Historic byways and highways of Old England . e, sufficed in mostcases for the needs of the times, at least so far asthe rural districts were concerned. But graduallyas the home pilgrimages came largely into vogue,and as commerce and general inter-communicationincreased, there sprung up, in the large towns,inns and hostelries, which laid themselves out forthe reception of those who journeyed abroad ;merchants, pilgrims, minstrels, and persons of nofixed abode. In some cases the hospitium of the abbey orpriory, as the stream of pilgrims and travellersincreased, appears by a transition to have m
Historic byways and highways of Old England . e, sufficed in mostcases for the needs of the times, at least so far asthe rural districts were concerned. But graduallyas the home pilgrimages came largely into vogue,and as commerce and general inter-communicationincreased, there sprung up, in the large towns,inns and hostelries, which laid themselves out forthe reception of those who journeyed abroad ;merchants, pilgrims, minstrels, and persons of nofixed abode. In some cases the hospitium of the abbey orpriory, as the stream of pilgrims and travellersincreased, appears by a transition to have mergedinto the ordinary hostelr3^ We may takeChaucers famous inn, the Tabard in Southwark,as an example of this sort of accommodation to Cbaucer an^ tbe /IDeMan^al 3nn, 63 meet the exigencies of the times. In the firstinstance, we find a house of entertainment wasbuilt in the fourteenth century by theAbbot of Hyde, who bought the land place seems to have been used principally—if not exclusively—by ecclesiastics. But con-. GEOFFREY CHAUCER. (From the HarleUin US. hSOr,, fol. 91.) sidering the important position which it occupiedon the southern road, it is easy to understandhow its scope was gradually extended. Pilgrimsbound to Canterbury would naturally seek theabbots house for hospitality, and taking into 64 IfDistoric Binvai^s an^ IfDiobwa^s. account the numbers resorting thither, it wouldsoon become quite a popular hostelry, where theguests would pay for their board and lodgings,the same as at any other inn. Anyhow such wasthe Tabard in Chaucers time, when he tells usthat it befell on a certain April day In Southwerke at the Tabard as I to wenden on my pilgrimage,To Canterbury with ful devout courage,At night was come into that hostelrye,Wei nine and twenty in a compagnye. In imagination it is not difficult to picture suchan ancient inn. Although few of the type nowexist in London, we have yet numerous examplesscattered up and down the country i
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