not at Brescia.

But let us leave the contending parties to settle this point between
themselves, though it would be easy enough to show the absurdity of their
pretensions, because the cross which, according to some writers, appeared
to Constantine, was not a material cross, but simply a vision.

There are several carved images, as well as paintings, of Jesus Christ to
which many miracles are attributed. Thus the beard grows on the crucifixes
of Salvatierra and Orange, and other images are said to shed tears. These
things are too absurd for serious refutation, and yet the deluded world is
so infatuated that the majority put as much faith in these as in the
Gospels.

_The Blessed Virgin._--The belief that the body of the Virgin was not
interred on earth, but was taken to heaven, has deprived them of all
pretext for manufacturing any relics of her remains, which otherwise might
have been sufficiently abundant to fill a whole churchyard;(139) yet in
order to have at least something belonging to her, they sought to
indemnify themselves for the absence of other relics with the possession
of her hair and her milk. The hair is shown in several churches at Rome,
and at Salvatierra in Spain, at Macon, St Flour, Cluny, Nevers, and in
many other towns. With regard to the milk, there is not perhaps a town, a
convent, or nunnery, where it is not shown in large or small quantities.
Indeed, had the Virgin been a wet-nurse her whole life, or a dairy, she
could not have produced more than is shown as hers in various parts.(140)
How they obtained all this milk they do not say, and it is superfluous
here to remark that there is no foundation in the Gospels for these
foolish and blasphemous extravagances.

The Virgin's wardrobe has produced an abundant store of relics. There is a
shirt of hers at Chartres, which has been fully celebrated as an idol, and
there is another at Aix-la-Chapelle.

I do not know how these things could have been obtained, for it is certain
that the Apostles and first Christians were not such triflers as to amuse
themselves in this way. It is, however, sufficient for us to consider the
shape of these articles of dress, in order clearly to see the impudence of
their exhibitors. The shirt at Aix-la-Chapelle is a long clerical
surplice, shown hanging to a pole, and if the Blessed Virgin had been a
giantess, she would still have felt much inconvenience in wearing so large
a garment.

In the same church they prese