A deep aftrologer, that cou'd with ease
Caft the nativity of each disease,
Show at what punctual hour it fhou'd expire,
In terms which knaves invent, and fools admire.
The cause of ev'ry malady he knew,
Whether of cold, heat, moift, or dry, it grew.
Told which of those engender'd the disease;
'Twas but removing That, and you'd have ease.
Th' Apothecary waited his command;
Druggs and Electuaries were ftill at hand.
Whatever one prefcrib'd, the other made,
And each by turns advanc'd the mutual trade. !
He'd tell the wonders wrought by * Phœbus' fon,
What fame the great Hippocrates had won.
Well read in Galen, Celfus, Avicen,
In Diofcorides and Damafcen.
These names, and many more he had by rote,
Which to th' unlearn'd he never fail'd to quote,
No bible on his pagan fhelves had he,
It was prohibited the layety.
In diet fingular; young tender meat,
And easy of digeftion, he would eat.
At a rich patient's table, bold and free;
But at his own, he prais'd frugality.
Of scarlet Perfian filk his habit was,
And neatly lin'd with taffety, or gaufe.
Great were his gains, but mod'rate his expence;
He flourish'd in a time of peftilence.
Gold's the best cordial; yet he lov'd to fee
Coyn'd aurum rather than potabile.
The Wife of Bath.
Merry wife of Bath comes next in place,
But fomewhat deaf, with an autumnal face.
By trade a weaver, one who fcorn'd to grant
Her work out-done at Ipres, or at Gaunt.
No matron could with greater zeal incline
To pay her off'ring at the martyr's fhrine.
She neither patient, nor devout could be,
If any rivall'd her in charity.
In her own parifh fhe wou'd take the wall,
Before the proudest matron of 'em all:
Upon a Sunday ever trimly dreft,
She flaunted forth, the envy of the reff.
Large were her kerchiffs, yet more gorgeous made
With her own work, and full three pound they weigh'd:
Scarlet her hofe, her gloffy fhoes were new;
Bold was her face, and ruddy was its hue.
Not one of her five husbands could be found,
She laid 'em fafely up in holy ground.
With these she made a shift to pass her youth;
Such was this good wife's conftancy and truth
She travell'd far, pafs'd many a rapid stream,
Thrice faw the reliques of Jerusalem.
Rome and the Catacombs the knew full well,
Strange things of Cologne and its Kings cou'd tell;
Spain fhe had travell'd o'er from end to end,
And good St. James was very much her friend.
Of various haps and perils by the way,
Much had she known, and yet much more wou'd say.
Upon an ambling pad at eafe fhe fat,
Gingling the bitt, and flack'd her pace to chat:
A fteeple hat she wore upon her head,
Whofe ample brims were like a buckler fpread;
O'er her large hips a mantle fairly wrought;
Before, her kerchiff to a point was brought:
Like a rank rider, pointed fpurs she wore:
Of jefts fhe had an unexhausted store.
Her talk did notably love's art advance,
For she had practis'd long that old, new dancs.
Plowman follow'd, who had ftill at hand
Loads of manure t'enrich the grateful land;
An able, ftrong, laborious man was he,
Who liv'd with all in perfect charity.
He ferv'd God faithfully, nor hoarded pelf,
But lov'd his neighbour equal with himself.
Hard would he work, and freely would he give,
And oft' for God's fake did the poor relieve.
In dealing juft, with loffes not difmay'd:
In every kind his tythes he duly paid.
In a fhort coat he rode without a fleeve.
There was befide a Miller, and a Reeve,
A Sumner, and a Pardon-monger too,
A Steward, and my felf, were all the crew.
HE Miller, hardy as his own mill-ftones,
With brawny flesh, large finews, and ftrong
bones.
His ftrength to all the town was known too well;
In wrestling still he bore away the bell.
Short-fhoulder'd, knotty as a stubborn oak,
Hard to be bent, and harder to be broke..
Not one, fo far as he, could pitch a bar,
Or lift a weight, or swing it in the air.
He'd running, force a door with his hard head;
His beard, like any fox's tail, was red,
But ftrait, and even as a gard'ner's fpade.
Juft at the end of his huge nofe he had Ꭵ .
A large black wart, on that a tuft of hairs
Red, as the bristles of an old sow's ears:
His noftrils, like a furnace, black and wide;
A fword and buckler hanging on his fide.
A babler, with a gormandizing throat;
As letch'rous as a monkey or a goat..
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