Enter some,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 setting of boys'copies.CADE.Here's a villain!SMITH.Has a book in his pocket with red letters in't.CADE.Nay,then he is a conjurer.DICK.Nay,he can make obligations and write court-hand.CADE.I am sorry for't;the man is a proper man,of mine honour;unless I find him guilty,he shall not die.Come hither,sirrah,I must examine thee.What is thy name?CLERK.Emmanuel.DICK.They use to write it on the top of letters;'twill go hard with you.CADE.Let me alone.Dost thou use to write thy name,or hast thou a mark to thyself,like a honest plain-dealing man?CLERK.Sir,I thank God,I have been so well brought up that I can write my name.ALL.He hath confess'd.Away with him!He's a villain and a traitor.CADE.Away with him,I say!Hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck.Exit one with the CLERK
Enter MICHAEL
MICHAEL.Where's our General?CADE.Here I am,thou particular fellow.MICHAEL.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 shall be encount'red with a man as good as himself.He is but a knight,is 'a?MICHAEL.No.CADE.To equal him,I will make myself a knight presently.[Kneels]Rise up,Sir John Mortimer.[Rises]Now have at him!
Enter SIR HUMPHREY STAFFORD and WILLIAM his brother,with drum and soldiers STAFFORD.Rebellious hinds,the filth and scum of Kent,Mark'd for the gallows,lay your weapons down;Home to your cottages,forsake this groom;The King is merciful if you revolt.WILLIAM STAFFORD.But angry,wrathful,and inclin'd to blood,If you go forward;therefore yield or die.CADE.As for these silken-coated slaves,I pass 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.STAFFORD.Villain,thy father was a plasterer;And thou thyself a shearman,art thou not?CADE.And Adam was a gardener.WILLIAM STAFFORD.And what of that?CADE.Marry,this:Edmund Mortimer,Earl of March,Married the Duke of Clarence'daughter,did he not?STAFFORD.Ay,sir.CADE.By her he had two children at one birth.WILLIAM STAFFORD.That's false.CADE.Ay,there's the question;but I say 'tis true.The elder of them being put to nurse,Was by a beggar-woman stol'n away,And,ignorant of his birth and parentage,Became a bricklayer when he came to age.His son am I;deny it if you can.DICK.Nay,'tis too true;therefore he shall 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.STAFFORD.And will you credit this base drudge's words That speaks he knows not what?ALL.Ay,marry,will we;therefore get ye gone.WILLIAM STAFFORD.Jack Cade,the Duke of York hath taught you this.CADE.[Aside]He lies,for I invented it myself-Go to,sirrah,tell the King from me that for his father's sake,Henry the Fifth,in whose time boys went to span-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 selling the dukedom of Maine.CADE.And good reason;for thereby is England main'd and fain to go with a staff,but that my puissance holds it up.Fellow kings,I tell you that that Lord Say hath gelded the commonwealth and made it an eunuch;and more than that,he can speak French,and therefore he is a traitor.STAFFORD.O gross and miserable ignorance!CADE.Nay,answer if you can;the Frenchmen 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.WILLIAM STAFFORD.Well,seeing gentle words will not prevail,Assail them with the army of the King.STAFFORD.Herald,away;and throughout every town Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;That those which fly before the battle ends May,even in their wives'and children's sight,Be hang'd up for example at their doors.And you that be the King's friends,follow me.Exeunt the TWO STAFFORDS and soldiers CADE.And you that love the commons follow me.Now show yourselves men;'tis for liberty.We will not leave one lord,one gentleman;Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon,For they are thrifty honest men and such As would-but that they dare not-take our parts.DICK.They are all in order,and march toward us.CADE.But then are we in order when we are most out of order.Come,march forward.Exeunt
SCENE III.Another part of Blackheath
Alarums to the fight,wherein both the STAFFORDS are slain.Enter CADE and the rest
CADE.Where's ****,the butcher of Ashford?DICK.Here,sir.CADE.They fell before thee like sheep and oxen,and thou behavedst thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own slaughter-house;therefore thus will I reward thee-the Lent shall be as long again as it is,and thou shalt have a licence to kill for a hundred lacking one.DICK.I desire no more.CADE.And,to speak truth,thou deserv'st no less.[Putting on SIR HUMPHREY'S brigandine]This monument of the victory will I bear,and the bodies shall be dragged at my horse heels till I do come to London,where we will have the mayor's sword borne before us.DICK.If we mean to thrive and do good,break open the gaols and let out the prisoners.CADE.Fear not that,I warrant thee.Come,let's march towards London.Exeunt