the Knight [(whose solemn Gallantry no less fixes attention)] as the person who will be
likely to commense their Task of each telling a Tale in their order. After the Host,
follow, the Shipman, the Haberdasher, the Dyer, the Franklin, the Physician the
Plowman, the Lawyer, the [Poor] Parson, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath the Cook. the
Oxford Scholar. Chaucer himself & the Reeve comes as Chaucer has described
"And ever he rode hinderest of the rout"
These last are issuing from the Gateway of the Inn the Cook & Wife of Bath are both
taking their mornings draught of comfort. Spectators stand at the Gateway of the Inn &
are composed of an old man a woman & children
Esq. of Broxmore near Rumsey, has continued a Board over the Gateway, inscribed,
"This is the Inn from which Sir Jeffery Chaucer and his Pilgrims set out for
Canterbury."
St. Thomas's Hospital which is situated near to it, is one of the most amiable features of
the Christian Church; it belonged to the Monastery [o]f St. Mary Overies and was
dedicated to Thomas a Becket. The Pilgrims, if sick or lame, on their journey to and
from his Shrine, were received at this House. Even at this day every friendless wretch
who wants the succour of it, is considered as a Pilgrim travelling through this Journey
of Life.>
The Landscape is an Eastward view of the Country from the Tabarde Inn in Southwark
as it may be supposed to have appeard in Chaucers time. interspersed with Cottages &
Villages, the first beams of the Sun, are seen above the Horizon. some buildings &
spires indicate the situation of the Great City. The Inn is a Gothic Building which Thynne
in his Glossary says was the Lodging of the Abbot of Hyde by Winchester. On the Inn is
inscribed its title & a proper advantage is taken of this circumstance to describe the
Subject of the Picture. the Words written in Gothic Letters over the Gateway are as
follow" The Tabarde Inne by Henry Bailly the Lodgynge House for Pilgrims who
Journey to Saint Thomass Shrine at Canterbury."
[The Characters of Chaucers Pilgrims are the Characters that compose all Ages &
Nations, as one Age falls another rises. different to Mortal Sight but to Immortals only
the same, for we see the same Characters repeated again & again in Animals in
Vegetables in Minerals & in Men. Nothing new occurs in Identical Existence. . Accident
ever varies Substance can never suffer change nor decay]
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