To se what pité forth with mercy doth,
The cronique is at Rome in thilke empire
Of Constantin, which is a tale soth;

Whan him was levere his oghne deth desire
Than do the zonge children to martire,
Of crualté he lafte the querele,

Pité he wroghte, and pité was his hele.

For thilke mannes pité which he dede,
God was pitous, and mad him hol at al;
Silvestre cam, and in the same stede

af him baptisme first in special,
Which dide awai the sinne orginal,
And al his lepre it hath so purified
That his pité for ever is magnified.

Pité was cause whi this emperour

Was hol in bodi and in soule bothe; And Rome also was set in thilke honour

Of Cristes feith, so that the lieue of lothe,
Which hadden be with Crist tofore wrothe,
Resteined were unto Cristes lore;
Thus schal pité be preised evermore.

My worthi liege lord, Henri be name,
Which Engelond hast to governe and righte,
Men oghten wel thi pité to proclame,

Which openliche in al the worldes sighte
Is shewed, with the help of God almighte
To give ous pes, which longe hath be deleated;
Wherof thi pris schal nevere ben abated.

My lord, in whom hath ever zit be founde
Pité, withoute spot of violence,

Kep thilke pes alwei withinne bounde

Which God hath planted in thi conscience;
So schal the cronique of thi pacience

Among the seintz be take into memoire,
To the loenge of perdurable gloire,

And to thin erthli pris, so as y can,

Which everi man is holde to commende,
I, Gower, which am al thi liege man,
This lettre unto thin excellence y sende,
As y which evere unto my lives ende
Wol praie for the stat of thi persone,
In worschipe of thi sceptre and of thi throne.

Noght only to my king of pes y write,
Bot to these othre princes cristene alle,
That ech of hem his oghne herte endite,
And sese the werre er mor meschiefe falle.
Sette ek the rightful pope uppon his stalle,
Kep charité, and draugh pité to honde,
Maintene lawe, and so the pes schal stonde.

Henrici quarti primus regni fuit annus
Quo mihi defecit visus ad acta mea.
Omnia tempus habent, finem natura ministrat,
Quem virtute sua frangere nemo potest.
Ultra posse nihil quamvis mihi velle remansit,
Amplius ut scribam non mihi posse manet.
Dum potui scripsi, sed nunc, quia torva senectus
Turbavit sensus, scripta relinquo scholis.
Scribat qui veniet post me discretior alter,
Amodo namque manus et mea penna silent.
Hoc tamen in fine verborum quæso meorum,
Prospera quod statuat regna futura Deus.

Explicit.

JACKE UPLAND.'

1401,

I, Jacke Upland, make my mone to very God, and to all true in Christ,

that Antichrist and his disciples,

by colour of holines,

walking and deceiving Christs church by many false figures,

This violent attack on the friars by one of the Wycliffite party has been preserved by being inserted in the early printed blackletter folios of the works of Chaucer, from whence it is here printed. The old editor was quite ignorant of the fact that it was composed in alliterative verse, and either he, or some one from whom he had it, has altered it so much, with the view apparently of removing the obscurity which seems to a certain degree inseparable from this class of old English poetry, by using common words for obsolete ones, and adding words and phrases to explain the meaning, that much of the alliteration and rhythm is lost. I give it verbatim from this printed text, except that I have arranged it in lines as nearly as I can make them from a knowledge of the rhythm of this class of versification. A comparison with the alliterative poem which follows will enable us to restore a good deal of it to its original form. The poem alluded to is a reply by a friar to the attacks of Jack Upland, and this latter is accompanied by a rejoinder which

where through (by Antichrist and his) many vertues

been transposed to vices.

But the felliest folke

that ever Antichrist found,

been last brought into the church,

and in a woonder wise;

for they been of diverse sects of Antichrist,

sown of diverse countries and kindreds.

And all men knowne well that

they bee not obedient to bishops, ne leege men to kings;

neither they tillen ne sowen,

weeden ne reapen,

wood, corn, ne grasse,

neither nothing that man should helpe,

but onely themselves,

their lives to susteine.

And these men han all manner power

of God, as they seyn,

in heaven and in yearth,

to sell heaven and hell

to whom that them liketh;

and these wretches weet never

where to been themselves.

And therefore, freer, if thine order and rules.

been grounded on Goddis law,

tell thou mee, Jacke Upland,

that I aske of thee,

and if thou be or thinkest to be on Christes side,

keepe thy paciens.

Saint Paule teacheth that all our deedes

should be do in charitie,

and els it is nought worth,

but displeasing to God,

and harme to oure soules.

And for that freers challenge

to be greatest clerkes of the church,

VOL. II.

B

༩༢

and next following Christ in living,

men should for charitie

ask them some questions,

and pray them to ground their answeres

in reason and holy writ;

for else their answer would nought be woorth, be it flourished never so faire,

and, as me thinke, men might skilfully aske thus of a freer.

1. Freer, how many orders bee in earth? and which is the perfectest order?

of what order art thou?

who made thine order?

what is thy rule?

is there any perfecter rule
than Christ himself made?

If Christs rule be most perfect,
why rulest thou thee not thereafter?
Without more, why shal a freer
be more punished,

if he break the rule

that his patron made,

than if he break the hests

that God himself made.

2. Approveth Christ any more religions than one that saint James speaketh of? If hee approveth no more,

why hast thou left his rule,

and takest another?

Why is a freer apostata,

that leveth his order,

and taketh another sect,

sith there is but one religion of Christ?

3. Why be ye wedded faster to your habits

than a man is to his wife?

For a man may leave his wife for a year or two, as many men done;