Page 595 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

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 door-nail, I
pray God I may never eat grass more. [40]

IDEN

Nay, it shall ne’er be said, while England stands,
That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent,
Took odds to combat a poor famished man.
Oppose thy steadfast-gazing eyes to mine,
See if thou canst outface me with thy looks. [45]
Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser;
Thy hand is but a finger to my fist,
Thy leg a stick comparèd with this truncheon;
My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast,
And if mine arm be heavèd in the air, [50]
Thy grave is digged already in the earth.

[His men hand him his sword and stand aside.]
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 [55] 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 [and Cade falls down.]
O I am slain! Famine and no other hath slain me: let ten thousand devils
come against me, and give me but the [60] 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.

IDEN

Is’t Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor? [65]
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 wipèd from thy point,
But thou shalt wear it as a herald’s coat
To emblaze the honour that thy master got. [70]

CADE