Chapter 16

PATER COELESTIS. I have with fierceness mankind oftentimes corrected, And again I have allured him by sweet promise, I have sent sore plagues, when he hath me neglected, And then by and by most comfortable sweetness. To win him to grace, both mercy and righteousness, I have exercised, yet will he not amend; Shall I now lose him, or shall I him defend? In his most mischief most high grace will I send, To overcome him by favour, if it may be. With his abusions no longer will I contend But now accomplish my first will and decree. My word being flesh, from hence shall set him free, Him teaching a way of perfect righteousness, That he shall not need to perish in his weakness.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Manasses, Lord, is past which turned from thee his heart, Ahaz and Ammon have now no more ado, Jechonias with other, which did themselves avert From thee to idols, may now no farther go. The two false judges, and Baal's wicked priests also, Phassur and Shemias, with Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus and Triphon, shall thee displease no more. Three score years and ten thy people into Babylon Were captive and thrall for idols' worshipping. Jerusalem was lost, and left void of dominion, Brent was their temple, so was their other building; Their high priests were slain, their treasure came to nothing. The strength and beauty of thine own heritage. Thus didst thou leave them in miserable bondage. Oft had they warnings, sometimes by Ezekiel, And other prophets, as Isaias and Jeremiah, Sometimes by Daniel, sometimes by Hosea and Joel, By Amos and Obadiah, by Jonah and by Zephaniah, By Nahum and Micah, by Haggai, and by Zachariah, By Malachi, and also by Habakkuk, By Olda the widow, and by the prophet Baruch. Remember Josias, which took the abhomination From the people, then restoring thy laws again. Of Rechab consider the faithful generation, Whom to wine-drinking no friendship might constrain. Remember Abimelech, the friend of truth certain, Zerubabel the prince, which did repair the temple, And Jesus Josedec, of virtue the example. Consider Nehemiah and Ezra the good scribe, Merciful Tobiah and constant Mordecai: Judith and queen Esther of the same godly tribe: Devout Mathias and Judas Macabeus. Have mind of Eleazar and then Joannes Hircanus, Weigh the earnest faith of this godly company, Though the other clean fall from thy memory.

PATER COELESTIS. I will, John, I will, for as I said afore, Rigour and hardness I have now set apart, Minding from henceforth to win man evermore By wonderful kindness to break his stubborn heart, And change it from sin. For Christ shall suffer smart, In man's frail nature for his iniquity, This to make open my messenger shalt thou be.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. As thy pleasure is, so, blessed Lord, appoint me, For my health thou art and my soul's felicity.

PATER COELESTIS. Long ere I made thee, I thee predestinate: Before thou wert born, I thee endued with grace. In thy mother's womb wert thou sanctificate By my godly gift, and so confirmed in peace A prophet, to show a way before the face Of my most dear Son, which will come; until then Apply thee apace thine office to fulfil. Preach to the people, rebuking their negligence, Dop[296] them in water, they acknowledging their offence; And say unto them, "The kingdom of God doth come."

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Unmeet, Lord, I am, _Quia puer ego sum_. And (other than that), alack, I have no science Fit for that office, neither yet clean eloquence.

PATER COELESTIS. Thou shalt not say so, for I have given thee grace, Eloquence and age to speak in the desert place. Thou must do therefore as I shall thee advise, My appointed pleasure forth utter in any wise, My strong mighty words put I into thy mouth, Spare not, but speak them to east, west, north, and south.

_Hic extendens Dominus manum, labia Johannis digito tanget, ac ori imponet auream linguam_.

Go now thy way forth, I shall thee never fail, The spirit of Elias have I given thee already. Persuade the people, that they their sins bewail, And if they repent their customable folly, Long shall it not be, ere they have remedy. Open thou their hearts, tell them their health is coming: As a voice in desert, see thou declare the thing, I promise thee sure, thou shalt wash him among them In Jordan, a flood not far from Jerusalem.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Show me yet, good Lord, whereby shall I know that man, In the multitude which will resort to Jordan.

PATER COELESTIS. In thy mother's womb of him hadst thou cognition.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. Yea, that was in spirit, I would now know his person.

PATER COELESTIS. Have thou no fear, John, him shalt thou know full well, And one special token afore will I thee tell. _Super quem videris spiritum descendentem et manentem Super eum, hic est qui baptizat spiritu sancto_. Among all other whom thou shalt baptize there, Upon whom thou seest the Holy Ghost descend In shape of a dove, resting upon his shoulder, Hold him for the same that shall the world amend By baptism of spirit, and also to man extend Most special grace. For he must repair his fall, Restoring again the justice original. Take now thy journey, and do as I thee advise. First preach repentance, and then the people baptize.

JOHANNES BAPTISTA. High honour, worship, and glory be unto thee, My God eternal, and patron of all purity: Repent, good people, for sins that now are past, The kingdom of heaven is at hand very nigh. The promised light to you approacheth fast, Have faith, and apply now to receive him boldly. I am not the light, but to bear testimony Of him am sent, that all men may believe, That his blood he will for their redemption give. He is such a light as all men doth illumine, That ever were here, or shall be after this. All the world he made by his mighty power divine, And yet that rude world will not know what he is. His own he entering is not regarded of his. They that receive him are God's true children plain, In spirit regenerate, and all grace shall attain. Many do reckon that I, John Baptist, am he, Deceived are they, and that will appear in space. Though he come after, yet he was long afore me. We are weak vessels, he is the well of grace, Of his great goodness all that we have we purchase. By him are we like to have a better increase, Than ever we had by the law of Moses. In Moses' hard law we had not else but darkness, Figure and shadow. All was not else but night; Punishment for sin; much rigour, pain and roughness. An high change is there, where all is turned to light, Grace and remission anon will shine full bright. Never man lived that ever see God afore, Which now in our kind man's ruin will restore. Help me to give thanks to that Lord evermore, Which am unto Christ a crier's voice in the desert, To prepare the paths and highways him before, For his delight is on the poor simple heart. That innocent lamb from such will never depart, As will faithfully receive him with good mind. Let our voice then sound in some sweet musical kind.

_Resona tunc voce Antiphonam incipit_, O clavis David, _quam prosequetur chorus cum organis, ut prius_.

_Vel in Anglico sermone sic_:

O perfect key of David, and high sceptre of the kindred of Jacob, which openest, and no man spereth;[297] thou speakest, and no man openeth; come and deliver thy servant mankind, bound in prison, sitting in the darkness of sin and bitter damnation.

BALEUS _prolocutor_.

The matters are such that we have uttered here, As ought not to slide from your memorial. For they have opened such comfortable gear As is to the health of this kind universal, Graces of the Lord and promises liberal, Which he hath given to man for every age, To knit him to Christ, and so clear him of bondage. As St Paul doth write unto the Corinthians plain. Our forefathers were under the cloud of darkness, And unto Christ's days did in the shadow remain: Yet were they not left, for of him they had promise, All they received one spiritual feeding doubtless. They drank of the rock which them to life refreshed, For one saving health in Christ all they confessed. In the woman's seed was Adam first justified: So was faithful Noah; so was just Abraham, The faith in that seed in Moses forth multiplied, Likewise in David and Esay, that after came. And in John Baptist, which showed the very lamb. Though they see afar, yet all they had one justice, One Mass (as they call it) and in Christ one sacrifice. A man cannot here to God do better service Than on this to ground his faith and understanding. For all the world's sin alone Christ paid the price, In his only death was man's life always resting, And not in will-works, nor yet in man's deserving, The light of our faith makes this thing evident, And not the practice of other experiment. Where is now free-will, whom the hypocrites commend, Whereby they report they may at their own pleasure Do good of themselves, though grace and faith be absent, And have good intents their madness with to measure? The will of the flesh is proved here small treasure, And so is man's will, for the grace of God doth all. More of this matter conclude hereafter we shall.[298]

THE FOUR P.P.

_EDITIONS_.

_See_ Hazlitt's "_Handbook_," 1867, p.269.

PREFACE.

John Heywood, or Heewood, one of the most ancient dramatic writers in the English language, was born in the city of London,[299] and educated in the University of Oxford, at [Broadgate, afterwards called Pembroke, College,] in St Aldgate's parish. He was in his time more celebrated for his wit than his learning; and having some fair possessions at North Mims, he resided there after he left Oxford, and became intimately acquainted with Sir Thomas More, who lived in that neighbourhood.[300] Here the latter wrote his celebrated work called "Utopia," and is supposed to have assisted Heywood[301] in the composition of his "Epigrams."[302] Through Sir Thomas More's means, it is probable our author was introduced to the knowledge of King Henry the Eighth, and of his daughter the Princess, afterwards Queen Mary; by the former of whom he was held in much esteem for the mirth and quickness of his conceits; and so much[303] valued by the latter, that he was often, after she came to the throne, admitted to the honour of waiting upon and exercising his fancy before her, even to the time she lay lauguishing on her deathbed. His education having been in the Roman Catholic faith, he continued steadily attached to the tenets of that religion; and during the reign[304] of Edward the Sixth, fell under the suspicion of practising against the government, and narrowly escaped the halter. After the death of his patroness the queen, he left the nation, says Wood,[305] for religion's sake, and settled at Mechlin in Brabrant, where he [appears to have been still living in January 1576-7. The exact date of his death is uncertain, but] he died,[306] leaving several children; one of whom, Jasper Heywood, translated three of Seneca's Plays, and wrote several poems, printed in the "Paradise of Dainty Devises," 4to, 1576. This Jasper Heywood was, according to Fuller, executed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but more probably, as Sir Richard Baker asserts, was among those who were taken in 1585, and sent out of England.[307]

John Heywood[308] was one of our earliest [writers of a dramatic cast. He can hardly be called a dramatist.] Oldys[309] says he began to write about the year 1530, but that he could not find he published anything so early. [His first production in point of date may have been the play of the "Pardoner and the Frere," printed April, 1533; but two other interludes by him appeared the same year without note of the month. They were perhaps all written a little before.[310]

Mr Collier remarks of Heywood's "Spider and Fly:"] "This parable, apologue, or allegory (for it is one and all three), is not perhaps so 'dull, tedious, and trifling,' as Warton contends; and if it be without much 'fancy,' it has both meaning and moral. In 'the conclusion,' Heywood informs us that he began the work twenty years before it was finished, and that he did nothing to it during an interval of nineteen years. He adds, that it was commenced 'with the first, and ended with the last,' of his poor works. The maid who sweeps down the spider he explains to mean Queen Mary, in 'sense allegorical' also."

Wilson, in his "Rhetorique," published in 1553, speaks of Heywood's "Proverbs" as then in print.[311] They were also republished in 1561; and the title-page professes that the work has been "newly overseen, and somewhat corrected, by the sayde John Heywood." The only copy I have met with is imperfect at the end, and the title-page does not state who was the printer of it. "John Heywoodes Woorkes" were printed collectively in 156[2]; they consist of proverbs and epigrams.

Winstanley expressed a doubt whether the author of the epigrams and of the plays were not different persons. The following epigram will be sufficient to set that fact beyond contradiction, and at the same time exhibit a specimen of the author's manner:--

"Art thou _Heywood_ with the mad mery wit? Ye, forsooth, master, that same is euen hit. Art thou _Heywood_ that applyeth mirth more then thrift? Ye, sir, I take mery mirth a golden gift. Art thou _Heywood_ that hath made many mad plaies? Ye, many playes, fewe good woorkes in all my daies. Art thou _Heywood_ that hath made men mery long? Ye, and will, if I be made mery among. Art thou _Heywood_ that woulde be made mery now? Ye, sir, helpe me to it now, I beseche yow."

Winstanley and Philips ascribe to him falsely the "Pinner of Wakefield" and "Philotus," [the latter] printed at Edinburgh, 1603.

Fuller[312] mentions a book written by our author, entitled "Monumenta literaria," which are said to be _Non tam lambore condita, quam lepore condita_. [But this was not by John Heywood. It is apparently _Thomas_ Heywood's account of the "English Poets" referred to by more than one of his contemporaries.

The curious old relic here reprinted went through three _known_ editions,[313] of which the earliest may be assigned to 1540 or thereabouts, the latest bearing date 1569. The colophon of the former will be found at the end.]

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

A PALMER. A PARDONER. AN APOTHECARY. A PEDLAR.

THE FOUR P.P.[314]

PALMER.[315] Now God be here; who keepeth this place? Now by my faith I cry you mercy; Of reason I must sue for grace, My rudeness showeth me[316] so homely. Whereof your pardon axed and won, I sue you[317], as courtesy doth me bind, To tell this, which shall be begun, In order as may come best in mind. I am a Palmer, as ye[318] see, Which of my life much part have[319] spent In many a fair and far[320] country. As Pilgrims do of good intent. At Jerusalem[321] have I been Before Christ's blessed sepulchre: The mount of Calvary have I seen[322], A holy place, you may be sure. To Jehosaphat and Olivet[323] On foot, God wot, I went right bare: Many a salt tear did I sweat, Before thy carcase could [324] come there. Yet have I been at Rome also, And gone the stations [325] all a-row: St Peter's shrine and many mo, Than, if I told all, ye do know. Except that there be any such, That hath been there, and diligently Hath taken heed, and marked much, Then can they speak as much as I. Then at the Rhodes[326] also I was; And round about to Amias.[327] At St Uncumber and St Trunnion;[328] At St Botoph[329] and St Anne of Buxton.[330] On the hills of Armenia, where I saw[331] Noe's ark;[332] With holy Job, and St George in Southwark;[333] At Waltham[334] and at Walsingham;[335] And at the good rood[336] of Dagenham[337]; At Saint Cornelys[338]; at Saint James in Gales[339]; And at Saint Wenefrid's well[340] in Wales; At our Lady of Boston;[341] at Saint Edmund's burgh;[342] And straight to Saint Patrick's Purgatory[343]; At Redburne,[344] and at the blood of Hales,[345] Where pilgrims' pains right much avails; At Saint David's,[346] and at Saint Denis;[347] At Saint Matthew, and Saint Mark in Venice;[348] At Master John Shorn at Canterbury;[349] The great God of Catwade,[350] at King Henry[351] At Saint Saviour's;[352] at our lady of Southwell;[353] At Crome,[354] at Willesden,[355] and at Muswell;[356] At Saint Richard,[357] and at Saint Rock;[358] And at Our Lady that standeth in the oak.[359] To these, with other many one, Devoutly have I prayed and gone, Praying to them to pray for me Unto the blessed Trinity, By whose prayers and my daily pain I trust the sooner to obtain[360] For my salvation, grace, and mercy. For be ye sure I think surely,[361] Who seeketh saints for Christ's sake, And namely such as pain do take On foot, to punish their[362] frail body, Shall thereby merit more highly Than by anything done by man.

PARDONER.[363] And when ye have gone as far as ye[364] can, For all your labour and ghostly intent, Ye[365] will come home as wise as ye went.

PALMER. Why, sir, despised ye pilgrimage?

PARDONER. Nay,[366] fore God, sir, then did I rage; I think ye right well occupied, To seek these saints on every side. Also your pain[367] I not dispraise it; But yet I discommend your wit: And ere[368] we go, even so shall ye, If you in this will answer me. I pray you show what the cause is, Ye went all these pilgrimages?

PALMER. Forsooth, this life I did begin To rid the bondage of my sin: For which these saints rehearsed ere this I have both sought and seen, i-wis; Beseeching them to bear record Of all my pain unto the Lord, That giveth all remission, Upon each man's contrition; And by their good mediation, Upon mine[369] humble submission, I trust to have in very deed For my soul health the better speed.

PARDONER. Now is your own confession likely To make yourself[370] a fool quickly. For I perceive ye would obtain No other[371] thing for all your pain, But only grace your soul to save: Now mark in this what wit ye have! To seek so far, and help so nigh; Even here at home is remedy; For at your door myself doth dwell, Who could have saved your soul as well; As all your wide wandering shall do, Though ye went thrice to Jericho. Now since ye might have sped at home, What have ye won by running[372] at Rome?

PALMER. If this be true that ye have moved, Then is my wit indeed reproved. But let us hear first what ye are?

PARDONER. Truly I am a pardoner.

PALMER. Truly a pardoner! that may be true; But a true pardoner doth not ensue. Right seldom is it seen, or never, That truth and pardoners dwell together, For be your pardons never so great, Yet them to enlarge ye will not let With such lies that ofttimes, Christ wot, Ye seem to have that ye have not. Wherefore I went myself to the self thing In every place and without saying: Had as much pardon there assuredly, As ye can promise me here doubtfully. Howbeit, I think ye do but scoff:[373] But if ye had all the pardon ye speak[374] of, And no whit of pardon granted In any place where I have haunted: Yet of my labour I nothing repent; God hath respect how each time is spent; And as in his knowledge all is regarded, So by his goodness all is rewarded.

PARDONER. By the[375] first part of this last tale, It seemeth ye came of late[376] from the ale. For reason on your side so far doth fail, That ye leave reasoning,[377] and begin to rail. Wherein you[378] forget your own part clearly, For you[379] be as untrue as I: And in one point ye are beyond me, For you[380] may lie by authority, And all that have[381] wandered so far, That no man can be their controller. And where you[382] esteem your labour so much, I say yet again my pardons are[383] such, That if there were a thousand souls on a heap, I would bring them to heaven as good cheap.[384] As ye have brought yourself on pilgrimage, In the least[385] quarter of your voyage, Which is[386] far a side heaven, by God: There your labour and pardon is odd. With small cost and without any pain, These pardons bring[387] them to heaven plain; Give me but a penny or two pence, And as soon as the soul departeth hence, In half-an-hour, or threequarters at the most, The soul is in heaven with the Holy Ghost.

'POTHECARY. Send ye any souls to heaven by water?

PARDONER. If we do,[388] sir, what is the matter?

'POTHECARY. By God, I have a dry soul should thither; I pray you let our souls go to heaven together, So busy you twain be in soul's health; May not a 'pothecary come in by stealth? Yes, that I will,[389] by St Anthony, And, by the leave of this company, Prove ye false knaves both, ere[390] we go, In part of your sayings, as this, lo! Thou by thy travail thinkest heaven to get: And thou by pardons and relics countest no let,[391] To send thine own soul to heaven sure; And all other whom thou list to procure. If I took an action, then were they blank; For like thieves the knaves[392] rob away my thank. All souls in heaven having relief, Shall they thank your crafts? nay, thank mine chief. No soul, ye know, entereth heaven-gate, Till from the body he be separate: And whom have ye known die honestly,[393] Without help of the 'pothecary? Nay, all that cometh to our handling, Except ye happen to come to hanging; That way perchance ye shall not mister[394] To go to heaven without a glister. But be ye sure I would be woe,[395] If[396] ye should chance to beguile me so. As good to lie with me a-night, As hang abroad in the moonlight. There is no choice to flee my hand, But, as I said, into the band. Since of our souls the multitude I send to heaven, when all is viewed, Who should but I then altogether Have thank of all their coming thither?

PARDONER. If ye killed a thousand in an hour's space, When come they to heaven dying out of grace?[397]

'POTHECARY. If a thousand pardons about your necks were tied, When come they to heaven, if they never died?

PALMER. Long life after good works indeed Doth hinder man's receipt of mead; And death before one duty done, May make us think we die too soon. Yet better tarry a thing than[398] have it; Than go too soon, and vainly crave it.

PARDONER. The longer ye dwell in communication, The less shall ye like this imagination. For ye[399] may perceive, even at the first chop, Your tale is trapped in such a stop. That at the least ye seem worse than we.

'POTHECARY. By the mass, I hold us nought all three.

[_Enter Pedlar_.

PEDLAR. By our lady, then have I gone wrong; And yet to be here I thought it long.

'POTHECARY. Ye have gone wrong no whit, I praise your fortune and your wit, That can direct you so discreetly To plant you in this company. Thou a Palmer, and thou a Pardoner, I a 'Pothecary.

PEDLAR. And I a Pedlar.

'POTHECARY. Now, on my faith, well watched; Where the devil were we four hatched?

PEDLAR. That maketh no matter, since we be matched, I could be merry if that I had catched Some money for part of the ware in my pack.

'POTHECARY. What the devil hast thou there at thy back?

PEDLAR. What! dost thou not know that every pedlar In all kind of trifles[400] must be a meddler? Specially in women's triflings; Those use we chiefly[401] above all things, Which things to see, if ye be disposed, Behold what ware here is disclosed! This gear showeth itself in such beauty, That each man thinketh[402] it saith, _Come, buy me!_ Look where yourself can like to be chooser, Yourself shall make price, though I be loser. Is here[403] nothing for my father Palmer? Have ye not a wanton in a corner, For all your walking to holy places? By Christ, I have heard of as strange cases. Who liveth in love, and love would win, Even at this pack he must begin. Wherein[404] is right many a proper token, Of which by name part shall be spoken: Gloves, pins, combs, glasses unspotted, Pomades, hooks, and laces knotted;[405] Brooches, rings, and all manner of beads; Laces,[406] round and flat, for women's heads; Needles, thread, thimble, shears, and all such knacks,[407] Where lovers be, no such things lacks: Sipers[408], swathbands,[409] ribbons, and sleeve laces, Girdles, knives, purses, and pincases.