The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [28]
[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.—'T will 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 encountered 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 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.
BROTHER.
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,
OVer 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.
BROTHER.
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.
BROTHER.
That's false.
CADE.
Ay, there's the question; but I say 't is true.
The elder of them, being put to nurse,
Was by a beggar-woman stolen 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, 't is 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.
BROTHER.
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 mained, 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