The Holy Grail was in the house. A proper spirit of reverence forbade its exhibition to a crowd, but Mr. Wilberforce offered to grant me a private view of it, therefore I followed him and Sir William; Mrs. MyersⒶtextual note joined us. When we arrived at the room where the relic was,Ⓐtextual note we found there the finder of it and one other man—a guardian of the place, this latter seemed to be. Mr. Pole brought a wooden box of a quite humble and ordinary sort, and took from it a loose bundle of white linen cloth, handling it carefully, and gave it into Mr. Wilberforce’s hands, who proceeded to unwind its envelope—Ⓐtextual notenot hastily, but with cautious pains, and impressively; the pervading silence was itself impressive, and I was affected by it. Stillness and solemnity have a subduing power of their own, let the occasion be what it may. This power had time and opportunity to deepen and gather force, degree by degree, for the linen bandage was of considerable length. At last the sacred vessel which [begin page 133] tradition asserts received the precious blood of the crucified Christ, lay exposed to view. In the belief of two persons present, this was the very vessel which was brought by night and secretly delivered to NicodemusⒺexplanatory note, nearly nineteen centuries ago, after the Creator of the universe had delivered up His life on the cross for the redemption of the human race; the very cup which the stainless Sir Galahad had sought with knightly devotion in far fields of peril and adventure, in Arthur’s time, fourteen hundred years ago; the same cup which princely knights of other bygone ages had laid down their lives in long and patient efforts to find, and had passed from life disappointed—and here it was at last, dug up by a Liverpool grain-broker at no cost of blood or travel, and apparently no purity required of him above the average purity of the twentieth-centuryⒶtextual note dealer in cereal futures; not even a stately name required—no Sir Galahad, no Sir Bors de Ganis, no Sir LauncelotⒶtextual note of the Lake—nothing but a mere Mr. Pole; given name not known, probably Peterson. No armor of shining steel required; no plumed helmet, no emblazoned shield, no death-dealing spear, no formidable sword endowed with fabulous powers: in fact no armor at all, and no weaponsⒶtextual note but just a plebeian pick and shovel. Here, right under our very eyes, was the Holy Grail, renowned for nineteen hundred years—the longed-for, the prayed-for, the sought-for, the most illustrious relic the world has ever known; and there, within touch of our hand, stood its rescuer, Peterson Pole, whom God preserve! It was an impressive moment.

To be exact, it was not a cup at all; it was not a vase; it was not a goblet. It was merely a saucer—a saucer of green glass enclosing a saucer of white silver. Both surfacesⒶtextual note of the saucer were adorned with small flower figures in soft colors pierced with open-work, and through these piercings the imprisoned silver saucer could be seen. In size and shape and shallowness, this saucer was like any other saucer. It may have been a cup, or a beaker, or a grail, once, but if so time has shriveled it.

Mr. Wilberforce said that it was the true Holy Grail; that there was no room for the slightest doubt about it; that no vessel like it was nowⒶtextual note in existence anywhere; that its age could not be short of four thousand years; that its place of concealment, under four feet of solid earth, was another indication of its antiquity, since it takes many centuries to form four feet of solid earth. It was evident that Sir William Crookes, who as a scientist will accept no allegedⒶtextual note revelation of science until it has been submitted to the most exacting and remorseless tests—and has stood the tests and stands absolutely proven—was quite satisfied with these juvenile guessings and empty reasonings, and fully believed in the genuineness of this Holy Grail, and did not even doubt the authenticity of that angel of indigestion that brought the news to the grain-broker.

I am glad I have lived to see that half hour—that astonishing half hour. In its particular lineⒶtextual note it stands alone in my life’s experiences; havingⒶtextual note no fellow, and nothing, indeed, that even remotely resembles it. I have long suspected that Man’sⒶtextual note claim to be The Reasoning AnimalⒶtextual note was a doubtful one, but this episode has swept that doubtfulness away; I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s. Mrs. MyersⒶtextual note has lived in an atmosphere of spiritualism for many years, and subscribes to that cult’s claims, still the Holy Grail was too large a mouthful for her; she indicated this in a private remark to me.

[begin page 134] If this had been an American episode, the newspapers would have rung with laughter from one end of the country to the other, whether the sponsor of the Grail was at the bottom of the Church or at its summit—but Mr. Wilberforce is a great English Ⓐtextual note ChurchⒶtextual note dignitary, the episode is English also,Ⓐtextual note and that makes all the difference. We followed custom, and kept still. So did the English press. Two or three weeks after the 23dⒶtextual note a brief account of the finding of the Holy Grail was published in a London paperⒺexplanatory note, along with the names involved, and this account was cabled over and published in the American papers; there the matter dropped, without comment on either side of the ocean;Ⓐtextual note I have not seen nor heard of a single reference to it from that day to this.