He shall die, an it be but for pleading so well for his life. Take him away and strike off his head presently.

Cade's rule was as short as shameful: the royal commanders offered pardon to his men, which they accepted, their leader branding them upon their withdrawal as:

Recreants and dastards, who delight to live in. slavery to the nobility: my sword make way for me, for here is no staying.

He made a safe retreat to a place of concealment, but after several days of fasting, hunger-the gaunt ally of the sword-drove him to enter a garden in search of something to eat. Set upon by the master of the house he is slain, using his last breath in framing

a message:

Tell Kent from me she hath lost her best man; and exhort all the world to be cowards.

His experience had taught him that valor was not profitable.

It was not the fortune of this king to be long at ease, though for that state he was well fitted. Close upon the heels of the messenger who announced the collapse of Cade's attempt at revolution pressed another who checked the swelling tide of Henry's gratitude to Heaven by the news:

The Duke of York is newly come from Ireland,
Is marching hitherward in proud array,

And still proclaimeth, as he comes along,

His arms are only to remove from thee

The Duke of Somerset, whom he terms a traitor.

Thereupon the king fixed a trap into which a wary man would not have marched, but in it York was taken:

Tell him I'll send Duke Edmund to the Tower:
And, Somerset, we will commit thee thither,
Until his army be dismissed from him.

When York was told that his old enemy was a prisoner he dismissed his forces. He was then himself arrested for high treason, and so was in the trap; but in the nick of time, to which the dramatist knows so well how to bring the dial's point, the three sons of York with forces, also Salisbury and Warwick, appeared upon the scene and bore him away. Soon the battle of St. Albans was fought. The leaders on the king's side were the Cliffords, father and son, and the Duke of Somerset; on the other were the Yorkist chiefs already named. York slays the elder Clifford ; Richard Plantagenet, a son of York, kills Somerset. The queen hurries Henry off toward London, he objecting :

Can we outrun the Heavens? good Margaret, stay. His meaning was that the fates were against him, and would not be left behind by the swiftest flight.

Queen. What are you made of? you'll nor fight nor
fly.

If you be ta'en, we then shall see the bottom
Of all our fortunes.

The Yorkists stood not upon delay, but followed

at once.

Warwick. After them! nay, before them, if we

can.

Now, by my faith, lords, 'twas a glorious day:
Saint Albans battle, won by famous York,
Shall be eternised in all age to come.

We next see them in London in possession of the parliament house :

York. The Queen, this day, here holds her parliament

But little thinks we shall be of her council.

Rich. Arm'd as we are, let's stay within this house. War. I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares;

Resolve thee, Richard, claim the English crown.

A flourish of trumpets announces the coming of King Henry and lords with red roses in their hats.

King. My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits, Even in the chair of state.

And he very correctly inferred that, backed by Warwick, the Duke of York meant to be king. "Let's pluck him down," said Westmoreland. "Be patient," said Henry.

"He durst not sit there, had your father lived," prodded Clifford. The deadliest weapons which the king could be urged to allow were "frowns, words, and threats"; of these, on either side, there was no