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Henry VI, Pt. 2: Act IV, Scene 7

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Henry VI, Pt. 2
Act IV, Scene 7

London. Smithfield.

Lord Saye and Sele brought before Jack Cade 4th July 1450

Lord Saye and Sele brought before Jack Cade 4th July 1450

Charles Lucy, unknown date

  1. Alarums. Matthew Goffe is slain, and all the rest.
  1. Then enter Jack Cade with his company.

Jack Cade

1 - 2
  1. So, sirs. Now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to th’
  2. Inns of Court; down with them all.

Dick the Butcher

3
  1. I have a suit unto your lordship.

Jack Cade

4
  1. Be it a lordship, thou shalt have it for that word.

Dick the Butcher

5
  1. Only that the laws of England may come out of your mouth.

John Holland

6 - 7
  1. Aside.
  2. Mass, ’twill be sore law then, for he was thrust in the
  3. mouth with a spear, and ’tis not whole yet.

Smith the Weaver

8 - 9
  1. Aside.
  2. Nay, John, it will be stinking law, for his breath stinks
  3. with eating toasted cheese.

Jack Cade

10 - 12
  1. I have thought upon it, it shall be so. Away, burn all the
  2. records of the realm, my mouth shall be the parliament of
  3. England.

John Holland

13 - 14
  1. Aside.
  2. Then we are like to have biting statutes, unless his teeth
  3. be pull’d out.

Jack Cade

15
  1. And henceforward all things shall be in common.
  1. Enter a Rebel Messenger.

Rebel Messenger

16 - 18
  1. My lord, a prize, a prize! Here’s the Lord Say, which sold
  2. the towns in France; he that made us pay one and twenty
  3. fifteens, and one shilling to the pound, the last subsidy.
  1. Enter George Bevis with the Lord Say.

Jack Cade

19 - 39
  1. Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times. Ah, thou say,
  2. thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord! Now art thou within
  3. point-blank of our jurisdiction regal. What canst thou
  4. answer to my Majesty for giving up of Normandy unto
  5. mounsieur Basimecu, the Dauphin of France? Be it known unto
  6. thee by these presence, even the presence of Lord Mortimer,
  7. that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such
  8. filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the
  9. youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and
  10. whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the
  11. score and the tally, thou hast caus’d printing to be us’d,
  12. and, contrary to the King, his crown, and dignity, thou hast
  13. built a paper-mill. It will be prov’d to thy face that thou
  14. hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb,
  15. and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to
  16. hear. Thou hast appointed justices of peace, to call poor
  17. men before them about matters they were not able to answer.
  18. Moreover, thou hast put them in prison, and because they
  19. could not read, thou hast hang’d them, when, indeed, only
  20. for that cause they have been most worthy to live. Thou dost
  21. ride in a foot-cloth, dost thou not?

Lord Say

40
  1. What of that?

Jack Cade

41 - 42
  1. Marry, thou oughtst not to let thy horse wear a cloak, when
  2. honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets.

Dick the Butcher

43 - 44
  1. And work in their shirt too, as myself, for example, that am
  2. a butcher.

Lord Say

45
  1. You men of Kent—

Dick the Butcher

46
  1. What say you of Kent?

Lord Say

47
  1. Nothing but this; ’tis “bona terra, mala gens.”

Jack Cade

48
  1. Away with him, away with him! He speaks Latin.

Lord Say

49 - 68
  1. Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will.
  2. Kent, in the Commentaries Caesar writ,
  3. Is term’d the civill’st place of all this isle:
  4. Sweet is the country, because full of riches,
  5. The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy,
  6. Which makes me hope you are not void of pity.
  7. I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy,
  8. Yet to recover them would lose my life.
  9. Justice with favor have I always done;
  10. Pray’rs and tears have mov’d me, gifts could never.
  11. When have I aught exacted at your hands,
  12. But to maintain the King, the realm, and you?
  13. Large gifts have I bestow’d on learned clerks,
  14. Because my book preferr’d me to the King;
  15. And seeing ignorance is the curse of God,
  16. Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven,
  17. Unless you be possess’d with devilish spirits
  18. You cannot but forbear to murder me.
  19. This tongue hath parley’d unto foreign kings
  20. For your behoof—
Jack Cade and Lord Say

I feel remorse in myself with his words; but I’ll bridle it.

Jack Cade and Lord Say

R. S. Marriott, William Ralston, late 19th century

Jack Cade

69
  1. Tut, when struck’st thou one blow in the field?

Lord Say

70 - 71
  1. Great men have reaching hands; oft have I struck
  2. Those that I never saw, and struck them dead.

George Bevis

72
  1. O monstrous coward! What, to come behind folks?

Lord Say

73
  1. These cheeks are pale for watching for your good.

Jack Cade

74
  1. Give him a box o’ th’ ear, and that will make ’em red again.

Lord Say

75 - 76
  1. Long sitting to determine poor men’s causes
  2. Hath made me full of sickness and diseases.

Jack Cade

77
  1. Ye shall have a hempen caudle then, and the help of hatchet.

Dick the Butcher

78
  1. Why dost thou quiver, man?

Lord Say

79
  1. The palsy, and not fear, provokes me.

Jack Cade

80 - 82
  1. Nay, he nods at us, as who should say, I’ll be even with
  2. you. I’ll see if his head will stand steadier on a pole, or
  3. no. Take him away, and behead him.

Lord Say

83 - 90
  1. Tell me: wherein have I offended most?
  2. Have I affected wealth or honor? Speak.
  3. Are my chests fill’d up with extorted gold?
  4. Is my apparel sumptuous to behold?
  5. Whom have I injur’d that ye seek my death?
  6. These hands are free from guiltless blood-shedding,
  7. This breast from harboring foul deceitful thoughts.
  8. O, let me live!

Jack Cade

91 - 97
  1. Aside.
  2. I feel remorse in myself with his words; but I’ll bridle it.
  3. He shall die, and it be but for pleading so well for his
  4. life.—Away with him, he has a familiar under his tongue, he
  5. speaks not a’ God’s name. Go, take him away I say, and
  6. strike off his head presently, and then break into his
  7. son-in-law’s house, Sir James Cromer, and strike off his
  8. head, and bring them both upon two poles hither.

All

98
  1. It shall be done.

Lord Say

99 - 102
  1. Ah, countrymen! If when you make your pray’rs,
  2. God should be so obdurate as yourselves,
  3. How would it fare with your departed souls?
  4. And therefore yet relent, and save my life.

Jack Cade

103 - 109
  1. Away with him, and do as I command ye.
  2. Exeunt some with the Lord Say.
  3. The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his
  4. shoulders, unless he pay me tribute. There shall not a maid
  5. be married, but she shall pay to me her maidenhead ere they
  6. have it. Men shall hold of me in capite; and we charge and
  7. command that their wives be as free as heart can wish or
  8. tongue can tell.

Dick the Butcher

110 - 111
  1. My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside and take up
  2. commodities upon our bills?

Jack Cade

112
  1. Marry, presently.

All

113
  1. O, brave!
  1. Enter one with the heads of Say and Cromer upon two poles.

Jack Cade

114 - 120
  1. But is not this braver? Let them kiss one another, for they
  2. lov’d well when they were alive. Now part them again, lest
  3. they consult about the giving up of some more towns in
  4. France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of the city until night;
  5. for with these borne before us, in stead of maces, will we
  6. ride through the streets, and at every corner have them
  7. kiss. Away!
  1. Exeunt.
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