70

Bevis. Then is fin ftruck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf.

Hol. And Smith the weaver :

Bevis. Argo, their thread of life is fpun.

Hol. Come, come, let's fall in with them.

Drum. Enter Cade, Dick the butcher, Smith the weaver, and a jawyer, with infinite numbers.

Cade. We John Cade, fo term'd of our fuppofed father

Dick. Or rather of stealing a cade of herrings.

Cade, For our enemies fhall fall before us, infpired with the fpirit of putting down Kings and Princes; command filence.

Dick. Silence.

Cade. My father was a Mortimer

Dick. He was an honest man and a good bricklayer.
Cade. My mother a Plantagenet➡

Dick. I knew her well, fhe was a midwife.
Cade. My wife defcended of the Lacies

Dick. She was indeed a pedlar's daughter, and fold many laces.

Wear. But, now of late, not able to travel with her furr'd pack, fhe washes bucks here at home.

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.

Cade. Valiant I am.

Weav. A' muft needs, for beggary is valiant.

Cade. I am able to endure much.

Dick. No queftion of that; for I have feen him whipt three market days together.

Cade. I fear neither sword nor fire.

Weav. He need not fear the fword, for his coat is of proof.

Dick. But, methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i'th' hand for stealing of sheep.

Cade. Be brave then, for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There fhall be in England feven

half

half-penny loaves fold for a penny; the three-hoop'd pot fhall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink fmall beer. All the realm fhall be in common, and in Cheapfide fhall my palfry go to grass; and when I am King, as King I will be

All. God fave your Majesty!

Cade. I thank you, good people. There fhall be no money; all shall eat and drink upon 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 the kin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment; that parchment being fcribbled o'er, fhould undo a man? Some fay, the bee stings; but I fay, 'tis bee's wax; for I did but feal once to a thing, and I was never my own man fince. How now? who is there?

Enter a Clerk.

Wear. The clerk of Chatham; he can write and read, and caft accompt.

Cade. O monftrous !

Wear. We took him fetting boys copies.

Cade. Here's a villain!

Weav. He'as a book in his pocket with red letters in't. Cade. Nay, then he's a conjurer.

Dick. Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.

Cade. I am forry for't: the man is a proper man, of mine honour, unless I find him guilty, he fhall not die. Come hither, firrah, I must examine thee; what is thy name?

Clerk. Emanuel.

Dick. They ufe to write it on the top of letters : 'twill go hard with you.

Cade. Let me alone. Doft thou use to write thy name? or haft thou a mark to thyself like an honeft plain dealing man?

Clerk.

Clerk. Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up, that I can write my name.

All. He hath confeft; 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 is our general?

Cade. Here I am, thou particular fellow.

Mich. Fly, fly, fly; Sir Humpbry 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; rife 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 found up the drum.

Enter Sir Humphry Stafford, and young Stafford, with drum and foldiers.

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 flaves, 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.

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 fay, 'tis true: The elder of them being put to nurfe,

Was by a beggar-woman ftoll'n away;
And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,
Became a bricklayer when he came to age:
His fon am I; deny it, if you can.

Dick. Nay, 'tis too true, therefore he fhall be King. Weav. Sir, he made a chimney in my father's houfe, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it; therefore deny it not.

Staf. And will you credit this bafe 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, firrah, tell the King from me, that for his father's fake Henry the fifth (in whofe time boys went to fpan-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 felling the Dukedom of Maine.

Cade. And good reafon; for thereby is England maim'd, and fain to go with a staff, but that my puiffance 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 fpeak French, and therefore he is a traitor.

Staf. O grofs and miferable ignorance!

Cade. Nay, anfwer if you can: the Frenchmen are our enemies: go to then; I ask but this; can he, that fpeaks with the tongue of the enemy, be a good counfellor or no?

All. No, no, and therefore we'll have his head.

VOL. V.

D

Y. Staf

Y. Staf. Well, feeing gentle words will not prevail,
Affail them with the army of the King.

Staf. Herald, away, and throughout every town
Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;
That thofe, which fly before the battle ends,
May (even in their wives' and childrens' fight)
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 fhew yourselves men, 'tis for liberty.
We will not leave one Lord, one Gentleman;
Spare none, but fuch 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.

[Exeunt Cade and his party.
[Alarm to fight, wherein both the Staffords are flain.

Re-enter Cade and the reft.

Cade. Where's Dick, the butcher of Afford?
Dick. Here, Sir.

Cade. They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, and thou behaved'ft thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own flaughter-houfe; 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 defire no more.

Cade. And to fpeak truth, thou deserv'ft no lefs. This monument of the victory will I bear, and the bodies fhall be dragg'd at my horfe's heels, till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor's fword borne before us.

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

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

[Exeunt.

SCENE