m.

"And next, ye know who is the foeman, and that is the proud man, the
oppressor, who scorneth fellowship, and himself is a world to himself
and needeth no helper nor helpeth any, but, heeding no law, layeth law
on other men because he is rich; and surely every one that is rich is
such an one, nor may be other.

"Forsooth, in the belly of every rich man dwelleth a devil of hell, and
when the man would give his goods to the poor, the devil within him
gainsayeth it, and saith, 'Wilt thou then be of the poor, and suffer
cold and hunger and mocking as they suffer, then give thou thy goods to
them, and keep them not.' And when he would be compassionate, again
saith the devil to him, 'If thou heed these losels and turn on them a
face like to their faces, and deem of them as men, then shall they
scorn thee, and evil shall come of it, and even one day they shall fall
on thee to slay thee when they have learned that thou art but as they
be.'

"Ah, woe worth the while! too oft he sayeth sooth, as the wont of the
devil is, that lies may be born of the barren truth; and sooth it is
that the poor deemeth the rich to be other than he, and meet to be his
master, as though, forsooth, the poor were come of Adam, and the rich
of him that made Adam, that is God; and thus the poor man oppresseth
the poor man, because he feareth the oppressor. Nought such are ye, my
brethren; or else why are ye gathered here in harness to bid all bear
witness of you that ye are the sons of one man and one mother, begotten
of the earth?"

As he said the words there came a stir among the weapons of the throng,
and they pressed closer round the cross, yet with held the shout as yet
which seemed gathering in their bosoms.

And again he said:

"Forsooth, too many rich men there are in this realm; and yet if there
were but one, there would be one too many, for all should be his
thralls. Hearken, then, ye men of Kent. For overlong belike have I
held you with words; but the love of you constrained me, and the joy
that a man hath to babble to his friends and his fellows whom he hath
not seen for a long season.

"Now, hearken, I bid you: To the rich men that eat up a realm there
cometh a time when they whom they eat up, that is the poor, seem poorer
than of wont, and their complaint goeth up louder to the heavens; yet
it is no riddle to say that oft at such times the fellowship of the
poor is waxing stronger, else would no man have heard his cry. Als