; yet was
	Solomon so seduced, and he had a very good wit.
	Cupid's butt-shaft is too hard for Hercules' club;
	and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier.
	The first and second cause will not serve my turn;
	the passado he respects not, the duello he regards
	not: his disgrace is to be called boy; but his
	glory is to subdue men. Adieu, valour! rust rapier!
	be still, drum! for your manager is in love; yea,	170
	he loveth. Assist me, some extemporal god of rhyme,
	for I am sure I shall turn sonnet. Devise, wit!
	write, pen! for I am for whole volumes in folio.
	Exit

Love's Labour's Lost, Act 2, Scene 1

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Explanatory Notes for Act 1, Scene 2
From Love's Labour's Lost. Ed. William Rolfe. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Abbreviations Used in the Notes
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Scene II.

5. Imp. Youngling; used only by Armado, Holofernes, and Pistol. The word originally meant an offshoot or scion of a tree; thence, figuratively, offspring or child; finally becoming limited to a young devil. Johnson remarks that Lord Cromwell, in his last letter to Henry VIII., prays for the imp his son. Spenser in the prologue to F. Q. addresses Cupid as

"most dreaded impe of highest Jove,
Faire Venus sonne"

Cf. F. Q. iii. 5. 53:

"Fayre ympes of beauty, whose bright shining beames
Adorne the world with like to heavenly light," etc

8. Juvenal. Juvenile, youth; used only by Armado, Flute (M. N. D. iii. 1. 97), and in jest by Falstaff (2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 22).

11. Senior. The 1st quarto has "signeor," and the folio "signeur."

13. Epitheton. Epithet; the reading of 2d folio. The 1st folio has "apathaton," and the quarto "apethaton."

33. Crosses love not him. The boy plays on crosses as applied to coin. We have the same pun in A. Y. L. ii. 4. 12 and 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 253 (see our ed. p. 156). Mere = absolute, very. See on i. 1. 146 above.

40. A tapster. For other allusions to the tapster's reckoning, or keeping account with customers, cf. 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 193 and T. and C. i. 2. 123.

43. Complete. Accomplished. Cf. Hen. VIII. i. 2. 118: "This man so complete," etc.

52. The dancing horse. A famous horse of the time, often called "Bankes' horse" from his owner, who had trained him to perform many remarkable feats. Raleigh, in his Hist. of the World, says: "If Banks had lived in older times, he would have shamed all the inchanters in the world; for whosoever was most famous among them could never master or instruct any beast as he did his horse." Steevens quotes, among other allusions to the animal, B. J[onson]., Every Man Out of His Humour: "He keeps more ado with this monster than ever Bankes did with his horse;" and the same author's Epigrams:

"Old Banks the jugler, our Pythagoras,
Grave tutor to the learned horse."

In France, according to Bishop Morton, Bankes "was brought into suspition of magicke, because of the strange feates which his horse Morocco plaied at Orieance;" but Bankes having made the beast kneel down to a crucifix and kiss it, "his adversaries rested satisfied, conceiving (as it might seeme) that the divell had no power to come neare the crosse." In Rome he was less fortunate, if we may believe Reed, who says that both horse and owner were there burned by order of the Pope. According to other authorities, however, Bankes came back safe to London, and was still living in King Charles's time, a jolly vintner in Cheapside. For fuller accounts of him and his horse, see Douce's Illustrations, Chambers's Book of Days, or Halliwell's folio ed.

60. Courtesy. Curtsy; used by men as well as women. See Much Ado, p. 159.

65. Sweet my child. My sweet child. See Gr. 13.

82. Green indeed is the colour of lovers. Some say, because of its association with jealousy, "the green-eyed monster;" others, as being the colour of the willow, "worn of forlorn paramours" (cf. Much Ado, p. 169).

85. A green wit. Probably, as the Camb. editors remark, there is an allusion to the green withes with which Samson was bound. See p. 128 above (on Dramatis Persons).

87. Maculate. The reading of the 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "immaculate."

92. Pathetical. The Coll. MS. has "poetical."

100. Native she doth owe. She possesses by nature. For owe = own, cf. ii. 1. 6 below. Gr. 290.

103. The King and the Beggar. The ballad of King Cophetua and the Beggar-maid, which may be found in Percy's Reliques. For other allusions to it, see iv. 1. 64 below, R. and J. ii. 1. 14, and Rich. II. v. 3. 80.

109. Digression. "Going out of the right way, transgression" (Steevens). Cf. R. of L. 202:

"Then my digression is so vile, so base,
That it will live engraven in my face."

Cf. also digressing in Rich. II. v. 3. 66.

111. Rational hind. Perhaps Armado's fantastic way of expressing "human hind," hind being a beast (a deer), as well as a boor; but rational may be a misprint for "irrational," as Hanmer regarded it. Farmer objects to the former interpretation, that it makes Costard a female animal; but Steevens quotes in reply J. C. i. 3. 106: "He were no lion, were not Romans hinds."

115. A light wench. S. is fond of playing upon the different senses of light. Cf. M. of V. v. I. 130:

"Let me give light, but let me not be light;
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband."

See also ii. 1. 197 and v. 2. 25 below; and for light = wanton, iv. 3. 380.

119. Let him. The folio reading; the 1st quarto has "suffer him to," and in the next line "a" for he.

121. Day-woman. Dairy-woman.

126. That's hereby. "Hereby is used by her (as among the vulgar in some countries) to signify as it may happen; he takes it in the sense of just by" (Steevens). We have it in the latter sense in iv. 1.9 below. The only other instance of the word in S. is in Rich. III. i. 4. 94.

127. Situate. For the form, see Gr. 342.

130. With that face? Steevens says: "This cant phrase has oddly lasted till the present time; and is used by people who have no more meaning annexed to it than Fielding had, who, putting it into the mouth of Beau Didapper, thinks it necessary to apologize (in a note) for its want of sense, by adding that 'it was taken verbatim from very polite conversation.'"

135. Come, Jaqnenetta, away! Given by the quartos and the folio to "Clo. (that is, Clown, or Costard); corrected by Theo. The next speech is given by the 1st quarto to "Ar." by the 1st folio to "Clo." and by the later folios to "Con."

141. Fellows. D[yce]. and H[aliwell]. follow Capell in reading "followers."

147. last and loose. A quibbling reference to the cheating game so called. See K. John, p. 156, and cf. iii. 1. 97 below.

157. Affect. Love; as in 84 above. Cf. Much Ado, i. I. 298: "Dost thou affect her?" etc.

159. Argument. Proof; as in Much Ado, ii. 3. 243, T. N. iii. 2. 12, etc.

161. Familiar. "Familiar spirit," or demon; as in 2 Hen. VI. iv. 7. 114: "he has a familiar under his tongue," etc. Cf. also the adjective in Sonn. 86. 9:

"that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence."

164. Butt-shaft. A kind of arrow used for shooting at butts, or targets. Cf. R. and J.. p. 171. [Also, of course, in the bawdy sense. - Sh. Online.]

166. The first and second cause, etc. Alluding to the classified causes of quarrel in the elaborate duelling science of the time. Cf. Touchstone's ridicule of them in A. Y. L. v. 4. 52 fol.; and see our ed. p. 198, note on By the book. As Saviolo's book, evidently alluded to here, was printed in 1594, this passage is one of the indications of the revision of the play before the publication of the 1st quarto. See p. 10 above.

167. Passado. A thrust in fencing. See R.and J. p. 171.

170. Manager. Changed in the Coll. MS. to "Armiger;" but manage is often used of arms. Cf. Rich. II. iii. 2. 118, 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 292, 301, R.and J. i. I. 76, etc.

171. Sonnet. The reading of all the early eds. changed by Hanmer to "sonneteer," by Capell to "sonneter," by the Coll. MS. to "sonnet-maker," and by D. to "sonnetist." V. and W. read "turn sonnets." Turn sonnet is not unlike Armado. Cf. Much Ado, ii. 3. 21: "now is he turned orthography;" where some read "orthographer" or "orthographist."

How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Love's Labour's Lost. Ed. William Rolfe. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/LLL_1_2.html >.

How to cite the sidebar:
Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare's Theatres: Blackfriars. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/LLL_1_2.html >.

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