* Now show yourselves men; 'tis for liberty. * We will not leave one lord, one gentleman. * Spare none, but such as go in clouted shoon; *For they are thrifty, honest men, and such * As would (but that they dare not) take our parts. *Dick. They are all in order, and march toward us. *Cade. But then are we in order, when we are * most out of order. Come, march forward. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. Another Part of Blackheath.

Alarums. The two parties enter and fight, and both the STAFFORDS are slain.

'Cade. Where's Dick, the butcher of Ashford? Dick. Here, sir.

Cade. They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, ' and thou behavedst thyself as if thou hadst been in 'thine own slaughter-house; therefore thus will I re'ward thee,-The Lent shall be as long again as it is; and thou shalt have a license to kill for a hundred 'lacking one, a week.1

Dick. I desire no more.

* Cade. And, to speak truth, thou deservest no less. *This monument of the victory will I bear; 2 and the *bodies shall be dragged at my horse's heels, till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor's

*

* sword borne before us.

*

* Dick. If we mean to thrive and do good, break open the jails, and let out the prisoners.

1 The last two words, a week, were added by Malone from the old play It is necessary to render the passage intelligible. In the reign of Elizabeth, butchers who had interest at court, frequently obtained a dispensation to kill a certain number of beasts a week during Lent; of which indulgence, the wants of invalids who could not subsist without animal food, was made the pretence.

2 Here Cade must be supposed to take off Stafford's armor. So Holinshed:"Jack Cade, upon his victory against the Staffords, apparelled himself in sir Humphrey's brigandine, set full of gilt nails, and so in glory returned again toward London."

* Cade. Fear not that, I warrant thee. Come, let's *march towards London.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter KING HENRY, reading a supplication; the DUKE of BUCKINGHAM, and LORD SAY with him; at a distance, QUEEN MARGARET, mourning over SUFFOLK's head.

* Q. Mar. Oft have I heard—that grief softens the mind,

* And makes it fearful and degenerate;

*Think therefore on revenge, and cease to weep.
* But who can cease to weep, and look on this?
* Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast;
* But where's the body that I should embrace?

Buck. What answer makes your grace to the ' rebels' supplication?

*K. Hen. I'll send some holy bishop1 to entreat; For God forbid, so many simple souls

Should perish by the sword! And I myself,
Rather than bloody war shall cut them short,
Will parley with Jack Cade their general.—
But stay, I'll read it over once again.

*Q. Mar. Ah, barbarous villains! hath this lovely face

* Ruled, like a wandering planet, over me;

* And could it not enforce them to relent,

* That were unworthy to behold the same?

เ

K. Hen. Lord Say, Jack Cade hath sworn to have

thy head.

Say. Ay, but I hope your highness shall have his.

1 Shakspeare has here fallen into another inconsistency, by sometimes following Holinshed instead of the old play. He afterwards forgets this holy bishop; and in scene the eighth we find only Buckingham and Clifford were sent, conformably to the old play. Holinshed mentions that the archbishop of Canterbury and the duke of Buckingham were sent.

K. Hen. How now, madam? Still Lamenting, and mourning for Suffolk's death? I fear, my love, if that I had been dead,

Thou wouldest not have mourned so much for me. Q. Mar. No, my love, I should not mourn, but die for thee.

Enter a Messenger.

* K. Hen. How now! what news? why com'st thou in such haste?

Mes. The rebels are in Southwark. Fly, my

lord!

Jack Cade proclaims himself lord Mortimer, 'Descended from the duke of Clarence' house; And calls your grace usurper, openly,

And vows to crown himself in Westminster.
His army is a ragged multitude

Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless;
Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother's death
Hath given them heart and courage to proceed.

All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,

They call-false caterpillars, and intend their death. *K. Hen. O graceless men! they know not what they do.1

'Buck. My gracious lord, retire to Kenelworth, Until a power be raised to put them down.

*Q. Mar. Ah! were the duke of Suffolk now

alive,

*These Kentish rebels would be soon appeased. K. Hen. Lord Say, the traitors hate thee:

6

Therefore away with us to Kenelworth.

Say. So might your grace's person be in danger:

The sight of me is odious in their eyes;

And therefore in this city will I stay,

• And live alone as secret as I

may.

Instead of this line the old copy has :

"Go bid Buckingham and Clifford gather
An army up, and meet with the rebels."

Enter another Messenger.

* 2 Mess. Jack Cade hath gotten London bridge': the citizens

*Fly and forsake their houses;

*The rascal people, thirsting after prey,

*Join with the traitor; and they jointly swear *To spoil the city and your royal court.

*Buck. Then linger not, my lord; away, take

horse.

* K. Hen. Come, Margaret; God, our hope, will

succor us.

Q. Mar. My hope is gone, now Suffolk is deceased.

*K. Hen. Farewell, my lord; [To LORD SAY.] trust not the Kentish rebels.

6

* Buck. Trust nobody, for fear you

be betrayed.

Say. The trust I have is in mine innocence, And therefore am I bold and resolute.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. The same. The Tower.

Enter LORD SCALES, and others, on the walls. Then enter certain Citizens, below.

Scales. How now? is Jack Cade slain?

1 Cit. No, my lord, nor likely to be slain; for they have won the bridge, killing all those that withstand them. The lord mayor craves aid of your honor from the Tower, to defend the city from the rebels.

Scales. Such aid as I can spare, you shall command; But I am troubled here with them myself; The rebels have assayed to win the Tower. But get you to Smithfield, and gather head, And thither will I send you Matthew Gough. Fight for your king, your country, and your lives; And so farewell, for I must hence again.

[Exeunt

SCENE VI. The same. Cannon Street.

Enter JACK CADE and his Followers. He strikes his staff on London-stone.

Cade. Now is Mortimer lord of this city. And here, sitting upon London-stone, 1 charge and command, that, of the city's cost, the pissing-conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign. And now, henceforward, it shall be treason for any that calls me other than-lord Mortimer.

*

*

Enter a Soldier, running.

Sold. Jack Cade! Jack Cade!
Cade. Knock him down there.
*Smith. If this fellow be wise,
Jack Cade more; I think he

you

warning.

[They kill him.1

he'll never call hath a very fair

Dick. My lord, there's an army gathered together in Smithfield.

2

Cade. Come then, let's go fight with them. But, first, go and set London bridge burn down the Tower too.

can,

SCENE VII. The same.

on fire; and, if you
Come, let's
Come, let's away.

[Exeunt.

Smithfield. Alarum.

Enter, on one side, CADE and his Company; on the other, Citizens, and the King's Forces, headed by MATTHEW GOUGH.3 They fight; the Citizens are routed, and MATTHEW GOUGH is slain.

Cade. So, sirs.-Now go some and pull down the

1 "He also put to execution in Southwarke diverse persons, some for breaking this ordinance, and other being his old acquaintance, lest they should bewray his base lineage, disparaging him for his usurped name of Mortimer."-Holinshed, p. 634.

2 At that time London bridge was of wood; the houses upon it were actually burnt in this rebellion. Hall says, "he entered London, and cut the ropes of the drawbridge."

3 Holinshed calls Mathew Gough "a man of great wit and much expe