180 WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS v 



For a parallel to these transactions one must 

 read a police report of the doings of a " long firm " 

 or of a set of horse-coupers ; yet Eginhard seems 

 to be aware of nothing, but that he has been 

 rather badly used by his friend Hildoin, and the 

 " nequissimus nebulo " Hunus. 



It is not easy for a modern Protestant, still less 

 for any one who has the least tincture of scientific 

 culture, whether physical or historical, to picture 

 to himself the state of mind of a man of the 

 ninth century, however cultivated, enlightened, 

 and sincere he may have been. His deepest con- 

 victions, his most cherished hopes, were bound up 

 with the belief in the miraculous. Life was a 

 constant battle between saints and demons for the 

 possession of the souls of men. The most super- 

 stitious among our modern countrymen turn to 

 supernatural agencies only when natural causes 

 seem insufficient ; to Eginhard and his friends the 

 supernatural was the rule ; and the sufficiency of 

 natural causes was allowed only when there was 

 nothing to suggest others. 



Moreover, it must be recollected that the 

 possession of miracle-working relics was greatly 

 coveted, not only on high, but on very low 

 grounds. To a man like Eginhard, the mere 

 satisfaction of the religious sentiment was 

 obviously a powerful attraction. But, more than 

 this, the possession of such a treasure was an 

 immense practical advantage. If the saints were 



