The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (moboreader .TXT) 📕

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 pedlar’s daughter, and sold many laces.

SMITH. [Aside] But now of late, not able to travel with her furr’d 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 whipt 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’ th’ 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-hoop’d 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.

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 ‘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.

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; ‘twill 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 encount’red 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 WILLIAM

his brother, with drum and 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.

WILLIAM STAFFORD. 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, O’er 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.

WILLIAM STAFFORD. 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.

WILLIAM STAFFORD. That’s false.

CADE. Ay, there’s the question; but I say ‘tis true.

The elder of them being put to nurse, Was by a beggar-woman stol’n 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, ‘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.

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.

WILLIAM STAFFORD. 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 main’d 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.

WILLIAM STAFFORD. 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; ‘tis 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

SCENE III.

Another part of Blackheath

Alarums to the fight, wherein both the STAFFORDS are slain.

Enter CADE and the rest

CADE. Where’s Dick, the butcher of Ashford?

DICK. Here, sir.

CADE. They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, and thou behavedst thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own slaughter-house; therefore thus will I reward thee-the Lent shall be as long again as it is, and thou shalt have a licence to kill for a hundred lacking one.

DICK. I desire no more.

CADE. And, to speak truth, thou deserv’st no less. [Putting on SIR

HUMPHREY’S brigandine] This monument of the victory will I bear, and the bodies shall be dragged at my horse heels till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor’s sword borne before us.

DICK. If we mean to thrive and do good, break open the gaols and let out the prisoners.

CADE. Fear not that, I warrant thee. Come, let’s march towards London. Exeunt

SCENE IV.

London. The palace

Enter the KING with a supplication, and the QUEEN with SUFFOLK’S head; the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, and the LORD SAY

QUEEN. Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind And makes it fearful and degenerate;

Think therefore on revenge and cease to weep.

But who can cease to weep, and look on this?

Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast; But where’s the body that I should embrace?

BUCKINGHAM. What answer makes your Grace to the rebels’

supplication?

KING HENRY. I’ll send some holy bishop to entreat; For God forbid so many simple souls

Should perish by the sword! And I myself, Rather than bloody war shall cut them short, Will parley with Jack Cade their general.

But stay, I’ll read it over once again.

QUEEN. Ah, barbarous villains! Hath this lovely face Rul’d like a wandering planet over me, And could it not enforce them to relent That were unworthy to behold the same?

KING HENRY. Lord Say, Jack Cade hath sworn to have thy head.

SAY. Ay, but I hope your Highness shall have his.

KING HENRY. How now, madam!

Still lamenting and mourning for Suffolk’s death?

I fear me, love, if that I had been dead, Thou wouldst not have mourn’d so much for me.

QUEEN. No, my love, I should not mourn, but die for thee.

Enter A MESSENGER

KING HENRY. How now! What news? Why com’st thou in such haste?

MESSENGER. The rebels are in Southwark; fly, my lord!

Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer, Descended from the Duke of Clarence’ house, And calls your Grace usurper, openly, And vows to crown himself in Westminster.

His army is a ragged multitude

Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless; Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother’s death Hath given them heart and courage to proceed.

All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen, They call false caterpillars and intend their death.

KING HENRY. O graceless men! they know not what they do.

BUCKINGHAM. My gracious lord, retire to Killingworth Until a power be rais’d to put them down.

QUEEN. Ah, were the Duke of Suffolk now alive, These Kentish rebels would be soon appeas’d!

KING HENRY. Lord Say, the traitors hate thee; Therefore away with us to Killingworth.

SAY. So might your Grace’s person be in danger.

The sight of me is odious in their eyes; And therefore in this city will I stay And live alone as secret as I may.

Enter another MESSENGER

SECOND MESSENGER. Jack Cade hath gotten London Bridge.

The citizens fly and forsake their houses; The rascal people, thirsting after prey, Join with the traitor; and they jointly swear To spoil the city and your royal court.

BUCKINGHAM. Then linger not, my lord; away, take horse.

KING HENRY. Come Margaret; God, our hope, will succour us.

QUEEN. My hope is gone, now Suffolk is deceas’d.

KING HENRY. [To LORD SAY] Farewell, my lord, trust not the Kentish rebels.

BUCKINGHAM. Trust nobody, for fear you be betray’d.

SAY. The trust I have is in mine innocence, And therefore am I bold and resolute. Exeunt

SCENE V.

London. The Tower

Enter LORD SCALES Upon the Tower, walking. Then enter two or three CITIZENS, below

SCALES. How now! Is Jack Cade slain?

FIRST CITIZEN. No, my lord, nor likely to be slain; for they have won the bridge, killing all those that withstand them.

The Lord Mayor craves aid of your honour from the Tower, to defend