212 THE DOVER ROAD 



pardon) take from these so great riches some small 

 portion for the relief of her family ? " 



The priest pouted, knitted his brows, and looked 

 upon the two friends with Gorgoniai eyes, and he 

 would probably have turned them out of the building 

 had it not been for the Archbishop's letter of intro- 

 duction which they carried with them. Erasmus was 

 alarmed at his friend's free speech. He was pacifying 

 the priest when the Prior approached and conducted 

 them to the Holy of holies, Becket's Shrine. A wooden 

 canopy was raised, and the golden case enclosing the 

 martyr's remains disclosed. The least valuable part 

 of it was of gold : every part glistened, shone, and 

 sparkled with rare and immense jewels, some of them 

 exceeding the size of a goose's egg. Monks stood 

 round, and they all fell down and worshipped, after 

 which they returned to the Crypt, to see the place 

 where the Virgin Mother had her abode, a somewhat 

 dark one, hedged in by more than one iron screen. 

 " What was she afraid of, then ? " asks his interlocutor, 

 and he replies, " Of nothing, I imagine, except thieves," 

 for the riches with which she was surrounded Avere a 

 more than royal spectacle. Again they were conducted 

 to the Sacristy ; a box covered with l3lack leather was 

 brought out, and again all fell doAvn and worshipped. 

 Some torn fragments of linen were produced ; most of 

 them retaining marks of dirt. With these the holy man 

 used to wipe the perspiration from his face and neck, 

 the runnings from his nose, or such other superfluities 

 from which the human frame is not free. The Prior 

 graciously offered to present Colet with one of these 

 dirty rags, and, indeed, to the devout such a gift would 

 have been of a quite inestimable value. But Colet, 

 handling the rags delicately as though they might 

 possibly infect him, replaced them in the box with a 

 contemptuous whistle. The Prior was a man of polite- 

 ness and good breeding. He appeared not to notice 

 this rude, not to say heretical, rejection of his gift, and, 

 offering them a cup of wine, courteously dismissed them. 



