WHANNE that April with his fhoures fote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veine in fwiche llcour,
Of whiche vertue engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eke with his fote brethe
Enfpired hath in every holt and hethe
The tendre croppes, and the yonge fonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foules maken melodie,
That flepen alle night with open eye,
So priketh hem nature in hir corages,
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to feken ftrange ftrondes,
To ferve halwes couthe in fondry londes ;
And specially from every fhire's ende
Of Englelond to Canterbury they wende,
The holy blifsful martyr for to feke

But natheles while I have time and space; Or that I forther in this tale pace, Me thinketh it accordant to refon To tellen you alle the condition Of eche of hem, fo as it femed me, And whiche they weren, and of what degre, And eke in what araie that they were inne; And at a knight than wol I firfte beginne.

A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the time that he firfte began To riden out, he loved chivalric, Trouthe and honour, fredom and curtefic. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, And therto hadde he ridden, no man ferre As well in Cristendom as in Hetheneffe, And ever honoured for his worthineffe.

At Alifandre he was whan it was wonne

Befelle that in that fefon on a day,
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,
Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with devoute courage,
At night was come into that hoftelrie
Wel nine-and-twenty in a compagnie
Of fondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felawfhip, and pilgrimes were thev alle
That toward Canterbury wolden ride.
The chambres and the ftables weren wide,
And wel we weren efed atte befte.

And shortly when the fonne was gon to refte,
So hadde I spoken with hem everich on,
That I was of hir felawship anon,
And made forword erly for to rise,

To take oure way ther, as I you devife.

VOL. I.

Aboven alle nations in Pruce:

In Lettowe hadde he reyfed and in Ruce,
No Criften man so ofte of his degre:

In Gernade at the fiege eke hadde he be
Of Algefir, and ridden in Belmarie :
At Leyes was he, and at Satalie,

Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete See
At many a noble armee hadde he be.
At mortal batailles hadde he ben fiftene,
And foughten for our faith at Tramiffene
In liftes thries, and ay flain his fo.

This ilke worthy Knight hadde ben alfo

Alexandria In Egypt was won (and immediately after abandoned) in 1365 by Pierre de ufignan King of C

prus.

He had been placed at the head of the table, the ufis al compliment to extraordinary merit, as the comments: tors very propery explain it

A

Some time with the Lord of Palatie* Agen another Hethen in Turkie,

And evermore he hadde a fovereine pris,
And though that he was worthy, he was wife,
And of his port as meke as is a mayde.
He never yet no vilanic ne fayde
In alle his lif unto no manere wight:
He was a veray parfit gentil Knight.

But for to tellen you of his araie,

His hors was good, but he ne was not gaie.
Of fuftian he wered a gipon
Alle befmotred with his habergeon,
For he was late ycome fro his viage,
And wente for to don his pilgrimage.

With him ther was his fone, a yonge Squier,
A lover and a lufty bacheler,
With lockes crull as they were laide in preffe ;
Of twenty yereo age he was, I geffe.
Of his ftature he was of even lengthe,
And wonderly deliver, and grete of ftrengthe;
And he hadde be fometime in chevachie
In Flaunders, in Artois, and in Picardie,
And borne him wel, as of fo litel space,
In hope to ftonden in his ladies grace.

Embrouded was he, as it were a mede
Alle full of fresfhe floures white and rede;
Singing he was or floyting alle the day:
He was as fresfhe as is the moneth of May :
Short was his goune, with fleves long and wide;
Wel coude he fitte on hors, and fayre ride:
He coude fonges make, and wel endite.
Jufte and cke dance, and wel pourtraie and write:
So hote he loved, that by nightertale
He flep no more than doth the nightingale :
Curteis he was, lowly and fervifable,
And carf before his fader at the table.

A Teman hadde he, and fervantes no mo
At that time, for him lufte to ride fo,
And he was cladde in cote and hode of grene;
A fhefe of peacock arwes bright and kene
Under his belt he bare full thriftily:
Wel coude he dreffe his takel yemanly:
His arwes drouped not with fetheres lowe,
And in his hond he bare a mighty bowe.

A not-hed hadde he, with a broune visage:
Of wood-craft coude he wel alle the ufage:
Upon his arme he bare a gaie bracer,
And by his fide a swerd and a bokeler,
And on that other fide a gaie daggere,
Harneifed wel, and fharp as point of fpere:
A Cristofre on his breft of filver fhene.
An horne he bare, the baudrik was of grene:
A forfter was he fothely, as I geffe.

Ther was also a Nonne, a Prioreffe,
That of hire fmiling was ful fimple and coy,
Hire gretest othe n'as but by, Seint Eloy,
And he was cleped Madam Eglentine;
Ful wel fhe fange the fervice devine,
Entuned in hire nofe ful fwetely;
And Frenche fhe fpake ful fayre and fetifly,
After the fcole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe:
At mete was fhe wel ytaughte withalle,
She lette no morfel from hire lippes falle,

Palathia in Anatolia,

Ne wette hire fingres in hire fauce depe;
Wel coude the caric a morfel, and wel kepes
Thatte no drope ne fell upon hire brest:
In curtefie was fette ful moche hire left :
Hire over lippe wiped the fo clene,
That in hire cuppe was no ferthing fene
Of grefe when the dronken hadde hire draught;
Full femely after hire mete fhe raught:
And fikerly fhe was of grete difport,
And ful pleafant and amiable of port,
And peined hire to contrefetan chere
Of court and ben eftatelich of manere,
And to ben holden digne of reverence.

But for to fpeken of hire confcience,
She was fo charitable and fo pitous
She wolde wepe if that she saw a mous
Caughte in a trappe if it were ded or bledde.
Of fmale houndes hadde fhe, that the fedde
With rosted flesh, and milk, and wastel brede,
But fore wept fhe if on of hem were dede,
Or if men fmote it with a yerde fmert;
And all was confcience and tendre herte.

Ful femely hire wimple ypinched was,
Hire nofe tretis, hire eyen grey as glas;
Hire mouth full fniale, and therto soft and red;
But fikerly fhe hadde a fayre forehed:
It was almost a spanne brode I trowe,
For hardily fhe was not undergrowe.

Ful fetife was hire cloke, as I was ware.
Of fmale corall aboute hire arm fhe bare
A pair of bedes gauded all with grene,
And thereon heng a broche of gold ful fhene
On whiche was firft ywritten a crouned A,
And after Amor vincit omnia.

Another Nonne alfo with hire hadde fhe
That was hire chapelleine, and Preeftes thre.
A Monk ther was, a fayre for the maistrie,
An out-rider that loved venerie;

A manly man to ben an abbot able;

Ful many a deinte hors hadde he in stable,
And whan he rode, men mighte his bridel here
Gingeling in a whiftling wind, as clere
And eke as loude as doth the chapell belle
Ther as this lord was keper of the celle.

The reule of Seint Maure and of Seint Bencit,
Because that it was olde and fomdele ftreit,
This ilke monk lette olde thinges pace,
And helde after the newe world the trace.
He yave not of the text a pulled hen
That faith that hunters ben not holy men,
Ne that a monk whan he is rekkeles
Is like to a fish that is waterles;
This is to fay, a monk out of his cloistre;
This ilke text held he not worth an oiftre;
And I fay his opinion was good.

What! hulde he studie and make himfelven wood ✔
Upon a book in cloiftre alway to pore,

Or fwinken with his hondes, and laboure,
As Auftin bit? how fhal the world be ferved ?
Let Austin have his fwink to him referved:
Therfore he was a prickafoure a right.
Greihoundes he hadde as swift as foul of flights.
Of pricking and of hunting for the hare
Was all his luft; for no coft wolde he fpare.
I faw his fleves purfiled at the hond
With gris, and that the finest of the lond

And for to faften his hood under his chinne
He hadde of gold ywrought a curious pinne;
A love-knotte in the greter ende ther was:
His hed was balled, and fhone as any glas;
And eke his face, as it hadde ben anoint;
He was a lord ful fat, and in good point:
His eyen ftepe, and rolling in his hed,
That ftemed as a forneis of a led;
His bootes fouple, his hors in gret eftat;
Now certainly he was a fayre prelat :
He was not pale as a forpined goft;
A fat fwan loved he best of any roft:
His palfrey was as broune as is a bery.

A Frere ther was, a wanton and a mery,
A limitour, a ful folempne man :
In all the ordres foure is non that can
So moche of daliance and fayre langage.
He hadde ymade ful many a mariage
Of yonge wimmen at his owen coft;
Until his ordre he was a noble post.
Ful wel beloved and familier was he
With frankeleins over all in his contree,
And eke with worthy wimmen of the Toun,
For he had power of confeffion,

As faide himselfe, more than a curat,
For of his ordre he was a licenciat.
Ful fwetely herde he confeffion,
And plefant was his abfolution.
He was an efy man to give penance
Ther as he wifte to han a good pitance,
For unto a poure ordre for to give
Is figne that a man is wel yfhrive;
For if he gave he dorste make avant
He wife that a man was repentant;
For many a man fo hard is of his herte,
He may not wepe although him fore smerte;
Therfore in ftede of weping and praieres
Men mote give filver to the poure freres.

His tippet was ay farfed ful of knives
And pinnes for to given fayre wives :
And certainly he hadde a mery note;
Wel coude he finge and plaien on a rote.
Of yeddinges he bare utterly the pris;
His nekke was white as the flour de lis;
Therto he ftrong was as'a champioun,
And knew wel the tavernes in every toun,
And every hofteler and gay tapftere,
Better than a lazar or a beggere;
For unto fwiche a worthy man as he
Accordeth nought, as by his faculte
To haven with fike lazars acquaintance :
It is not honeft, it may not avance,
As for to delen with no fwiche pouraille,
But all with riche and fellers of vitaille.
And over all, ther as profit fhuld arise
Curteis he was, and lowly of fervise:
Ther n'as no man no wher fo vertuous;
He was the befte begger in all his hous,
And gave a certaine ferme for the grant
Non of his bretheren came in his haunt;
For though a wide we hadde but a fhoo,
(So plefant was his In principio)

This word, being not underflood, has been changed in fome copies into ridinges and weddinges. It probably means a kind of fong, from the Saxon geddian or giddian, to ling.

Yet wold he have a ferthing or he went;
His pourchas was wel better than his rent:
And rage he coude as it hadde ben a whelp;
In lovedayes ther coude be mochel help;
For ther was he nat like a cloifterere,
With thredbare cope, as is a poure fcolere,
But he was like a maifter or a pope :
Of double worfted was his femicope,
That round was as a belle out of the preffe.
Somwhat he lifped for his wantonneffe
To make his English fwete upon his tonge;
And in his harping, whan that he hadde fonge,
His eyen twinkeled in his hed aright
As don the fterres in a frosty night.
This worthy limitour was cleped Huberd.

A Merchant was ther with a forked berd;
In mottelee, and highe on hors he fat,
And on his hed a Faundrifh bever hat.
His bootes clapfed fayre and fetifly;
His refons fpake he ful folempnely,
Souning alway the encrefe of his winning
He wold the fee were kept for any thing
Betwixen Middelburgh and Orewell.
Wel coud he in efchanges fheldes felle.
This worthy man ful wel his wit befette;
Ther wifte no wight that he was in dette,
So ftedefaftly didde he his governance
With his bargeines and with his chevifance.
Forfothe he was a worthy man withalle,
But foth to fayn I n'ot how men him calle.
A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also,
That unto logike hadde long ygo.
As lene was his hors as is a rake,
And he was not right fat I undertake,
But loked holwe, and therto foberly.
Ful thredbare was his overeft courtepy,
For he hadde geten him yet no benefice,
Ne was nought worldly to have an office;
For him was lever han at his beddes hed
Twenty bokes clothed in blake or red
Of Ariftotle and his philofophie
Then robes riche, or fidel or fautrie:
But all be that he was a philofophre
Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre,
But all that he might of his frendes hente
On bokes and on lerning he it spente,
And befily gan for the foules praie
Of hem that yave him wherwith to fcolaie.
Of ftudie toke he mofte cure and hede;
Not a word fpake he more than was nede,
And that was faid in forme and reverence,
And short and quike, and ful of high sentence;
Souning in moral vertue was his speche,
And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.
A Sergeant of the Lawe ware and wife,
That often hadde yben at the paruis,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence;
Difcrete he was, and of grete reverence;
He femed fwiche, his words were fo wife :
Juftice he was ful often in aflife

By patent and by pleine commissioun :
For his fcience and for his high renoun

i. e. guarded. The old fubficy oftennage or poundage was given to the king "pur la faufgarde et custodie del 'mer," 12 Edw. IV, c, 3.

Of fees and robes had he many on:
So grete a pourchafour was no wher non:
All was fee fimple to him in effect,
His pourchafing might not ben in suspect:
No wher fo befy a man as he ther n'as,
And yet he femed befier than he was.
In termes hadde he cas and domes alle
That fro the time of King Will, weren falle ;
Thertò he coude endite and make a thing;
Ther coude no wight pinche at his writing;
And every statute coude he plaine by rote.
He rode but homely in a medlee cote
Girt with a feint of filk with barres fmale.
Of his array tell I no lenger tale.

A Frankelein was in this compagnie ;
White was his berd as is the dayefie:
Of his complexion he was fanguin;
Wel loved he by the morwe a fop in win:
To liven in delit was ever his wone,
For he was Epicure's owen fone,
That held opinion that plein delit
Was veraily felicite parfite.

And houfholder, and that a grete was he;
Seint Julian he was in his contree.
His brede, his ale, was alway after on;
A better envyned man was no wher non.
Withouten bake mete never was his hous
Of fish and flesh, and that fo plenteous
It fnewed in his houfe of mete and drinke
Of alle deintees that men coud of thinke.
After the fondry fefons of the yere
So changed he his mete and his foupere.
Ful many a fat patrich hadde he in mewe,
And many a breme, and many a luce in ftewe.
Wo was his coke but if his fauce were
Poinant and fharpe, and redy all his gere.
His table dormant in his halle alway
Stode redy covered alle the longe day.

At feffions there was he lord and fire;
Full often time he was knight of the shire.
An anelace and a gipciere all of filk
Heng at his girdel white as morwe milk.
A fhereve hadde he ben and a countour;
Was no wher fwiche a worthy vavafour

An Haber dafber, and a Carpenter,
A Webbe, a Deyer, and a Tapifer,
Were alle yclothed in o livere
Of a folenipne and grete fraternite.

Ful freshe and newe hir gere ypiked was;
Hir knives were ychaped not with bras,
But all with filver wrought ful clene and wel,
Hir girdeles and hir pouches every del:
Wel femed eche of hem a fayre burgeis
To fitten in a gild halle on the deis:
Everich for the wisdom that he can
Was fhapclich for to ben an alderman.
For catel hadden they ynough and rent,
And eke hir wives wolde it wel affent;
And elles certainly they were to blame :
It is ful fayre to ben ycleped Madame,

The precife import of this word is often as obfcure as its original. See Du Cange in . In this place it thould perhaps be understood to mean the whole class of middling landholders

And for to gon to vigiles all before,
And have a mantel reallich ybore.

A Coke they hadden with hem for the nones,
To boile the chikenes and the marie bones,
And poudre marchant, tart and galingale.
Wel coude he knowe a draught of London ale.
He coude røfte, and fethe, and broile, and frie,
Maken mortrewes, and wel bake a pie;
But gret harm was it, as it thonghte me,
That on his fhinne a mormal hadde he.
For blanc manger that made he with the beft.
A Shipman was ther woned fer by weft;
For ought I wote he was of Dertemouth :
He rode upon a rouncie, as he couche,
All in a goune of falding to the knee.
A dagger hanging by a las hadde hee
About his nekke under his arm adoun;

The hote fommer hadde made his hewe all broun:
And certainly he was a good felaw;

Ful many a draught of win he hadde draw
From Burdeux ward while that the chapmen slepe:
Of nice confcience toke he no kepe.

If that he faught and hadde the higher hand,
By water he sent hem home to every land.
But of his craft to reken wel his tides,
His ftremes and his strandes him befides,
His herberwe, his mone, and his lodemanage,
Ther was non fwiche from Hull unto Cartage.
Hardy he was, and wife, I undertake;
With many a tempeft hadde his berd be shake:
He knew wel alle the havens as they were
Fro Gotland to the Cape de Finiftere,
And every creke in Bretagne and in Spaine :
His barge ycleped was the Magdelaine.

With us ther was a Dolour of Pbifike;
In all this world ne was ther non him like
To fpeke of phifike and of furgerie,
For he was grounded in astronomie.
He kept his patient a ful gret del
In houres by his magike naturel:
Wel coude he fortunen the afcendent
Of his images for his patient.

He knew the caufe of every maladie,
Were it of cold, or hote, or moift, or drie,
And wher engendred, and of what humour
He was a veray parfite practifour.
The cause yknowe, and of his harm the rote,
Anon he gave to the fike man his bote.
Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries
To fend him dragges and his lettuaries,
For eche of hem made other for to winne
Hir frendíhip n'as not newe to beginne.
Wel knew he the old Efculapius,
And Diofcorides and eke Rufus,
Old Hippocras, Hali, and Gallien,
Serapion, Rafis, and Avicen,
Averrois, Damafcene, and Conftantin,
Bernard, and Gatifden, and Gilbertin.
Of his diete mefurable was he;
For it was of no fuperfluitee,
But of gret nourishing and digestible:
His ftudie was but litel on the Bible.
In fanguin and in perfe he clad was alle
Lined with taffata and with fendalle.