ot shut
himself in his study, but who mingled among his fellow-men and noticed
them acutely. He says of the Friar:--

"His eyes twinkled in his heed aright,
As doon the sterres in the frosty night."

Our eyes and ears distinctly perceive the jolly Monk, as he canters
along:--

"And, whan he rood, men might his brydel here
Ginglen in a whistling wind as clere,
And eek as loude as dooth the chapel-belle."

II. Chaucer's pervasive, sympathetic humor is especially
characteristic. We can see him looking with twinkling eyes at the
Miller, "tolling thrice"; at the Monk, "full fat and in good point,"
hunting with his greyhounds, "swift as fowl in flight," or smiling
before a fat roast swan; at the Squire, keeping the nightingale
company; at the Doctor, prescribing the rules of astrology. The Nun
feels a touch of his humor:--

"Ful wel she song the service divyne,
Entuned in hir nose ful semely."

Of the lawyer, he says:--

"No-wher so bisy a man as he ther nas,
And yet he semed bisier than he was."

Sometimes Chaucer's humor is so delicate as to be lost on those who
are not quick-witted. Lowell instances the case of the Friar, who,
"before setting himself softly down, drives away the cat," and adds
what is true only of those who have acute understanding: "We know,
without need of more words, that he has chosen the snuggest corner."

His humor is often a graceful cloak for his serious philosophy of
existence. The humor in the _Prologue_ does not impair its worth to
the student of fourteenth-century life.

III. Although Chaucer's humor and excellence in lighter vein are such
marked characteristics, we must not forget his serious qualities; for
he has the Saxon seriousness as well as the Norman airiness. As he
looks over the struggling world, he says with a sympathetic heart:--

"Infinite been the sorwes and the teres
Of olde folk, and folk of tendre yeres."[35]

In like vein, we have:--

"This world nis but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we ben pilgrimes, passinge to and fro;
Deeth is an ende of every worldly sore."[36]

"Her nis non hoom, her nis but wildernesse.
Forthe, pylgrime, forthe! forthe, beste out of thi stal!
Knowe thi contree, look up, thank God of al!"[37]

The finest character in the company is that of the Parish Priest, who
attends to his flock like a good Samaritan:--

"But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taughte, and first he folwed it him-selv