distinctions, also levelled those which wealth and power naturally
created among the higher class. Yet chivalry did not exalt woman
outside of noble ranks. The plebeian woman neither has the graces
of the high-born lady, nor does she excite that reverence for the
sex which marked her condition in the feudal castle. "Tournaments
and courts of love were not framed for village churls, but for
high-born dames and mighty earls."

Chaucer in his description of women in ordinary life does not seem
to have a very high regard for them. They are weak or coarse or
sensual, though attentive to their domestic duties, and generally
virtuous. An exception is made of Virginia, in the doctor's tale,
who is represented as beautiful and modest, radiant in simplicity,
discreet and true. But the wife of Bath is disgusting from her
coarse talk and coarser manners. Her tale is to show what a woman
likes best, which, according to her, is to bear rule over her
husband and household. The prioress is conventional and weak,
aping courtly manners. The wife of the host of the Tabard inn is a
vixen and shrew, who calls her husband a milk-sop, and is so
formidable with both her tongue and her hands that he is glad to
make his escape from her whenever he can. The pretty wife of the
carpenter, gentle and slender, with her white apron and open dress,
is anything but intellectual,--a mere sensual beauty. Most of
these women are innocent of toothbrushes, and give and receive
thrashings, and sing songs without a fastidious taste, and beat
their servants and nag their husbands. But they are good cooks,
and understand the arts of brewing and baking and roasting and
preserving and pickling, as well as of spinning and knitting and
embroidering. They are supreme in their households; they keep the
keys and lock up the wine. They are gossiping, and love to receive