Sources and
aesthetic
values of ballads
as a whole.
as a whole.
Cambridge History of English Literature - 1908 - v02
Prose.
The Astrolabe.
Boethius. Minor verse. Chaucer's learning. His humour. His
poetical quality. The tale of Gamelyn
156
.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ENGLISH CHAUCERIANS
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A.
Lydgate. Occleve. Burgh. George Ashby. Henry Bradshaw.
George Ripley. Thomas Norton. Osbern Bokenam. The Chau-
cerian apocrypha The tale of Beryn or The second Merchant's
tale. La Belle Dame sans Merci. The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale. The Assembly of Ladies. The Flower and the
Leaf. The Court of Love
197
.
CHAPTER IX
STEPHEN HAWES
By WILLIAM MURISON, M. A. Aberdeen.
The Passetyme of Pleasure. The Conversion of Swearers. A Joyful
Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the
Eighth. The Example of Virtue. Hawes's learning and models.
His medievalism. His relation to Spenser. His metre
223
CHAPTER X
THE SCOTTISH CHAUCERIANS
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A.
James I. The Kingis Quair. The influence of Chaucer. Robert
Henryson. The Morall Fabillis of Esope. The Testament of
Cresseid. Henryson's shorter poems. William Dunbar. His
allegories. The grotesque in Dunbar. His prosodio range. Gavin
Douglas. The Palice of Honour. King Hart. The Aeneid.
Douglas's medievalism. Walter Kennedy
239
## p. x (#16) ###############################################
х
Contents
CHAPTER XI
THE MIDDLE SCOTS ANTHOLOGIES: ANONYMOUS
VERSE AND EARLY PROSE
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A.
PAGE
Early anthologists. The native elements. Peblis to the Play. Christis
Kirk on the Grene. Sym and his Brudir. The Wyf of
Auchtirmuchty. The Wowing of Jok and Jynny. Gure Carling.
King Berdok. Burlesque poems. Convivial verse. Fabliaux.
Historical and patriotic verse. Love poetry. Tayis Bank. The
Murning Maiden. Didactic and religious verse. Early Scottish
prose. Sir Gilbert Hay. Nisbet's version of Purvey
267
CHAPTER XII
ENGLISH PROSE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
I
PECOCK. FORTESCUE. THE PASTON LETTERS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
The Master of Game. John Capgrave. Reginald Pecock. The
Repressor of overmuch blaming of clergy. The Repressor and
the Lollards. Pecock's minor works. His style and vocabulary.
Sir John Fortescue. Walter Hylton. Juliana of Norwich. Gesta
Romanorum. Secreta Secretorum. William Gregory's note-book.
The Paston Letters. Copyists and booksellers.
286
CHAPTER XIII
THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING INTO ENGLAND AND
THE EARLY WORK OF THE PRESS
By E. GORDON DUFF, M. A. Oxon. , sometime Sandars Reader in
Bibliography in the University of Cambridge.
The first products of the new art. William Caxton. The first book
printed in English-The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy. The
first dated book issued in England - The Dictes and Sayings of
the Philosophers. The Golden Legend. Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
Caxton's views on the English language. Provincial presses. The
Book of St Albans. William de Machlinia. English books
printed abroad. Arnold's Chronicle. Richard Pynson. Berners's
Froissart. Wynkyn de Worde. Minor printers. Antoine Verard
and John of Doesborch. The book trade
310
## p. xi (#17) ##############################################
Contents
xi
CHAPTER XIV
ENGLISH PROSE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
II
CAXTON. MALORY. BERNERS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
PAGE
Caxton as editor. The Golden Legend. Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
Style of the Morte d'Arthur. Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners.
The Chronicles of Froissart. Huon of Bordeaux. The Golden
Book of Marcus Aurelius
332
.
•
CHAPTER XV
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH EDUCATION. UNIVERSITIES
AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO THE TIME OF COLET
By the Rev. T. A. WALKER, M. A. , LL. D. , Fellow of Peterhouse.
Paris and Oxford. Beginnings of Oxford and Cambridge. Town and
gown. University and bishop. The coming of the friars. The
schoolmen. The fall of the friars. Poor students. Walter de
Merton. Hugo de Balsham. The Black Death. The beginnings
of the colleges. William of Wykeham, Winchester and New
College. Henry VI, Eton and King's College. Queen Margaret.
Medieval studies. The Grammar School University studies.
The higher faculties. Peterhouse library and catalogue. The
library of the medieval student. The education of a young scholar
in the Middle Ages. The hour before the renascence. St Andrews
university. Glasgow and Aberdeen. Scottish university studies. 341
.
CHAPTER XVI
TRANSITION ENGLISH SONG COLLECTIONS
By FREDERICK MORGAN PADELFORD, Professor of the English
Language and Literature in the University of Washington.
Characteristics of folk-poetry. Minstrels' songs. Carols, sacred and
secular. Spiritual lullabies.
Didactic songs.
Satires against
women. Drinking songs. Love songs. Pre-Christian festivals
and May poems. Miscellaneous songs.
372
## p. xii (#18) #############################################
xii
Contents
CHAPTER XVII
BALLADS
By FRANCIS B. GUMMERE, Professor of English in Haverford
College, U. S. A.
PAGE
Definition of the subject. The Canute song. Outlaw ballads and
political songs. The ballad question. Tradition. Robin Hood.
Babylon. The maid freed from the gallows. The making of
ballads. General outlines of ballad progress. Sources of ballads.
Riddle ballads. The epic tendency. Balladry in rags. Ballads of
domestic tragedy. Child Waters. Funeral ballads. The historical
ballad. The greenwood.
Sources and aesthetic values of ballads
as a whole.
395
CHAPTER XVIII
POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS VERSE TO THE CLOSE OF
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY-FINAL WORDS
By A. R. WALLER, M. A. , Peterhouse.
Anglo-Norman writings. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal. The
Vows of the Heron. The Lollards. The Libel of English Policy.
Jack Napes' Soul, Lyrics and carols. The religious plays.
.
Didactio literature. Robin Hood. The fifteenth century
419
430
.
432
.
Appendix to chapter II .
Bibliographies .
Table of principal dates.
Index .
510
513
## p. 1 (#19) ###############################################
CHAPTER I
PIERS THE PLOWMAN AND ITS SEQUENCE
FEw poems of the Middle Ages have had a stranger fate than
those grouped under the general title of The Vision of William
concerning Piers the Plowman. Obviously very popular in the
latter half of the fourteenth century, the time of their composition,
they remained popular throughout the fifteenth century, were
regarded in the sixteenth by the leaders of the reformation as an
inspiration and a prophecy, and, in modern times, have been
quoted by every historian of the fourteenth century as the most
vivid and trustworthy source for the social and economic history
of the time. Yet their early popularity has resulted in the
confusion of what is really the work of five different men, and in
the creation of a mythical author of all these poems and one other;
and the nature of the interest of the sixteenth century reformers
has caused a misunderstanding of the objects and aims of the
satire contained in the poems separately and collectively. Worst
of all, perhaps, the failure of modern scholars to distinguish the
presence of several hands in the poems has resulted in a general
charge of vagueness and obscurity, which has not even spared
a portion of the work remarkable for its clearness and definiteness
and structural excellence.
Before taking up any of the problems just suggested, we may
recall briefly certain undisputed facts as to the form of the poems.
They are written throughout in alliterative verse of the same
general type as that of Beowulf and other Old English poems, and,
at first sight, seem to form one long poem, extant in versions
differing somewhat from one another. As Skeat has conclusively
shown in his monumental editions of the texts, there are three
principal versions or texts, which he designates the A-text, the
B-text and the C-text, or the Vernon, the Crowley and the
Whitaker versions respectively. The A-text, or Vernon version,
consists of three visions supposed to come to the author while
1
E. L. II.
CH, I.
## p. 2 (#20) ###############################################
2
Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
sleeping beside a stream among the Malvern hills. The first of
these, occupying the prologue and passus 1-10, is the vision of
the field full of folk—a symbol of the world—and Holy Church
and Lady Meed; the second, occupying passus V–VIII, is the
vision of Piers the Plowman and the crowd of penitents whom he
leads in search of Saint Truth; the third, occupying passus IX-XII,
is a vision in which the dreamer goes in search of Do-well, Do-better
and Do-best, but is attacked by hunger and fever and dies ere his
quest is accomplished. The B-text and the C-text are successive
modifications and expansions of the A-text.
Let us turn now from fact to theory. The two principal
authorities, Skeat and Jusserand, though differing in details, agree,
in the main, in the account they give of the poems and the author;
and their account is very generally accepted. It is as follows.
The author was William Langland (or Langley), born about 1331—2
at Cleobury Mortimer, 32 miles S. S. E. from Shrewsbury and 137
N. W. from London, and educated in the school of the Benedictine
monastery at Malvern, among the hills S. W. of Worcester.
Whether he was the son of freemen (Skeat's view) or of serfs
(Jusserand's view), he was, at any rate, educated for the church
and probably took minor orders; but, because of his temperament,
his opinions, his marriage, or his lack of influential friends, he never
rose in the church. At some unknown date, possibly before 1362,
he removed to London and made a scanty living by singing masses,
copying legal documents and other similar casual occupations.
In 1362, he began his famous poems, writing first the vision of
Lady Meed and the vision of Piers the Plowman.
Perhaps im-
mediately, perhaps after an interval of some time, he added to these
the vision of Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. This first version of
these poems constitutes what is now called the A-text of Piers the
Plowman. But, according to the current view, the author did not
leave matters thus. Encouraged by the success of his work and
impelled by his increasing indignation at the corruptions of the
age, he took up his poem again in 1377 and expanded it to more
than twice its original length. The lines of the earlier version he
left essentially unchanged; but he inserted, here and there, additions
of greater or less length, suggested now by some word or phrase of
the original text, now by events in the world about him and his
meditations on them; and he rejected the whole of the final
passus, containing an imaginary account of his death, to replace it
by a continuation of the vision of Do-well, Do-better and Do-best
longer than the whole of the original version of the poem. The
## p. 3 (#21) ###############################################
The Three Texts
3
A-text had contained a prologue and four passus (or cantos) of the
vision of Lady Meed, four passus of the vision of Piers the
Plowman and four passus of the vision of Do-well, Do-better and
Do-best, or twelve passus in all, with a total of 2567 lines. The
B-text runs parallel to this to the end of passus XI (but with 3206
lines instead of 2467), and then continues for nine more passus,
making a total of 7242 lines. The author's active interest in his
poem did not cease here, however, for he subjected it to another
revision, about 1393 (according to Skeat) or 1398 (according to
Jusserand). This revision is known as the C-text. Its relation to
the B-text may be roughly stated as consisting in the insertion of
a few passages, the rearrangement of a considerable number and
the rewriting of a number of others with more or less change of
content or of emphasis, but, on the whole, as involving no such
striking differences from the B-text as exist between that and the
A-text. This latest version numbers 7357 lines as against the
7242 of the second version.
Skeat and Jusserand ascribe to the same author another poem
in 'alliterative verse, commonly known as Richard the Redeless,
concerning the last years of the reign of Richard II. This poem,
which, as we have it, is a fragment, was, Skeat thinks, written
between the capture and the formal deposition of Richard in 1399,
and was, perhaps, left unfinished by the author in consequence of
the fate of the king.
The evidence relied upon to prove that all these poems were
the work of a single author is entirely the internal evidence of the
poems themselves, supposed similarity in ideas, style, diction, etc. ,
together with the difficulty of supposing the existence, at, approxi-
mately, the same time, of several unknown writers of such ability
as is displayed in these poems. Undoubtedly, the first impulse of
any student of a group of poems related as these are is to assume
that they are the work of a single author, and that any statements
made in the poems concerning the personality and experiences of
the dreamer are autobiographical revelations. Moreover, in this
particular case, it will be remembered, each of the two later
versions incorporates with its additions the preceding version;
and, as the C-text, on account of the larger mass of material in it,
has received the almost exclusive attention of scholars, the
impression of the style and other literary qualities gained by the
modern student has, necessarily, been a composite of the qualities
of the three texts and not a distinct sense of the qualities of each
and the differences between them,
1-2
## p. 4 (#22) ###############################################
4
Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
Such differences do exist, and in the greatest number and
variety. There are differences in diction, in metre, in sentence
structure, in methods of organising material, in number and kind
of rhetorical devices, in power of visualising objects and scenes
presented, in topics of interest to the author and in views on
social, theological and various miscellaneous questions. Some of
these have, indeed, been observed and discussed by previous
writers, but they have always been explained as due to such
changes as might occur in any man's mental qualities and views
of life in the course of thirty or thirty-five years, the interval
between the earliest and the latest version. To the present writer
the differences seem of such a nature as not to admit of such an
explanation; and this opinion is confirmed by the existence of
certain passages in which the authors of the later versions have
failed to understand their predecessors.
This is, of course, not the place for polemics or for a detailed
examination of all the problems suggested by the poems. Our
principal concern is with the poems themselves as literary monu-
ments and, if it may be, with their author or authors. But, for
this very reason, it seems necessary to present the poems in such
a way as to enable the student to decide for himself between the
two theories of authorship, inasmuch as this decision carries with
it important conclusions concerning the literary values of the
poems, the mental qualities of the authors and the intellectual
activity of the age to which they belong. Fortunately, such a
presentation is precisely that which will best set forth the contents
of the poems and their qualities.
Let us examine first the prologue and passus I-VIII of the
A-text. This is not an arbitrary dismemberment of a poem. The
two visions included in these passus are intimately connected with
each other and definitely separated from what follows. At the
beginning of the prologue the dreamer goes to sleep among the
Malvern hills and sees a vision of the world in the guise of a field
full of folk thronging a valley bounded on one side by a cliff, on
which stands the tower of Truth, and, on the other, by a deep
dale, in which, surrounded by a dark moat, lies the dungeon of
Wrong. Within this valley begin the incidents of his first vision,
and, though they range far, there is never any suggestion of
discontinuity; at the end of the vision the dreamer wakes for only
a moment, and, immediately falling asleep, sees again the same
field of folk and another series of events unfolding themselves in
rapid succession beneath the cliff with its high-built tower, until,
>
## p. 5 (#23) ###############################################
The Crowd in the Valley
5
a
finally, he wakes 'meatless and moneyless in Malvern hills. ' The
third vision, on the other hand, has no connection with Malvern
hills; the dreamer sees nothing of his valley, with the folk and the
tower and the dungeon; indeed, this is not a vision at all in the
sense of the first two, but, rather, a series of dream-visits and
dream-discussions, the like of which cannot be found in the first
two visions. Skeat himself has recognised the close connection
between the first two visions, and has suggested that the third
may have been written after a considerable interval.
Each of the first two visions in the A-text is, contrary to the
usual opinion, distinguished by remarkable unity of structure,
directness of movement and freedom from digression of any sort.
The author marshals his dream-figures with marvellous swiftness,
but with unerring hand; he never himself forgets for a moment
the relation of any incident to his whole plan, nor allows his reader
to forget it, or to feel at a loss as to its meaning or its place.
We first see, with the vividness of the dreamer's own vision, the
thronging crowd in the valley beneath the tower of Truth and
hovering on the brink of the dark dale. People of all sorts are
there—the poor and the rich, saints and sinners of every variety,
living as they live in the world. Singly and in groups they pass
before us, each noted by the poet with a word or a phrase that gives
us their very form and pressure. Satire there is, but it is satire
which does not impede the movement of the thronged dream, satire
which flashes and plays about the object, revealing its inner nature
by a word, an epithet, a brief phrase. We see the false beggars
,
shamming for food and fighting at the ale-house, 'great lubbers
and long that loth were to labour'; the friars, 'preaching the
people for profit of their bellies'; the pardoner, surrounded by
the crowd of ignorant believers, whom he deceives with his papal
bull and his fair speech; and the corrupt priest, taking his share
of the ill-gotten gains, while the bishop, who is not 'worth his two
ears,' refuses to interfere. Then come a hundred lawyers in hoods
of silk, ready to undertake any cause for money, but refusing 'to
unloose their lips once for love of our Lord'; 'you could more
easily,' says the poet, ‘measure the mist on Malvern hills than get
a mum of their mouths unless money were showed. ' After them
appears a confused throng of churchmen of all degrees, all
'leaping to London' to seek worldly offices and wealth. Wasters
there are, and idle labourers 'that do their deeds ill and drive
forth the long day with singing Dieu save Dame Emme! ' Along
with the satire there is commendation, now for the ploughmen who
## p. 6 (#24) ###############################################
6 Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
work hard and play seldom; now, of a higher sort, for pious nuns
and hermits; now, for honest merchants; now, even for harmless
minstrels who 'get gold with their glee. ' But, neither satire nor
commendation delays even for a moment our rapid survey of this
marvellous motley crowd, or detracts from our feeling that, in this
valley of vision, the world in miniature is visibly moving, living,
working, cheating, praying, singing, crying for sale its ‘hot pies,'
its ‘good geese and pigs,' its 'white wine and red. '
The author, having thus, in his prologue, set before us the
vision first presented to the eyes of his mind, proceeds to interpret
it. This he does characteristically by a further development of
the dream itself.
A lovely lady comes down from the cliff and says to the
dreamer:
Son, seest thou this people, how engrossed they are in this confusion ?
The most part of the people that pass now on earth, if they have success in
this world, care for nothing else; of other heaven than here they take no
account.
The impression already made upon us by this strange majestic
figure is deepened by the author's vivid comment, 'I was afeard of
her face, fair though she was, and said, “Mercy, my lady; what is
the meaning of this? ” The tower, she explains, is the dwelling
of Truth, the Father of our faith, who formed us all and com-
manded the earth to serve mankind with all things needful. He
has given food and drink and clothing to suffice for all, but to be
used with moderation, for excess is sinful and dangerous to the
soul. The dreamer enquires curiously about money: 'the money
on this earth that men so fast hold, tell me to whom that treasure
belongs. ' 'Go to the Gospel,' she replies, “and consider what
Christ himself said when the people apposed him with a penny. '
He then asks the meaning of the dungeon in the deep dale.
That is the castle of Care; whoso comes therein may ban that he was
born to body or to soul; in it dwells a wight named Wrong, the father of
False, who seduced Adam and Cain and Judas. He is a hinderer of love, and
deceives all who trust in their vain treasures.
Wondering who she is that utters such wisdom, the dreamer is
informed that she is Holy Church. "Thou oughtest to know me;
'
I received thee first and taught thee faith, and thou didst promise
to love me loyally while thy life should endure. ' He falls upon
his knees, beseeching her favour and begging her to teach him so
to believe on Christ as to do His will: 'Teach me to no treasure
but tell me this, how I may save my soul! '
a
## p. 7 (#25) ###############################################
Holy Church
7
6
“When all treasure is tried,' she declares, 'Truth is the best; it is as
precious as God himself. Whoso is true of his tongue and of his deeds, and
does ill to no man, is accounted to the Gospel and likened to our Lord. Truth
is claimed by Christian and non-Christian; it should be kept by all. Kings
and knights are bound by it, cherubim and seraphim and all the orders of
angels were knighted by Christ and taught to know Truth. Lucifer and his
fellows failed in obedience, and sinned by pride, and fell; but all who keep
Truth may be sure that their sonls shall go to heaven to be crowned by
Truth; for, when all treasure is tried, Truth is the best. 'But what is it?
By what quality or power of my nature does it begin, and where ? ' Thou
fool, it is a teaching of nature to love thy Lord dearer than thyself, and do
no deadly sin though thou shouldst die. This is Truth, and none can teach
thee better; it is the most precious thing demanded by our Lord. Love
began by the Father and was perfected in the death of his Son. Be merciful
as He was merciful, for, unless you live truly, and love and help the poor, you
have no merit in Mass or in Hours. Faith without works is dead; chastity
without charity is as foul as an unlighted lamp. Date et dabitur vobis, this
is the lock of love that lets out my grace to comfort all sinful; it is the
readiest way that leads to heaven. '
With this Holy Church declares that she can stay no longer,
and passus I closes.
But the dreamer kneels and beseeches her, crying,
'Mercy, my lady, for the love of her that bore the blissful Babe that
redeemed us on the cross; teach me to know False ! ' 'Look on thy left
hand and see where he stands-both False and Favel (Duplicity) and all his
whole house. I looked on the left hand as the lady taught me; and I saw
a woman wonderfully clothed, arrayed in furs the richest on earth, crowned
with a crown no less costly than the king's, all her five fingers loaded with
rings, with the most precious stones that prince ever wore. 'Who is this
woman,' said I, “thus richly attired ? ' That is the maiden Meed, who has
often injured me. To-morrow will the marriage be made of her and False.
Favel brought them together, Guile prepared her for it and Liar has directed
the whole affair. I warn thee that thou mayst know them all, and keep
thyself from them, if thou desirest to dwell with Truth in his bliss. I can
stay no longer; I commit thee to our Lord. '
All the rich retinue that held with False was bidden to the
bridal. Simony was sent for to seal the charters and feoff Meed
with all the possessions of False and Favel. But there was no
house that could hold the throng that came. In a moment, as if
by some magical process, we see a pavilion pitched on a hill, with
ten thousand tents set about it, for all men of all orders to witness
the feoffment of Meed. Then Favel brought her forth, and Simony
and Civil (Civil Law) stood forth and unfolded the charter, which
was drawn up in due legal form and endowed the contracting
parties with all the provinces of the seven deadly sins, 'to have
and to hold, and all their heirs after, with the appurtenance of
Purgatory, even to the torment of Hell; yielding, for this thing,
at the year's end, their souls to Satan. ' This was duly witnessed
## p. 8 (#26) ###############################################
8 Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
and delivered. But Theology objected to the wedding, because
Meed was no bastard and should be wedded according to the
choice of Truth.
The workman is worthy of his hire. False is no mate for her; she is of
good birth and might kiss the king for cousin. Take her to London and see
if the law will permit this wedding; and beware, for Truth is wise, and
Conscience, who knows you all, is of his counsel.
Civil agreed, but Simony demanded money for his services.
Then Favel brought forth gold, and began to bribe officers and
witnesses; and all promised to go to London and support his
claims before the court at Westminster.
The incident which follows is one of the best examples of the
author's power of visualisation and of rapid narration unbroken
by explanation or moralisation; for the moralising lines, unfortu-
nately admitted into Skeat's text, which interrupt the narrative
and tend to delay and obscure it, do not belong to the original,
but are found in one MS only. To the rapidity and assurance
with which the picture is developed is, perhaps, due in no small
part the readiness with which we accept it and the vitality and
solidity which these personified abstractions maintain throughout
the dream
Then they lacked horses to carry them thither, but Favel
brought forth foals of the best. He set Meed on a sheriff's back,
shod all new, and False on a juror that trotted softly. ' In like
manner for each of the abstractions was provided some appro-
priate, concrete evil-doer; and, thus equipped, the fantastic crew
immediately set out. But Soothness saw them well, and said
little, but rode hard and came first to court. There he told
Conscience, and Conscience reported to the king, all that had
happened. “Now, by Christ,' said the king, 'if I might catch
False or any of his fellows, I would hang them by the neck. '
Dread, standing at the door, heard his doom, and went wightly to
warn False. At the news, the wedding party fled in all directions.
False fled to the friars, Liar leaped away lightly, lurked through
lanes, buffeted by many and ordered to leave, until pardoners had
pity on him and received him as one of themselves. Then he was in
demand: physicians and merchants and minstrels and messengers
wanted him; but the friars induced him to come with them. Of
the whole wedding party, only Meed durst stay, and she trembled
and wept and wrung her hands when she was arrested.
In passus III the king orders that Meed shall be treated
courteously, and declares that he himself will ask her whom she
## p. 9 (#27) ###############################################
Meed
9
a
wishes to wed, and, if she acts reasonably, he will forgive her. So
a clerk brought her to the chamber. At once people began to
profess friendship for her and promise aid. The justices came, and
said, ‘Mourn not, Meed; we will clear thee. ' She thanked them
and gave them cups of clean gold and rings with rubies. Clerks
.
came, and said, “We are thine own, to work thy will while life
lasts. ' She promised to reward them all: 'no ignorance shall
hinder the advancement of him whom I love. ' A confessor offered
to shrive her for a seam of wheat and to serve her in
any
evil.
She told him a tale and gave him money to be her bedesman and
her bawd. He assoiled her, and then suggested that, if she would
help them with a stained glass window they were putting in, her
name would be recorded on it and her soul would be sure of
heaven. 'Knew I that,' said the woman, 'there is neither window
nor altar that I would not make or mend, and inscribe my name
thereon. ' Here the author declares the sin of such actions, and
exhorts men to cease such inscriptions, and give alms. He also
urges mayors to punish brewers, bakers, butchers and cooks, who,
of all men on earth, do most harm by defrauding the poor. 'Meed,'
he remarks, 'urged them to take bribes and permit such cheating ;
but Solomon says that fire shall consume the houses of those who
take bribes. '
Then the king entered and had Meed brought before him.
He addressed her courteously, but said, 'Never hast thou done
worse than now, but do so no more. I have a knight called
Conscience; wilt thou marry him? ' 'Yea, lord,' said the lady,
'God forbid else! ' Conscience was called and asked if he would
wed her.
Nay, Christ forbid! She is frail of her flesh, fickle, a causer of wanton-
ness. She killed father Adam and has poisoned popes. She is as common
as the cart-way; she releases the guilty and hangs the innocent. She is privy
with the pope, and she and Simony seal his bulls. She maintains priests in
concubinage. She leads the law as she pleases, and suppresses the complaints
of the poor.
Meed tried to defend herself by charging that Conscience had
caused greater evils. He had killed a king. He had caused a king
to give up his campaign in Normandy.
Had I been the king's marshal, he should have been lord of all that
land. A king ought to give rewards to all that serve bim; popes both receive
and give rewards; servants receive wages; beggars, alms; the king pays his
officers; priests expect mass-pence; craftsmen and merchants, all take moed.
The king was impressed by this plea, and cried, “By Christ,
Meed is worthy to have such mastery. ' But Conscience kneeled,
## p. 10 (#28) ##############################################
IO
Plowman and its Sequence
Piers the
and explained that there are two kinds of meed; the one, such as
God gives to men who love him; the other, such as maintains
evil-doers. "Such as take bribes shall answer for it; priests that
take money for masses have their reward on earth only. Wages is
not meed, nor is there meed in the bargains of merchants.
Boethius. Minor verse. Chaucer's learning. His humour. His
poetical quality. The tale of Gamelyn
156
.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ENGLISH CHAUCERIANS
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M. A.
Lydgate. Occleve. Burgh. George Ashby. Henry Bradshaw.
George Ripley. Thomas Norton. Osbern Bokenam. The Chau-
cerian apocrypha The tale of Beryn or The second Merchant's
tale. La Belle Dame sans Merci. The Cuckoo and the
Nightingale. The Assembly of Ladies. The Flower and the
Leaf. The Court of Love
197
.
CHAPTER IX
STEPHEN HAWES
By WILLIAM MURISON, M. A. Aberdeen.
The Passetyme of Pleasure. The Conversion of Swearers. A Joyful
Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the
Eighth. The Example of Virtue. Hawes's learning and models.
His medievalism. His relation to Spenser. His metre
223
CHAPTER X
THE SCOTTISH CHAUCERIANS
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A.
James I. The Kingis Quair. The influence of Chaucer. Robert
Henryson. The Morall Fabillis of Esope. The Testament of
Cresseid. Henryson's shorter poems. William Dunbar. His
allegories. The grotesque in Dunbar. His prosodio range. Gavin
Douglas. The Palice of Honour. King Hart. The Aeneid.
Douglas's medievalism. Walter Kennedy
239
## p. x (#16) ###############################################
х
Contents
CHAPTER XI
THE MIDDLE SCOTS ANTHOLOGIES: ANONYMOUS
VERSE AND EARLY PROSE
By G. GREGORY SMITH, M. A.
PAGE
Early anthologists. The native elements. Peblis to the Play. Christis
Kirk on the Grene. Sym and his Brudir. The Wyf of
Auchtirmuchty. The Wowing of Jok and Jynny. Gure Carling.
King Berdok. Burlesque poems. Convivial verse. Fabliaux.
Historical and patriotic verse. Love poetry. Tayis Bank. The
Murning Maiden. Didactic and religious verse. Early Scottish
prose. Sir Gilbert Hay. Nisbet's version of Purvey
267
CHAPTER XII
ENGLISH PROSE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
I
PECOCK. FORTESCUE. THE PASTON LETTERS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
The Master of Game. John Capgrave. Reginald Pecock. The
Repressor of overmuch blaming of clergy. The Repressor and
the Lollards. Pecock's minor works. His style and vocabulary.
Sir John Fortescue. Walter Hylton. Juliana of Norwich. Gesta
Romanorum. Secreta Secretorum. William Gregory's note-book.
The Paston Letters. Copyists and booksellers.
286
CHAPTER XIII
THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING INTO ENGLAND AND
THE EARLY WORK OF THE PRESS
By E. GORDON DUFF, M. A. Oxon. , sometime Sandars Reader in
Bibliography in the University of Cambridge.
The first products of the new art. William Caxton. The first book
printed in English-The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy. The
first dated book issued in England - The Dictes and Sayings of
the Philosophers. The Golden Legend. Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
Caxton's views on the English language. Provincial presses. The
Book of St Albans. William de Machlinia. English books
printed abroad. Arnold's Chronicle. Richard Pynson. Berners's
Froissart. Wynkyn de Worde. Minor printers. Antoine Verard
and John of Doesborch. The book trade
310
## p. xi (#17) ##############################################
Contents
xi
CHAPTER XIV
ENGLISH PROSE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
II
CAXTON. MALORY. BERNERS
By ALICE D. GREENWOOD.
PAGE
Caxton as editor. The Golden Legend. Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
Style of the Morte d'Arthur. Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners.
The Chronicles of Froissart. Huon of Bordeaux. The Golden
Book of Marcus Aurelius
332
.
•
CHAPTER XV
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH EDUCATION. UNIVERSITIES
AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO THE TIME OF COLET
By the Rev. T. A. WALKER, M. A. , LL. D. , Fellow of Peterhouse.
Paris and Oxford. Beginnings of Oxford and Cambridge. Town and
gown. University and bishop. The coming of the friars. The
schoolmen. The fall of the friars. Poor students. Walter de
Merton. Hugo de Balsham. The Black Death. The beginnings
of the colleges. William of Wykeham, Winchester and New
College. Henry VI, Eton and King's College. Queen Margaret.
Medieval studies. The Grammar School University studies.
The higher faculties. Peterhouse library and catalogue. The
library of the medieval student. The education of a young scholar
in the Middle Ages. The hour before the renascence. St Andrews
university. Glasgow and Aberdeen. Scottish university studies. 341
.
CHAPTER XVI
TRANSITION ENGLISH SONG COLLECTIONS
By FREDERICK MORGAN PADELFORD, Professor of the English
Language and Literature in the University of Washington.
Characteristics of folk-poetry. Minstrels' songs. Carols, sacred and
secular. Spiritual lullabies.
Didactic songs.
Satires against
women. Drinking songs. Love songs. Pre-Christian festivals
and May poems. Miscellaneous songs.
372
## p. xii (#18) #############################################
xii
Contents
CHAPTER XVII
BALLADS
By FRANCIS B. GUMMERE, Professor of English in Haverford
College, U. S. A.
PAGE
Definition of the subject. The Canute song. Outlaw ballads and
political songs. The ballad question. Tradition. Robin Hood.
Babylon. The maid freed from the gallows. The making of
ballads. General outlines of ballad progress. Sources of ballads.
Riddle ballads. The epic tendency. Balladry in rags. Ballads of
domestic tragedy. Child Waters. Funeral ballads. The historical
ballad. The greenwood.
Sources and aesthetic values of ballads
as a whole.
395
CHAPTER XVIII
POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS VERSE TO THE CLOSE OF
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY-FINAL WORDS
By A. R. WALLER, M. A. , Peterhouse.
Anglo-Norman writings. L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal. The
Vows of the Heron. The Lollards. The Libel of English Policy.
Jack Napes' Soul, Lyrics and carols. The religious plays.
.
Didactio literature. Robin Hood. The fifteenth century
419
430
.
432
.
Appendix to chapter II .
Bibliographies .
Table of principal dates.
Index .
510
513
## p. 1 (#19) ###############################################
CHAPTER I
PIERS THE PLOWMAN AND ITS SEQUENCE
FEw poems of the Middle Ages have had a stranger fate than
those grouped under the general title of The Vision of William
concerning Piers the Plowman. Obviously very popular in the
latter half of the fourteenth century, the time of their composition,
they remained popular throughout the fifteenth century, were
regarded in the sixteenth by the leaders of the reformation as an
inspiration and a prophecy, and, in modern times, have been
quoted by every historian of the fourteenth century as the most
vivid and trustworthy source for the social and economic history
of the time. Yet their early popularity has resulted in the
confusion of what is really the work of five different men, and in
the creation of a mythical author of all these poems and one other;
and the nature of the interest of the sixteenth century reformers
has caused a misunderstanding of the objects and aims of the
satire contained in the poems separately and collectively. Worst
of all, perhaps, the failure of modern scholars to distinguish the
presence of several hands in the poems has resulted in a general
charge of vagueness and obscurity, which has not even spared
a portion of the work remarkable for its clearness and definiteness
and structural excellence.
Before taking up any of the problems just suggested, we may
recall briefly certain undisputed facts as to the form of the poems.
They are written throughout in alliterative verse of the same
general type as that of Beowulf and other Old English poems, and,
at first sight, seem to form one long poem, extant in versions
differing somewhat from one another. As Skeat has conclusively
shown in his monumental editions of the texts, there are three
principal versions or texts, which he designates the A-text, the
B-text and the C-text, or the Vernon, the Crowley and the
Whitaker versions respectively. The A-text, or Vernon version,
consists of three visions supposed to come to the author while
1
E. L. II.
CH, I.
## p. 2 (#20) ###############################################
2
Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
sleeping beside a stream among the Malvern hills. The first of
these, occupying the prologue and passus 1-10, is the vision of
the field full of folk—a symbol of the world—and Holy Church
and Lady Meed; the second, occupying passus V–VIII, is the
vision of Piers the Plowman and the crowd of penitents whom he
leads in search of Saint Truth; the third, occupying passus IX-XII,
is a vision in which the dreamer goes in search of Do-well, Do-better
and Do-best, but is attacked by hunger and fever and dies ere his
quest is accomplished. The B-text and the C-text are successive
modifications and expansions of the A-text.
Let us turn now from fact to theory. The two principal
authorities, Skeat and Jusserand, though differing in details, agree,
in the main, in the account they give of the poems and the author;
and their account is very generally accepted. It is as follows.
The author was William Langland (or Langley), born about 1331—2
at Cleobury Mortimer, 32 miles S. S. E. from Shrewsbury and 137
N. W. from London, and educated in the school of the Benedictine
monastery at Malvern, among the hills S. W. of Worcester.
Whether he was the son of freemen (Skeat's view) or of serfs
(Jusserand's view), he was, at any rate, educated for the church
and probably took minor orders; but, because of his temperament,
his opinions, his marriage, or his lack of influential friends, he never
rose in the church. At some unknown date, possibly before 1362,
he removed to London and made a scanty living by singing masses,
copying legal documents and other similar casual occupations.
In 1362, he began his famous poems, writing first the vision of
Lady Meed and the vision of Piers the Plowman.
Perhaps im-
mediately, perhaps after an interval of some time, he added to these
the vision of Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. This first version of
these poems constitutes what is now called the A-text of Piers the
Plowman. But, according to the current view, the author did not
leave matters thus. Encouraged by the success of his work and
impelled by his increasing indignation at the corruptions of the
age, he took up his poem again in 1377 and expanded it to more
than twice its original length. The lines of the earlier version he
left essentially unchanged; but he inserted, here and there, additions
of greater or less length, suggested now by some word or phrase of
the original text, now by events in the world about him and his
meditations on them; and he rejected the whole of the final
passus, containing an imaginary account of his death, to replace it
by a continuation of the vision of Do-well, Do-better and Do-best
longer than the whole of the original version of the poem. The
## p. 3 (#21) ###############################################
The Three Texts
3
A-text had contained a prologue and four passus (or cantos) of the
vision of Lady Meed, four passus of the vision of Piers the
Plowman and four passus of the vision of Do-well, Do-better and
Do-best, or twelve passus in all, with a total of 2567 lines. The
B-text runs parallel to this to the end of passus XI (but with 3206
lines instead of 2467), and then continues for nine more passus,
making a total of 7242 lines. The author's active interest in his
poem did not cease here, however, for he subjected it to another
revision, about 1393 (according to Skeat) or 1398 (according to
Jusserand). This revision is known as the C-text. Its relation to
the B-text may be roughly stated as consisting in the insertion of
a few passages, the rearrangement of a considerable number and
the rewriting of a number of others with more or less change of
content or of emphasis, but, on the whole, as involving no such
striking differences from the B-text as exist between that and the
A-text. This latest version numbers 7357 lines as against the
7242 of the second version.
Skeat and Jusserand ascribe to the same author another poem
in 'alliterative verse, commonly known as Richard the Redeless,
concerning the last years of the reign of Richard II. This poem,
which, as we have it, is a fragment, was, Skeat thinks, written
between the capture and the formal deposition of Richard in 1399,
and was, perhaps, left unfinished by the author in consequence of
the fate of the king.
The evidence relied upon to prove that all these poems were
the work of a single author is entirely the internal evidence of the
poems themselves, supposed similarity in ideas, style, diction, etc. ,
together with the difficulty of supposing the existence, at, approxi-
mately, the same time, of several unknown writers of such ability
as is displayed in these poems. Undoubtedly, the first impulse of
any student of a group of poems related as these are is to assume
that they are the work of a single author, and that any statements
made in the poems concerning the personality and experiences of
the dreamer are autobiographical revelations. Moreover, in this
particular case, it will be remembered, each of the two later
versions incorporates with its additions the preceding version;
and, as the C-text, on account of the larger mass of material in it,
has received the almost exclusive attention of scholars, the
impression of the style and other literary qualities gained by the
modern student has, necessarily, been a composite of the qualities
of the three texts and not a distinct sense of the qualities of each
and the differences between them,
1-2
## p. 4 (#22) ###############################################
4
Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
Such differences do exist, and in the greatest number and
variety. There are differences in diction, in metre, in sentence
structure, in methods of organising material, in number and kind
of rhetorical devices, in power of visualising objects and scenes
presented, in topics of interest to the author and in views on
social, theological and various miscellaneous questions. Some of
these have, indeed, been observed and discussed by previous
writers, but they have always been explained as due to such
changes as might occur in any man's mental qualities and views
of life in the course of thirty or thirty-five years, the interval
between the earliest and the latest version. To the present writer
the differences seem of such a nature as not to admit of such an
explanation; and this opinion is confirmed by the existence of
certain passages in which the authors of the later versions have
failed to understand their predecessors.
This is, of course, not the place for polemics or for a detailed
examination of all the problems suggested by the poems. Our
principal concern is with the poems themselves as literary monu-
ments and, if it may be, with their author or authors. But, for
this very reason, it seems necessary to present the poems in such
a way as to enable the student to decide for himself between the
two theories of authorship, inasmuch as this decision carries with
it important conclusions concerning the literary values of the
poems, the mental qualities of the authors and the intellectual
activity of the age to which they belong. Fortunately, such a
presentation is precisely that which will best set forth the contents
of the poems and their qualities.
Let us examine first the prologue and passus I-VIII of the
A-text. This is not an arbitrary dismemberment of a poem. The
two visions included in these passus are intimately connected with
each other and definitely separated from what follows. At the
beginning of the prologue the dreamer goes to sleep among the
Malvern hills and sees a vision of the world in the guise of a field
full of folk thronging a valley bounded on one side by a cliff, on
which stands the tower of Truth, and, on the other, by a deep
dale, in which, surrounded by a dark moat, lies the dungeon of
Wrong. Within this valley begin the incidents of his first vision,
and, though they range far, there is never any suggestion of
discontinuity; at the end of the vision the dreamer wakes for only
a moment, and, immediately falling asleep, sees again the same
field of folk and another series of events unfolding themselves in
rapid succession beneath the cliff with its high-built tower, until,
>
## p. 5 (#23) ###############################################
The Crowd in the Valley
5
a
finally, he wakes 'meatless and moneyless in Malvern hills. ' The
third vision, on the other hand, has no connection with Malvern
hills; the dreamer sees nothing of his valley, with the folk and the
tower and the dungeon; indeed, this is not a vision at all in the
sense of the first two, but, rather, a series of dream-visits and
dream-discussions, the like of which cannot be found in the first
two visions. Skeat himself has recognised the close connection
between the first two visions, and has suggested that the third
may have been written after a considerable interval.
Each of the first two visions in the A-text is, contrary to the
usual opinion, distinguished by remarkable unity of structure,
directness of movement and freedom from digression of any sort.
The author marshals his dream-figures with marvellous swiftness,
but with unerring hand; he never himself forgets for a moment
the relation of any incident to his whole plan, nor allows his reader
to forget it, or to feel at a loss as to its meaning or its place.
We first see, with the vividness of the dreamer's own vision, the
thronging crowd in the valley beneath the tower of Truth and
hovering on the brink of the dark dale. People of all sorts are
there—the poor and the rich, saints and sinners of every variety,
living as they live in the world. Singly and in groups they pass
before us, each noted by the poet with a word or a phrase that gives
us their very form and pressure. Satire there is, but it is satire
which does not impede the movement of the thronged dream, satire
which flashes and plays about the object, revealing its inner nature
by a word, an epithet, a brief phrase. We see the false beggars
,
shamming for food and fighting at the ale-house, 'great lubbers
and long that loth were to labour'; the friars, 'preaching the
people for profit of their bellies'; the pardoner, surrounded by
the crowd of ignorant believers, whom he deceives with his papal
bull and his fair speech; and the corrupt priest, taking his share
of the ill-gotten gains, while the bishop, who is not 'worth his two
ears,' refuses to interfere. Then come a hundred lawyers in hoods
of silk, ready to undertake any cause for money, but refusing 'to
unloose their lips once for love of our Lord'; 'you could more
easily,' says the poet, ‘measure the mist on Malvern hills than get
a mum of their mouths unless money were showed. ' After them
appears a confused throng of churchmen of all degrees, all
'leaping to London' to seek worldly offices and wealth. Wasters
there are, and idle labourers 'that do their deeds ill and drive
forth the long day with singing Dieu save Dame Emme! ' Along
with the satire there is commendation, now for the ploughmen who
## p. 6 (#24) ###############################################
6 Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
work hard and play seldom; now, of a higher sort, for pious nuns
and hermits; now, for honest merchants; now, even for harmless
minstrels who 'get gold with their glee. ' But, neither satire nor
commendation delays even for a moment our rapid survey of this
marvellous motley crowd, or detracts from our feeling that, in this
valley of vision, the world in miniature is visibly moving, living,
working, cheating, praying, singing, crying for sale its ‘hot pies,'
its ‘good geese and pigs,' its 'white wine and red. '
The author, having thus, in his prologue, set before us the
vision first presented to the eyes of his mind, proceeds to interpret
it. This he does characteristically by a further development of
the dream itself.
A lovely lady comes down from the cliff and says to the
dreamer:
Son, seest thou this people, how engrossed they are in this confusion ?
The most part of the people that pass now on earth, if they have success in
this world, care for nothing else; of other heaven than here they take no
account.
The impression already made upon us by this strange majestic
figure is deepened by the author's vivid comment, 'I was afeard of
her face, fair though she was, and said, “Mercy, my lady; what is
the meaning of this? ” The tower, she explains, is the dwelling
of Truth, the Father of our faith, who formed us all and com-
manded the earth to serve mankind with all things needful. He
has given food and drink and clothing to suffice for all, but to be
used with moderation, for excess is sinful and dangerous to the
soul. The dreamer enquires curiously about money: 'the money
on this earth that men so fast hold, tell me to whom that treasure
belongs. ' 'Go to the Gospel,' she replies, “and consider what
Christ himself said when the people apposed him with a penny. '
He then asks the meaning of the dungeon in the deep dale.
That is the castle of Care; whoso comes therein may ban that he was
born to body or to soul; in it dwells a wight named Wrong, the father of
False, who seduced Adam and Cain and Judas. He is a hinderer of love, and
deceives all who trust in their vain treasures.
Wondering who she is that utters such wisdom, the dreamer is
informed that she is Holy Church. "Thou oughtest to know me;
'
I received thee first and taught thee faith, and thou didst promise
to love me loyally while thy life should endure. ' He falls upon
his knees, beseeching her favour and begging her to teach him so
to believe on Christ as to do His will: 'Teach me to no treasure
but tell me this, how I may save my soul! '
a
## p. 7 (#25) ###############################################
Holy Church
7
6
“When all treasure is tried,' she declares, 'Truth is the best; it is as
precious as God himself. Whoso is true of his tongue and of his deeds, and
does ill to no man, is accounted to the Gospel and likened to our Lord. Truth
is claimed by Christian and non-Christian; it should be kept by all. Kings
and knights are bound by it, cherubim and seraphim and all the orders of
angels were knighted by Christ and taught to know Truth. Lucifer and his
fellows failed in obedience, and sinned by pride, and fell; but all who keep
Truth may be sure that their sonls shall go to heaven to be crowned by
Truth; for, when all treasure is tried, Truth is the best. 'But what is it?
By what quality or power of my nature does it begin, and where ? ' Thou
fool, it is a teaching of nature to love thy Lord dearer than thyself, and do
no deadly sin though thou shouldst die. This is Truth, and none can teach
thee better; it is the most precious thing demanded by our Lord. Love
began by the Father and was perfected in the death of his Son. Be merciful
as He was merciful, for, unless you live truly, and love and help the poor, you
have no merit in Mass or in Hours. Faith without works is dead; chastity
without charity is as foul as an unlighted lamp. Date et dabitur vobis, this
is the lock of love that lets out my grace to comfort all sinful; it is the
readiest way that leads to heaven. '
With this Holy Church declares that she can stay no longer,
and passus I closes.
But the dreamer kneels and beseeches her, crying,
'Mercy, my lady, for the love of her that bore the blissful Babe that
redeemed us on the cross; teach me to know False ! ' 'Look on thy left
hand and see where he stands-both False and Favel (Duplicity) and all his
whole house. I looked on the left hand as the lady taught me; and I saw
a woman wonderfully clothed, arrayed in furs the richest on earth, crowned
with a crown no less costly than the king's, all her five fingers loaded with
rings, with the most precious stones that prince ever wore. 'Who is this
woman,' said I, “thus richly attired ? ' That is the maiden Meed, who has
often injured me. To-morrow will the marriage be made of her and False.
Favel brought them together, Guile prepared her for it and Liar has directed
the whole affair. I warn thee that thou mayst know them all, and keep
thyself from them, if thou desirest to dwell with Truth in his bliss. I can
stay no longer; I commit thee to our Lord. '
All the rich retinue that held with False was bidden to the
bridal. Simony was sent for to seal the charters and feoff Meed
with all the possessions of False and Favel. But there was no
house that could hold the throng that came. In a moment, as if
by some magical process, we see a pavilion pitched on a hill, with
ten thousand tents set about it, for all men of all orders to witness
the feoffment of Meed. Then Favel brought her forth, and Simony
and Civil (Civil Law) stood forth and unfolded the charter, which
was drawn up in due legal form and endowed the contracting
parties with all the provinces of the seven deadly sins, 'to have
and to hold, and all their heirs after, with the appurtenance of
Purgatory, even to the torment of Hell; yielding, for this thing,
at the year's end, their souls to Satan. ' This was duly witnessed
## p. 8 (#26) ###############################################
8 Piers the Plowman and its Sequence
and delivered. But Theology objected to the wedding, because
Meed was no bastard and should be wedded according to the
choice of Truth.
The workman is worthy of his hire. False is no mate for her; she is of
good birth and might kiss the king for cousin. Take her to London and see
if the law will permit this wedding; and beware, for Truth is wise, and
Conscience, who knows you all, is of his counsel.
Civil agreed, but Simony demanded money for his services.
Then Favel brought forth gold, and began to bribe officers and
witnesses; and all promised to go to London and support his
claims before the court at Westminster.
The incident which follows is one of the best examples of the
author's power of visualisation and of rapid narration unbroken
by explanation or moralisation; for the moralising lines, unfortu-
nately admitted into Skeat's text, which interrupt the narrative
and tend to delay and obscure it, do not belong to the original,
but are found in one MS only. To the rapidity and assurance
with which the picture is developed is, perhaps, due in no small
part the readiness with which we accept it and the vitality and
solidity which these personified abstractions maintain throughout
the dream
Then they lacked horses to carry them thither, but Favel
brought forth foals of the best. He set Meed on a sheriff's back,
shod all new, and False on a juror that trotted softly. ' In like
manner for each of the abstractions was provided some appro-
priate, concrete evil-doer; and, thus equipped, the fantastic crew
immediately set out. But Soothness saw them well, and said
little, but rode hard and came first to court. There he told
Conscience, and Conscience reported to the king, all that had
happened. “Now, by Christ,' said the king, 'if I might catch
False or any of his fellows, I would hang them by the neck. '
Dread, standing at the door, heard his doom, and went wightly to
warn False. At the news, the wedding party fled in all directions.
False fled to the friars, Liar leaped away lightly, lurked through
lanes, buffeted by many and ordered to leave, until pardoners had
pity on him and received him as one of themselves. Then he was in
demand: physicians and merchants and minstrels and messengers
wanted him; but the friars induced him to come with them. Of
the whole wedding party, only Meed durst stay, and she trembled
and wept and wrung her hands when she was arrested.
In passus III the king orders that Meed shall be treated
courteously, and declares that he himself will ask her whom she
## p. 9 (#27) ###############################################
Meed
9
a
wishes to wed, and, if she acts reasonably, he will forgive her. So
a clerk brought her to the chamber. At once people began to
profess friendship for her and promise aid. The justices came, and
said, ‘Mourn not, Meed; we will clear thee. ' She thanked them
and gave them cups of clean gold and rings with rubies. Clerks
.
came, and said, “We are thine own, to work thy will while life
lasts. ' She promised to reward them all: 'no ignorance shall
hinder the advancement of him whom I love. ' A confessor offered
to shrive her for a seam of wheat and to serve her in
any
evil.
She told him a tale and gave him money to be her bedesman and
her bawd. He assoiled her, and then suggested that, if she would
help them with a stained glass window they were putting in, her
name would be recorded on it and her soul would be sure of
heaven. 'Knew I that,' said the woman, 'there is neither window
nor altar that I would not make or mend, and inscribe my name
thereon. ' Here the author declares the sin of such actions, and
exhorts men to cease such inscriptions, and give alms. He also
urges mayors to punish brewers, bakers, butchers and cooks, who,
of all men on earth, do most harm by defrauding the poor. 'Meed,'
he remarks, 'urged them to take bribes and permit such cheating ;
but Solomon says that fire shall consume the houses of those who
take bribes. '
Then the king entered and had Meed brought before him.
He addressed her courteously, but said, 'Never hast thou done
worse than now, but do so no more. I have a knight called
Conscience; wilt thou marry him? ' 'Yea, lord,' said the lady,
'God forbid else! ' Conscience was called and asked if he would
wed her.
Nay, Christ forbid! She is frail of her flesh, fickle, a causer of wanton-
ness. She killed father Adam and has poisoned popes. She is as common
as the cart-way; she releases the guilty and hangs the innocent. She is privy
with the pope, and she and Simony seal his bulls. She maintains priests in
concubinage. She leads the law as she pleases, and suppresses the complaints
of the poor.
Meed tried to defend herself by charging that Conscience had
caused greater evils. He had killed a king. He had caused a king
to give up his campaign in Normandy.
Had I been the king's marshal, he should have been lord of all that
land. A king ought to give rewards to all that serve bim; popes both receive
and give rewards; servants receive wages; beggars, alms; the king pays his
officers; priests expect mass-pence; craftsmen and merchants, all take moed.
The king was impressed by this plea, and cried, “By Christ,
Meed is worthy to have such mastery. ' But Conscience kneeled,
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IO
Plowman and its Sequence
Piers the
and explained that there are two kinds of meed; the one, such as
God gives to men who love him; the other, such as maintains
evil-doers. "Such as take bribes shall answer for it; priests that
take money for masses have their reward on earth only. Wages is
not meed, nor is there meed in the bargains of merchants.
