Many of the images were brought up to Loudon, and
burnt at Chelsea by the Lord Privy Seal. No more could
the parings of St. Edward's toe-nails be seen, nor the
coals that roasted St. Lawrence. The girdle of the Virgin
had been exhibited in eleven different places at the same
time, but now it was to be found in none. At Hales, in
Gloucester, the blood of Christ, brought from Jerusalem,
had been shown for generations, but it only revealed
itself to the absolved penitent. The phial h,ad a thick
and opaque side, and a transparent one. Into this the
fresh blood of a duck was introduced every week, and the
dark side only shown to rich pilgrims till they had freely
expended their money, when the transparent side, show-
ing the blood, was turned towards them, to their wonder.
Perhaps the most ingenious money-making contrivance
was at Boxley in Kent, a miraculous crucifix called the
Eood of Grace. The lips, eyes, and head of the image
moved on the approach of its votaries, the eyes goggling,
the lips hanging, the jaws shaking, according to the coin
given. This was brought by Hilsey, the Bishop of



222 THE BIBLE OF THE REFORMATION

Eochester, to St. Paul's Cross, and there broken up in the
presence of a great crowd, the wheels and springs by
which it was moved being exposed.
