Note 26 — THE WIFE OF BATH.
Reading edition
Tearing garments, and throwing dust upon the head was a custom with some ancient nations, but was not an English habit, and there is no allusion to it in the text of Chaucer:
When that my fourthe husband was on bier, I wept algate, and made a sorry cheer, As wives musten for it is usage; And with my kerchief covered my visage; But, for that I was purveyed of a mate, I wept but small, and that I undertake.
The hard-hearted selfishness which does not bestow a thought upon the dead, being solely intent upon enjoying existence with the living, comes out in a yet more odious light when she narrates her feelings at the funeral. Her mind is entirely taken up with the young clerk, and mainly with admiration of his figure:
When that I saw him go After the bier, methought he had a pair Of legges and of feet so clean and fair That all my heart I gave unto his hold.