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

John. The nobility think scorn tó 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 as to say, as, let the magistrates be labouring men; and therefore should we be magistrates.

*Geo. Thou hast hit it: for there is 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 term'd of our supposed father,

-

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

Cade.

[Aside.

for our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down Kings Command silence.

and Princes,

Dick. Silence!

Cade. My father was a Mortimer,

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

6

Cade. My mother a Plantagenet,

Dick.

[Aside.

knew her well, she was a midwife.

[Aside.

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 furr'd 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. [Aside. * Cade. Valiant I am.

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

Cade. I am able to endure much.

[Aside.

Dick. No question of that; for I have seen him

whipp'd three market days together. Cude. I fear neither sword nor fire.

[Aside.

Smith. He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.

[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 Englaud, seven half-penny loaves sold 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 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 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 boy's copies.
Cade. Here's a villain!

Smith. H'as 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 mao, 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.

Diek. They use to write it on the top of let"Twill go hard with you.

ters;

< 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 confess'd; 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 encounter'd 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,

Enter sir Humphrey STAFFORD, and William his. Brother, with drum and forces.

Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent,

*Mark'd for the gallows,

down,

lay your weapons

Home to your cottages, forsake this groom;The King is merciful, if you revolt.

*W. Staf. But angry, wrathful, and inclin'd to blood,

*If you go forward: therefore yield, or die. Cade. As for these silken-coated slaves, I

not;

It is to you, good people, that I speak,
O'er whom, in time to come, I hope reign
For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

pass

n;

Stuf. Villain, thy father was a plasterer; And thou thyself, a shearman, Art thou not? Cade. And Adam was a gardener.

W. Staf. And what of that? Cade. Marry, this:

Married the Duke of

Staf. Av, Sir.

Edmund Mortimer,

Earl of March, Clarence' daughter; Did he not?

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

Cade. Ay, there's the question; but, I say 'tis true:

The elder of them, being put to nurse,

Was by a beggar-woman stol'n away;
And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,
Became a bricklayer, when he came to age:
His son am I, deny it, if you can.

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

Smith. Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it; therefore, deny it not. `

Staf. And will you credit this base drudge's words,

That speaks he knows not what?

* All. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye

gone.

W. Staf. Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.