174. Hz]l0r_y 0f Caricature and Grotefgue
myfelf, cried out, without faying a word, 'Take the feather of an ox, and
clothe a wife fool with it.'
Li ambres d"un oqf
Permit Pan renvuf
Sur lafanz d'un pot;
Deu: viez pings: nnff
Firent un qfiugf
Pour caurre le trot;
Qgant vint au pain" 1'gfr:at,
7:, qui anquzs ne me muqf,
ne dis mot
' Premf: la plume d'un bupf;
SW1 vqfiez rm Nouv. Rec., 217.
The fpirit of the goliards continued to exiit l.ong after the name had
been forgotten; and the mats of bitter 1'-atire which they had left behind
them againft the Whole papal fyftem, and againtt the corruptions of the
papal church of the middle ages, were a perfect godfend to the reformers
of the (ixteenth century, who could point to them triumphantly as
irrefiftible evidence in their favour. Such fcholars as Flacius Illyricus,
eagerly examined the manufcripts which contained this goliardic poetry,
and printed it, chiefly as good and effective weapons in the great religious
{trite which was then convulting European fociety. To us, befides their
intereft as literary compoiitions, they have alfo a hiltorical value, for they
introduce us to a more intimate acquaintance with the character of the
great mental Ptruggle for emancipation from mediaeval darknefs which
extended efpecially through the thirteenth century, and which was only
overcome for a while to begin more Itrongly and more fuccefsfully at a
later period. They difplay to us the grofs ignorance, as well as the
corruption of manners, of the great mafs of the mediaeval clergy.
Nothing can be more amufing than the fatire which fome of thefe pieces_
throw on the character of monkilh Latin. I printed in the "Reliquae
Antiquae," under the title of "The Abbot of GloucePrer's Feaft," a
complaint fuppofed to ilfue from the mouth of one of the common herd
of the monks, againft the feltithnefs of their fuperiors, in which all the
rules of Latin grammar are entirely fet at defiance. The abbot and prior
of Glouceiier, with their whole convent, are invited to a feait, and on
their
