A HISTORY OF NORFOLK There is no formal report extant as to this house in the return of the county commissioners, but a letter of Richard Southwell's to Cromwell, dated 25 July, 1536, shows that their duties were delegated to Sir Thomas Lestrange and Mr. Hogges, who were ordered to sequestrate all money, plate, jewels, and such-like stuff found at the priory. From this remarkable letter it is clear that Southwell either believed, or affected to believe, that someone in Walsingham Priory followed some black art or made use of the philo- sopher's stone, whereas the discovery was probably a mere chemist's laboratory : — Emoung other thinges the same Sir Thomas Lestrange and Mr. Hoges dyd there f}-nd a secrete privj'e place within the howse d}-d ever come, as they saye, in wiche there were instrewmentes, pottes, bellowes, flyes of suche strange colors as the lick none of us had seene, with poyses and other thinges to sorte, and dewyd gould and silver, nothing there wantinge that should belonge to the arrte of multyplying. Off all wiche the)- desyred me by lettres to advertyse you, and also that from the Satredaye at night till the Sonday next folowinge was offred at their now beinge xxxiijs. iiijd. over and besyd waxe. Of this moultiplying it maye please you to cawse them to be examyned, and so to advertyse unto them your further pleasure.' On 22 September of the same year Prior Vowell wrote to Cromwell. From this com- munication it is evident that there was a good deal of underhand work going on in the con- vent. The prior denied that either he or his chapter were privy to certain articles and letters that had been sent in their name to Cromwell, and accused, Robert Wylsey (one of the canons who had subscribed to the king's supremacy in 1534.), of having forwarded them, which he partly acknowledged. It is significant that the prior concludes his letter by saying that he sends Cromwell by the bearer his ' fee' for the ensuing year.^ A list of Cromwell's blackmail from the threatened houses for this year includes ^^ from Prior Vowel.' The shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham has obtained an undying fame by the visit of Eras- mus, the great scholar of the Renaissance, who used his most pungent satire to expose the vani- ties of pilgrims and pilgrimages. When Erasmus was at Cambridge in May, 151 1, he wrote to his friend Andreas Ammonius, that, in fulfilment of a vow, he was about to visit the virgin of Walsingham. and to hang up some Greek verses there.* These verses are given in his works as collected by Frobenius in 1540.^ They have been thus Englished : — ' Hail ! Jesu's mother, blessed evermore. Alone of women God-bearing and virgin. Others may offer to thee various gifts. This man his gold, that man again his silver, ' L. and P. Hen. Fill, Cleof E. iv, fol. 231. ' Ibid, xi, 196. ' Ibid. App. 16. *Epistola, 114. 'Tom. v, 11 09. A third adorn thy shrine with precious stones ; For which some ask a guerdon of good health. Some riches ; others hope that by thy aid They soon may bear a father's honoured name. ' Or gain the years of Pylus' reverend sage. But the poor poet, for his well-meant song. Bringing these verses only, all he has. Asks in reward for his most humble gift That greatest blessing, piety of heart. And full remission of his many sins.' ' It is impossible to doubt that at this time Erasmus shared the usual opinion of the day on pilgrimages and special shrines. It was not until 1524 that Erasmus put forth his colloquy on pilgrimages, wherein he introduces an imaginary conversation as to an imaginary second visit to Walsingham. In the colloquy Erasmus sup- poses a meeting of two friends, Menedemus and Oxygus, the latter of whom has just returned from pilgrimages to Walsingham and other shrines, stating that the town is almost sustained by the resort of pilgrims. Oxygus describes the wonders of the place, the gold, the silver, and the precious stones offered to the image of Our Lady, the marvels worked at the holy wells, the miracle of the knight on horse-back, for whose admission the portal of the chapel stretched it- self, the various relics and especially the crystal phial containing some milk of the Virgin. The Santa Casa, said to have been miraculously con- veyed there centuries before, specially attracted the attention of Oxygus, who commented upon the apparent renewing of the walls, the roof beams, and the thatch. All this was admitted by the sacrist, and after his assent he was asked : ' As now no part of the old building remains, how do you prove that this was the cottage which was brought from a great distance r ' whereupon the sacrist ' immediately showed us a very old bear's skin fixed to the rafters ; and almost ridiculed our dulness in not having observed so manifest a proof.' The most amusing part of the satire is where the sub-prior of the house saluted Oxygus, asking him if he was not the man who on a visit some years before had hung up a votive inscription in Hebrew characters i" On receiving an affirmative answer, the canon proceeded to state how laboriously they all had striven to read it, and how many spectacles had been wiped in vain. Whenever any doctor of theology or law had arrived, he was at once con- ducted to the inscription. Some declared it was Arabic, others that it was meaningless. At last, however, someone arrived who was able to read the title, which was in Latin. But they all finally agreed that the inscription was in Hebrew, because no one knew Greek, and anything that they did not understand they always called Hebrew. It is singular to reflect that this part of the colloquy has several times served as a text for •^Erasmus, P i /grim ages, hy J. G.Nichols (ed. 1875), 102. 398
