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

Hol. The nobility think fcorn to go in leather aprons.

Bevis. Nay more, the King's counsel 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 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 skins 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 fail 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 fuppofed father

:

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, fhe 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 furr'd pack, the 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 houfe but the cage.

Cade. Valiant I am.

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

Cade. I am able to endure much.

Dick. No queftion of that; for I have seen him whip'd 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 fhould ftand 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 feven half-penny loaves fold for a penny; the threehoop'd pot fhall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink fmall beer. All the realm fhall be in common, and in Cheapide fhall my palfry go to grafs; and when I am king, as king I will

be

All. God fave your Majefty!

Cade. I thank you, good people. There shall be no money; all fhall eat and drink upon my fcore; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worthip 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 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 fice. How now? who is there?

Enter a Clerk.

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

Cade. O monstrous!

Wear. We took him fetting boys copies.
Cade. Here's a villain!

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

ters 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 thali not die. Come hither, firrah, I muft 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?

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

All. He hath confeis'd; 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 him. felf. He is but a knight, is a'?

Mich. No.

Cade. To equal him, I will make myfelfa knight prefently. [Kneels.] Rife up, Sir John Mortimer. Now have at him. Is there any more of them that i be knights?

Mich. Av, his brother.

Cade. Then kneel down, Dick Butcher. [he kneels.] Rife up, Sir Dick Butcher. Now found up:

the drum.

SCENE III.

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

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 these filken-coated flaves, I pafs 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 thyself a shearman, art thou not? Cale. 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', falie.

Gade. Ay, there's the question; but I say 'tis true. The elder of them being put to nurse,

Was by a beggar-woman ftol'n away;

And, ignoront 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 shall be king. Weav. Sir, he made a chimney, in my father's houfe, and the bricks are alive at this day to teftefy it; therefore deny it not.

Staf. And will you credit this bafe drudge's words, That fpeaks he knows not what?

All. Ay, marry will we; therefore get you gone. Y. Staf. Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this

Cade. He lies, for I invented it yfelf. Go to, firrah, tell the King from me, that or is father's fake, Henry the Fifth, in whofe time boys went to

fpan-counter for French crowns, I am content he thall reign; but I'll be Protector over him.

Dick. And, furthermore, we'll have the Lord Say's head, for felling the dukedom of Maine.

Cade. And good reafon; for thereby is England maim'd, and fain to go with a staff, but that my puiflance holds it up. Fellow-Kings, I tell you, that that Lord Say hath gelded the common-wealth, and made it a eunuch; and more than that, he can ipeak French, and therefore he is a traitor.

Staf. O grofs and miferable ignorance!

Cade. Nay, anfwer if you can. The Frenchmen are our enemies; go to then, I afk but this; can he that peaks with the tongue of the enemy, be a good counfellor or no?

All. No, no, and therefore we'll have his head.. r. Staf. Well, feeing gentle words will not proAffail them with the army of the King.

[vail, Staf. Herald, away, and throughout every town Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade; That thofe which fly before the battle ends, May even in their wives' and children's fight Be hang'd up for example at their doors; And you, that be the King's friends, follow me.

[Exeunt the two Staffords, with their Train. Cade. And you, that love the Commons, follow me.. Now fhew yourfelves men, 'tis for liberty We will not leave one Lord, one Gentleman, Spare none but fuch as go in clouted hoone, For they are thrifty honeft men, and fuch As would, but that they dare not, take our parts. Dick. They are all in order, and march towards us. Cade. But then are we in order, when we are moft out of order. Come, march forward.

[Exeunt Cade and his party. [Alarm to fight, wherein both the Staffords are flain. Re-enter Cade and the rest.

Cade. Where's Dick, the butcher of Afford?
Dick. Here, Sir.

Cade. They fell before three like fheep and oxen, and thou behaved'ft thyfelf as if thou had been in

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