Foure maye playe it easely, takyng such partes as they thinke best: so that any one take of those partes that be not in place at once. [Col.] Imprynted at London, in Lothbury, ouer agaynst Sainct Margarits Church, by Wyllyam Copland. 4°, black-letter_.[30] HAWKINS'S PREFACE. The editor has been favoured with two copies of this moral interlude; one of which is preserved in the library belonging to Lincoln Cathedral,[31] the other is in the possession of Mr. Garrick. It was written in the reign of Edward the Sixth by one R. Wever, of whom the editor can give the reader no further information. The former was printed at London by Abraham Vele. The latter is a very different copy from the other. A more obsolete spelling runs through the whole, and it contains great variations besides, which the reader will find at the bottom of each page. The conclusion being imperfect, the printer's colophon is wanting, so that it cannot be known where this edition was printed. According to Dr Percy's tables, it was printed by Richard Pinson.[32] The design of this interlude was to expose the superstitions of the Romish Church, and to promote the Reformation. The stage (as the learned Dr Percy observes) in those days literally was what wise men have always wished it--a supplement to the pulpit: chapter and verse are as formally quoted as in a sermon. See "Prologue of the Messenger," &c. From this play we learn that most of the young people were new gospellers, or friends to the Reformation; and that the old were tenacious of the doctrines imbibed in their youth, for thus the Devil is introduced lamenting the downfall of superstition-- The old people would believe still in my laws, But the younger sort lead them a contrary way; They will not believe, they plainly say, In old traditions and made by men, But they will live as the scripture teacheth them, &c. And in another place Hypocrisy urges-- The world was never merry, Since children were so bold; Now every boy will be a teacher, The father a fool, and the child a preacher. [This is certainly a piece of rather heavy and tedious morality, replete with good instruction, but didactic to a fault. It is deficient in the curious allusions, which abound in other productions of the same kind; and even that mysterious character, _Abominable Living_, whose introduction promises some amusement and illustration, moves off the scene almost immediately after her first appearance, while _Little Bess_, whose entrance might have been a vehicle for some diverting or sentimental situation, does not "come on" at all.] LUSTY JUVENTUS. THE PROLOGUE OF THE MESSENGER.