rows: ‘a nut-head had he, with a brown visage.' And then we have a Nun or Prioress, beautifully drawn in her arch simplicity and coy

And Frensch sche spak ful faire and fetysly,
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe, (2)
For Frensch of Parys was to hire unknowe.
At mete wel i-taught was sche withalle;
Sche leet no morsel from hire lippes fall,
Ne wette hire fyngres in hire sauce deepe.
Wel cowde sche carie a morsel, and wel keepe,
That no drope ne fil uppon hire breste.
In curtesie was set ful moche hire leste. (3)
Hire overlippe wypede sche so clene,

That in hire cuppe was no ferthing (4) sene

Of greece, whan sche dronken hadde hire draughte.
Ful semely after hire mete sche raughte, (5)
And sikerly sche was of gret disport,
And ful plesant, and amyable of port.
And peynede hire to countrefete cheere
Of court, and ben estatlich of manere,
And to ben holden digne (6) of reverence.
But for to speken of hire conscience,
Sche was so charitable and so pitous,
Sche wolde weepe if that sche sawe a mous
Caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde.
Of smale houndes hadde sche, that sche fedde
With rosted fleissh, or mylk and wastel breed. (7)
But sore wept sche if oon of hei were deed,
Or if men smot it with a yerde smerte:
And al was conscience and tendre herte.

A Monk and a Friar are next described:

A Monk ther was, a fair for the maistrie,
An out-ryderė, that lovede venerye; (8)

A manly man, to ben an abbot able.

Full many a deynté hors hadde he in stable;
And whan he rood, men mighte his bridel heere
Gynglen, in a whistlyng wynd, as cleere,

And eek as lowde as doth the chapel belle.
Ther as this loord was kepere of the selle,
The reule of seynt Maure or of seint Beneyt,
Bycause that it was old and somdel streyt, (9)
This ilke monk leet olde thinges pace,
And held after the newe world the space.
He gaf nat of that text a pulled hen, (10)

1 Seynt Loy, a corruption of St. Eligius, or perhaps another form of St. Louis.

2 Stratford-le-Bow, in Middlesex. Chaucer is supposed, in this allusion to the French of the Prioress, to have sneered at the old Anglo-Norman French taught in Eng. land.

3 Hire leste, her pleasure or delight.

4 Ferthing, fourth part, and hence a small portion.

5 Raughte, pret. of Teche, reached-stretched out her hand at table.

6 Digne, worthy. 7 Bread made of the finest fiour. 8 Hunting. 9 Somewhat strict

10 Pulled hen; he cared not a moulting or worthless hen for the text.

That seith, that hunters been noon holy men;
Ne that a monk, when he is reccheles

Is likned to a fissch that is waterles;

This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre.
But thilke text held he not worth an oystrc.

And I scide his opinioun was good.

What schuld he studie, and make himselven wood, (1)
Uppon a book in cloystre alway a powre,

Or swynke with his handes, and laboure,

As Austyn byt? (2) How schal the world be served?
Lat Austyn have his swynk to him reserved.
Therfore he was a pricasour (3) aright;

Greyhoundes he hadde as swifte as fowel in flight;
Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare
Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
I saugh his sleves purfiled atte honde
With grys, (4) and that the fyneste of a londe.
And for to festne his hood under his chynne
He hadde of gold y-wrought a curious pynne:
A love-knotte in the grettere ende ther was.
His heed was balled, and schon as eny glas,
And eek his face as he hadde ben anoynt.
He was a lord ful fat and in good poynt;
His eyen steepe, and rollyng in his heede,
That stemede as a forneys of a leede; (5)
His boots souple, his hors in gret estate.
Now certeinly he was a fair prelate.

The Friar was also a g nial churchman:

A Frere ther was, a wantoun and a merye,
A lymytour, (6) a ful solempne man.
In alle the ordres foure (7) is noon that can
So moche of daliaunce and fair langage.
He hadde i-mad ful many a mariage
Of yonge wymmen, at his owne cost.
Unto his ordre he was a noble post.
Ful wel biloved and famulier was he
With frankeleyns over-al his cuntre,
And eek with worthi wommen of the toun;
For he hadde power of confessioun,
As seyde himself, more than a curat,
For his ordre he was licentiat.
Ful sweetely herde he confessioun,
And pleasaunt was his absolucioun;
He was an esy man to geve penance
Ther as he wiste han a good pitance;
For unto a poure ordre for to give
Is signe that a man is wel i-schrive. (8)
For if he gaf, he dorste make avaunt,
He wiste that a man was repentaunt.
For many a man so harde is of his herte,
He may not wepe although him sore smerte.
Therefore is stede of wepyng and preyeres,
Men moot give silver to the poure freres.

1 Wood or wud, mad or foolish. 2 Swynke, work as St. Austin bid.

3 Pricasour, a hard rider. 4 Purfiled with gry, worked at the edge with fur.

5 Shone as a furnace under a caldron.

6 A friar licensed to ask alms within a certain limit.-MORRIS.

7 The four orders were the Franciscans or Gray Friars, the Augustin Friars, the Dominicans or Black Friars, and the Carmelites or White Friars.

8 Well shriven or con essed.

His typet was ay farsed ful of knyfes
And pynnes, for to give faire wyfes.
And certayuli he hadde a mery noote;
Wel couthe he synge and pleyen on a rote.
Of yeddynges (1) he bar utterly the prys.
His nekke whit was as the flour-de-lys.
Therto he strong was as a champioun.
He knew the tavernes wel in every toun,
And everych hostiller and tappestere,
Bet than a lazer, or a beggestere, (2)
For unto such a worthi man as he
Acorded not, as by his faculte,
To han with sike lazars aqueyntaunce.
It is not honest, it may not avaunce,
For to delen with no such poraille, (3)
But al with riche and sellers of vitaille.
And overal, ther as profyt schulde arise,
Carteys he was, and lowely of servyse.
Ther nas no man nowher so vertuous.
He was the beste beggere in his hous,
For though a widewe hadde noght oo schoo, (4)
So pleasant was his, In principio, (5)
Yet wolde he have a ferthing or he wente.
His purchas was wel better than his rente.
And rage he couthe and pleyen as a whelpe,
In love-dayes (6) couthe he mochel help.
For ther he was not like a cloysterer,
With a thredbare cope as is a poure scoler,
But he was like a maister or a pope,
Of double worstede was his semy-cope,
That rounded as a belle out of the presse.
Somewhat he lipsede, for his wantonnesse,

To make his Englissch swete upon his tonge;

And in his harpyng, whan that he hadde sunge,

His eyghen twynkeld in his heed aright,

As don the sterres in the frosty night.

This worthi lymytour was cleped Huberd.

Then follows a merchant with a forked beard,' sitting high on his horse, and with a Flanders beaver hat on his head-a worthy In contrast to these favourites of fortune is a poor Clerk:

man.

A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also,
That unto logik hadde longe i-go.
As lene was his hors as is a rake,
And he was not right fat, I undertake;
But lokede holwe, and therto soberly.

Ful thredbare was his overeste courtepy (7)
For he hadde geten him yit no benefice,
Ne was so worldly for to have office.

For him was lever have at his beddes heede
Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reede,
Of Aristotle and his philosophie,

1 Yeddynges, songs, the gleeman's songs.

2 Better than a leper or a beggar.

3 Poraille, poor people.

4 Nought but one shoe. 5 In principie erat Verbum, the beginning of St. John's Gospel, which the priest was enjoined to read.

6 Love-days were days fixed for settling differences by umpire, without having recourse to law or violence.-MORRIS.

7 Coarse upper coat.

Then robes riche, or fithel, (1) or gay sawtrie.
But al be that he was a philosophre,

Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre;

But al that he mighte of his frendes hente,
On bookes and on lernyng he it spente,

And busily gan for the soules praye

Of hem that gaf him wherwith to scoleye, (2)
Of studie took he most cure and most heede,
Not oo word spak he more than was neede,
And that was seid in forme and reverence,
And schort, and quyk, and ful of high sentence.
Sownynge in moral vertu was his speche,

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.

A Franklin, or freeholder was in the company,' Epicurus' own son,' a great householder:

His breed, his ale, was alway after oon; (3)
A bettre envyned (4) man was nowher noon.
Withoute bake mete was nevere his hous,
Of fleissch and fissch, and that so plenty vous,
It snewede in his hous of mete and drynke,
Of alle deyntees that men cowde thynke.
After the sondry sesouns of the yeer,

So chaungede he his mete and his soper.

Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe,

And many a brem and many a luce (5) in stewe.

Woo was his cook, (6) but if his sauce were

Poynaunt and scharp, and redy all his gere.
His table dormant in his halle alway

Stood redy covered al the longe day.

This character is a fine picture of the wealthy rural Englishman, and it shews how much of enjoyment and hospitality was even then associated with this station of life. The Wife of Bath is another lively national portrait; she is shrewd and witty, has abundant means, and is always first with her offering at church.

A good Wif was ther of byside Bathe,

But sche was somdel deef, and that was skathe.
Of cloth-makyng she hadde such an hanut,
Sche passede hem of Ypres and of Gaunt. (7)

In al the parisshe wyf ne was ther noon

That to the offryng byforn hire schulde goon, (8)
And if ther dide certeyn so wroth was sche,

That sche was out of alle charité.

Hire keverchefs ful fyne weren of grounde;

I durste swere they weygheden ten pounde
That on a Sonday were upon hire heed.

Hire hosen weren of fyn scarlett reed,

Ful streyte y-teyd, and schoos ful moyste and newe
Bold was hire face, and fair, and reed of hewe.
Sche was a worthy womman al hire lyfe,

Husbondes at chirch dore sche hadde fyfe,

Fiddle. 2 To attend school.

5 The luce is the pike.

3 Oon, one.

4 Stored with wine.

6 Woe was his cook, sorrowful.

he west of England was famous for cloth-making, and the good wife surpassed even the manufactures of Ypres and Ghent, the great continental marts.

8 The offering in church on relic Sunday, when the congregation went up to the altar to kiss the relics.-MORRIS.

Withouten other companye in youthe;

But therof needeth nought to speke as nouthe. (1)
And thries hadde sche ben at Jerusalem;
Sche hadde passed many a straunge streem;
At Rome sche hadde ben, and at Boloyne,
In Galice at seynt Jame, (2) and at Coloyne.
Sche cowde moche of wandryng by the weye.
Gattothed (3) was sche, sothly for to seye.
Uppon an amblere esily sche sat,
Ywymplid wel, and on hire heed an hat
As brood as is a bocler or a targe;

A foot-mantel aboute hire hipes large,

And on hire feet a pair of spores scharpe.

In felawschipe wel cowde sche lawghe and carpe.

Of remedyes of love (4) sche knew per-chaunce,

For of that art sche couthe the olde daunce.

A Sergeant of Law, 'discreet and of great reverence,' is portrayed: No where so besy a man as he ther nas, (5)

And yit he seemed besier than he was.

Chaucer has many satires on the clergy, but he gives one redeeming sketch-that of a poor Parson:

A good man was ther of religioun,

And was a poure Parsoun of a toun;

But riche he was of holy thought and werk.

He was also a lerned nian, a clerk

That Cristes gospel trewely wolde preche;
His parischens devoutly wolde he teche.
Benigne he was, and wonder diligent,
And in adversité ful pacient;

And such he was i-proved ofte sithes. (6)
Ful loth were him to curse for his tythes,
But rather wolde he geven out of dowte,
Unto his poure parisschens aboute,

Of his offrynge, and cek of his substaunce.
He cowde in litel thing han suffisance.
Wyd was his parisch, and houses fer asonder,
But he ne lafte not (7) for reyne ne thouder,
In siknesse nor in meschief to visite

The ferreste in his parissche, moche and lite,
Uppon his feet, and in his hond a staf,
This noble ensample to his scheep he gaf,

That first he wroughte, and after that he taughte,
Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte,
And this figure he addede eek therto,
That if gold ruste, what schal yren do?
For if a prest be foul, on whom we truste,
No wonder is a lewed (S) man to ruste;....
He sette not his benefice to hyre,
And leet his scheep encombred in the myre,
And ran to Londone, unto seynte Poules,
To seeken him a chaunterie for soules, (9)
Or with a bretherhede to ben withholde;

1 To speak now, at present. 2 In Galicia, where the body of St. James was interred. 3 Gat-toothed, having teeth with gaps between, or goat-toothed, denoting lascivious

ness.

4 An allusion to Ovid's De Remedio Amoris.

7 Left or ceased not.

5 Nas, ne was, was not.

6 0.ttimes. 8 Lewd was unlearned or ignorant 9 St. Paul's had thirty-five chantries or endowments for priests to sing masses.