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AS I CAME FROM WALSINGHAM.
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From The Garland of Good Will, as reprinted by the Percy Society, vol. xxx. p. 111. Percy's copy was communicated to him by Shenstone, and was retouched by that poet.
" The pilgrimage to Walsingham," remarks the Bishop, " suggested the plan of many popular pieces. In the Pepys collection, vol. i. p. 22G, is a kind of interlude in the old ballad style, of which the first stanza alone is worth reprinting.
As I went to Walsingham,
To the shrine with speede, Met I with a jolly palmer
In a pilgrimes weede. ' Now God you save, you jolly palmer!'
' Welcome, lady gay! Oft have I sued to thee for love.'
' Oft have I said you nay.'
The pilgrimages undertaken on pretence of religion were often productive of affairs of gallantry, and led the votaries to no other shrine than that of Venus.*
*' Hermets on a heape, with hoked staves, Wenten to Walsingham, and her wenches after.'
Visions of Pierce Plowman, fo. i. |
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