Act IV, Scene ii

[Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND.]

GEORGE.:

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 't is threadbare. Well, I say

it was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.

BEVIS.:

O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in

handicraftsmen.

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, labour in thy vocation,

which is as much to say as, let the magistrates be labouring

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 term'd 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, not able to travel with her

furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.

CADE.:

Therefore am I of an honourable house.

DICK.:

[Aside.] 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.

SMITH.:

[Aside.] A' 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 palfry 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 scribbl'd o'er, should undo a man? Some say the

bee stings; but I say 't is 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.

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 't.

The man is a proper man, of 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 letters.—'T will go

hard with you.

CADE.:

Let me alone.—Dost thou use to write thy name? or hast

thou a mark to thyself, like a 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 confess'd; 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.]

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 a'?

MICHAEL.:

No.

CADE.:

To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently.—

[Kneels.] Rise up Sir John Mortimer.— [Rises.] Now have at him!

[Enter SIR HUMPHREY STAFFORD and his Brother, with drumand soldiers.]

STAFFORD.:

Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum 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.

BROTHER.:

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 not;

It is to you, good people, that I speak,

OVer whom, in time to come, I hope to reign,

For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

STAFFORD.:

Villain, thy father was a plasterer;

And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?

CADE.:

And Adam was a gardener.

BROTHER.:

And what of that?

CADE.:

Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March,

Married the Duke of Clarence' daughter, did he not?

STAFFORD.:

Ay, sir.

CADE.:

By her he had two children at one birth.

BROTHER.:

That's false.

CADE.:

Ay, there's the question; but I say 't is true.

The elder of them, being put to nurse,

Was by a beggar-woman stolen away,

And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,

Became a bricklayer when he came to age.

His son am I; deny it, if you can.

DICK.:

Nay, 't is 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.

STAFFORD.:

And will you credit this base drudge's words,

That speaks he knows not what?

ALL.:

Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone.

BROTHER.:

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, we'll 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.

STAFFORD.:

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.

BROTHER.:

Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,

Assail them with the army of the king.

STAFFORD.:

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 soldiers.]

CADE.:

And you that love the commons follow me.

Now show yourselves men; 't is for liberty.

We will not leave one lord, one gentleman;

Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon,

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.

CADE.:

But then are we in order when we are most out of

order.—Come, march forward.

[Exeunt.]