This is freely translated from the French poem of Rutebeuf, written in octosyllabic couplets, about the middle of the thirteenth century. Rutebeuf was a famous minstrel whose vivid wit gave him a distinguished place among mediæval writers. His works are full of autobiographical details; he pictured his unhappy domestic life, his poverty, all his failings, and his virtues with an engaging frankness. In allegory he was a master of the mannerisms of his day. In satire he was original and clever. The monastic orders aroused his fiercest resentment, and he made sharp epigrams at their expense, accusing them of committing the seven deadly sins and more. The dry incisiveness of his ridicule may have impressed Chaucer and also the author of "Piers Plowman," although we have no proof of this. A very good study of Rutebeuf has been published by L. Cledat, Paris, 1891. The description of the mediæval student gives a true picture of the day, but Chaucer's description of the Clerk of Oxford should be read as complement. For details regarding student life of the Middle Ages, consult RASHDALL, H. The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, 3 vols. London, 1895. HEWETT, W. T. University Life in the Middle Ages. _Harper's Magazine_, 1897. SYMONDS, J. A. Wine, Women and Song (translations of many student songs of the Middle Ages). Chatto and Windus, London, 1907. The Land of Cockaygne The meaning of _Cockaygne_ is usually understood to be "cookery." This satire upon the mediæval monks was probably derived from a French original. It illustrates the contemptuous tolerance of that day for the greed, the gluttony, the slothfulness, and the immorality of the inmates of the monastery. The satire directed against literary conventions of the day is particularly amusing, if we notice how the various catalogues of animals, birds, spices, flowers, jewels, and food parody similar catalogues in the romances and in the poems describing paradise. The poem was written, in the short couplet, about the middle of the thirteenth century. It is printed in E. Maetzner's "Altenglische Sprachproben," I, 148. Berlin, 1867. Wright's "St. Patrick's Purgatory," London, 1844, contains an interesting chapter on this and similar burlesques. The Complaint of the Husbandman This "complaint," or "song," was written during the thirteenth century when the persecutions of the poor farmers by lords and their officers were most extreme. The poem explains very fully the various abuses which finally so incensed the poor that they rose in revolt and won certain rights from their oppressors. The Middle English text is found in K. Boeddeker's "Altenglische Dichtungen," p. 102, Berlin, 1878, and in T. Wright's "Political Songs," Camden Society, Vol. VI, p. 149.