The debate waxed fast and furious.
This had developed by the 14th or 15th century into a cerecloth, or waxed cloth, on the table itself; and three linen coverings one above the other, two of about the size of the table and one rather wider than the altar, and long enough to hang down at each end.
A great wave of secularity rolled over the Church, engulfing the religious orders with the rest; love waxed cold, fervour languished; learning declined, discipline was relaxed, bitter rivalries broke out, especially between Franciscans and Dominicans.
The apprehension never died out in his mind; and when he knew that the principles and abstractions, the un-English dialect and destructive dialectic, of his former acquaintances were predominant in the National Assembly, his suspicion that the movement would end in disastrous miscarriage waxed into certainty.
This question aroused a controversy which waxed hottest in England, and as the Irish monks stubbornly adhered to their traditions they were vehemently attacked by their opponents.
