* * * * *
Wide was his parish and houses fer asonder,
But he left nought for ne rain no thonder,
In sickness and in mischief to visite
The ferrest in his parish, moche and lite.
Upon his fete, and in his hand a staf,
This noble example to his shepe he yaf,
That first he wrought and afterward he taught.
Chaucer's description of the poor parson, which loses much by being
curtailed, has proved to be a model for all poets who have drawn the
likeness of an earnest pastor from that day to ours, among whom are
Herbert, Cowper, Goldsmith, and Wordsworth; but no imitation has equalled
this beautiful model. When urged by the host,
Tell us a fable anon, for cocke's bones,
he quotes St. Paul to Timothy as rebuking those who tell fables; and,
disclaiming all power in poetry, preaches them such a stirring discourse
upon penance, contrition, confession, and the seven deadly sins, with
their remedies, as must have fallen like a thunderbolt upon this careless,
motly crew; and has the additional value of giving us Chaucer's epitome of
sound doctrine in that bigoted and ignorant age: and, eminently sound and
holy as it is, it rebukes the lewdness of the other stories, and, in point
of morality, neutralizes if it does not justify the lewd teachings of the
work, or in other words, the immorality of the age.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126