no. 129 formerly in the possession of Lord Ashburnham, but now in the British Museum and much more accessible. But I believe it will be found that this MS. agrees with the printed text so closely as to tell us very little beyond what we already know.

As to the general contents of the B-text, it is impossible to discuss at length all the alterations made in the preceding version (A-text). It must suffice to say that the suppressed passages were far exceeded in quantity by the numerous and long additions. Amongst some of the more remarkable of these are the following:

The introduction of a notice of the cardinal virtues, of a king to whom an angel gave words of advice in Latin, and of the fable of the rats who agreed to attempt to bell the cat, but were dissuaded from their purpose by a wise mouse (B. prol. 97-209); the assertion that Love is the treacle (or chief remedy) of heaven (B. i. 146-158); the father of Holychurch (B. ii. 29-38); the prophecy of a future reign of Peace, &c. (B. iii. 299-349); the introduction of the character of Wrath among the seven Deadly Sins (B. v. 134-187); the additional traits of the character of Avarice (B. v. 232-303); additional traits of the character of Gluttony (B. v. 371–385); and of Sloth (B. v. 392-448); the intercession of Repentance for the penitents (B. v. 485-516); a mysterious prophecy (B. vi. 328-332); advice of Cato and Gregory (B. vii. 71-88); the lord that lacked parchment (B. ix. 38-42); how idiots and others should be protected, &c. (B. ix. 59-92, 96-106, 113-117, 142-150, 177-185); of lying jesters, who know no music (B. x. 38-44); of the increase of pride and wealth (B. x. 73-100); of belief in the Trinity (B. x. 230-248); of Do-bet, Do-best, blind buzzards, and dumb dogs (B. x. 249-291); the prophecy of the king who shall reform religion, &c. (B. x. 309-331, 337-344, 357-363, 390-413, 428-441, 464-474). Here follows A. Pass. xii., which the B-text omits, but afterwards supplies a very long addition to the poem, viz. B. Pass. xi.-xx.

5. DATE OF THE B-TEXT (1377).

We find, in B. xiii. 269–271, an allusion to 'a dry April' in the year 'a thousand and three hundred twice thirty and ten . . . when Chichester was mayor.' Some MSS., including that printed by Mr. Wright, read twenty for thirty, against the alliteration. But it is easily ascertained that John Chichester was elected mayor of London

in October, 1369, and was still mayor in April, 1370. For example, in Riley's Memorials of London, p. 344, we find that 'on the 25th day of April in the year above-mentioned [1370] it was agreed by John de Chichestre, Mayor,' &c. It is singular that Fabyan gives most of the regnal years of Edward III. wrongly, because he accidentally omits the sixth year of Edward's reign altogether; and, being always afterwards a year wrong, seems to make Chichester mayor in 1368-9. This error is easily corrected, when once observed; and it is worth noticing that Fabyan says that (in the year which was really 1369) there was a third pestilence, and excessive rain, the result being a dearth in the year 1370, when wheat was sold at the excessive rate of 40d. the bushel. As our author is thus clearly right about the year of Chichester's mayoralty and the dearth, Fabyan's mention of the previous excessive rains render it probable that he is right also as to the drought in April. This being so, we see at once that the allusion in B. xiii. 269–271 indicates a date a few years later than 1370.

Again, Tyrwhitt has shewn that the 'fable of the cat and the rattons' in the prologue can only refer to a period when the Black Prince was dead, and Richard had become the heir-apparent; for the fear was that the old king would be soon replaced by a child. The Black Prince died June 8, 1376, and the old king on June 21, 1377; so that the date of composition of the prologue to the B-text lies between these limits. Further, I think we must see that the curious passage about the coming of a time of universal jubilee (B. iii. 299349) may well have been suggested by the very rare occurrence of the jubilee proclaimed in February, 1377, to celebrate the completion of Edward's fiftieth regnal year. All the conditions are satisfied if we date the beginning of the B-text in the earlier part of 1377; and, though it may not have been finished all at once, we may take the year 1377 as the best approximate date for the B-text generally.

There are two other allusions that require a short notice. There are several references to pestilences, and we know that the allusion to 'pise pestilences' in Pass. v. 13 (both in A-text and B-text) is to the pestilences of 1349 and 1362; but when 'the pestilence' is mentioned in B. xiii. 248 in close connection with a reference to the mayoralty of Chichester a few years previously, we may fairly conclude that the pestilence meant is that of 1376. Sometimes only three great pestilences are reckoned, viz. those of 1349, 1362, and 1369;

1 Essay on Chaucer; note 57.

but some writers reckon a fourth, in 1376, and it seems to have been a severe one. Thus Fabyan says of it-‘In this .1. yere [read xlix yere], fyl many wonderfull sykenesses amonge the people, whereof ye people dyed wonderly faste as well in Italye as in Englande; amonge the whiche dyed sir Edwarde called the lorde Spencer, a man of great fame, whose body was enteryd at Teukesbury. And for this mortalytie was so sharpe and sodayne, pope Gregory beforenamed graunted of his goodnesse to suche as were contrite and confessyd, clene remyssion of theyr synnes; the whiche indulgence contynued in Englande by the terme of .vi. monethes.'-Fabyan, ed. Ellis, p. 485. This grant of the pope's seems to be the very thing alluded to in the line discussed, and in 1. 246 just above it, where Haukyn says that all that the pope sent him was 'a pardoun with a peys of led.'

The other allusion is in Pass. xv. 80, 81:

'Go to be glose of þe verse 3e grete clerkes;

If I lye on 30w to my lewed witte ledeth me to brennynge!' On this Dr. Whitaker remarks, at p. xxxii of his preface to the poem, that this is an allusion to the statute empowering the diocesan alone to commit heretics to the flames, which was enacted in the second of Henry Fourth.' I cannot admit this for a moment; it is contrary to all the other evidence, and it is almost certain that at least some of the MSS. which contain the passage are absolutely older than 1400. The fact is, that the famous statute of Henry IV. seems to be generally misunderstood. It did not in any way provide for the burning of heretics as a new remedy for heresy; it merely provided, as Mr. Arnold well points out', for the application of the remedy ' uberius et celerius.' It is easy, moreover, to shew how this was effected, viz. by empowering the diocesan, as Dr. Whitaker says, to act on his own responsibility. Before the passing of the statute, the punishment could be inflicted (and was inflicted) only by means, as it seemed to some, of an unnecessarily round-about procedure. If a bishop, as for instance the Bishop of Norwich in 1389, wished to burn a heretic, he had to go through the process of formally handing over the said heretic to the secular arm; and the secular arm could dispose of the criminal in any way that was deemed advisable. The statute did away with this troublesome necessity, and was passed, to use the very words of it, because the bishops 'per suam

1 Introduction to Wyclif's Works, where this very question is discussed.

iurisdictionem spiritualem dictos perfidos et peruersos absque auxilio dictae maiestatis regiae sufficienter corrigere nequeunt.' The whole matter has been made clear to me by the kind help of C. H. Pearson, Esq., author of the Early and Middle Ages of England, who pointed out to me a decisive case in point, viz. the account given by Bracton of a man who, for the crime of wishing to marry a Jewess, was handed over to the secular arm and burnt, as early as in the reign of Henry III.' So that, as a net result, we find that the somewhat vague allusion to burning in the B-text, upon which Dr. Whitaker so confidently relied as proving that version of the poem to be later than 1401, proves no more than that it was later than the time of Henry III.; and, as to deciding between the claims of the B- and C-texts to priority, it proves just nothing at all; but rather did, in effect, induce Dr. Whitaker to decide wrongly.

§ 6. DESCRIPTION OF THE C-TEXT.

The C-text, or latest version of the poem, is printed from the same MS. (Phillipps 8231) as that from which Dr. Whitaker's text was printed in 1813. Corrections are given from other MSS. of the same type; see vol. i. p. 1. The most valuable of the MSS. which I have not collated are MS. Dublin D. 4. 1, and the latter part of MS. Z. (Bodley 851). The C-text is a second revision of the poem, made by the author himself. On the whole, it is inferior to the B-text in general vigour and compactness. On the other hand, it is the fullest of the three texts, and the most carefully finished. It contains the author's last corrections after an attentive revision, and is evidently intended as a final form, requiring no further touches. This is best seen in the last two Passus. At first sight, they stand almost alike in the two latest texts; but closer inspection shews that the author has gone over them word by word, making a few slight but clear corrections here and there, down to the very end. Only the eighth line from the end (B. xx. 377, C. xxiii. 379) has been almost entirely recast, in

1 Bracton's language is very explicit, and his authority is decisive. 'Cum autem clericus sic de crimine conuictus degradetur, non sequitur alia pœna pro vno delicto, vel pluribus ante degradationem perpetratis. Satis enim sufficit ei pro pœna degradatio, quæ est magna capitis diminutio, nisi forte conuictus fuerit de apostasia, quia tunc primo degradetur, et postea per manum laicalem comburatur, secundum quod accidit in concilio Oxon., celebrato a bonæ memoriæ S. Cantuarien. Archiepiscopo, de quodam diacono qui se apostatauit pro quadam Iudea, qui cum esset per Episcopum degradatus, statim fuit igni traditus per manum laycalem.' Bracton, de Legibus Angliæ, lib. iii. tract. ii. c. 9, ed. 1569, fol. 124.

order to improve the alliteration. It is most satisfactory to perceive that the poet completed his revision with a high degree of care and attention, that he survived the work, and that in all probability he was satisfied with it, as there is no trace whatever of any later revision. If we prefer the B-text as a whole, we must never forget that the C-text is the best possible commentary upon it, and is often, indeed, much more, as it contains some additional passages which it would be a pity to have lost.

The date of the C-text is about 1393; see p. xxxiv.

§ 7. ADDITIONAL PASSAGES IN THE C-TEXT.

Most of the passages which are peculiar to the C-text will be found in the Notes to Mr. Wright's edition of Piers the Plowman; but as they are there printed in small type, it may be doubted whether they have received anything like the attention which they deserve. Moreover, they read much better in their right place, with their own proper context. These additional passages may sometimes be found by observing that the B-text on the opposite page often fails, thus presenting a blank space. To enumerate them all would be a long task, as the insertions are, occasionally, but one or two lines long; I here call attention to some of the more remarkable ones only.

Pass. i. 95-124. The author introduces Conscience as accusing the priests of idolatry or image-worship and of proclaiming false miracles; they are warned to take example from the evil fate of Hophni and Phineas.

Pass. ii. 108-125. Some curious observations on the fall of Lucifer, with speculations as to why he made his seat in the north (Isaiah xiv. 14).

Pass. iii. 28, 29. 'A briar cannot bear berries as a vine'; &c. 120-128. This passage is a good deal altered.

129-136. A curious allusion to the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, who is here said to have claimed heaven as his due, on account of his sufferings. See p. 36 in the Notes.

181-189. Civil and Simony are to ride on the backs of rectors, and notaries on the backs of parsons that permute often, &c.

243-248. A passage directed against appeals to the pope.

Pass. iv. 86-114. 'Regraters' or retail-dealers are pitiless, and expect full payment for short measure; they provoke God to send fevers and fire. Often fires happen in a town through the careless