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 hors were goode, but he was nat gay4.
Of fustians he wered a gipoun
Al bismotered with his habergeouns.
For he was late y-come from his viage",
And wente for to doon his pilgrimage10.

70

His arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe),
And in his hand he bar a mighty bowe.

A not-heed34 hadde he, with a broun visage.
Of wode-craft35 wel coude36 he al the usage.
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 shene11.
An horn he bar, the bawdrik42 was of grene;
A forster43 was he, soothly, as I gesse.
Ther was also a Nonne, a Prioresse,
That of hir smyling was ful simple and coy;
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;

With him ther was his sone, a yong Squyer, A lovyer, and a lusty bacheler11,

80

With lokkes crulle12, as13 they were leyd in
presse.

Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse.
Of his stature he was of evene lengthe11,
And wonderly delivere15, and

strengthe.

greet

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,

90

110

120

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.
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,

140

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,

the

35 wood-craft
36 knew

a

tackle

(equipment)
yeomanlike

ner

in man

closely

Stratford le Bow, where there was a Benedictine nunnery, and where Anglo-French would be spoken, rather than the Parisian kind.

Therefor he was a pricasour29 aright; 150 Grehoundes he hadde, as swifte as fowel in flight;

What 25 sholde he studie, and make him selven He was an esy man to yeve47 penaunce

Men moot1 yeve silver to the povre freres.
His tipet 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 yeddinges 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 hostiler9 and tappestere10
Bet

280

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 sheeldest selle.
This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette+2;
240 Ther wiste no wight that he was in dette,
So estatly43 was he of his governaunce4*,
With his bargaynes, and with his chevisaunce45.
For sothe he was a worthy man with-alle,
But sooth to seyn, I noot 46 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 nas nat right fat, I undertake50;
But loked holwe51, and ther-to soberly52.
Ful thredbar was his overest 53 courtepy54
For he had geten him yet no benefice55,
Ne was so worldly for to have office58.
For him was levere57 have at his beddes heed
Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed

250

than a lazar12 or a beggestere13;
For un-to swich a worthy man as he
Acorded nat, as by his facultee14,
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.

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.

Of Aristotle and his philosophye,

290

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 hente61;
On bokes and on lerninge he it spente,
260 And bisily gan for the soules preye

300

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 sentence64.
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 parvyses,

310

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 noon.
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 alle?,
That from the tyme of king William
falle10.

were

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
Girt with a ceint 13 of silk, with barres14 smale;
Of his array telle I no lenger tale.
330

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 snewed 27 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,

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 gipser38 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 Tapicer13,
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,
Hir girdles and hir pouches everydeel.
Wel semed ech of hem a fair burgeys46,
To sitten in a yeldhalle47 on a deys48.
Everich 49, 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.

340

350

360

370

For blankmanger1, that made he with the To sende him drogges, and his letuaries25,

With many a tempest hadde his berd been Of cloth-making she hadde swiche an haunt35,

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.