Page:William of Malmesbury's Chronicle.djvu/318

 tached, but he could neither be convicted by any witnesses, nor confuted by any argument. When it was supposed he must be completely foiled, still like the slippery snake he eluded detection; so skilled was he in speaking, that he baffled all. Then said the archdeacon, "Let the oracle of God be resorted to, let man's eloquence cease; we know for certain that episcopal grace is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that whosoever purchases a bishopric, supposes the gift of the Holy Ghost may be procured by money. Before you then, who are assembled by the will of the Holy Ghost, let him say, 'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,' and if he shall speak it articulately, and without hesitation, it will be manifest to me that he has obtained his office, not by purchase, but legally." He willingly accepted the condition, supposing nothing less than any difficulty in these words; and indeed he perfectly uttered, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son," but he hesitated at the "Holy Ghost." A clamour arose on all sides, but he was never able, by any exertion, either at that time or for the remainder of his life, to name the Holy Spirit. The abbat so often mentioned was a witness of this miracle; who taking the deprived bishop with him into different places, often laughed at the issue of the experiment. Any person doubting the certainty of this relation, must be confuted by all Europe, which is aware that the numbers of the Clugniac order were increased by this abbat.

On the death of Alexander, therefore, Hildebrand, called Gregory the Seventh, succeeded. He openly asserted what others had whispered, excommunicating those persons who, having been elected, should receive the investiture of their churches, by the ring and staff, through the hands of the laity. On this account Henry, emperor of Germany, being incensed that he should so far presume without his concurrence, expelled him from Rome, as I observed, after the expiration of eleven years, and brought in Guibert. Not long after, the pope, being seized with that fatal disease which he had no doubt would be mortal, was requested by the cardinals