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Therefore come you with us, and let him go.

[Exeunt all but the 1 Gentleman.]

[Re-enter WHITMORE with SUFFOLK'S body.]

WHITMORE.

There let his head and lifeless body lie

Until the queen his mistress bury it.

[Exit.]

1 GENTLEMAN.

O barbarous and bloody spectacle!

His body will I bear unto the king.

If he revenge it not, yet will his friends;

So will the queen, that living held him dear.

[Exit with the body.]

SCENE II. Blackheath.

[Enter GEORGE BEVIS and JOHN HOLLAND.]

GEORGE.

Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath; they have been up these two days.

HOLLAND.

They have the more need to sleep now, then.

BEVIS.

I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.

HOLLAND.

So he had need, for 't is threadbare. Well, I say it was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.

BEVIS.

O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicraftsmen.

HOLLAND.

The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.

BEVIS.

Nay, more, the king's council are no good workmen.

HOLLAND.

True; and yet it is said, labour in thy vocation, which is as much to say as, let the magistrates be labouring men; and therefore should we be magistrates.

BEVIS.

Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand.

HOLLAND.

I see them! I see them! There's Best's son, the tanner of Wingham,—

BEVIS.

He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make dog's- leather of.

HOLLAND.

And Dick the butcher,—

BEVIS.

Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's throat cut like a calf.

HOLLAND.

And Smith the weaver,—

BEVIS.

Argo, their thread of life is spun.

HOLLAND.

Come, come, let's fall in with them.

[Drum. Enter CADE, DICK the Butcher, SMITH the Weaver, and a Sawyer, with infinite numbers.]

CADE.

We John Cade, so term'd of our supposed father,—

DICK.

[Aside.] Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings.

CADE.

For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes,—Command silence.

DICK.

Silence!

CADE.

My father was a Mortimer,—

DICK.

[Aside.] He was an honest man and a good bricklayer.

CADE.

My mother a Plantagenet,—

DICK.

[Aside.] I knew her well; she was a midwife.

CADE.

My wife descended of the Lacies,—

DICK.

[Aside.] She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and sold many laces.

SMITH.

[Aside.] But now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.

CADE.

Therefore am I of an honourable house.

DICK.

[Aside.] Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable; and there was he born, under a hedge, for his father had never a house but the cage.

CADE.

Valiant I am.

SMITH.

[Aside.] A' must needs; for beggary is valiant.

CADE.

I am able to endure much.

DICK.

[Aside.] No question of that; for I have seen him whipped three market-days together.

CADE.

I fear neither sword nor fire.

SMITH.

[Aside.] He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.

DICK.

[Aside.] But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep.

CADE.

Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny; the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All the realm shall be in common; and in Cheapside shall my palfry go to grass; and when I am king, as king I will be,—

ALL.

God save your majesty!

CADE.

I thank you, good people;—there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score, 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 lawyers.

CADE.

Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment, that parchment, being scribbl'd o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings; but I say 't is the bee's wax,