Greet chere made our hoste us everichon
And to the soper sette us anon;
And served us with vitaille at the beste,
Strong was the wyn, and wel to drinke us leste. 
A semely man our hoste was with alle
For to han ben a marshal in an halle;
A large man he was eyen stepe,
A fairer burgeys is ther noon in Chepe;
Bold of his speche and wys, and wel y-taught,
And of manhod him lakkede right naught. 
Eek therto he was right a mery man,
And after soper pleyen he bigan,
And spak of mirthe amonges others thinges,
Whan that we hadde maad our rekeninges....

A noble portrait in the English manner; there is but one, and that is wanting, we should have preferred.  I mean the portrait of Chaucer himself—­that “wittie” Chaucer who “sate in a Chaire of Gold covered with Roses writing prose and risme, accompanied with the Spirites of many Kyngs, Knightes and Faire Ladies.”  For that we must go to a lesser pen, to Greene, who thus describes him in his vision: 

His stature was not very tall,
Lean he was; his legs were small
Hos’d within a stock of red
A button’d bonnet on his head
From under which did hang I ween
Silver hairs both bright and sheen;
His beard was white, trimmed round;
His countenance blithe and merry found;
A sleeveless jacket, large and wide
With many plaits and skirts side
Of water-camlet did he wear;
A whittle by his belt he bear;
His shoes were corned broad before;
His ink-horn at his side he wore,
And in his hand he bore a book;—­
Thus did this ancient poet look.

There is one other personage upon whom indeed the whole pilgrimage depended of whom Chaucer says next to nothing, but we should do wrong to forget him:  I mean the “blissful martyr” himself—­St Thomas of Canterbury.  In old days, certainly in Chaucer’s, we should have been reminded of him more than once on our way e’er we gained the Tabard.  For upon old London Bridge, the first stone bridge, built in the end of the twelfth century, there stood in the very midst of it a chapel of marvellous beauty with a crypt, from which by a flight of steps one might reach the river, dedicated in honour of St Thomas Becket.  This chapel was built in memory of St Thomas by one Peter, priest of St Mary Colechurch, where the martyr had been christened.  It was this same Peter who began to build the great bridge of stone, and when he died he was buried in the chapel he had erected in the midst of it.

Such a wonder was, however, by no means the only memorial here, at the very opening of the way, of the great and holy end and purpose of it.