"Lest you lay the blame of every wrongful
service upon the children of Adam," said the accuser, "here are two of
your old angels who misspent their time above as much as the two who were
last before the court. Here is a rogue quite as worthless as that one at
Shrewsbury the other day, when the Interlude of Doctor Faustus was being
played, amidst all manner of most wanton and lascivious revelries, and
where many things were going on conducive to the welfare of your realm;
when they were busiest, the devil himself appeared to play his part, and
so drove all away from pleasure to prayers. Even so this one, in his
wanderings over the world: he heard some people talk of walking round
the church {104a} to see their sweethearts, and what should the fool do
but show himself to the simpletons in his own natural form, and though
their fright was great they recovered their senses, and made a vow to
leave that vanity for ever; whereas had he only assumed the form of some
vile jades, they would have held themselves bound to accept those; and so
the foul fiend might have been master of the household with both parties,
since he himself had mated them.
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