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 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 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, my brainpan
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. Enter IDEN.
Iden.
Lord, who would live turmoiled in the court,
And may enjoy such quiet walks as these? (20)
This small inheritance my father left me
Contenteth me, and 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
And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.
Cade.
Here's the lord of the soil come to
seize 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 by
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.
Iden.
Why, rude companion, 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 as dead as a doornail,
I pray God I may never eat grass more.
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 steadfast-gazing eyes to mine,
See if thou canst outface me with thy looks: (50)
Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser;
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 valour, 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. [Here 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'ld defy them all. Wither, garden;
and be henceforth a burying-place to all
that do dwell in this house, because the unconquered (70)
soul of Cade is fled.
Iden.
Is't Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor?
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,
To emblaze the honour that thy master got.
Cade.
Iden, farewell, and be proud of thy
victory. Tell Kent from me, she hath lost her
best man, and exhort all the world to be cowards;
for I, that never feared any, am vanquished (81)
by famine, not by valour. [Dies.
Iden.
How much thou wrong'st me, heaven be my judge.
Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare thee;
And as I thrust thy body in with my sword,
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, (90)
Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon. [Exit.
