Than with all the charge we have beside;
Wherefore, if thou our friend will be tried,
Apply thy pardons to women so
That unto us there come no mo.

_Johan Johan_, or, at greater length, _The Merry Play between Johan
Johan the Husband, Tyb his Wife, and Sir Jhon the Priest_ (printed
1533), contains only the three characters mentioned, but possesses a
theme more nearly deserving the name of plot than do the other two,
namely, the contriving and carrying out of a plan by Tyb for exposing
her boastful husband's real and absolute subjection to her rule. Yet,
even so, it is extremely simple. Johan Johan is first heard alone,
declaring how he will beat his wife for not being at home. The tuggings
of fear and valour in his heart, however, give his monologue an
argumentative form, in which first one motive and then the other gains
the upper hand, very similar to the conflict between Launcelot Gobbo's
conscience and the Devil. He closes in favour of the beating and
then--Tyb comes home. Oh the difference! Johan Johan suspects his wife
of undue friendliness with Sir Jhon the Priest, but he dare not say so.
Tyb guesses his doubts, and in her turn suspects that he is inclined to
rebel. So she makes the yoke heavier. Johan Johan has to invite Sir Jhon
to eat a most desirable pie with them; but throughout the meal, with
jealousy at his heart and the still greater pangs of unsatisfied hunger
a little lower, he is kept busy by his wife, trying to mend a leaky
bucket with wax. Surely never did a scene contain more 'asides' than are
uttered and explained away by the crushed husband! Finally overtaxed
endurance asserts itself, and wife and priest are driven out of doors;
but the play closes with a very pronounced note of uncertainty from the
victor as to what new game the vanquished may shortly be at if he be not
there to see.

The all-important feature to be noticed in Heywood's work is that here
we have the drama escaping from its alliance with religion into the
region of pure comedy. Here is no well planned moral, no sententious
mouthpiece of abstract excellence, no ruin of sinners and crowning of
saints. Here, too, is no Vice, no Devil, although they are the chief
media for comedy in other Interludes, nor is there any buffoonery; even
of its near cousins, scuffling and fighting, only one of the three plays
has more than a trace. Hence the earlier remark, that Heywood was before
his time. It is not devil