“ For their vain working shall rue their wickedness sore.
ABRAHAM FIDELIS. Tell me, blessed Lord, where will thy great malice
light?
My hope is, all flesh shall not perish in thy sight.
PATER COELESTIS. No, truly, Abraham, thou chancest upon the right.
The thing I shall do I will not hide from thee,
Whom I have blessed for thy true fidelity:
For I know thou wilt cause both thy children and servants
In my ways to walk, and trust unto my covenants,
That I may perform with thee my earnest promise.
ABRAHAM FIDELIS. All that will I do, by assistance of thy goodness. ”

“ Everyman ought to be glad to have in company,
For I am named good Perseverance,
That ever is guided by virtuous governance;
I am never variable, but doth continue,
Still going upward the ladder of grace,
And lode in me planted is so true,
And from the poor man I will never turn my face:
When I go by myself oft I do remember
The great kindness that God showed unto man,
For to be born in the month of December,
When the day waxeth short, and the night long,
Of his goodness that champion strong
Descended down fro the Father of rightwiseness,
And rested in Mary the flower of meekness. ”

“ Everyman, thou art mad, thou hast thy wits five,
And here on earth will not amend thy life;
For suddenly I do come.
EVERYMAN. O wretched caitiff, whither shall I flee,
That I might escape this endless sorrow!
Now, gentle Death, spare me till to-morrow,
That I may amend me
With good advisement.
DEATH. Nay, thereto I will not consent,
Nor no man will I respite;
But to the heart suddenly I shall smite
Without any advisement.
And now out of thy sight I will me hie;
See thou make thee ready shortly,
For thou mayest say, this is the day
That no man living may 'scape away. ”

“ And teach me such science thou thinkest expedient.
NATURE. Then sith thou art so humble and benevolent,
That thing that is meet for thy capacity
And good for thy knowledge I shall instruct thee.
First of all, thou must consider and see
These elements, which do each other penetrate,
And by continual alteration they be
Of themselves daily corrupted and generate.
The earth as a point or centre is situate
In the midst of the world, with the water joined,
With the air and fire round, and whole environed.
The earth of itself is ponderous and heavy,
Cold and dry of his own nature proper ”

“ Exit Calisto.
PAR. Lo, sirs, my master, ye see, is angry;
But this it is, tell fools for their profit,
Or warn them for their wealth, it is but folly;
For strike them on the heel, and as much wit
Shall come forth at their forehead to perceive it.
Go thy way, Calisto, for on my charge
Thy thrift is sealed up, though thou be at large.
Oh, how unhappy I am to be true;
For other men win by falsehood and flattery:
I lose for my truth: the world doth so ensue,
Truth is put back, and taken for folly.
Therefore now I will change my copy. ”

“ Thou oughtest my goodness to have in more regard.
ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Avoid it I cannot: thou layest it to me so hard.
Lord, now I perceive what power is in man,
And strength of himself, when thy sweet grace is absent.
He must needs but fall, do he the best he can,
And danger himself, as appeareth evident;
For I sinned not too long as thou wert present;
But when thou wert gone, I fell to sin by and by,
And thee displeased. Good Lord, I axe thee mercy.
PATER COELESTIS. Thou shalt die for it, with all thy posterity. ”

“ My condition is man's soul to kill,
If I save one, a thousand I do spill:
Weenest thou that I will follow thee?
Nay, not fro this world, verily.
EVERYMAN. I had weened otherwise.
GOODS. Therefore to thy soul Good is a thief,
For when thou art dead, this is my guise,
Another to deceive in the same wise,
As I have do thee, and all to his soul's reprefe.
EVERYMAN. O false Good, cursed may thou be,
Thou traitor to God, thou hast deceived me,
And caught me in thy snare.
GOODS. Marry, thou brought thyself in care,
Whereof I am right glad:
I must needs laugh, I cannot be sad. ”

“ EVERYMAN. Then be you a good friend at need;
I have found you true here-before.
FELLOWSHIP. And so ye shall evermore;
For in faith, and thou go to hell,
I will not forsake thee by the way.
EVERYMAN. Ye speak like a good friend, I believe you well;
I shall deserve it, and I may.
FELLOWSHIP. I speak of no deserving, by this day;
For he that will say and nothing do,
Is not worthy with good company to go:
Therefore show me the grief of your mind,
As to your friend most loving and kind.
EVERYMAN. I shall show you how it is:
Commanded I am to go a journey,
A long way, hard and dangerous ”

“ His folly therefore now pardon of thy goodness,
And measure it not beyond thy Godly pity.
Esteem not his fault farther than help may be,
But grant him thy grace, as he offendeth so deeply,
Thee to remember, and abhor his misery.
Of all goodness, Lord, remember thy great mercy
To Adam and Eve, breaking thy first commandment.
Them thou relieved with thy sweet promise heavenly,
Sinful though they were, and their lives negligent.
I know that mercy with thee is permanent,
And will be ever, so long as the world endure:
Then close not thy hand from man, which is thy creature. ”

“ Every man will I beset that liveth beastly,
Out of God's laws, and dreadeth not folly:
He that loveth riches I will strike with my dart,
His sight to blind, and fro heaven to depart,
Except that alms be his good friend,
In hell for to dwell, world without end.
Lo, yonder I see Everyman walking:
Full little he thinketh on my coming:
His mind is on fleshly lusts and his treasure;
And great pain it shall cause him to endure
Before the Lord, heaven's King.
Everyman, stand still; whither art thou going
Thus gaily? hast thou thy Maker forgot?
EVERYMAN. Why askest thou? Wouldest thou wit? ”

“ Who kisseth me, Elicaea, and will not kiss thee?
Elicaea for a countenance made her grieved,
And would not speak, but still did sew.
Why speak ye not? quoth Sempronio, be ye moved?
Have I not a cause, quoth she? no, quoth he, I trow.
Ah! traitor, quoth she, full well dost thou know!
Where hast thou been these three days from me,
That the imposthumes and evil death take thee!
Peace, mine Elicaea, quoth he, why say ye thus?
Alas! why put you yourself in this woe?
The hot fire of love so brenneth between us,
That my heart is with yours, wherever I go ”

“ PARDONER. I will read them now, what sayest thou thereto?
Hast thou anything therewith to do?
Thinkest that I will stand and tarry for thy leisure?
Am I bound to do so much for thy pleasure?
FRIAR. For my pleasure? nay I would thou knowest it well:
It becometh the knave never a deal
To prate thus boldly in my presence,
And let the Word of God of audience.
PARDONER Let the Word of God, quod a? nay let a whoreson drivel
Prate here all day, with a foul evil,
And all thy sermon goeth on covetise,
And biddest men beware of avarice ”

“ PERSEVERANCE. Yes, yes, Manhood, my friend in fere.
AGE. Nay, sir, my name is in another manner.
For Folly his own self was here,
And hath cleped me Shame.
PERSEVERANCE. Shame?
Nay, Manhood, let him go:
Folly and his fellows also,
For they would thee bring into care and woe,
And all that will follow his game.
AGE. Yea, game who so game:
Folly hath given me a name,
So, wherever I go,
He cleped me Shame.
Now Manhood is gone,
Folly hath followed me so.
When I first from my mother came,
The world made me a man,
And fast in riches I ran,
Till I was dubbed a knight ”

“ As much fire, air, water, earth, as was
Ever before this time, neither more nor less;
Wherefore thou, man—now I speak to thee—
Remember that thou art compound and create
Of these elements, as other creatures be,
Yet they have not all like noble estate,
For plants and herbs grow and be insensate.
Brute beasts have memory and their wits five,
But thou hast all those and soul intellective;
So by reason of thine understanding,
Thou hast dominion of other beasts all,
And naturally thou shouldst desire cunning
To know strange effects and causes natural ”

“ Tink will the tables, though he there not tarry.
Andrew All-Knave, alderman of Antwerp,
Hop will with hollyhocks and harken Humphrey's harp.
It is too-too, mother, the pastime and good cheer
That we shall see and have, when that we come there;
Wherefore, gentle mother, I thee heartily pray,
That thou wilt charm for worms this pretty boy.
MATER. Well, son, seeing the case and matter standeth so,
I am content all thy request to do.
Come hither, pretty child,
I will thee charm from the worms wild;
But first do thou me thy name tell.
TELEMACHUS. I am called Telemachus, there as I dwell. ”

“ JUSTUS NOAH. Shall the other die without any remedy?
PATER COELESTIS. I will drown them all for their wilful, wicked folly,
That man hereafter thereby may know my power,
And fear to offend my goodness day and hour.
JUSTUS NOAH. As thy pleasure is, so might it always be,
For my health thou art, and soul's felicity.
PATER COELESTIS. After that this flood have had his raging passage,
This shall be to thee my covenant everlasting.
The seas and waters so far never more shall rage,
As all flesh to drown, I will so temper their working ”

“ PAR. Nay, mother Celestine, I purpose not so.
A man should be conversant, I hear tell,
With them that be ill, and think to do well.
Sempronio, his ensample shall not make me
Better nor worse; nor his faults will I hide;
But, mother Celestine, a question to thee—
Is not sin anon in one espied?
That is drowned in delight, how should he provide
Against virtue to save his honesty?
CEL. Like a child without wisdom thou answerest me.
Without company mirth can have none estate:
Use no sloth; nature abhorreth idleness,
Which leseth delight to nature appropriate. ”

“ HUMANITY. That reason proveth the earth at the least,
One ways to be round, I cannot gainsay,
As for to account from the east to the west;
But yet, notwithstanding all that, it may
Lese his roundness by some other way.
STUDIOUS DESIRE. Nay, no doubt it is round everywhere,
Which I could prove, thou shouldst not say nay,
If I had thereto any time and leisure;
But I know a man called Experience,
Of divers instruments is never without,
Could prove all these points, and yet by his science
Can tell how many mile the earth is about,
And many other strange conclusions, no doubt. ”

“ MANHOOD. Nay, sir, in faith my name is not so.
Why, frere, what the devil hast thou to do,
Whether I go or abide?
CONSCIENCE. Yes, sir, I will counsel you for the best
MANHOOD. I will none of thy counsel, so have I rest:
I will go whither me lest, [261]
For thou canst nought else but chide.
CONSCIENCE. Lo, sirs, a great ensample you may see,
The frailness of mankind,
How oft he falleth in folly
Through temptation of the fiend:
For when the fiend and the flesh be at one assent,
Then Conscience clear is clean outcast. ”