[The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. by David Hume]@TWC D-Link bookThe History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. CHAPTER XXXI 70/79
At the dissolution of the monastery, the whole contrivance was detected.
Two of the monks, who were let into the secret, had taken the blood of a duck, which they renewed every week: they put it in a phial, one side of which consisted of thin and transparent crystal, the other of thick and opaque.
When any rich pilgrim arrived, they were sure to show him the dark side of the phial, till masses and offerings had expiated his offences and then, finding his money, or patience, or faith, nearly exhausted, they made him happy by turning the phial.[*] A miraculous crucifix had been kept at Boxley, in Kent, and bore the appellation of the "rood of grace." The lips, and eyes, and head of the image moved on the approach of its votaries.
Hilsey, bishop of Rochester, broke the crucifix at St.Paul's Cross, and showed to the whole people the springs and wheels by which it had been secretly moved. A great wooden idol, revered in Wales, called Darvel Gatherin, was also brought to London, and cut in pieces; and by a cruel refinement in vengeance, it was employed as fuel to burn friar Forest,[**] who was punished for denying the supremacy, and for some pretended heresies. A finger of St.Andrew, covered with a thin plate of silver, had been pawned by a convent for a debt of forty pounds; but as the king's commissioners refused to pay the debt, people made themselves merry with the poor creditor on account of his pledge. * Herbert, p.
431, 432.
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