Bold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe.
Sche was a worthy womman al hire lyfe,
Housbondes atte chirche dore hadde sche fyfe,
Withouten othur companye in youthe.
But therof needeth nought to speke as nouthe.
And thries hadde sche ben at Jerusalem;
Sche hadde passud many a straunge streem;
At Rome sche hadde ben, and at Boloyne,
In Galice at seynt Jame, and at Coloyne.
Sche cowde moche of wandryng by the weye.
Gattothud was sche, sothly for to seye.
Uppon an amblere esely sche sat,
Wymplid ful wel, and on hire heed an hat
As brood as is a bocler, or a targe;
A foot-mantel aboute hire hupes large,
And on hire feet a paire of spores scharpe.
In felawschipe wel cowde lawghe and carpe.
Of remedyes of love sche knew parchaunce,
For of that art sche knew the olde daunce.
A good man was ther of religioun,
And was a pore PERSOUN of a toun:
462.-atte chirche dore. The priest formerly joined the hands of the couple, and performed a great part of the marriage service, in the church porch. See Warton's History of English Poetry, ii. 201 (ed. of
468.-Coloyne. At Cologne the bones of the three kings of the East were believed to be preserved.
477.-remedyes. An allusion to the title and subject of Ovid's book, De Remedio Amoris.
480. Chaucer, in his beautiful character of the parson, sets up the industrious secular clergy against the lazy, wicked monks.
But riche he was of holy thought and werk.
He was also a lerned man, a clerk,
That Cristes gospel truly wolde preche.
His parischens devoutly wold he teche.
Benigne he was, and wondur diligent,
And in adversité ful pacient:
And such he was i-proved ofte sithes.
Ful loth were him to curse for his tythes;
But rather wolde he geven out of dowte,
Unto his pore parisschens aboute,
Of his offrynge, and eek of his substaunce.
He cowde in litel thing han suffisance.
Wyd was his parisch, and houses fer asondur,
But he ne lafte not for reyn ne thondur,
In siknesse ne in meschief to visite
The ferrest in his parissche, moche and lite,
Uppon his feet, and in his hond a staf.
This noble ensample unto his scheep he gaf,
That ferst he wroughte, and after that he taughte
Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte,
And this figure he addid yit therto,
That if gold ruste, what schulde yren
For if a prest be foul, on whom we truste,
No wondur is a lewid man to ruste:
And schame it is, if that a prest take kepe,
A schiten schepperd and a clene schepe;
483.-truly. I have substituted this word, which is found in most of the other MSS., for gladly, the reading of the MS. Harl.
Wel oughte a prest ensample for to give,
By his clennesse, how that his scheep schulde lyve.
He sette not his benefice to huyre,
And lefte his scheep encombred in the
And ran to Londone, unto seynte Poules,
To seeken him a chaunterie for soules,
Or with a brethurhede be withholde :
But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde,
So that the wolf ne made it not myscarye.
He was a schepperde and no mercenarie;
And though he holy were, and vertuous,
He was to senful man nought dispitous,
Ne of his speche daungerous ne digne,
But in his teching discret and benigne.
To drawe folk to heven by fairnesse,
By good ensample, was his busynesse :
But it were eny persone obstinat,
What so he were of high or lowe estat,
Him wolde he snybbe scharply for the nones.
A bettre preest I trowe ther nowher non is.
He waytud after no pompe ne reverence,
Ne maked him a spiced conscience,
But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught, and ferst he folwed it himselve.
With him ther was a PLOUGHMAN, his brothur,
That hadde i-lad of dong ful many a fothur.
521-fairnesse. This is the reading of most of the MSS. Harl. has clennesse, which seems not to give so good a sense.
A trewe swynker, and a good was hee,
Lyvynge in pees, and parfight charitee.
God loved he best with al his trewe herte
At alle tymes, though him gained or smerte,
And thanne his neighebour right as himselve.
He wolde threisshe, and therto dyke, and delve,
For Cristes sake, with every pore wight,
Withouten huyre, if it laye in his might.
His tythes payede he ful faire and wel,
Bathe of his owne swynk, and his catel.
In a tabbard he rood upon a mere.
Ther was also a reeve and a mellere,
A sompnour and a pardoner also,
A maunciple, and my self, ther was no mo.
The MELLERE was a stout carl for the nones,
Ful big he was of braun, and eek of boones;
That prevede wel, for over al ther he cam,
At wrastlynge he wolde bere awey the ram.
He was schort schuldred, broode, a thikke knarre,
Ther nas no dore that he nolde heve of harre,
Or breke it with a rennyng with his heed.
His berd as ony sowe or fox was reed,
And therto brood, as though it were a spade.
550.-the ram. "This was the usual prize at wrestling-matches. See below, ver. 13,671; and Gamelyn, ver. 343 and 555. M. Paris mentions a wrestling-match at Westminster, in the year 1222, at which a ram was the prize."-Tyrwhitt.
552.-harre. This is the reading of all the oldest and best MSS.; barre, a later reading, adopted by Tyrwhitt, appears to have originated with some one who did not know the meaning of the other word.
Upon the cop right of his nose he hade
A werte, and theron stood a tuft of heres,
Reede as the berstles of a souwes eeres.
His nose-thurles blake were and wyde.
A swerd and a bocler baar he by his side.
His mouth as wyde was as a gret forneys.
He was a jangler, and a golyardeys,
And that was most of synne and harlotries.
Wel cowde he stele corn, and tollen thries;
And yet he hadde a thombe of gold pardé.
A whight cote and blewe hood wered he.
A baggepipe cowde he blowe and sowne,
And therwithal he brought us out of towne.
A gentil MAUNCIPLE was ther of a temple,
Of which achatours mighten take exemple
For to be wys in beyyng of vitaille.
For whethur that he payde, or took by taille,
Algate he wayted so in his acate,
That he was ay biforn and in good state.
564.-stele corn. During the middle ages, millers enjoyed, above all other tradesmen, the reputation of being thieves; and their depredations were the more generally felt, as people in all classes of society carried their own corn to the mill to be ground, often in very small quantities.
565.-a thombe of goll. "If the allusion be, as is most probable, to the old proverb,-every honest miller has a thumb of gold, this passage may mean, that our miller, notwithstanding his thefts, was an honest miller,―i. e., as honest as his brethren."-Tyrwhitt.
567.-a baggepipe. The bagpipe was a very popular instrument of music in the middle ages, and figures in the illuminated manuscripts of various countries. In modern times its use has been restricted to Scotland (probably because minstrelsy was longer preserved there) until it was looked upon as the national music.
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