of the work, Piers the
Plowman--A declaration of duties--Sermons--The siege of
hell--The end of life 382

III. Political Society and Religious
Society.--Comparison with Chaucer--Langland's
crowds--Langland an insular and a parliamentarian--The
"Visions" and the "Rolls of Parliament" agree on nearly
all points--Langland at one with the Commons--Organisation
of the State--Reforms--Relations with France, with the
Pope--Religious buyers and sellers--The ideal of Langland 388

IV. Art and Aim.--Duplication of his personality--"Nuit
de Decembre"--Sincerity--Incoherences--Scene-shifting--Joys
forbidden and allowed--A motto for Langland--His language,
vocabulary, dialect, versification--Popularity of the
work--Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries--Time of the Reformation 394

CHAPTER V.

PROSE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

The "father of English prose" 403

I. Translators and Adaptators.--Slow growth of the
art of prose--Comparison with France; historians and
novelists--Survival of Latin prose--Walsingham and other
chroniclers--Their style and eloquence--Translators--Trevisa--The
translation of the Travels of "Mandeville"--The "Mandeville"
problem--Jean de Bourgogne and his journey through books--Immense
success of the Travels--Style of the English
translation--Chaucer's prose 404

II. Oratorical Art.--Civil eloquence--Harangues and
speeches--John Ball--Parliamentary eloquence--A parliamentary
session under the Plantagenet kings--Proclamation--Opening
speech--Flowery speeches and business speeches--Debates--Answers
of the Commons--Their Speaker--Government orators, Knyvet,
Wykeham, &c.--Opposition orators, Peter de la Mare--Bargains
and remonstrances--Attitude and power of the Commons--Use of
the French language--Speeches in English 412

III. Wyclif. His Life.--His parentage--Studies at
Oxford--His character--Functions and dignities--First
difficulties with the religious authority--Scene in St.
Paul's--Papal bulls--Scene at Lambeth--The "simple
priests"--Attacks against dogmas--Life at Lutterworth--Death 422

IV. Latin Works of Wyclif.--His Latin--His theory
of the _Dominium_--His starting-point: the theory of
Fitzralph--Extreme, though logical, consequence of the
doctrine: com