The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Alarums. Matthew Gough is slain, and all the rest. Then enter Jack Cade
2 with his company.
3 CADE.
4 So, sirs. Now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to th’ Inns of
5 Court; down with them all.
6 DICK.
7 I have a suit unto your lordship.
8 CADE.
9 Be it a lordship, thou shalt have it for that word.
10 DICK.
11 Only that the laws of England may come out of your mouth.
12 HOLLAND.
13 [_Aside_.] Mass, ’twill be sore law, then; for he was thrust in the
14 mouth with a spear, and ’tis not whole yet.
15 SMITH.
16 [_Aside_.] Nay, John, it will be stinking law, for his breath stinks
17 with eating toasted cheese.
18 CADE.
19 I have thought upon it, it shall be so. Away, burn all the records of
20 the realm. My mouth shall be the parliament of England.
21 HOLLAND.
22 [_Aside_.] Then we are like to have biting statutes, unless his teeth
23 be pulled out.
24 CADE.
25 And henceforward all things shall be in common.
26 Enter a Messenger.
27 MESSENGER.
28 My lord, a prize, a prize! Here’s the Lord Saye, which sold the towns
29 in France; he that made us pay one-and-twenty fifteens, and one
30 shilling to the pound, the last subsidy.
31 Enter George Bevis with the Lord Saye.
32 CADE.
33 Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times. Ah, thou say, thou serge,
34 nay, thou buckram lord! Now art thou within point-blank of our
35 jurisdiction regal. What canst thou answer to my majesty for giving up
36 of Normandy unto Mounsieur Basimecu, the Dauphin of France? Be it known
37 unto thee by these presence, even the presence of Lord Mortimer, that I
38 am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art.
39 Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in
40 erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no
41 other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to
42 be used, and, contrary to the King, his crown, and dignity, thou hast
43 built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men
44 about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable
45 words as no Christian ear can endure to hear. Thou hast appointed
46 justices of peace, to call poor men before them about matters they were
47 not able to answer. Moreover, thou hast put them in prison, and because
48 they could not read, thou hast hanged them, when indeed only for that
49 cause they have been most worthy to live. Thou dost ride on a
50 foot-cloth, dost thou not?
51 SAYE.
52 What of that?
53 CADE.
54 Marry, thou ought’st not to let thy horse wear a cloak when honester
55 men than thou go in their hose and doublets.
56 DICK.
57 And work in their shirt too; as myself, for example, that am a butcher.
58 SAYE.
59 You men of Kent—
60 DICK.
61 What say you of Kent?
62 SAYE.
63 Nothing but this; ’tis _bona terra, mala gens_.
64 CADE.
65 Away with him, away with him! He speaks Latin.
66 SAYE.
67 Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will.
68 Kent, in the Commentaries Caesar writ,
69 Is termed the civil’st place of all this isle.
70 Sweet is the country, because full of riches;
71 The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy;
72 Which makes me hope you are not void of pity.
73 I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy,
74 Yet to recover them would lose my life.
75 Justice with favour have I always done;
76 Prayers and tears have moved me, gifts could never.
77 When have I aught exacted at your hands
78 Kent to maintain the King, the realm, and you?
79 Large gifts have I bestowed on learned clerks,
80 Because my book preferred me to the King.
81 And seeing ignorance is the curse of God,
82 Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven,
83 Unless you be possessed with devilish spirits,
84 You cannot but forbear to murder me.
85 This tongue hath parleyed unto foreign kings
86 For your behoof—
87 CADE.
88 Tut, when struck’st thou one blow in the field?
89 SAYE.
90 Great men have reaching hands; oft have I struck
91 Those that I never saw, and struck them dead.
92 GEORGE.
93 O monstrous coward! What, to come behind folks?
94 SAYE.
95 These cheeks are pale for watching for your good.
96 CADE.
97 Give him a box o’ th’ ear, and that will make ’em red again.
98 SAYE.
99 Long sitting to determine poor men’s causes
100 Hath made me full of sickness and diseases.
101 CADE.
102 Ye shall have a hempen caudle then, and the help of hatchet.
103 DICK.
104 Why dost thou quiver, man?
105 SAYE.
106 The palsy, and not fear, provokes me.
107 CADE.
108 Nay, he nods at us, as who should say, “I’ll be even with you.” I’ll
109 see if his head will stand steadier on a pole or no. Take him away, and
110 behead him.
111 SAYE.
112 Tell me, wherein have I offended most?
113 Have I affected wealth or honour? Speak.
114 Are my chests filled up with extorted gold?
115 Is my apparel sumptuous to behold?
116 Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death?
117 These hands are free from guiltless bloodshedding,
118 This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts.
119 O, let me live!
120 CADE.
121 [_Aside_.] I feel remorse in myself with his words, but I’ll bridle it.
122 He shall die, an it be but for pleading so well for his life. Away with
123 him! He has a familiar under his tongue; he speaks not i’ God’s name.
124 Go, take him away, I say, and strike off his head presently; and then
125 break into his son-in-law’s house, Sir James Cromer, and strike off his
126 head, and bring them both upon two poles hither.
127 ALL.
128 It shall be done.
129 SAYE.
130 Ah, countrymen, if when you make your prayers,
131 God should be so obdurate as yourselves,
132 How would it fare with your departed souls?
133 And therefore yet relent, and save my life.
134 CADE.
135 Away with him! And do as I command ye.
136 [_Exeunt some with Lord Saye._]
137 The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his shoulders
138 unless he pay me tribute; there shall not a maid be married but she
139 shall pay to me her maidenhead ere they have it. Men shall hold of me
140 _in capite;_ and we charge and command that their wives be as free as
141 heart can wish or tongue can tell.
142 DICK.
143 My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside and take up commodities upon our
144 bills?
145 CADE.
146 Marry, presently.
147 ALL.
148 O, brave!
149 Enter one with the heads.
150 CADE.
151 But is not this braver? Let them kiss one another, for they loved well
152 when they were alive. Now part them again, lest they consult about the
153 giving up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of
154 the city until night; for with these borne before us instead of maces
155 will we ride through the streets, and at every corner have them kiss.
156 Away!
157 [_Exeunt._]