but esy of dispense; He kepte that he wan in pestilence; For gold in physike is a cordial; Therefore he loved gold in special.
Chaucer deals tenderly with the lawyers; yet, granting his sergeant of the law discretion and wisdom, a knowledge of cases even "from the time of King Will," and fees and perquisites quite proportional, he adds, Nowher so besy a man as he ther n' as, And yet he seemed besier than he was.
HIS PRESENTATIONS OF WOMAN .-- Woman seems to find hard judgment in this work.

Madame Eglantine, the prioress, with her nasal chanting, her English-French, "of Stratford-atte-Bow," her legion of smalle houndes, and her affected manner, is not a flattering type of woman's character, and yet no doubt she is a faithful portrait of many a prioress of that day.
And the wife of Bath is still more repulsive.

She tells us, in the prologue to her story, that she has buried five husbands, and, buxom still, is looking for the sixth.

She is a jolly _compagnon de voyage_, had been thrice to Jerusalem, and is now seeking assoil for some little sins at Canterbury.

And the host's wife, as he describes her, is not by any means a pleasant helpmeet for an honest man.