Deeth is an ende of every worldly sore."[36]

"Her nis non hoom, her nis but wildernesse.
Forthe, pylgrime, forthe! forthe, beste out of thi stal!
Knowe thi contree, look up, thank God of al!"[37]

The finest character in the company is that of the Parish Priest, who
attends to his flock like a good Samaritan:--

"But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taughte, and first he folwed it him-selve."

IV. The largeness of his view of human nature is remarkable. Some
poets, either intentionally or unintentionally, paint one type of men
accurately and distort all the rest. Chaucer impartially portrays the
highest as well as the lowest, and the honest man as well as the
hypocrite. The pictures of the roguish Friar and the self-denying
Parish Priest, the Oxford Scholar and the Miller, the Physician and
the Shipman, are painted with equal fidelity to life. In the breadth
and kindliness of his view of life, Chaucer is a worthy predecessor of
Shakespeare. Dryden's verdict on Chaucer's poetry is: "Here is God's
plenty."

V. His love of nature is noteworthy for that early age. Such lines as
these manifest something more than a desire for rhetorical effect in
speaking of nature's phenomena:--

"Now welcom somer, with thy sonne softe,
That hast this wintres weders over-shake,
And driven awey the longe nightes blake[38]!"[39]