[52]. Stocks at Shalford, near Guildford; present state, a drawing by Aug. de Blignières • 274
[53]. Beggars. A cripple and other beggars helped by a generous king to his own garments. From the MS. 10 E. IV., fol. 261 b • 275
[54]. A friar (Chaucer’s friar). From the Ellesmere MS. “And it shall be lawful for such as shall be compelled by necessity to be shod, . . . and they are not to ride unless some manifest necessity or infirmity oblige them.” “The rule of the Friars Minors,” Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” 1817, vol. vi. part iii. p. 1504 • 283
[55]. “When Adam delved and Eve span”—the text of John Ball’s harangue (same idea in Wace’s “Roman de Rou,” l. 6027), illustrated from the early fourteenth-century MS., 2 B. vii., 4 b, in the British Museum. (English) • 287
[56]. A worldly ecclesiastic—
“Ful wel biloved and familiar was he
. . . with worthie wommen.”
(Prologue of the “Canterbury Tales”). From the MS. 10 E. IV., fol. 185. Belongs to the same story as No. 48 • 292
[57]. Psalm singing. The interior of a friars’ church. From the MS. Domit. A. xvii., fol. 120 b, in the British Museum, early fifteenth century. The splendour of this church, with its beautiful pavement, its sculptured stalls, altar, roof, and pinnacles, very exactly tallies with the contemporary criticisms against the wealth of the friars, and may be taken as an illustration of the very words of Wyclif and Langland • 299
[58]. Sprinkling people at dinner with holy water. From the MS. 10 E. IV., fol. 108 b • 304