shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury, he had been letted and prevented thereof by aiding the Bishop of Ely in plotting out and founding Henry's Chapel. "Therefore," said he, "good Richard, my dear son in Christ, I pray you that you will undertake this travel for me, and it shall peradventure be of special good unto us both. I trow that I have often wished to behold the king's most stately chapel completed, because I do well ween that the earth shall scarcely have its fellow; but such was not the will of God, and to Him 1 gladly go hence, far from the building of this temple unto a better: Domum,'-as the blessed 'Postle Powle well calleth the many-mansioned house of the Father of our Lord,- Domum non manufactum, eternam in cœlis;' house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

And with these, and the like Christian aspirations, went he unto his rest; and as soon as I might after his burial, in the second week in Lent,* what time pilgrims do commonly journey unto Canterbury, I joined me unto a party then presently travelling thither, and lodging at the ancient and famous Tabard hostel in Southwark. We set forth about the hour of Prime on a fair fresh morning, being Tuesday, the 18th day of February, purposing to spend a month on our pilgrimage, and to return again unto London towards the feast of Easter.

Thus, therefore, did I behold the renowned shrine of St. Thomas ere the late boisterous son

*In the year 1505, Ash-Wednesday fell upon February 5th, and Easter Sunday on March 23d.

of Harry Tudor had despoiled it, and even blotted the name of the Archbishop from the calendars and service-books of the church; and well I wot that there were few sepulchres more resplendent than that wherein the remains of his body rested, unto the which it was transferred by the wise cardinal Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. The said shrine stood upon high, covered by a carved wooden box, which was drawn up by cords, and disclosed unto our view a tomb, whereof the basest part was of massive gold, for every thing around it sparkled and shined with very large and rare jewels. Then did the Prior recount unto us the names of their several donors, touching each with a white wand, and telling the name and price of the gem; and in truth most of them were the gifts of sovereign princes. But I beheld also what the monks of Canterbury feign, as I think, to esteem much beyond these riches, namely, the reliques of St. Thomas: such as his leg, like a long thin reed, plated over with silver; his whole face set in gold and jewels; and his coarse gown and sudarium, yet covered with the stain of his blood. There were, likewise, in this most ancient church many other sights of great pomp and glory, which have since been despoiled and ruined, when that the late Henry's visiters plundered the riches of Canterbury; being the blessed Virgin's shrine in the vaults beneath, and the vast pomp of vestments and golden furniture in the Vestiaria. Nevertheless, I noted in one place, a little wooden altar unto the holy Mary, which is reported to be very ancient, and in truth it might have belonged unto the church

when her pastors could declare "silver and gold have we none," albeit they had the greater wealth of saying unto such as were sick, "Arise and walk!"--And of late years, in my retreat from the world, I have pondered much and earnestly upon men's costly and almost boundless building, beautifying, and enriching churches; and, peradventure, my thoughts do somewhat differ from those that I had at the time whereof I now write. Some, I trow, do it for fame after their deaths; others, to make restitution of ill-gotten riches: and, questionless, some out of pure devotion unto God and his service; yet cannot I but think that such great wealth hath been the main cause of the vicious lives and pride of the late monks of England. It is full hard to keep a holy course with an abundance of this world's goods, or to carry a flowing cup without spilling; but I nevertheless deem it sacrilegious plunder to seize, as the second Harry Tudor hath of late done, upon the possessions of the churches and monasteries, and confiscate them unto himself, depriving their priests and brethren of their support and shelter, because they were so hapless as to have riches. Certes, in all churches and religious houses, I would have the vestments and vessels grave and stately, fitted unto the holy service and the sovereignty of God: but to what purpose is it that men do spend all their substance upon golden fonts and candlesticks, images and organs, rare sculptures and 'broidered hangings for our earthly temples, when so many of our brethren and sisters of mankind,-Christ's living temples, be ready to perish with hunger and thirst?

Howbeit, it was of the glories of these things

that the company of pilgrims did most speak, what time we returned unto the Tabard hostel in Southwark some ten days before Easter, and were taking a parting supper together with our host. All men do well know that broad and spacious inn, with its wide gate-way opening unto the street, and the great court within, and galleries of lodging-rooms round about it; and it seemeth that almost all men repair unto it, for, beside the party with which I had now returned, there were divers going unto Canterbury against Easter, or travelling from other shrines back into the south parts of the realm. All these were full of talking and vain disputations as to the marvels they had seen, and the holiness of the shrines whereto they had travelled; some affirming that St. Thomas passed all beside, and others that our Lady of Walsingham was without peer. Divers, moreover, had brought back with them little else than the disports which be strangely, though full commonly, used in such journeys, as the merry tunes, the lewd songs, and the wild tales that they had heard therein. For some pilgrims do carry pipers with them, so that every town they ride through, what with the noise of their singing and the sound of their piping, the ringing of those bells which be given them as tokens at Canterbury, and the barking of dogs after their train,-they make as great outcry as if the king rode by with all his clarions and minstrels.*

But, natheless, there were some of that

When these very indecorous practices were objected to Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, he defended

company at the Tabard, whose religious zeal was truly quickened by hearing of the acts, and seeing of the reliques of God's saints and martyrs, or looking upon his most ancient and holy churches: the which, perchance, is most of the good that is to be found in pilgrimage.

But I trow others did contrariwise think their travel to have been enow to blot out a whole life of guilt, and even to be a license under which they might commit new crimes; and of this sort seemed unto me a rustic-looking man, whose fierce visage was covered with red hair, and whose coarse habit showed him to be of low degree and breeding. He had joined our company a little space out of Canterbury, albeit I had not noted him until we got unto the Tabard; when I found him to be a free and bold knave, though wondrously well-spoken after his blunt fashion. Then did he tell us all that he sought to take service with Lord John de Marlow, the prior of Bermondsey, in his grange or elsewhere, for that now the land was at peace there was no more want of soldiers. "Howbeit, my masters," added he, "as your roving lance-man would make but a sorry son of the church without clean shriving, I have now made. me the two great pilgrimages unto our Lady of Walsingham and St. Thomas of Canterbury, and trow that I'm as meek as a maiden, and pure as the new-born infant."

Then, as I have said, divers of our company:

them by saying that pipers and singers went with pilgrims, that when those who travelled barefoot struck their feet against a stone and made them bleed,-they should begin a song, or play away their hurt by a tune on the bagpipes.