Charles Cowden Clarke

“ A better priest I know not, far or near. He craved neither pomp nor reverence, or betrayed any affected scrupulousness of conscience: but the doctrine of Christ and his apostles he taught with simplicity, first following it himself.
He had a brother with him—a Ploughman, who had in his time scattered many a load of dung: a thorough hard labourer, living in peace and perfect charity with all men. Above all things, and at all times, he best loved his God and Creator, and then his neighbour as himself. When it lay in his power he would finish a job of threshing for a poor man without hire. ”

“ But if he found one with a good warm purse, he would tell him he need not care for the Archdeacon's malediction just as if a man's soul were in his purse; for in purse he should be punished. 'The purse,' would he say, 'is the Archdeacon's hell:' in all which I pronounce him to be an arch deceiver; since the guilty man should ever stand in awe of a curse, which will destroy the soul, as absolution will preserve it. ”

“ He was the expertest beggar in the convent, and obtained a grant that none of the brethren should cross him in his haunts; for if a widow had barely a shoe to her foot, so sweet to her ear was his, 'As it was in the beginning,' &c., that he would extort a farthing from her before his departure. Of him it might be said that 'the labourer was of more worth than his hire.' On settling days he was a man of importance, not like a cloisterer, or poor scholar with his threadbare cloak, but rather as master of the order, or even like the Pope himself. ”

“ This noble example he kept before his flock; that first he himself performed, what he afterwards preached, joining this figure with his admonition: 'If gold will rust, what will not iron do?' For, if a priest in whom we confide become tarnished, a wonder if the frail layman keep himself unpolluted. The priest should set an example of purity to his flock; for how shameful a sight is a foul shepherd and cleanly sheep!
He did not let out his benefice to hire, and desert his flock to run up to London for the purpose of seeking promotion ”

“ In that pleasant season of the year when the April showers and the soft west wind make the grass and flowers to spring up in every mead and heath, and birds welcome the shining days, it is the custom with people from all parts of the country to set forth on pilgrimages to foreign lands, and more especially to pay their vows at the shrine raised in Canterbury to the holy martyr St. ”

“ Augustin stick to his day-labour!' For himself, he was a good hard rider outright, and kept his greyhounds, which were as swift as swallows before rain. Coursing was his sole pleasure, and to gratify it he spared no cost. ”

“ He was better acquainted with all the taverns, tapsters, and hostlers in the town than with the strolling beggars, the sick, and the miserable: for a man of his worth and calling, it was more convenient as well as befitting, that he should cultivate the acquaintance of the rich, and dispensers of good things, than with the diseased and the mendicant. ”

“ Sweetly would he dispense the duties of shrift, [6] and pleasant was his absolution. Whenever he expected a handsome pittance, the penance he enjoined was always light; for it is a sign a man has been well shriven when he makes presents to a poor convent. ”

“ One other attendant, and no more, had our Knight upon the present occasion; a Yeoman, dressed in a green coat and hood. He had a head like a nut, [1] and a face of the same colour. In his hand he carried a sturdy bow, and at his side under his belt a sheaf of bright sharp arrows, winged with peacock feathers. His arm was defended by a bracer; [2] on one side hung a sword and buckler, and on the other a well-appointed dagger, keen as a spear. At his breast hung a silver ornament, also a horn, the girdle or baldrick of which was green. ”

“ For dress she wore a neatly-made cloak, and a carefully-crimped neckerchief; on her arm was a pair of beads of small coral, garnished with green, from which depended a handsome gold brooch, with a great A engraved upon it, and underneath, the motto, 'Amor vincit omnia.' (Love overcomes all things.)
In her train was another Nun, who acted as her chaplain; also three Priests.
The next in succession was a Monk, one well calculated to rule his order. He was a bold rider, and fond of hunting. A manly man, and worthy to have been an abbot. ”

“ At this time of the year, I, Geoffry Chaucer, the writer of these Tales, was remaining at the sign of the Tabard, in Southwark, ready to set forth on my pilgrimage to Canterbury. In the evening a company of about nine and twenty persons, bound on the same errand, had assembled in the inn ”

“ Our host set before us at supper an excellent entertainment; the food and the wine were of the best quality. He was a comely man, large in person, with sunken eyes, and worthy to have been created marshal in a hall. The whole ward of Cheap cannot boast a fairer citizen. Bold and manly, plain and sensible in speech, at the same time merry withal, he thus addressed the company after we had all paid our reckonings. 'Now, my masters, permit me to welcome you heartily to your inn ”