· Men shall hold of me in capite; and we charge and command, that their wives be as free as heart 6 can wish, or tongue can tell.

Dick. My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside, and take up commodities upon our bills 18? Cade. Marry, presently.

All. O brave!

Re-enter Rebels, with the Heads of LORD SAY and his Son-in-law.

• Cade. But is not this braver?-Let them kiss one another19, for they loved well, when they were alive. Now part them again, lest they consult ' about the giving up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of the city until night: for with these borne before us, instead of maces, will we ride through the streets; and, at every 'corner, have them kiss.-Away! [Exeunt.

SCENE VIII. Southwark.

Alarum. Enter CADE, and all his Rabblement. Cade. Up Fish Street! down Saint Magnus' Corner! kill and knock down! throw them into Thames!-[A Parley sounded, then a Retreat.] What noise is this I hear? Dare any be so bold to sound retreat or parley, when I command them *kill?

Enter BUCKINGHAM, and Old CLIFFORD, with Forces. Buck. Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee:

'Know, Cade we come, ambassadors from the king Unto the commons whom thou hast misled;

18 An equivoque alluding to the halberts or bills borne by the rabble. Shakspeare has the same quibble in Much Ado about Nothing, Act iii. Sc. 3.

19 This may be taken from the Legend of Jack Cade in The Mirror for Magistrates, as Dr. Farmer observes; but both Hall and Holinshed mention the circumstance.

Vol. VI.

10

6

And here pronounce free pardon to them all,
That will forsake thee, and go home in peace.
Clif. What say ye, countrymen? will ye relent,
And yield to mercy, whilst 'tis offer'd you;
Or let a rabble lead you to your deaths?
Who loves the king, and will embrace his pardon,
Fling up his cap, and say-God save his majesty!
Who hateth him, and honours not his father,
Henry the Fifth, that made all France to quake,
Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by.

' All. God save the king! God save the king! Cade. What, Buckingham, and Clifford, are ye so brave? And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? will you needs be hanged with your pardons about your necks? Hath my sword there'fore broke through London Gates, that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought, ye would never have given out these arms, till you had recovered your ancient free'dom: but you are all recreants, and dastards; ' and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. Let them break your backs with burdens, take your houses over your heads, ravish your wives and daughters before your faces; For me,-I will make shift for one; and so- God's curse 'light upon you all!

• All. We'll follow Cade, we'll follow Cade.
Clif. Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth,
That thus you do exclaim-you'll go with him?
Will he conduct you through the heart of France,
And make the meanest of you earls and dukes?
Alas, he hath no home, no place to fly to;
Nor knows he how to live, but by the spoil,
Unless by robbing of your friends, and us.
Wer't not a shame, that whilst you live at jar,
The fearful French, whom you late vanquished,
Should make a start o'er seas, and vanquish you?
Methinks, already, in this civil broil,

I see them lording it in London streets,

Crying-Villageois! unto all they meet.

Better, ten thousand base-born Cades miscarry, Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman's mercy. To France, to France, and get what you have lost; Spare England, for it is your native coast: Henry hath money, you are strong and manly; God on our side, doubt not of victory.

All. A Clifford! a Clifford! we'll follow the 'king, and Clifford.

Cade. Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro, as this multitude? the name of Henry the Fifth hales them to a hundred mischiefs, and 'makes them leave me desolate. I see them lay 'their heads together, to surprise me: my sword make way for me, for here is no staying.-In despight of the devils and hell, have through the very midst of you! and heavens and honour be 'witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels. [Exit. 'Buck. What, is he fled? go some, and follow him; And he, that brings his head unto the king, Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward.[Exeunt some of them. Follow me, soldiers; we'll devise a mean To reconcile you all unto the king.

SCENE IX. Kenelworth Castle.

[Exeunt.

Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, and SOMERSET, on the Terrace of the Castle. *K. Hen. Was ever king that joy'd an earthly throne,

And could command no more content than I? * No sooner was I crept out of my cradle, * But I was made a king, at nine months old1:

1 So all the historians agree; and yet in Part 1. Act iii. Sc. 4, King Henry is made to say:

I do remember how my father said

a plain proof that the whole of that play was not written by the same hand as this.

Was never subject long'd to be a king,
As I do long and wish to be a subject.

Enter BUCKINGHAM and CLifford.

Buck. Health, and glad tidings, to your majesty! K. Hen. Why, Buckingham, is the traitor, Cade, surpris'd?

Or is he but retir'd to make him strong?

Enter, below, a great number of CADE's Followers, with Halters about their Necks.

Clif. He's fled, my lord, and all his powers do yield;

And humbly thus, with halters on their necks, Expect your highness' doom, of life, or death. K. Hen. Then, heaven, set ope thy everlasting gates,

To entertain my vows of thanks and praise !— Soldiers, this day have you redeem'd your lives, And show'd how well you love your prince and country:

Continue still in this so good a mind,

And Henry, though he be infortunate,
'Assure yourselves, will never be unkind:
And so, with thanks, and pardon to you all,
I do dismiss you to your several countries.
All. God save the king! God save the king!

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. Please it your grace to be advértised, The duke of York is newly come from Ireland; And with a puissant and a mighty power

*Of gallowglasses, and stout kernes2,

2The galloglasse useth a kind of pollax for his weapon. These men are grim of countenance, tall of stature, big of limme, lusty of body, wel and strongly timbered. The kerne is an ordinary foot-soldier, using for weapon his sword and target, and sometimes his piece, being commonly good markmen."—Stanihurst's Descript. of Ireland, c. viii. f. 21.

Is marching hitherward in proud array; And still proclaimeth, as he comes along, *His arms are only to remove from thee The duke of Somerset, whom he terms a traitor. K. Hen. Thus stands my state, 'twixt Cade and York distress'd;

Like to a ship, that, having scap'd a tempest,
Is straightway calm'd 3 and boarded with a pirate:
But now is Cade driven back, his men dispers'd;
And now is York in arms to second him.-

I pray thee, Buckingham, go forth and meet him;
And ask him, what's the reason of these arms.
* Tell him, I'll send Duke Edmund to the Tower;—
And, Somerset, we will commit thee thither,
Until his army be dismiss'd from him.
Som. My lord,

I'll yield myself to prison willingly,
Or unto death, to do my country good.

*K. Hen. In any case, be not too rough in terms;
For he is fierce, and cannot brook hard language.
*Buck. I will, my lord; and doubt not so to deal,
As all things shall redound unto your good.
K. Hen. Come, wife, let's in, and learn to govern
better;

For yet may England curse my wretched reign. [Exeunt.

The first folio reads calme; which may be right. The second folio printed by mistake claimed; and the third folio calm'd. This reading has been adopted as most perspicuous, and because in Othello we have:

——-—must be be-lee'd and calm'd.'

By his state Henry means his realm, which had recently become calm, i. e. quiet and peaceful, by the defeat of Cade and his rabble, when York appears in arms to raise fresh disturbances. Boarded with a pirate is boarded by one.

4 But is here not adversative. It was only just now (says Henry), that Cade and his followers were routed.' Thus in King Richard II. :

But now the blood of twenty thousand men
Did triumph in my face.'