And I shall toss it to and fro, even round about the house-a:
Good hostess, now let it be so, I brink them all carouse-a.

More than once reference has been made to the lingering religious
element in the Interludes. Probably 'moral element' would describe it
better, though in those days religion and morality were perhaps less
separable than they are to-day. In the midst of so much comical
wickedness and naughty wit, with a decreasing use of the old Morality
Virtues, it might be thought that this element would be crowded out. But
it was not so. The downfall of the unrighteous was never allowed to pass
without the voice of the preacher, frequently the reprobate himself,
pointing the warning to those present. Cuthbert Cutpurse makes a 'godly
end' in this fashion:

O, all youth take example by me:
Flee from evil company, as from a serpent you would flee;
For I to you all a mirror may be.
I have been daintily and delicately bred,
But nothing at all in virtuous lore:
And now I am but a man dead;
Hanged I must be, which grieveth me full sore.
Note well the end of me therefore;
And you that fathers and mothers be,
Bring not up your children in too much liberty.

The episode of the crowning of Virtuous Life owes its existence to this
same element of moral teaching. Take up what Interlude we will, the
preacher is always to be found uttering his short sermon on the folly of
sin. Our merry friend, the Vice, usually gets caught in his own toils at
last; even if he is spared this defeat, he must ultimately be borne off