Henry VI, Part II by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 2
Blackheath.
George Bevis : Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath;
[p]they have been
up these two days.
John Holland : They have the more need to sleep now, then.
George Bevis : I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress
[p]the
commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
John Holland : So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say it
[p]was never merry
world in England since gentlemen came up.
George Bevis : O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men.
John Holland : The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
George Bevis : Nay, more, the king's council are no good workmen.
John Holland : True; and yet it is said, labour in thy vocation;
[p]which is as much
to say as, let the magistrates be
[p]labouring men; and therefore
should we be
[p]magistrates.
George Bevis : Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of a
[p]brave mind than a
hard hand.
John Holland : I see them! I see them! there's Best's son, the
[p]tanner of
Wingham,--
George Bevis : He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make
[p]dog's-leather of.
John Holland : And Dick the Butcher,--
George Bevis : Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's
[p]throat cut like
a calf.
John Holland : And Smith the weaver,--
George Bevis : Argo, their thread of life is spun.
John Holland : Come, come, let's fall in with them.
[p][Drum. Enter CADE, DICK the
Butcher, SMITH the]
[p]Weaver, and a Sawyer, with infinite numbers]
Jack Cade : We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father,--
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings.
Jack Cade : For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with
[p]the spirit of
putting down kings and princes,
[p]--Command silence.
Dick the Butcher : Silence!
Jack Cade : My father was a Mortimer,--
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] He was an honest man, and a good
[p]bricklayer.
Jack Cade : My mother a Plantagenet,--
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] I knew her well; she was a midwife.
Jack Cade : My wife descended of the Lacies,--
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and
[p]sold many laces.
Smith the Weaver : [Aside] But now of late, notable to travel with her
[p]furred pack,
she washes bucks here at home.
Jack Cade : Therefore am I of an honourable house.
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable;
[p]and there was he
borne, under a hedge, for his
[p]father had never a house but the
cage.
Jack Cade : Valiant I am.
Smith the Weaver : [Aside] A' must needs; for beggary is valiant.
Jack Cade : I am able to endure much.
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] No question of that; for I have seen him
[p]whipped three
market-days together.
Jack Cade : I fear neither sword nor fire.
Smith the Weaver : [Aside] He need not fear the sword; for his coat is of proof.
Dick the Butcher : [Aside] But methinks he should stand in fear of
[p]fire, being burnt
i' the hand for stealing of sheep.
Jack Cade : Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows
[p]reformation.
There shall be in England seven
[p]halfpenny loaves sold for a penny:
the three-hooped
[p]pot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it
felony
[p]to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in
[p]common;
and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to
[p]grass: and when I am king,
as king I will be,--
All : God save your majesty!
Jack Cade : I thank you, good people: there shall be no money;
[p]all shall eat
and drink on my score; and I will
[p]apparel them all in one livery,
that they may agree
[p]like brothers and worship me their lord.
Dick the Butcher : The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
Jack Cade : Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable
[p]thing, that of the
skin of an innocent lamb should
[p]be made parchment? that parchment,
being scribbled
[p]o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee
stings:
[p]but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal
[p]once
to a thing, and I was never mine own man
[p]since. How now! who's
there?
Smith the Weaver : The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read and
[p]cast accompt.
Jack Cade : O monstrous!
Smith the Weaver : We took him setting of boys' copies.
Jack Cade : Here's a villain!
Smith the Weaver : Has a book in his pocket with red letters in't.
Jack Cade : Nay, then, he is a conjurer.
Dick the Butcher : Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.
Jack Cade : I am sorry for't: the man is a proper man, of mine
[p]honour; unless I
find him guilty, he shall not die.
[p]Come hither, sirrah, I must
examine thee: what is thy name?
Clerk of Chatham : Emmanuel.
Dick the Butcher : They use to write it on the top of letters: 'twill
[p]go hard with
you.
Jack Cade : Let me alone. Dost thou use to write thy name? or
[p]hast thou a mark
to thyself, like an honest
[p]plain-dealing man?
Clerk of Chatham : Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up
[p]that I can write
my name.
All : He hath confessed: away with him! he's a villain
[p]and a traitor.
Jack Cade : Away with him, I say! hang him with his pen and
[p]ink-horn about his
neck.
Michael : Where's our general?
Jack Cade : Here I am, thou particular fellow.
Michael : Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his
[p]brother are hard by,
with the king's forces.
Jack Cade : Stand, villain, stand, or I'll fell thee down. He
[p]shall be
encountered with a man as good as himself:
[p]he is but a knight, is
a'?
Michael : No.
Jack Cade : To equal him, I will make myself a knight
presently.
[p][Kneels]
[p]Rise up Sir John Mortimer.
[p][Rises]
[p]Now
have at him!
[p][Enter SIR HUMPHREY and WILLIAM STAFFORD,
with]
[p]drum and soldiers]
Sir Humphrey Stafford : Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent,
[p]Mark'd for the
gallows, lay your weapons down;
[p]Home to your cottages, forsake this
groom:
[p]The king is merciful, if you revolt.
William Stafford : But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood,
[p]If you go forward;
therefore yield, or die.
Jack Cade : As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not:
[p]It is to you, good
people, that I speak,
[p]Over whom, in time to come, I hope to
reign;
[p]For I am rightful heir unto the crown.
Sir Humphrey Stafford : Villain, thy father was a plasterer;
[p]And thou thyself a shearman,
art thou not?
Jack Cade : And Adam was a gardener.
William Stafford : And what of that?
Jack Cade : Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.
[p]Married the Duke of
Clarence' daughter, did he not?
Sir Humphrey Stafford : Ay, sir.
Jack Cade : By her he had two children at one birth.
William Stafford : That's false.
Jack Cade : Ay, there's the question; but I say, 'tis true:
[p]The elder of them,
being put to nurse,
[p]Was by a beggar-woman stolen away;
[p]And,
ignorant of his birth and parentage,
[p]Became a bricklayer when he
came to age:
[p]His son am I; deny it, if you can.
Dick the Butcher : Nay, 'tis too true; therefore he shall be king.
Smith the Weaver : Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and
[p]the bricks are
alive at this day to testify it;
[p]therefore deny it not.
Sir Humphrey Stafford : And will you credit this base drudge's words,
[p]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.
Jack Cade : [Aside] He lies, for I invented it myself.
[p]Go to, sirrah, tell the
king from me, that, for his
[p]father's sake, Henry the Fifth, in
whose time boys
[p]went to span-counter for French crowns, I am
content
[p]he shall reign; but I'll be protector over him.
Dick the Butcher : And furthermore, well have the Lord Say's head for
[p]selling the
dukedom of Maine.
Jack Cade : And good reason; for thereby is England mained, and
[p]fain to go with
a staff, but that my puissance holds
[p]it up. Fellow kings, I tell
you that that Lord Say
[p]hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an
eunuch:
[p]and more than that, he can speak French; and
[p]therefore
he is a traitor.
Sir Humphrey Stafford : O gross and miserable ignorance!
Jack Cade : Nay, answer, if you can: the Frenchmen are our
[p]enemies; go to,
then, I ask but this: can he that
[p]speaks with the tongue of an
enemy be a good
[p]counsellor, or no?
All : No, no; and therefore we'll have his head.
William Stafford : Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,
[p]Assail them with the
army of the king.
Sir Humphrey Stafford : Herald, away; and throughout every town
[p]Proclaim them traitors that
are up with Cade;
[p]That those which fly before the battle
ends
[p]May, even in their wives' and children's sight,
[p]Be hang'd
up for example at their doors:
[p]And you that be the king's friends,
follow me.
Jack Cade : And you that love the commons, follow me.
[p]Now show yourselves men;
'tis for liberty.
[p]We will not leave one lord, one
gentleman:
[p]Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon;
[p]For they
are thrifty honest men, and such
[p]As would, but that they dare not,
take our parts.
Dick the Butcher : They are all in order and march toward us.
Jack Cade : But then are we in order when we are most
[p]out of order. Come, march
forward.
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Next: Act 4 - Scene 3
