pion that ever I heard! 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 God on my knees thou
mayst be turned to hobnails.

[Here 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'll defy them all. Wither,
garden; and be henceforth a burying-place 70
to all that do dwell in this house, because
the unconquered soul of Cade is fled.

Iden. Is 't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor?

Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,
And hang thee o'er my tomb when I am dead:
Ne'er shall this blood be wiped from thy point;
But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat,
To emblaze the honor that thy master got.
Cade. Iden, farewell, and be proud of thy vic-

tory. Tell Kent from me, she hath lost her
best man, and exhort all the world to be cow-
ards; for I, that never feared any, am van-
quished by famine, not by valor.

80

[Dies. Iden. How much thou wrong'st me, heaven be my

judge.

Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare thee;

64. "God"; Malone's correction (from Qq.) of "Ioue" of the Ff.I. G.

And as I thrust thy body in with my sword,
So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell.
Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels
Unto a dunghill which shall be thy grave,
And there cut off thy most ungracious head; 90
Which I will bear in triumph to the king,
Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.

[Exit.

86. “And as I thrust thy body in with my sword"; Dyce (Lloyd conj.), omits "in."-I. G.

92. The Poet has here wandered from the line of historical fact, with a view, no doubt, to relieve his scenes of strife and hatred with a passage of rural quiet and unambitious comfort. Iden had in fact just been appointed sheriff of Kent, and was in pursuit of Cade, having left home for that very purpose. The matter, however, is thus given by Holinshed: "A gentleman of Kent, named Alexander Eden, awaited so his time, that he tooke the said Cade in a garden in Sussex; so that there he was slain at Hothfield, and brought to London in a cart, where he was quartered, his head set on London bridge, and his quarters sent to diverse places to be set up in the shire of Kent." Cade's flight was on July 9, 1450, and his death but two days after.-H. N. H.

ACT FIFTH

SCENE I

Fields between Dartford and Blackheath.

Enter York, and his army of Irish, with drum

and colors.

York. From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right,

And pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head:

Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and
bright,

To entertain great England's lawful king.
Ah! sancta majestas, who would not buy thee
dear?

Let them obey that know not how to rule;
This hand was made to handle nought but gold.
I cannot give due action to my words,
Except a sword or scepter balance it:
A scepter shall it have, have I a soul,
On which I'll toss the flower-de-luce of France.

Enter Buckingham.

10

Whom have we here? Buckingham, to disturb me?

10. "have I," as I have.-C. H. H.

The king hath sent him, sure: I must dissemble.

Buck. York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.

York. Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting.

Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure?
Buck. A messenger from Henry, our dread liege,
To know the reason of these arms in peace;
Or why thou, being a subject as I am,
Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn, 20
Should raise so great a power without his leave,
Or dare to bring thy force so near the court.
York. [Aside] Scarce can I speak, my choler is
so great:

O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,
I am so angry at these abject terms;

And now, like Ajax Telamonius,

On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury.
I am far better born than is the king,

30

More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts:
But I must make fair weather yet a while,
Till Henry be more weak and I more strong.-
Buckingham, I prithee, pardon me,

That I have given no answer all this while;
My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.
The cause why I have brought this army hither
Is to remove proud Somerset from the king,
Seditious to his grace and to the state.
Buck. That is too much presumption on thy part:
But if thy arms be to no other end,

The king hath yielded unto thy demand: 40

The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower. York. Upon thine honor, is he prisoner? Buck. Upon mine honor, he is prisoner.

York. Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my pow

ers.

Soldiers, I thank you all; disperse yourselves;
Meet me to-morrow in Saint George's field,
You shall have pay and everything you wish.
And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry,
Command my eldest son, nay, all my sons,
As pledges of my fealty and love;
I'll send them all as willing as I live:

50

Lands, goods, horse, armor, any thing I have,
Is his to use, so Somerset may die.

Buck. York, I commend this kind submission:
We twain will go into his highness' tent.

Enter King and Attendants.

41. York's arrival from Ireland was in September, a few weeks after Cade's death. Proceeding to London with a retinue of four thousand men, he wrung from the king a promise that he would call a parliament, and then retired to one of his castles. Upon the return of Somerset from France a few days later, the old enmity between them revived with greater fierceness than ever. The next year York withdrew into Wales, and there gathered an army of ten thousand men; and when the king went against him with a much larger force, he turned aside and passed on into Kent, and encamped himself near Dartford. From thence he sent word to the king that his coming was but to remove certain evil counsellors, especially Somerset, and promising to dissolve his army, if that nobleman were committed to prison, and held to answer in open parliament whatever charges might be laid against him. The issue of the negotiation thereupon is thus stated by Holinshed: "After all this adoo, it was agreed upon by advise, for the avoiding of bloudshed, and pacifieng of the duke and his people, that the duke of Summerset was committed to ward, as some say, or else commanded to keepe himselfe privie in his owne house for a time."—H. N. H.