Part 3

_Mis._ Help thyself, Nought! lo, Mercy is here! He scareth us with a bales; we may no longer tarry.

_New G._ Queck, queck, queck! alas, my throat! I beshrew you, marry! A, Mercy! Christ's copped curse go with you, and saint Davy! Alas, my weasand! ye were somewhat too near!

[_All but_ MERCY _and_ MANKIND _go out_.

_Mer._ Arise, my precious redempt son! ye be to me full dear. He is so timorous; meseemeth his vital spirit doth expi[re].

_Man._ Alas! I have be so bestially disposed; I dare not appear; To see your solicitous face, I am not worthy to desire.

_Mer._ Your criminous complaint woundeth my heart as a lance. Dispose yourself meekly to ask mercy, and I will assent. Yield me neither gold nor treasure, but your humble obeisance, The voluntary subjection of your heart, and I am content.

_Man._ What! ask mercy yet once again? alas! it were a wild petition. Ever to offend, and ever to ask mercy--that is a puerility. It is so abominable to rehearse my worst transgression; I am not worthy to have mercy, by no possibility.

_Mer._ O, Mankind! my sing'ler solace! this is a lamentable excuse! The dolorous fears of my heart, how they begin to amount! O, blessed Jesu! help thou this sinful sinner to redeem! _Nam hæc est mutatio, dexteræ Excelsi; vertit Impios, et non sunt._ Arise! and ask mercy, Mankind! and be associate to me. Thy death shall be my heaviness; alas! 'tis pity it should be thus. Thy obstinacy will exclude [thee] from the glorious perpetuity. Yet, for my love, ope thy lips and say, _Miserere mei, Deus!_

_Man._ The egal justice of God will not permit such a sinful wretch To be revived and restored again: it were impossible.

_Mer._ The justice of God will, as I will, as Himself doth precise: _Nolo mortem peccatoris, inquit_, and if he will [be] reducible.

_Man._ Then, mercy, good Mercy! what is a man without mercy? Little is our part of paradise were mercy ne where. Good Mercy! excuse the inevitable objection of my ghostly enemy; The proverb saith: the truth tryeth thyself. Alas! I have much care!

_Mer._ God will not make you privy unto His last judgment: Justice and equity shall be fortified, I will not deny; Truth may not so cruelly proceed in his straight argument But that mercy shall rule the matter, without controversy. Arise now, and go with me in this deambulatory. Incline your capacity; my doctrine is convenient. Sin not in hope of mercy; that is a crime notory; To trust overmuch in a prince, it is not expedient. In hope, when ye sin, ye think to have mercy--beware of that adventure! The good Lord said to the lecherous woman of Canaan-- The holy gospel is the authority, as we read in Scripture-- "_Vade! et jam amplius noli peccare!_" Christ preserved this sinful woman taken in advoutry; He said to her these words: "Go, and sin no more!" So to you; Go, and sin no more! Beware of vain confidence of mercy! Offend not a prince on trust of his favour! as I said before. If ye feel yourself trapped in the snare of your ghostly enemy, Ask mercy anon: beware of the continuance! While a wound is fresh it is proved curable by surgery; That, if it proceed over long, it is cause of great grievance.

_Man._ To ask mercy and to have--this is a liberal possession: Shall this expeditious petition ever be allowed, as ye have in sight?

_Mer._ In this present life mercy is plenty, till death maketh his division; But when ye be go, _usque ad minimum quadrantem_--ye sha[ll] reckon this right. Ask mercy and have, while the body with the sou[l] hath his annexion; If ye tarry till your decease, ye may hap of your desire to miss; Be repentant here; trust not the hour of death; think on this lesson: _Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile! ecce nunc dies salutis!_ All the virtue in the wor[l]d, if ye might comprehend, Your merits were not premiable to the bliss above; Not to the lowli'st joy of heaven, of your proper effort to ascend; With Mercy ye may: I tell ye no fable--Scripture doth prove.

_Man._ O, Mercy! my suavious solace and singular recreatory! My predelict special! ye are worthy to have my love; For, without desert and means supplicatory, Ye be compatient to my inexcusable reproof. A! it swimmeth my heart to think how unwisely I have wrought! Titivilly, that goeth invisible, hung his net before my eye; And, by his fantastical visions, sedulously sought, By New Guise, Now-a-days, Nought, caused me to obey.

_Mer._ Mankind! ye were oblivious of my doctrine manitory; I said before: Titivilly would assay you a bront. Beware from henceforth of his fables delusory! The proverb saith: _Jacula prefata minus ledunt_. Ye have three adversaries--he is master of them all-- That is to say, the devil, the world, the flesh, and the fell; The New Guise, Now-a-days, and Nought, the world we may them call; And, prope[r]ly, Titivilly signifies the fiend of hell; The flesh, that is the unclean concupiscence of your body. These be your three ghostly enemies in whom ye have put your confidence; They brought you to Mischief to conclude your temporal glory: As it hath be showed before this worship[f]ul audience. Remember how ready I was to help you; from such I was not dangerous; Wherefore, good son! abstain from sin evermore after this! Ye may both save and spoil your soul, that is so precious: _Libere velle, libere velle!_ God may not deny, I wis. Beware of Titivilly with his net, and of all his envious will; Of your sinful delectation that grieveth your ghostly substance: Your body is your enemy: let him not have his will. Take your leave when ye will; God send you good perseverance!

[_Man_]. Sith I shall depart, bless me, father! hence then I go-- God send us all plenty of His great mercy!

_Mer. Dominus custodi[a]t te ab omni malo!_ _In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti._ Amen! [_Hic exit_ MANKIND.

(EPILOGUE.)

Worship[f]ul sovereigns! I have do my property; Mankind is delivered by my several patrociny. God preserve him from all wicked captivity; And send him grace, his sensual conditions to mortify! Now for His love, that for us received His humanity, Search your conditions with due examination! Think and remember: the world is but a vanity, As it is proved daily by d[i]verse transmutation, Mankind is wretched; he hath sufficient proof; Therefore, God [keep] you all _per suam misericordiam_, That ye may be pleyseris with the angels above, And have to your portion _vitam eternam_. Amen!

FINIS.

_O liber, si quis cui constas forte queretur,_ _Hyngham, quem monacho dices, super omnia_ _consta[s]._

NATURE

A GOODLY INTERLUDE OF NATURE, COMPILED BY MASTER HENRY MEDWALL

CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD JOHN MORTON

SOMETIME CARDINAL AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

#The Names of the Players#:

NATURE MAN REASON SENSUALITY INNOCENCY WORLDLY AFFECTION BODILY LUST WRATH ENVY SLOTH GLUTTONY HUMILITY CHARITY ABSTINENCE LIBERALITY GARCON CHASTITY GOOD OCCUPATION SHAMEFACEDNESS MUNDUS PATIENCE PRIDE

_Cum Privilegio_

NATURE

_First cometh in_ MUNDUS, _and sitteth down,_ _and saith nothing; and with him_ WORLDLY AFFECTION, _bearing a gown and cap and a_ _girdle for_ MAN.

_Then cometh in_ NATURE, MAN, REASON, _and_ INNOCENCY; _and_ NATURE _sitteth down and_ _saith_.

_Nature._ Th' almighty God that made each creature, As well in heaven as other place earthly, By His wise ordinance hath purveyed me, Nature, To be as minister, under Him immediately, For th' encheson that I should, perpetually, His creatures in such degree maintain As it hath pleased His grace for them to ordain.

To me it longeth, by natural engendure, Thing to continue that hath spirit of life; Which, nor were my help, should never endure, But suddenly perish and wax all caitiff. Atwixt th' elements, that whilom were at strife, I have suaged the old repugnance And knit them together, in manner of alliance.

Eke, I have ordained the goddess Diane, Lady of the sea and every fresh fountain, Which commonly decreaseth when she ginneth wane, And waxeth abundant when she creaseth again. Of ebb and flood she is cause certain; And reigneth, as princess, in every isle and town That with the sea is compassed environ.

I am causer of such impression As appeareth wondrous to man's sight: As of flames that, from the starry region, Seemeth to fall in times of the night; Some shoot sidelong, and some down right: Which causeth the ignorant to stand in dread That stars do fall, yet falleth there none indeed.

What needeth it to speak of things here below? As fowls, beasts, and fishes in their kind; Of trees, herbs, and stones, how they grow. In which, men sundry and many virtuous find One thing, be ye sure, and think it in your mind: No manner creature may take on him the cure Of these works, but only I, Nature.

And, plainly, there is in earth no manner thing That is not partner of my influence; I do provide, for every beast living, Of natural food always sufficience; And give them, also, a manner of prudence Whereby they may naturally ensue Thing that is delectable, and th' other eschew.

Who taught the cock his watch hours to observe, And sing of courage with shrill throat on high? Who taught the pelican her tender heart to carve For she nold suffer her birds to die? Who taught the nightingale to record, busily, Her strange entunes in silence of the night? Certes! I, Nature, and none other wight.

But if that I should clepe to memory Each strange effect, and every great marvel That I have caused, I ensure you faithfully That rather time than process should me fail. It were your pain, and to me but travail All such matters as now to bring in place; Wherefore, I let pass them till other time and space.

But, if ye covet now to know th' effect Of things natural, by true conclusion, Counsel with Aristotle, my philosopher elect; Which hath left in books of his tradition How every thing, by heavenly constellation, Is brought to effect; and, in what manner wise, As far as man's wit may naturally comprise.

Wherefore, sith God, of His great largesse Hath thus enriched me with dower of His grace, And made me, as who saith, a worldly goddess, Of duty I can no less do in this case But with heart's joy and entire solace Myself address to do His high pleasures, And to this same move all other creatures.

Enforce you, therefore, His creatures each one To honour your Maker with humble obeisance-- Namely, thou man! I speak to thee alone Before all other, as chief of His creance. Think how He hath made thee this semblance; Pluck up thine heart, and hold thine head upright; And evermore have heaven in thy sight. Ovid in his book, cleped _The Transformation_, Among all other his fables and poesies Maketh special mention of thy creation; Showing how God wondrously gan devise When He thee made, and gave to thee th' emprise Of all this world, and feoffed thee with all As chief possessioner of things mortal. In token whereof He gave thee upright visage; And gave thee in commandment to lift thine eye Up toward heaven, only for that usage Thou shouldest know Him for thy Lord Almighty, All other beasts as things unworthy; To behold th' earth with grovelling countenance; And be subdued to thine obeisance. But, as touching the cause specially Wherefore I have ordained thee this night to appear, It is to put thee in knowledge and memory To what intent thou art ordained to be here. I let thee wit thou art a passenger That hast to do a great and long voyage, And through the world must be thy passage. Address thyself now towards this journey; For, as now thou shalt no longer here abide, Lo! here Reason to govern thee in thy way, And Sensuality upon thine other side. But Reason I depute to be thy chief guide, With Innocency that is thy tender nourice; Evermore to wean thee from th' appetite of vice.

_Man._ O Lord of Lords, my Lord God immortal! To Thee be honour and joy ever to endure; Whose heavenly empire shall never be final, But world without end remain stable and sure; Whom heaven and hell and earthly creature, With one assent, and all with one accord, Honoureth, praiseth, and knowledgeth for their Lord. To Thee mine head I humbly incline, Thanking Thy grace that first hast ordained me To be as a silly creature of Thine; And, after that, of Thy great bounty Thou hast me set in sovereign degree, And given me the profits of every earthly thing, As well of fruits as of beasts living; And that, that is also most precious, Thou hast me inspired with heavenly wisdom, Whereby I may do works marvellous. In every place, wheresoever I come, Of each perfection Thy grace hath lent me some; So that I know that creature nowhere Of whose virtue I am not partner. I have, as hath each other element Among other in this world, a common being; With herbs and trees continual nourishment That is sufficient to natural living; With sensual beasts I have a manner of knowing Whereby I should in good things delight, And flee the contrary of mine appetite. And, over all this, Thou hast given me virtue Surmounting all other in high perfection: That is, understanding, whereby I may aview And well discern what is to be done; Yet, for all that, have I free election [To] do what I will, be it evil or well; And am put in the hand of mine own counsel. And, in this point, I am half angelic; Unto Thy heavenly spirits almost egal; Albeit in some part I be to them unlike. For, they be ordained to endure perpetual; And I, wretched body! shall have my funeral When it pleaseth Thy grace so to provide: Man is not ordained alway here to abide. Wherefore, unto Thy sovereign and high estate, Most heavenly prince! I make mine orison Sith it hath pleased Thy noble grace algate That I, unworthy of so great renown, In this world shall have possession: Thou give me grace myself to enure As may me profit, and be to Thy pleasure.

_Nature._ God hath heard thy prayer, Mankind, no doubt, In all thy requests and right full petition. Now, forth thy journey! and look well about That thou be not deceived by false prodition. Let Reason thee govern in every condition; For, if thou do not to his rule incline, It will be to thy great mischief and ruin. I wot well Sensuality is to thee natural, And granted to thee in thy first creation. But, notwithstanding, it ought to be over all Subdued to Reason, and under his tuition. Thou hast now liberty, and needest no main-mission; And, if thou aband thee to passions sensual, Farewell thy liberty! thou shalt wax thrall.

_Sensuality._ What, lady Nature! have I none intress As well as Reason or Innocency? Think ye this, lady! a good process That they are advanced and I let go by? Ye know right well that I ought naturally, Before all other, to have of him the cure: I am the chief perfection of his nature. Alas! what could the silly body do? Or, how should it live nor were the help of me? Certes! it could not well creep nor go; At the leastwise it should neither feel here nor see, But be as other insensate bodies be; In much worse case than worms of the ground In which unneth any token of life is found. Meseemeth it should abhor him for to hear That I destrained should be in any wise, Standing that I was create to be his fere; Of all his guiding to take the enterprise: And now ye put me out of his service, And have assigned Reason to be his guide-- With Innocency, his nourice, thus am I set aside. Ye clepe him lord of all beasts living; And nothing worthy, as far as I can see. For, if there be in him no manner of feeling, Nor no lively quickness, what lord is he? A lord made of clouts, or carved out of tree; And fareth as an image graved out of stone That nothing else can do but stand alone. If ye intend him to continue long In honour, or worldly felicity, He must needs follow his appetite among; And conform himself to the more part. I tell you men will have no dinty To do service or homage to a block: All the world will think it but a mock. Suffer me, therefore, to have with him a room, And to be with him as chief counsell[or]; And if he do so, I think to doom He shall reign in the world as chief governor. But, if Reason tickle him in the ear, Or bear him on hand the cow is wood, He shall never be able to do earthly good.

_Nat._ My friend! as I said to you before, A room shall ye have: no man saith nay; But Reason must be preferred evermore. For he can best lead him to the way Of virtue and grace, whereby he may Longest continue to God's high pleasure; To the which end God hath ordained this His creature. Content thyself now with Reason, my friend! And meddle thee no further than thou hast to do. Thou has brought many a man to a wretched end And so thou wouldst spoil His creature also. But whatsoever he say take no heed thereto Without that Reason will allow the same; For whoso doth the contrary deserveth much blame. God and I, Nature, have set thee in better case Than any creature under the firmament. Abuse not, Man! abuse not thy grace Of God Almighty that from above is sent! Thou shalt be the first that shall repent If ever thou flee Reason and sue folly, When once thou feelest the smart of misery. But, be of comfort! hardely God shall send Both ghostly aid and worldly help also; And I shall never fail, unto thy life's end, To minister unto thee as me oweth to do. Lo! yonder the world which thou must needs to: Now, shape thee thither; there is no more to say-- Thy Lord and mine guide thee in thy way!

[_Then_ NATURE _goeth out_.

_Sen_. Well, lady Nature! leave ye me in this case? Shall I have of you none other comfort? By Christ! yet will I not hide my face; For, as soon as we shall to the world resort, I put no doubt he will me support. He hath been my good master many a day; And he will not see me thus cast away.

_Rea._ Siker thyself, man! I advise thee hardely. Be not so passionate, nor yet so furious; Thou tormentest thyself and wottest not why. No well-advised body will demean him thus; Be sure thy mind is all erroneous; Thou takest a self will and wrong opinion Which shall be thine and others confusion.

_Sen._ Yea, Reason! sir, ye speak like a noble man; But yet are ye taken with a point oversight. What, would ye make me stand as a lurdan, And not speak one word for mine own right? I see it well that if your lordship might, By means possible, once bring it about Yourself should be a ruler, and I but a cast-out.

_Rea._ A ruler? certes! and so I ought to be; And a lord also, though ye say it in scorn.

_Sens._ A lord! whose lord?

_Rea._ Thy lord.

_Sens._ Nay, so mote I thee! Thou liest! it may no longer be forborne; Thou camest but to-night and mayst hap go to-morn. For, if thou be as haughty as thou beginnest, Thou shalt avoid much sooner than thou weenest.

_Rea._ As for mine avoidance, how soon soever it be, It shall not skill as for this intent; But he that first fleeth or forsaketh me He shall have greatest occasion to repent. It shall be to his great trouble and torment That he hath left Reason, and sued his own folly, That thereby is fallen to wretched penury.

But now, as touching the honour and degree That I am ordained to, I will thou understand That Almighty God, of His grace and bounty, Of thee and such hath given me the overhand; And will that I use thee as a servant, To advise thee and reform thee when thou ginst to err; And to clepe thee homeward if thou rail too far.

And, where thou sayst thou art so necessary That man without thee can have no living, As in that point we shall not much vary: I wot thou art necessary to his being. But, be thou sure that is not the very thing That maketh him to appear so wondrous; And to be, in his nature, so noble and precious.

It is a thing that doth right far exceed All other perfections and virtues natural. For sensuality, in very deed, Is but a mean which causeth him to fall Into much folly, and maketh him bestial; So that there is no difference, in that at the least, Betwixt man and an unreasonable beast.

But this other cometh of great tenderance And spiritual love that God oweth to mankind, Whom He hath created to His own semblance; And endued with a wondrous mind Whereby he may well discern and find Sufficient difference betwixt good and bad: Which is to be left, and which is to be had.

Lo! this is it that doth him dignify; And causeth him to be reputed so excellent. And of all this the chief doer am I, Which from Heaven into earth by God am sent, Only for that cause and final intent That I should this, His creature, demean and guide For the season that he doth in this world abide.

Now, compare thy virtues and mine together, And say which is the worthier of them two.

_Sens._ Which is the worthier? forsooth! I trow neither; We be good fellows.

_Rea._ Nay, my friend, not so! Thou ought to obey me wheresoever I go.

_Sens._ Nay! that shall I never do; for, to-day I shall thy fellow be, look thou never so high.

And, therefore, hardely be somewhat fellow-like; Leave thy haut conceits, and take a meetly way. For shame of the world, man! let us not stick At a matter of right nought, and traverse here all day. Have me in few words, man! and hark what I say: Meddle thou in no point that belongeth to me, And I shall promise thee never to meddle with thee.

And, standing the nonage of this gentleman, On my peril take no care therefore. I shall demean it as well as I can Till he be passed forty years and more; And Reason then, if ye will undershore His crooked old age, when lusty youth is spent, Then take upon you: I hold me content.

For, trust ye me! the very truth is this: This man is put in his own liberty; And, certainly, the free choice is his Whether he will be governed by thee or by me. Let us, therefore, put it to his own jeopardy, And therein stand to his arbitrament To which of us twain he had liefer assent.

_Rea._ Nay, sir, not so! I know his frailty; The body is disposed for to fall Rather to the worse than the better part; But it be holpen by power supernal.