Forsothe thei nyl sese*

Art God make hem to smert.

75. Ther was a game in Ynglond
That dured 3er and other,‡
Even upon the Moneday
Ech man beshrewed other.
So long dured the game
Among lered and lewed,

That thei nolds never beleve||
Ar the world wer beschrewed,

I-wis :

Al that ever schal help man

All it fareth amys.

76. For the mych falsenes That walketh in lond,

God almy3ty of heven

Hath bound nowt his bond,¶

And send wederyng on erthe,

Cold and unkynde,*

And get is ther non man

That to God taketh mynde

77. God is wroth with the world

And that is wel i-sene,

Al that was play and game
Is turned to sorow and tene;
God shewed us plenté inow,
Suffre whil we wold,

Al maner of frute

Groweng on molde

Ful thik,

And ever agens God Almy3ty
We beth alych wyk.*

78. Whan God Almy3ty seth
The work is overthwart,†

He sende his sond‡ into erthe
And makethe us to smart ;
Whan bestes beth i-storve

And corne waxeth dere,

And honger and pestilence in ech lond

As 3e mow ofte here

Over al ;

But if we amende us

It wil wel wers befal.

EXPLICIT.

* Equally wicked.

† Perverse; wrong. Halliwell's Dictionary, p. 595.

+ Message.

§ Unless.

NOTES.

a The words included between brackets have been almost entirely erased; probably in obedience to the proclamation of Henry VIII, who after declaring "Thomas, sometime archbishop of Canterbury, to have been guilty of contumacy, treason, and rebellion," commanded "his loving subjects to destroy all images and pictures of the pseudo-saint Thomas, and to erase his name and remembrance from all books, under pain of his majesty's indignation."

b For a fuller delineation of a monastic gourmand, see Piers Ploughman's Vision, vol. i, p. 250, ed. Wright.

The Minors were the gray friars, or Franciscans; the Jacobins, the black, or preaching friars, and were so called from their first establishment in Paris (see Fleury, Hist. Eccl., liv. lxxviii, s. 5); the Carmes, or Carmelites, were the white friars, originally established at Mount Carmel; the Austins were friars of the order of St. Augustine. They had all gained a footing in England about the year 1250. In the "Creed of Piers Ploughman" they are satirized at length.

Cf. Piers Ploughman's Vision, vol. i, p. 133:

"For murthereris are many leches

Lord hem amende!

They do men deye through hir drynkes
Er destynee it wolde."

Sentiments not unlike the above had been uttered long before, by John of Salisbury.

e Allusion is perhaps made to royal edicts and decisions of Parliament, whereby it was ordained that all persons who had a whole knight's fee, or fifty pounds a-year in land, should be admitted to the honour of knighthood. Instances of this practice occurred in the years 1312 and 1316. See Carte, ii, 325, 339.

f The reference is to St. James of Compostella in Galicia, which was then a most famous resort of pilgrims:

"And til seint James be sought

There I shal assigne,

That no man go to Galis

But if he

go for evere."

Piers Ploughman's Vision, vol. i, p. 72.

THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A., ETC.,

Corresponding Member of the Institute of France (Academie

des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.)

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THE PERCY SOCIETY,

BY RICHARDS, 100, ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

M.DCCC.XLIX.