Of their insinuations as to the kind of tale he is likely to tell if left to himself, he takes not the slightest notice. His tongue loosened by the ale, he begins with a cynical confession of his methods as a popular preacher.
“Lordings,” quod he, “in chirches whan I preche
I peyne me to han an hauteyn[115] speche,
And ringe it out as round as gooth a belle,
For I can al by rote that I telle.[116]
My theme is alwey oon, and ever was—
‘Radix malorum est Cupiditas.’”
Having thus warned his hearers against the love of money, he proceeds to show his credentials, sprinkling a few Latin terms here and there in his speech:—
“To saffron with my predicacioun[117]
And for to stire men to devocioun,”
and then shows his relics, the shoulder-bone of “an holy Jewes shepe,” a miraculous mitten which will cause the crops of the man who wears it to increase manifold:—
“By this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer,
An hundred mark sith I was Pardoner”—
a pillow-case, which he swears is our Lady’s veil, etc., etc. After this he preaches a vehement sermon against avarice, the object of which, he frankly explains, is
“... for to make hem free
To yeve her pens, and namely unto me.
For my entente is nat but for to winne,
And no-thing for correccioun of sinne.
I rekke never, whan that they ben beried,
Though that her soules goon a-blakeberied.”[118]
If anyone has offended him, he takes care so to point at him in what he says that the reference is unmistakable and the whole congregation understands who it is that is being denounced:—
“Thus quyte I folk that doon us displeasances.”