In half an hour, or three-quarters at the most,
The soul is in heaven with the Holy Ghost.’
The Poticary does not approve of this arrogance of the Friar, and undertakes, in mood and figure, to prove them both ‘false knaves.’ It is he, he says, who sends most souls to heaven, and who ought, therefore, to have the credit of it.
‘No soul, ye know, entereth heaven-gate,
‘Till from the body he be separate:
And whom have ye known die honestly,
Without help of the Poticary?
Nay, all that cometh to our handling,
Except ye hap to come to hanging....
Since of our souls the multitude