Cap. And as for these whose ransome 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. "Whit. There let his head and lifeless body lie, Until the queen his mistress bury it.

[Exit. 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, with the Body.

SCENE II.

Blackheath.

Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND.

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

'John. They have the more need to sleep now then.

"Geo. I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means 'to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.

John. So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say, it was never merry world in England, since gentlemen came up.'

* Geo. O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded * in handycrafts-men.

1

Pompey the great:] The poet seems to have confounded the story of Pompey with some other.

2

since gentlemen came up.] Thus we familiarly say-a fashion comes up.

'John. The nobility think scorn to go in leather

aprons.

*Geo. Nay more, the king's council are no good * workmen.

*John. 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.

* Geo. Thou hast hit it: for there's no better *sign of a brave mind, than a hard hand.

*

*John. I see them! I see them! There's Best's son, the tanner of Wingham;

*Geo. He shall have the skins of our enemies, * to make dog's leather of.

John. And Dick the butcher,—

*Geo. Then is sin struck down like an ox, and * iniquity's throat cut like a calf.

*John. And Smith the weaver.

*Geo. Argo, their thread of life is spun.
*John. Come, come, let's fall in with them.

Drum. Enter CADE, DICK the Butcher, SMITH the Weaver, and Others in great number.

'Cade. We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father,

Dick. Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings.3

[Aside.

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,

a cade of herrings.] That is, A barrel of herrings. our enemies shall fall before us,] He alludes to his name Cade, from cado, Lat. to fall. He has too much learning for his character. JOHNSON.

Dick. He was an honest man, and a good brick

layer.

Cade. My mother a Plantagenet,

[Aside.

[Aside.

'Dick. I knew her well, she was a midwife.

'Cade. My wife descended of the Lacies,Dick. She was, indeed, a pedlar's daughter, and sold many laces. [Aside. 'Smith. But, now of late, not able to travel with ' her furred pack," she washes bucks here at home.

Aside.

'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.

[Aside.

* Smith. 'A must needs; for beggary is valiant.

[Aside.

Cade. I am able to endure much. Dick. No question of that; for I have seen him whipped three market days together. Cade. I fear neither sword nor fire.

[Aside.

Smith. He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.s [Aside. Dick. But, methinks, he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i'the hand for stealing of sheep. [Aside.

Cade. Be brave then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be, in England,

5

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

6

the field is honourable ;] Perhaps a quibble between field in its heraldick, and in its common acceptation, was designed. but the cage.] A cage was formerly a term for a prison. We e yet talk of jail-birds.

7

8

-for his coat is of proof.] A quibble between two senses of the word; one as being able to resist, the other as being welltried, that is, long worn.

seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny: the threehooped 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 palfry 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 in 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. H'as a book in his pocket, with red letters in't.

9 — the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops;] a hoop was a

measure.

· there shall be no money;] To mend the world by banishing money is an old contrivance of those who did not consider that the quarrels and mischiefs which arise from money, as the sign or ticket of riches, must, if money were to cease, arise immediately from riches themselves, and could never be at an end till every man was contented with his own share of the goods of life.

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, on 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;3 -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 inkhorn about his neck.

[Exeunt some with the Clerk.

Enter MICHael.

• Mich. Where's our general?

'Cade. Here I am, thou particular fellow. Mich. 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?

• Mich. No.

Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently; Rise up sir John Mortimer. 'Now have at him.

obligations,] That is, bonds.

3 They use to write it on the top of letters ;] i. e. of letters missive, and such like publick acts. See Mabillon's Diplomata.