The next step was, there and then, to auction off all the moveables of the monastery, except the jewels of the rich reliquaries, chalices, and other sacred vessels, with the plate and bells, which formed the King's special perquisite. The whole artistic woodwork of the church (choir and wainscotting) was smashed in pieces, and even the very tombs of the founders and others interred there, were sold and carted off. For a description of the work of destruction, as related by an eye-witness of such vandalism at the suppression of an English Cistercian monastery, see _The Irish Cistercians_, p. 45. The sale realised £141 7s. 3d., but no detailed account is given of the sum that each article fetched. According to another Commission addressed to John Allen, Chancellor; William Brabazon, Vice-Treasurer; and Robert Cowley, Master of the Rolls; dated May 20, 1539, the proceeds of such sales were ordered to be allocated "to pay the officers and servants of the Crown." When the church and monastery were dismantled, and every article of value, no matter how trifling, had been removed, the order to clear out the monks was promptly given and executed; and the gates were shut behind them. Whither they went nobody cared, and whither to go was a problem to themselves difficult to be solved; for without money or provision, they were in a worse condition than the most destitute of beggars. The hoary old walls caught up their groans and lamentations on that day, as with breaking hearts they looked upon each familiar spot for the last time. This is one of the secrets the old stones of the few remaining buildings yet withhold from us. Mellifont beheld many moving spectacles during the four centuries of her existence, but none, perhaps, so deeply affecting as when her 150 children, amongst whom were the aged, tottering on the brink of the grave and leaning for support on some younger brethren, turned their back upon their happy home where they enjoyed an anticipated paradise. As the sad procession slowly gained the top of the hill, many a time they turned to take a last farewell look at their beloved monastery, till it faded from their view for ever. A few shillings each were allowed them for their immediate wants, but of that multitude only thirteen and the Abbot received pensions. This grant was fixed for them three days after their expulsion, after which they all disappear from the scene as effectually as if the Boyne had engulphed them.