CANTERBURY TALES.
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tually, both of his produce and live stock. He was dressed in a tabard,[1] and rode upon a mare. There were also a Reeve,[2] and a Miller; a Summoner,[3] a Pardoner,[4] a Manciple,[5] and myself.
The Miller was a hardy churl, brawny and large of bone. He always bore away the prize ram in wrestling matches. He was short shouldered, broad and stubby. Massive indeed was the door that he could not heave from its hinges, or crack with the butting of his head. His beard was sandy, like a fox or a sow, and cut broad and square in the shape of spade. He had a wart on his nose, adorned with a tuft, red as the bristles of a hog's ear. His nostrils were wide and black; and mouth
- ↑ A jacket without sleeves; worn in the first instance by noblemen in the wars: in later times, by heralds, and was their coat of arms in service. From Chaucer's having clad the ploughman in such a garment, he probably meant to convey the hint that it was a cast-off dress.
- ↑ A steward or bailiff.
- ↑ An officer employed to summon delinquents to appear in the ecclesiastical courts; now called an apparitor.
- ↑ A seller of pardons or indulgences from the Pope.
- ↑ An officer who has the care of purchasing victuals for an inn of court. The office still subsists in several colleges as well as inns of court.
