Henry VI, part 2 — Act 4, Scene 2 · Shakespeare for Bharat

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 dressthe commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.

HOLLAND

So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say itwas 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 belabouring men; and therefore should we bemagistrates.

BEVIS

Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of abrave mind than a hard hand.

HOLLAND

I see them! I see them! there's Best's son, thetanner of Wingham,--

BEVIS

He shall have the skin of our enemies, to makedog's-leather of.

HOLLAND

And Dick the Butcher,--

BEVIS

Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity'sthroat 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.

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 withthe 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 goodbricklayer.

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, andsold many laces.

SMITH

[Aside] But now of late, notable to travel with herfurred 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 hisfather 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 himwhipped 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 offire, being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep.

CADE

Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vowsreformation. There shall be in England sevenhalfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hoopedpot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it felonyto drink small beer: all the realm shall be incommon; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go tograss: 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 willapparel them all in one livery, that they may agreelike 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 lamentablething, that of the skin of an innocent lamb shouldbe made parchment? that parchment, being scribbledo'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings:but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but sealonce to a thing, and I was never mine own mansince. How now! who's there?

SMITH

The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read andcast 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 minehonour; 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: 'twillgo hard with you.

CADE

Let me alone. Dost thou use to write thy name? orhast thou a mark to thyself, like an honestplain-dealing man?

CLERK

Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought upthat I can write my name.

ALL

He hath confessed: away with him! he's a villainand a traitor.

CADE

Away with him, I say! hang him with his pen andink-horn about his neck.

MICHAEL

Where's our general?

CADE

Here I am, thou particular fellow.

MICHAEL

Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and hisbrother are hard by, with the king's forces.

CADE

Stand, villain, stand, or I'll fell thee down. Heshall 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.

CADE

Rise up Sir John Mortimer.

CADE

Now have at him!

SIR HUMPHREY

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.

WILLIAM STAFFORD

But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood,If you go forward; therefore yield, or die.

CADE

As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not:It is to you, good people, that I speak,Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign;For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

SIR HUMPHREY

Villain, thy father was a plasterer;And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?

CADE

And Adam was a gardener.

WILLIAM STAFFORD

And what of that?

CADE

Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.Married the Duke of Clarence' daughter, did he not?

SIR HUMPHREY

Ay, sir.

CADE

By her he had two children at one birth.

WILLIAM STAFFORD

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 stolen 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, andthe bricks are alive at this day to testify it;therefore deny it not.

SIR HUMPHREY

And will you credit this base drudge's words,That speaks he knows not what?

ALL

Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone.

WILLIAM STAFFORD

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

CADE

[Aside] He lies, for I invented it myself.Go to, sirrah, tell the king from me, that, for hisfather's sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boyswent to span-counter for French crowns, I am contenthe shall reign; but I'll be protector over him.

DICK

And furthermore, well have the Lord Say's head forselling the dukedom of Maine.

CADE

And good reason; for thereby is England mained, andfain to go with a staff, but that my puissance holdsit up. Fellow kings, I tell you that that Lord Sayhath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch:and more than that, he can speak French; andtherefore he is a traitor.

SIR HUMPHREY

O gross and miserable ignorance!

CADE

Nay, answer, if you can: the Frenchmen are ourenemies; go to, then, I ask but this: can he thatspeaks with the tongue of an enemy be a goodcounsellor, or no?

ALL

No, no; and therefore we'll have his head.

WILLIAM STAFFORD

Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,Assail them with the army of the king.

SIR HUMPHREY

Herald, away; and throughout every townProclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;That those which fly before the battle endsMay, 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.

CADE

And you that love the commons, follow me.Now show yourselves men; 'tis for liberty.We will not leave one lord, one gentleman:Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon;For they are thrifty honest men, and suchAs 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 mostout of order. Come, march forward.