OW, Richard the redeles reweth on you-self,
That lawelesse leddyn your lyf and your peple bothe."
Richard the Redeless.
B. Passus I.
HO so wil be pure parfyt mote possessioun forsake."
The Vision Concerning Piers Plowman.
B. Passus XI.
CHAPTER I
The Beginning
O it came about that the Council bade search if any had not paid the tax, and to compel him. And around and about London there arose a muttering, waxed louder and yet more loud. Nevertheless, April was past, and May was well-nigh past; but then the men of Fobbing in Essex drove the collector of the tax out of Bampton town. And, after this, the people began to rise by little and little, as it were a fire creeping in the grass. And what man soever laboured to appease the people, 't was not Jack Straw. When June was begun, he came to Cornhill bringing news. Quoth he:—