I HAVE little doubt of the authenticity of this tract, or of the date to which we ought to assign it. It was written soon after the Wat Tyler riots, when Wyclif and his followers were discredited by a supposed complicity with John Ball (cf. Wals. II. 33). The indignant disclaiming of Socialist doctrine is fearlessly combined with denunciation of the oppressions committed by the rich. The complaint that "lords strive with their tenants to bring them into thraldom more than they should by reason and charity" (p. 234), is a proof, if one were needed, of the kind of in|justice which led to the revolt. The author had lived among the poor and been an eye-witness of oppression, or he would not have insisted with such force on the need of the lord's presence to control the extortions of his steward (p. 240), nor should we have had the touch of the white (tally) sticks, which the poor were made to accept for their goods (p. 233).
The distinction between refusing tithes to wicked priests and withhold|ing dues from wicked lords or creditors, is clearly stated on pp. 229-230.
Copied from the Corpus MS. X. and collated with the Dublin MS. AA.
| The duty of servants | p. 227 |
| The devil moves some men to teach that no Christian should serve | 227 |
| Such teachings unjustly imputed to poor priests | 229 |
| To refuse rent is not the same thing as to withhold tithes | 229 |
| The duty of lords | 230 |
| God may take away lordship from those who abuse it | 232 |
| Wrongs done to poor men by prelates | 233 |
| Wrongs done to poor men by purveyors | 233 |
| Wrongs done to poor men by lawyers | 234 |
| Strifes from attempting to bring men into serfdom | 234 |
| Strifes from hypocrisy in religion | 235 |
| Falseness in prelates, confessors, lawyers, merchants, servants, and especially in the clergy | 237 |
| Duties of lords | 238 |
| Faults of gentlemen who encourage evil living in the clergy | 241 |
