Report  me  to  you,  report  me  to  you

Be  not  the  trees  in  winter  bare  ?
Like  unto  their  kind,  such  they  are  ;
And  when  they  spring,  their  fruits  declare.
Report  me  to  you,  report  me  to  you.
What  should  youth  do  with  the  fruits  of  age,
But  live  in  pleasure  in  his  passage  ?
For  when  age  cometh,  his  lusts  will  swage.
Report  me  to  you,  report  me  to  you.
Why  should  not  youth  fulfil  his  own  mind,
As  the  course  of  nature  doth  him  bind  ?
Is  not  everything  ordained  to  do  his  kind  ?
Report  me  to  you,  report  me  to  you.
Juventus  now  goes  off  the  stage,  to  pass  his  time  in
mirth  and  solace  with  Abominable  Living  ;  for  whom,
it  may  be  parenthetically  said,  he  is  far  too  charming
a  companion.  From  dicing,  drinking,  and  wenching,  ^i
his  former  tutors  rescue  him  with  some  pains,  renew  i
their  instructions  m  Divinity,  and  bring  him  to  remorse.
God's  Merciful  Promises  appears  in  the  form  of  a
preacher,  and  bids  him  take  heart.  Juventus  repents,
reconciles  himself  to  God,  and  ends  the  play  with  a
homily  upon  the  duty  of  avoiding  Satan  and  the  Pope,
and  clinging  steadfastly  to  Christ's  Gospel.  The
whole  piece,  with  the  exception  of  its  pretty  lyrics,  the
satiric  part  of  Hypocrisy,  and  the  realistic  scenes  with
Abominable  Living,  may  well  be  styled,  in  the  words  of
Hawkins  and  the  learned  Dr.  Percy,  'a  supplement  to
the  pulpit'  Before  leaving  it,  however,  I  will  extract
a  part  of  the  speech  in  which  Hypocrisy  describes  to
his  father,  the  Devil,  the  shams  which  he  has  foisted

M


i62  SHAKSPER^'S  PREDECESSORS.
