diff --git a/src/common/textmeasurecmn.cpp b/src/common/textmeasurecmn.cpp
index 8d828d4b71..16448d2664 100644
--- a/src/common/textmeasurecmn.cpp
+++ b/src/common/textmeasurecmn.cpp
@@ -105,17 +105,27 @@ void wxTextMeasureBase::GetMultiLineTextExtent(const wxString& text,
                                                wxCoord *height,
                                                wxCoord *heightOneLine)
 {
+    // It's noticeably faster to handle the case of a string which isn't
+    // actually multiline specially here, to skip iteration above in this case.
+    if ( text.find('\n') == wxString::npos )
+    {
+        GetTextExtent(text, width, height);
+        if ( heightOneLine && height )
+            *heightOneLine = *height;
+        return;
+    }
+
     MeasuringGuard guard(*this);
 
     wxCoord widthTextMax = 0, widthLine,
             heightTextTotal = 0, heightLineDefault = 0, heightLine = 0;
 
-    wxString curLine;
+    wxString::const_iterator lineStart = text.begin();
     for ( wxString::const_iterator pc = text.begin(); ; ++pc )
     {
         if ( pc == text.end() || *pc == wxS('\n') )
         {
-            if ( curLine.empty() )
+            if ( pc == lineStart )
             {
                 // we can't use GetTextExtent - it will return 0 for both width
                 // and height and an empty line should count in height
@@ -137,7 +147,7 @@ void wxTextMeasureBase::GetMultiLineTextExtent(const wxString& text,
             }
             else
             {
-                CallGetTextExtent(curLine, &widthLine, &heightLine);
+                CallGetTextExtent(wxString(lineStart, pc), &widthLine, &heightLine);
                 if ( widthLine > widthTextMax )
                     widthTextMax = widthLine;
                 heightTextTotal += heightLine;
@@ -149,13 +159,10 @@ void wxTextMeasureBase::GetMultiLineTextExtent(const wxString& text,
             }
             else // '\n'
             {
-               curLine.clear();
+               lineStart = pc;
+               ++lineStart;
             }
         }
-        else
-        {
-            curLine += *pc;
-        }
     }
 
     if ( width )
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/graphics.cpp b/tests/benchmarks/graphics.cpp
index e2714de5de..bbbec0cd5a 100644
--- a/tests/benchmarks/graphics.cpp
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/graphics.cpp
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ struct GraphicsBenchmarkOptions
         testCircles =
         testEllipses =
         testTextExtent =
+        testMultiLineTextExtent =
         testPartialTextExtents = false;
 
         usePaint =
@@ -95,6 +96,7 @@ struct GraphicsBenchmarkOptions
          testCircles,
          testEllipses,
          testTextExtent,
+         testMultiLineTextExtent,
          testPartialTextExtents;
 
     bool usePaint,
@@ -634,7 +636,10 @@ private:
         wxStopWatch sw;
         for ( long n = 0; n < opts.numIters; n++ )
         {
-            size += dc.GetTextExtent(str);
+            if ( opts.testMultiLineTextExtent )
+                size += dc.GetMultiLineTextExtent(str);
+            else
+                size += dc.GetTextExtent(str);
         }
 
         const long t = sw.Time();
@@ -847,6 +852,7 @@ public:
             { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "circles" },
             { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "ellipses" },
             { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "textextent" },
+            { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "multilinetextextent" },
             { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "partialtextextents" },
             { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "paint" },
             { wxCMD_LINE_SWITCH, "",  "client" },
@@ -922,6 +928,7 @@ public:
         opts.testCircles = parser.Found("circles");
         opts.testEllipses = parser.Found("ellipses");
         opts.testTextExtent = parser.Found("textextent");
+        opts.testMultiLineTextExtent = parser.Found("multilinetextextent");
         opts.testPartialTextExtents = parser.Found("partialtextextents");
         if ( !(opts.testBitmaps || opts.testImages || opts.testLines
                     || opts.testRawBitmaps || opts.testRectangles