correctness of the archbishop's judgment. Bocking, selected no doubt from
previous knowledge of his qualities, was a man devoted to his order, and
not over-scrupulous as to the means by which he furthered the interests of
it. With instinctive perception he discovered material in Elizabeth Barton
too rich to be allowed to waste itself in a country village. Perhaps he
partially himself believed in her, but he was more anxious to ensure the
belief of others, and he therefore set himself to assist her inspiration
towards more effective utterance. Conversing with her in her intervals of
quiet, he discovered that she was wholly ignorant, and unprovided with any
stock of mental or imaginative furniture; and that consequently her
prophecies were without body, and too indefinite to be theologically
available. This defect he remedied by instructing her in the Catholic
legends, and by acquainting her with the revelations of St. Brigitt and St.
Catherine of Sienna.[318] In these women she found an enlarged reflection
of herself; the details of their visions enriched her imagery; and being
provided with these fair examples, she was able to shape herself into
fuller resemblance with the traditionary model of the saints.

As she became more proficient, Father Bocking extended his lessons to the
Protestant controversy, initiating his pupil into the mysteries of
justification, sacramental grace, and the power of the keys. The ready
damsel redelivered his instructions to the world in her moments of
possession; and the world discovered a fresh miracle in the inspired wisdom
of the untaught peasant. Lists of these pregnant sayings were
forwarded[319] regularly to the archbishop, which still possibly lie
mouldering in the Lambeth library, to be discovered by curious antiquaries.
It is idle to inquire how far she was yet conscious of her falsehood.
Conscious wilful deception lies far down the road in a course of this kind;
and supported by the assurance of an archbishop, she was in all likelihood
deep in lying before she actually knew it. Fanaticism and deceit are
strangely near relations to each other, and the deceiver is often the
person first deceived, and the last who is aware of the imposture.

The instructions of the Father had made her acquainted with many stories of
miraculous cures. The Catholic saints followed the type of the apostles,
and to heal diseases by supernatural means was a more orthodox form of
credential than clairvoya