Chaucer - The character of the Prioress

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 known as Madam Eglantine.

Full well she sang the services divine

Intoning through her nose, becomingly;

And fair she spoke her French, and fluently.

At table she had been well taught withal,

And never from her lips let morsels fall,

Nor dipped her fingers deep in sauce, but ate

With so much care the food upon her plate

That never driblet fell upon her breast.

In courtesy she had delight and zest.

Her upper lip was always wiped so clean

That in her cup was no iota seen

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

And certainly she was of great disport

And full pleasant, and amiable of port

And went to many pains to put on cheer

Of court, and very dignified appear,

And to be thought worthy of reverence.

But, to say something of her moral sense,

She was so charitable and piteous

That she would weep if she but saw a mouse

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

She had some little dogs, too, that she fed

On roasted flesh, or milk and fine white bread.

But sore she’d weep if one of them were dead,

Or if men smote it with a rod to smart:

For pity ruled her, and her tender heart.

Full properly her wimple pleated was.

Her nose was straight, her eyes as grey as glass,

Her mouth full small, and also soft and red;

But certainly she had a fair forehead;

It was almost a full span broad, I own,

For, truth to tell, she was not undergrown.

Full stylish was her cloak, I was aware.

Of coral small about her arm she’d bear

A string of beads, gauded all round with green;

And from there hung a brooch of golden sheen

On which there was first written a crowned “A,”

And under, Amor Vincit Omnia.

Taken from the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales