King Henry VI, Part II

King Henry VI, Part II

ACT IV SCENE II	Blackheath.
	Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND
BEVIS	Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath;
	they have been up these two days.
HOLLAND	They have the more need to sleep now, then.
BEVIS	I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress	5
	the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
HOLLAND	So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say it
	was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.
BEVIS	O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men.
HOLLAND	The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.	10
BEVIS	Nay, more, the king's council are no good workmen.
HOLLAND	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.	15
BEVIS	Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of a
	brave mind than a hard hand.
HOLLAND	I see them! I see them! there's Best's son, the
	tanner of Wingham,--
BEVIS	He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make	20
	dog's-leather 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,--	25
BEVIS	Argo, their thread of life is spun.
HOLLAND	Come, come, let's fall in with them.
	Drum. Enter CADE, DICK the Butcher, SMITH theWeaver, and a Sawyer, with infinite numbers
CADE	We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father,--
DICK	Aside
CADE	For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with
	the spirit of putting down kings and princes,	30
	--Command silence.
DICK	Silence!
CADE	My father was a Mortimer,--
DICK	Aside
	bricklayer.
CADE	My mother a Plantagenet,--	35
DICK	Aside
CADE	My wife descended of the Lacies,--
DICK	Aside
	sold many laces.
SMITH	Aside
	furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.
CADE	Therefore am I of an honourable house.
DICK	Aside
	and there was he borne, under a hedge, for his	40
	father had never a house but the cage.
CADE	Valiant I am.
SMITH	Aside
CADE	I am able to endure much.
DICK	Aside
	whipped three market-days together.
CADE	I fear neither sword nor fire.	45
SMITH	Aside
DICK	Aside
	fire, being burnt i' the 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	50
	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;	55
	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	60
	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 thing, and I was never mine own man	65
	since. How now! who's there?
	Enter some, bringing forward 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.	70
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	75
	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.	80
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.	85
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.
	Exit one with the Clerk
	Enter MICHAEL
MICHAEL	Where's our general?	90
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 encountered with a man as good as himself:	95
	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!	100
	Enter SIR HUMPHREY and WILLIAM STAFFORD, withdrum and soldiers
SIR HUMPHREY	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 inclined to blood,	105
	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,
	Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign;
	For I am rightful heir unto the crown.	110
SIR HUMPHREY	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.	115
	Married the Duke of Clarence' daughter, did he not?
SIR HUMPHREY	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:	120
	The elder of them, being put to nurse,
	Was by a beggar-woman stolen 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.	125
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.
SIR HUMPHREY	And will you credit this base drudge's words,	130
	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
	Go to, sirrah, tell the king from me, that, for his
	father's sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys	135
	went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content
	he shall reign; but I'll be protector over him.
DICK	And furthermore, well have the Lord Say's head for
	selling the dukedom of Maine.
CADE	And good reason; for thereby is England mained, and	140
	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.	145
SIR HUMPHREY	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?	150
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.
SIR HUMPHREY	Herald, away; and throughout every town
	Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;	155
	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 WILLIAM STAFFORD and SIR HUMPHREY, and soldiers
CADE	And you that love the commons, follow me.	160
	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.	165
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