And fwiche he was ypreved often fithes; He coude in litel thing have fuffifance : 490 Wide was his parifh, and houfes fer afonder, But he ne left nought for no rain ne thonder, In fikeneffe and in mifchief to vifite 495 The ferreft in his parish moche and lite Upon his fete, and in his hand a staf: For if a preeft be foule on whom we truft But dwelt at home and kepte wel his fold, 505 510 So that the wolf ne made it not mifcarie: 515 520 To drawen folk to heven with faireneffe, By good enfample, was his befineffe; But it were any perfone obftinat, What fo he were of highe or low estat, Him wolde he fnibben fharply for the nones: 525 He taught, but first he folwed it himfelve. 530 With him ther was a Plowman, was his brother, That hadde ylaid of dong ful many a fother; 535 And than his neighbour right as himfelve. He wolde thresh, and therto dike and delve, Withouten hire, if it lay in his might. 540 .528. fpiced confcience] This phrafe occurs again ver.6017, But I do not underland it. His tithes paied he ful fayre and wel Both of his propre fwinke and his catel. In a tabard he rode upon a mere. Ther was alfo a Reve, and a Millere, A Manciple, and myself; ther n'ere no mo. 545 550 He was short fhuldered, brode, a thikke gnarre, 'Ther n'as no dore that he n'olde heve of barre And therto brode as though it were a spade. 555 His nofe-thirles blacke were and wide: A fwerd and bokeler bare he by his fide: 560 His mouth as wide was as a forneis: He was a jangler and a Goliardeis, v. 550. the ram] This was the ufual prize at wrestlingmatches. See below, ver. 13671, and Gamelyn, ver. 343, 555M. Paris mentions a wrestling-match at Weltminster in the year 1222, at which a ram was the prize, p. 265. .562. a Goliardeis] Un Goliardois, Fr. Goliardus, or Goliardenfis, Lat. This jovial fect feems to have been fo called from Golias, the real or affumed name of a man of wit toward the end of the 12th century, who wrote the Apocalypfis Golie and other And that was most of finne and harlotries: For whether that he paide or toke by taille That he was ay before in good eftate: 565 570 pieces in burlesque Latin rhymes, fome of which have been falfely attributed to Walter Map. See Tanner's Bibl. Brit. in v. Golias, and Du Cange in v. Goliardus. There is a poem by one of this sea in mf. Bod. 3869, Fames, 32, which is entitled Diag cujufdam Goliardi Anglici, and begins thus; Omnibus in Gallia, Anglus Goliardus, The laft ftanza is this; Summa falus omnium, filius Mariæ, Ad dies ufque ultimos Enoch et Elya. In feveral authors of the 12th century, quoted by Du Cange, the Goliardi are claffed with the joculatores et bufones. .565. a thomb of gold] If the allufion be, as is moft probable, to the old proverb, Every honeft miller has a thumb "of gold," this pallage may mean that our Miller, notwithftanding his thefts, was an honest miller, i. e. as hone as hie brethren. Now is not that of God a ful fayre grace Of maisters had he mo than thries ten 575 $80 To maken him live by his propre good In honour detteles, but if he were wood, In any cas that mighte fallen or happe; Ther w? W 585 590 |