SCENE II.
Another part of Kent.
Enter George Bevis and John Holland.
Bevis.
Come, and get thee a sword5 note, though made
of a lath; they have been up these two days.
Hol.
They have the more need to sleep now then.
Bevis.
I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to
dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new
nap upon it.
Hol.
So he had need, for 'tis thread-bare. Well, I
say, it was never merry world in England, since gentlemen
came up.
Bevis.
O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in
handycrafts-men.
Hol.
The nobility think scorn to go in leather
aprons.
Bevis.
Nay more, the king's council are no good
workmen.
Hol.
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.
Bevis.
Thou hast hit it: for there's no better sign
of a brave mind, than a hard hand.
Hol.
I see them! I see them! There's Best's son,
the tanner of Wingham.
Bevis.
He shall have the skins of our enemies, to
make dog's leather of.
Hol.
And Dick the butcher,—
Bevis.
Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's
throat cut like a calf.
-- 386 --
Hol.
And Smith the weaver:—
Bevis.
Argo, their thread of life is spun.
Hol.
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 term'd of our supposed
father,—
Dick.
Or rather, of stealing 6 note
a cade of herrings.
[Aside.
Cade.
For 7 note
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,—
Dick.
He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer.
[Aside.
Cade.
My mother a Plantagenet,—
Dick.
I knew her well, she was a midwife.
[Aside.
Cade.
My wife descended of the Lacies,—
Dick.
She was, indeed, a pedlar's daughter, and sold
many laces.
[Aside.
-- 387 --
Smith.
But, now of late, not able to travel with
her 8 notefurr'd pack, she washes bucks here at home.
[Aside.
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.
[Aside.
Cade.
Valiant I am.
Smith.
'A must needs; for beggary is valiant.
[Aside.
Cade.
I am able to endure much.
Dick.
No question of that; for I have seen him
whipp'd three market days together.
[Aside.
Cade.
I fear neither sword nor fire.
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 so often 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-hoop'd
pot shall have ten hoops9 note; 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:—1 notethere shall
-- 388 --
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 my 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.
Cade.
Nay, then he is a conjurer.
Dick.
Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.
Cade.
I am sorry for't: the man is a proper man,
on mine honour; unless I find him guilty, he shall not
die.—Come hither, sirrah, I must examine thee:
What is thy name?
Clerk.
Emanuel.
Dick.
2 note
They use to write it on the top of letters;
—'Twill go hard with you.
-- 389 --
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 confess'd: 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.
[Exit one 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 encounter'd 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. Is there any more of them that be knights?
Mich.
Ay, his brother.
Cade.
Then kneel down, Dick Butcher;
Rise up sir Dick Butcher. Now sound up the drum.
-- 390 --
Enter Sir Humphrey Stafford, and his Brother, with drum and soldiers.
Staf.
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.
Y. Staf.
But angry, wrathful, and inclin'd to blood,
If you go forward: therefore yield, or die.
Cade.
As for these silken-coated slaves, 3 note
I pass not;
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.
Staf.
Villain, thy father was a plaisterer;
And thou thyself, a shearman, Art thou not?
Cade.
And Adam was a gardener.
Y. 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.
Cade.
By her he had two children at one birth.
Y. Staf.
That's false.
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;
And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,
Became a bricklayer, when he came to age:
His son am I; deny it, if you can.
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.
-- 391 --
Staf.
And will you credit this base drudge's words,
That speaks he knows not what?
All.
Ay, marry will we; therefore get you gone.
Y. 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
maim'd, 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 common-wealth, 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.
Y. 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;
That those, which fly before the battle ends,
May, even in their wives' and childrens' sight,
Be hang'd up for example at their doors:—
And you, that be the king's friends, follow me.
[Exeunt the two Staffords, with their train.
Cade.
And you, that love the commons, follow me.—
Now shew yourselves men, 'tis for liberty.
We will not leave one lord, one gentleman:
Spare none, but such as go in clouted shoon;
-- 392 --
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.
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].