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Hæres Wolstani diceris,
Si vere sit, tu videris :
Prius resigna baculum,

Et ephod et annulum,

Quam Baal velis subjici.

De Roffensi episcopo

Nil scio mali dicere.
Mentior et rem syncopo:
Hic est, et hic a latere
Est pauper Sarisburiæ,
Qui dormit usque hodie,
Ignem et aquam bajulat,
Nec causatur, nec ejulat

Pro desolata vinea.

I Romam, liber parvule,
Nec remeare differas,
Saluta quosque sedule,

Et Papæ salve differas.
Dic quid de tribus sentiam.
Ipse promat sententiam,

Utrum suo judicio

Sint liberi a vitio;

Et michi detur venia.

triumph. Thou art called the heir of Wolstan; if thou be truly so, thou art seen sooner resign the staff, and the ephod, and the ring, than be willing to bow to Baal.

I know nothing ill to say of the bishop of Rochester. I lie, and cut the matter short; he is here, and here by his side the poor man of Salisbury also, who sleeps till to-day; he carries about fire and water, nor pleads for, nor bewails, the desolated vineyard. Go to Rome, little book, nor delay thy return; salute them all diligently; and carry a salutation to the Pope: tell what I think of the three: let him give judgment, whether in his opinion they be free from vice; and let pardon be granted to me.

It was during these religious dissensions that arose up, or at least became strong, that powerful spirit of opposition to the papal tyranny, which produced during the whole of this century so much satirical poetry; much of it attributed, perhaps with little reason, to Walter Mapes. The following song is supposed to have been written during the interdict. In the fourth line the lion is said to designate King John, and the asses the Bishops, and at the end the King is represented by Jupiter, whilst the Pope receives the contemptuous designation of Pluto.

SONG ON THE TIMES.

[MS. Harl. 978, fol. 108, ro. Reign of Hen. III.]

Invectio contra avaritiam.

UTAR contra vitia carmine rebelli;
Mel proponunt alii, fel supponunt melli,
Pectus subest ferreum deauratæ pelli,
Et leonis spolium induunt aselli.

Disputat cum animo facies rebellis,
Mel ab ore defluit, mens est plena fellis ;
Non est totum melleum quod est instar mellis ;

Facies est alia pectoris quam pellis.

Vitium est in opere, virtus est in ore,

Picem tegunt animi niveo colore:

TRANSLATION.-I will use against vices rebelling song; others put forward honey, while under the honey they lay on gall; the iron breast is concealed under the gilt skin, and asses put on the lion's spoil.-The rebelling face disputes with the soul within; honey flows from the mouth, the mind is full of gall; it is not all sweet that looks like honey; the breast has a different countenance from the skin.-While vice is in the work, virtue is in the face;

Membra dolent singula capitis dolore,

Et radici consonat pomum in sapore.

Roma mundi caput est, sed nil capit mundum :
Quod pendet a capite totum est inmundum;
Transit enim vitium primum in secundum,
Et de fundo redolet quod est juxta fundum.
Roma capit singulos et res singulorum;
Romanorum curia non est nisi forum.
Ibi sunt venalia jura senatorum,
Et solvit contraria copia nummorum.

Hic in consistorio si quis causam regat
Suam, vel alterius, hoc in primis legat,-
Nisi det pecuniam Roma totum negat,
Qui plus dat pecuniæ melius allegat.

Romani capitulum habent in decretis,
Ut petentes audiant manibus repletis :
Dabis, aut non dabitur, petunt quia petis;
Qua mensura seminas, et eadem metis.

they cover the pitchy blackness of the mind with a white colour; each of the members suffers by the pain of the head, and the flavour of the apple depends upon the root from whence it springs.-Rome is the head of the world; but it receives nothing clean; all that depends from the head is unclean; for the first vice passes on into the second, and that which is near the bottom smells of the bottom.-Rome receives all, and the goods of all; the court of the Romans is but a market. There are offered for sale the rights of the senators, and abundance of money dissolves all differences of opinion.-Here, in the consistory, if any body plead a cause, be it his own or another's, let him first read this," Unless he give money, Rome denies every thing; he who gives most money will come off the best."-The Romans have a chapter in the decretals, that they should listen to petitions from those who come with their hands full; thou shalt give, or nothing shall be granted thee; they ask because thou askest; by the same measure as you sow, you shall reap.-A bribe

Munus et petitio currunt passu pari,
Opereris munere si vis operari:

Tullium ne timeas si velit causari,
Nummus eloquentia gaudet singulari.

Nummis in hac curia non est qui non vacet ;
Crux placet, rotunditas, et albedo placet,
Et cum totum placeat, et Romanis placet,
Ubi nummus loquitur, et lex omnis tacet.

Si quo grandi munere bene pascas manum,
Frustra quis objiciet vel Justinianum,
Vel sanctorum canones, quia tanquam vanum
Transferunt has paleas, et inbursant granum.
Solam avaritiam Roma novit parca,

Parcit danti munera, parco non est parca:
Nummus est pro numine, et pro Marco marca,
Et est minus celebris ara, quam sit arca.

Cum ad papam veneris, habe pro constanti,
Non est locus pauperi, soli favet danti;

and a petition go side by side, and it is with a bribe that you must work if you wish to succeed: then you need have no fear, even of Tully, were he pleading against you; for money possesses a singular eloquence.-There is nobody in this court who does not look after money: the cross on the coin pleases them; the roundness of it, and the whiteness thereof, pleases them ; and since every part of it pleases, and it is the Romans whom it pleases, where money speaks, there all law is silent.-If you only feed the hand well with some goodly bribe, it will be in vain even to quote Justinian against you, or the canons of the saints, because they would throw them away as vanity and chaff, and pocket the grain.-Penurious Rome claims acquaintance with nothing but avarice; she spares to him who brings gifts, but she spares not to him who is penurious: money stands in the place of God, and a marc for Mark, and the altar is less attended than the coffer.-When you come to the Pope, take it as a rule, that there is no place for the poor, he favours only

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Vel si munus præstitum non est aliquanti,
Respondet hic tibi sic, Non est michi tanti.
Papa, si rem tangimus, nomen habet a re,
Quicquid habent alii, solus vult papare;
Vel si verbum Gallicum vis apocopare,-
Paez, Paez, dit li mot, si vis impetrare.

Papa quærit, chartula quærit, bulla quærit,
Porta quærit, cardinalis quærit, cursor quærit,
Omnes quærunt: et si quod des uni deerit,
Totum jus falsum est, tota causa perit.

Das istis, das aliis, addis dona datis,
Et cum satis dederis, quærunt ultra satis.
O vos bursæ turgidæ, Romam veniatis ;
Romæ viget physica bursis constipatis.
Prædantur marsupium singuli paulatim ;
Magna, major, maxima, præda fit gradatim.
Quid irem per singula? colligam summatim,—
Omnes bursam strangulant, et expirat statim.

the giver; or if there is not a bribe of some value or another forthcoming, he answers you, “I am not able.”—The Pope, if we come to the truth of the matter, has his name from the fact, that, whatever others have, he alone will suck the pap; or if you like to apocopate a French word, "pay, pay," saith the word, if you wish to obtain anything.-The Pope begs, the brief begs, the bull begs, the gate begs, the cardinal begs, the cursor begs,-all beg! and if you have not wherewith to bribe them all, your right is wrong, and the whole cause comes to nothing.-You give to these, you give to the others, you add gifts to those already given, and when you should have given enough, they seek as much more. O, you full purses, come to Rome! at Rome there is choice medicine for costive pockets.-They all prey upon the purse by little and little; great, greater, or greatest, gradually becomes a prey to them. Why should I go through all the particulars? I will put it in a few words; they all choke the purse, and it expires immediately.-Yet the purse imitates CAMD. SOC. 6. D

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