That no man be so hardy, prest ne clerk,
Me to destourbe of Cristes holy werk.
And after that than tell I forth my tales.1
Bulles of popes, and of cardynales,
Of patriarkes, and of bisshops, I schewe,
And in Latyn speke I wordes fewe
To savore with my predicacioun,
And for to stere men to devocioun.
Thanne schewe I forth my longe crystal stoones,
I-crammed ful of cloutes and of boones,
Reliks thay ben, as wene thei echoon.
Than have I in latoun a schulder boon,
Which that was of an holy Jewes* scheep.
Good men,' say I, 'tak of my wordes keep;
If that this boon be waische in eny welle,
If cow, or calf, or scheep, or oxe swelle,
That eny worm hath ete, or worm i-stonge,
Tak water of that welle, and waisch his tonge,
And it is hool anoon. And forthermore
Of pokkes, and of scabbe, and every sore,
Schal every scheep be hool, that of this welle
Drynketh a draught. Tak heed eek what I telle;
If that the goode man, that the beest oweth,
Wol every wike, er that the cok him croweth,
1 This line is omitted in the Harl. MS., probably by a mere clerical error. It is restored from Speght and Tyrwhitt.
2 For savore Tyrwhitt reads saffron, and explains it as a metaphor from the spice saffron, which is used to give colour and flavour to meats. [His reading and explanation are correct.-W. W. S.]
3 The origin of the veneration for relics may be traced to Acts xix. Hence cloutes, or clothes, are among the Pardoner's stock.
4 This must be understood of some Jew before the Incarnation, for an unbelieving and reprobate Jew could hardly have been called holy. The shoulder bone of a sheep was supposed to possess some magical virtue, and was a common implement of divination. It is alluded to amongst other forms of sinful conjuration in The Persones Tale: But let us now go to thilke horrible sweryng of adjuracioun and conjuraciouns, as doon these false enchauntours or nigromanciens, in bacines ful of water, or in a bright swerd, in a cercle, or in a fuyr, or in the schulder bon of a scheep,' &c.
Fastynge, drynke of this welle a draught,
As thilke holy Jew oure eldres taught,
His beestes and his stoor schal multiplie.
And, sires, also it kelith jalousie.
For though a man be ful in jalous rage,
Let make with this water his potage,
And never schal he more his wyf mystrist,
Though he the soth of hir defaute wist;
Al hadde sche take prestes1 tuo or thre.
Here is a meteyn eek, that ye may see;
He that his honde put in this metayn,
He schal have multiplying of his grayn,
Whan he hath sowen, be it whete or otes,
So that ye offre pans or elles grootes.
And, men and wommen, oon thing warne
If eny wight be in this chirche now,
That hath doon synne orrible, that he
Dar nought for schame of it schryven be;
Or
ony womman, be sche yong or old,
That hath y-maad hir housbond cokewold,
Such folk schal have no power ne grace
To offre to my relikes in this place.
And who so fint him out of such blame,
Thay wol come up and offre in Goddes name,
And I assoile hem by the auctorite,
Which that by bulle was i-graunted me.2
By this gaude have I wonne every yeer
An hundred mark, syn I was pardoner.
I stonde lik a clerk in my pulpit,
And whan the lewed poeple is doun i-set,
I preche so as ye have herd before,
And telle hein an hondred japes more.
Than peyne I me to strecche forth my necke,
And est and west upon the poeple I bekke,
1 A sarcasm on the secular clergy.
2 The reader will observe the art of this. Every one, after such a declaration, would be anxious to prove himself out of such blame, free from such guilt, by coming up to offer to the relics.
As doth a dowfe, syttyng on a berne;1
Myn hondes and my tonge goon so yerne,
That it is joye to se my busynesse.
Of avarice and of such cursednesse
Is al my preching, for to make hem fre
To geve here pans, and namely unto me.
For myn entent is nought but for to wynne
And no thing for correccioun of synne.
I rekke never when thay ben i-beryed,
Though that here soules gon a blakeberyed."
'For certes many a predicacioun
Cometh ofte tyme of evel entencioun ;3
Som for plesauns of folk and flaterie,
To ben avaunced by ypocrisie;
And som for veine gloir, and som for hate.
For whan I dar not other weys debate,
Than wil I stynge him with my tonge smerte
In preching, so that he schal not asterte
To be diffamed falsly, if that he
Hath trespast to my brethren or to me.
For though I telle not his propre name,
Men schal wel knowe that it is the same
By signes, and by other circumstaunces.
Thus quyt I folk, that doon us displesaunces;
Thus put I out my venym under hiewe
Of holynes, to seme holy and trewe.
But schortly myn entent I wol devyse,
I preche no thing but of coveityse.
Therfor my teem is yit, and ever was,
Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas.
'Thus can I preche agayn the same vice
Which that I use, and that is avarice.
1 This is a most felicitous simile. The strutting and bowing of a cock-pigeon on the roof of a barn recals the action of a popular orator with ludicrous exactness.
2 [This phrase means 'go a-blackberrying,' i.e., go where they list. So also in the Prologe of the Wyf of Bathe, goon a-caterwawet means 'go acaterwauling.' See vol. i. p. 317.-W. W. S.]
But though my self be gulty in the synne,
Yit can I make other folk to twynne
From avarice, and soone to repent.
But that is not my principal entent;
I preche no thing but for coveitise.
Of this matier it ought i-nough suffise.
"Than telle I hem ensamples many1oon
Of olde thinges longe tyme agoon.
For lewed poeple loven tales olde;
Which thinges can thay wel report and holde.
What? trowe ye, whiles I may preche❜
And wynne gold and silver for I teche,
That I wil lyve in povert wilfully?
Nay, nay, I thought it never trewely.
For I wol preche and begge in sondry londes.
I wil do no labour with myn hondes,
Ne make basketis3 and lyve therby,
Bycause I wil nought begge ydelly.
I wol noon of thapostles counterfete;
I wol have money, wolle, chese, and whete,
Al were it geven of the prestes* page,
Or of the porest wydow in a village,
And schold hir children sterve for famyn.
Nay, I wol drinke licour of the wyn,
And have a joly wenche in every toun.
But herkneth, lordynges, in conclusioun,
Youre likyng is that I schal telle a tale.
Now have I dronk a draught of corny ale,
By God, I hope I schal telle yow a thing,
That schal by resoun be at your liking;
The Harl. MS. reads may, evidently by mistake. The reading has been amended from Tyrwhitt.
2 In this line the first syllable of whiles, occurring after the cæsura, takes the place of an iambus, and is to be pronounced emphatically.
3 Making baskets was the employment of the Egyptian monks in the early ages.-See Fleury's Eccl. Hist.
4 The Lansd. MS. reads porest page, in which it is followed by Tyrwhitt; but the reading in the text is more expressive.
For though my self be a ful vicious man,
A moral tale yit I yow telle can,
Which I am wont to preche, for to wynne.
Now hold your pees, my tale I wol byginne.'
THE PARDONERES TALE.
[THE outline of this very beautiful tale is to be found in the Cento Novelle Antiche, Nov. lxxxii., and it was, no doubt, a popular apologue in Chaucer's time. The technical and perfunctory manner in which the Pardoner successively addresses himself to each of his topics, displays characteristically his insincerity in the cause of morality which he advocates; and the tale itself furnishes a curious example of the mode in which moral instruction was sometimes conveyed in mediæval preaching; for the Pardoner informs his audience that he has earned the tale for the purpose of introducing it in his ermons.]
Flaundres whilom was a companye
Of yonge folkes, that haunteden' folye,
As ryot, hasard, stywes, and tavernes ;
Wher as with lutes, harpes, and gyternes,
Thay daunce and play at dees bothe day and night,
And ete also, and drynk over her might;
Thurgh which thay doon the devyl sacrifise
Withinne the develes temple, in cursed wise,
By superfluite abhominable.
Her othes been so greet and so dampnable,
That it is grisly for to hiere hem swere.
Our blisful Lordes body thay to-tere ;*
1 The Harl. MS. reads haunted, which is not strictly grammatical, according to the English of Chaucer's time, and, besides, spoils the metre. 2 They swore by the different parts of our Lord's body, a profane custom still observable in the vulgar oath, by blood and wounds.'-See vol. i. p. 214, noter. This was represented by the preachers of that age as being a crime analogous to that of the Jews, in tearing our Lord's body in pieces.
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