SCENE IV.

London. Room in the Palace.

Enter King HENRY, reading a Supplication; the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, and Lord SAY with him: at a distance, Queen MARGARET, mourning over SUFFOLK's Head.

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

And makes it fearful and degenerate;

Think, therefore, on revenge, and cease to weep.
But who can cease to weep, and look on this?
Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast;
But where's the body that I should embrace?

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

K. Hen. I'll send some holy bishop to entreat;
For God forbid, so many simple souls

Should perish by the sword! And I myself,
Rather than bloody war shall cut them short,
Will parley with Jack Cade their general.—
But stay, I'll read it over once again.

Q. Mar. Ah, barbarous villains! hath this lovely face

Rul'd like a wandering planet over me,

And could it not enforce them to relent,

That were unworthy to behold the same?

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

Say. Ay, but I hope, your highness shall have his.
K. Hen. How, now, madam!

Still lamenting, and mourning for Suffolk's death?
I fear me, love, if that I had been dead,

Thou wouldest not have mourn'd so much for me.

Q. Mar. No, my love; I should not mourn, but die for thee.

VOL. V.

Enter a Messenger.

K. Hen. How now! what news? why com'st thou in such haste?

Mess. The rebels are in Southwark: fly, my lord!
Jack Cade proclaims himself lord Mortimer,
Descended from the duke of Clarence' house,
And calls your grace usurper 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 scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,
They call false caterpillars, and intend their death.
K. Hen. O graceless men! they know not what they
do.

Buck. My gracious lord, retire to Kenilworth,

Until a power be rais'd to put them down.

Q. Mar. Ah! were the duke of Suffolk now alive, These Kentish rebels would be soon appeas'd.

K. Hen. Lord Say, the traitors hate thee, Therefore away with us to Kenilworth.

Say. So might your grace's person be in danger. The sight of me is odious in their eyes;

And therefore in this city will I stay,

And live alone as secret as I may.

Enter another Messenger.

2 Mess. Jack Cade hath gotten London-bridge: the citizens

Fly and forsake their houses.

The rascal people, thirsting after prey,

Join with the traitor; and they jointly swear,

To spoil the city, and your royal court.

Buck. Then linger not, my lord: away, take horse.

K. Hen. Come, Margaret: God, our hope, will suc

cour us.

Q. Mar. My hope is gone, now Suffolk is deceas'd. K. Hen. Farewell, my lord: [To Lord SAY.] trust not the Kentish rebels.

Buck. Trust no body, for fear you be betray'd*. Say. The trust I have is in mine innocence, And therefore am I bold and resolute.

SCENE V.

The Same. The Tower.

[Exeunt.

Enter Lord SCALES, and Others, walking on the Walls. Then enter certain Citizens, below.

Scales. How now! is Jack Cade slain?

1 Cit. No, my lord, nor likely to be slain; for they have won the bridge, killing all those that withstand them. The lord mayor craves aid of your honour from the Tower, to defend the city from the rebels.

Scales. Such aid as I can spare, you shall command,
But I am troubled here with them myself:
The rebels have assay'd to win the Tower.
But get you to Smithfield, and gather head,
And thither I will send you Matthew Gough.

Fight for your king, your country, and your lives;
And so farewell, for I must hence again.

SCENE VI.

The Same. Cannon Street.

[Exeunt.

Enter JACK CADE, and his Followers. He strikes his Staff on London-stone.

Cade. Now is Mortimer lord of this city. And

BE betray'd.] "Be," accidentally omitted in the first folio, was supplied by the editor of the second folio.

here, sitting upon London-stone, I charge and command, that, of the city's cost, the pissing-conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign. And now, henceforward, it shall be treason for any that calls me other than lord Mortimer.

Enter a Soldier, running.

Sold. Jack Cade! Jack Cade! Cade. Knock him down there. [They kill him. Smith. If this fellow be wise, he'll never call you Jack Cade more: I think, he hath a very fair warning. Dick. My lord, there's an army gathered together in Smithfield.

Cade. Come then, let's go fight with them. But, first, go and set London-bridge on fire; and, if you can, burn down the Tower too. Come, let's away. [Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

The Same. Smithfield.

Alarum. Enter, on one side, CADE and his Company; on the other, the Citizens, and the King's Forces, headed by MATTHEW GOUGH. They fight; the Citizens are routed, and MATTHEW GOUGH is slain".

Cade. So, sirs.-Now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to the inns of court: down with them all.

Dick. I have a suit unto your lordship.

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

5

and Matthew Gough is slain.] The not very intelligible stage-direction of the folio is, “Alarums. Matthew Gough [spelt Goffe] is slain and all the rest. Then enter Jack Cade with his company." According to this direction, Gough and his followers were slain before the arrival of Cade and the rebels: the same remark will apply to the stage-direction in the quarto "Contention."

of

Dick. Only, that the laws of England may come out your mouth.

John. Mass, 'twill be sore law, then; for he was thrust in the mouth with a spear, and 'tis not whole yet.

[Aside. Smith. Nay, John, it will be stinking law; for his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese. [Aside. Cade. I have thought upon it; it shall be so. Away! burn all the records of the realm: my mouth shall be the parliament of England.

John. Then we are like to have biting statutes, unless his teeth be pulled out.

[Aside. Cade. And henceforward all things shall be in

common.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My lord, a prize, a prize! here's the lord Say, which sold the towns in France; he that made us pay one and twenty fifteens, and one shilling to the pound, the last subsidy.

Enter GEORGE BEVIS, with the Lord SAY.

Cade. Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times.Ah, thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord! now art thou within point-blank of our jurisdiction regal. What canst thou answer to my majesty, for giving up of Normandy unto monsieur Basimecu, the dauphin of France? Be it known unto thee by these presence, even the presence of lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the

6 one and twenty FIFTEENS,] The following is from Holinshed :-"This capteine (Cade) assured them, that if either by force or policy they might get the king and queene into their hands, he would cause them to be honourably used, and take such order for the punishing and reforming of the misdemeanours of their bad councellours, that neither fifteens should hereafter be demanded, nor anie impositions or taxes be spoken of." This reference to "fifteens" is not in the quarto "Contention."