YOUTH.
What, sirs, above the sky?
I had need of a ladder to climb so high!
But what, and the ladder slip?
Then I am deceived yet,
And if I fall, I catch a queck;
I may fortune to break my neck,
And that joint is ill to set:
Nay, nay, not so.

CHARITY.
Oh, yet remember, and call to thy mind,
The mercy of God passeth all thing.
For it is written by noble clerks,
The mercy of God passeth all works;
That witnesseth Holy Scripture, saying thus:
_Miseratio domini super omnia opera ejus_:
Therefore doubt not God's grace;
Thereof is plenty in every place.

YOUTH.
What, methink ye be clerkish,
For ye speak good gibb'rish!
Sir, I pray you, and you have any store,
Soil[9] me a question, ere ye cast any more,
Lest when your cunning is all done,
My question have no solution.
Sir, and it please you this,
Why do men eat mustard with salt fish?
Sir, I pray you soil me this question