As lean-fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave : My tongue should stumble in mine earneft words; 2 Enter Vaux. 2. Mar. Whither goes Vaux fo faft! what hews, I pr'ythee? Vaux. To fignify unto his majesty, 5 That cardinal Beaufort is at point of death: 2. Mar. Enough, fweet Suffolk, thou tor-15 And thefe dread curfes-like the fun 'gainst glass, P. Mar. Go, tell this heavy message to the king. Ay me! what is this world? what news are these? Suf. You bade me ban3, and will you bid me 20 Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee, leave? Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from, 2. Mar. Oh, let me entreat thee cease! Give And with the fouthern clouds contend in tears; rows? Suf. If I depart from thee, I cannot live: That I may dew it with my mournful tears; So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief; Go, fpeak not to me; even now be gone.- Embrace, and kifs, and take ten thoufand leaves, Suf. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished, To die by thee, were but to die in jeft; From thee to die, were torture more than death; 400, let me stay, befall what may befall. [corrofive, 2. Mar. Away! though parting be a fretful It is applied to a deathful wound. To France, fweet Suffolk: Let me hear from thee; For wherefoe'er thou art in this world's globe, 45 I'll have an Iris 5 that fhall find thee out. Suf. I go. 2. Mar. And take my heart with thee. 2. Mar. This way for me. [Exeunt feverally. III. The Cardinal's Bed-chamber. 55 Enter King Henry, Salisbury, Warwick, and others, to the Cardinal in bed. K. Henry. How fares my lord? fpeak, Beaufort, to thy fovereign. Cypress was employed in the funeral rites of the Romans, and hence is always mentioned as an illboding plant. 2 It has been faid of the bafilifk, that it had the power of destroying by a fingle glance of its eye. A lizard has no fting, but is quite inoffenfive. 3 i. e. curfe. 4 Meaning, Wherefore do I grieve that Beaufort has died an hour before his time, who, being an old man, could not have had a long time to live? 5 Iris was the mèflenger of Juno. Car Car. If thou be'ft death, I'll give thee England's Enough to purchase such another island, [treafure, So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain. K. Henry. Ah, what a fign it is of evil life, War. Beaufort, it is thy fovereign speaks to thee. 5 Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch! Sal. Disturb him not, let him pass peaceably. 10 Lord cardinal, if thou think'ft on heaven's bliss, 15 And fo fhould thefe, if I might have my will. And now loud-howling wolves aroufe the jades 35 How now? why ftart'ft thou? what, doth death That drag the tragic melancholy night; Who with their drowsy, flow, and flagging wings [Pointing to Suffolk. 1 Gent. What is my ranfom, matter? let me affright? [death. Suf. Thy name affrights me, in whofe found is A cunning man did calculate my birth, And told me that by Water 3 I fhould die: 40 Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded; Thy name is-Gualtier, being rightly founded. Whit. Gualtier, or Walter, which it is, I care not a Maft. A thousand crowns, or else lay down your 50 yours. Whit. What, think you much to pay two thou- [life. 1 Gent. I'll give it, fir; and therefore fpare my 2 Gent. And fo will I, and write home for it ftraight. Must not be shed by such a jaded groom. 1 The epithet Llabbing, applied to the day by a man about to commit murder, is exquifitely beautiful. Guilt is afraid of light, confiders darkness as a natural shelter, and makes night the confidante of those actions which cannot be trusted to the tell-tale day, 2 Remorseful is pitiful. 3 See the fourth fcene of the first act of this play. Fed Fed from my trencher, kneel'd down at the board, Cap. First let my words ftab him, as he hath me. Suf. Thou dar'ft not for thine own. Ay, kennel, puddle, fink; whofe filth and dirt [death, And thou, that fmil'dft at good duke Humphrey's IC It is impoffible, that I should die By fuch a lowly vaffal as thyfelf. Thy words move rage, and not remorse, in me: I charge thee, waft me safely cross the channel. [death. Whit. Come, Suffolk, I muft waft thee to thy What, are ye daunted now? now will ye ftoop? Suf. Suffolk's imperial tongue is ftern and rough, 25 Cap. Hale him away, and let him talk no more: Come, foldiers, fhew what cruelty ye can. Suf. That this my death may never be forgot!Great men oft die by vile bezonians 5: A Roman fworder and banditto flave Murder'd fweet Tully; Brutus' bastard hand 30 Stabb'd Julius Cæfar; favage islanders, Pompey the great ; and Suffolk dies by pirates. [Exit Walter Whitmore, with Suffolk. Cap. And as for these whose ransom we have fet, It is our pleasure one of them depart :35 Therefore come you with us, and let him go. Unto the daughter of a worthless king, [crown, Suf. O that I were a god, to fhoot forth thunder Enter George Bevis and John Holland. Bevis. Come, and get thee a fword, though made 50 of a lath; they have been up these two days. 55 Hol. They have the more need to fleep now then. Bevis. I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to drefs the commonwealth, and turn it, and fet a new nap upon it. Hol. So he had need, for 'tis thread-bare. Well, fay, it was never merry world in England, fince gentlemen came up. 2 To affy is to betroth in marriage. 3 A pinnace 4 This 5 See 1 Meaning, pride affumed before its time. did not anciently fignify, as at prefent, a man of war's boat, but a ship of small burthen. Bargulus is to be met with in Tully's Offices; and the legend is the famous Theopompus's Hiftory. "Bargulus Illyrius latro, de quo eft apud Theepompum, magras opes habuit," lib. ii. cap. 11. note 2, p. 505. i. e. Herennius a centurion, and Popilius Laenas, tribune of the foldiers. Brutus was the fon of Servilia, a Roman lady, who had been concubine to Julius Cæfar. poet feems to have confounded the story of Pompey with fome other. 8 The Bevit Bevis. O miferable age! Virtue is not regarded in handycrafts-men. Hal. The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons. Bevis. Nay more, the king's council are no good workmen. Hal. True; And yet it is said,-Labour in thy vocation: which is as much to say as,-let the magiftrates be labouring men ; and therefore should we be magiftrates. Bevis. Thou haft hit it: for there's no better fign of a brave mind, than a hard hand. 5 even half-penny loaves fold for a penny: the threehoop'd pot fhall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer: all the realm fhall be in common, and in Cheapfide fhall my palfry go to grass. And, when I am king (as king I will be) All. God fave your majesty! Cade. I thank you, good people :-There shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score; 10 and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord. Dick. The first thing we do, let's kill all the Hel. I fee them! I fee them! There's Beft's lawyers. fon, the tanner of Wingham. Cade. Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a Bevis. He shall have the skins of our enemies, 15 lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent to make dog's leather of. Hal. And Dick the butcher, Bevis. Then is fin ftruck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf. Hol. And Smith the weaver : Bevis. Arge, their thread of life is spun. lamb fhould be made parchment? that parchment, being fcribbled o'er, fhould undo a man? Some fay, the bee stings: but I fay, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was 20never my own man fince. How now? who's there? Cade. We John Cade, so term'd of our supposed 25 father, Dick. Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings 1. [Afide Cade. For our enemies fhall fall before us, infpired with the spirit of putting down kings and 30 princes.Command filence. Dick. Silence! Cade. My father was a Mortimer,➡ Enter fome, bringing in the Clerk of Chatham. Smith. The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read, and cast accompt. Cade. O monstrous! Smith. We took him fetting of boys copies. Smith. H'as a book in his pocket, with red let ters in't. Cade. Nay, then he is a conjurer. Dick. Nay, he can make obligations, and write court-hand. Cade. I am forry for't: the man is a proper man, on mine honour; unless I find him guilty, he [Afide. 35 fhall not die.-Come hither, firrah, I must examine thee: What is thy name? Dick. He was an honeft man, and a good bricklayer. Cade. My mother a Plantagenet, Dick. I knew her well, she was a midwife. [Afide. [Afide. 40 Smith. But, now of late, not able to travel with her furr'd pack 3, the washes bucks here at home. [Afide Cade. Therefore am I of an honourable house. Dick. Ay, by my faith: the field is honourable ; 45 and there was he born, under a hedge; for his father had never a houfe, but the cage. Cade. Valiant I am. Smith. 'A must needs; for beggary is valiant. Cade. I am able to endure much. Clerk. Emanuel. Dick. They use to write it on the top of letters4;-Twill go hard with you. Cade. Let me alone:-Deft thou use to write thy name? or hast thou a mark to thyfelf, like an honeft plain-dealing man? Clerk. Sir, I thank God, I have been fo well brought up, that I can write my name. All. He hath confefs'd: away with him; he's a villain, and a traitor. Cade. Away with him, I say: hang him with This pen and inkhorn about his neck. [Exit one with the Clerk. Afide [Afide 50 Enter Michael. Mich. Where's our general? 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, stand, or I'll fell thee down: He fhall be encounter'd with a man as good as himfelf: He is but a knight, is a'? Mich. No. Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently; Rife up Sir John Mortimer. 1 That is, a barrel of herrings. Perhaps the word keg, which is now used, is cade corrupted. 2 He alludes to his name Cade, from cado, Lat. to fall. 3 A wallet or knapsack of skin with the hair outward. 4 i. e. of letters miffive, and fuch like public acts. ૨૧ Now 594 Now have at him. Is there any more of them that be knights? Mich. Ay, his brother. Cade. Then kneel down, Dick Butcher; Staf. Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, Y.Staf. But angry, wrathful, and inclin'd to blood, Staf. Villain, thy father was a plaifterer; Cade. Marry, this :-Edmund Mortimer, earl Cade. By her he had two children at one birth. [true; Cade. Ay, there's the queftion; but, I fay, 'tis Was by a beggar-woman stol'n away; 10 Y. Staf. Well, feeing gentle words will not pre[vail, Affail them with the army of the king. Staf. Herald away: and, throughout every town, Now fhew yourselves men, 'tis for liberty. 20 25 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 Ashford ? Cade. They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, and thou behav'dft thyfelf as if thou hadst been in thine own flaughter-houfe: therefore thus I will 3 reward thee,-The Lent fhall be as long again as it is; and thou fhalt have a licence to kill for a hundred lacking one. Dick. Nay, 'tis too true; therefore he fhall be king. Smith. Sir, he made a chimney in my father's 35 house, and the bricks are alive at this day to teftify 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. 4° 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, that-for his father's fake, Henry the fifth, in whose time boys 45 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. 150 Dick. I defire no more. Cade. And, to speak truth, thou deferv'ft no less. This monument of the victory 2 will I bear; and the bodies fhall be dragged 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 goals, and let out the prisoners. Cade. Fear not that, I warrant thee. Come, let's march towards London. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Black-Heath. Enter King Henry with a fupplication, and Queen Margaret with Suffolk's head; the Duke of Buckingham and the Lord Say. 2. Mar. Oft have I heard-that grief softens And makes it fearful and degenerate; Cade. And good reafon; for thereby is England maim'd, and fain to go with a staff, 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 55 But where's the body that I should embrace? fpeak French, and therefore he is a traitor. Staf. O grofs and miserable ignorance! Cade. Nay, answer, if you can': The Frenchmen are our enemies: go to then, I afk but this: Can he, that speaks with the tongue of an enemy, be a 60 good counsellor, or no? All. No, no; and therefore we'll have his head.] Buck. What anfwer makes your grace to the rebels' fupplication? K. Henry. I'll fend fome holy bishop to entreat ; ■ i. e. I pay them no regard. 2 Here Cade must be supposed to take off Stafford's armour. But |