In the end, mainly through the personal appeal of his friend,
Imagination too yields and accepts the guidance of Perseverance,
Freewill transferring his allegiance to Contemplation. As Hick Scorner
never returns, the double conversion brings the play to a close.

Rising from the perusal of _Hick Scorner_ we confess that we have made a
new acquaintance: we have met Imagination and have not left him until we
have learnt a good deal about him; how he fled from a catchpole but lost
his purse in the flight, how he and Hick Scorner were shackled together
in Newgate without money to pay for an upper room, how brazen-faced his
lies were, how near he was to hanging, how ingenious were his excuses,
and many other facts besides. We have seen him, too, as the ringleader
in mischief and the arrantest rogue in the play. Freewill and Hick
Scorner make less impression on us; they are more cloudy in outline,
more like types. As for Pity, Contemplation and Perseverance, they are
merely talking-machines. We must keep an eye on Imagination, as
possessing a dramatic value likely to be needed again.

We shall have been disappointed in the plot. That part of the drama
seems to be getting worse. Humankind was at least gaining fresh
experience in _The Castell of Perseverance_; he was even besieged in a
fortress and had the narrowest escape in the world from being carried
off to Hell. Everyman's startling doom, his eager quest for a companion
on his journey, and his zealous self-discipline keep us to the end in a
state of concern for his ultimate fate. But what interest have we in
Contemplation, Freewill and the rest, apart from what they say? No
suggestion is thrown out at the beginning that two of the rogues are to
be reclaimed: their fate concerns us not at all. The quarrel, and the
ill-treatment of poor old Pity, are the merest by-play, with no