The National tribune., 1883-08-09
A MODERN PILGRIMAGE
Sightseeing at Canterbury--A Glimpse
at It's Famous Cathedral.
Special correspOndenee National Tribpne.

Special Correspondence National Tribune:
/ BRoADSTAIEs, Eng, July 23.-The best feat
| ure Ct stay at BroadStaiT5 is Canterbury pill
| grimage. True, this cannot be made under the
| poetic conditions which CHANGER makes famil-
1 lar, and the Nun and Presto and Knyghts and
! Pryor and ali the other Pilgrims of the Csnter-
/ bury Tales Will seem even more TO be euvied
after the modern pilgrims return than they
| seemed before his departure; for the imagiua-
| ton OF any one who reads the Tales is very
little Likely to picture a journey and q cathe-
dra so enchanting as the journey across Kent
and the First Resting Place of the Christian
Religion in England"
The modern pilgrimage is none the less to be
enjoyed, however, because it IS not made on
/ horses and pafreys in armor, or priesTl " garb,
from the Ta5ard Inn to the "Checquers' at
Canterbury; and. if we children of a later date
| find no time In our crowded lives for series Of
| hats by the waYSide and the nightly telling of
| tales, have we not the very tales of the leis-
urely people Of old, thanks to the foresight of
good Godfrey Chaucer?
/ We modern pilgrims travelled speedily as
fitted our own times, but in way not wholly
| foreign to the customs OF the century of Chau-
GERS pilgrims, for we found strong little horse
and light open wagon, known III Kent as
trap, and we drove eighteen miles over chalk
| cliffs and through fenceiess fields of waving
| passing now group OF gypsy-looking children,
part of a trsmping" family and now four
/ hor5ed coach, following our road to Canterbury.
| The day was typical English summer day,
sunny and gray by turns. now bainy, and in
another moment, cold and damp, then sunny
| through the afternoon.
THE TOWN ITSELF.
Canterbury itself without the cathedral or
the associations which cluster about the cathe-
dral, would be attractive and possessed of
quaint interest. Its narrow streets are lined
with ancient houses, whose upper stories pro-
JeGtlng, each farther than the one beneath, are
built so solidly in such old fashioned shapes, at
such odd angles, that they seem to have been
left standing from time quite as remote as the
| time of Chaueers pilgrims In these streets
may be seen the square black caps and straight
black gowns of the Canterbury school boys;
and peculiarly fortunate pilgrim of yesterday
| met beadle, a veFitabie beadle. of the fashion
of Mr.. BuBsAe, with his cooked hat and his
staff, leading by the hand very little boy.
In the midsg of this quaint town rises beau
stltul square stone tower, and towards the tower
bend the steps of the pilgrim. Ii his abode be
the Rose Inn, he follows Mercery Lane or
Butehery Lane, and finds himself standing
under the vauted roof of an ancient stone
gateway. Before him stretches pretty gar
den, carpeted with rich green turf, protected
by a wall lined with rich shrubbery and
wreathed with ivy. The garden is very quiet
and bright and sunny, but this is scarcely no.
ticed at first, for it does but surround the
cathedral, whose tower has guided the pill
grims footsteps for many miles. From the
gateway the cathedral presents an aspect of
freshness, almost of newness, that Is deeply
disappointing. 1t seems wholly impossible
that the ancient Canterbury pilgrims should
have come to this mOdern-loOking church,
which might have been the work OF yesterday
- IL -
the masonry IS not OF yesterday; that while
some of the statues that I'LL inches about the
door are new, much more of the masonry is
here by reason of the fine conservatism that
guards all ancient buildings in England espe-
cially all such as escaped the single engUlfng
wave of destruction that broke over the ecele-
Siastical buildings a5 the Reformation.
The light gray stone of which the cathedral
is baiit contributes TO its modern aspect as do
the style of architecture and the diminishing
effect of the towers position at the middle in
stead of the terminal point of the roof. The
cheerful modeFu effect Is enhanced on entering
the nave, by the eFeam-eoiored stone used IN
the interior, and by the absence of ancient
monuments The irst half hour spent In the
cathedral garden and IN the nave is a half hour
OF utter disappointment. Thus far, Canterbury
Cathedral is very beautiful but it is not the an
eient pile of our imagination.
THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED
After the first half hour comes discovery.
Thus far we have seen only half the cathedral;
only the western half which proves to be a
newer halt That is 10 say, we discover that
Canterbury Cathedral was built in different
centuries; that the beautiful Disappointing
western half, with the graceful tower. grew up
three centuries later than the cathedral of
Ian Franc, which was the cathedral OF our
dreams.
The ancient dwelling of christianity, the
"frSt resting place of christianity IN England
is monument of the architecture of two ages.
whose differences from each other have built
themselves, as it were, into the very stone of
their monument.
The tower rising from the middle point of
the roof marks the division; west Of the tower
stretches the graceful nave; east of the tower
cluster the chapels aud minor towers, the low,
roand arches and solid pillars of the old Nor
man church of Ian Franc, first Archbishop OF
Canterbury. Here are the shrine of St. Dun
stan and the shrine of Thomas-a-B Beckett friend
of King Henry the Second; here, too, are the
tombs of Stephen Langton and of Cardinal
Archbishop Reginald Pole; of the Black Prince,
and Of King Henry "; here, in short, is the
ancient church, about which cluster memories
of ali the generations since Bertha, the Saxon
Queen, embraced christianity and brought
about the conversion of her royal husband and
his followers. The stone OF the Norman pOr-
ton is darker, the windows are less in proper
ton TO the wall spaces, the masonry IS massive
in proportion to its height. the plan is cOmpi-
Gated. aud tie whole presents an air of mystery
and of antiquity, which more than fulf!ls all
youthful dreams of the shrine of the Cauter-
bury pilgrims of the poet Chaucer.
BEcKEr's REsIING-PLACE.
In former letter smoke of picture in the
Royal Academy exhibition. setting forth the
manner of the death OF Thomas Beckett. In this
the Archbishop was represented rs falling upon
certain steps, presumably Of the altar. In the
cathedral the precise spot is shown upon which
tradition insists that the Kings knights slew
the Kings friends. These steps are at a dis
lance from the altar and form part Of n fight
leading to the choir, and tradition IS sustained
by the fact that these steps are near the door
leading to the cloisteF, through which the
martyr must have made his way IN fleeing
from his palace TO seek sanctuary. Beeket's
| tragic death, and the reverence attaching
through several centuries to the shriue erected
upon his tomb have given to the whole cathe-
dral somewhat the effect OF monument to
Beckett. But it happens here as in many cases,
that the traces of his individual burial place
have vanished Since the Reformation, his
shrine is, OF course, obsolete, and upless mo-
sale in the floor of Trinity Chapel may mark
his final resting place, it is an open question