YOUTH.
Yea, sir, by God that me dear bought,
Methink ye labour all for nought;
Weenest thou that I will for thee
Or thy brother Charity
Forsake this good company?
Nay, I warrant you.
PRIDE.
No, master, I pray you of that,
For anything forsake us not,
And all our counsel rule you by;
Ye may be emperor, ere ye die.
YOUTH.
While I have life in my body,
Shall I be ruled by Riot and thee.
RIOT.
Sir, then, shall ye do well,
For we be true as steel;
Sir, I can teach you to play at the dice,
At the queen's game[19] and at the Irish;[20]
The treygobet[21] and the hazard[22] also,
And many other games mo;
Also at the cards I can teach you to play,
At the triump and one-and-thirty,
Post,[23] pinion,[24] and also aums-ace,
And at another they call dewce-ace;
Yet I can tell you more, and ye will con me thank,
Pink[25] and drink, and also at the blank,[26]
And many sports mo.
YOUTH.
I thank thee, Riot, so mot I the,
For the counsel thou hast given me;
I will follow thy mind in every thing,
And guide me after thy learning.
CHARITY.
Youth, leave that counsel, for it is nought,
And amend that thou hast miswrought,
That thou may'st save that God hath bought.
YOUTH.
What say ye, Master Charity?
What hath God bought?
By my troth, I know not
Whether he goeth in white or black;
He came never at the stews,
Nor in no place, where I do use;
I-wis he bought not my cap,
Nor yet my jolly hat;
I wot not what he hath bought for me;
And he bought anything of mine,
I will give him a quart of wine,
The next time I him meet.
CHARITY.
Sir, this he did for thee;
When thou wast bond, he made thee free,
And bought thee with his blood.
YOUTH.
Sir, I pray you tell me,
How may this be:
That I know, I was never bond
Unto none in England.
CHARITY.
Sir, I shall tell you—
When Adam had done great trespass,
And out of Paradise exiled was;
Then all the souls, as I can you tell,
Were in the bondage of the devil of hell,
Till the Father of heaven, of his great mercy,
Sent the Second Person in Trinity
Us for to redeem,
And so with his precious blood
He bought us on the rood,
And our souls did save.