274 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



"We have frequently such entries as: "Item, payd for the spret (spirit) of 

 God's cote, ij"'' We learn from these entries that God's coat was of leather, 

 painted and gilt, and that he had a wig of false hair, also gilt." 1 



"Even the Virgin's conception is made a subject for ribaldry; and in the 

 Coventry collection we have a mystery, or play, on the subject of her pretended 

 trial. It opens with the appearance of the somnour, who reads a long list of 

 offences that appear in his book ; then come two ' detractors ' who repeat cer- 

 tain scandalous stories relating to Joseph and Mary, upon the strength of which 

 they are summoned to appear before the ecclesiastical court. They are accord- 

 ingly put upon their trial, and we have a broad picture of the proceedings in 

 such a case," etc. 8 



Again, on looking into the illuminated missals of old times, there 

 is revealed to us a mode of conceiving Christian doctrine which it is 

 difficult to imagine as current in a civilized or even semi-civilized so- 

 ciety: instance the ideas invplied by a highly-finished figure of Christ, 

 from whose wounded side a stream of wafers spouts on to a salver 

 held by a priest. Or take a devotional book of later date a printed 

 psalter, profusely illustrated with woodcuts representing incidents in 

 the life of Christ. Page after page exhibits ways in which his sacri- 

 fice is utilized after a perfectly material manner. Here are shown 

 vines growing out of his wounds, and the grapes these vines bear are 

 being devoured by bishops and abbesses. Here the cross is fixed on a 

 large barrel, into which his blood falls in torrents, and out of which 

 there issue jets on to groups of ecclesiastics. And here, his body 

 being represented in a horizontal position, there rise, from the wounds 

 in his hands and feet, fountains of blood, which priests and nuns are 

 collecting in buckets and jars. Nay, even more astonishing is the 

 mental state implied by one of the woodcuts, which tries to aid the 

 devotional reader in conceiving the Trinity, by representing three per- 

 sons standing in one pair of boots! 3 Quite in harmony with these 

 astoundingly-gross conceptions are the conceptions implied in the pop- 

 ular literature. The theological ideas that grew up in times w r hen 

 Papal authority was supreme, and before the sale of indulgences had 

 been protested against, may be judged from a story contained in the 

 Folk-lore collected by the Brothers Grimm, called " The Tailor in 

 Heaven." Here is an abridged translation : 



" God, having one day gone out with the saints and the apostles for a walk, 

 left Peter at the door of heaven with strict orders to admit no one. Soon after 

 a tailor came and pleaded to be let in. But Peter said that God had forbidden 

 anyone to be admitted; besides, the tailor was a bad character, and 'cab- 

 baged ' the cloth he used. The tailor said the pieces he had taken were small, 

 and had fallen into his basket ; and he was willing to make himself useful he 

 would carry the babies, and wash or mend the clothes. Peter at last let hiin in, 

 but made him sit down in a corner, behind the door. Taking advantage of 



1 Wright's "Essays on Archaeology," vol. ii., pp. 175, 176. 2 ii., 184. 



3 But four copies of this psalter are known to exist. The copy from which I made 

 this description is contained in the splendid collection of Mr. Henry Iluth. 



