HOPKINS: CHARACIKR AND OPINIONS OF WII.I.IAM I.ANGLAND. 275 



wisdom, or common sense, as distinguished from clergy; the wisdom 

 of experience; and probably this is the answer to the question. 



iipa>«Dii. Reason is defined as the faculty which may " deme domes 

 and do as treuthe techeth " and this is in general consistent with the 

 character as introduced through the poem. It is a righteous judge 

 which interprets and applies law, particularly the law of God. In 

 this capacity is its first appearance at the trial of INIeed, and Con- 

 science is accuser, also according to the formal definition. Reason, 

 the preaclier (C, VI., 114), interprets the law with reference to the 

 pestilences, and the duty of men in relation thereto. 



There is temporary confusion between reason and instinct when 

 Langland wonders why reason gives to animals more assistance than 

 to men; as though he really believed that animals could ponder and 

 decide. But in reproving Langland for his questions (C, XIV., 196) 

 Reason appears as judge; and even his silent departure with Piers 

 Plowman from the dinner of Clergy, Conscience and the Doctor (C, 

 XVI., 151) may be interpreted as a decision. 



In summary, mind is that which receives knowledge; wit the 

 channel through which knowledge comes, conscience the perception 

 of it as right or wrong, reason the judge of its actual value, study is a 

 second means used to obtain it (the first is wit or natural observation 

 or perception); nature is one source of information, scripture another; 

 the result from the first source of information is Kynde Wit, from the 

 second, clergy. 



Free WiJi. The greatest difficulty lies in interpreting Langland's 

 conception of Free Will in the relation implied between Free Will and 

 the other faculties. In the C-text Free Will is made the fundamental 

 power, of which all the other faculties are manifestations; while in 

 the B-text, Anima is the fundamental, and Free Will is not mentioned 

 at all until we come to the description of the tree of Charity, which 

 grows in a garden, the heart, in man's body; and Free Will is the 

 farmer of that garden under Piers Plowman. In each text Free Will 

 is the defender of the fruit of the tree against the Fiend; but in the 

 C-text he acts in addition for a long time as preacher, teacher and 

 guide. It is perhaps consistent to make Free Will a guide; but as to 

 the other attributes here ascribed, it seems that Langland must be 

 enlarging a certain part of his defiinition (that which will or will not 

 do good deeds or evil, or that which turns from evil to the good) so 

 as to make it cover the whole field of Conscience and Reason. In 

 doing this he has lost sight of the distinctive function of the will, 

 that of choosing, perhaps because he thinks that a choice involves 

 the exercise of reason, conscience and the other faculties. In short 

 it appears that he has come to a false conclusion with regard to the 



