And yet again—
“Ac ancres and heremites that eaten not but at nones
And no more ere morrow, mine almesse shall they have,
And of my cattle to keep them with, that have cloisters and churches,
Ac Robert Run-about shall nought have of mine.”
Piers Ploughman’s Vision.
[93] Piers Ploughman (“Vision”) describes himself at the beginning of the poem as assuming the habit of a hermit—
“In a summer season when soft was the sun
In habit as a hermit unholy of works,
Went wild in this world, wonders to hear,
All on a May morning on Malvern Hills,” &c.
And at the beginning of the eighth part he says—
“Thus robed in russet I roamed about
All a summer season.”
[94] For the custom of admitting to the fraternity of a religious house, see [p. 66].
[95] “Officium induendi et benedicendi heremitam.”
[96] We are indebted to Mr. M. H. Bloxam for a copy of it.
[97] “Famulus tuus N.” It is noticable that the masculine gender is used all through, without any such note as we find in the Service for Inclosing (which we shall have to notice hereafter), that this service shall serve for both sexes.