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• than that, he can speak French, and therefore he is a traitor.

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STAF. O grofs and miferable ignorance!

'CADE. Nay, anfwer, if you can: The Frenchmen are our enemies: go to then, I afk 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.

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* W. STAF. Well, feeing gentle words will not prevail,

*Affail. them with the army of the king.

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STAF. Herald, away: and, throughout every

town,

Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade;
That thofe, which fly before the battle ends,
May, even in their wives' and children's fight,
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, fol-
low me.-

*Now fhow yourfelves men, 'tis for liberty.
We will not leave one lord, one gentleman:
*Spare none, but fuch as go in clouted fhoon;
*For they are thrifty honeft man, and such
* As would (but that they dare not,) take our
parts.

* DICK. They are all in order, and march toward

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us.

So Cade here fays, that the commonwealth is bereft of what it before poffeffed, namely, certain provinces in France. MALONE,

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*CADE. But then are we in order, when we are *moft out of order. Come, march forward. 3

Lerums.

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SCENE III,

Another Part of Blackheath.

Exeunt.

The two parties enter, and fight, and both the Staffords are flain.

'CADE. Where's Dick, the butcher of Afhford? DICK. Here, fir.

CADE. They fell before thee like fheep and oxen, and thou behav'dst thyself as if thou hadst 'been in thine own flaughter-house: therefore thus will I reward thee,The Lent fhall be as long again as it is; and thou fhalt have a licence to kill for a hundred lacking one.

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DICK. I defire no more.

*CADE. And, to speak truth, thou deserv'ft no lefs. This monument of the victory will I bear;* * and the bodies fhall be dragg'd at my horse' heels,

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inftead of this
us, and Kent.
MALONE.
which was cer-

Come, march forward.] In the firft copy, fpeech, we have only-Come, Sirs, St. George for See p. 229, n. 7; p. 294, n. 4; aud p. 300, n. 6. 4 ———— as long again as it is; ] The word again, tainly omitted in the folio by accident, was reftored from the old play, by Mr. Steevens, on the fuggeftion of Dr. Johnson.

MALONE

5 This monument of the victory will I bear;] Here Cade must be. fuppofed to take off Stafford's armour. So, Holinfhed:

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Jack Cade, upon his victory against the Staffords, apparelled himself in Sir Humphrey's brigandine, fet full of gilt nails, and fo in fome glory returned again toward London." STEEVENS.

Sir Humphrey Stafford, who was killed at Sevenoke in Cade's rebek. lion, is buried at Bromsgrove in Staffordshire. VAILLANT,

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till I do come to London, where we will have the mayor's fword borne before us.

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* DICK. Ifwe mean to thrive and do good, break open the gaols, and let out the prifoners. *CADE. Fear not that, I warrant thee. let's march towards London.

SCENE IV.

London. A Room in the Palace.

Come, [Exeunt.

Enter King HENRY, reading a fupplication; 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 foftens the mind,

* And makes it fearful and degenerate;

* Think therefore on revenge, and cease to weep. * But who can ceafe 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 anfwer makes your grace to the rebels' fupplication?"

If we mean to thrive and do good, &c.] I think it should be read thus, If we mean to thrive, do good; break open the gaols, &c. JOHNSON. The speaker defigns to fay" If we ourselves mean to thrive, and do good to others" &c. The old reading is the true one.

STEEVENS.

7 — to the rebels' fupplication?] "And to the entent that the cause of this glorious capitaynes comvng thither might be shadowed from the king and his counfall, he fent to him an humble fupplication, affirmyng his commyng not be againft him, but againft divers of his counfayl," &c Hall, Henry VI. fol. 77.

MALONE.

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K. HEN. I'll fend fome holy bifhep to entreat: For God forbid, so many simple fouls

Should perifh by the fword! And I myself, Rather than bloody war fhall cut them fhort, • Will parley with Jack Cade their general. But ftay, I'll read it over once again.

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* Q. MAR. Ah, barbarous villains! hath this lovely face

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* Rul'd, like a wandering planet, over me; * And could it not enforce them to relent, * That were unworthy to behold the fame?

K. HEN. Lord Say, Jack Cade hath fworn 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, my love, 2 if that I had been dead,

I'll fend fome holy bishop to entreat:] Here, as in fome other places, our author has fallen into an inconsistency, by sometimes following and fometimes deferting his original. In the old play, the king fays not a word of fending any bishop to the rebels; but fays, he will himself come and parly with them, and in the mean while orders Clifford and Buckingham to gather an army and to go to them. Shakspeare, in new modelling this fcene, found in Holinfhed's Chronicle the following words: "to whome [ Cade ] were fent from the king, the Archbishop of Canterburie and Humphrey duke of Buckingham, to common with him of his griefs and requests." This gave birth to the line before us; which our author afterwards forgot, having introduced in fcene viii. only Buckingham and Clifford, conformably to the old play. MALONE.

9 Rul'd, like a wandering planet,] Predominated irrefiftibly over my paffions, as the planets over the lives of thofe that are born under their influence. JOHNSON.

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The old play led Shakspeare into this ftrange exhibition; queen with the head of her murdered paramour on her bofom, in the prefence of her husband! MALONE.

2 I fear, my love,] The folio has here-I fear me, love, which

Thou wouldeft not have mourn'd fo much for me. Q. MAR. No, my love, I fhould not mourn, but die for thee.

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Enter a Meffenger.

* K. HEN. How now! what news? why com'ft thou in fuch hafte?

MES. The rebels are in Southwark; Fly, my
lord!

Jack Cade proclaims himself lord Mortimer,
Defcended from the duke of Clarence' houfe;
And calls your grace ufurper, openly,,

And vows to crown himself in Weftminster.
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-falfe caterpillars, and intend their

death.

*K. HEN. O graceless men! they know not what they do.3

BUCK. My gracious lord, retire to Kenelworth.* Until a power be rais'd to put them down.

is certainly fenfe; but as we find "my love" in the old play, and thefe lines were adopted without retouching, I fuppofe the tran fcriber's ear deceived him. MALONE.

3

have

what they do.] Inftead of this line, in the old copy we

"Go, bid Buckingham and Clifford gather

"An army up, and meet with the rebels." MALONE.

4 retire to Kenelworth, ] The old copy-Killingworth, which (as Sir William Blackftone obferves) is ftill the modern pronunciation.

STEEVENS.

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