“Whan they wer al y-loggit, as skill wold and reson, Everich aftir his degre, to chirch then was seson To pas and to wend, to make their offringis, Righte as their devocioune was, of silver broch and ryngis. Then at the chirch dorr the curtesy gan to ryse, Tyl the knyght, of gentilnes that knewe right well the guyse, Put forth the prelatis, the parson and his fere. A monk, that took the spryngill with a manly chere, And did as the manere is, moilid all thir patis, Everich after othir, righte as they wer of statis.”
After they had been thus sprinkled with the holy water--
“The knyght went with his compers to the holy shryne, To do that they wer com for, and aftir for to dyne, The pardoner and the miller, and othir lewde sotes,”
waiting behind, gaping at the beautiful stained glass which then filled the windows of the nave, and wildly guessing at their subjects--
“‘Pese!’ quod the hoost of Southwork, ‘let stond the wyndow glassid, Goith up and doith your offerynge, ye semith half amasid.’
Then passid they forth boystly, goggling with their hedis, Knelid adown tofore the shrine, and hertlich their bedis They preyd to seint Thomas, in such wyse as the couth; And sith the holy relikes ech man with his mowith Kissid, as a goodly monk the names told and taught.”
We can follow in their footsteps, presuming them to have taken the more natural and probably more usual way, going first to the transept of the Martyrdom, over an entrance to which was inscribed--
“Est sacer intra locus venerabilis atque beatus Præsul uti Sanctus Thomas est martyrisatus.”
Neither could the pilgrims then nor we now see practically anything of what met the eye on the fatal day itself; nor shall we--as did they--kneel before the wooden altar the while the guardian of it shows to us the precious relics kept there. _But_--if we wish to understand the spirit of the multitude in those days, we must forget ourselves for the nonce, and become as little children of great faith.
Then we pass on down into the crypt under the choir and Trinity Chapel, whose darkness is broken by the light of many lamps. Here, if we are but common folk, we shall be shown only a part of the skull of the saint, to which we may put our lips; his shirt and hair-cloth drawers, which formed one of his chief claims to saintliness--for dirtiness was akin to godliness in those times. If, however, we are folk of high degree, the glowing treasures of the chapel of Our Lady Undercroft will be opened to us.