SCENE X.
Kent. Iden's Garden1 note
.
Enter Cade.
&mast;Cade.
&mast;Fye on ambition! fye on myself; that
&mast;have a sword, and yet am ready to famish! These
-- 330 --
&mast;five days have I hid me in these woods; and durst
&mast;not peep out, for all the country is laid for me;
&mast;but now am I so hungry, that if I might have a
&mast;lease of my life for a thousand years, I could stay
&mast;no longer. Wherefore, on a brick-wall have I
&mast;climbed into this garden; to see if I can eat
&mast;grass, or pick a sallet another while, which is not
&mast;amiss to cool a man's stomach this hot weather.
&mast;And, I think, this word sallet was born to do me
&mast;good: for, many a time, but for a sallet, my brain-pan2 note
&mast;had been cleft with a brown bill; and, many
-- 331 --
&mast;a time, when I have been dry, and bravely marching,
&mast;it hath served me instead of a quart-pot to
&mast;drink in; and now the word sallet must serve me
&mast;to feed on.
Enter Iden, with Servants.
&mlquo;Iden.
&mlquo;Lord, who would live turmoiled in the court,
&mlquo;And may enjoy such quiet walks as these?
&mlquo;This small inheritance, my father left me,
&mlquo;Contenteth me, and is worth a monarchy.
&mlquo;I seek not to wax great by others' waning3 note;
&mlquo;Or gather wealth, I care not with what envy4 note
;
&mlquo;Sufficeth that I have maintains my state,
&mlquo;And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.
&mlquo;Cade.
&mlquo;Here's the lord of the soil come to seize
me for a stray, for entering his fee-simple without
leave. Ah, villain, thou wilt betray me, and get
a thousand crowns of the king for carrying my
head to him; but I'll make thee eat iron like an
-- 332 --
ostrich, and swallow my sword like a great pin, ere
thou and I part.&mrquo;
&mlquo;Iden.
&mlquo;Why, rude companion, whatsoe'er thou be,
&mlquo;I know thee not; Why then should I betray thee?
&mlquo;Is't not enough, to break into my garden,
&mlquo;And, like a thief to come to rob my grounds,
&mlquo;Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner,
&mlquo;But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms?
Cade.
Brave thee? ay, by the best blood that
ever was broached, and beard thee too5 note. Look on
me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet,
come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave
you all as dead as a door nail6 note, I pray God I may
never eat grass more.
&mlquo;Iden.
&mlquo;Nay, it shall ne'er be said, while England stands,
That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent,
Took odds to combat a poor famish'd man.
&mlquo;Oppose thy stedfast-gazing eyes to mine7 note
,
&mlquo;See if thou canst outface me with thy looks.
&mlquo;Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser;
&mlquo;Thy hand is but a finger to my fist;
&mlquo;Thy leg a stick, compared with this truncheon;
&mlquo;My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast;
&mlquo;And if mine arm be heaved in the air,
&mlquo;Thy grave is digg'd already in the earth.
&mlquo;As for words, whose greatness answers words,
-- 333 --
&mlquo;Let this my sword report what speech forbears8 note
.
&mast;Cade.
&mast;By my valour, the most complete champion
&mast;that ever I heard.—&mlquo; Steel, if thou turn the
edge, or cut not out the burly-boned clown in
chines of beef ere thou sleep in thy sheath, I beseech
God9 note on my knees, thou mayest be turned
-- 334 --
to hobnails. [They fight. Cade falls.] O, I am
slain! famine! and no other, hath slain me: let
ten thousand devils come against me, and give me
but the ten meals I have lost, and I'd defy them
all. Wither, garden; and be henceforth a burying-place
to all that do dwell in this house, because
the unconquered soul of Cade is fled.
&mlquo;Iden.
&mlquo;Is't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor?
&mlquo;Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,
&mlquo;And hang thee o'er my tomb, when I am dead1 note
:
&mast;Ne'er shall this blood be wiped from thy point;
&mast;But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat,
&mast;To emblaze the honour that thy master got.
&mlquo;Cade.
&mlquo;Iden, farewell; and be proud of thy victory:
Tell Kent from me, she hath lost her best
man, and exhort all the world to be cowards; for
-- 335 --
I, that never feared any, am vanquished by famine,
not by valour.&mrquo;
[Dies.
&mast;Iden.
&mast;How much thou wrong'st me2 note
, heaven be my judge.
&mast;Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare thee!
&mast;And as I thrust thy body in with my sword,
&mast;So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell3 note
.
&mlquo;Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels
&mlquo;Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave,
-- 336 --
&mlquo;And there cut off thy most ungracious head;
&mlquo;Which I will bear in triumph to the king,
&mlquo;Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.
[Exit dragging out the Body.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
