DISCOVERY OF THE HOLY GRAIL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14503, 15 October 1907, Page 10

DISCOVERY OF THE HOLY GRAIL.

iPwKMM scientist®, antiquaries and iteming religious dignitaries in London greatly perturbed oyer the reported discovery of the Holy Grail, the cup jrhioh the Saviour used at the Last tapper, end which, according to the Higend. was brought to Britain after the Crucifixion. Tha whereabouts of ■iks Tsasel is said to have been disclosed ky visions, or ' 1 waking dreams,” experienced by a well-known Bristol merchant named Mr "W. Tudor Pole. In 1883 Dr Goodchild, of Bath, while'at Berdighera, heard of a curious little Haas vessel exhibited in a tailor’s shop. 5. bought it for £6. Eleven years later, while! ia Pan®, Dr Goodchild fell into a trance. A figure appeared before him, and told him that the cup was the Holy Grail. When, his father died, ths visionary figure told him tho fnp to be taken to the ( women s quarter at Glastonbury, and within ten {ears would be brought forth again and « the means of moulding Christian theught.” Dr Goodchild brought the cup to Sigland, and subsequently deposited it im a ehalloir well or spring at Bride’s Hill, a abort distance from Glastonbury Abbey. - Towards the end of last year, Mr-Tudor Pole is stated to have had a risiew of the well. His sister visited the place, and at the bottom of tho well, embedded in the mud, found .the

Pole communicated his strange discovery to Canoq Wilberforco, who invited several leading scientists, _ antiquaries and eminent ministers of relicion'to hie house a few weeks ago- Sir William Crookes agreed to investigate the strange story as far as possible. To » “Daily News” representative, Sir William Crookes declined to enter into a discussion on the subject. “ I really must not say anything at all about it,” he said. “_Up- to the torecent I have not had sufficient examination to enable me to come to any decision upon the matter.” ’ i Canon Wilberforoe also declined td discus* the subject. Inquiries in religions circles led to a general expression #f scepticism as to tho authenticity of ths discovery. “ It reminds me of the story of the i-.no. of tho true Cross which Roman Catholics hoard in their Cathedrals,” remarked * minis tor to an interviewer. “One gentleman, so it is said, teok the trouble,to count the numbers fragment* of the true Cross exhibited ia the Roman Catholic cathedrals, sad found sufficient pieces to make up quite a doaen crosses.” Te * Bristol correspondent Mr Tudor Peie said:—“ I neither deny nor affirm

anything. Researches are now being *&d» in London, on the Continent, ana «lc«whsr*, and later on an official aoasdat of the strange events will be pubEshed. In the meantime no outsider <ys» possibly give a "final judgment in the matter.’ 3 Mr Pole is anxious that the relic shall

Vo the subject of thorough investigation by the best qualified persons. Inquiry is ia the direction or tracing the ago of the cup as a starting point. An inventory-taken at Glastonbury Abbey in the time of Henry VIII. "numerates a great sapphire, and the question is Wag rained whether the present find raiav answer for that. No trace exists oi tho great sapphire having been ressovad from Glastonbury to the Tower of London' with other jewels, and it disappeared after the inventory. Mi* Pole describes the cup as of glass, inlaid in a peculiar way with silver leaf. On both the cmtVr 'and'inner sides there is a niillo4ori pattern in green and blue in the for* of in." doable Maltese cross.

“It is, 3 !, he added, “ semi-trans-parent. There is little doubt that it is glass, but there" is nothing similar anywhere in the museums, either here or abroad. I have heard from Venice, and it is certainly pre-Venetian. 33 Mr Pole compared the cup to a largo Cauoor or small soup plate, and said that it was valued at £6OO or £7OO as »n antique object. Mi* Polo has had offers for it; but ho has formed no plana regarding its Meanwhile, it ia being guarded night and 4sy ia his private chapel 'n his house si Clifton. One striking fact is the namarkaWe state of preservation of the e». Mr Alfred Nutt, the well-known, folklerist and author of “The Legends of tie Holy Grail,’ 3 characterised the Holy Grail theory as absurd. . “*lf the relic still exists, 33 he said,

‘ it it evident that it cannot be but primitive and rude in form and material, and not a fascinating work of art, 1 ' as the newly-disooverod vessel kas been described.”

The theory that the cup may have iieen brought to Britain after the Crucifixion he characterised as pure fiction, a legend of Glastonbury.- The prail legend, he eaid, had its eouroo in the twelfth eentury, and the vessel described in the romances of the period , era* something very different from the enp of the Last Supper. It was something between a shallow howl and a platter, and contained food.