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Blackheath.
[Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND]
BEVIS
Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath; they have been up these
two days.
HOLLAND
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.
HOLLAND
So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say it was never merry world in
England since gentlemen came up.
BEVIS
O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men.
HOLLAND
The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
BEVIS
Nay, more, the king's council are no good workmen.
HOLLAND
True; and yet it is said, labor in thy vocation; which is as much to say as,
let the magistrates be laboring 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.
HOLLAND
I see them! I see them! there's Best's son, the tanner of Wingham,--
BEVIS
He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make dog's-leather of.
HOLLAND
And Dick the Butcher,--
BEVIS
Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf.
HOLLAND
And Smith the weaver,--
BEVIS
Argo, their thread of life is spun.
HOLLAND
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,--
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,--
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,--
DICK [Aside]
She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and sold many laces.
SMITH [Aside]
But now of late, notable to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks
here at home.
CADE
Therefore am I of an honorable house.
DICK [Aside]
Aye, by my faith, the field is honorable; and there was he borne, under a
hedge, for his father had never a house but the cage.
CADE
Valiant I am.
SMITH [Aside]
He 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.
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,--
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
ore, 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?
[Enter some, bringing forward 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
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.
CADE
I am sorry for it: the man is a proper man, of mine honor; 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?
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.
[Exit one with the Clerk. Enter MICHAEL]
MICHAEL
Where's our general?
CADE
Here I am, thou particular fellow.
MICHAEL
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 he?
MICHAEL
No.
CADE
To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently. Rise up Sir John
Mortimer. Now have at him!
[Enter SIR HUMPHREY and WILLIAM STAFFORD, with drum and soldiers]
SIR HUMPHREY
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Rebel|lious hinds,| the filth | and scum | of
Kent,
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Marked for | the gal|lows: lay | your wea|pons
down,
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Home to | your cot|tages,| forsake | this groom.
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The king | is mer|ciful,| if you | revolt.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
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But an|gry, wrath|ful, and | inclined | to blood,
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If you | go for|ward: there|fore yield,| or die.
CADE
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As for these | silken-|coated | slaves I | pass
not:
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T T T
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It is to | you good peo|ple, that | I speak,
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Ore whom |(in time | to come)| I hope | to reign;
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For I | am right|ful heir | unto | the crown.
SIR HUMPHREY
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Villain,| thy fa|ther was | a plas|terer,
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And thou | thyself | a shear|man, art | thou not?
CADE
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And Ad|am was | a gar|dener.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
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And what | of that?
CADE
Marry, this Edmund Mortimer Earl of March, married the Duke of Clarence'
daughter, did he not?
SIR HUMPHREY
Aye, sir.
CADE
By her he had two children at one birth.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
That's false.
CADE
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Aye, there's | the ques|tion; but | I say,| 'tis
true:
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The el|der of | them, be|ing put | to nurse,
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Was by | a beg|gar-wo|man sto|len away,
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And ig|norant | of his birth | and pa|rentage,
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Became | a brick|layer | when he came | to age.
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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.
SIR HUMPHREY
And will you credit this base drudge's words, that speaks he knows not what.
ALL
Aye marry will we; therefore get ye gone.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
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, well have the Lord Say's head for selling the dukedom of
Maine.
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 an eunuch: and more than that,
he can speak French; and therefore he is a traitor.
SIR HUMPHREY
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.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
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Well, see|ing gen|tle words | will not | prevail,
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Assail | them with | the ar|my of | the king.
SIR HUMPHREY
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Herald | away,| and through/out e|very town
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Proclaim | them trai|tors that | are up | with
Cade,
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That those | which fly | before | the bat|tle
ends,
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May e|ven in | their wives' | and chil|dren's
sight,
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Be hanged | up for | exam|ple at | their doors:
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And you | that be | the king's | friends, fol|low
me.
[Exeunt WILLIAM STAFFORD and SIR HUMPHREY, and soldiers]
CADE
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And you | that love | the com|mons, fol|low me:
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Now show | yourselves | men; 'tis | for li|berty.
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We will not | leave one lord,| one gen/tleman:
T T
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Spare none, but such | as go | in clou|ted shoon,
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For they | are thrif|ty ho|nest men,| and such
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2 T T T
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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]