last day of the year
1384.

Wyclif had many notions which we cannot agree with; and we have reason
to thank God's good providence that the reform of the Church was not
carried out by him, but at a later time and in a more moderate and
sounder way than he would have chosen. But we must honour him as one
who saw the crying evils of the Roman Church and honestly tried to cure
them.

Wyclif's followers were called _Lollards_, I believe from their habit of
_lulling_ or chanting to themselves. After his death they went much
farther than he had done, and some of them grew very wild in their
opinions, so that they would not only have made strange changes in
religious doctrine, but would have upset the government of kingdoms.
Against them a law was made by which persons who differed from the
doctrines of the Roman Church were sentenced to be burnt, under the name
of heretics, and many Lollards suffered in consequence. The most famous
of these was Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, a brave but rather
hot-headed and violent soldier, who was suspected of meaning to get up a
rebellion. For this and his religious opinions together he was burnt in
Smithfield, which was then just outside London (A.D. 1417); the same
place where, at a later time, many suffered for their religion in the
reigns of Henry VIII. and Mary.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE POPES RETURN TO ROME.

A.D. 1367-1377.

While the popes lived at Avignon, Rome suffered very much from their
absence. There was nothing like a regular government. The great Roman
families (such as the Colonnas, whom I have mentioned in speaking of
Boniface VIII.) carried on their quarrels with each other, and no one
attempted or was strong enough to check them. Murders, robberies, and
violences of all sorts were common. The vast and noble buildings which
had remained from ancient times were neglected; the churches and
palaces fell to decay; even the manners of the Romans became rough and
rude, from the want of anybody to teach them better and to show them an
example.

And not only Rome, but all Italy missed the pope's presence. The princes
carried on their wars by means of hired bands of soldiers, who were
mostly strangers from beyond the Alps. These bands hired out their
services to any one who would pay enough, and, although they were
faithful to each employer for the time that was agreed on, they were
ready at the end of that time to engage themselves for money to one who
might be thei