natural causes seem insufficient; to Eginhard and
his friends the supernatural was the rule; and the sufficiency of
natural causes was allowed only when there was nothing to suggest
others.

Moreover, it must be recollected that the possession of
miracle-working relics was greatly coveted, not only on high, but on
very low grounds. To a man like Eginhard, the mere satisfaction of the
religious sentiment was obviously a powerful attraction. But, more
than, this, the possession of such a treasure was an immense practical
advantage. If the saints were duly flattered and worshipped, there was
no telling what benefits might result from their interposition on your
behalf. For physical evils, access to the shrine was like the grant of
the use of a universal pill and ointment manufactory; and pilgrimages
thereto might suffice to cleanse the performers from any amount of
sin. A letter to Lupus, subsequently abbot of Ferrara, written while
Eginhard was smarting under the grief caused by the loss of his
much-loved wife Imma, affords a striking insight into the current view
of the relation between the glorified saints and their worshippers.
The writer shows that he is anything but satisfied with the way in
which he has been treated by the blessed martyrs whose remains he has
taken such pains to "convey" to Seligenstadt, and to honour there as
they would never have been honoured in their Roman obscurity.

It is an aggravation of my grief and a reopening of my
wound, that our vows have been of no avail, and that the
faith which, we placed in the merits and intervention of the
martyrs has been utterly disappointed.

We may admit, then, without impeachment of Eginhard's sincerity, or
of his honour under all ordinary circumstances, that when piety,
self-interest, the glory of the Church in general, and that of the
church at Seligenstadt in particular, all pulled one way, even the
workaday principles of morality were disregarded; and, _a fortiori_,
anything like proper investigation of the reality of alleged miracles
was thrown to the winds.

And if this was the condition of mind of such a man as Eginhard, what
is it not legitimate to suppose may have been that of Deacon Deusdona,
Lunison, Hunus, and Company, thieves and cheats by their own
confession, or of the probably hysterical nun, or of the professional
beggars, for whose incapacity to walk and straighten themselves there
is no guarantee but their own? Who