NICHOLAS1, NICHOLAY. Nicholas is the student who boards with John the carpenter and his wife Alison in The Miller's Tale. He hangs herbs in his room to sweeten the air, and he is expert at "derne love." He is also an astrologer and has his "augrym stones" or arithmetic counters neatly spaced on shelves above his bed. His scheme to spend a night with Alison is successful but includes some painful surprises. [Absolon2: Alison1: John1: Nicholas2]
Nicholas occurs twenty times medially, MillT 3288, 3303, 3396, 3401, 3403, 3409, 3420, 3424, 3444, 3472, 3492, 3499, 3513, 3538, 3721, 3798, 3806, 3810, 3832, 3853, and fourteen times in final rhyming position, MillT 3199, 3272, 3285, 3298, 3386, 3397, 3413, 3426, 3462, 3487, 3526, 3653, 3742, RvT 3856. Nicholay appears once in medial position, MillT 3477; and four times in final rhyming position, MillT 3437, 3579, 3648, 3824.