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Henry VI, Pt. 2: Act IV, Scene 2

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Henry VI, Pt. 2
Act IV, Scene 2

Blackheath.

He hath confess’d! Away with him! He’s a villain and a traitor.

J. Coles, Thos. Macklin Poets Gallery, Henry William Bunbury, 1795

  1. Enter George Bevis and John Holland with long staves.

George Bevis

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

John Holland

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

George Bevis

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

John Holland

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

George Bevis

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

John Holland

9
  1. The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.

George Bevis

10
  1. Nay more, the King’s Council are no good workmen.

John Holland

11 - 13
  1. True; and yet it is said, labor in thy vocation; which is as
  2. much to say as, let the magistrates be laboring men; and
  3. therefore should we be magistrates.

George Bevis

14 - 15
  1. Thou hast hit it; for there’s no better sign of a brave mind
  2. than a hard hand.

John Holland

16 - 17
  1. I see them, I see them! There’s Best’s son, the tanner of
  2. Wingham—

George Bevis

18 - 19
  1. He shall have the skins of our enemies, to make
  2. dog’s-leather of.

John Holland

20
  1. And Dick the butcher—

George Bevis

21 - 22
  1. Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity’s throat
  2. cut like a calf.

John Holland

23
  1. And Smith the weaver—

George Bevis

24
  1. Argo, their thread of life is spun.

John Holland

25
  1. Come, come, let’s fall in with them.
  1. Drum. Enter Cade, Dick butcher, Smith the weaver, and a
  2. Sawyer, with infinite numbers, with long staves.

Jack Cade

26
  1. We John Cade, so term’d of our suppos’d father—

Dick the Butcher

27
  1. Aside.
  2. Or rather of stealing a cade of herrings.

Jack Cade

28 - 29
  1. For our enemies shall fall before us, inspir’d with the
  2. spirit of putting down kings and princes—command silence.

Dick the Butcher

30
  1. Silence!

Jack Cade

31
  1. My father was a Mortimer—

Dick the Butcher

32
  1. Aside.
  2. He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer.

Jack Cade

33
  1. My mother a Plantagenet—

Dick the Butcher

34
  1. Aside.
  2. I knew her well, she was a midwife.

Jack Cade

35
  1. My wife descended of the Lacies—

Dick the Butcher

36
  1. Aside.
  2. She was indeed a pedlar’s daughter, and sold many laces.

Smith the Weaver

37 - 38
  1. Aside.
  2. But now of late, not able to travel with her furr’d pack,
  3. she washes bucks here at home.

Jack Cade

39
  1. Therefore am I of an honorable house.

Dick the Butcher

40 - 42
  1. Aside.
  2. Ay, by my faith, the field is honorable, and there was he
  3. born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house but
  4. the cage.

Jack Cade

43
  1. Valiant I am.

Smith the Weaver

44
  1. Aside.
  2. ’A must needs, for beggary is valiant.

Jack Cade

45
  1. I am able to endure much.

Dick the Butcher

46 - 47
  1. Aside.
  2. No question of that; for I have seen him whipt three
  3. market-days together.

Jack Cade

48
  1. I fear neither sword nor fire.

Smith the Weaver

49
  1. Aside.
  2. He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.

Dick the Butcher

50 - 51
  1. Aside.
  2. But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i’
  3. th’ hand for stealing of sheep.

Jack Cade

52 - 57
  1. Be brave then, for your captain is brave, and vows
  2. reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny
  3. loaves sold for a penny; the three-hoop’d pot shall have ten
  4. hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All
  5. the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my
  6. palfrey go to grass; and when I am king, as king I will be—

All

58
  1. God save your Majesty!

Jack Cade

59 - 62
  1. I thank you, good people—there shall be no money; all shall
  2. eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in
  3. one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship
  4. me their lord.

Dick the Butcher

63
  1. The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

Jack Cade

64 - 69
  1. Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that
  2. of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment?
  3. That parchment, being scribbled o’er, should undo a man?
  4. Some say the bee stings, but I say, ’tis the bee’s wax; for
  5. I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man
  6. since. How now? Who’s there?
  1. Enter one with a Clerk.

Smith the Weaver

70 - 71
  1. The clerk of Chatham. He can write and read and cast
  2. accompt.

Jack Cade

72
  1. O monstrous!

Smith the Weaver

73
  1. We took him setting of boys’ copies.

Jack Cade

74
  1. Here’s a villain!

Smith the Weaver

75
  1. H’as a book in his pocket with red letters in’t.

Jack Cade

76
  1. Nay, then he is a conjurer.

Dick the Butcher

77
  1. Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand.

Jack Cade

78 - 80
  1. I am sorry for’t. The man is a proper man, of mine honor;
  2. unless I find him guilty, he shall not die. Come hither,
  3. sirrah, I must examine thee. What is thy name?

Clerk of Chatham

81
  1. Emmanuel.

Dick the Butcher

82 - 83
  1. They use to write it on the top of letters; ’twill go hard
  2. with you.

Jack Cade

84 - 85
  1. Let me alone. Dost thou use to write thy name? Or hast thou
  2. a mark to thyself, like a honest plain-dealing man?

Clerk of Chatham

86 - 87
  1. Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up that I can
  2. write my name.

All

88 - 89
  1. He hath confess’d! Away with him! He’s a villain and a
  2. traitor.

Jack Cade

90 - 91
  1. Away with him, I say! Hang him with his pen and inkhorn
  2. about his neck.
  1. Exit one with the Clerk of Chatham.
  1. Enter Michael.

Michael

92
  1. Where’s our general?

Jack Cade

93
  1. Here I am, thou particular fellow.

Michael

94 - 95
  1. Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are
  2. hard by, with the King’s forces.

Jack Cade

96 - 98
  1. Stand, villain, stand, or I’ll fell thee down. He shall be
  2. encount’red with a man as good as himself. He is but a
  3. knight, is ’a?

Michael

99
  1. No.

Jack Cade

100 - 102
  1. To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently.
  2. Kneels.
  3. Rise up Sir John Mortimer.
  4. Rises.
  5. Now have at him!
  1. Enter Sir Humphrey Stafford and his Brother with Drum and
  2. Soldiers.

Sir Humphrey Stafford

103 - 106
  1. Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent,
  2. Mark’d for the gallows, lay your weapons down,
  3. Home to your cottages, forsake this groom:
  4. The King is merciful, if you revolt.

William Stafford

107 - 108
  1. But angry, wrathful, and inclin’d to blood,
  2. If you go forward; therefore yield, or die.

Jack Cade

109 - 112
  1. As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not,
  2. It is to you, good people, that I speak,
  3. Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign,
  4. For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

Sir Humphrey Stafford

113 - 114
  1. Villain, thy father was a plasterer,
  2. And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?

Jack Cade

115
  1. And Adam was a gardener.

William Stafford

116
  1. And what of that?

Jack Cade

117 - 118
  1. Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March,
  2. Married the Duke of Clarence’ daughter, did he not?

Sir Humphrey Stafford

119
  1. Ay, sir.

Jack Cade

120
  1. By her he had two children at one birth.

William Stafford

121
  1. That’s false.

Jack Cade

122 - 127
  1. Ay, there’s the question; but I say, ’tis true.
  2. The elder of them, being put to nurse,
  3. Was by a beggar-woman stol’n away,
  4. And ignorant of his birth and parentage,
  5. Became a bricklayer when he came to age.
  6. His son am I, deny it if you can.

Dick the Butcher

128
  1. Nay, ’tis too true; therefore he shall be king.

Smith the Weaver

129 - 130
  1. Sir, he made a chimney in my father’s house, and the bricks
  2. are alive at this day to testify it; therefore deny it not.

Sir Humphrey Stafford

131 - 132
  1. And will you credit this base drudge’s words,
  2. That speaks he knows not what?

All

133
  1. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone.

William Stafford

134
  1. Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.

Jack Cade

135 - 138
  1. Aside.
  2. He lies, for I invented it myself.—Go to, sirrah, tell the
  3. King from me, that, for his father’s sake, Henry the Fifth
  4. (in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns),
  5. I am content he shall reign, but I’ll be Protector over him.

Dick the Butcher

139 - 140
  1. And furthermore, we’ll have the Lord Say’s head for selling
  2. the dukedom of Maine.

Jack Cade

141 - 145
  1. And good reason; for thereby is England main’d, and fain to
  2. go with a staff, but that my puissance holds it up. Fellow
  3. kings, I tell you that that Lord Say hath gelded the
  4. commonwealth, and made it an eunuch; and more than that, he
  5. can speak French, and therefore he is a traitor.

Sir Humphrey Stafford

146
  1. O gross and miserable ignorance!

Jack Cade

147 - 149
  1. Nay, answer if you can. The Frenchmen are our enemies. Go to
  2. then, I ask but this: can he that speaks with the tongue of
  3. an enemy be a good counsellor, or no?

All

150
  1. No, no, and therefore we’ll have his head.

William Stafford

151 - 152
  1. Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,
  2. Assail them with the army of the King.

Sir Humphrey Stafford

153 - 158
  1. Herald, away, and throughout every town
  2. Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade,
  3. That those which fly before the battle ends
  4. May, even in their wives’ and children’s sight,
  5. Be hang’d up for example at their doors.
  6. And you that be the King’s friends, follow me.
  1. Exit with his Brother and Men.

Jack Cade

159 - 164
  1. And you that love the commons, follow me.
  2. Now show yourselves men, ’tis for liberty.
  3. We will not leave one lord, one gentleman;
  4. Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon,
  5. For they are thrifty honest men, and such
  6. As would (but that they dare not) take our parts.

Dick the Butcher

165
  1. They are all in order, and march toward us.

Jack Cade

166 - 167
  1. But then are we in order when we are most out of order.
  2. Come, march forward.
  1. Exeunt.
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