6 CADE. And henceforward all things fhall be in common. Enter a Meffenger. MES. My lord, a prize! a prize! here's the lord Say, which fold the towns in France; he that * made us pay one and twenty fifteens, and one hilling to the pound, the-laft fubfidy. ' 6 Enter George Bevis, with the Lord SAY. 7 CADE. Well, he fhall be beheaded for it ten times. Ah, thou fay, thou ferge, nay, thou buckram lord: now art thou within point-blank 6 them one and twenty fifteens, ] This capteine (Cade) affured if either by force or policie they might get the king and queene into their hands, he would cause them to be honourably ufed, and take fuch order for the punishing and reforming of the mifdemeanours of their bad councellours, that neither fifteens fhould hereafter be demanded, nor anie impofitions or taxes be spoken of." Holinfhed. Vol. II. P 632. A fifteen was the fifteenth part of all the moveables or perfonal property of each fubject. 7 MALONE. thou fay, thou ferge,] Say was the old word for filk: on this depends the series of degradation, from Say to ferge, from ferge to buckram. JOHNSON. This word occurs in Spenfer's Faerie Queen, B. I. c. iv : All in a kirtle of difcolour'd fay He clothed was. Again, in his Perigot and Cuddy's Roundelay: "And in a kirtle of green fay." It appears, however, from the following paffage in The Faery Queen, B. III. c. ii, that fay was not filk: "His garment neither was of filk nor say." STEEVENS. It appears from Minfheu's DICT. 1617, that Jay was a kind of ferge. It is made entirely of wool. There is a confiderable manufactory of Jay at Sudbury near Colchefter. This ftuff is frequently dyed green, and is yet ufed by fome mechanicks in aprons. MALONE . 9 of our jurifdiction regal. What canft thou anfwer to my majefty, for giving up of Normandy unto ' mounfieur Bafimecu, the dauphin of France ? Be it known unto thee by thefe prefence, even the prefence of lord Mortimer, that I am the befom that muft fweep the court clean of fuch filth as • thou art. Thou haft moft traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammarfchool: and whereas, before, our fore-fathers had no other books but the fcore and the tally, thou haft caufed printing to be ufed; and, contrary 2 9 mounfieur Balmecu,] Shakspeare probably wrote Baifermycu, or, by a defigned corruption, Bafemycu, in imitation of his original, where alfo we find a word half French, half English, Monfieur Buffminecu. " MALONE. printing to be used; ] Shakspeare is a little too early with this accusation. JOHNSON. Shakspeare might have been led into this miftake by Daniel, in the fixth book of his Civil Wars, who introduces printing and artillery as contemporary inventions : "Let there be found two fatal inftruments, "The one to publifh, th' other to defend "Impious contention, and proud difcontents; "Make that inftamped characters may fend "Abroad to thousands thoufand men's intents; "And, in a moment, may difpatch much more "Than could a world of pens perform before. Shakspeare's abfurdities may always be countenanced by thofe of writers nearly his contemporaries. In the tragedy of Herod and Antipater, by Gervafe Markham and William Sampson who were both scholars, is the following paffage : Though cannons roar, yet you must not be deaf." Spenfer mentions cloth made at Lincoln during the ideal reign of K. Arthur, and has adorn'd a caftle at the fame period " with cloth of Arras and of Toure. Chaucer introduces guns in the time of Antony and Cleopatra, and (as Mr. Warton has obferved) Salvator Rofa places a cannon at the entrance of the tent of Holofernes. STEEVENS. Mr. Meerman, in his Origines Typographica, hath availed himself of this paffage in Shakspeare, to fupport his hypothefis, that 7 เ 3 to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face, that thou haft men about thee, that ufually talk of a noun, and a verb; and fuch abominable words, as no chriftian ear can endure to hear. Thou haft appointed juftices of peace, to call poor 'men before them about matters they were not able 'to to answer. Moreover, thou haft put them in prifon; and, because they could not read, thou haft hang'd them; 5 when, indeed, only for that cause they have been moft worthy to live. Thou 'doft ride on a foot-cloth, doft thou not? SAY. What of that? 6 CADE. Marry, thou ought'ft not to let thy horse wear a cloak, when honefter men than thou go in their hofe and doublets. printing was introduced into England (before the time of Caxton) by Frederic Corfellis, a workman from Haerlem, in the time of Henry VI. 3 BLACKTSTONE. .. Againft the peace is the contrary to the king, his crown, &c.] of the faid lord the now king, his crown, and dignity, regular language of indictments. MALONE. 4 5 to call poor men before them about matters they were not able to answer. ] The old Play reads, with hang honeft men that feal for their living." because they could not read, thou haft is, they were hanged because they could not clergy. JOHNSON. 6 more humour, to hang'd them; ] That claim the benefit of Thou doft ride on a foot-cloth,] A footcloth was a horfe with houfings which reached as low as his feet. So, in the tragedy of Muleaffes the Turk, 1610: "I have feen, fince my coming to Florence, the son of a pedlar mounted on a footcloth. STEEVENS. A foot-cloth was a kind of houfing, which covered the body of the horfe, and almoft reached the ground. It was fometimes made MALONE. of velvet, and bordered with gold lace. 7 to let thy horse wear a cloak,] This is a reproach truly * DICK. And work in their fhirt too; as myself, for example, that am a butcher. SAY. You men of Kent, DICK. What lay you of Kent? SAY. Nothing but this: 'Tis bona terra, mala 'CADE. Away with him, away with him! he fpeaks Latin. SAY. Hear me but fpeak, and bear me where you will. Kent, in the commentaries Cæfar writ, Is term'd the civil'ft place of all this ifle: 9 The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy; characteristical. Nothing gives fo much offence to the lower ranks of mankind, as the fight of fuperfluities merely oftentatious. 8 ceeds thus: JOHNSON. bona terra, mala gens. ] After this line the quarto pro "Cade. Bonum terrum, what's that? "Dick. He speaks French. "Will. No, 'tis Dutch. Nick. No, 'tis Outalian: I know it well enough." Holinfhed bas likewife ftigmatized the Kentish men, p. 677. The Kentish-men, in this season (whofe minds be ever moveable at the change of princes) &c. STEEVENS. Is term'd the civilft place of all this ifle:] So, in Cæfar's Comment. B. V. Ex his omnibus funt bumaniffimi qui Cantium incolunt. The paffage is thus tranflated by Arthur Golding, 1590. Of all the inhabitants of this ifle, the civileft are the Kentishfolke." STEEVENS. So, in Lyly's Euphues and his England, 1580, a book which the author of The Whole Contention, &c. probably, and Shakfpeare certainly, had read: "Of all the inhabitants of this ifle the Kenti men are the civileft." MALONE. Yet, to recover them, would lofe my life. Prayers and tears have mov'd me, gifts could never. When have I aught exacted at your hands, -- ven, 3. Yet, to recover them, &c.] I suspect that here as in a paffage in K. Henry V. (See a note on K. Henry V. A& IV. fc. iii. Vol. XIII.) Yet was mifprinted for Yea. MALONE. 3 When have I aught exacted at your hands, Kent to maintain, the king, the realm, and you? Large gifts have I beftow'd on learned clerks, Because my book preferr'd me to the king.] This paffage I know not well how to explain. It is pointed [in the old copy ] fo as to make Say declare that he preferred clerks to maintain Kent and the king. This is not very clear; and, befides, he gives in the following line another reafon of his bounty, that learning, raifed him, and therefore he fupported learning. I am inclined to think Kent flipped into this paffage by chance, and would read: When have I aught exacted at your hand, But to maintain the king, the realm, and you? JOHNSON. I concur with Dr. Johnson in believing the word Kent to have been fhuffled into the text by accident. Lord Say, as the paffage ftands in the folio, not only declares he had preferred men of learning to maintain Kent, the king, the realm, but adds tautologically you; for it should be remembered that they are Kentish men to whom he is now fpeaking. I would read, Bent to maintain, &c. i. e. firenuously refolved to the utmost, to &c. STEEVENS. The pun&uation to which Dr. Johnfon alludes, is that of the folio: When have I aught exacted at your hands? Kent to maintaio, the king, the realm, and you,. Large gifts, have I beftow'd on learned clerks, &c. I have pointed the paffage differently, the former punctuation appearing to me to render it nonfenfe. I fufpect, however, with the preceding editors, that the word Kent is a corruption. MALONE, 4 |