Manet the first Gent. Enter Whitmore with the body.

Whit. There let his head and liveless body lie, Until the Queen his mistress bury it. [Exit Whit. 1 Gent. O barbarous and bloody spectacle!

His body will I bear unto the King;
If he revenge it not, yet will his friends;

So will the Queen, that living held him dear. [Exit.

Bevis.

days.

SCENE

NE II.

Changes to Southwark.

Enter Bevis and John Holland.

OME, and get thee a fword though made of a lath; they have been up these two

Hol. They have the more need to sleep now then. Bevis. I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to drefs the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.

Hol. So he had need, for 'tis thread-bare. Well, I fay, it was never merry world in England fince Gentle

men came up.

Bevis. O miferable age! virtue is not regarded in handy-crafts-men.

Hol. The Nobility think fcorn to go in leather aprons. Bevis. Nay more, the King's Council are no good workmen.

Hol. True, and yet it is faid, Labour in thy vocation; which is as much as to fay, let the magiftrates be labouring men; and therefore fhould we be magiftrates. Bevis. Thou haft hit it; for there's no better fign of a brave mind than a hard hand.

Hol. I fee them, I fee them. There's Beft's fon, the Tanner of Wingham.

Bevis. He fhall have the fkins of our enemies to make dog's leather of.

Hol. And Dick the butcher:

Bevis. Then is fin ftruck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf.

Hol. And Smith the weaver :

Bevis. Argo, their thread of life is fpun.
Hol. Come, come, let's fall in with them.

Drum. Enter Cade, Dick the butcher, Smith the weaver, and a fawyer, with infinite numbers. Cade. We John Cade, fo term'd of our fupposed father

2

Dick. Or rather of stealing a cade of herrings. Cade. For our enemies fhall fall before us, infpired with the fpirit of putting down Kings and Princes. -Command filence.

Dick. Silence.

Cade. My father was a Mortimer

Dick. He was an honeft man and a good bricklayer.
Cade. My mother a Plantagenet

Dick. I knew her well, she was a midwife.
Cade. My wife defcended of the Lacies

Dick. She was indeed a pedlar's daughter, and fold many laces.

Weav. But, now of late, not able to travel with her 3 furr'd pack, she washes bucks here at home.

Cade. Therefore am I of an honourable houfe. 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.

2

Cade. Valiant I am.

Wear. A' must needs, for beggary is valiant.

a cade of herrings.] That is, a barrel of herrings. I fuppofe the word keg, which is now ufed, is cade corrupted.

* our enemies fhall full before us,] He alludes to his

name Cade, from cado, Lat. to fall. He has too much learning for his character.

3 furred pack,] A wallet or knapsack of skin with the hair outward.

Cade.

Cade. I am able to endure much.

Dick. No queftion of that; for I have feen him whipt three market days together.

Cade. I fear neither fword nor fire.

Wear. He need not fear the fword, for his coat is

of proof.

Dick. But, methinks he fhould ftand in fear of fire, being burnt i'th' hand for stealing of sheep.

Cade. Be brave then, for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There fhall be in England feven half-penny loaves fold for a penny; the three-hoop'd pot shall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All the realm fhall be in common, and in Cheapfide fhall my palfry go to grafs; and when I am King, as King I will be

All. God fave your Majesty!

money;

Cade. I thank you, good people. There shall be no 4 all shall eat and drink upon 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 the fkin of an innocent lamb fhould be made parchment; that parchment being fcribbled o'er, fhould undo a man? Some fay, the bee ftings; but I fay, 'tis bee's wax; for I did but feal once to a thing, and I was never my own man fince. How now? who is there?

Enter a Clerk.

Weav. The clerk of Chatham, he can write and read, and caft accompt.

4 There fhall be no money;] To mend the world by banishing money is an old contrivance of thofe who did not confider that the quarrels and mischiefs which arife from money, as the fign or VOL. V.

ticket of riches, muft, if money.
were to cease, arife immediately
from riches themselves, and could
never be at an end till every man
was contented with his own
fhare of the goods of life.
G

Cade.

Cade. O monftrous !

Weav. We took him fetting boys copies.

Cade. Here's a villain!

Weav. He'as a book in his pocket with red letters

in't.

Cade. Nay, then he's a conjurer.

Dick. Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.

Cade. I am forry for't: the man is a proper man, on mine honour, unless I find him guilty, he fhall not die. Come hither, firrah, I must examine thee; what is thy name?

Clerk. Emanuel.

Dick. They ufe to write it on the top of letters. 'Twill go hard with you.

Cade. Let me alone. Doft thou ufe to write thy name? or haft thou a mark to thyfelf like an honeft plain dealing man?

Clerk. Sir, I thank God, I have been fo well brought up, that I can write my name.

All. He hath confeft; away with him; he's a villain and a traitor.

Cade. Away with him, I fay; hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. [Exit one with the clerk.

Enter Michael.

Mich. Where is our General?

Cade. Here I am, thou particular fellow.

Mich. Fly, fly, fly. Sir Humphry Stafford and his brother are hard by with the King's forces.

Cade. Stand, villain, ftand, or I'll fell thee down. He fhall be encounter'd with a man as good as himfelf. He is but a knight, is a'?

Mich. No.

5 They ufe to write it on the a&s. Sce Malillon's Diplomata. top of letters: i. e. of letters

miffive, and fuch like publick

WARBURTON.

Cade.

Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight prefently. [kneels.] Rife up, Sir John Mortimer. Now have at him. Is there any more of them that be knights? Mich. Ay, his brother. Cade. Then kneel down, Rife up, Sir Dick Butcher. Sir Dick Butcher.

Dick Butcher. [he kneels.]
Now found
Now found up the drum.

Enter Sir Humphry Stafford and young Stafford, with drum and foldiers.

Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and skum of Kent, Mark'd for the gallows, lay your weapons down, Home to your cottages, forfake this groom. The King is merciful, if you revolt.

Y. Staf. But angry, wrathful, and inclin❜d to blood If you go forward. Therefore yield or die.

Cade. As for thefe filken-coated flaves, I pafs not; It is to you, good people, that I fpeak,

O'er whom in time to come I hope to reign;
For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

Staff Villain, thy father was a plaisterer,

And thou thyfelf a fhearman, art thou not?
Cade. And Adam was a gardener.

Y. Staf. And what of that?

Cade. Marry this-Edmund Mortimer Earl of March married the Duke of Clarence's daughter, did he not? Staf. Ay, Sir.

Cade. By her he had two children at one birth.
Y. Staf. That's false.

Cade. Ay, there's the queftion; but I fay 'tis true,

The elder of them being put to nurse,

Was by a beggar-woman ftol'n away;

And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,

Became a bricklayer when he came to age,

His fon am I; deny it if you can.

Dick. Nay, 'tis too true, therefore he fhall be King.

G 2

Wear.