1

Savoy; others to the inns of court; down with them all.

Dick. I have a suit unto your lordship.

Cade. Be it a lordship, thou shalt have it for that word.

Dick. Only, that the laws of England may come 'out of your mouth.2

[Aside.

'John. Mass, 'twill be sore law then; for he was 'thrust in the mouth with a spear, and 'tis not whole ' yet. Smith. Nay, John, it will be stinking law; for his 'breath stinks with eating toasted cheese.

เ

[Aside.

Cade. I have thought upon it; it shall be so. Away, burn all the records of the realm; my mouth shall be the parliament of England.

*John. Then we are like to have biting statutes, * unless his teeth be pulled out.

*

[Aside. *Cade. And henceforward all things shall be in

common.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My lord, a prize, a prize! Here's the lord Say, which sold the towns in France; he that *made us pay one-and-twenty fifteens,3 and one shil*ling to the pound, the last subsidy.

เ

Enter GEORGE BEVIS, with the LORD SAY.

Cade. Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten 'times.-Ay, thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buck'ram lord! now art thou within point-blank of our jurisdiction regal. What canst thou answer to my majesty, for giving up of Normandy unto monsieur

nence in feats of chivalrie, the which in continuall warres had spent his time in serving of the king his father." See also W. of Wyrcestre, p. 357; and the Paston Letters, vol. i. p. 42.

1 This trouble had been saved Cade's reformers by his predecessor Wat Tyler. It was never rebuilt till Henry VI. founded the hospital."

2 "It was reported, indeed, that he should saie with great pride that within four daies all the laws of England should come foorth of his mouth."-Holinshed, p. 432.

3 A fifteen was the fifteenth part of all the movables, or personal property, of each subject.

4 Say is a kind of thin woollen stuff or serge.

6

6

Basimecu, the dauphin of France? Be it known unto thee, by these presence, even the presence of lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must sweep 'the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammar-school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy 'face, that thou hast men about thee, that usually talk of a noun, and a verb, and such abominable words, 6 as no Christian ear can endure to hear. Thou hast appointed justices of peace, to call poor men before 'them about matters they were not able to answer. Moreover, thou hast put them in prison; and because 2 they could not read, thou hast hanged them; when, indeed, only for that cause, they have been most 'worthy to live. Thou dost ride on a foot-cloth, dost • thou not?

Say. What of that?

3

Cade. Marry, thou oughtest not to let thy horse wear a cloak, when honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets.

* Dick. And work in their shirt too; as myself, for * example, that am a butcher.

Say. You men of Kent,

Dick. What say you of Kent?

6

Say. Nothing but this: 'Tis bona terra, mala gens.1

1 Shakspeare is a little too early with this accusation. Yet Meerman, in his Origines Typographicæ, has availed himself of this passage to support his hypothesis that printing was introduced into England by Frederic Corsellis, one of Coster's workmen, from Haerlem, in the time of Henry VI. 2 i. e. they were hanged because they could not claim the benefit of clergy.

3 A foot-cloth was a kind of housing, which covered the body of the horse; it was sometimes made of velvet and bordered with gold lace. 4 After this line the old play proceeds thus:

Cade. Bonun terrum, What's that?

Dick. He speaks French.

Will. No, 'tis Dutch.

Nick. No, 'tis Outalian: I know it well enough.

Cade. Away with him, away with him! he speaks · Latin.

*

Say. Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will.

Kent, in the commentaries Cæsar writ,

Is termed the civil'st place of all this isle.1 'Sweet is the country, because full of riches; The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy; Which makes me hope you are not void of pity. 'I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy ; Yet, to recover them, would lose my life. * Justice with favor have I always done;

*

* Prayers and tears have moved me; gifts could never. * When have I aught exacted at your hands,

*

* Kent, to maintain the king, the realm, and you? 2 Large gifts have I bestowed on learned clerks, *Because my book preferred me to the king;

*

*

And,-seeing ignorance is the curse of God,

Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven,— *Unless you be possessed with devilish spirits,

* You cannot but forbear to murder me.

*This tongue hath parleyed unto foreign kings *For your behoof,

*Cade. Tut! when struck'st thou one blow in the * field?

*Say. Great men have reaching hands; oft have I struck

*Those that I never saw, and struck them dead.

* Geo. O monstrous coward! what, to come behind

folks?

*Say. These cheeks are pale for watching for your good.

*Cade. Give him a box o' the ear, and that will * make 'em red again.

1 "Ex his omnibus sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt."-Cæsar. 2 This passage has been supposed corrupt merely because it was eironeously pointed. It was thus pointed in the folio:

"When have I aught exacted at your hands?

Kent to maintain, the king, the realm, and you?

Large gifts, have I bestowed on learned clerks," &c.

*

Say. Long sitting to determine poor men's causes Hath made me full of sickness and diseases.

*Cade. Ye shall have a hempen caudle then, and of a hatchet.1

* the pap

6

Dick. Why dost thou quiver, man?

Say. The palsy, and not fear, provoketh me. Cade. Nay, he nods at us; as who should say, I'll 'be even with you. I'll see if his head will stand steadier on a pole, or no. Take him away, and

'behead him.

*Say. Tell me wherein I have offended most? * Have I affected wealth, or honor? Speak. * Are my chests filled up with extorted gold? *Is my apparel sumptuous to behold?

*Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death? *These hands are free from guiltless blood-shedding, *This breast from harboring foul, deceitful thoughts. * O, let me live!

*

3

*Cade. I feel remorse in myself with his words; * but I'll bridle it; he shall die, an it be but for plead*ing so well for his life. Away with him! he has * a familiar 3 under his tongue; he speaks not o' God's name. 'Go, take him away, I say, and strike off his head presently; and then break into his son-in'law's house, sir James Cromer, and strike off his head, and bring them both upon two poles hither. All. It shall be done.

*Say. Ah, countrymen! if, when you make your prayers,

* God should be so obdurate as yourselves,
* How would it fare with your departed souls?
* And therefore yet relent, and save my life.

*Cade. Away with him, and do as I command ye. [Exeunt some, with LORD SAY.

1 The old copy reads, "the help of a hatchet." Lyly wrote a pamphlet with the title of "Pap with a Hatchet;" and the phrase occurs in his play of Mother Bombie: "They give us pap with a spoone, and when we speake for what we love, pap with a hatchet."

2 i. e. these hands are free from shedding guiltless or innocent blood. 3 A demon who was supposed to attend at call.

4 It was William Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, whom Cade put to death

tribute. There shall pay to me Men shall hold

The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head ' on his shoulders, unless he pay me 'shall not a maid be married, but she 'her maidenhead ere they have it. of me in capite; and we charge and command, that their wives be as free as heart can wish, or tongue 6 can tell.

Dick. My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside, ' and take up commodities upon our bills?1 Cade. Marry, presently.

All. O brave!

Re-enter Rebels, with the heads of LORD SAY and his Son-in-law.

Cade. But is not this braver ?-Let them kiss one ' another, for they loved well, when they were alive. 'Now part them again, lest they consult about the giving up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, 'defer the spoil of the city until night; for with these borne before us, instead of maces, will we ride through 'the streets; and, at every corner, have them kiss.— 'Away! [Exeunt.

*

SCENE VIII. Southwark.

Alarum. Enter CADE, and all his Rabblement. *Cade. Up Fish street! down Saint Magnus' corner! kill and knock down! throw them into * Thames!-[A parley sounded, then a retreat.] What * noise is this I hear? dare any be so bold to sound retreat or parley, when I command them kill?

*

Enter BUCKINGHAM and Old CLIFFORD, with Forces.

'Buck. Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee.

'Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the king 1 An equivoque alluding to the halberds or bills borne by the rabble.