Page:Tales from Chaucer.djvu/96

 and knight of the shire. Among all the country gentlemen round, there was not his compeer. At his girdle, which was as white as morning milk, hung a dagger and a silken purse.

A and a, a , a , and a worker of , members of a solemn and large fraternity, were all clothed in the same costume. Their furniture was all spick and span new. Their knives were not of the common description, mounted with brass, but wrought with pure silver. Their girdles and pouches also were equally costly. Each seemed to be of the respectable class of burgesses, who take the uppermost seats in the Guildhall. Their grave and sensible demeanour befitted them for the office of aldermen. They were men of landed estate and wealthy in cattle; and this their wives had no objection to, for it is a fine thing to be styled 'Madam,' and to walk, with your train supported like a queen, in the first ranks to church.