and there was he born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house, but the cage3. Cade. Valiant I am. [Aside. Smith. 'A must needs; for beggary is valiant. Cade. I am able to endure much. [Aside. Dick. No question of that; for I have seen him whipped 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 burnt i̇'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 threehooped 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. Little places of prison, set commonly_in_tke market place, for harlots and vagabonde, we call cages-Baret. 4 A quibble is most probably intended between two senses of the word; one as being able to resist, the other as being well tried, that is, long worn. 5 These drinking vessels of our ancestors were of wood. Nash, in his Pierce Pennilesse, 1595, says, I believe hoopes in quart pots were invented to that end, that every man should take his hoope, and no more.' To mend the world by banishing money is an old contri vance of those who did not consider that the quarrels and mischiefs which arise from money, as the signs or tickets of riches, must, if riches were to cease, arise from riches themselves, and could never be at an end till every man was contented with his own share of the goods of life.'-Johnson. '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 mine 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. Smith. Il'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. Emmanuel. Dick. They use to write it on the top of letters9; -"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? This speech was transposed by Shakspeare from a subsequent scene in the old play. 8 i. e. bonds. acts. That is on the top of Letters Missive and such like public See Mabillon's Diplomata. Thus, in the old anonymous play of King Henry V. the archbishop of Bruges, says :'I beseech your grace to deliver me your safe Conduct, under your broad seal Emanuel. The king answers: --- deliver him safe conduct Under our broad seal Emanuel. J 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 6 a villain, and a traitor. Cade. Away with him, I say: hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. [Exeunt some 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 encountered 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 him10. Enter SIR HUMPHREY STAFFORD, and WILLIAM his Staf. Rebellious hinds, and filth and scum of Mark'd for the gallows,-lay your weapons down, W. Staf. But angry, wrathful, and inclin'd to blood, If you go forward: therefore yield, or die. Cade. As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not11; 10 After this speech, in the old play, are the following words: - Is there any more of them that be knights? Tom. Yea, his brother. Cade. Then kneel down, Dick Butcher; rise up Sir Dick Butcher. Sound up the drum.' 11 I care not, pay them no regard. Transform me to what shape you can, I pass not what it be. Drayton's Quest of Cynthia. 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 plasterer; And thou thyself, a shearman, Art thou not? W. 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. W. Staf. That's false. Cade. Ay, there's the question; but, I say, 'tis true: The elder of them, being put to nurse, 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. Staf. And will you credit this base drudge's words, That speaks he knows not what? *All. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone. W. 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 • maimed12, 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 13 the commonwealth, 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 French· men 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. W. 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 children's sight, Be hang'd up for example at their doors:And you, that be the king's friends, follow me. [Exeunt the two STAFFORDS, and Forces. *Cade. And you, that love the commons, follow me. *Now show yourselves men, 'tis for liberty. We will not leave one lord, one gentleman: Spare none, but such as go in clouted shoon14; 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. 12 The same play upon words is in Daniel's Civil Wars, 1595: Anjou and Maine, the main that fou! appears.' 13 Steevens observes that "Shakspeare has here transgressed a rule laid down by Tully, De Oratore: Nolo morte dici Africani castratam esse rempublicam. The character of the speaker may countenance such indelicacy here, but in other places our author talks of gelding purses, patrimonies, and continents." I must again remark that in the former instances the phrase was only metaphorically used for diminishing or curtailing, and is not peculiar to Shakspeare, but a common form of expression in his time. See note on Love's Labour's Lost, Act ii. Sc. 1, p. 309. 14 Shoes. |