Chapter V: L. O Lord of hosts, O King Almighty,

Pour down thy grace upon our noble Queen!
Vanquish her foes (Lord), that daily and nightly
Through her thy laws may be sincerely seen.

HONOUR. The honourable council also (O Lord) preserve,
The lords both of the clergy and of the temporality:
Grant that with meekness they may thee serve,
Submitting to thee with all humility.

G. F. O Lord, preserve the Commons of this realm also;
Pour upon them thy heavenly grace;
To advance virtue and vice to overthrow,
That at last in heaven with thee they may have place.

AMEN.

_A Song._[361]

_Where like to like is a-matched so,
That virtue must of force decay:
There God with vengeance, plagues and woe,
By judgment just must needs repay.
For, like to like, the worldings cry:
Although both likes do grace defy.
And where as Satan planted hath
In vicious minds a sinful trade:
There like to like do walk his path,
By which to him like they are made.
So like with like reward obtain,
To have their meed in endless pain.
Likewise in faith, where matches be,
And where as God hath planted grace;
There do his children still agree,
And like to like do run their race.
Like Christ, like hearts of Christian men;
As like to like well-coupled then.
Therefore like grace, like faith and love,
Like virtue, springs in each degree:
Where like assistance from above
Doth make them like so right to be.
A holy God, a Christ most just:
And so like souls in him to trust._

_Then like as Christ above doth reign,
In heaven high our Saviour best:
So like with him shall be our gain,
In peace and joy, and endless rest.
If we ourselves like him do frame,
In fear of his most holy name.
To him be praise, that grace doth give,
Whereby he fashioneth us anew:
And make[s] us holily to live,
Like to himself in faith most true.
Which our redemption sure hath wrought:
Like him to be most dearly bought._

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[329] [Suspicious.]

[330] [Nearer.]

[331] [In the old copy, _aloof of_.]

[332] ["A dwarfe, dandiprat, little-skipjacke."--_Cotgrave._]

[333] [_Can_ or _con thee thank_, give thee thanks--a common
expression.]

[334] [Nature.]

[335] [Fault.]

[336] [A tolerably early example of the use of this saying, which may
have taken its rise from the custom of having a pudding as the first
dish on the table, and may consequently be equivalent to _betimes_.]

[337] [Clownish or rude, like a cobbler, from _souter_, a cobbler.]

[338] [A word of somewhat uncertain meaning and of obscure origin. See
Halliwell _v. Liripoops_.]

[339] [This is an allusion worth noting; the editor does not recollect
to have met with it before.]

[340] [The two places chiefly used for executions, after the
discontinuance of the Elms in Smithfield.]

[341] [The leathern drinking vessel, generally called _a jack_.]

[342] [The Flemings or Dutch (for the two seem to have been pretty
generally confounded) had a great reputation here, like the Danes
afterwards, for habits of excessive drinking.]

[343] [Salisbury plain was formerly one of the resorts of foot-pads,
who infested the place in small bodies, and waylaid travellers.]

[344] [The entrances and _exits_ in this piece are so imperfectly
marked, that it is often difficult to be sure about them. It seems to
be Tom Tosspot who goes out now; but if so, he soon returns, though
his re-entry is not recorded.]

[345] [Drink.]

[346] [Tom seems to have gone out and returned, as observed above.]

[347] A term of endearment. A commoner form is _white boy_.

[348] [Nichol had previously addressed the Collier as _Master
Lick-hole_; but as the Collier is not on the stage, it is clear that
he here applies the same bye-name, _rhythmi causâ_, to Hance.]

[349] [The gallows.]

[350] [The song is divided between the three, each singing two lines,
and the division is marked; but the name of the singer in each case is
not given.]

[351] [_To bring a noble to nine-pence_, was a proverbial expression
for the idle dissipation of money.]

[352] [It appears from what is afterwards said in the piece, that they
do not see Newfangle, who has probably retired to the back of the
stage.]

[353] [Five and Six, a game at cards or dice.]

[354] [_i.e._, Destitute of money.]

[355] [The 4to of 1587 reads, _thou shall have_.]

[356] [The 4to of 1568 has _way_.]

[357] [The 4to of 1568 has _the every_.]

[358] [Nearer.]

[359] [The 4to of 1568 has, as before, _the every_.]

[360] [Leash.]

[361] This song is divided by a paragraph-mark between Virtuous Life
and the other speakers; but the names are not given, and the mode of
distribution is consequently uncertain.

END OF VOL. III.

* * * * *

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| |
| Transcriber notes: |
| |
| P.60. 'Royster.' needs to be 'Roister.', changed. |
| P.76. 'Alfyace.' needs to be 'Alyface.', changed. |
| P.144. 'Royster' needs to be 'Roister' changed. |
| P.266. 'sprit' needs to be 'spirit', changed. |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
| |
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