Chapter XVIII: Act V: Enter ERASTUS and PERSEDA (2)

L. MAYOR. It shall become your grace, most gracious lord,
To bear the mind in this afflicted time,
As other kings and lords hath done before,
Armed with sufferance and magnanimity:
The one to make you resolute for chance,
The other forward in your resolution.
The greatest wrong this rout hath done your grace,
Amongst a many other wicked parts,
Is in frighting your worthy lady mother,
Making foul slaughter of your noblemen,
Burning up books and matters of records,
Defacing houses of hostelity:[446]
Saint John's in Smithfield, the Savoy, and such like,
And beating down, like wolves, the better sort.
The greatest wrong in my opinion is,
That in honour doth your person touch,
I mean they call your majesty to parley,
And overbear you with a multitude,
As if you were a vassal, not a king.
O wretched minds of vile and barbarous men,
For whom the heavens have secret wreak in store.
But, my lord (with reverence and with pardon too),
Why comes your grace into Smithfield near the crew,
Unarm'd and guarded with so small a train?

K. If clemency may win their raging minds
To civil order, I'll approve it first.
They shall perceive I come in quiet wise,
Accompanied with the Lord Mayor here alone,
Besides our guard that doth attend on us.

L. MAYOR. May it please your grace
That I shall raise the streets, to guard your majesty
Through Smithfield as you walk?
KING. No, Lord Mayor, 'twill make them more outrageous,
And be a mean to shed a world of blood:
I more account the blood of Englishmen than so.
But this is the place I have appointed them
To hear them speak, and have adventured
To come among this foul, unruly crew.
And lo, my lord, see where the people comes!

_Enter_ JACK STRAW, WAT TYLER, TOM MILLER,
PARSON BALL, _and_ HOB CARTER.

J. S. My masters, this is the king, come away,
'Tis he that we would speak withal.

KING. Newton, desire that one may speak for all,
To tell the sum of their demand at full.

NEW. My masters, you that are th' especial men,
His majesty requires you all by me,
That one may speak and tell him your demand;
And gently here he lets you know by me,
He is resolved to hear him all at large.

KING. Ay, good my friends, I pray you heartily,
Tell us your minds as mildly as you can;
And we will answer you so well to all,
As you shall not mislike in anything.

J. S. We come to revenge your officer's ill-demeanour,
And though we have killed him for his knavery,
Now we be gotten together, we will have wealth and liberty.
[_Cry all: Wealth and liberty!_

KING. It is enough; believe me, if you will;
For as I am your true-succeeding prince,
I swear by all the honour of my crown,
You shall have liberty and pardon all,
As God hath given it and your lawful king.
W. T. Ere we'll be pinch'd with poverty,
To dig our meat and victuals from the ground,
That are as worthy of good maintenance,
As any gentleman your grace doth keep,
We will be kings and lords within ourselves,
And not abide the pride of tyranny.

KING. I pray thee, fellow, what countryman art thou?

W. T. It skills not much; I am an Englishman.

BALL. Marry, sir, he is a Kentishman, and hath been my scholar ere now.

MAYOR. Little good manners hath the villain learned,
To use his lord and king so barbarously. [_Aside._

KING. Well, people, ask you any more,
Than to be free and have your liberty?

[_Cry all: Wealth and liberty!_

KING. Then take my word, I promise it to you all.
And eke my general pardon now forthwith,
Under seal and letters patents to perform the same.
Let every man betake him to his home,
And with what speed our clerks can make dispatch,
Your pardons and your letters patents
Shall be forthwith sent down in every shire.

H. C. Marry, I thank your grace.
Hob Carter and the Essex men will home
Again; and we take your word.

KING. We believe you all, and thank you all;
And presently we will commandment give,
That all this business may be quickly ready.

[_Exeunt_ KING _and his Train_.

J. S. I tell thee, Wat, this is not that that I would have;
I come for more than to be answered thus;
And if the Essex men will needs be gone,
Content: let them go suck their mams at home.
I came for spoil, and spoil I'll have.

W. T. Do what thou wilt, Jack, I will follow thee.

NOBS. How, and if it be to the gallows? [_Aside._

W. T. Why, that is the worst.

NOBS. And, i' faith, that is, sure; but, if you will be ruled by me,
Trust not to his pardon, for you die, every mother's son,
But (captains) [we] go forward as we have begun.

BALL. My masters, the boy speaks wisely.
I have read this in Cato, _Ad consilium antiquum voceris_:
Take good counsel, while it is given.

J. S. Content, boy, we will be ruled by thee.

[_Exeunt omnes except_ NOBS.

_Enter_ TOM MILLER _to burn papers_.

NOBS. Why, how now, Captain Miller, I perceive
You take no care which way the world goes?

T. M. I' faith, Nobs, I have made a bonfire here
Of a great many of bonds and indentures,
And obligations; faith, I have been amongst
The ends of the court, and among the records;
And all that I saw either in the Guild-Hall
Or in any other place, I have set fire on them.
But where hast thou been?

NOBS. I have been
With our captains, Straw and Tyler, at Saint John's
In Smithfield; but, sirrah, I can tell you news!
Captain Carter is gone home, and all our Essexmen,
And I fear we shall all be hanged. Therefore,
Look you to yourself, for I will look to myself.

[_Exit._

T. M. Well, if we shall be hanged, it is but a folly to be sorry,
But go to it with a good stomach.
Riddle me a riddle, what's this,
I shall be hanged, I shall not be hanged.

[_Here he tries it with a staff._[447]

_Enter_ LADY-MOTHER _and_ GENTLEMAN-USHER,
_unseen by_ MILLER.

QUEEN. What doth that fellow?

USHER. It seemeth, madam, he disputeth with himself
Whether he shall be hanged or no.

QUEEN. Alas, poor soul! simple enough, God wot!
And yet not so simple as a great many of his company.

USHER. If it be, as we are let to understand,
My lord the king hath given them general pardon.

QUEEN. So he hath, and they, like honest men, are gone
homeward, or at least the most part of them, but worst[448] in
mine opinion is their haps, that tarry longest.

T. M. (_seeing them_). But peace, here is the king's mother;
she can do much with the king. I'll treat her to beg my pardon
of the king wisely. I'll go to her. Humbly unto your worships,
a poor captain, Thomas Miller, requesting your favourable
bequest, touching the permission of destray, towards the said
Captain Miller, which in blunt and flat terms is nominated,
_Sursum cordum, alias dictus hangum meum_, from which place
of torment God us all deliver, and grant us to be merciful
while we live here together. Now, sir, understanding your
worship is the king's mother, lamentably in the behalf before
spoken, to stand between me and the gallows, or to beg my
pardon, in which you shall not only save a proper, handsome,
tall fellow and a stout captain, but also you shall purchase
the prayers of all the ale-wives in the town for saving a
malt-worm and a customer to help away their strong ale.

QUEEN. What means the fellow by all this eloquence?

USHER. It seems he fears he shall be hanged,
And therefore craves your grace's favour
In his behalf.

QUEEN. Alas, poor fellow!
He seemeth to be a starken idiot. Good fellow,
If thou wilt go beg thy pardon of the king,
I will speak for thee.

T. M. Will you, in faith, and I will give you a tawdry[449] love.

USHER. Madam, here comes an unruly crew; let's be gone.

[_Exeunt_ QUEEN-MOTHER _and_ USHER.
_Manet_ T. MILLER.

_Enter_ JACK STRAW, WAT TYLER, PARSON BALL,
NOBS.

J. S. The king and his nobles think they may sleep in quiet,
Now they have given us a little holy water at the court.
But there's no such matter; we be no such fools,
To be babbled out with words, and after come to hanging.
Wat, do the thing thou com'st for;
If thou wilt be ruled by me, we'll not leave it so.

W. T. _Rantara!_ have at all, my boys!

T. M. Sayest thou so, my heart, then farewell my pardon:
For I'll do as ye do; hang together for company.

BALL. Neighbours and friends, never yield,
But fight it lustily in the field:
For God will give you strength and might,
And put your enemies to flight:
To stand against them day and night,
For, of my honesty, your quarrel's right.

T. M. O Parson Ball, before you all,
If all fall out not well,
By following thy counsel;
And that by listening to thy talk,
To the gallows we do walk:
Parson Ball, I will tell thee,
And swear it of mine honesty,
Thou shalt be hanged as well as we.

J. S. Peace! here comes the king, I trow.

_Enter the_ KING, MAYOR, _and_ NEWTON,
_bearing a sword_.

KING. What company be those, Newton, we do see?
Be they[450] of those that promised us to part?

NEW. Even part of those, my good and gracious lord,
That promised your highness to depart.

KING. Why, then, I see they stand not to their words,
And sure they should not break it so with me,
That have so carefully remembered them:
This is a part of great ingratitude.

MAYOR. And it like your majesty, the Essex men
With far more better minds have parted company,
And every man beta'en him to his home.
The chiefest of these rebels be of Kent,
Of base degree and worse conditions all,
And vowed, as I am given to understand,
To nothing but to havoc and to spoil.

KING. Lord Mayor, if it be so, I wot
It is a dangerous and unnatural resolution.
I pray thee, Newton, go and speak with them;
Ask them what more it is that they require.

[NEWTON _goes to the rebels_.

NEW. My masters, you that be the chiefest of the rout,
The king entreats you kindly here by me
To come and speak with him a word or two.

J. S. Sirrah, if the king would anything with us,
Tell him the way is indifferent[451] to meet us.

NEW. You are too many to be talked withal;
Besides you owe a duty to your prince.

J. S. Sirrah, give me the sword thou wearest there;
Becomes it thee to be armed in my presence?

NEW. Sir, I wear my weapon for mine own defence,
And by your leave will wear it yet a while.

J. S. What, wilt thou, villain? give it me, I say.

KING. Newton, give it him, if that be all the matter;

Here take it, and much good do it thee.

[_The King gives him the sword._

J. S. Villain, I say, give me the sword thou bearest up,
For that's the thing I tell thee I affect.

NEW. This sword belongs unto my lord the king.
Tis none of mine, nor shalt thou have the same.
Proud rebel, wert but thou and I alone,
Thou durst not ask it thus boldly at my hand,
For all the wealth this Smithfield doth contain.

J. S. By him that died for me, I will not dine,
Till I have seen thee hanged or made away.

KING. Alas, Lord Mayor! Newton is in great danger,
And force cannot prevail amongst the rout.

MAYOR. Old Rome, I can remember I have read,
When thou didst flourish for virtue and for arms,
What magnanimity did abide in thee!
Then, Walworth, as it may become thee well,
Deserve some honour at thy prince's hand,
And beautify this dignity of thine
With some or other act of consequence!

[_Aside. Advances._

Villain, I say, whence comes this rage of thine?
How darest thou, a dunghill bastard born,
To brave thy sovereign and his nobles thus?
Villain, I do arrest thee in my prince's name!
Proud rebel as thou art, take that withal;

[_Here he stabs him._

Learn thou, and all posterity after thee,
What 'tis, a servile slave to brave a king!
Pardon, my gracious lord; for this my act
Is service done to God and to yourself.

KING. Lord Mayor, for thy valiant act in this,
And noble courage in the king's behalf,
Thou shalt perceive us not to be ungrateful.

ALL THE REBELS. Our captain is slain, our captain is slain!

KING. Fear you not, people, for I am your king,
And I will be your captain and your friend.

NEW. Pleaseth your grace for to withdraw yourself;
These rebels then will soon be put to foil.

[_Exeunt all but the_ MAYOR _and two Sergeants_.

Mayor. Soldiers, take heart to you, and follow me;
It is our God that gives the victory.
Drag this accursed villain through the streets,
To strike a terror to the rebels' hearts.
London will give you power and arms,
And God will strengthen you, and daunt your foes:
Fill Smithfield full of noise and joyful cries,
And say aloud, _God save our noble prince!_

[_Exeunt._

FINIS ACTUS TERTIUS.

FOOTNOTES:

[445] [Old copy, _Brocke_.]

[446] [Old copy, _hostillitie_.]

[447] [The divining rod. See "Popular Antiquities of Gr. Britain," iii. 286.]

[448] [Old copy, _worse_.]

[449] [Query, a blunder (of course intended) for _towardly_.]

[450] [Old copy, _them_.]

[451] [_i.e._, The fair and impartial way is.]

ACTUS QUARTUS.

_Enter_ KING, LORD MAYOR, MORTON, NEWTON,
_and Noblemen_.

KING. Lord Mayor and well-beloved friends,
Whose readiness in aid of us and ours
Hath given just trial of your loyalty
And love you bear to us and to our land:
Sith by the help and mighty hand of God
These foul, unnatural broils are quieted,
And this unhappy tumult well appeased:
Having, as law and duty binds us to,
Given both due praise and sacrifice of thanks
Unto our God, from whom this goodness comes:
Let me now to your counsel recommend,
And to your sad[452] opinions generally,
The end of all these great and high affairs,
This mighty business that we have in hand.
And that I may in brief unfold my mind,
My lords, I would not yet--but mercy should--
Against the law in this hard case prevail;
And as I gave my word unto you all
That, if they then had left their mutiny,
Or rather had let fall their wrongful arms,
Their pardon then should have been general,
So will I not; yet God forbid I should
(Though law, I know, exact it at my hands)
Behold so many of my countrymen
All done to death and strangled in one day,
The end is this: that of that careless rout,
That hath so far unnaturally rebelled,
The chief offenders may be punished:
And thus you know my mind, and so, my lords,
Proceed, I pray you, and no otherwise.

NEW. Sith mercy in a prince resembleth right
The gladsome sunshine in a winter's day,
Pleaseth your grace to pardon me to speak:
When all the hope of life and breathing here
Be ta'en from all this rout in general,
If then at instant of the dying hour,
Your grace's honourable pardon come,
To men half-dead, who lie killed in conceit:[453]
Then, think I, it will be more gracious,
Than if it offered were so hastily:
When thread of life is almost fret in twain,
To give it strength breeds thanks and wonder too.

MAYOR. So many as are ta'en within the city
Are fast in hold, to know your grace's will.

KING. There is but one or two in all the rout,
Whom we would have to die for this offence,
Especially that by name are noted men.
One is a naughty and seditious priest;
They call him Ball, as we are let to know,
A person more notorious than the rest.
But this I do refer to your dispose.

N. Pleaseth your grace, they have been rid[454] apace,
Such special men as we could possibly find,
And many of the common rout among;
And yet survives this Ball, that cursed priest,
And one Wat Tyler, leader of the rest;
Whose villanies and outrageous cruelties
Have been so barbarously executed:
The one with malice of his traitorous taunts,
The other with the violence of his hands,
That gentle ruth nor mercy hath no ears
To hear them speak, much less to pardon them.

KING. It is enough; I understand your minds;
And well I wot, in causes such as these,
Kings may be found too full of clemency.
But who are those that enter in this place?

_Enter some of the Rebels, led to execution._

NEW. Pleaseth it your grace, these be the men
Whom law hath worthily condemn'd to die,
Going to the place of execution.
The foremost is that Ball, and next to him
Wat Tyler, obstinate rebels both;
For all the rest are of a better mould,
Whose minds are softer than the foremost twain:
For, being common soldiers in the camp,
Were rather led with counsel of the rest,
Descrying better to be pitied.

KING. Morton, to those condemned men we see
Deliver this, a pardon to them all,
Excepting namely those two foremost men,
I mean the priest and him they call Wat Tyler.
To all the rest free pardon we do send,
And give the same to understand from us.

_The King's Pardon delivered by_ SIR JOHN MORTON
_to the Rebels_.

_My friends and unhappy countrymen, whom the laws of England
have worthily condemned unto death for your open and unnatural
rebellion against your lawful sovereign and anointed prince,
I am sent unto you from the king's most excellent majesty, to
give you to understand that, notwithstanding this violence
which you have offered to yourselves, in running furiously into
the danger of the law, as mad and frantic men upon an edged
sword: yet, notwithstanding, I say, that you have gathered
rods to scourge your own selves, following desperately your
lewd and misgoverned heads, which have haled you on to this
wretched and shameful end, which is now imminent over you
all, that must in strangling cords die like dogs, and finish
your lives in this miserable, reproachful sort, because ye
would not live like men: but far unlike yourselves, unlike
Englishmen, degenerate from your natural obedience and nature
of your country, that by kind bringeth forth none such, or at
least brooketh none such, but spits them out for bastards_
_and recreants: notwithstanding, I say, this torment wherein
ye now live, looking every hour to suffer such a shameful and
most detestable death, as doth commonly belong to such horrible
offenders, yet it hath pleased the king of his accustomed
goodness to give you your lives, and freely to forgive you your
faults, sending by me general pardon to you all, excepting
one only accursed and seditious priest, that so far swerved
from the truth and his allegiance to his prince, and one Wat
Tyler, whose outrage hath been noted so outrageous in all his
actions as, for ensample to all Englishmen hereafter, his
majesty hath thought good to account him and this parson (first
stirrers in this tumult and unnatural rebelling) the greatest
offenders that now live to grieve his majesty; and thus I have
delivered the message of the king, which is in effect general
pardon to you all, and a sentence of death unto the two arch
rebels, John Ball and Wat Tyler. For which great grace, if you
think yourselves anything bound to his highness (as infinitely
you are), let it appear as far forth hereafter as you may,
either by outward signs of duty, or inward loyalty of hearts
expressed: and to begin the same, in sign of your thankfulness,
say all, God save the king!_

CRY ALL. _God save the king!_

W. T. Well, then, we know the worst;
He can but hang us, and that is all.
Were Jack Straw alive again,
And I in as good possibility as ever I was,
I would lay a surer trump
Ere I would lose so fair a trick.

BALL. And what I said in time
Of our business, I repent not;
And if it were to speak again,
Every word should be a whole sermon,
So much I repent me!
MORT. Away with the rebels; suffer them not to speak.
His words are poison in the ears of the people.
Away, villain, stain to thy country and thy calling!

W. T. Why, Morton, are you so lusty, with a pox?
I pulled you out of Rochester Castle by the poll!

MORT. And in recompense I will help to set your head on a pole.

W. T. Pray you, let's be poll'd first!

MORT. Away with the rebels.
[_Exeunt_ REBELS.

MORT. [_returning to the king_]. As gave your grace in charge,
I have delivered
Your highness' pleasure amongst the prisoners,
And have proclaimed your grace's pardon 'mongst them all,
Save only those two unnatural Englishmen--
O, might I say no English nor men!--
That Ball and Tyler, cursed rebels both,
Whom I commanded to be executed;
And in your highness' name have freed all the rest,
Whose thankful hearts I find as full replete
With signs of joy and duty to your grace,
As those unnatural rebels' hateful mouths
Are full of foul speeches and unhonourable.

KING. It is no matter, Morton; let them bark.
I trow they cannot bite, when they be dead.
And, Lord Mayor, for your valiant act
And dangerous attempt in our behalf,
To free your country and your king from ill:
In our behalf and in our commonweal,
We will accept it as the deed deserves,
And thank you for this honourable attempt.

MAYOR. What subjects' hearts could brook the rage of theirs,
To vaunt in presence of their sovereign Lord,
To brave him to his face before his peers,
But would by policy or force attempt
To quell the raging of such furious foes?
My sovereign lord, 'twas but my duty done,
First unto God, next to my lawful king,
Proceeding from a true and loyal heart,
And so I hope your grace esteems thereof.

KING. To the end this deed shall rest in memory,
Which shall continue for ever to the end,
Lord Mayor, I will adjoin to thy degree
Another title of a lasting fame.
Kneel down, William Walworth, and receive,
By mine own hand the Order of Knighthood:
Stand up, Sir William, first knight of thy degree,
But henceforth all, which shall succeed thy place,
Shall have like honour for thy noble deed.
Besides that time shall ne'er abridge thy fame,
The City arms shall bear for memory
The bloody dagger the more for Walworth's honour.
Call for your herald, and receive your due.

MAYOR. My gracious lord, this honourable grace,
So far above desert (sith what I did,
My duty and allegiance bad me do),
Binds me and my successors evermore
With sweet encouragement to th' like attempt.
Your majesty and all your royal peers
Shall find your London such a storehouse still,
As not alone you shall command our wealth,
But loyal hearts, the treasure of a prince,
Shall grow like grains sown in a fertile soil,
And God I praise, that with his holy hand
Hath given me heart to free my prince and land.

KING. Then sith these dangerous broils are overpass'd
With shedding of so little English blood.
'Tis for the fame and honour of a prince
Well to reward the actors of the same.
So many of thy brethren as accompanied thee,
In Smithfield here about this bold attempt,
When time shall serve, I'll knight them as thou art.
And so Lord Mayor, Newton, Morton, and the rest,
Accompany us to guard us to the tower,
Where we'll repose, and rest ourselves all night.

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[452] [Serious.]

[453] [Who give up themselves for killed. Old copy has, _killed who lie in conceit_.]

[454] [Pursued.]

Transcriber's Notes:

Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors
were corrected.

Punctuation normalized.

Archaic, colloquial, and non-standard spellings retained as
printed.

Italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_.

Greek text is transliterated and enclosed in ®registration signs®.