There was also a nun, a PRIORESS,

Who, in her smiling, modest was and coy;

Her greatest oath was but \"By Saint Eloy!\"

And she was called Madam Eglantine.

Very well she sang the service divine,

Intoning through her nose, becomingly;

And she spoke French fairly and fluently,

After the school of Stratford-at-the-Bow,

For French of Paris style she didn\'t know.

At table her manners were well taught withall,

And never let morsels from her lips fall,

Nor dipped her fingers deep in sauce, but ate

With so much care the food upon her plate

That no drop could fall upon her breast.

In courtesy she had delight and zest.

Her upper lip was always wiped so clean

That on her cup no speck or spot was seen

Of grease, when she had drunk her draught of wine.

Graciously she reached for food to dine.

And certainly delighting in good sport,

She was very pleasant, amiable - in short.

She was in pains to imitate the cheer

Of courtliness, and stately manners here,

And would be held worthy of reverence.

But, to speak about her moral sense,

She was so charitable and solicitous

That she would weep if she but saw a mouse

Caught in a trap, whether it were dead or bled.

She had some little dogs, that she fed

On roasted flesh, or milk and fine white bread.

But sorely she wept if one of them were dead,

Or if men smote it with a stick to smart:

Then pity ruled her, and her tender heart.

Very seemly her pleated wimple was;

Her nose was fine; her eyes were grey as glass;

Her mouth was small and therewith soft and red;

But certainly her forehead was fairly spread;

It was almost a full span broad, I own,

To tell the truth, she was not undergrown.

Her cloak, as I was well aware, had a graceful charm

She wore a small coral trinket on her arm

A string of beads and gauded all with green;

And therefrom hung a brooch of golden sheen

Whereon there was engraved a crowned \"A,\"

And under, Amor vincit omnia.