unlimited comicality of effort, he staggers into a chair and proceeds to
snore loudly. All this is accompanied by a fitting fashion of
conversation. We can only hope that the author's attempts at humour met
with the applause he clearly expected. We believe they did, for he was
only copying a widespread custom.

Of far more importance than Hance, however, are the two characters, the
Devil and Nichol Newfangle. They invite joint treatment by their own
declared relationship and by the close union which stage tradition
quickly gave to them. Most of us will remember Shakespeare's song from
_Twelfth Night_ bearing on these two notorious companions, their quaint
garb, and their laughter-raising antics.

I am gone, sir,
And anon, sir,
I'll be with you again,
In a trice,
Like to the old Vice,
Your need to sustain;
Who, with dagger of lath,
In his rage and his wrath,
Cries, ah, ha! to the devil:
Like a mad lad,
Pare thy nails, dad;
Adieu, goodman devil.

Newfangle is the 'Vice' of the play; 'Nichol Newfangle, the Vice,' says
the list of dramatis personae. We noticed in our consideration of _Hick
Scorner_ that one of the Vices, Imagination, was eminent for his more
detailed character and readier villany. The trick has been adopted; the