When, on the contrary, a wicked man presented himself at the pope's court, he had only to carry plenty of money thither, and all went well with him. According to our satirist, the bishops were "fools," and the other dignitaries and officials of the church were influenced chiefly by the love of money and self-indulgence. The parson began humbly, when he first obtained his benefice, but no sooner had he gathered money together, than he took "a wenche" to live with him as his wife, and rode a hunting with hawks and hounds like a gentleman. The priests were men with no learning, who preached by rote what they neither understood nor appreciated. "Truely," he says, "it fares by our unlearned priests as by a jay in a cage, who curses himself: he speaks good English, but he knows not what it means. No more does an unlearned priest know his gospel that he reads daily. An unlearned priest, then, is no better than a jay." _Certes at so hyt fareth by a prest that is lewed, As by a jay in a cage that hymself hath beshrewed: Gode Englysh he speketh, but he not never what. No more wot a lewed prest hys gospel wat he rat By day. Than is a lewed prest no better than a jay._ Abbots and priors were remarkable chiefly for their pride and luxury, and the monks naturally followed their examples. Thus was religion debased everywhere. The character of the physician is treated with equal severity, and his various tricks to obtain money are amusingly described. In this manner the songster presents to view the failings of the various orders of lay society also, the selfishness and oppressive bearing of the knights and aristocracy, and their extravagance in dress and living, the neglect of justice, the ill-management of the wars, the weight of taxation, and all the other evils which then afflicted the state. This poem marks a period in our social history, and led the way to that larger work of the same character, which came about thirty years later, the well-known "Visions of Piers Ploughman,"[65] one of the most remarkable satires, as well as one of the most remarkable poems, in the English language.