Cade. Away with him, away with him! he speaks • Latin. 6 * Say. Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will. Kent, in the commentaries Cæsar writ, Is termed the civil'st place of all this isle.' 'Sweet is the country, because full of riches; · The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy; • Which makes me hope you are not void of pity. ' I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy * Yet, to recover them, would lose my life. *Justice with favor have I always done; * Prayers and tears have moved me; gifts could never. *When have I aught exacted at your hands, * Kent, to maintain the king, the realm, and you? 2 * * * Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven,— * Unless you be possessed with devilish spirits, * You cannot but forbear to murder me. *This tongue hath parleyed unto foreign kings *For your behoof, * Cade. Tut! when struck'st thou one blow in the * field? *Say. Great men have reaching hands; oft have I struck * Those that I never saw, and struck them dead. *Geo. O monstrous coward! what, to come behind folks? *Say. These cheeks are pale for watching for your good. *Cade. Give him a box o' the ear, and that will * make 'em red again. 1 "Ex his omnibus sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt."-Cæsar. 2 This passage has been supposed corrupt merely because it was eironeously pointed. It was thus pointed in the folio: "When have I aught exacted at your hands? Kent to maintain, the king, the realm, and you? Large gifts, have I bestowed on learned clerks," &c. * Say. Long sitting to determine poor men's causes Hath made me full of sickness and diseases. *Cade. Ye shall have a hempen caudle then, and *the pap of a hatchet.' 1 'Dick. Why dost thou quiver, man? 6 Say. The palsy, and not fear, provoketh me. Cade. Nay, he nods at us; as who should say, I'll be even with you. I'll see if his head will stand 'steadier on a pole, or no. Take him away, and behead him. *Say. Tell me wherein I have offended most? * Have I affected wealth, or honor? Speak. * Are my chests filled up with extorted gold? * Is my apparel sumptuous to behold? * Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death? *These hands are free from guiltless blood-shedding," *This breast from harboring foul, deceitful thoughts. *O, let me live! * Cade. I feel remorse in myself with his words; * but I'll bridle it; he shall die, an it be but for plead*ing so well for his life. Away with him! he has * a familiar 3 under his tongue; he speaks not o' God's name. 'Go, take him away, I say, and strike off 'his head presently; and then break into his son-in'law's house, sir James Cromer, and strike off his • head, and bring them both upon two poles hither. * All. It shall be done. 4 *Say. Ah, countrymen! if, when you make your prayers, * God should be so obdurate as yourselves, * How would it fare with your departed souls? *And therefore yet relent, and save my life. *Cade. Away with him, and do as I command ye. [Exeunt some, with LORD SAY. 1 The old copy reads, "the help of a hatchet." Lyly wrote a pamphlet with the title of "Pap with a Hatchet;" and the phrase occurs in his play of Mother Bombie: "They give us pap with a spoone, and when we speake for what we love, pap with a hatchet." 2 i. e. these hands are free from shedding guiltless or innocent blood. 3 A demon who was supposed to attend at call. 4 It was William Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, whom Cade put to death. 6 The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his shoulders, unless he pay me tribute. There 'shall not a maid be married, but she shall pay to me. 'her maidenhead ere they have it. Men shall hold of me in capite; and we charge and command, that 'their wives be as free as heart can wish, or tongue " can tell. 6 Dick. My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside, and take up commodities upon our bills?1 · Cade. Marry, presently. All. O brave! Re-enter Rebels, with the heads of LORD SAY and his Son-in-law. • Cade. But is not this braver ?-Let them kiss one another, for they loved well, when they were alive. 'Now part them again, lest they consult about the giv'ing up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, 'defer the spoil of the city until night; for with these 'borne before us, instead of maces, will we ride through the streets; and, at every corner, have them kiss.Away! [Exeunt. SCENE VIII. Southwark. Alarum. Enter CADE, and all his Rabblement. *Cade. Up Fish street! down Saint Magnus' * corner! kill and knock down! throw them into * Thames ![A parley sounded, then a retreat.] What *noise is this I hear? dare any be so bold to sound re*treat or parley, when I command them kill? Enter BUCKINGHAM and Old CLIFFORD, with Forces. 'Buck. Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee. Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the king 1 An equivoque alluding to the halberds or bills borne by the rabble. 'Unto the commons whom thou hast misled : 6 Cliff. What say ye, countrymen? will ye relent, And yield to mercy, whilst 'tis offered you; 'Or let a rabble lead you to your deaths? 6 Who loves the king, and will embrace his pardon, Henry the Fifth, that made all France to quake, All. God save the king! God save the king! Cade. What, Buckingham, and Clifford, are ye so 'brave?-And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? • Will you needs be hanged with your pardons about your necks? Hath my sword therefore broke through 'London gates, that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought ye would never have given out these arms, till you had recovered your an'cient freedom; but you are all recreants, and dastards; and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. 'Let them break your backs with burdens, take your 'houses over your heads, ravish your wives and daugh'ters before your faces. For me, I will make shift for one; and so-God's curse 'light upon you all! 6 All. We'll follow Cade, we'll follow Cade. Clif. Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth, That thus you do exclaim-you'll go with him? Will he conduct you through the heart of France, And make the meanest of you earls and dukes? · Alas, he hath no home, no place to fly to; • Nor knows he how to live, but by the spoil, • Unless by robbing of your friends, and us. • Wer't not a shame, that whilst you live at jar, The fearful French, whom you late vanquished, Should make a start o'er seas, and vanquish you? · Methinks already, in this civil broil, 'I see them lording it in London streets, "Crying-Villageois! unto all they meet. Better ten thousand base-born Cades miscarry, Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman's mercy. To France, to France, and get what you have lost; Spare England, for it is your native coast. Henry hath money; you are strong and manly; 'God on our side, doubt not of victory. · All. A Clifford a Clifford! We'll follow the king, ' and Clifford. 6 6 6 • Cade. Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro, as this multitude? The name of Henry the · Fifth hales them to a hundred mischiefs, and makes 'them leave me desolate. I see them lay their heads together, to surprise me; my sword make way for me, for here is no staying. In despite of the ' devils and hell, have through the very midst of you! • And Heavens and honor be witness, that no want of ' resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ig' nominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels. [Exit. • Buck. What, is he fled? Go, some, and follow him; And he that brings his head unto the king, 'Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward. [Exeunt some of them. 'Follow me, soldiers; we'll devise a mean • To reconcile you all unto the king. SCENE IX. Kenelworth Castle. [Exeunt Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, and SOMERSET, on the terrace of the castle. *K. Hen. Was ever king that joyed an earthly throne, * And could command no more content than I? * No sooner was I crept out of my cradle, * But I was made a king, at nine months old.1 1 So all the historians agree; and yet in Part I. Act iii. Sc. 4, king Henry is made to say: "I do remember how my father said," a plain proof that the whole of that play was not written by the same hand as this. |