ertain story,
As old books us maken memory,
Of hem that stood in great prosperity,
And be fallen out of high degree,
Into miserie, and ended wretchedly.

Though a man of luxury, pride and pleasure, he is a master of art and
learning, though affecting to despise it. Those who can think that
the proud huntsman and noble housekeeper, Chaucer's Monk, is intended
for a buffoon or burlesque character, know little of Chaucer.

For the Host who follows this group, and holds the centre of the
cavalcade, is a first-rate character, and his jokes are no trifles;
they are always, though uttered with audacity, and equally free with
the Lord and the Peasant--they are always substantially and weightily
expressive of knowledge and experience; Henry Baillie, the keeper of
the greatest Inn of the greatest City, for such was the Tabarde Inn in
Southwark near London, our Host, was also a leader of the age.

By way of illustration I instance Shakespeare's Witches in _Macbeth_.
Those who dress them for the stage, consider them as wretched old
women, and not, as Shakespeare intended, the Goddesses of Destiny;
this shows how Chaucer has been misunderstood in his sublime work.
Shakespeare's Fairies also are the rulers of the vegetable world, and
so are Chaucer's; let them be so considered, and then the poet will be
understood, and not else.

But I have omitted to speak of a very prominent character, the
Pardoner, the Age's Knave, who always commands and domineers over the
high and low vulgar. This man is sent in every age for a rod and
scourge, and for a blight, for a trial of men, to divide the classes
of men; he is in the most holy sanctuary, and he is suffered by
Providence for wise ends, and has also his great use, and his grand
leading destiny.

His companion the Sompnour is also a Devil of the first magnitude,
grand, terrific, rich, and honoured in the rank of which he holds the
destiny. The uses to society are perhaps equal of the Devil and of the
Angel; their sublimity who can dispute?

In daunger had he at his own gise,
The young girls of his diocese,
And he knew well their counsel, &c.

The principal figure in the next group is the Good Parson; an Apostle,
a real Messenger of Heaven, sent in every age for its light and its
warmth. This man is beloved and venerated by all, and neglected by
all: he serves all, and is served by none. He is, according to
Christ's definition, the greatest of his age: y