106

Roode of Grace.

[Book I

Those in whom the 4 organ of constructiveness,’ or invention was prom-inent, produced among other curious machinery, speaking Jieads, Images ofsaints, fye. These, it is believed, were imitations of similar contrivancesin heathen temples. The Statue of Serapis moved its eyes and lips. Thebird of Memnon flapped his wings, and uttered sounds. a It is to be re- igretted that no detailed descriptions of these, and of such, as were usedin .European churches previous to the reformation, have been preserved.

An acoount of the ingenious frauds of antiquity would be as valuable to a !mechanician as it would be interesting to a philosopher. It would in allprobability develope mechanical combinations both novel and useful; andwould include all the mechanism of modern androides ; and most of the■deceptions to be derived from natural magic.

A famous image known as the Roode of Grace, is often mentioned byEnglish historians. A few scattered notices of it are worth inserting.Speed in his history of Great Britain, (page 790,) says “ it was by diversvices [de vices] made to benv down, and to lift up itselfe, to shake, and toMir both head, hands, and feet, to rowle its eyes, moove the lips, and to bend i

the brows.” It was deströyed in Henry VIII ’s reign, being “ broken and ;

pulled in pieces, so likewise the images of our Lady of Walsingham I

and Ipswich , set and besprinkled with jeweis, and gemmes, with divers i

others both of England and Wales , were brought to London , and burntat Chelsea , before the Lord Crumwell.” In the life of the last named in-dividual some further particulars of it are given, and which explain the !mode of Operation. “ Within the Roode of Grace, a man stood inclosedwith an hundred wyers, wherewith he made the image roll his eyes, nod hishead, hang the lip, move and shake his jaws ; according as the value ofthe gift offered, pleased or displeased the priest; if it were a small piece j

of silver, he would hang the lip, if it were a good piece of gold, his ehaps }

would go merrily,” &c. Cromwell discovering the cheat, caused the i

image “ with all his engines to be openly showed at Paul’s Cross, andthere to be torn in pieces by the people.” Clarke’s Lives, Lon. 1675.

It would have been a dangerous practice to have employed intelligent4 lay craftsmen’ in making machines like this, or to have engaged them in‘ pulling the wires.’ The shrine of Recket showed great proficiency insome of the arts. It “ did abound with more than princely riches, itsmeanest part was pure gold, garnished with many precious stones, asErasmus that saw it, hath written ; whereof the chiefest was a riehgemme of France , offered by king Rewis, who asked and obtained (youmay be sure, he buying it so deare) that no passenger betwixt Dover andWhitesand should perish by shipwra.cke.” The bones of Becket werelaid in a splendid tomb. “ The timber work of his shrine was coveredwith plates of gold, damasked and embossed with wires of gold, garnishedwith broches, images, angels, precious stones, and great Orient pearles ; allthese defaced filled two chests, and were for price, of an unestimablevalue.” A catalogue of the miracles wrought at his shrine filled two foliovolumes ! b

° Seo Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis , Rome, 1650, Tom ii, p. 4K5, for an ingeniousfigure of such an automaton.

b Accounts kept by Churchwardens previous to the reformation often exhibit curiousInformation in relation to the repairing, replacing, and clothing of images, and to thesale of damaged or worn out ones, as appears by the following extracts from 1 A boakeof the stuffe in the cheyrche of Holbeche sowld by Cheyrchewardyns of the same, ac-cording to the injunctyons of the Kvnges Magyste, A. D. 1447.’ The Trimty with theTabernacle, sold for two Shilling and fourpenee. The Tabernacle of Nicholas and Juntafor six Shillings and eight pence. “All the Apostyls rnats and other raggs,” for eight Shil-lings and four pence. And in 1547, “ XX score and X hund, of latyn, at ii. s. and xi. d.the score.” This item probably eonsisted of brazen Utensils, images, &c. sold for theirvalue as old metal. Stukely’s Antiquities. London 1770, page 21.