Down from heaven, from heaven so high,
Of angels there came a great company,
With mirth and joy and great solemnity,
They sang terli, terlow,
So merrily the shepherds their pipes can blow.
_Everyman._
[From JOHN SKOT's Editions, c. 1525.]
_Everyman._
Here beginneth a treatise how the High Father of Heaven sendeth Death to
summon every creature to come and give a count of their lives in this
world, and is in manner of a moral play.
MESSENGER. I pray you all give your audience,
And hear this matter with reverence,
By figure a moral play.
'The summoning of Everyman' called it is,
That of our lives and ending shows
How transitory we be all day.
This matter is wondrous precious,
But the intent of it is more gracious
And sweet to bear away.
This story saith 'man, in the beginning
Look well, and take good heed to the ending,
Be you never so gay;
Ye think sin in the beginning full sweet,
Which in the end causeth thy soul to weep,
When the body lieth in clay.'
Here shall you see how fellowship and jollity,
Both strength, pleasure, and beauty,
Will fade from thee as flower in May;
For ye shall hear how our heaven king
Calleth every man to a general reckoning:
Give audience, and hear what he will say.