“ I tell thee troth, thou hast displeas'd the king.
HONESTY.
Nay, the king hath displeased himself,
In trusting every one that speaks him fair:
For through fair words kings many times are fain
To countenance knaves by their authority.
I will not say your grace doth so—
PERIN.
No, sir; you were not best.
HONESTY.
Why, if I should, I might make good my word,
And find a knave, I fear, before I part.
KING.
Why, what art thou?
HONESTY.
Marry, I go plain, and my name is Honesty:
A friend to your grace, but a foe to flatterers,
And one that hath a knack to know a knave. ”

“ How say you, Master Hypocrisy?
HYPOCRISY.
I also think so;
But let him go forward and utter his conscience,
And we will a while longer hear him with patience.
CARDINAL.
Say on, thou heretic: of the holy Sacrament;
Of the body and blood of Christ, what is thine opinion?
PHILOLOGUS.
I have not yet finished my former argument.
CARDINAL.
Say on, as I bid thee: thou art a stout minion.
PHILOLOGUS.
I shall then gladly: it is a sign of union,
The which should remain us Christians among,
That one should love another all our life long. ”

“ And Providens securus is his word:
His page is Wit, his mistress Lady Love.
Pomp in his shield a lily hath portray'd,
As paragon of beauty and boon-grace:
Glorie sans peere his word, and true it is;
With London's Pomp Castile cannot compare:
His page is Wealth, his mistress Lucre hight.
Pleasure, the dainty of that famous town,
A falcon hath emblazon'd, soaring high,
To show the pitch that London's Pleasure flies:
His word Pour temps, yet never stops to train,
But unto Conscience, chosen for his dear:
His page is Will; and thus th'effect you hear. ”

“ But if you will be ruled by my honesty, I vow
I will do the best herein that I can,
Because you seem to be a good gentleman.
AVARICE.
Were it not better for you to live at ease,
And spend that merrily which earst you have got,
Than by your own folly yourself to disease,
And bring you to trouble, which other men seek not?
HYPOCRISY.
In faith, Philologus, your zeal is too hot,
Which will not be quench'd, but with your heart-blood;
If I were so zealous, I would think myself wood.
CARDINAL.
Tush! it will not be: he thinks we do but jest. ”

“ Mass, Fraud, thou hast a doughty heart to make a hangman of,
For thou hast good skill to help men from the coff.
But we were arrantly flouted, yet I thought she had not known me;
But I perceive, though Dissimulation do disguise him, Conscience can see.
What though Conscience perceive it, all the world cannot beside,
Tush! there be a thousand places, where we ourselves may provide.
But look, sirs; here cometh a lusty lady towards us in haste;
But speak to her, if you will, that we may be all plac'd.
Enter LADY LUCRE.
USURY.
I pray thee do, for thou art the likeliest to speed. ”

“ For then our game is marr'd: and hast
Thou promised him what reward he shall have?
HONESTY.
Tush! fear not you; for you never knew honest man
Dissemble with his friend, though many friends
Dissemble with honest men. But, my lord,
The cards be shuffled, and here comes a knave.
Enter CONEYCATCHER.
CONEYCATCHER.
'Tis strange to see how men of our knowledge live,
And how we are hated of the baser sort,
Because, forsooth, we live upon our wit:
But let the baser sort think as they will,
For he may best be termed a gentleman,
That, when all fails, can live upon his wit. ”

“ Enter ALFRIDA in the KITCHEN-MAID'S attire.
ALFRIDA.
Successful fortune and his heart's content
Daily attend the person of the king.
And, Edgar, know that I am Alfrida, daughter to Osrick,
And lately made the Earl of Cornwall's wife.
KING.
Why, is not this Alfrida?
ALFRIDA.
No, my good lord; it is the kitchen-maid,
Whom Ethenwald, in too much love to me,
Hath thus attir'd to dally with the king.
MAID.
By my troth, my lord, she lies. Go to;
I'll course you by and by.
KING.
Away, base strumpet, get thee from my sight.
MAID. Go your ways; you are a cogging knave, I warrant you. ”

“ As you were shameless in your shameful dealing,
Shall, to your shame, and the utter shame of all
Bad-minded men, that live as thou hast done,
Stand in Finsbury fields, near London,
And there, as a dissembling hypocrite, be shot to death.
PRIEST.
Good Honesty, be more favourable than so.
HONESTY.
Truly, no; the Spirit doth not move me thereunto.—
But who is next? what, Perin, a courtier and a cosener too!
I have a judgment yet in store for thee:
And for because I will use thee favourably,
I'faith, thy judgment is to be but hanged. ”

“ No pen can write, how Conscience hath me scourg'd,
When with your faults my soul she ever urg'd:
Arithmetic doth fail to number all
The plagues of Sorrow in the den of thrall.
Then tempt me not, nor trouble me no more;
I must not use you as I did before.
If you be found within fair London's gate,
You must to prison, whence we came of late.
Conscience will accuse ye, if ye be in sight.
FRAUD.
That scurvy Conscience works us all the spite.
Enter NEMO.
USURY.
Well, Lucre, yet in thee we have delight.
DISSIMULATION.
Yonder come some: we must take our flight. ”

“ BOMELIO. Father, my dear father? Soul! give me my books. Let's have no more tarrying: the day begins to be dark; it rains: it begins with tempests. Thunder and lightning! fire and brimstone! And all my books are gone, and I cannot help myself, nor my friends. What a pestilence! who came there?
HERMIONE.
I'll tell you, father, if you please to hear.
BOMELIO. What can'st thou tell me? tell me of a turd. What, and a' come? I conjure thee, foul spirit, down to hell! Ho, ho, ho! the devil, the devil! A-comes, a-comes, a-comes upon me, and I lack my books. Help! help! help! ”

“ Exit USURY with the brooms.
Hold, Conscience; though thy brooms be not worth a quarter so much,
Yet to give thee a piece of gold I do it not grutch;
And if thou wouldst follow my mind, thou shouldst not live in such sort,
But pass thy days with pleasure, store of every kind of sport.
CONSCIENCE.
I think you lead the world in a string, for everybody follows you:
And sith every one doth it, why may not I do it too?
For that I see your free heart and great liberality,
I marvel not that all people are so willing to follow ye.
LUCRE.
Then, sweet soul, mark what I would have thee do for me. ”

“ Fell to my lot that now the loss, my plague, might be the more.
O Fortune! froward dame, wilt thou be never sure?
Most constant in inconstancy I see thou wilt endure.
BOMELIO.
Accuse not Fortune, son, but blame thy love therefor;
For I perceive thou art in love, and then [ce] thy trouble is more.
HERMIONE.
Father, if this be love: to lead a life in thrall,
To think the rankest poison sweet, to feed on honey-gall;
To be at war and peace, to be in joy and grief,
Then farthest from the hope of help, where nearest is relief;
To live and die, to freeze and sweat, to melt and not to move ”

“ And to deny with outward lips thy Lord and God most dear,
The same to 'stablish with consent of conscience stand in fear.
Thou art yet free, Philologus; all torments thou may'st 'scape,
Only the pleasures of the world thou shalt awhile forbear.
Renounce thy crime, and sue for grace, and do not captivate
Thy conscience unto mortal sin: the yoke of Christ do bear.
Shut up these words within thy breast, which sound so in thine ear:
The outward man hath caused thee this enterprise to take;
Beware lest wickedness of spirit the same do perfect make. ”

“ Mistress Lady Lucre, here's a letter for ye.
LUCRE.
Hast thou a letter for me?
SIMPLICITY.
Yes, by Saint Mary.
How say you, cousin? she reads your letter:
And you can flatter, perhaps you shall speed better.
SINCERITY.
Thou speakest the truth, Simplicity; for flatterers now-a-days
Live gentlemen-like, and with prating get praise.
LUCRE.
Sir, I have read the tenure of your letter, wherein I find
That at the request of Love and Conscience I should show myself kind
In bestowing some spiritual living on ye, parsonage, or benefice:
It seems it stands greatly in need, as appears by this. ”