That nature hath ingrafted, is hard to kill.

Nevertheless, in youth men may be best
Trained to virtue by godly mean;
Vice may be so mortified and so supprest,
That it shall not break forth, yet the root will remain;
As in this interlude by youth you shall see plain,
From his lust by Good Counsel brought to godly conversation,
And shortly after to frail nature's inclination.
The enemy of mankind, Satan, through Hypocrisy
Feigned or chosen holiness of man's blind intent,
Forsaking[35] God's word, that leadeth right way,
Is brought to Fellowship and ungracious company,
To Abhominable Living till he be wholly bent,
And so to desperation, if good counsel were not sent
From God, that in trouble doth no man forsake
That doth call, and trust in him for Christ's sake.

Finally, youth by God's special grace
Doth earnestly repent his abhominable living
By the doctrine of good counsel, and to his solace
God's mercy entereth to him reciting
God's merciful promises, as they be in writing:
He believeth and followeth, to his great consolation.[36]
And these parts ye shall see briefly played in their fashion.

_Here entereth_ LUSTY JUVENTUS, _or_ YOUTH, _singing as followeth_:

In a herber[37] green, asleep[38] where as I lay,
The birds sang sweet in the middes of the day;