George Herbert (1593-1633). The Pilgrimage. Henry Charles Beeching, ed. 1903. Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse

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Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

The Pilgrimage

By George Herbert (1593–1633)


I TRAVELL’D on, seeing the hill, where lay
My expectation.
A long it was and weary way.
The gloomy cave of Desperation
I left on th’ one, and on the other side	5
The rock of Pride.

And so I came to Fancy’s meadow strow’d
With many a flower:
Fain would I here have made abode,
But I was quicken’d by my hour.	10
So to Care’s copse I came, and there got through
With much ado.

That led me to the wild of Passion, which
Some call the wold; 1
A wasted place, but sometimes rich.	15
Here I was robb’d of all my gold,
Save one good Angel, which a friend had tied
Close to my side.

At length I got unto the gladsome hill,
Where lay my hope,	20
Where lay my heart; and climbing still,
When I had gain’d the brow and top,
A lake of brackish waters on the ground
Was all I found.

With that abash’d and struck with many a sting	25
Of swarming fears,
I fell, and cried, Alas, my King;
Can both the way and end be tears?
Yet taking heart I rose, and then perceived
I was deceived:	30

My hill was further; so I flung away,
Yet heard a cry
Just as I went, None goes that way
And lives. If that be all, said I,
After so foul a journey death is fair,	35
And but a chair. 2

Note 1. Line 14.—Which some call the wold. Why Herbert adds this is not clear: it can hardly be only for rhyme’s sake. A friend suggests that there is a pun on “would.” He probably had in his mind Salisbury Plain, which in some parts of England, such as Lincolnshire, would no doubt have been called a “wold.” The play on angel, and the coin so called, is perhaps obvious. [back]

Note 2. Line 36.—A chair; our more luxurious generation might say, a couch. [back]

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