Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold.

and if þei done, God cursiþ hem, and in þis cursing hav many men ben depid bi long tyme. And þus is ordenance of Crist put abak, and newe brouȝt inne. Ne it falliþ not to us to justifie þes newe officis, ne to defende þat þei ben leueful, alle þe dedis þat prelatis done; for it is ynowȝ to us to cunne and declare Goddis lawe, and shewe þat it were ynowȝ, if oþer lawis weren aweie; and so amende by Goddis lawe þe ordris þat weren maad by Crist, and not for synne of þes ordris to bringe in newe ordris to hem. For alle moten lyve on þe peple [

alle moten lyve on þe peple.] There was a growing feeling in England towards the end of the fourteenth century, that the monastic and mendicant fraternities were becoming so numerous as to form a serious bur|den on the industry of the country. Besides direct statements to that effect, such as the passage in the text, and others that might be ga|thered from the Vision of Piers Plow|man, there is an exquisite piece of irony in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which really says the same thing, though in such forms as became the tender and tolerant genius of the large-minded poet. In the prologue to her tale, the Wife of Bath, after saying that England was once 'ful|filled of faerie,' adds,—

IN þis gospel telliþ Crist how hise membris shulen be pur|sued, and what perils þei shal be inne for holdinge wiþ him and his lawe. Þe gospel telliþ first, how Jesus sat on þe Mounte