rve the shoes of St Joseph, which could only
fit the foot of a little child or a dwarf. The proverb says that liars
need good memories, so as not to contradict their own sayings. This rule
was not followed out at Aix-la-Chapelle, otherwise care would have been
taken to maintain a better proportion of size between the shoes of the
husband and the shirt of the wife. And yet these relics, so devoid of all
appearance of truth, are devoutly kissed and venerated by crowds!

I know of only two of her head-dresses; one is at the abbey of St Maximian
at Treves, and the other is at Lisio in Italy. They may be considered
quite as genuine as the Virgin's girdle at Prato and at Montserrat, as her
slipper at St Jaqueme, and as her shoe at St Flour.

Now, those who are at all conversant with this subject well know that it
was not the custom of the primitive church to collect shoes and stockings,
&c., for relics, and also that for five hundred years after the death of
the Virgin Mary there was never any talk of such things. It really seems
as if these well-known facts would be sufficient to prove the absurdity of
all these relics of the Virgin; but her worshippers, not merely satisfied
with the articles I have just enumerated, endeavour to ascribe to her a
love of dress and finery. A comb of hers is shown in the church of St
Martin at Rome, and another in that of St Jean-le-Grand at Besancon,
besides others that may be shown elsewhere. Now, if this be not a mockery
of the Virgin, I do not know what that word implies. They have not
forgotten her wedding-ring, which is shown at Perusa.

As it is now the custom for a husband to present his bride with a ring at
the marriage ceremony, they imagined it to be so in the time of the
Virgin, and in her country, consequently, they show a splendid ring as the
one used at her wedding, forgetting the state of poverty in which she
lived.

Rome possesses four of her gowns, in the churches of St John of the
Lateran, St Barbara, St Maria _supra Minervam_, and St Blasius; whilst at
Salvatierra they boast of having fragments of a gown belonging to her.

I have forgotten the names of other towns where similar relics are
shown.(141)

It is sufficient to examine the materials of these vestments in order to
see the falsehood of their claims, for their exhibitors give to the Virgin
the same sort of robes with which they dress up her images.

It remains now to speak of her images--not of the common ones,