Far be it we should honour such as these With humble suit: no, rather let my head Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any Save to the God of heaven and to my king;And sooner dance upon a bloody pole Than stand uncover'd to the vulgar groom.
True nobility is exempt from fear:
More can I bear than you dare execute. Captain Hale him away, and let him talk no more. SUFFOLK Come, soldiers, show what cruelty ye can, That this my death may never be forgot!
Great men oft die by vile bezonians:
A Roman sworder and banditto slave Murder'd sweet Tully; Brutus' bastard hand Stabb'd Julius Caesar; savage islanders Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.
Exeunt Whitmore and others with Suffolk Captain And as for these whose ransom we have set, It is our pleasure one of them depart;Therefore come you with us and let him go.
Exeunt all but the First Gentleman Re-enter WHITMORE with SUFFOLK's body WHITMORE There let his head and lifeless body lie, Until the queen his mistress bury it.
Exit First Gentleman 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 with the body 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 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. 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. 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 dog's-leather of. HOLLAND And **** 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 spun. HOLLAND 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, so termed of our supposed father,-- DICK [Aside] Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings. CADE For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes, --Command silence. DICK Silence! CADE My father was a Mortimer,-- DICK [Aside] He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer. CADE My mother a Plantagenet,-- DICK [Aside] I knew her well; she was a midwife. CADE My wife descended of the Lacies,-- DICK [Aside] She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and sold many laces. SMITH [Aside] But now of late, notable to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home. CADE Therefore am I of an honourable house. DICK [Aside] Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable;and there was he borne, under a hedge, for his father had never a house but the cage. CADE Valiant I am. SMITH [Aside] A' must needs; for beggary is valiant. CADE I am able to endure much. DICK [Aside] No question of that; for I have seen him whipped three market-days together. CADE I fear neither sword nor fire. SMITH [Aside] He need not fear the sword; for his coat is of proof. DICK [Aside] But methinks he should stand in fear of 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 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;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 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 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. 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 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. 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. 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? 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:
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!