BUCKINGHAM    I will, my lord, and doubt not so to deal46

  As all things shall redound unto47 your good.

  KING HENRY VI    Come, wife, let’s in, and learn to govern better,

  For yet49 may England curse my wretched reign.

  Flourish. Exeunt

  [Act 4 Scene 10]

  running scene 19

  Enter Cade

  CADE    Fie1 on ambitions: fie on myself, that have a sword,

  and yet am ready to famish2. These five days have I hid me in

  these woods and durst not peep out, for all the country is laid3

  for me: but now am I so hungry that if I might have a lease of

  my life for a thousand years I could stay5 no longer. Wherefore

  o’er a brick wall have I climbed into this garden, to see if I can

  eat grass, or pick a sallet another while7, which is not amiss to

  cool a man’s stomach this hot weather: and I think this word8

  ‘sallet’ was born to do me good: for many a time, but for a

  sallet, my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown bill10: and

  many a time when I have been dry11 and bravely marching, it

  hath served me instead of a quart pot to drink in: and now

  the word ‘sallet’ must serve me to feed on.

  Enter Iden [and his Men]

  IDEN    Lord, who would live turmoiled14 in the court,

  And may enjoy such quiet walks as these?

  This small inheritance my father left me

  Contenteth me, and worth a monarchy.

  I seek not to wax great by others’ waning18,

  Or gather wealth I care not with what envy19:

  Sufficeth that20 I have maintains my state

  And sends the poor well pleasèd21 from my gate.

  CADE    Here’s the lord of the soil22 come to seize me for a

  stray, for entering his fee-simple23 without leave. Ah, villain,

  thou wilt betray me, and get a thousand crowns of24 the king

  by carrying my head to him: but I’ll make thee eat iron like

  an ostrich26, and swallow my sword like a great pin ere thou

  and I part.

  IDEN    Why rude companion28, whatsoe’er thou be,

  I know thee not: why, then, should I betray thee?

  Is’t not enough to break into my garden,

  And, like a thief, to come to rob my grounds,

  Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner,

  But thou wilt brave me with these saucy33 terms?

  CADE    Brave thee? Ay, by the best blood that ever was

  broached, and beard thee too. Look on me well: I have eat35 no

  meat36 these five days, yet come thou and thy five men, and if I

  do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may

  never eat grass more.

  IDEN    Nay, it shall ne’er be said, while England stands,

  That Alexander Iden, an esquire40 of Kent,

  Took odds41 to combat a poor famished man.

  Oppose thy steadfast gazing eyes to mine,

  See if thou canst outface43 me with thy looks:

  Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser:

  Thy hand is but a finger to my fist,

  Thy leg a stick comparèd with this truncheon46:

  My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast,

  And if mine arm be heavèd in the air,

  Thy grave is digged already in the earth49:

  As for words, whose greatness answers words50,

  Let this my sword report what speech forbears51.

  CADE    By my valour, the most complete52 champion that

  ever I heard. Steel, if thou turn the edge53, or cut not out the

  burly-boned clown in chines54 of beef ere thou sleep in thy

  sheath, I beseech Jove on my knees thou mayst be turned to55

  hobnails.

  Here 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 unconquered soul of Cade is fled.

  IDEN    Is’t Cade that I have slain, that monstrous62 traitor?

  Sword, I will hallow63 thee for this thy deed,

  And hang thee o’er my tomb when I am dead.

  Ne’er shall this blood be wipèd from thy point,

  But thou shalt wear it as a herald’s coat66,

  To emblaze67 the honour that thy master got.

  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 me, heaven be my judge:

  Die, damnèd wretch, the curse of her that bare73 thee:

  And as I thrust thy body in with my sword74,

  So wish I I might thrust thy soul to hell.

  Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels

  Unto a dunghill which shall be thy grave,

  And there cut off thy most ungracious78 head,

  Which I will bear in triumph to the king,

  Leaving thy trunk80 for crows to feed upon.

  Exeunt [with Cade’s body]

  [Act 5 Scene 1]

  running scene 20

  Enter York, and his army of Irish, with Drum and Colours

  YORK    From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right,

  And pluck the crown from feeble Henry’s head.

  Ring, bells, aloud: burn, bonfires, clear and bright,

  To entertain4 great England’s lawful king.

  Ah, sancta majestas5! Who would not buy thee dear?

  Let them obey that knows not how to rule.

  This hand was made to handle naught but gold7.

  I cannot give due action to my words,

  Except9 a sword or sceptre balance it.

  A sceptre shall it have, have I10 a soul,

  On which I’ll toss the flower-de-luce11 of France.

  Enter Buckingham

  Aside

  Whom have we here? Buckingham to disturb me?

  The king hath sent him sure: I must dissemble13.

  BUCKINGHAM    York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.

  YORK    Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting.

  Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure16?

  BUCKINGHAM    A messenger from Henry, our dread liege,

  To know the reason of these arms in peace:

  Or why thou, being a subject as I am,

  Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn,

  Should raise so great a power without his leave,

  Or dare to bring thy force so near the court.

  Aside

  YORK    Scarce can I speak, my choler23 is so great.

  O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,

  I am so angry at these abject25 terms.

  And now, like Ajax Telamonius26,

  On sheep or oxen could I spend27 my fury.

  I am far better born28 than is the king:

  More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts.

  But I must make fair weather30 yet a while,

  Till Henry be more weak and I more strong.—

  Aloud

  Buckingham, I prithee pardon me,

  That I have given no answer all this while:

  My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.

  The cause why I have brought this army hither

  Is to remove proud Somerset from the king,

  Seditious to his grace and to the state.

  BUCKINGHAM    That is too much presumption on thy part:

  But if thy arms be to no other end,

  The king hath yielded unto thy demand:

  The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower.

  YORK    Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?

  BUCKINGHAM    Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.

  YORK    Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my powers.

  Soldiers, I thank you all: disperse yourselves:

  Meet me tomorrow in St George’s Field46,

  You shall have pay and everything you wish.

  And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry,

  Command49 my eldest son, nay, all my sons,

  As pledges of my fealty50 and love,

  I’ll send them all as willing as I live:

  Lands, goods, horse, armour, anything I have,

  Is his to use, so53 Somerset may die.

  BUCKINGHAM    York, I commend this kind54 submission:

  We twain55 will go into his highness’ tent.

  Enter King [Henry VI] and Attendants

  KING HENRY VI    Buckingham, doth York intend no harm to us,

  That thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm?

  YORK    In all submission and humility

  York doth present himself unto your highness.

  KING HENRY VI    Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?

  YORK    To heave the traitor Somerset from hence,

  And fight against that monstrous rebel Cade,

  Who since I heard to be discomfited63.

  Enter Iden with Cade’s head

  IDEN    If one so rude and of so mean condition64

  May pass into the presence of a king,

  Lo, I present your grace a traitor’s head,

  The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.

  KING HENRY VI    The head of Cade? Great God, how just art thou!

  O, let me view his visage, being dead,

  That living wrought70 me such exceeding trouble.

  Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?

  IDEN    I was, an’t like72 your majesty.

  KING HENRY VI    How art thou called? And what is thy degree73?

  IDEN    Alexander Iden, that’s my name:

  A poor esquire of Kent, that loves his king.

  BUCKINGHAM    So please it you, my lord, ’twere not amiss

  He were created knight for his good service.

  Iden kneels and is knighted He rises

  KING HENRY VI    Iden, kneel down.

            Rise up a knight.

  We give thee for reward a thousand marks79,

  And will80 that thou henceforth attend on us.

  IDEN    May Iden live to merit such a bounty,

  And never live but true unto his liege.

  [Exit]

  Enter Queen [Margaret] and Somerset

  KING HENRY VI    See, Buckingham, Somerset comes wi’th’queen:

  Go bid her hide him quickly from the duke.

  QUEEN MARGARET    For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head,

  But boldly stand and front86 him to his face.

  YORK    How now? Is Somerset at liberty?

  Then, York, unloose thy long-imprisoned thoughts,

  And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.

  Shall I endure the sight of Somerset?

  False king, why hast thou broken faith with me,

  Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse92?

  King did I call thee? No, thou art not king:

  Not fit to govern and rule multitudes,

  Which95 dar’st not, no, nor canst not rule a traitor.

  That head of thine doth not become96 a crown:

  Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s97 staff,

  And not to grace an awful98 princely sceptre.

  That gold must round engirt99 these brows of mine,

  Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear100,

  Is able with the change to kill and cure.

  Here is a hand to hold a sceptre up,

  And with the same to act controlling103 laws:

  Give place: by heaven, thou shalt rule no more

  O’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.

  SOMERSET    O monstrous traitor! I arrest thee, York,

  Of capital107 treason gainst the king and crown:

  Obey, audacious traitor, kneel for grace.

  YORK    Wouldst have me kneel? First let me ask of these109,

  If they can brook I bow a knee to man110.

  Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail;

  [Exit Attendant]

  I know, ere they will have me go to ward112,

  They’ll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement113.

  QUEEN MARGARET    Call hither Clifford: bid him come amain114,

  To say if that115 the bastard boys of York

  Shall be the surety for their traitor father.

  [Exit Buckingham]

  YORK    O blood-bespotted Neapolitan117,

  Outcast of Naples, England’s bloody scourge118!

  The sons of York, thy betters in their birth,

  Shall be their father’s bail, and bane120 to those

  That for my surety will refuse the boys.

  Enter Edward and Richard

  See where they come: I’ll warrant they’ll make it good.

  Enter Clifford [and his son Young Clifford]

  QUEEN MARGARET    And here comes Clifford to deny their bail.

  Kneeling to Henry, then rising

  CLIFFORD    Health and all happiness to my lord the king.

  YORK    I thank thee, Clifford: say, what news with thee?

  Nay, do not fright us with an angry look:

  We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again:

  For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.

  CLIFFORD    This is my king, York, I do not mistake:

  But thou mistakes me much to think I do:

  To Bedlam131 with him! Is the man grown mad?

  KING HENRY VI    Ay, Clifford, a bedlam and ambitious humour132

  Makes him oppose himself against his king.

  CLIFFORD    He is a traitor: let him to134 the Tower,

  And chop away that factious pate135 of his.

  QUEEN MARGARET    He is arrested, but will not obey:

  His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.

  YORK    Will you not, sons?

  EDWARD    Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.

  RICHARD    And if words will not, then our weapons shall.

  CLIFFORD    Why, what a brood of traitors have we here?

  YORK    Look in a glass142, and call thy image so.

  I am thy king, and thou a false-heart143 traitor:

  Call hither to the stake my two brave bears144,

  That with the very shaking of their chains

  They may astonish these fell-lurking curs146:

  Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.

  Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury

  CLIFFORD    Are these thy bears? We’ll bait thy bears to death,

  And manacle the bearherd149 in their chains,

  If thou dar’st bring them to the baiting place150.

  RICHARD    Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening151 cur

  Run back and bite152, because he was withheld:

  Who, being suffered with the bear’s fell153 paw,

  Hath clapped his tail between his legs and cried:

  And such a piece of service155 will you do,

  If you oppose yourselves to match156 Lord Warwick.

  CLIFFORD    Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump157,

  As crooked in thy manners as thy shape158!

  YORK    Nay, we shall heat you159 thoroughly anon.

  CLIFFORD    Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.

  KING HENRY VI    Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow?

  Old Salisbury, shame to thy silver hair,

  Thou mad misleader of thy brainsick son!

  What, wilt thou on thy death-bed play the ruffian,

  And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles165?

  O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty?

  If it be banished from the frosty167 head,

  Where shall it find a harbour168 in the earth?

  Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war,

  And shame thine honourable age with blood?

  Why art thou old and want’st experience,

  Or wherefore dost abuse it if thou hast it?

  For shame in duty bend thy knee to me,

  That bows unto the grave with mickle174 age.

  SALISBURY    My lord, I have considered with myself

  The title of this most renownèd duke,

  And in my conscience do repute177 his grace

  The rightful heir to England’s royal seat.

  KING HENRY VI    Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?

  SALISBURY    I have.

  KING HENRY VI    Canst thou dispense with181 heaven for such an oath?