Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/366



It may be said that in bidding Piers Ploughman to chastise Hobbe the robber, Ball was inciting to violence and even to bloodshed. But clearly the prevailing note of the significant document above quoted is one of peace and moderation—of course pre-supposing the intention to march on London and demand redress. The comparative elevation and morality of this and other appeals from the demagogue priest, which must have circulated in great numbers for some time before the outbreak, have been recognised in every generation. Ball did not always disguise his name. Here is one of his missives.

And another: