mounted that extraordinary head of his with a garland large enough for an alehouse sign at a fair: a spacious cake also seemed to serve the two purposes of buckler and provender.
A gentle Pardoner rode also with this wight—his friend and compeer. He was originally from Ronceveaux, and had now newly arrived from the Court of Rome. The burthen of the song, 'Come hither, love, to me,' was constantly running in his head, which he shouted at the full stretch of his lungs; the Summoner all the while accompanying him with a stiff bass, as if it had been a double clarion. This Pardoner had smooth yellow hair, which hung by ounces about him, like a strike of flax, overspreading his shoulders. In the gaiety of his heart he wore no hood, but kept it packed up in his wallet; so he rode with his head bare, save and except a cap, in which was fastened a vernicle.[1] He prided himself upon
- ↑ A picture of Jesus Christ in miniature. It was usual with persons returning from pilgrimages to bring with them certain tokens of the several places which they had visited. The Pardoner, therefore, had this vernicle in his cap in token of his visit to Rome, where in the church of St. Peter was preserved the miniature in question, miraculously imprinted upon a handkerchief.
