IDEN. IST CADE THAT I HAVE SLAIN. THAT MONSTROUS TRAITOR, London. Published by F.C.& J. Rivington and Partners. Feb 185. was broached, and beard thee too. Look on me well: I have eat no meat these five days: yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door nail, I pray God, I may never eat grass more. Iden. Nay, it shall ne'er be said, while England That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent, ، Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser ; ، Thy hand is but a finger to my fist ; Thy leg a stick, compared with this truncheon; My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast ; ، And if mine arm be heaved in the air, Thy grave is digg'd already in the earth. ، As for more wordst, whose greatness answers words, ، Let this my sword report what speech forbears. * Cade. By my valour, the most complete champion * that ever I heard. - Steel, if thou turn the edge, or cut not out the burly-boned clown in chines of beef ere ، thou sleep in thy sheath, I beseech God on my knees, ، thou mayest be turned to hobnails. [They fight. CADE 'falls.] O, I am slain! famine, and no other, hath slain me: let ten thousand devils come against me, and give ' me but the ten meals I have lost, and I'd defy them 'all. Wither, garden; and be henceforth a burying place to all that do dwell in this house, because the 6 unconquered soul of Cade is fled. 6 • Iden. Is't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor? ، Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed, • And hang thee o'er my tomb, when I am dead: • But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat, "As for words," - MALONE. IDEN. IST CADE THAT I HAVE SLAIN THAT MONSTROUS TRAITOR. London. Published by F.C.& J. Rivington and Partners. Feb 18 Cade. Iden, farewell; and be proud of thy victory; Tell Kent from me, she hath lost her best man, and exhort all the world to be cowards; for I, that never ' feared any, am vanquished by famine, not by valour. [Dies. * Iden. How much thou wrong'st me3, heaven, be my judge. * Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare thee! * And as I thrust thy body in with my sword, * So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell.4 ' Hence I will drag thee headlong by the heels • Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave, And there cut off thy most ungracious head; • Which I will bear in triumph to the king, Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon. [Exit, dragging out the Body. ACT V. SCENE I. The same. Fields between Dartford and Blackheath. The King's Camp on one side. On the other, enter YORK attended, with Drum and Colours: his Forces at some distance. York. From Ireland thus comes York, to claim his right, • And pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head: 3 How much thou wrong'st me,] that is, in supposing that I am proud of my victory. 4 So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell, &c.] Not to dwell upon the wickedness of this horrid wish, with which Iden debases his character, the whole speech is wild and confused., To draw a man by the heels, headlong, is somewhat difficult; nor can I discover how the dunghill would be his grave, if his trunk were left to be fed upon by crows. These I conceive not to be the faults of corruption but negligence, and therefore do not attempt correction. JOHNSON. |