HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 245 



tates to include the right to rule under things forfeitable; and finally 

 he must be guided in all things by the law of (iod. 



Langland's disinclination to advance revolutiouary teaching is 

 clearly shown in the fable of the cat and the rats. The rats (bur- 

 gesses or upper classes) and the mice (lesser commons) have suffered 

 most seriously from the interference of the cat (the king) with their 

 rights of property and personal liberty. But the redress proposed is 

 simply to secure a means of knowing in advance what the movements 

 of the cat will be, ignoring the fact that it would be quite as easy to 

 imprison the cat, or destroy him utterly, as to hang a bell on his neck. 

 Finally a mouse reasons philosophically, in view of the difficulty of 

 carrying out the proposed plan, that submission is best. A king may 

 be bad, is the teaching, but if there were no king, or if his power were 

 more restrained, his subjects might prey upon each other. Even a 

 bad king will maintain peace at home, and will sometimes cease his 

 domestic depredations to prey upon foreigners. 



While there is here implied a remonstrance against the impositions 

 of the king (Richard II), Langland's complaint is probably not so 

 much against the enactments themselves as against those who carry 

 them into effect. This is directly stated in Richard the Redeless. 

 Courtiers, retainers, purveyors are all robbers, and the king's chief 

 fault is failure to protect his people against his own creatures. 



Knights. Langland pays the order of knighthood the high compli- 

 ment of making Christ a member of it, who jousted at Jerusalem in 

 defense of humanity. It shares with royalty the duty of defending 

 and protecting the commons against foes, trespassers, and even ani- 

 mals and birds of prey (C, IX., 19-34). Courtesy and physical 

 prowess characterize the knights, rather than intellectual ability; and 

 their first duty is to maintain truth. "Truly to take and truly to 

 fight is the profession and the pure order that appendeth to knights, 

 and whoso passeth that point is apostate of knighthood" (C, II., 96 

 ff. ). Knighthood was established in heaven, and the punishment of 

 Lucifer may serve as a warning to the knight who forsakes his high 

 trust. Only those may receive it rightly who have land and lineage, 

 and are otherwise worthy (C, XIV., iii). Langland is at one with 

 Chaucer in the respect accorded to the order; but this respect does 

 not prevent him from revealing the fact that there are knights base 

 and unworthy, who have purchased their spurs by means of money or 

 influence, and not through any knightly merit (C, VI., 72-79). 



C'oiiimoiiH. The general status of of the commons has already been 

 defined, in discussing that of the king. Between commons 

 and king stand the magistrates, ministers of the king to interpret the 

 law and enforce its penalty, yet chosen from the commons (A, III., 



