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Suf. Suffolk's imperial tongue is ftern and rough,
Us'd to command, untaught to plead for favour.
Far be it we should honour fuch as these

With humble fuit; no; rather let my head
Stoop to the block, than these knees bow to any,
Save to the God of heav'n, and to my King;
And fooner dance upon a bloody pole,
Than ftand uncover'd to the vulgar groom.
True Nobility is exempt from fear:

More can I bear, than you dare execute.

Cap. Hale him away, and let him talk no more.
Suf. Come, foldiers, fhew what cruelty ye can,
That this my death may never be forgot.
Great men oft die by vile Bezonians.

A Roman fworder and Bandetto flave
Murder'd fweet Tully; Brutus' bastard hand
Stabb'd Julius Cæfar; favage islanders

Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.

[Exit Walter Whitmore with Suffolk. Cap. And as for thefe, whofe ranfom we have fet, It is our pleasure one of them depart;

Therefore come you with us, and let him go.

Manet the firft Gent.

[Exe. Captain and the rest. Enter Whitmore, with the body. Whit. There let his head and lifeless body lye, 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.

SCENE changes to Southwark.

Bevis.Com

Enter Bevis and John Holland.

Ome, and get thee a sword though made of a lath; they have been up these two days.

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

Hel.

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

came up.

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

Hol. The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons. Bevis. Nay more, the King's council are no good workmen.

Hel. 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 should 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 Sawyer, with infinite numbers.

Cade. We John Cade, fo term'd of our supposed father

Dick. Or rather of stealing a cade of herrings.

Cade. For our enemies hall fall before us, infpired with the spirit of putting down Kings and Princes; command filence.

Dick. Silence.

Cade. My father was a Mortimer

Dick. He was an honest man and a good bricklayer.

Cade. My mother a Plantagenet.

Dick. I knew her well, fhe was a midwife.

Cade. My wife defcended of the Lacies

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

Wear.

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

Cade. Therefore am I of an honourable house.

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.

Cade. Valiant I am.

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

Cade. I am able to endure much.

Dick. No queftion of that, for I have seen him whipt three market days together.

Cade. I fear neither fword nor fire.

Weav. He need not fear the fword, for his coat is of proof.

Dick. But, methinks, he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i' th' hand for stealing of fheep.

Cade. Be brave then, for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There fhall be in England seven half-penny loaves fold for a penny; the three-hoop'd pot hall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink fmall beer. All the realm fhall be in common, and in Cheapfide fhall my palfry go to grafs; and when 1 am King, as King I will be

All. God fave your Majefty!

Cade. I thank you, good people. There shall be no money; 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 skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment; that parchment being fcribbled o'er, fhould undo a man? Some fay, the bee stings; 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.

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

Cade.

Cade. O monftrous!

Veav. We took him fetting boys copies.

ade. Here's a villain!

Veav. He's a book in his pocket with red letters in't. ade. Nay, then he's a conjurer.

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

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

Clerk. Emanuel.

Dick. They ufe to write it on the top of letters: (16) ill go hard with you.

Cade. Let me alone.

Doft thou ufe to write thy ne? or haft thou a mark to thyself like an honeft plain ling man?

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

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

Cade. Away with him, I fay: hang him with his pen 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 other are hard by with the King's forces.

Cade. Stand, villain, ftand, or I'll fell thee down; he 11 be encounter'd with a man as good as himself. - is but a Knight, is a'?

Mich. No.

Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a Knight

16) They use to write it on the top of letters :] Emanuel, which, 'tis l known, fignifies, God with us; was in ufe on the top of letters ve, (not of common letters;) as now in publick acts, In the name God. Several fnftances of this fuperftition may be found in -billon's Diplomata.

presently s

prefently; rife up, Sir John Mortimer. Now have at him. Is there any more of them that be Knights? (17) Mich. Ay, his brother.

Cade. Then kneel down, Dick butcher. Rife up, Sir Dick butcher. Now found up the drum.

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

Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and fcum 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 these filken-coated flaves, I país not; It is to you, good people, that I speak,

O'er whom (in time to come) I hope to reign;

For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

Staf. 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.

(17) Is there any more of them that be Knights? Mich. Ay, his brother.

Cade. Then kneel down, Dick butcher. Rife up, Sir Dick butcher. Now found up the drum.] This paffage I have inferted from the old 4to, becaufe, I think, it greatly encreases the pleafantry and extravagance of Cade's humour; not only to knight himself, but, because Stafford's brother was alfo a Knight, to dub one of his own scoundrel followers, by way of equality,

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