THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 65 



story. Wolsey died in 1530, and was out of favour at Court 

 for at least a year before his death ; while the elder Thynne's 

 first edition of Chaucer bears date 1532, so that any preventive 

 action by Wolsey regai-ding the contents of Thynne's book 

 must have been two years before it was printed. Moreover, 

 the Pilgrim's Tale we know refers to Captain Cobbler's revolt 

 in 1536, six years after Wolsey's death. Possibly as the Pil- 

 grim's Tale and Ploughman's Tale were not unfrec[uently 

 referred to, one for the other, as Lounsbury suggests, the latter 

 tale might be that meant by Thynne the younger. Such an 

 explanation removes most of the ditficulty. The Ploughman's 

 Tale certainly deals harder blows against the misdeeds of 

 Churchmen than does the other tale, and would be more 

 obnoxious to the Cardinal than the other. And further, the 

 Ploughman's Tale was not in Thynne's first edition of 1532, 

 but was in the second edition of 1542, when after ten years' 

 antagonism the King became more truculent towards the 

 Church. 



Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIII, says : " The 

 "tale of Piers Plowman, which, by the common consent of, 

 " the learned, is attributed to Chaucer as its true author, has 

 " been suppressed in each edition because it vigorously in- 

 " veighed against the bad morals of the priests." Leland's 

 opinion, with few exceptions, prevailed until near the close of 

 the last century. Even Dryden shared in it. But Warton, 

 after stating that the Ploughman's Tale is attributed to Chau- 

 cer, adds "perhaps falsely." Soon after Warton's expressed 

 doubt, Tyrwhitt shewed plainly by internal evidence of the 

 poem itself that Chaucer was not its author; and his opinion 

 has since been generally accepted. Of recent writers, whose 

 words carry authority, Lounsbury may be taken as a represent- 

 ative. He says : " Nothing but the bitterness of religious 

 " controvery, coupled with defective literary sense, could have 

 " imputed the Ploughman's Tale to Chaucer in the first place. 

 " There was not the shadow of evidence in favor of the view 

 " that he was its author." 



A taint of the rancour which then marked relig-ious discus- 



