236 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



city of London, are of such a character as to indicate that the author 



had personally visited the places mentioned. 



,^ ^ „ An interesting (luestion may be asked, the discus- 



I>ate of <'Oiii- ° 1 } ' 



ing to LiOiidoii. sion of which must be largely speculative, as to the 

 scene and occupation of Langland's life before he became a resident 

 of London. That he had become somewhat familiar with London 

 before the earliest version of his poem (Text A) was written, is 

 scarcely oi)en to doubt, though were it not for the exceedingly circum- 

 stantial and graphic character of a single portion (A, V., 146 if.), 

 describing a London tavern, it would seem that his familiarity with 

 the city was not so great as to indicate long residence. To me, Text 

 A seems to breathe a spirit of the country; with the exception men- 

 tioned, its London allusions are general in character, and might be 

 based upon common report, while many of the characters described 

 were to be met with very often in the country as well as in the city. 

 Perhaps the safest conclusion is that Langland had but recently come 

 to London, and that he was still dominated by the influence of the 

 earlier country life. 



In the C-text is found the positive statement, '•! haue lyved in 

 London meny longe jeres" (C, X\TL, 2S6). It hapjjens that the 

 corresponding jjassage in the B-text (H, XV., 14S), states, "I haue 

 lyved in londe, (luod I, my name is Longe Wille;" and while this 

 may be and usually is interpreted as an introduction of the author's 

 own name into the text, — an interpretation justified by precedent, 

 and by other examples in the text itself of playing upon words, — it 

 may also be interpreted as referring to a life in the country, and as 

 meaning that Langland had not yet lived in London so very many 

 years. Still there is no further evidence to show whether he 

 had lived there more or less than fifteen years, (interval from A-textto 

 B-text), and thus to fix the date of his arrival as earlier or later than 

 the A-text, except such evidence as may be gathered from the gen- 

 eral atmosphere of the A-text. I conclude that he came to London 

 at about the time that the A-text was written, certainly not much 

 earlier; and that he married at about the same time, as his daughter 

 had arrived at years of understanding when the B-text was written. 

 (B, XVIIL, 426). 



The standpoint of the A-text is certainly in the country. The author 

 places himself there three times in as many visions, (A, prologue, 10: 

 A, v., 6: A, IX., 58), and the action of the poem is also in the coun- 

 try, with the exception of certain episodes. The "field full of folk," 

 and the marriage of Meed, are in the country; the trial of Meed 

 transports us to Westminster, but we return again to the field of folk, 

 the preaching of Reason, and the appearance of Piers Plowman, who 



