Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/600

 596 Curry and haue lytill of manhode, and i-likenyd to women." 17 Here, exactly as in Chaucer, we find that the high, thin voice and glaring eyes are directly associated with shameless impudence, gluttony, and reveling. Long, stringy yellow hair, like the thin voice, indicates impotence and lack of manhood: Capilli molles et ultra modum tenues rubei et rari penuriam sanguinis, ener- vem, sine virtute ac femininum animum et quanto rariores fuerint, tanto magis subdolum. 18 Of the long, slim neck Go- clenio says: Collum longum & gracile, garrulos, superbos, & malorum morum; 19 and concerning the complete absence of beard he affirms: Virum natura imberbem mulierosis moribus dolosis praeditum, & quandoque impotentem in Venere dicito. Subinde tamen singulare ac rarum ingenium prodit. Exempla sunt in promptu. 20 The Pardoner is an example. That he is an abandoned rascal delighting in hypocrisy and possessed of a colossal impudence, no one can doubt after hearing his shame- less confession and witnessing his attempt to hypnotize the Host; that he is a glutton and a typical tavern reveler is re- vealed by the fact that he calls for cakes and ale before he can properly relate a "moral tale;" that he is a man of no mean ingenuity and of considerable cleverness is proclaimed by the amount of his yearly income from the practice of chicanery and fraud; and that his lack of beard and his goat-like voice indicate impotence, or at least effeminacy, Chaucer plainly affirms, A voys he hadde as smal as hath a goot; No berd hadde he, ne never sholde have, As smothe it was as it were late y-shave; I trowe he were a gelding or a mare. 21 "Ibid., p. 231/8. 18 Scrip, physiog., Foerster, II, p. 22. Rudolpho Goclenio agrees in sub- stance (Physiognomica et Chiromantica Specialia, Hamburg!, 1661, p. 35), and adds regarding the color: Valde vero flavi et albicantes rudelatem, magnitatem et rusticitatem notant, p. 37. He states further: Sed valdi ruffi insipientiam, iracundiam et insidias; imprudentiam et animi malignitatem indicant, etc., p. 38. 19 Ibid., p. 84. (But for a contrary opinion cf. Admantius, in Scrip, physiog. vet., Franzius, pp. 259, 391). Ibid., p. 82. w Skeat, C. T., A. 688 ff. In most editions of Chaucer the first line of this quotation is followed by a period as tho it were an isolated fragment of informa- tion incidentally introduced. Cf. Skeat, Oxford Chaucer- Liddell, Chaucer;