I go of message from the queen to France;
I charge thee, waft me safely cross the channel.
Cap. Walter,

Whit. Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.
Suf. Gelidus timor occupat artus: 'tis thee I fear.
Whit. Thou shalt have cause to fear, before I leave
thee.

What, are ye daunted now? now will ye stoop? 1 Gent. My gracious lord, entreat him, speak him fair.

Suf. Suffolk's imperial tongue is stern and rough, Us'd to command, untaught to plead for favour. 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.

Cap. Hale him away, and let him talk no more.

Suf. Come, soldiers, show what cruelty ye can,
That this my death may never be forgot! —
Great men oft die by vile bezonians 4:

A Roman sworder and banditto slave,
Murder'd sweet Tully; Brutus' bastard hand
Stabb'd Julius Cæsar; savage islanders,
Pompey the great: and Suffolk dies by pirates.

[Exit SUF. with WHIT. and others.
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-cnter 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.

SCENE II.

[Exit, with the Body. 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.

John. The nobility think scorn to go in leather

[Aside.

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 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.

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?

5 A barrel of herrings.

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.

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; "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 Heaven, 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?

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.

Cade. He lies; for I invented it myself. [Aside.

Go to, sirrah. Tell the king from me, that for his father's sake, Henry the fifth, in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns- I am content he shall reign; but I'll be protector over him.

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

Cade. And good reason; for thereby is England maimed, and fain to go with a staff, but that my puissance holds it up. Fellow kings, I tell you, that that lord Say hath maimed the commonwealth, and more than that, he can speak French, and there

fore he is a traitor.

Star: O gross and miserable ignorance !

Cade. Nay, answer if you can: The Frenchmen are our enemies : go to, then, I ask but this; Can he, that speaks with the tongue of an enemy, be a good counsellor, or no ?

All. No, no; and therefore we'll have his head. W.Staf. Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail, Assail them with the army of the king.

Staf. Herald, away; and, throughout every town, Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade; That those, which fly before the battle ends, May, even in their wives' and children's sight, Be hang'd up for example at their doors: And you, that be the king's friends, follow me. [Exeunt the two STAFFORDS, and Forces. Cade. And you, that love the commons, follow

me.

brother, with Drum and Forces.

Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, Mark'd for the gallows, lay your weapons down, Home to your cottages, forsake this groom; The king is merciful, if you revolt.

W. Staf. Butangry, wrathful, and inclin'd to blood, If you go forward : therefore yield, or die,

Cade. As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not 6;

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 plasterer;
And thou thyself a shearman, Art thou not?
Cade. And Adam was a gardener.
W. Staf. And what of that?

Cade. Marry, this : - Edmund Mortimer, earl of

March,

Married the duke of Clarence' daughter; Did he not? Staf. Ay, sir.

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

We will not leave one lord, one gentleman:
Spare none, but such as go in clouted shoon 7;
For they are thrifty honest men, and such
As would (but that they dare not,) take our parts.
Dick. They are all in order, and march toward us.
Cade. But then are we in order, when we are most
out of order. Come, march forward. [Exeunt.

Cade. And, to speak truth, thou deservest no less.

The elder of them, being put to nurse,

Was by a beggar-woman stol'n away;

And ignorant of his birth and parentage,

6 I pay them no regard.

bodies shall be dragged at my horse' heels, till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor's sword borne before us.

-7 Shoes.