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.

_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:
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 digged 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 Jove on my knees, thou mayest 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.

_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 by famine, not
by valour.
[_Dies._

[Sidenote: THE DEATH OF CADE]

That was on July 12, 1450. Cade did not die at once, but on the way to
London, whither he was conveyed in a cart. On the 16th his body was
drawn and quartered and dragged through London on a hurdle. One quarter
was then sent to Blackhe