on both fides, and Urban efcaped from this datL-ger to Rome, where he remained. I know that in times to come thefe things wiM be wondered at, and it will be amatter of aftpnifh-ment how the church could fall into fuch trou-bles and thofe of fo long a duration. It was a punifhment fent by God to make the clergy feel and confider the great pomp and fuperflui-ties they pofTeffed : but many paid no attention to it, being fo fwoiien with pride and arrogance, that each would imitate his fuperiors, and thus was religion little regarded; and if the Holy Spirit, who enlightens the hearts of the devout, had not kept them fteady, and in unifon, it would have been feverely fhaken, if not loft. The great proprietors of land, who at the firft were fuch noble benefactors to the church, now made a joke of it, even at the time I was writing and chronicling this hiftory, in the year of grace 1390 ; at which the commonalty were much fur-prifed, and wondered why fuch great lords as the kings of France and Germany, and the other .princes of Chriftendom did not provide a remedy for it. But, to Satisfy the people and excufe the great barons, I may fay, that as there can-not be a yelk of an egg without its white, nor a white without the yelk, fo neither the clergy nor the lords can exift independently of each other; for the lords, not being ruled by the clergy, would degenerate into beaft*. I will fay, that in my time I have for certain feen much of mankind; whether for my own amufement, or in travelling to learn the hiftory -of 351