Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/132

112 and, with the system to which it belonged, was to pass away and come no more.

The sheriffs and magistrates of the various counties received circulars from the vicegerent, directing that 'whereas prayers were offered at the shrines which were due to God only, that the honour which belonged to the Creator was by a notable superstition given to the creature, and ignorant people, enticed by the clergy, had fallen thereby into great error and idolatry,' they were to repair severally to the cathedrals, churches, or chapels in which any such shrine might be. The relics, reliquaries, gold, silver, or jewels, which they contained, were to be taken out and sent to the King; and they were to see with their own eyes the shrine itself levelled to the ground, and the pavement cleared of it. The order was fulfilled with or without reluctance. Throughout England, by the opening of the year 1539, there was nothing left to tell of the presence of the saints but the names which clung to the churches which they had built, or the shadowy memories which hung about their desecrated tombs.