SCENE I.-Kent. The Sea-shore, near Dover. Firing heard at sea. Then enter from a boat, a Captain, a Master, a Master's-Mate, WALTER WHITMORE, and others; with them SUFFOLK, and other Gentlemen, prisoners.

Cap. The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful daya Is crept into the bosom of the sea; And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades That drag the tragic melancholy night;" Who with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings Clip dead men's graves, and from their misty jaws Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air. Therefore, bring forth the soldiers of our prize; For, whilst our pinnace anchors in the Downs, Here shall they make their ransom on the sand, Or with their blood stain this discolour'd shore. Master, this prisoner freely give I thee;And thou that art his mate, make boot of this ;

These epithets are beautifully chosen. copied one of them in Comus: '

"Ere the blabbing eastern scout,
The nice morn, on th' Indian steep,
From her cabin'd loop-hole peep

Milton has

b The jades with flagging wings are the "night's swift dragons" of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast."

We follow the reading of the folio. Malone has corrected the passage as follows"The lives of those which we have lost in fight Cannot be counterpois'd with such a petty sum." It appears to us that this emendation greatly weakens the force of the passage. Upon the hesitation to pay ransom the Captain exclaims, "What, think you much," &c. He then, parenthetically, threatens death; and continues his halfinterrogative sentence, What, "The lives of those which we have lost in fight be counterpois'd," &c.

2 Gent. And so will I, and write home for it straight.

Whit. I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard,

And therefore to revenge it shalt thou die;

[To SUF. And so should these, if I might have my will. Cap. Be not so rash; take ransom, let him live.

Suf. Look on my George, I am a gentleman; Rate me at what thou wilt thou shalt be paid.

Whit. And so am I; my name is Walter
Whitmore.

How now? why start'st thou ? what, doth death affright?

Suf. Thy name affrights me, in whose sound
is death.

A cunning man did calculate my birth,
And told me that by Water" I should die.
Yet let not this make thee be bloody minded;
Thy name is Gualtier, being rightly sounded.
Whit. Gualtier, or Walter, which it is I care
not;

Never yet did base dishonour blur our name,
But with our sword we wip'd away the blot;
Therefore, when merchant-like I sell revenge,
Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defac'd,
And I proclaim'd a coward through the world!
[Lays hold on SUFFOLK.

Suf. Stay, Whitmore; for thy prisoner is a prince,

The duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole.

Whit. The duke of Suffolk, muffled up in rags! Suf. Ay, but these rags are no part of the duke; [Jove sometime went disguis'd, and why not I?bj Cap. But Jove was never slain, as thou shalt be.

Suf. Obscure and lowly swain, king Henry's blood,

The honourable blood of Lancaster,
Must not be shed by such a jaded groom.
Hast thou not kiss'd thy hand, and held my

stirrup ?

Bare-headed plodded by my foot-cloth mule,
And thought thee happy when I shook my head?
How often hast thou waited at my cup,
Fed from my trencher, kneel'd down at the board,
When I have feasted with queen Margaret ?

a In the Incantation Scene in Act 1.we have this prophecy :

"What fates await the duke of Suffolk?

By water shail he die, and take his end."

It appears from this passage that Walter was commonly pronounced Water.

b This line, which is necessary for the understanding of what follows, is not found in the folio. It is introduced from The First Part of the Contention,' &c.

b

Against the senseless winds shalt grin in vain,
Who, in contempt, shall hiss at thee again :
And wedded be thou to the hags of hell,
For daring to affy a mighty lord
Unto the daughter of a worthless king,
Having neither subject, wealth, nor diadem.
By devilish policy art thou grown great,
And, like ambitious Sylla, overgorg'd
With gobbets of thy mother's bleeding heart.
By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France:
The false revolting Normans, thorough thee,
Disdain to call us lord; and Picardy
Hath slain their governors, surpris'd our forts,
And sent the ragged soldiers wounded home.
The princely Warwick, and the Nevils all,
Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain,
As hating thee, are rising up
in arms:
And now the house of York-thrust from the
crown,

By shameful murder of a guiltless king,
And lofty proud encroaching tyranny,-

Burns with revenging fire; whose hopeful colours
Advance our half-fac'd sun, striving to shine,
Under the which is writ Invitis nubibus.a
The commons here in Kent are up in arms:
And, to conclude, reproach, and beggary,
Is crept into the palace of our king,
And all by thee-Away! convey him hence.
Suf. O that I were a god, to shoot forth thunder
Upon these paltry, servile, abject drudges!
Small things make base men proud: this villain
here,

Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more
Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate.b
Drones suck not eagles' blood, but rob bee-hives.
It is impossible that I should die
By such a lowly vassal as thyself.

Thy words move rage, and not remorse, in me:
I go of message from the queen to France;

I charge thee waft me safely cross the channel. Cap. Walter,

Whil. Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.

Suf. Penè gelidus timor occupat artus :-'tis thee I fear.

Whit. Thou shalt have cause to fear before I leave thee.

What are ye daunted now? now will ye stoop? 1 Gent. My gracious lord, entreat him, speak him fair.

Suf. Suffolk's imperial tongue is stern and rough,

Us'd to command, untaught to plead for favour.
Far be it we should honour such as these
With humble suit: no, rather let my head
Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any,
Save to the God of heaven, and to my king;
And sooner dance upon a bloody pole
Than stand uncover'd to the vulgar groom.
Truc nobility is exempt from fear :—
More can I bear than you dare execute.

Cap. And as for these whose ransom we have set,

It is our pleasure one of them depart: :-
Therefore come you with us, and let him go.

[Exeunt all but the first Gentleman. Re-enter WHITMORE, with SUFFOLK's body. Whit. There let his head and lifeless body lie, Until the queen his mistress bury it. [Exit.

1 Gent. O barbarons 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. Geo. Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath; they have been up these two days. John. They have the more need to sleep now

then.

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

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

Geo. O miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in bandicrafts-men.

John. The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.

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

John. 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.

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

John. I see them! I see them! There's Best's son, the tanner of Wingham ;

Geo. He shall have the skins of our enemies, to make dog's leather of.

John. And Dick the butcher,

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

John. And Smith the weaver.
Geo. Argo, their thread of life is spun.
John. Come, come, let's fall in with them.

a

[Aside.

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

Dick. Silence!

Cade. My wife descended of the Lacies,— Dick. She was, indeed, a pedlar's daughter, and sold many laces. [Aside. Smith. But, now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.

[Aside. Cade. Therefore am I of an honourable house. Dick. 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. I fear neither sword nor fire. Smith. He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.

[Aside.

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

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 palfrey 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

a A cade of herrings, according to an old monastic account, is a cask containing somewhat more than half a barrel.

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. H' as 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?

pen

[Exeunt some with the Clerk. 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 shall be encountered with a man as good as himself: He is but a knight, is 'a? Mich. No.

Cade. To equal him, I will make myself a knight presently: Rise up sir John Mortimer Now have at him.

Enter Sir HUMPHREY STAFFORD, and WILLIAM his brother, with drum and Forces.

Staf. 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.

W. Staf. But angry, wrathful, and inclin❜d to blood,

If you go forward: Therefore yield, or die.
Cude. 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.

Staf. Villain, thy father was a plasterer;
And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?
Cade. And Adam was a gardener.
W. Staf. And what of that?

Cade. Marry this :-Edmund Mortimer, earl of March,

Married the duke of Clarence' daughter :-Did he not?

Staf. Ay, sir.

Cade. By her he had two children at one birth.

W. Staf. 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, '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.

Staf. And will you credit this base drudge's words,

That speaks he knows not what?

All. Ay, marry, will we; therefore get ye gone. W. Staf. Jack Cade, the duke of York hath taught you this.

Cade. He lies, for I invented it myself. [Aside. -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.

a

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.

So the folio, injudiciously corrected to maimed: "To maine," being a provincial word for to lame.

Staf. 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.

W. Staf. Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail,

Assail them with the army of the king.

Staf. 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 Forces. Cade. And you that love the commons follow

Cade. And, to speak truth, thou deservest no less. This monument of the victory will I bear; b 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.

a Malone reads, "for a hundred lacking one, a week." Malone's addition is warranted by the text of The First Part of the Contention.' The licence to kill beasts during Lent was one of the ancient modes of favouritism.

b A passage in Holinshed explains this: "Jack Cade, upon his victory against the Staffords, apparelled himself in sir Humphrey's brigandine, set full of gilt nails."