out of
it; shirt and skin make one, to use a familiar phrase of Montaigne's;
his tale resembles a sermon, and he concludes as though he were in
church:

Now, goode men, God forgeve yow your trespas ...
I have relikes and pardon in my male
As faire as any man in Engelond ...
It is an honour to everich that is heer,
That ye mowe have a suffisant pardoneer
Tassoille yow, in contree as ye ryde,
For aventures which that may bityde.
Peraventure ther may falle oon or two
Doun of his hors, and breke his nekke atwo.
Look what a seuretee is it to yow alle
That I am in your felaweship y-falle,
That may assoille yow, bothe more and lasse,
Whan that the soule shal fro the body passe.
I rede that our hoste heer shal biginne,
For he is most envoluped in sinne.
Com forth sir hoste, and offre first anon,
And thou shalt kisse the reliks everichon,
Ye, for a grote! unbokel anon thy purs![534]

A most happy idea! Mine host makes a reply which cannot be repeated.

In other cases the personage is so wordy and impetuous that it is
impossible to stop him, or set him right, or interrupt him; he cannot
make up his mind to launch into his narrative; he must needs remain
himself on the stage and talk about his own person and belongings; he
alone is a whole comedy. One must perforce keep silence when the Wife of
Bath begins to talk, irresistible gossip, chubby-faced, over-fed,
ever-buzzing, inexhaustible in speech, never-failing in arguments, full
of glee. She talks about what she knows, about her specialty; her
specialty is matrimony; she has had five husbands, "three of hem were
gode and two were badde;" the last is still living, but she is already
thinking of the sixth, because she does not like to wait, and because
husbands are perishable things; they do not last long with her; in her
eyes the weak sex is the male sex. She is not going to break her heart
about a husband who gives up the ghost; her conscience is easy; the
spouse departs quite ready for a better world:

By God, in erthe I was his purgatorie,
For which I hope his soule be in glorie.

Some praise celibacy, or reason about husbands' rights; the merry gossip
will answer them. She discusses the matter thoroughly; sets forth the
pros and cons; allows her husband to speak, then speaks herself; she has
the best arguments in the world; her husband, too, has excellent ones,
but it is she who has th