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of exhibiting such things that seems to be alluded to by 

 Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales, where he makes his 

 " Pardoner" say — 



" Then show I forth my longe crystal stones, 

 Ycrammed full of cloutes and of bones; 

 Relics they be, as weenen they each one." 



The " crystal stone," indeed, in this instance, is not long, 

 but round, being in fact a very thick double-convex lens, 

 with one surface much more convex than the other ; but in 

 other cases, as on the cumdacJis containing the book of St. 

 Moling and the book of Dimma, the crystals are oblong, as 

 described by the poet ; and it is supposed that relics are 

 always to be found beneath them. 



The shape of the crystal is somewhat remarkable. Thin 

 lenses, such as we have now, were not invented in those 

 days, nor for a long time after ; and the present specimen 

 of a thick one, which could be of no use in viewing an object, 

 unless placed in immediate contact with it, is to be classed 

 among the lenticular gems of quartz, or rock crystal, which 

 Dr. Priestly tells us are sometimes to be met with in the 

 cabinets of the curious, and which, he says, are supposed to 

 have belonged to the Druids. 



The cross, like that of the " gentle Pardoner" aforesaid, 

 is studded " full of stones," or rather imitations of them, 

 disposed at regular distances along the edges, and elsewhere. 

 The central crystal is surrounded by an elegant ornament in 

 gold ; and all the rest of the cross, both before and behind, 

 is richly adorned with an interwoven tracery, of that pecu- 

 liar kind which the Irish were so fond of. The tracery is of 

 solid gold ; the inscribed edging is of silver ; and both are 

 separated from the wooden frame by plates of copper ; the 

 whole being held together by nails, of which the heads are 

 little heads of animals. The shaft also terminates below, in 

 the double head of an animal, which is large, and very finely 



