of pore mennys goodis, siþ bi here owen lawe what euere clerkis han is pore mennys, & þei schulde teche to cristene men boþe in word [world X.] & ensaumple of here owene dedis þe pouert & symplenesse of crist & his apostlis. Also religious possessioneris wasten pore mennus goodis in wide cloþis & precious, þat foure or fyue nedy men myȝtten welle be cloþed wiþ o cope & [omitted X.] hood of a monke, & þat large cloþ serueþ to gidre wynd & lette him to go & do his dedis; & ȝit þei ben brouȝt in-to chirche to reise vp cristis pouert & his apostlis & lyuen in mornynge and penaunce and to be deed to þe world; [worldly AA.] but by ypocrisie al þis is turned vpsodoun, what in wast meyne and proude and hiȝe houses and glotonie and ydulnesse. And so in ensaumple and dede þey techen heresie and blynden [bynden X.] þe people in feith and lyf of crist and his apostles to þe contrarie as cursed disciples of antecrist.
Capitulum 18.
Ȝyt þes possessioners ben þeues and so striers of clergye and of good lif in the people, for þei han manie bokes, and namely of holy writt, Summe by bygging and some by ȝifte and testamentis and some bi [omitted X.] oþere disceitis and sutiltees, and hyden hem from seculer clerkis & suffren þes noble bokes wexe roten in here libraries, & neiþer wolen sillen [omitted X.] hem ne lenen hem to oþere clerkis þat wolden profiten bi studiynge in hem & techen cristene peple þe weie to heuene. & in þis defaute ben religious mendynauntis as principal þeuys & forgoeris of anticrist, þat seculeris & curatis may almost gete no bok of value, and herby, as seynt Richard primat of [Defensio Cura|torum. Brown's Fasciculus, ii. 474.] irland witnesseþ, þei casten to distroie clergie [clergise AA.] of seculeris and trewe techynge of þe peple. lord siþ þes bokis ben more nedeful to mannys good lif þan gold or siluer, & he [omitted X.] is out of charite þat seeþ his broþer haue nede of worldly sustenaunce & helpiþ him not whanne he may esely; hou moche more ben þes religious out of charite, þat helpen not
