So will the queen, that living held him dear.
Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath;
they have been up these two days.
They have the more need to sleep now, then.
I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress
the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
So he had need, for 'tis threadbare. Well, I say it
was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.
O miserable age! virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men.
The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
Nay, more, the king's council are no good workmen.
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.
Thou hast hit it; for there's no better sign of a
brave mind than a hard hand.
I see them! I see them! there's Best's son, the
tanner of Wingham,--
He shall have the skin of our enemies, to make
dog's-leather of.
And Dick the Butcher,--
Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity's
throat cut like a calf.
And Smith the weaver,--
Argo, their thread of life is spun.
Come, come, let's fall in with them.
We John Cade, so termed of our supposed father,--
Or rather, of stealing a cade of herrings.
For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with
the spirit of putting down kings and princes,
--Command silence.
Silence!
My father was a Mortimer,--
He was an honest man, and a good
bricklayer.
My mother a Plantagenet,--
I knew her well; she was a midwife.
My wife descended of the Lacies,--
She was, indeed, a pedler's daughter, and
sold many laces.
But now of late, notable to travel with her
furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.
Therefore am I of an honourable house.
Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable;
and there was he borne, under a hedge, for his
father had never a house but the cage.
Valiant I am.
A' must needs; for beggary is valiant.
I am able to endure much.
No question of that; for I have seen him
whipped three market-days together.
I fear neither sword nor fire.
He need not fear the sword; for his coat is of proof.
But methinks he should stand in fear of
fire, being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep.
Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows
reformation. There shall