If he revenge it not, yet will his friends; Geo. SCENE II. Blackheath. [Exit, with the Body. Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND. Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath: they have been up these two days. John. They have the more need to sleep now then. Geo. I tell thee, Jack Cade, the clothier, means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it. John. So he had need, for 't is threadbare. Well, I say, it was never merry world in England, since gentlemen came up. Geo. O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handicrafts men. John. The nobility. think scorn to go in leather aprons. Geo. Nay more; the king's council are no good workmen. John. 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. - Geo. Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of a brave mind, than a hard hand. John. I see them! I see them! There 's Best's son, the tanner of Wingham. Geo. He shall have the skins of our enemies to make dog's leather of. John. And Dick, the butcher. Geo. Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf. John. And Smith, the weaver. Geo. Argo, their thread of life is spun. John. Come, come; let's fall in with them. Drum. Enter CADE, DICK the Butcher, SMITH the Weaver, and Others in great number. Cade. We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father, Dick. Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings. [Aside. For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes, Command silence. Cade. - Dick. He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer. Cade. My mother a Plantagenet, Dick. I knew her well; she was a midwife. [Aside. [Aside. Dick. She was, indeed, a pedlar's daughter, and sold many laces. [Aside. Smith. 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. [Aside. Dick. 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. 'A must needs, for beggary is valiant. Cade. I am able to endure much. [Aside. [Aside. Dick. No question of that, for I have seen him whipped three market days together. Cade. I fear neither sword nor fire. [Aside. 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 i' 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 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 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 scribbled 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. Smith. We took him setting of boys' copies. Smith. H' as a book in his pocket, with red letters in't. 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 an 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 confessed: away with him! he's a villain, and a traitor. Cade. Away with him, I say! hang him with his pen and ink-horn about his neck. [Exeunt some with the Clerk. Enter MICHael. Mich. Where's our general? Cade. Here I am, thou particular fellow. Smith. the bricks are 201 W. Staf. Jack C Dick. And, further Staf. O, gross and miser Staf. Herald, away; and, thr 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 maimed, 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. Staf. 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. Staf. Herald, away; and, throughout every town, 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: 't is for liberty. Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon, |