first, go and set London-bridge on fire; and, if you can, burn down the Tower too. Come, let's away. [Exeunt. Alarum, Enter, on one side, CADE and his Company; on the other, Citizens, and the King's Forces, headed by MATTHEW GOUGH. They fight; the Citizens are routed, and MATTHEW GOUGH is slain. Cade. So, sirs :-Now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to the inns of court; down with them all. Dick. I have a suit unto your lordship. Cade. Be it a lordship thou shalt have it for that word. Dick. Only, that the laws of England may come ' out of your mouth. 'John. Mass, 'twill be sore law then; for he was thrust in the mouth with a spear, and 'tis not ⚫ whole yet. [Aside. 'Smith. Nay, John, it will be stinking law; for 'his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese. [Aside. Cade. I have thought upon it, it shall be so, Away, burn all the records of the realm; my ? mouth shall be the parliament of England. *John. Then we are like to have biting statutes, * unless his teeth be pulled out. [Aside. * Cade. And henceforward all things shall be in * common. Enter a Messenger. 'Mess. My lord, a prize, a prize! here's the lord Say, which sold the towns in France; * he that * made us pay one and twenty fifteens,' and one * shilling to the pound, the last subsidy. Enter GEORGE BEVIS, with the Lord SAY. 'Cade. Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times. -Ah, thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram 'lord! now art thou within point-blank of our juris'diction regal. What canst thou answer to my ma'jesty, for giving up of Normandy unto monsieur Basimecu, the dauphin of France? Be it known 'unto thee by these presence, even the presence of lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must 'sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of 'the realm, in erecting a grammar-school: and 'whereas, before, our fore-fathers had no other 'books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused 'printing to be used; and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. 'It will be proved to thy face, that thou hast men ' about thee, that usually talk of a noun, and a ' verb; and such abominable words, as no Chris'tian ear can endure to hear. Thou hast appointed A fifteen was the fifteenth part of all the moveables, or personal property of each subject. 2 Say was a kind of serge. 'justices of peace, to call poor men before them ⚫ about matters they were not able to answer. MoreI over, thou hast put them in prison; and because they could not read, thou hast hanged them ;3 when, indeed, only for that cause they have been 'most worthy to live. Thou dost ride on a footcloth,4 4 dost thou not? Say. What of that? Cade. Marry, thou oughtest not to let thy horse wear a cloak, when honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets. * Dick. And work in their shirt too; as myself, * for example, that am a butcher. Say. You men of Kent,— Dick. What say you of Kent? Say. Nothing but this: 'Tis bona terra, mala gens. Cade. Away with him, away with him! he 'speaks Latin. *Say. Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will. Kent, in the commentaries Cæsar writ, ' Is term'd the civil'st place of all this isle : * Yet, to recover them, would lose my life. 3ie. They were hanged because they could not claim the benefit of clergy. 4 A foot-cloth was a kind of housing, which covered the body of the horse. * Justice with favour have I always done; Prayers and tears have mov'd me, gifts could never. * When have I aught exacted at your hands, * Kent to maintain, the king, the realm, and you? * Large gifts have I bestow'd on learned clerks, * Because my book preferr'd me to the king: * And-seeing ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to hea * ven, * Unless you be possess'd with devilish spirits, * You cannot but forbear to murder me. * This tongue hath parley'd unto foreign kings your behoof, * Cade. Tut! when struck'st thou one blow in the * field? * Say. Great men have reaching hands: oft have I struck * Those that I never saw, and struck them dead. *Geo. O monstrous coward! what, to come behind folks? * Say. These cheeks are pale for watching for your good. *Cade. Give him a box o'the ear, and that will * make 'em red again. * Say. Long sitting to determine poor men's causes Hath made me full of sickness and diseases. *Cade. Ye shall have a hempen caudle then, and *the pap of a hatchet. 'Dick. Why dost thou quiver, man ? Say. The palsy, and not fear, provoketh me. say, Cade. Nay, he nods at us; as who should 'I'll be even with you. I'll see if his head will stand 'steadier on a pole, or no: Take him away, and 'behead him. * Say. Tell me, wherein I have offended most? * Have I affected wealth, or honour; speak? * Are my chests fill'd up with extorted gold? * Is my apparel sumptuous to behold? * Whom have I injur'd, that ye seek my death? *These hands are free from guiltless blood-shed * This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts. O, let me live! *Cade. I feel remorse in myself with his words: but I'll bridle it; he shall die, an it be but for * pleading so well for his life. Away with him! he * has a familiar 7 under his tongue; he speaks not o'God's name. 6 Go, take him away, I say, and ' strike off his head presently; and then break into his son-in-law's house, sir James Cromer, and ' strike off his head, and bring them both upon two 'poles hither. All. It shall be done. *Say. Ah, countrymen! if when you make your prayers, * God should be so obdurate as yourselves, * How would it fare with your departed souls? * And therefore yet relent, and save my life. * Cade. Away with him, and do as I command ye. [Exeunt some, with Lord SAY. 6 i. e. These hands are free from shedding guiltless or innocent blood. 7 A dæmon who was supposed to attend at call. |