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496 attended with the bloodshed, destruction, and ferocity natural to such outbreaks. The Archbishop of Canterbury and many gentlemen were murdered; and a great part of London sacked and burnt. It would be absurd to attribute this disaster to Wycliffe, nor was there any desire to hold him responsible for it; but it is equally certain that the doctrines which he had taught were incompatible, at that particular time, with an effective repression of the spirit which had caused the explosion. It is equally certain that he had brought discredit on his nobler efforts by ambiguous language on a subject of the utmost difficulty, and had taught the wiser and better portion of the people to confound heterodoxy of opinion with sedition, anarchy, and disorder.

So long as Wycliffe lived, his own lofty character was a guarantee for the conduct of his immediate disciples; and although his favour had far declined, a party in the State remained attached to him, with sufficient influence to prevent the adoption of extreme measures against the 'poor priests.' In the year following the insurrection, an Act was passed for their repression in the House of Lords, and was sent down by the King to the Commons. They were spoken of as 'evil persons,' going from place to place in defiance of the bishops, preaching in the open air to great congregations at markets and fairs, 'exciting the people,' 'engendering discord between the estates of the realm.' The ordinaries had no power to silence them, and had therefore desired that commissions should be issued to the sheriffs of the various counties, to arrest all such persons, and