ates,
probably, from the fifteenth century, as articles made of similar
material, viz., _cuir bouilli_, softened or boiled leather, were much in
use in that age. This case bears an elegantly varied pattern that has
been recognized in an inkstand of Henry the Seventh's, yet extant. Upon
the lid of this case, in very chaste and well-formed characters, is the
sacred monogram I.H.S." These three letters, which do not really form a
monogram, have possibly given rise to the surmise, or tradition, that
the Luck was once used as a sacred vessel. Dr. Fitch goes on to quote
several authorities, showing that chalices of glass were sanctioned by
the church, and were, in fact, made and used; and the Luck may have been
such a vessel. But I can see no sufficient evidence of it. There is
nothing to show that the leathern case is of the same date as the glass
itself; and it may have been made long afterwards. The earliest mention
of the relic seems to have been by Francis Douce, the antiquary, who was
at Edenhall in 1785, and wrote some verses upon it; nor is there any
authentic family history attaching to it. The shape of the goblet, its
unsteadiness when full, and the difficulty of drinking from it without
spilling some of its contents, of which Dr. Fitch had some experience,
would point to its being intended rather for convivial than sacred
uses.

The hypothesis of the Luck's having once been a chalice explains
nothing; because, as we have seen, several of the cups alleged to have
been stolen from supernatural beings are chalices to this day. Moreover,
what are we to think of the drinking-horns of which the same tale is
told? Some of these already mentioned bear, not indeed the sacred
letters, but prayers and the names of the sainted Kings of Cologne,
though, unlike the cups, they are not found in churches. One
drinking-horn, however, was preserved in the cathedral at Wexioe, in
Sweden, until carried away by the Danes in 1570. This horn, stated to be
of three hundred colours, was received by a knight on Christmas morning
from a troll-wife, whose head he there and then cut off with his sword.
The king dubbed him Trolle in memory of the deed, and bestowed on him a
coat-of-arms containing a headless troll.[119] How the horn came into
the possession of the cathedral I do not know; but at all events it
could never have been a chalice.

A silver cup, perhaps still used for sacramental purposes at the parish
church of Malew, in the Isle o