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. | 4 |
| 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 gentlemen came up. | |
| Geo. O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men. | |
| John. The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons. | 8 |
| Geo. Nay, more; the king’s council are no good workmen. | |
| John. True; and yet it is said, ‘Labour in thy vocation:’ which is as much to say as, let the magistrates be labouring men; and therefore should we be magistrates. | |
| 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,— | 12 |
| 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,— | 16 |
| 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 a Sawyer, with infinite numbers. | |
| Cade. We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father,— | 20 |
| Dick. [Aside.] Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings. | |
| Cade. For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes,—Command silence. | |
| Dick. Silence! | |
| Cade. My father was a Mortimer.— | 24 |
| Dick. [Aside.] He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer. | |
| Cade. My mother a Plantagenet,— | |
| Dick. [Aside.] I knew her well; she was a midwife. | |
| Cade. My wife descended of the Lacies,— | 28 |
| Dick. [Aside.] She was, indeed, a pedlar’s daughter, and sold many laces. | |
| Smith. [Aside.] But now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home. | |
| Cade. Therefore am I of an honourable house. | |
| Dick. [Aside.] 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. | 32 |
| Cade. Valiant I am. | |
| Smith. [Aside.] A’ must needs, for beggary is valiant. | |
| Cade. I am able to endure much. | |
| Dick. [Aside.] No question of that, for I have seen him whipped three market-days together. | 36 |
| Cade. I fear neither sword nor fire. | |
| Smith. [Aside.] He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof. | |
| Dick. [Aside.] But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i’ the hand for stealing of sheep. | |
| Cade. Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny 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 palfrey go to grass. And when I am king,—as king I will be,— | 40 |
| 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, let’s kill all the lawyers. | |
| Cade. Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of 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? | 44 |
| |
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. | 48 |
| Cade. Here’s a villain! | |
| Smith. Has a book in his pocket with red letters in’t. | |
| Cade. Nay, then he is a conjurer. | |
| Dick. Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand. | 52 |
| Cade. I am sorry for’t: the man is a proper man, of 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. ’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? | 56 |
| 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 ink-horn about his neck. [Exeunt some with the Clerk. | |
| |
Enter MICHAEL. | 60 |
| 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’? | 64 |
| Mich. No. | |
| Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently. [Kneels.] Rise up Sir John Mortimer. [Rises.] Now have at him. | |
| |
Enter SIR HUMPHREY STAFFORD and WILLIAM his Brother, with drum and Forces. | |
| Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, | 68 |
| Mark’d for the gallows, lay your weapons down; | |
| Home to your cottages, forsake this groom: | |
| The king is merciful, if you revolt. | |
| W. Staf. But angry, wrathful, and inclin’d to blood, | 72 |
| If you go forward: therefore yield, or die. | |
| Cade. As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not: | |
| It is to you, good people, that I speak, | |
| O’er whom, in time to come I hope to reign; | 76 |
| For I am rightful heir unto the crown. | |
| Staf. Villain! thy father was a plasterer; | |
| And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not? | |
| Cade. And Adam was a gardener. | 80 |
| W. Staf. And what of that? | |
| Cade. Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, | |
| Married the Duke of Clarence’ daughter, did he not? | |
| Staf. Ay, sir. | 84 |
| Cade. By her he had two children at one birth. | |
| W. Staf. That’s false. | |
| Cade. Ay, there’s the question; but I say, ’tis true: | |
| The elder of them, being put to nurse, | 88 |
| Was by a beggar-woman stol’n away; | |
| And, ignorant of his birth and parentage, | |
| Became a bricklayer when he came to age: | |
| His son am I; deny it if you can. | 92 |
| 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? | 96 |
| All. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone. | |
| W Staf. Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this. | |
| Cade. [Aside.] He lies, for I invented it myself. 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. | 100 |
| Cade And good reason; for thereby is England mained, 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 a 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. | 104 |
| W. Staf. 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; | 108 |
| That those which fly before the battle ends | |
| May, even in their wives’ and children’s sight, | |
| Be hang’d up for example at their doors: | |
| And you, that be the king’s friends, follow me. [Exeunt the two STAFFORDS and Forces. | 112 |
| Cade. And you, that love the commons, follow me. | |
| Now show yourselves men; ’tis for liberty. | |
| We will not leave one lord, one gentleman: | |
| Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon, | 116 |
| For they are thrifty honest men, and such | |
| As would, but that they dare not take our parts. | |
| Dick. They are all in order, and march toward us. | |
| Cade. But then are we in order when we are most out of order. Come, march! forward! [Exeunt. | 120 |
