HOLLAND    True: and yet it is said, ‘Labour in thy vocation’12:

  which is as much to say as, ‘Let the magistrates be labouring13

  men’, and therefore should we be magistrates.

  BEVIS    Thou hast hit it: for there’s no better sign of a brave15

  mind than a hard16 hand.

  HOLLAND    I see them! I see them! There’s Best’s son, the tanner17

  of Wingham18.

  BEVIS    He shall have the skins of our enemies to make

  dog’s leather20 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 spun25.

  HOLLAND    Come, come, let’s fall in26 with them.

  Drum. Enter Cade, Dick [the] Butcher, Smith the Weaver, and a Sawyer, with infinite numbers [with long staves]

  CADE    We, John Cade, so termed of27 our supposed father—

  Aside

  DICK    Or rather of stealing a cade28 of herrings.

  CADE    For our enemies shall fail29 before us, inspired with

  the spirit of putting down kings and princes.— Command

  silence.

  DICK    Silence!

  CADE    My father was a Mortimer—

  Aside

  DICK    He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer34.

  CADE    My mother a Plantagenet—

  Aside

  DICK    I knew her well, she was a midwife.

  CADE    My wife descended of the Lacys37—

  Aside

  DICK    She was indeed a pedlar’s daughter, and.

  sold many laces39.

  Aside

  SMITH    But now of late, not able to travel40 with her.

  furred pack, she washes bucks41 here at home.

  CADE    Therefore am I of an honourable house.

  Aside

  DICK    Ay, by my faith, the field43 is honourable, and.

  there was he born, under a hedge44: for his father had never a

  house but the cage45.

  CADE    Valiant I am—

  Aside

  SMITH    A must needs, for beggary is valiant47.

  CADE    I am able to endure much—

  Aside

  DICK    No question of that: for I have seen him.

  whipped50 three market days together.

  CADE    I fear neither sword nor fire—

  Aside

  SMITH    He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of.

  proof53.

  Aside

  DICK    But methinks he should stand54 in fear of.

  fire, being burnt55 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-hooped pot shall have ten

  hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small59 beer. All the

  realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey60

  go to grass61: 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 apparel64 them

  all in one livery, that they may agree65 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, ’tis the bee’s

  wax: for I did but seal once to a thing72, and I was never mine

  own man since. How now? Who’s there?

  Enter [some, bringing forward] a Clerk [of Chartham]

  SMITH    The Clerk of Chartham: he can write and read and

  cast account75.

  CADE    O, monstrous76.

  SMITH    We took him setting of boys’ copies77.

  CADE    Here’s a villain!

  SMITH    H’as a book in his pocket with red letters79 in’t.

  CADE    Nay, then he is a conjurer80.

  DICK    Nay, he can make obligations, and write court hand81.

  CADE    I am sorry for’t: the man is a proper82 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    Emmanuel85.

  DICK    They use to write it on the top of letters: ’twill go86

  hard with you.

  To the Clerk

  CADE    Let me alone.— Dost thou use to88 write.

  thy name? Or hast thou a mark to thyself89, like an honest

  plain-dealing90 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

  inkhorn96 about his neck.

  Exit one with the Clerk

  Enter Michael

  MICHAEL    Where’s our general?

  CADE    Here I am, thou particular98 fellow.

  MICHAEL    Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother

  are hard100 by, with the king’s forces.

  CADE    Stand, villain, stand, or I’ll fell thee down: he shall

  be encountered102 with a man as good as himself. He is but a

  knight, is a103?

  MICHAEL    No104.

  Kneels

  CADE    To equal him I will make myself a knight presently105.

  Rises

  Rise up Sir John Mortimer.

  Now have at him!

  Enter Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother, with Drum, [Herald] and Soldiers

  STAFFORD    Rebellious hinds108, the filth and scum of Kent,

  Marked for the gallows: lay your weapons down:

  Home to your cottages: forsake this groom110.

  The king is merciful, if you revolt111.

  STAFFORD’S BROTHER    But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood,

  If you go forward: therefore yield, or die.

  CADE    As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass114 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 shearman119, art thou not?

  CADE    And Adam120 was a gardener.

  STAFFORD’S 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 birth125.

  STAFFORD’S BROTHER    That’s false.

  CADE    Ay, there’s the question127: but I say ’tis true:

  The elder of them, being put to nurse128,

  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 alive135 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.

  STAFFORD’S BROTHER    Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught

  you this.

  Aside

  CADE    He lies, for I invented it myself.—

  Go to142, sirrah, tell the king from me, that for his father’s sake,

  Aloud

  Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys went to.

  span-counter144 for French crowns, I am content he shall reign:

  but I’ll be Protector145 over him.

  DICK    And furthermore, we’ll have the lord Saye’s head for

  selling the dukedom of Maine.

  CADE    And good reason: for thereby is England mained148,

  and fain to go with a staff, but that my puissance149 holds it up.

  Fellow kings, I tell you that that Lord Saye hath gelded150 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 miserable153 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 tongue156 of an enemy be a good counsellor, or no?

  ALL    No, no, and therefore we’ll have his head.

  STAFFORD’S BROTHER    Well, seeing gentle158 words will not prevail,

  Assail them with the army of the king.

  STAFFORD    Herald, away, and throughout every town

  Proclaim them traitors that are up161 with Cade,

  That162 those which fly before the battle ends

  May, even in their wives’ and children’s sight,

  Be hanged up for164 example at their doors:

  And you that be the king’s friends, follow me.

  Exeunt [Stafford, Stafford’s brother 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 shoon169,

  For they are thrifty170 honest men, and such

  As would, but that they dare not, take our parts.

  DICK    They are all in order172 and march toward us.

  CADE    But then are we in order when we are most out of173

  order. Come, march forward.

  [Exeunt]

  [Act 4 Scene 3]

  running scene 13 continues

  Alarums to the fight, wherein both the Staffords [Stafford and Stafford’s brother] 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

  behaved’st 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 one7.

  DICK    I desire no more.

  CADE    And, to speak truth, thou deserv’st no less. This

  Putting on Stafford’s brigandine

  monument10 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

  jails and let out the prisoners.

  CADE    Fear not that, I warrant16 thee. Come, let’s march

  towards London.

  Exeunt

  [Act 4 Scene 4]

  running scene 14

  Enter the King [Henry VI] with a supplication, and the Queen [Margaret] with Suffolk’s head, the Duke of Buckingham and the Lord Saye

  Aside

  QUEEN MARGARET    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?

  To the King

  BUCKINGHAM    What answer makes your grace to the rebels’ supplication?

  KING HENRY VI    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 parley12 with Jack Cade their general.

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

  Aside to Suffolk’s head

  QUEEN MARGARET    Ah, barbarous villains! Hath this lovely face.

  Ruled like a wandering15 planet over me,

  And could it not enforce them to relent,

  That17 were unworthy to behold the same?

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

  SAYE    Ay, but I hope your highness shall have his.

  KING HENRY VI    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 mourned so much for me.

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

  Enter a Messenger

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

  MESSENGER    The rebels are in Southwark26: 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 caterpillars36, and intend their death.

  KING HENRY VI    O, graceless men: they know not what they do37.

  BUCKINGHAM    My gracious lord, retire to Killingworth38,

  Until a power39 be raised to put them down.

  QUEEN MARGARET    Ah, were the Duke of Suffolk now alive,

  These Kentish rebels would be soon appeased41.

  KING HENRY VI    Lord Saye, the traitors hateth thee,

  Therefore away with us to Killingworth.

  SAYE    So44 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 people50, thirsting after prey,

  Join with the traitor, and they jointly swear

  To spoil52 the city and your royal court.

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

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

  Aside

  QUEEN MARGARET    My hope is gone now Suffolk is deceased.

  To Saye

  KING HENRY VI    Farewell, my lord: trust not the Kentish rebels.

  BUCKINGHAM    Trust nobody, for fear you be betrayed.

  SAYE    The trust I have is in mine innocence,

  And therefore am I bold and resolute.

  Exeunt

  [Act 4 Scene 5]

  running scene 15

  Enter Lord Scales upon the Tower walking. Then enters 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 bridge3, killing all those that withstand them: the

  Lord Mayor craves4 aid of your honour from the Tower to

  defend the city from the rebels.