London. Smithfield.
 Alarums. Matthew GOFFE is slain, and all his men.
 Then enter JACK CADE with his COMPANY.

Cade	So, sirs; now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to 
	th' 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.

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

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

Smith	[Aside.] Nay, John, it will be stinking law; for his breath 
	stinks with eating toasted cheese.

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.

Holland	[Aside.] Then we are like to have biting statutes, unless 
	his teeth be pulled out.

Cade	And henceforward all things shall be in common.

                            Enter a MESSENGER.

Messenger	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 youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school, and, 
	whereas before our forefathers had no other books but the 
	score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; 
	and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou 
	hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that 
	thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a 
	verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can 
	endure to hear. Thou hast appointed justices of peace, to 
	call poor men before them about matters they were not able 
	to answer. Moreover, thou hast put them in prison; and 
	because they could not read thou hast hanged them, when, 
	indeed, only for that cause they have been most worthy to 
	live. Thou dost ride on a footcloth, dost thou not?

Lord Say	What of that?

Cade	Marry, thou ought'st not to let thy horse wear a cloak when 
	honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets.

Dick	And work in their shirt too; as myself, for example, that 
	am a butcher.

Lord Say	You men of Kent-

Dick	What say you of Kent?

Lord Say	Nothing but this: 'tis bona terra, mala gens.

Cade	Away with him, away with him! He speaks Latin.

Lord Say	Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will.
	Kent, in the Commentaries Caesar writ,
	Is termed the civil'st place of all this isle.
	Sweet is the country, because full of riches;
	The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy;
	Which makes me hope you are not void of pity.
	I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy;
	Yet to recover them would lose my life.
	Justice with favour have I always done;
	Prayers and tears have moved me, gifts could never.
	When have I aught exacted at your hands,
	But to maintain the king, the realm, and you?
	Large gifts have I bestowed on learnd clerks,
	Because my book preferred me to the king,
	And seeing ignorance is the curse of God,
	Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven,
	Unless you be possessed with devilish spirits,
	You cannot but forbear to murder me.
	This tongue hath parleyed unto foreign kings
	For your behoof-

Cade	Tut, when struck'st thou one blow in the field?

Lord Say	Great men have reaching hands. Oft have I struck
	Those that I never saw, and struck them dead.

Bevis	O monstrous coward! What, to come behind folks?

Lord Say	These cheeks are pale for watching for your good.

Cade	Give him a box o'th'ear, and that will make 'em red again.

Lord Say	Long sitting to determine poor men's causes
	Hath made me full of sickness and diseases.

Cade	Ye shall have a hempen caudle then, and the help of 
	hatchet.

Dick	Why dost thou quiver, man?

Lord Say	The palsy, and not fear, provokes me.

Cade	Nay, he nods at us as who should say 'I'll be even with 
	you'. I'll see if his head will stand steadier on a pole or 
	no. Take him away and behead him.

Lord Say	Tell me wherein have I offended most?
	Have I affected wealth or honour? Speak.
	Are my chests filled up with extorted gold?
	Is my apparel sumptuous to behold?
	Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death?
	These hands are free from guiltless bloodshedding,
	This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts.
	O, let me live!

Cade	[Aside.] I feel remorse in myself with his words, but I'll 
	bridle it. He shall die, and it be but for pleading so well 
	for his life. [Aloud.] Away with him! He has a familiar 
	under his tongue; he speaks not a God's name. Go, take him 
	away, I say, and strike off his head presently; and then 
	break into his son-in-law's house, Sir James Cromer, and 
	strike off his head; and bring them both upon two poles 
	hither.

All	It shall be done.

Lord Say	Ah, countrymen, if when you make your prayers
	God should be so obdurate as yourselves,
	How would it fare with your departed souls?
	And therefore yet relent, and save my life.

Cade	Away with him! - and do as I command ye.
													[Exeunt SOME with LORD SAY.

	The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his 
	shoulders unless he pay me tribute; there shall not a maid 
	be married but she shall pay to me her maidenhead, ere they 
	have it. Men shall hold of me in capite; and we charge and 
	command that their wives be as free as heart can wish or 
	tongue can tell.

                               Enter ROBIN.

Robin	O captain, London Bridge is afire!

Cade	Run to Billingsgate and fetch pitch and flax and squench 
	it.

                      Re-enter DICK with a SERGEANT.

Sergeant	Justice, justice! I pray you, sir, let me have justice of 
	this fellow here.

Cade	Why, what has he done?

Sergeant	Alas, sir, he has ravished my wife.

Dick	Why, my lord, he would have 'rested me, and I went and 
	entered my action in his wife's proper house.

Cade	Dick, follow thy suit in her common place. You whoreson 
	villain, you are a sergeant: you'll take any man by the 
	throat for twelve pence, and 'rest a man when he's at 
	dinner, and have him to prison ere the meat be out of his 
	mouth. Go, Dick, take him hence; cut out his tongue for 
	cogging, hough him for running, and, to conclude, brave him 
	with his own mace.
											[Exit DICK with the SERGEANT.

Robin	My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside and take up 
	commodities upon our bills?

Cade	Marry, presently.

All	O brave!

                        Enter ONE with the heads.

Cade	But is not this braver? Let them kiss one another, for they 
	loved well when they were alive. Now part them again, lest 
	they consult about the giving up of some more towns in 
	France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of the city until night; 
	for with these borne before us instead of maces will we
	ride through the streets, and at every corner have them 
	kiss. Away!
													[Exeunt.
