And of his port1 as meek as is a mayde.
He nevere yet no vileinye2 ne sayde
In al his lyf, un-to no maner wight.
He was a verray parfit gentil knight.
But for to tellen yow of his array,
His hors3 were goode, but he was nat gay1.
Of fustian5 he wered a gipoun
Al bismotered with his habergeouns.
For he was late y-come from his viage9,
And wente for to doon his pilgrimage10.
His arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe),
And in his hand he bar a mighty bowe.
70 A not-heed34 hadde he, with a broun visage.
Of wode-craft35 wel coude36 he al the usage. 110
Upon his arm he bar a gay bracer37,
And by his syde a swerd and a bokeler38,
And on that other syde a gay daggere,
Harneised39 wel, and sharp as point of spere;
A Cristofre40 on his brest of silver shene+1.
An horn he bar, the bawdrik+2 was of grene;
A forster43 was he, soothly44, as I gesse.
Ther was also a Nonne, a Prioresse,
With him ther was his sone, a yong Squyer, A lovyer, and a lusty bacheler11,
With lokkes crulle12, as13 they were leyd in That of hir smyling was ful simple and coy; presse.
Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse.
Of his stature he was of evene lengthe14,
And wonderly delivere15, and greet
strengthe.
Hir gretteste ooth was but by seynt Loy45;
And she was cleped46 madame Eglentyne.
Ful wel she song the service divyne,
of Entuned in hir nose ful semely;
And he hadde been somtyme in chivachye16,
In Flaundres, in Artoys17, and Picardye17,
And born him wel, as of so litel space18,
In hope to stonden in his lady19 grace.
Embrouded20 was he, as it were a mede21
Al ful of fresshe floures, whyte and rede.
Singinge he was, or floytinge22, al the day;
He was as fresh as is the month of May.
Short was his goune, with sleves longe and
wyde.
Wel coude he sitte on hors, and faire ryde.
He coude songes make and wel endyte23,
And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly47,
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe*,
For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe.
At mete wel y-taught was she with-alle;
She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle,
Ne wette hir fingres in hir sauce depe.
90 Wel coude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe, 130
That no drope ne fille48 up-on hir brest.
In curteisye was set ful moche hir lest 49,
Hir over lippe wyped she so clene,
That in hir coppe50 was no ferthing sene
Of grece, whan she dronken hadde hir draughte.
Ful semely after hir mete she raughte51,
Iuste24 and eek daunce, and wel purtreye25 and And sikerly52 she was of greet disport53,
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And ful plesaunt, and amiable of port54,
And peyned55 hir to countrefete56 chere57
Of court, and been estatlich58 of manere,
And to ben holden digne59 of reverence.
But, for to speken of hir conscience,
She was so charitable and so pitous60,
She wolde wepe, if that she sawe a mous
Caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde.
Of smale houndes had she, that she fedde
With rosted flesh, or milk and wastel breed 1.
But sore weep she if oon of hem were deed,
Therefor he was a pricasour29 aright; 150 Grehoundes he hadde, as swifte as fowel in flight;
Or if men smoot it with a yerde1 smerte2:
And al was conscience and tendre herte.
Ful semely hir wimpel3 pinched was;
Hir nose tretys5; hir eyen greye as glas;
Hir mouth ful smal, and ther-to softe and reed;
But sikerly she hadde a fair forheed.
It was almost a spanne brood, I trowe;
For, hardily, she was nat undergrowe.
Ful fetiss was hir cloke, as I was war".
Of smal coral aboute hir arm she bar
A peire of bedes1o, gauded11 al with grene;
And ther-on heng a broche of gold ful shene,
On which ther was first write a crowned A,
And after, Amor vincit omnia12.
Of priking and of hunting for the hare
Was al his lust 30, for no cost wolde he spare.
I seigh31 his sleves purfiled32 at the hond
With grys33, and that the fyneste of a lond;
And, for to festne his hood under his chin,
He hadde of gold y-wroght a curious pin:
A love-knot in the gretter ende ther was.
His heed was balled34, that shoon as any glas,
And eek his face, as he hadde been anoint.
He was a lord ful fat and in good point35; 200
His eyen stepe36, and rollinge in his heed,
That stemed as a forneys of a leed37,
His botes souple, his hors in greet estat.
Now certeinly he was a fair prelat;
He was nat pale as a for-pyned goost 38.
A fat swan loved he best of any roost.
His palfrey was as broun as is a berye.
A Frere39 there was, a wantown40 and a merye,
A limitour41, a ful solempne42 man.
In alle the ordres foure43 is noon that can44
So moche of daliaunce and fair langage.
He hadde maad ful many a mariage
Of yonge wommen, at his owne cost.
Un-to his ordre he was a noble post.
Ful wel biloved and famulier was he
With frankeleyns45 over-al in his contree,
And eek with worthy wommen of the toun:
For he had power of confessioun,
Another Nonne with hir hadde she,
That was hir chapeleyne, and Preestes thre.
A Monk ther was, a fair for the maistrye13,
An out-rydere, that lovede venerye14,
A manly man, to been an abbot able.
Ful many a deyntee15 hors hadde he in stable:
And, whan he rood, men mighte his brydel here
Ginglen in a whistling wynd as clere,
And eek as loude as doth the chapel-belle.
There-as16 this lord was keper of the celle17,
The reule of seint Maure or of seint Beneit18,
By-cause that it was old and som-del streit 19,
This ilke monk leet olde thinges20 pace21,
And held after the newe world the space22.
He yaf nat of that text a pulled23 hen,
That seith, that hunters been nat holy men;
Ne that a monk, whan he is recchelees24,
Is likned til a fish that is waterlees;
This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloistre.
But thilke text held he nat worth an oistre.
And I seyde his opinioun was good.
What25 sholde he studie, and make him selven He was an esy man to yeve47 penaunce
As seyde him-self, more than a curat,
For of his ordre he was licentiat46.
Ful swetely herde he confessioun,
And plesaunt was his absolucioun;
Ther-as he wiste to han a good pitaunce48;
For unto a povre ordre for to yive49
Is signe that a man is wel y-shrive.
For if he50 yaf, he51 dorste make avaunt52,
He wiste that a man was repentaunt.
For many a man so hard is of his herte53,
He may nat wepe al-thogh him sore smerte54.
Therfore, in stede of weping and preyeres,
29 hard rider
30 pleasure
19 somewhat strict
20 (these rules)
21 pass
22 pace, way
23 plucked (he would
not give a straw
for that text
that-)
24 wandering
Men moot1 yeve silver to the povre freres.
His tipet2 was ay3 farsed+ ful of knyves
And pinnes, for to yeven faire wyves.
And certeinly he hadde a mery note;
Wel coude he singe and pleyen on a rote5.
Of yeddingese he bar utterly the prys7.
His nekke whyt was as the flour-de-lys8.
Ther-to he strong was as a champioun.
He knew the tavernes wel in every toun,
And everich hostiler and tappestere10
Bet11 than a lazar12 or a beggestere13;
For un-to swich a worthy man as he
Acorded nat, as by his facultee11,
To have with seke15 lazars aqueyntaunce.
It is nat honest16, it may nat avaunce17
For to delen with no swich poraille18,
But al with riche and sellers of vitaille.
And over-al19, ther-as20 profit sholde aryse,
Curteys he was, and lowly of servyse.
Ther nas no man nowher so vertuous21.
He was the beste beggere in his hous;
For thogh a widwe hadde noght a sho22,
So plesaunt was his In principio23,
Yet wolde he have a ferthing24, er he wente,
His purchas25 was wel bettre than his rente26.
And rage27 he coude as it were right a
whelpe28.
Up-on his heed a Flaundrish bever hat;
His botes clasped faire and fetisly.
His resons33 he spak ful solempnely34,
Sowninge35 alway thencrees36 of his winning.
He wolde the see were kept37 for any thing38
Bitwixe Middelburgh and Orewelle39.
Wel coude40 he in eschaunge sheeldes11 selle.
This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette+2;
Ther wiste no wight that he was in dette,
So estatly43 was he of his governaunce11,
With his bargaynes, and with his chevisaunce45.
For sothe he was a worthy man with-alle,
But sooth to seyn, I noot46 how men him calle.
A Clerk47 ther was of Oxenford also,
That un-to logik hadde longe y-go48.
As lene was his hors as is a rake,
And he nas49 nat right fat, I undertake50;
But loked holwe51, and ther-to soberly52.
Ful thredbar was his overest53 courtepy54
For he had geten him yet no benefice55,
Ne was so worldly for to have office56.
For him was levere57 have at his beddes heed
Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed
Of Aristotle and his philosophye,
Than robes riche, or fitheless, or gay sautrye59. But al be that he was a philosophre60, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre; But al that he mighte of his frendes hentes1; On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, 260 And bisily gan for the soules preye
In love-dayes29 ther coude he mochel helpe.
For ther he was nat lyk a cloisterer
With a thredbare cope, as in a povre scoler,
But he was lyk a maister or a pope.
Of double worsted was his semi-cope30,
That rounded as a belle out of the presse.
Somwhat he lipsed, for his wantownesse31,
To make his English swete up-on his tonge;
And in his harping, whan that he had songe,
His eyen twinkled in his heed aright,
As doon the sterres in the frosty night.
This worthy limitour was cleped Huberd.
A Marchant was ther with a forked berd, 270 In mottelee32, and hye on horse he sat,
Of hem that yaf him where-with to scoleye62.
Of studie took he most cure63 and most hede.
Noght o word spak he more than was nede,
And that was seyd in forme and reverence,
And short and quik, and ful of hy sentence.
Sowninge65 in moral vertu was his speche,
And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.
A Sergeant of the Lawess, war67 and wys,
That often hadde been at the parvys68,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.
Discreet he was, and of greet reverence1:
He semed swich, his wordes weren so wyse,
Iustice he was ful often in assyse2,
By patentes and by pleyn commissioun;
For his science, and for his heigh renoun
Of fees and robes hadde he many oon.
So greet a purchasour5 was nowher noons.
Al was fee simple to him in effect,
His purchasing mighte nat been infects.
Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas,
And yet he semed bisier than he was.
In termes hadde he caas and domes alle9,
That from the tyme of king William
falle10.
Therto he coude endyte, and make a thing,
Ther coude no wight pinche11 at his wryting;
And every statut coude12 he pleyn by rote.
He rood but hoomly in a medlee cote
And many a breem29 and many a luce in
stewe30.
Wo31 was his cook, but-if32 his sauce were
Poynaunt and sharp, and redy al his gere33.
His table dormant34 in his halle alway
Stood redy covered al the longe day.
At sessiouns35 ther was he lord and sire.
Ful ofte tyme he was knight of the shire36.
An anlas37 and a gipser3s al of silk
320 Heng at his girdel, whyt as morne milk.
A shirreve hadde he been, and a countour39;
Was nowher such a worthy vavasour40.
An Haberdassher41 and a Carpenter,
A Webbe,42 a Dyere, and a Tapicer43,
And they were clothed alle in o liveree,
Of a solempne and greet fraternitee.
Ful fresh and newe hir gere apyked++ was;
Hir knyves were y-chaped45 noght with bras,
But al with silver wroght ful clene and weel,
Girt with a ceint13 of silk, with barres11 smale; Hir girdles and hir pouches everydeel.
Of his array telle I no lenger tale.
A Frankeleyn15 was in his compaignye;
Whyt was his berd16, as is the dayesye17.
Of his complexioun18 he was sangwyn19.
Wel loved he by the morwe20 a sop21 in wyn.
To liven in delyt was evere his wone22,
For he was Epicurus23 owne sone,
That heeld opinioun that pleyn delyt
Was verraily felicitee parfyt.
An housholdere, and that a greet, was he;
Seynt Iulian24 he was in his contree.
His breed, his ale, was alwey after oon25;
A bettre envyned26 man was nevere noon.
With-oute bake mete was nevere his hous,
Of fish and flesh, and that so plentevous,
It snewed27 in his hous of mete and drinke,
Of alle deyntees that men coude thinke.
After the sondry sesons of the yeer,
So chaunged he his mete and his soper.
Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe28,
Wel semed ech of hem a fair burgeys46,
To sitten in a yeldhalle47 on a deys48.
Everich49, for the wisdom that he can50,
Was shaply51 for to been an alderman.
For catel52 hadde they ynogh and rente53,
And eek hir wyves wolde it wel assente54;
And elles certein were they to blame.
It is ful fair to been y-clept ma dame,
And goon55 to vigilyës56 al bifore,
And have a mantel roialliche y-bore57.
A Cook they hadde with hem for the nones58,
To boille chiknes59 with the mary-bones,
And poudre-marchantso tarte1, and galingale62.
Wel coude he knowe63 a draughte of London
ale.
He coude roste, and sethe64, and broille, and
frye,
Maken mortreux65, and wel bake a pye.
But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me,
That on his shiness a mormal67 hadde he;
For blankmanger1, that made he with the To sende him drogges, and his letuaries25,
A Shipman was ther, woning2 fer by weste: For aught I woots, he was of Dertemouthe. He rood up-on a rouncy, as he couthe5, In a gowne of faldinge to the knee. A daggere hanging on a laas hadde he Aboute his nekke under his arm adoun. The hote somer had maad his hewe al broun; And, certeinly, he was a good felawe.
Ful many a draughte of wyn had he y-drawe From Burdeux-ward, whyl that the chapmans sleep.
Of nyce conscience took he no keep10.
If that he faught, and hadde the hyer hond,
By water he sente hem hoom to every lond11.
But of his craft12 to rekene wel his tydes 401
His stremes and his daungers him bisydes,
His herberwe13 and his mone14, his lodemen-
age15,
Ther nas noon swich from Hulle to Cartage.
Hardy he was, and wys to undertake;
For ech of hem made other for to winne26;
Hir frendschipe nas nat newe to biginne27.
Wel knew he the olde Esculapius*,
And Deiscorides, and eek Rufus;
Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien;
Serapion, Razis, and Avicen;
Averrois, Damascien, and Constantyn;
Bernard, and Gatesden, and Gilbertyn.
Of his diete mesurable28 was he,
For it was of no superfluitee,
But of greet norissing and digestible.
His studie was but litel on the Bible.
In sangwin29 and in pers30 he clad was al,
Lyned with taffata31 and with sendal31
And yet he was but esy of dispence32;
He kepte that he wan in pestilence.
For gold in phisik is a cordial33,
Therfor he lovede gold in special.
A Good Wyf was ther of bisyde Bathe, But she was som-del deef, and that was scathe34.
With many a tempest hadde his berd been Of cloth-making she hadde swiche an haunt35, shake.
He knew wel alle the havenes, as they were, From Gootlond16 to the cape of Finistere17, And every cryke in Britayne and in Spayne; His barge y-cleped was the Maudelayne.
With us ther was a Doctour of Phisyk18, In al this world ne was ther noon him lyk To speke of phisik and of surgerye; For he was grounded in astronomye19. He kepte his pacient a ful greet del In houres20, by his magik naturel. Wel coude he fortunen21 the ascendent Of his images22 for his pacient*.
He knew the cause of everich maladye,
Were it of hoot or cold, or moiste, or dryet, 420
And where engendred, and of what humour;
He was a verrey parfit practisour.
She passed hem of Ypres36 and of Gaunt37.
In al the parisshe wyf ne was ther noon
That to the offring38 bifore hir sholde goon; 450
And if ther dide, certeyn, so wrooth was she,
That she was out of alle charitee.
Hir coverchiefs39 ful fyne were of ground40;
I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound41
That on a Sonday were upon hir heed.
Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed,
Ful streite y-teyd, and shoes ful moiste42 and
Bold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe.
She was a worthy womman al hir lyve,
Housbondes at chirche-dore43 she hadde fyve,
Withouten44 other compaignye in youthe;
But thereof nedeth nat to speke as nouthe45.
And thryes hadde she been at Ierusalem;
The cause y-knowe, and of his harm the rote23, She hadde passed many a straunge streem;
Anon he yaf the seke man his bote24.
Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries,
1 minced capon, cream, sugar and flour
16 Jutland, Denmark
17 On the coast
20 he treated his ра
tient at favorable astrological times
21 forecast
22 talismans
23 the root of the evil 24 remedy
Figures or talismans made when a favorable star was rising above the horizon, i. e., was in the ascendant, could, it was believed, cause good or evil to a patient.
Diseases were thought to be caused by an excess of one or another of these humours.
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