Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/364

 for yourselves and safety for the future. When all the great men are carried off, there will be equal liberty for all. Everyone shall be a noble, no one shall have greater dignity than another, and the power of all shall be the same."

If John Ball had been an agitator in the present century, and this account of his speech had been put into circulation by his enemies, he would have been able to write to the newspapers and challenge its accuracy or its veracity. As it was, he had no opportunity of checking the reports which were given of his sermons and speeches. If such opportunity had been allowed him in the Archbishop's court, he had learnt too surely that his levelling theories were opposed to the political and religious orthodoxies of his day, and that the more logically and even moderately they were put, the more insidious and dangerous they would appear. In that sense the "mad priest" was hopelessly out of court, born before his time, and (according to the ideas of his day) rightfully condemned. But it is only fair to him to say that there is no trustworthy evidence that he incited any man to slaughter, or that he intended the march on London to be anything more than an overwhelming demonstration of the popular grievances, which (he fondly thought) was to secure the triumph of right without striking a blow. That the mobs in many instances broke from the control of their leaders is perfectly true; and it is equally true that the leaders did what they could to restrain the violent. Thus when Lancaster's palace at the Savoy, which had narrowly escaped four years before,