Ful thinne it lay, by culpons on and on,
But hode for jolite ne wered he non,
For it was truffed up in his wallet.
Him thought he rode al of the newe get,
Difhevele, fauf his cappe, he rode all bare:
Swiche glaring eyen hadde he as an hare:
A vernicle hadde he fewed upon his cappe;
His wallet lay beforne him in his lappe
Bret-ful of pardon come from Rome al hote:
A vois he hadde as fmale as hath a gote:

685

690

No berd hadde he, ne never non fhulde have;
As fmothe it was as it were newe fhave:
I trowe he were a gelding or a mare.

But of his craft, fro Berwike unto Ware Ne was ther swiche an other Pardonere, For in his male he hadde a pilwebere Which, as he faide, was oure Ladies vcil: He faide he hadde a gobbet of the feyl

695

.684. the newe get] 'The new fashion. Gette or jett (for the mff. differ) is used in the fame fenfe by Occleve, De Reg. Princ. m. Bod. 1504, 1786;

Alfo ther is another newe gette,

All foule wafte of cloth and exceffif

V.689. Bret-ful of pardon] This is the reading of all the mff. The fame word occurs in the fame fenfe in ver. 2166, and in F. iii. 1033, but I have found no other paffages in which the word bret is used. Fret (for freighted, fraught,) is ufed by Lydgate, in a ballade falfely attributed to Chaucer, edit. Urr. p. 552, ver. 269; "Ther kinde is fret with doublenes"-and in Traged. b. v. c. 7; "Fret full of ftones." b. viii. c. 7, " With "riche ftones fret."-Fret may alfo be derived from the Sax. frætwian, ornare.

Thatte Seint Peter had whan that he went
Upon the fee till Jefu Crift him hent:

700

He had a crois of latón ful of stones,

And in a glas he hadde pigges bones.

But with these relikes whanne that he fond

A poure perfone dwelling up on lond,
Upon a day he gat him more moneie

Than that the perfone gat in monethes tweie ;
And thus with fained flattering and japes

He made the perfone and the peple his apes.
But trewely to tellen atte laft,

705

He was in chirche a noble ecclefiaft:
Wel coude he rede a leffon or a storie,

710

But alderbest he fang an offertorie;

For wel he wifte whan that fong was fonge

He mufte preche and wel afile his tonge

715

To winne filver, as he right wel coude,
Therfore he fang the merier and loude,

Now have I told you fhortly in a claufe
Th'eftat, th' araie, the nombre, and eke the caufe,

.710. a noble ecclefiaft] It appears from hence that the Pardoner was an itinerant ecclefiaftick, of much the fame stamp with Frate Cipolla in The Decameron, vi. 10. By the ftat. 22 H. VIII. c. 12, all pro&ors and pardoners going about in any country without fufficient authority are to be treated as vagabonds. Their impofitions upon the credulity of the vulgar have been checked by feveral councils. See Du Cange in v. Queftiarii and Quæfiionarius, under which general names the venders of indulgences are included.

Volume 11.

E

Why that affembled was this compagnie

In Southwerk at this gentil hostelrie

720

That highte The Tabard, fafte by the Belle.

But now is time to you for to telle

How that we baren us that ilke night
Whan we were in that hostelrie alight;
And after wol I telle of our viage,
And all the remenant of our pilgrimage.
But firfte I praie you of your curtefie
That ye ne arette it not my vilanie,
Though that I plainly speke in this matere,
To tellen you hir wordes and hir chere,

Ne though I fpeke hir wordes proprely;
For this ye knowen al fo wel as I,

725

730

Who fo fhall telle a Tale after a man

He mofte reherfe as neighe as ever he can
Everich word, if it be in his charge,

735

All speke he never fo rudely and fo large,

Or elles he mofte tellen his Tale untrewe,

Or feinen thinges, or finden wordes newe:

He may not fpare although he were his brother;
He mofte as wel fayn o word as an other.
Crift fpake himself ful brode in holy writ,
And wel ye wote no vilanie is it:

740

Eke Plato fayeth, who fo can him rede,
The wordes mofte ben cofin to the dede.

.743. Eke Plato fayetb] This faying of Plato is quoted again, ver. 17156. Our Author probably took it from Boethius, b. iii. pr. 12. See alfo Rom. de la R. ver. 7465.

Alfo I praie you to forgive it me

All have I not fette folk in hir degree

Here in this Tale as that they fhulden stonde:
My wit is fhort ye may well understonde.

Gret chere made oure Hofte us everich on,
And to the fouper fette he us anon,

745

750

And ferved us with vitaille of the beste;

Strong was the win, and wel to drinke us lefte.

A femely man our Hofte was with alle

For to han ben a marfhal in an halle; large man he was, with eyen ftepe;

755

A fairer burgeis is ther non in Chepe:
Bold of his fpeche, and wife, and wel ytaught,
And of manhood elaked right him naught:
Eke therto was he right a mery man,
And after fouper plaien he began,

760

And spake of mirthe amonges other thinges
Whan that we hadden made our rekeninges,
And faide thus; Now Lordinges, trewely
Ye ben to me welcome right hertily,

.761. amonges] I have ventured to lengthen the common reading among by a fyllable, as the metre requires it, and Ch. ufes the word fo lengthened in other places. See ver. 6534; Ovide, amonges other thinges fmale

and ver. 9902;

Amonges other of his honest thinges.

I fufpect that the Sax. gemang had originally a termination in an, gemangan, like many other of the Saxon adverbs and pre-pofitions.

For by my trouthe, if that I fhal not lie,
I faw nat this yere fwiche a compagnie

At ones in this herberwe as is now;

Fayn wolde I do you mirthe and I wifte how;
And of a mirthe I am right now bethought

765

To don you efe, and it shall cofte you nought. 770
Ye gon to Canterbury; God you spede,

The blifsful martyr quite you your mede;
And wel I wat as ye gon by the way
Ye fhapen you to talken and to play;
For trewely comfort ne mirthe is non
To riden by the way dombe as the stou;
And therfore wold I maken you difport,

As I faid erft, and don you fome comfort.
And if you liketh alle by on affent

Now for to ftonden at my jugement,
And for to werchen as I fhal you fay

To-morwe, whan ye riden on the way,

Now by my faders foule that is ded

But ye be mery, fmitech of my .hed:

775

780

Hold up your hondes withouten more speche. 785
Our confeil was not longe for to feche;
Us thought it was not worth to make it wife,
And granted him withouten more avife,

And bad him fay his verdit as him lefte..

Lordinges, (quod he) now herkeneth for the befte;

V. 787. to make it wife] 'Fo make it a matter of wisdom or deliberation; fo in ver. 3978, 11535, he made it ftrangefignifies he made it a matter of difficulty.