ich at his feet, much admired then, but
"bald as his crown" to our ears:

"Staff to the bishops, to the monks a measure true,
Counsel for schools, kings' hammer--such behold was Hugh!"

The next day at the funeral his cheap vestments were torn in pieces by
the relic-hunting, which it must be confessed he had done nothing to
check; and he was buried near the wall not far from the altar of St.
John Baptist, and, as seemed more suitable for the crowds who came
there, on the northern side of the building itself.{32}

This tremendous funeral long lived in men's memory, and there is a far
prettier verse about it than the old distich of John--

"A' the bells o' merrie Lincoln
Without men's hands were rung,
And a' the books o' merrie Lincoln
Were read without man's tongue;
And ne'er was such a burial
Sin' Adam's days begun."

Passing by the shower of gold rings, necklaces, and bezants which were
given at his shrine, it is certain that the coals of enthusiasm were
blown by the report of miracles, never for very long together kept at
bay by mediaeval writers. While wishing to avoid the _affirmatio falsi_
and to give no heed to lying fables, we must not risk being guilty of a
_suppressio veri_. The miracles at the tomb come in such convenient
numbers that their weight, though it possibly made the guardians of the
shrine, yet breaks the tottering faith of the candid reader. But some
are more robust, and for them there is a lively total which makes
Giraldus's lament for the fewness of miracles in his day seem rather
ungrateful. "Four quinsies"--well, strong emotion will do much for
quinsies. "One slow oozing"--the disease being doubtful, we need not
dispute the remedy. "Three paralytics"--in the name of Lourdes, let them
pass. "Three withered, two dumb, two hunchbacks, one boy dead"--here we
falter. "One jaundice case" sounds likelier; "one barren woman" need not
detain us. "Four dropsies, four blind, and nine lunatics"--and now we
know the worst of it. It would have been a great deal easier to accept
the whole in a venture (or forlorn hope) of faith if Hugh had witnessed
and some one else performed these miracles, for he had a scrupulously
veracious mind. He was so afraid of even the shadow of a lie that he
used to attemper what he said with words of caution whenever he repeated
what he had done or heard: "that is only as far as I recollect." He
would not clap his seal to any letter which cont