The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Enter George Bevis and John Holland.
2 BEVIS.
3 Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath; they have been up
4 these two days.
5 HOLLAND.
6 They have the more need to sleep now, then.
7 BEVIS.
8 I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth,
9 and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
10 HOLLAND.
11 So he had need, for ’tis threadbare. Well, I say it was never merry
12 world in England since gentlemen came up.
13 BEVIS.
14 O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handicraftsmen.
15 HOLLAND.
16 The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
17 BEVIS.
18 Nay, more, the King’s Council are no good workmen.
19 HOLLAND.
20 True; and yet it is said, “Labour in thy vocation,” which is as much to
21 say as, “Let the magistrates be labouring men;” and therefore should we
22 be magistrates.
23 BEVIS.
24 Thou hast hit it; for there’s no better sign of a brave mind than a
25 hard hand.
26 HOLLAND.
27 I see them! I see them! There’s Best’s son, the tanner of Wingham.
28 BEVIS.
29 He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make dog’s leather of.
30 HOLLAND.
31 And Dick the butcher.
32 BEVIS.
33 Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity’s throat cut like a
34 calf.
35 HOLLAND.
36 And Smith the weaver.
37 BEVIS.
38 Argo, their thread of life is spun.
39 HOLLAND.
40 Come, come, let’s fall in with them.
41 Drum. Enter Cade, Dick the Butcher, Smith the Weaver and a Sawyer with
42 infinite numbers carrying long staves.
43 CADE.
44 We, John Cade, so termed of our supposed father—
45 DICK.
46 [_Aside_.] Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings.
47 CADE.
48 For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of
49 putting down kings and princes. Command silence.
50 DICK.
51 Silence!
52 CADE.
53 My father was a Mortimer—
54 DICK.
55 [_Aside_.] He was an honest man and a good bricklayer.
56 CADE.
57 My mother a Plantagenet—
58 DICK.
59 [_Aside_.] I knew her well; she was a midwife.
60 CADE.
61 My wife descended of the Lacies—
62 DICK.
63 [_Aside_.] She was indeed a pedler’s daughter, and sold many laces.
64 SMITH.
65 [_Aside_.] But now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack,
66 she washes bucks here at home.
67 CADE.
68 Therefore am I of an honourable house.
69 DICK.
70 [_Aside_.] Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable; and there was he
71 born, under a hedge, for his father had never a house but the cage.
72 CADE.
73 Valiant I am.
74 SMITH.
75 [_Aside_.] He must needs; for beggary is valiant.
76 CADE.
77 I am able to endure much.
78 DICK.
79 [_Aside_.] No question of that; for I have seen him whipped three
80 market-days together.
81 CADE.
82 I fear neither sword nor fire.
83 SMITH.
84 [_Aside_.] He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.
85 DICK.
86 [_Aside_.] But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i’
87 th’ hand for stealing of sheep.
88 CADE.
89 Be brave, then, for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There
90 shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny; the
91 three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to
92 drink small beer. All the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside
93 shall my palfrey go to grass. And when I am king, as king I will be—
94 ALL.
95 God save your majesty!
96 CADE.
97 I thank you, good people.—There shall be no money; all shall eat and
98 drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they
99 may agree like brothers and worship me their lord.
100 DICK.
101 The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
102 CADE.
103 Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the
104 skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment; that parchment,
105 being scribbled o’er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings, but I
106 say ’tis the bee’s wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was
107 never mine own man since. How now? Who’s there?
108 Enter some, bringing in the Clerk of Chartham.
109 SMITH.
110 The clerk of Chartham. He can write and read and cast account.
111 CADE.
112 O, monstrous!
113 SMITH.
114 We took him setting of boys’ copies.
115 CADE.
116 Here’s a villain!
117 SMITH.
118 H’as a book in his pocket with red letters in ’t.
119 CADE.
120 Nay, then, he is a conjurer.
121 DICK.
122 Nay, he can make obligations and write court-hand.
123 CADE.
124 I am sorry for ’t. The man is a proper man, of mine honour; unless I
125 find him guilty, he shall not die.—Come hither, sirrah, I must examine
126 thee. What is thy name?
127 CLERK.
128 Emmanuel.
129 DICK.
130 They use to write it on the top of letters. ’Twill go hard with you.
131 CADE.
132 Let me alone. Dost thou use to write thy name? Or hast thou a mark to
133 thyself, like a honest, plain-dealing man?
134 CLERK.
135 Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up that I can write my
136 name.
137 ALL.
138 He hath confessed. Away with him! He’s a villain and a traitor.
139 CADE.
140 Away with him, I say! Hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck.
141 [_Exit one with the Clerk._]
142 Enter Michael.
143 MICHAEL.
144 Where’s our general?
145 CADE.
146 Here I am, thou particular fellow.
147 MICHAEL.
148 Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are hard by, with
149 the King’s forces.
150 CADE.
151 Stand, villain, stand, or I’ll fell thee down. He shall be encountered
152 with a man as good as himself. He is but a knight, is he?
153 MICHAEL.
154 No.
155 CADE.
156 To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently.
157 [_Kneels_.] Rise up Sir John Mortimer.
158 [_Rises_.] Now have at him!
159 Enter Sir Humphrey Stafford and his Brother with Drum and soldiers.
160 STAFFORD.
161 Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent,
162 Marked for the gallows, lay your weapons down;
163 Home to your cottages, forsake this groom.
164 The King is merciful, if you revolt.
165 BROTHER.
166 But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood,
167 If you go forward. Therefore yield, or die.
168 CADE.
169 As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not.
170 It is to you, good people, that I speak,
171 Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign,
172 For I am rightful heir unto the crown.
173 STAFFORD.
174 Villain, thy father was a plasterer,
175 And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?
176 CADE.
177 And Adam was a gardener.
178 BROTHER.
179 And what of that?
180 CADE.
181 Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March,
182 Married the Duke of Clarence’ daughter, did he not?
183 STAFFORD.
184 Ay, sir.
185 CADE.
186 By her he had two children at one birth.
187 BROTHER.
188 That’s false.
189 CADE.
190 Ay, there’s the question; but I say ’tis true.
191 The elder of them, being put to nurse,
192 Was by a beggar-woman stolen away,
193 And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,
194 Became a bricklayer when he came to age.
195 His son am I; deny it if you can.
196 DICK.
197 Nay, ’tis too true; therefore he shall be King.
198 SMITH.
199 Sir, he made a chimney in my father’s house, and the bricks are alive
200 at this day to testify it; therefore deny it not.
201 STAFFORD.
202 And will you credit this base drudge’s words,
203 That speaks he knows not what?
204 ALL.
205 Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone.
206 BROTHER.
207 Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.
208 CADE.
209 [_Aside_.] He lies, for I invented it myself.—Go to, sirrah, tell the
210 King from me that, for his father’s sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose
211 time boys went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content he shall
212 reign, but I’ll be Protector over him.
213 DICK.
214 And furthermore, we’ll have the Lord Saye’s head for selling the
215 dukedom of Maine.
216 CADE.
217 And good reason, for thereby is England mained and fain to go with a
218 staff, but that my puissance holds it up. Fellow kings, I tell you that
219 that Lord Saye hath gelded the commonwealth and made it an eunuch; and
220 more than that, he can speak French, and therefore he is a traitor.
221 STAFFORD.
222 O gross and miserable ignorance!
223 CADE.
224 Nay, answer if you can. The Frenchmen are our enemies; go to, then, I
225 ask but this: can he that speaks with the tongue of an enemy be a good
226 counsellor, or no?
227 ALL.
228 No, no, and therefore we’ll have his head.
229 BROTHER.
230 Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,
231 Assail them with the army of the King.
232 STAFFORD.
233 Herald, away, and throughout every town
234 Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;
235 That those which fly before the battle ends
236 May, even in their wives’ and children’s sight,
237 Be hanged up for example at their doors.
238 And you that be the King’s friends, follow me.
239 [_Exeunt the two Staffords and soldiers._]
240 CADE.
241 And you that love the commons follow me.
242 Now show yourselves men; ’tis for liberty.
243 We will not leave one lord, one gentleman;
244 Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon,
245 For they are thrifty honest men and such
246 As would, but that they dare not, take our parts.
247 DICK.
248 They are all in order and march toward us.
249 CADE.
250 But then are we in order when we are most out of order. Come, march
251 forward.
252 [_Exeunt._]