Staf.
Rebellious hinds, the filth and skum 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, ^{5 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 gardiner.

Y. Staf.
And what of that?

Cade.

Marry, this.—Edmund Mortimer Earl of March married the Duke of Clarence's 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.

Weav.

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 you gone.

Y. Staf.

Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.

Cade.

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.

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 the 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 shoone,
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 towards us.

Cade.

But then are we in order, when we are most out of order. Come, march forward.

Cade.

Where's Dick, the butcher of Ashford?

Dick.

Here, Sir.

Cade.

They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, and thou behaved'st thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own slaughter-house; therefore thus I will reward thee: the lent shall be as long as it is, and thou shalt have a license to kill for a hundred lacking one.

Dick.

I desire no more.

Cade.

And to speak truth, thou deserv'st no less. This monument of the victory will I bear, and the bodies shall be dragg'd at my horse's heels, till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor's sword borne before us.

Dick.

If we mean to thrive and do good, break open the goals, and let out the prisoners.

Cade.

Fear not that, I warrant thee. Come, let's march towards London.