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 own account, as great in hearing confession as a curate. Sweetly would he dispense the duties of shrift, and pleasant was his absolution. Whenever he expected a handsome pittance, the penance he enjoined was always light; for it is a sign a man has been well shriven when he makes presents to a poor convent.

His tippet was constantly stored with articles of cutlery and knick-knacks, which he distributed among the good wives in his perambulations. To these pleasant qualities, which made him everywhere a welcome guest, he added the grace of being a performer on the lute and a merry singer. In figure he was as well made and strong as a champion of wrestlers; and the skin of his neck was as white as the lady-lily. He was better acquainted with all the taverns, tapsters, and hostlers in the town than with the strolling beggars, the sick, and the miserable: for a man of his worth and calling, it was more convenient as well as befitting, that he should cultivate the acquaintance of the rich, and dispensers of good