Cade. Here I am, thou particular fellow.. Mich. Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are hard by, with the king's forces.

Cade. Stand, villain, ftand, or I'll fell thee down: He fhall be encounter'd with a man as good as himself: He is but a knight, is a'?

Mich. No.

Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight prefently; Rife up fir John Mortimer. Now have at him. Is there any more of them that be knights? Mich. Ay, his brother.

Cade. Then kneel down, Dick Butcher; Rife up Sir Dick Butcher. Now found up the drum. Enter Sir HUMPHREY STAFFORD, and his Brother, with Drum and Soldiers.

Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, Mark'd for the gallows-lay your weapons down, Home to your cottages, forfake this groom;The king is merciful, if you revolt.

Y. Staf. Butangry, wrathful, and inclin❜d to blood, If you go forward: therefore yield, or die.

Cade. As for thefe filken-coated flaves, I pafs not; It is to you, good people, that I speak, O'er whom, in time to come, I hope to reign; For I am rightful heir unto the crown.

Staf. Villain, thy father was a Plasterer; And thou thyfelf, a Shearman, Art thou not? Cade. And Adam was a Gardener.

r. Staf. And what of that?

Cade. Marry, this :-Edmund Mortimer, earl of March,

Married the duke of Clarence' daughter; Did he not? Staf. Ay, fir.

Cade,

Cade. By her he had two children at one birth. Y. Staf. That's falfe.

Cade. Ay, there's the queftion; but, I fay, 'tis true: The elder of them, being put to nurse, Was by a beggar-woman ftol'n away; And, ignorant of his birth and parentage, Became a Bricklayer, when he came to age: His fon am I; deny it, if you can?

Dick. Nay, 'tis too true; therefore he fhall be king.

Smith. Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it; therefore, deny it not.

Staf. And will you credit this bafe drudge's words, That fpeaks he knows not what?

All. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get you gone. Y.Staf. Jack Cade, the duke of York hath taught you this.

Cade. He lies, for I invented it myself. [Afide.] -Go, to, firrah, tell the king from me, thatfor his father's fake, Henry the fifth, in whofe time boys went to fpan-counter for French crowns -I am content he shall reign; but I'll be protector over him.

Dick. And, furthermore, we'll have the lord Say's head, for felling the dukedom of Maine.

Cade. And good reafon; for thereby is England maim'd and fain to go with a ftaff, but that my puiffance holds it up. Fellow kings, I tell you, that that lord Say hath gelded the common-wealth, and made it an eunuch: and more than that, he can fpeak French, and therefore he is a traitor.

Staf. O grofs and miferable ignorance!
Cade. Nay, anfwer, if you can: the Frenchmen

are

are our enemies: go to then, I ask but this; Can he that speaks with the tongue of an enemy, be a good counsellor, or no?

All. No, no; and therefore we'll have his head, Y. Staf. Well, feeing gentle words will not prevail, Affail them with the army of the king.

Staf. Herald, away: and, throughout every town. Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade; I That thofe, which fly before the battle ends, May, even in their wives' and childrens' fight, Be hang'd up for example at their doors :And you, that be the king's friends, follow me.

[Exeunt the two STAFFORDS, with their Train. Cade. And you, that love the commons, follow

me.

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

SCENE III. Another Part of the Field.

The Parties fight, and both the STAFFORDS are flain.
Re-enter CADE, and the Reft.

Cade. Where's Dick, the Butcher of Afhford?
Dick. Here, fir.

Cade. They fell before thee like fheep and oxen, and thou behav'dft thyself as if thou hadft been in thine own flaughter-houfe; therefore thus I will reward thee-The Lent fhall be as long again as

it

it is; and thou fhalt have a licence to kill for a hundred lacking one.

Dick. I defire no more.

Cade. And, to fpeak truth, thou deferv'ft no less. This monument of the victory will I bear; and the bodies fhall be dragg'd at my horfe' heels 'till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor's fword borne before us.

Dick. If we mean to thrive and do good, break open the gaols and let out the prifoners.

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

SCENE IV. Black-Heath.

Enter King HENRY with a Supplication, and Queen MARGARET with SUFFOLK's Head; the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, and the Lord SAY.

2. Mar. Oft have I heard-that grief softens
the mind,

And makes it fearful and degenerate;
Think therefore on revenge, and ceafe to weep.
But who can ceafe to weep, and look on this?
Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast:
But where's the body that I fhould embrace?

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

K. Henry. I'll fend fome holy bishop to entreat: For God forbid, fo many fimple fouls Should perifh by the fword! And I myself, Rather than bloody war fhould cut them fhort, Will parley with Jack Cade their general.— But ftay, I'll read it over once again.

2. Mar. Ah, barbarous villains! hath this lovely Rul'd, like a wandering planet, over me; [face And could it not enforce them to relent,

That were unworthy to behold the fame?

K. Henry. Lord Say, Jack Cade have sworn to
have thy head.

Say. Ay, but I hope your highnefs fhall have his.
K. Henry. How now, madam?

Lamenting ftill, and mourning Suffolk's death?
I fear, my love, if that I had been dead,
Thou wouldest not have mourn'd so much for me.
2. Mar. No, my love, I fhould not mourn, but
die for thee.

Enter a Messenger.

K. Henry. How now ! what news? why com'ft thou in fuch hafte?

Me. The rebels are in Southwark; Fly, my lord!
Jack Cade proclaims himself lord Mortimer,
Defcended from the duke of Clarence' houfe;
And calls your grace ufurper 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 fcholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,
They call-falfe caterpillars, and intend their death.
K. Henry. O graceless men! they know not what
they do.

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

2. Mar. Ah! were the duke of Suffolk now alive,
Thefe Kentish rebels fhould be foon appeas'd.
H
K. Henry.