Note 76 — LETTER XLII.

The Bottle called the Holy Phial, is kept at Rheims, in the Tomb of St. Remy, in the Church of that Name. It has not been filled since the Coronation of Clovis, when ’tis said this Phial was brought from Heaven, with the Oil with which that first Christian King of France was consecrated; and the Frier who shews it at Rheims, says very seriously, That when the King is sick, it dries away; so that when he dies, there is not a Drop left in the Bottle; but that as soon as his Successor is proclaimed, it fills again of its own Accord. I tell you no more than what I heard with my own Ears, and tho’ I could not help smiling at it, the Frier was not angry. The Liquefaction of this Oil is altogether as miraculous as that of St. Januarius’s Blood at Naples.