Withal, Sheriff More, I’ll tell him how your breath
Hath ransomed many a subject from sad death. Exit
LORD MAYOR
Lincoln and Sherwin, you shall both to Newgate,
The rest unto the Counters.
PALMER
Go, guard them hence. A little breath well spent
Cheats expectation in his fair’st event.
DOLL Well, Sheriff More, thou hast done more with thy good words than all they could with their weapons. Give me thy hand. Keep thy promise now for the King’s pardon, or, by the Lord, I’ll call thee a plain cony-catcher.
LINCOLN
Farewell, Sheriff More. And as we yield by thee
So make our peace; then thou deal’st honestly.
CLOWN BETTS Ay, and save us from the gallows, else a deals double honestly.
[The Citizens] are led away
LORD MAYOR
Master Sheriff More, you have preserved the city
From a most dangerous fierce commotion.
For if this limb of riot here in St Martin’s
Had joined with other branches of the city
That did begin to kindle, ’twould have bred
Great rage. That rage much murder would have fed.
PALMER
Not steel but eloquence hath wrought this good.
You have redeemed us from much threatened blood.
MORE
My lord, and brethren, what I here have spoke
My country’s love and, next, the city’s care
Enjoined me to; which since it thus prevails,
Think God hath made weak More His instrument
To thwart sedition’s violent intent.
I think ’twere best, my lord, some two hours hence
We meet at the Guildhall, and there determine
That thorough every ward the watch be clad
In armour. But especially provide
That at the city gates selected men,
Substantial citizens, do ward tonight,
For fear of further mischief.
LORD MAYOR It shall be so.
Enter Shrewsbury
But yon, methinks, my lord of Shrewsbury.
SHREWSBURY
My lord, his majesty sends loving thanks
To you, your brethren, and his faithful subjects
Your careful citizens. But Master More, to you
A rougher yet as kind a salutation.
Your name is yet too short. Nay, you must kneel.
A knight’s creation is this knightly steel.
⌈More kneels⌉
Rise up Sir Thomas More.
⌈He knights More⌉
MORE ⌈rising⌉
I thank his highness for thus honouring me.
SHREWSBURY
This is but first taste of his princely favour,
For it hath pleased his high majesty,
Noting your wisdom and deserving merit,
To put this staff of honour in your hand,
For he hath chose you of his Privy Council.
⌈He gives More a staff of office⌉
MORE
My lord, for to deny my sovereign’s bounty
Were to drop precious stones into the heaps
Whence first they came.
To urge my imperfections in excuse
Were all as stale as custom. No, my lord,
My service is my king’s. Good reason why,
Since life or death hangs on our sovereign’s eye.
LORD MAYOR
His majesty hath honoured much the city
In this his princely choice.
MORE My lord and brethren,
Though I depart for court, my love shall rest
〈 〉
I now must sleep in court, sound sleeps forbear.
The chamberlain to state is public care.
Yet in this rising of my private blood
My studious thoughts shall tend the city’s good.
Enter Croft
Enter Crofts
SHREWSBURY
How now, Crofts? What news?
CROFTS
My lord, his highness sends express command
That a record be entered of this riot,
And that the chief and capital offenders
Be thereon straight arraigned; for himself intends
To sit in person on the rest tomorrow
At Westminster.
SHREWSBURY
Lord Mayor, you hear your charge.
Come, good Sir Thomas More, to court let’s hie.
You are th’appeaser of this mutiny.
MORE
My lord, farewell. New days begets new tides.
Life whirls ’bout fate, then to a grave it slides.
Exeunt severally
Sc. 7 Enter Master Sheriff, and meet a Messenger
SHERIFF
Messenger, what news?
MESSENGER Is execution yet performed?
SHERIFF
Not yet. The carts stand ready at the stairs,
And they shall presently away to Tyburn.
MESSENGER
Stay, Master Sheriff. It is the Council’s pleasure,
For more example in so bad a case,
A gibbet be erected in Cheapside
Hard by the Standard, whither you must bring
Lincoln, and those that were the chief with him,
To suffer death, and that immediately.
Enter Officers
SHERIFF
It shall be done, sir. Exit Messenger
Officers, be speedy.
Call for a gibbet, see it be erected.
Others make haste to Newgate; bid them bring
The prisoners hither, for they here must die.
Away, I say, and see no time be slacked.
OFFICERS We go, sir.
SHERIFF That’s well said, fellows. Now you do your duty. Exeunt some ⌈Officers⌉ severally. Others set up the gibbet
God for his pity help these troublous times!
The street’s stopped up with gazing multitudes.
Command our armed officers with halberds
Make way for entrance of the prisoners.
Let proclamation once again be made
That every householder, on pain of death,
Keep in his prentices, and every man
Stand with a weapon ready at his door,
As he will answer to the contrary.
FIRST OFFICER I’ll see it done, sir. Exit
Enter another Offices
SHERIFF
Bring them away to execution.
The writ is come above two hours since.
The city will be fined for this neglect.
SECOND OFFICER
There’s such a press and multitude at Newgate
They cannot bring the carts unto the stairs
To take the prisoners in.
SHERIFF Then let them come on foot.
We may not dally time with great command.
SECOND OFFICER
Some of the Bench, sir, think it very fit
That stay be made, and give it out abroad
The execution is deferred till morning;
And when the streets shall be a little cleared
To chain them up, and suddenly dispatch it.
The prisoners are brought in, ⌈amongst them Lincoln,
Doll, Williamson, Clown Betts, and Sherwin,⌉ well
guarded, ⌈and the Executioner⌉
SHERIFF
Stay, in meantime methinks they come along.
See, they are coming. So, ’tis very well.
Bring Lincoln there the first unto the tree.
CLOWN BETTS Ay, for I cry lag, sir.
LINCOLN
I knew the first, sir, did belong to me.
This the old proverb now complete doth make:
That ‘Lincoln should be hanged for London’s sake’.
I’ God’s name, let’s to work. ⌈To Executioner⌉ Fell
ow, dispatch.
He goes up
I was the foremost man in this rebellion,
And I the foremost that must die for it.
DOLL
Bravely, John Lincoln, let thy death express
That, as thou lived‘st a man, thou died’st no less.
LINCOLN
Doll Williamson, thine eyes shall witness it.
Then to all you that come to view mine end
I must confess I had no ill intent
But against such as wronged us overmuch.
And now I can perceive it was not fit
That private men should carve out their redress
Which way they list. No, learn it now by me:
Obedience is the best in each degree.
And, asking mercy meekly of my king,
I patiently submit me to the law.
But God forgive them that were cause of it;
And, as a Christian, truly from my heart,
I likewise crave they would forgive me too,
〈 〉
That others by example of the same
Henceforth be warned to attempt the like
’Gainst any alien that repaireth hither.
Fare ye well all. The next time that we meet
I trust in heaven we shall each other greet. He leaps off
DOLL
Farewell, John Lincoln. Say all what they can,
Thou lived‘st a good fellow, and died’st an honest man.
CLOWN BETTS Would I were so far on my journey. The first stretch is the worst, methinks.
SHERIFF Bring Williamson there forward.
DOLL
Good Master Sheriff, I have an earnest suit,
And, as you are a man, deny’t me not.
SHERIFF
Woman, what is it? Be it in my power,
Thou shalt obtain it.
DOLL
Let me die next, sir, that is all I crave.
You know not what a comfort you shall bring
To my poor heart to die before my husband.
SHERIFF
Bring her to death. She shall have her desire.
CLOWN BETTS Sir, and I have a suit to you too.
SHERIFF What is it?
CLOWN BETTS That, as you have hanged Lincoln first and will hang her next, so you will not hang me at all.
SHERIFF Nay, you set ope the Counter gates, and you must hang chiefly.
CLOWN BETTS Well then, so much for that!
DOLL ⌈to Sherif⌉
Sir, your free bounty much contents my mind.
Commend me to that good sheriff Master More,
And tell him had’t not been for his persuasion
John Lincoln had not hung here as he does.
We would first have locked up in Leaden Hall,
And there been burned to ashes with the roof.
SHERIFF
Woman, what Master More did was a subject’s duty,
And hath so pleased our gracious lord the King
That he is hence removed to higher place
And made of Council to his majesty.
DOLL
Well is he worthy of it, by my troth:
An honest, wise, well-spoken gentleman.
Yet would I praise his honesty much more
If he had kept his word and saved our lives.
But let that pass. Men are but men, and so
Words are but words, and pays not what men owe.
Now, husband, since perhaps the world may say
That through my means thou com’st thus to thy end,
Here I begin this cup of death to thee,
Because thou shalt be sure to taste no worse
Than I have taken that must go before thee.
What though I be a woman? That’s no matter.
I do owe God a death, and I must pay him.
Husband, give me thy hand. Be not dismayed.
This chore being chored, then all our debt is paid.
Only two little babes we leave behind us,
And all I can bequeath them at this time
Is but the love of some good honest friend
To bring them up in charitable sort.
What, masters?—He goes upright that never halts,
And they may live to mend their parents’ faults.
WILLIAMSON
Why, well said, wife. I‘faith, thou cheer’st my heart.
Give me thy hand. Let’s kiss, and so let’s part.
He kisses her on the ladder
DOLL
The next kiss, Williamson, shall be in heaven.
Now cheerly, lads! George Betts, a hand with thee.
⌈To Clown Betts⌉ And thine too, Ralph. And thine, good
honest Sherwin.
Now let me tell the women of this town
No stranger yet brought Doll to lying down.
So long as I an Englishman can see,
Nor French nor Dutch shall get a kiss of me.
And when that I am dead, for me yet say
I died in scorn to be a stranger’s prey.
A great shout and noise ⌈within⌉
VOICES WITHIN Pardon, pardon, pardon, pardon!
Room for the Earl of Surreyl Room there, room!
Enter Surrey
SURREY
Save the man’s life, if it be possible!
SHERIFF
It is too late, my lord, he’s dead already.
SURREY
I tell ye, Master Sheriff, you are too forward
To make such haste with men unto their death.
I think your pains will merit little thanks,
Since that his highness is so merciful
As not to spill the blood of any subject.
SHERIFF
My noble lord, would we so much had known!
The Council’s warrant hastened our dispatch.
It had not else been done so suddenly.
SURREY
Sir Thomas More humbly upon his knee
Did beg the lives of all, since on his word
They did so gently yield. The King hath granted it,
And made him Lord High Chancellor of England,
According as he worthily deserves.
Since Lincoln’s life cannot be had again,
Then for the rest, from my dread sovereign’s lips,
I here pronounce free pardon for them all—
ALL (flinging up caps)
God save the King! God save the King,
My good Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Surreyl
DOLL
And Doll desires it from her very heart
More’s name may live for this right noble part;
And whensoe’er we talk of Ill May Day
Praise More, whose honest words our falls did stay.
SURREY
In hope his highness’ clemency and mercy,
Which in the arms of mild and meek compassion
Would rather clip you, as the loving nurse
Oft doth the wayward infant, than to leave you
To the sharp rod of justice; so to draw you
To shun such lewd assemblies as beget
Unlawful riots and such traitorous acts
That, striking with the hand of private hate,
Maim your dear country with a public wound.
O God, that mercy, whose majestic brow
Should be unwrinkled, and that awe-full justice,
Which looketh through a veil of sufferance
Upon the frailty of the multitude,
Should with the clamours of outrageous wrongs
Be stirred and wakened thus to punishment!
But your deserved death he doth forgive.
Who gives you life, pray all he long may live.
ALL
God save the King! God save the King,
My good Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Surreyl
Exeunt
[Original Text (Munday)]
[⌈Addition III (playhouse scribe; attributed to
Shakespeare)]
Sc. 8 A table being covered with a green carpet, a state cushion on it, and the purse and mace lying thereon, enter More
MORE
It is in heaven that I am thus and thus,
And that which we profanely term our fortunes
Is the provision of the power above,
Fitted and shaped just to that strength of nature
Which we are born with. Good God, good God,
That I from such an humble bench of birth
Should step, as ’twere, up to my country’s head,
And give the law out there; I, in my father’s life,
To take prerogative and tithe of knees
From elder kinsmen, and him bind by my place
To give the smooth and dexter way to me
That owe it him by nature: sure these things,
Not physicked by respect, might turn our blood
To much corruption. But, More, the more thou
hast,
Either of honour, office, wealth, and calling,
Which might accite thee to embrace and hug them,
The more do thou in serpent’s natures think them,
Fear their gay skins with thought of their sharp state,
And let this be thy maxim: to be great
Is, when the thread of hazard is once spun,
A bottom great wound up, greatly undone.
[Addition III (playhouse scribe; attributed to Shakespeare)]
[addition IV (playhouse scribe; attributed to Dekker)]
Enter Sir Thomas More’s man ⌈Randall⌉, attired like him
MORE Come on, sir, are you ready?
RANDALL Yes, my lord. I stand but on a few points. I shall have done presently. Before God, I have practised your lordship’s shift so well that I think I shall grow proud, my lord.
MORE
‘Tis fit thou shouldst wax proud, or else thou’lt ne‘er
Be near allied to greatness. Observe me, sirrah.
The learned clerk Erasmus is arrived
Within our English court. Last night, I hear,
He feasted with our English honoured poet
The Earl of Surrey, and I learned today
The famous clerk of Rotterdam will visit
Sir Thomas More. Therefore, sir, take my seat.
You are Lord Chancellor. Dress your behaviour
According to my carriage. But beware
You talk not overmuch, for ’twill betray thee.
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Page 267
