ys dissuade me from this,
advising me to attach myself rather to some bishop; he would add that he
knew my mind and his little brothers' ways: those were the words he
used, in the vernacular. In the life I live now I see what I should
avoid, but do not see what would be a better course.

It now remains to satisfy you on the question of my dress. I have always
up to now worn the canon's dress, and when I was at Louvain I obtained
permission from the Bishop of Utrecht to wear a linen scapular instead
of a complete linen garment, and a black capuce instead of a black
cloak, after the Parisian custom. But on my journey to Italy, seeing the
monks all along the way wearing a black garment with a scapular, I there
took to wearing black, with a scapular, to avoid giving offence by any
unusual dress. Afterwards the plague broke out at Bologna, and there
those who nurse the sick of the plague customarily wear a white linen
cloth depending from the shoulder--these avoid contact with people.
Consequently when one day I went to call on a learned friend some
rascals drew their swords and were preparing to set about me, and would
have done so, had not a certain matron warned them that I was an
ecclesiastic. Again the next day, when I was on my way to visit the
Treasurer's sons, they rushed at me with bludgeons from all directions
and attacked me with horrible cries. So on the advice of good men I
concealed my scapular, and obtained a dispensation from Pope Julius II
allowing me to wear the religious dress or not, as seemed good, provided
that I wore clerical garb; and in this document he condoned any previous
offences in the matter. In Italy I continued to wear clerical garb, lest
the change cause offence to anyone. On my return to England I decided to
wear my usual dress, and I invited to my lodging a friend of excellent
repute for his learning and mode of life and showed him the dress I had
decided to wear; I asked him whether this was suitable in England. He
approved, so I appeared in public in this dress. I was at once warned by
other friends that this dress could not be tolerated in England, that I
had better conceal it. I did so; and as it cannot be concealed without
causing scandal if it is eventually discovered, I stored it away in a
box, and up to now have taken advantage of the Papal dispensation
received formerly. Ecclesiastical law excommunicates anyone who casts
off the religious habit so as to move more freely in secular