248 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



labor and the consequent plenty that followed it. Hunger proves him- 

 self as good a political economist as he is a physician, in compelling the 

 idle to labor, and in providing food for them and the helpless (C, IX., 

 171 ff.). After the pestilence, when Hunger slept, laborers refused all 

 but the best of fare and the highest of wages (C, IX., 331). Besides 

 the general recklessness that accompanied and followed the plague 

 (C, XXIII., 150), marriages became frequent and reckless (C. XI., 

 272), with the most unhappy results. The political conclusions are 

 not far to seek, though Langland does not draw them, contenting 

 himself with the moral ones. 



"Seldom mosseth the marble-stone that men oft tread." One 

 should not change craft or religion without good reason, and 

 whether married or single, should not become a " runner about " 

 from one place to another (A, X., 87 ff. ). 



God provided for man the three necessaries of life, — food, drink, 

 and clothing. These are for all, and should be partaken of, in meas- 

 ure, by all (C, II., 20). He gave the elements to serve man, and 

 hence these, that is wit, water, wind, and fire, should be free to all 

 (C, II., 17: C, X., 55). 



Though Langland teaches that Christian men shouhl be in common 

 rich (C, XVII., 43), his indignant renunciation elsewhere of the 

 communistic principle (C, XXIII., 277) must mean that he believes 

 not in actual community of ownership, but rather in reasonable 

 equality; those who have more, caring from their abundance for those 

 who have less. 



Langand is also alive to some of the evils and dangers of municipal 

 life (C, IV., 90 ff. ). Where the good and evil are so closely asso- 

 ciated together, it must often happen that the good suffer with the 

 evil, as well as because of them.''' 



3. THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 



On other subjects Langland may have held reflected opinions; here 

 if anywhere they should be his own. Yet we find little of novelty. 

 His teaching is simply the teaching of the church, but he shows how 

 far from this teaching has diverged the practice of men. This was 

 apparent to many others. Gower too spoke in the "Vox Clamantis" 

 (1381), but not until after the voice of Langland had been heard, 

 and had produced marked results. 



Here as elsewhere Langland states his doctrines, whether of the- 

 ology, religion, or ethics, not systematically, but as they are needed 

 to enforce some practical truth; and it is doubtful whether he had 



*The description of the life, of various classes ofsociety. especially the verj- poor, i.s of 

 ecouomic importance, but has been fully discussed by Geunther. See " KuglLsche-s Leben.'" 



