1    Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath;
2    they have been up these two days.

3    They have the more need to sleep now, then.

4    I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress
5    the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.

6    So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say it
7    was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.

8    O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men.

9    The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.

10   Nay, more, the king's council are no good workmen.

11   True; and yet it is said, labour in thy vocation;
12   which is as much to say as, let the magistrates be
13   labouring men; and therefore should we be
14   magistrates.

15   Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of a
16   brave mind than a hard hand.

17   I see them! I see them! there's Best's son, the
18   tanner of Wingham,--

19   He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make
20   dog's-leather of.

21   And Dick the Butcher,--

22   Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's
23   throat cut like a calf.

24   And Smith the weaver,--

25   Argo, their thread of life is spun.

26   Come, come, let's fall in with them.

27   We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father,--

Aside
28    Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings.

29   For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with
30   the spirit of putting down kings and princes,
31   --Command silence.

32   Silence!

33   My father was a Mortimer,--

Aside
34    He was an honest man, and a good
35   bricklayer.

36   My mother a Plantagenet,--

Aside
37    I knew her well; she was a midwife.

38   My wife descended of the Lacies,--

Aside
39    She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and
40   sold many laces.

Aside
41    But now of late, notable to travel with her
42   furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.

43   Therefore am I of an honourable house.

Aside
44    Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable;
45   and there was he borne, under a hedge, for his
46   father had never a house but the cage.

47   Valiant I am.

Aside
48    A' must needs; for beggary is valiant.

49   I am able to endure much.

Aside
50    No question of that; for I have seen him
51   whipped three market-days together.

52   I fear neither sword nor fire.

Aside
53    He need not fear the sword; for his coat is of proof.

Aside
54    But methinks he should stand in fear of
55   fire, being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep.

56   Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows
57   reformation. There shall be in England seven
58   halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped
59   pot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it felony
60   to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in
61   common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to
62   grass: and when I am king, as king I will be,--

63   God save your majesty!

64   I thank you, good people: there shall be no money;
65   all shall eat and drink on my score; and I will
66   apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree
67   like brothers and worship me their lord.

68   The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

69   Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable
70   thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should
71   be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled
72   o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings:
73   but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal
74   once to a thing, and I was never mine own man
75   since. How now! who's there?

76   The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read and
77   cast accompt.

78   O monstrous!

79   We took him setting of boys' copies.

80   Here's a villain!

81   Has a book in his pocket with red letters in't.

82   Nay, then, he is a conjurer.

83   Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.

84   I am sorry for't: the man is a proper man, of mine
85   honour; unless I find him guilty, he shall not die.
86   Come hither, sirrah, I must examine thee: what is thy name?

87   Emmanuel.

88   They use to write it on the top of letters: 'twill
89   go hard with you.

90   Let me alone. Dost thou use to write thy name? or
91   hast thou a mark to thyself, like an honest
92   plain-dealing man?

93   Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up
94   that I can write my name.

95   He hath confessed: away with him! he's a villain
96   and a traitor.

97   Away with him, I say! hang him with his pen and
98   ink-horn about his neck.

99   Where's our general?

100  Here I am, thou particular fellow.

101  Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his
102  brother are hard by, with the king's forces.

103  Stand, villain, stand, or I'll fell thee down. He
104  shall be encountered with a man as good as himself:
105  he is but a knight, is a'?

106  No.

107  To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently.
Kneels
108  Rise up Sir John Mortimer.
Rises
109  Now have at him!

110  Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent,
111  Mark'd for the gallows, lay your weapons down;
112  Home to your cottages, forsake this groom:
113  The king is merciful, if you revolt.

114  But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood,
115  If you go forward; therefore yield, or die.

116  As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not:
117  It is to you, good people, that I speak,
118  Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign;
119  For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

120  Villain, thy father was a plasterer;
121  And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?

122  And Adam was a gardener.

123  And what of that?

124  Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.
125  Married the Duke of Clarence' daughter, did he not?

126  Ay, sir.

127  By her he had two children at one birth.

128  That's false.

129  Ay, there's the question; but I say, 'tis true:
130  The elder of them, being put to nurse,
131  Was by a beggar-woman stolen away;
132  And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,
133  Became a bricklayer when he came to age:
134  His son am I; deny it, if you can.

135  Nay, 'tis too true; therefore he shall be king.

136  Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and
137  the bricks are alive at this day to testify it;
138  therefore deny it not.

139  And will you credit this base drudge's words,
140  That speaks he knows not what?

141  Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone.

142  Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.

Aside
143   He lies, for I invented it myself.
144  Go to, sirrah, tell the king from me, that, for his
145  father's sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys
146  went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content
147  he shall reign; but I'll be protector over him.

148  And furthermore, well have the Lord Say's head for
149  selling the dukedom of Maine.

150  And good reason; for thereby is England mained, and
151  fain to go with a staff, but that my puissance holds
152  it up. Fellow kings, I tell you that that Lord Say
153  hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch:
154  and more than that, he can speak French; and
155  therefore he is a traitor.

156  O gross and miserable ignorance!

157  Nay, answer, if you can: the Frenchmen are our
158  enemies; go to, then, I ask but this: can he that
159  speaks with the tongue of an enemy be a good
160  counsellor, or no?

161  No, no; and therefore we'll have his head.

162  Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,
163  Assail them with the army of the king.

164  Herald, away; and throughout every town
165  Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;
166  That those which fly before the battle ends
167  May, even in their wives' and children's sight,
168  Be hang'd up for example at their doors:
169  And you that be the king's friends, follow me.

170  And you that love the commons, follow me.
171  Now show yourselves men; 'tis for liberty.
172  We will not leave one lord, one gentleman:
173  Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon;
174  For they are thrifty honest men, and such
175  As would, but that they dare not, take our parts.

176  They are all in order and march toward us.

177  But then are we in order when we are most
178  out of order. Come, march forward.