| ACT IV SCENE VII | London. Smithfield. | |
| [
Alarums. MATTHEW GOFFE is slain, and all the rest.
Then enter CADE, with his company.
] |
| CADE | So, sirs: now go some and pull down the 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. | 5 |
| HOLLAND | [Aside] Mass, 'twill be sore law, then; for he was
|
| thrust in the mouth with a spear, and 'tis not whole |
| yet. |
| SMITH | [Aside] Nay, John, it will be stinking law for his
|
| breath stinks with eating toasted cheese. | 10 |
| 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. |
| HOLLAND | [Aside] Then we are like to have biting statutes,
|
| unless his teeth be pulled out. | 15 |
| CADE | And henceforward all things shall be in common. |
| [Enter a Messenger] |
| Messenger | 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, and one shilling to the |
| pound, the last subsidy. | 20 |
| [Enter BEVIS, with Lord SAY] |
| CADE | Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times. Ah, |
| thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord! now |
| art thou within point-blank of our jurisdiction |
| regal. What canst thou answer to my majesty for |
| giving up of Normandy unto Mounsieur Basimecu, the | 25 |
| 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 | 30 |
| 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 | 35 |
| hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and |
| a verb, and such abominable words 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. | 40 |
| Moreover, thou hast put them in prison; and because |
| they could not read, thou hast hanged them; when, |
| indeed, only for that cause they have been most |
| worthy to live. Thou dost ride in a foot-cloth, dost thou not? |
| SAY | What of that? | 45 |
| 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. | 50 |
| SAY | You men of Kent,-- |
| DICK | What say you of Kent? |
| SAY | Nothing but this; 'tis 'bona terra, mala gens.' |
| CADE | Away with him, away with him! he speaks Latin. |
| SAY | Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will. | 55 |
| Kent, in the Commentaries Caesar writ, |
| Is term'd the civil'st place of this isle: |
| Sweet is the country, because full of riches; |
| The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy; |
| Which makes me hope you are not void of pity. | 60 |
| I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy, |
| Yet, to recover them, would lose my life. |
| Justice with favour have I always done; |
| Prayers and tears have moved me, gifts could never. |
| When have I aught exacted at your hands, | 65 |
| But to maintain the king, the realm and you? |
| Large gifts have I bestow'd on learned clerks, |
| Because my book preferr'd me to the king, |
| And seeing ignorance is the curse of God, |
| Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven, | 70 |
| Unless you be possess'd with devilish spirits, |
| You cannot but forbear to murder me: |
| This tongue hath parley'd unto foreign kings |
| For your behoof,-- |
| CADE | Tut, when struck'st thou one blow in the field? | 75 |
| SAY | Great men have reaching hands: oft have I struck |
| Those that I never saw and struck them dead. |
| BEVIS | 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. | 80 |
| 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 the help of hatchet. |
| DICK | Why dost thou quiver, man? |
| SAY | The palsy, and not fear, provokes me. | 85 |
| 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 have I offended most? |
| Have I affected wealth or honour? speak. | 90 |
| Are my chests fill'd 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 bloodshedding, |
| This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts. | 95 |
| O, let me live! |
| CADE | [Aside] I feel remorse in myself with his words;
|
| but I'll bridle it: he shall die, an it be but for |
| pleading so well for his life. Away with him! he |
| has a familiar under his tongue; he speaks not o' | 100 |
| 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. | 105 |
| 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. | 110 |
[Exeunt some with Lord SAY] |
| The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head |
| on his shoulders, unless he pay me tribute; there |
| shall not a maid be married, but she shall pay to me |
| her maidenhead ere they have it: men shall hold of |
| me in capite; and we charge and command that their | 115 |
| wives be as free as heart can wish or tongue can tell. |
| DICK | My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside and take up |
| commodities upon our bills? |
| CADE | Marry, presently. |
| ALL | O, brave! | 120 |
| [Re-enter one with the heads] |
| 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 | 125 |
| before us, instead of maces, will we ride through |
| the streets, and at every corner have them kiss. Away! |
| [Exeunt] |
The Rebellion of Jack Cade