[_The_ PARDONER _has entered hell and secured a guide._] _Pardoner._ This devil and I walked arm in arm So far, till he had brought me thither, Where all the devils of hell together Stood in array in such apparel As for that day there meetly fell. Their horns well-gilt, their claws full clean, Their tails well-kempt, and, as I ween, With sothery[48] butter their bodies anointed; I never saw devils so well appointed. The master-devil sat in his jacket, And all the souls were playing at racket. None other rackets they had in hand, Save every soul a good firebrand, Wherewith they played so prettily That Lucifer laughed merrily, And all the residue of the fiends Did laugh thereat full well like friends. [_He interviews_ LUCIFER _and asks if he may take away_ MARGERY CORSON.] Now, by our honour, said Lucifer, No devil in hell shall withhold her; And if thou wouldest have twenty mo, Wert not for justice, they should go. For all we devils within this den Have more to-do with two women Than with all the charge we have beside; Wherefore, if thou our friend will be tried, Apply thy pardons to women so That unto us there come no mo. _Johan Johan_, or, at greater length, _The Merry Play between Johan Johan the Husband, Tyb his Wife, and Sir Jhon the Priest_ (printed 1533), contains only the three characters mentioned, but possesses a theme more nearly deserving the name of plot than do the other two, namely, the contriving and carrying out of a plan by Tyb for exposing her boastful husband's real and absolute subjection to her rule. Yet, even so, it is extremely simple. Johan Johan is first heard alone, declaring how he will beat his wife for not being at home. The tuggings of fear and valour in his heart, however, give his monologue an argumentative form, in which first one motive and then the other gains the upper hand, very similar to the conflict between Launcelot Gobbo's conscience and the Devil. He closes in favour of the beating and then--Tyb comes home. Oh the difference! Johan Johan suspects his wife of undue friendliness with Sir Jhon the Priest, but he dare not say so. Tyb guesses his doubts, and in her turn suspects that he is inclined to rebel. So she makes the yoke heavier. Johan Johan has to invite Sir Jhon to eat a most desirable pie with them; but throughout the meal, with jealousy at his heart and the still greater pangs of unsatisfied hunger a little lower, he is kept busy by his wife, trying to mend a leaky bucket with wax. Surely never did a scene contain more 'asides' than are uttered and explained away by the crushed husband! Finally overtaxed endurance asserts itself, and wife and priest are driven out of doors; but the play closes with a very pronounced note of uncertainty from the