Puslapio vaizdai
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For he is fierce, and cannot brook hard language. "Buck. I will, my lord; and doubt not so to deal,

As all things shall redound unto your good.

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K. Hen. Come, wife, let's in, and learn to

govern better;

"For yet may England curse my wretched reign. [Exeunt.

SCENE X.

Kent. Iden's garden.

Enter CADE.

"Cade. Fie on ambition! fie on myself, that have a sword, and yet am ready to famish! These five days have I hid me in these woods, and durst not "peep out, for all the country is laid for me; but

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now am I so hungry, that if I might have a lease "of my life for a thousand years, I could stay no longer wherefore, on a brick wall have I climbed "into this garden, to see if I can eat grass, or pick

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a sallet another while, which is not amiss to cool

a man's stomach this hot weather: and, I think, "this word sallet was born to do me good; for, “many a time, but for a sallet,1 my brain-pan had "been cleft with a brown bill; and, many a time, "when I have been dry, and bravely marching, it "hath served me instead of a quart-pot to drink in; "and now the word sallet must serve me to feed on.

1 A kind of helmet.

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Enter IDEN, with Servants.

'Iden. Lord, who would live turmoiled in the

court,

And may enjoy such quiet walks as these? 'This small inheritance, my father left me, 'Contenteth me, and is worth a monarchy. 'I seek not to wax great by others' waning;

Or gather wealth, I care not with what envy: 'Sufficeth, that I have maintains my state.

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And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.

Cade. Here's the lord of the soil come to seise 'me for a stray, for entering his fee-simple without leave. Ah, villain, thou wilt betray me, and get a 'thousand crowns of the king for carrying my head to him; but I'll make thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my sword like a great pin, ere thou ⚫ and I part.

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Iden. Why, rude companion,1 whatsoe'er thou be,

I know thee not: why then should I betray thee?

Is 't not enough, to break into my garden,

And, like a thief, to come to rob my grounds,

Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner,

But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms?

Cade. Brave thee? ay, by the best blood that ever was broached, and beard thee too. Look on me

well I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all

Fellow.

as dead as a door-nail, I pray God I may never eat grass more.

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Iden. Nay, it shall ne'er be said, while England

stands,

That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent,

Took odds to combat a poor famish'd man.
Oppose thy stedfast-gazing eyes to mine;
'See if thou canst outface me with thy looks:
Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser ;

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Thy hand is but a finger to my fist;

Thy leg a stick, compared with this truncheon;

My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast;

And if mine arm be heaved in the air, Thy grave is digg'd already in the earth. 'As for words, whose greatness answers words, 'Let this my sword report what speech forbears.

"Cade. By my valor, the most complete champion " that ever I heard.—' Steel, if thou turn the edge, ' or cut not out the burly-boned clown in chines of 'beef ere thou sleep in thy sheath, I beseech God on my knees, thou mayst be turned to hobnails. [they fight. Cade falls.] O, I am slain! famine, ' and no other, hath slain me: let ten thousand 'devils come against me, and give me but the ten 'meals I have lost, and I'd defy them all. Wither, 'garden; and be henceforth a burying-place to all that do dwell in this house, because the unconquered soul of Cade is fled.

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Iden. Is 't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous.

traitor?

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Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed,

⚫ And hang thee o'er my tomb, when I am dead. "Ne'er shall this blood be wiped from thy point;

"But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat,

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To emblaze the honor that thy master got.

Cade. Iden, farewell! and be proud of thy Ivictory. Tell Kent from me, she hath lost her 'best man, and exhort all the world to be cowards:

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for I, that never feared any, am vanquished by ' famine, not by valor.

[dies. "Iden. How much thou wrong'st me,1 Heaven be

my judge.

Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare thee!

"And, as I thrust thy body in with my sword,

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So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell.

Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels • Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave, And there cut off thy most ungracious head; • Which I will bear in triumph to the king,

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Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.

[Exit, dragging out the body.

1i. e. in supposing that I am proud of my victory.

ACT V.

SCENE 1.

The same.

Fields between Dartford and Blackheath. The King's camp on one side: on the other, enter YORK, attended, with drums and colors: his forces at some distance.

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York. From Ireland thus comes York, to claim his right,

'And pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head.

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Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and

bright,

• To entertain great England's lawful king.

Ah, sancta majestas! who would not buy thee dear?

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Let them obey, that know not how to rule.

This hand was made to handle naught but gold :

I cannot give due action to my words,

Except a sword or sceptre balance it.

'A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul,

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On which I'll toss the flower-de-luce of France.

Enter BUCKINGHAM.

'Whom have we here? Buckingham, to disturb

me?

The king hath sent him, sure: I must dissemble.

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Buck. York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee

well.

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