True nobility is exempt from fear :- Cap. Hale him away, and let him talk no more. Pompey the Great ; and Suffolk dies by pirates. [Exit SuF. with WHIT. and others. Cap. And as for these whose ransome we have set, It is our pleasure, one of them depart :— Therefore come you with us, and let him go. [Exeunt all but the first Gentleman. 1 Gent. O barbarous and bloody spectacle ! SCENE II. [Exit. [Exit with the body. Blackheath. Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND. Geo. Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath: they have been up these two days. John. They have the more need to sleep now then. Geo. I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it. John. So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say, it was never merry world in England, since gentle men came up. Geo. O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handycrafts-men. John. The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons. Geo. Nay more, the king's council are no good work men. John. True; and yet it is said,-Labour in thy vocation; which is as much to say, as,-let the magistrates [2] Brutus was the son of Servillia, a Roman lady, who had been concubine to Julius Cæsar. STEEV. 14* VOL. V. be labouring men; and therefore should we be magis trates. Geo. Thou hast hit it: for there's no better sign of a brave mind, than a hard hand. John. I see them! I see them! There's Best's son, the tanner of Wingham; Geo. He shall have the skins of our enemies, to make dog's leather of. John. And Dick the butcher, Geo. Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf. John. And Smith the weaver : Geo. Argo, their thread of life is spun. John. Come, come, let's fall in with them. Drum. Enter CADE, DICK the Butcher, SMITH the Weaver, and others in great number. Cade. We John Cade, so termed from our supposed father, Dick. Or rather, of stealing a 3cade of herrings. [Asi. Cade. -for our enemies shall fall before us, 4 inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes,— Command silence. Dick. Silence ! Cade. My father was a Mortimer, Dick. He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer. Cade. My mother a Plantagenet,— Dick. I knew her well, she was a midwife. many laces. [Aside. [Aside. Dick. She was, indeed, a pedlar's daughter, and sold [Aside. [Asi. Smith. But, now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home. 5 Cade. Therefore am I of an honourable house. Dick. Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable; and there was he born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house, but the cage.6 [Aside. Cade. Valiant I am. Smith. 'A must needs; for beggary is valiant. [Aside. [3] That is, a barrel of herrings. I suppose the word keg, which is now used, is cade corrupted. JOHNS. [4] He alludes to his name Cade, from cado, Lat. to fall. He has too much learning for his character. JOHNS. [5] A wallet or knapsack of skin with the hair outward. 6] A cage was formerly a term for a prison. MAL. JOHNS. Cade. I am able to endure much. Dick. No question of that; for I have whipped three market days together. Cade. I fear neither sword nor fire. seen him [Aside. Smith. He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof. [Aside. Dick. But, methinks, he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i'the hand for stealing of sheep. [Aside. Cade. Be brave then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be, in England, seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony, to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfry go to grass. And, when I am king, (as king I will be) All. God save your majesty ! Cade. I thank you, good people :-there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord. Dick. The first thing we do, lets kill all the lawyers. Cade. Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say, the bee stings: but I say, 'tis the bee's wax, for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. How now? who's there? Enter some, bringing in the Clerk of Chatham. Smith. The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read, and cast accompt. Cade. O monstrous ! Smith. We took him setting of boys' copies. Cade. Here's a villain ! Smith. H'as a book in his pocket, with red letters in't. Dick. Nay, he can make obligations, and write Court-hand. Cade. I am sorry for't: the man is a proper man, on [7] To mend the world by banishing money is an old contrivance of those who did not consider that the quarrels and mischiefs which arise from money, as the sign or ticket of riches, must, if money were to cease, arise im mediately from riches themselves, and could never be at an end till every man was contented with his own share of the goods of life. JOHNS. mine honour; unless I find him guilty, he shall not die. -Come hither, sirrah, I must examine thee: What is thy name? Clerk. Emmanuel. Dick. They use to write it on the top of letters :8'Twill go hard with you. Cade. Let me alone :-Dost thou use to write thy name? or hast thou a mark to thyself, like an honest plain-dealing man? Clerk. Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up, that I can write my name. All. He hath confessed: away with him; he's a villain, and a traitor. Cade. Away with him, I say: hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. [Exeunt some with the Clerk.. Enter MICHAEL. Mich. Where's our general? Cade. Here I am, thou particular fellow. Mich. Fly, fly, fly! sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are hard by, with the king's forces. Cade. Stand, villain, stand, or I'll fell thee down: He shall be encountered with a man as good as himself: He is but a knight, is a ? Mich. No. Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently; Rise up sir John Mortimer. Now have at him. Enter Sir HUMPHREY STAFFORD, and WILLIAM his Brother, with Drum and Forces. Staff Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, Mark'd for the gallows,-lay your weapons down, Home to your cottages, forsake this groom ;The king is merciful, if you revolt. W.Staff. But angry, wrathful, and inclin❜d to blood, If you go forward therefore yield, or die. Cade. As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not ;9 It is to you, good people, that I speak, O'er whom, in time to come, I hope to reign; For I am rightful heir unto the crown. Staff. Villain, thy father was a plasterer; And thou thyself, a shearman, Art thou not? [8] Of letters missive, and such like public acts. WARB. W.Staff. And what of that? Cade Marry, this:-Edmund Mortimer,earl of March, Married the duke of Clarence' daughter; Did he not? Staf. Ay, sir. Cade. By her, he had two children at one birth. Cade. Ay, there's the question; but, I say, 'tis true: The elder of them, being put to nurse, Was by a beggar-woman stol'n away; Dick. Nay, tis too true; therefore he shall be king. Smith. Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it; therefore, deny it not. Staf. And will you credit this base drudge's words, That speaks he knows not what? All. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone. W.Staf. Jack Cade, the duke of York hath taught you this. Cade. He lies, for I invented it myself. [Aside.]Go to, sirrah, Tell the king from me that-for his father's sake, Henry the fifth, in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns,-I am content he shall reign; but I'll be protector over him. Dick. And, furthermore, we'll have the lord Say's head, for selling the dukedom of Maine. Cade. And good reason; for thereby is England maimed, and fain to go with a staff, but that my puissance holds it up. Fellow kings, I tell you, that that lord Say hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch and more than that, he can speak French, and therefore he is a traitor. Staf. O gross and miserable ignorance! Cade. Nay, answer, if you can: The Frenchmen are our enemies, go to then; I ask but this; Can he, that speaks with the tongue of an enemy, be a good counsellor, or no? All. No, no; and, therefore we'll have his head. W.Staff. Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail, Assail them with the army of the king. Staf. Herald, away: and, throughout every town, Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade; That those, which fly before the battle ends, |