The dramatic material upon which the interlude was able to draw had naturally its points of relation to and of divergence from that of the popular stage, whose last days it overlapped. It continued to occupy itself largely with the morality. The ‘moral interludes’ of the early Tudor period are in fact distinguished with some difficulty from the popular moralities by their comparative brevity, and by indications of the _mise en scène_ as a ‘room’ or ‘hall’ rather than an open ‘place[591].’ The only clearly popular texts later than those of the fifteenth century, discussed in a previous chapter, are Sir David Lyndsay’s Scottish _Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis_, and the _Magnificence_, which alone survives of several plays from the prolific pen of the ‘laureate’ poet, John Skelton. A somewhat intermediate type is presented by the _Nature_ of Cardinal Morton’s chaplain, Henry Medwall. This was certainly intended for performance as an interlude, but it is on the scale of the popular moralities, needing division into two parts to bring it within the limits of courtly patience; and like them it is sufficiently wide in its scope to embrace the whole moral problem of humanity. The conditions of the interlude, however, enforced themselves, and the later morals have, as a rule, a more restricted theme. They make their selection from amongst the battalions of sins and virtues which were wont to invade the stage together, and set themselves the task of expounding the dangers of a particular temperament or the advantages of a particular form of moral discipline. _Hickscorner_ shows man led into irreligion by imagination and freewill. _Youth_ concerns itself with pride, lechery, and riot, the specific temptations of the young. _The Nature of the Four Elements_ and John Redford’s somewhat later _Wit and Science_ preach the importance of devotion to study. The distinction between the episodic and the more comprehensive moralities was in the consciousness of the writers themselves; and the older fashion did not wholly disappear. William Baldwin describes his play for the Inns of Court in 1556 as ‘comprehending a discourse of the worlde[592]’; and mention is more than once made of an interesting piece called _The Cradle of Security_, which seems to have had a motive of death and the judgement akin to that found in _The Pride of Life_ and in _Everyman_[593].