SUGGESTION.
Well, sith it is no time for us to debate
In formal[51] manner what is in my mind,
I will at once to thee straight demonstrate
Those worldly joys which here thou shalt find.
And for because thou art partly blind,
In this respect look through this mirror,
And thou shalt behold an unspeakable pleasure.
[Shows him a mirror.
PHILOLOGUS.
O peerless pleasures, O joys unspeakable,
O worldly wealth, O palaces gorgeous,
O fair children, O wife most amiable;
O pleasant pastime, O pomp so glorious,
O delicate diet, O life lascivious;
O dolorous death which would me betray,
And my felicity from me take away!
I am fully resolved without further demur[52]
In these delights to take my whole solace;
And what pain soever hereby I incur,
Whether heaven or hell, whether God's wrath or grace,
This glass of delight I will ever embrace.
But one thing most chiefly doth trouble me here:
My neighbours inconstant will compt me, I fear.
HYPOCRISY.
He that will seek each man to content
Shall prove himself at last most unwise.
Yourself to save harmless think it sufficient,
And weight not the people's clamorous outcries.
Yet their mouths to stop I can soon devise:
Say that the reading of the works of St Self-love
And Doctor Ambition did your errors remove.
And hark in thine[53] ear, delay no more time:
The sooner the better in end you will say.
[Aside.] We have now caught him as bird is in lime.[54]
TYRANNY.
Come on, sirs; have ye done? I would fain away.
HYPOCRISY.
Go even when you will, we do you not stay.
Philologus hath drunk such a draught of hypocrisy,
That he minds not to die yet; he will master this malady.
CARDINAL.
Come on, Master Philologus: are you grown to a stay?
I am glad to hear that you become tractable.
PHILOLOGUS.
If it please your lordship, I say even what you say,
And confess your religion to be most allowable.
Neither will I gainsay your customs laudable:
My former follies I utterly renounce;
That myself was an heretic, I do here pronounce.
CARDINAL.
Nay, Master Philologus, go with me to my palace,
And I shall set down the form of recantation,
Which you shall read on Sunday next in open place.
This done, you shall satisfy our expectation,
And shall be set free from all molestation:
Into the bosom of the Church we will you take,
And some high officer therein will you make.
PHILOLOGUS.
I must first request your lordship's favour,
That I may go home my wife for to see,
And I will attend on you within this hour.
CARDINAL.
Nay, I may not suffer you alone to go free,
Unless one of these your surety will be.