some 12. Romanized cities, villas which showed the marbles and mosaics of the South, Welsh hamlets and hill forts, all perished amid sack, fire, and massacre. Some lines of indestructible Roman roads, like Watling Street; 11 massive Roman walls, such as the fragments in London, Lincoln, and Caer-gwent; some Anglicized Roman names of cities survive, to show who were masters of the land before the English came. RICHARD CHURCH: The Beginning of the Middle Ages. al-ter-na-tion, succession; coming by in-del-i-ble, that cannot be blotted in-dent-ed, cut into or notched, as if by teeth. in-de-struc-ti-ble, that cannot be destroyed. ir-rec-on-cil-a-ble, that cannot be made to agree. con-fed-er-a-cy, league; union. con-verg-ing, inclining together; ob-scu-ri-ty, darkness; uncertainty. tending to meet. per-ma-nent-ly, durably; lastingly. dis-place-ment, setting aside. pro-tract-ed, long continued. en-coun-tered, met with. [passes. re-tire-ment, withdrawing. en-croach-ments, advances; tres-su-prem-a-cy, higher authority. ex-ter-mi-na-tion, complete destruc- te-na-cious, obstinate; holding fast to their rights. tion. 1 The wilderness of nations.- | founder of the Merovingian dynasty in The confused mass of peoples occupying France. He removed his capital from the Continent of Europe in the third Tours to Paris in 510 A.D. and fourth centuries. 2 Their wilder kinsfolk. The Picts and Scots, native tribes that had not been Romanized. 3 Whatever historical obscurity, &c.-So much of King Arthur's history is fabulous, that some have doubted whether any such person ever existed. He is famous as the founder of the Knights of the Round Table, and as the introducer of Christianity among the Britons. His death is assigned to 542 A.D. The legends of Arthur were first embodied in history by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who died in 1154 A.D. 4 King of the Huns.-Attila, who in 451 A.D. invaded Gaul, and was defeated at Chalons by the Romans. 5 Theodoric, the founder of the Ostro-Gothic kingdom in Italy. 6 Clo'vis, king of the Franks, and 7 Belisa/rius, the great general of the Emperor Justinian, who recovered in the north of Africa the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem. After a brilliant career, slander overtook him, and he ended his days in poverty and disgrace, 559 A.D. 8 Æth'elfrith, the king of Bernicia, who seized Deira and united these states in Northumbria, 603 A.D. (See ROYAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, p. 46.) 9 Wessex.-Egbert began to reign there in 800, and became Overlord of England in 827 A.D. 10 The Gothic and Frankish ones, -on the Continent, that is to say. 11 Watling Street. - One of four great Roman roads in Britain. It extended from Kent to Cardigan Bay, and is said to have derived its name from Vitellianus, a Roman officer whe directed its construction. A.D. 4.-CHRISTIANITY IN ENGLAND. 1. It was not long until the great spiritual power, which grew on the ruins of Pagan Rome, stretched out its 430 branches toward the British Isles. Pope Celestine sent Palladius in 430 A.D., and St. Patrick two years later, to convert the Scots in Ireland. Ninian and Kentigern laboured during the fifth and sixth centuries in the south-west of Scotland. Columba of Donegal, a man of noble birth and remarkable qualities, landed with 563 twelve monks on the Scottish coast in 563, bent on A. D. the conversion of the Picts. These, however, can hardly be regarded as Papal 'missionaries. Settling in Iona, a bare little island off the lower horn of Mull, Columba, the Apostle of Scotland, established there a school of teachers and preachers, who did more true missionary work in Scotland and Northumbria during those dark times than any other class of men. 2. Columba was a missionary in the true sense. Augustine was a shrewd, clever, worldly priest, who came as an 'ambassador from Rome at the bidding of Gregory the Great,1 to plant the Papal power on the shores of Britain. It is a mistake to call the landing of Augustine the introduction of Christianity into England. It was only the introduction of the authority of the Church of Rome. Christianity was there before; and its lamp was shining, though with faint and fitful gleams, by many a humble hearth, far away among the mountains of Wales. 3. Æthelbert, an Aesking2 of Kent, had married Bertha (Bercta), daughter of the Frankish King of Paris, who was a professed Christian. Within a church at Canterbury the chaplain of this lady, Bishop Liudhard, who had come with her from Gaul, held a regular Christian service, to which curiosity, rather than any deeper motive, 'attracted many of the Kentish people. Æthelbert went on worship ping his idols, Thor and Odin, for fully thirty years after his marriage; but he must in the meantime have grown familiar with some of the doctrines preached in that little chapel of St. Martin. The ground was therefore somewhat broken for the operations of Augustine and his monks. 4. A letter from Æthelbert to Gregory, requesting a mission to Britain, was the first move in this important 'transaction. The gentle words of Bertha, dropping continually on the Aesking's ear, had wrought out this result; and the Frankish chaplain was in all likelihood the scribe on the occasion. Gladly Gregory 'responded to the call; for his active mind had been long ago attracted by the distant isle, in the hope of winning over it a victory more enduring than the triumphs of the Cæsars. 5. He had once seen some English slaves on view in the Roman market, where their blue eyes, yellow hair, and fair complexion contrasted strongly with the dark locks and swarthy cheeks of Southern captives. On inquiring who and whence they were, his fancy was struck by the scriptural significance of the answers he received. "Angles!" he exclaimed; "not Angles, but angels." "From Deira? Then they shall be de ira eruti,—snatched from wrath.” "Name of their king Ælla! That is Alleluiah." Some such youths he had collected with the design of training them for a mission to England; but the project failed. The arrival of Æthelbert's letter filled his heart with joy. Selecting for the work Augustine, the prior of the convent to which he had himself belonged, he despatched that priest with forty monks to the distant shores of Kent. 6. These men, frightened by the accounts they received of the islanders, lingered in Gaul, and sent back their leader to beg for a recall. But Gregory had willed it; they must go on. Accompanied, therefore, by Frankish bishops, whose language was not unlike that of the men of Kent, they crossed the sea, and wondered to find themselves in a fair and smiling land. A message 597 from Æthelbert 'reässured them yet more. Bidding A. D. them welcome, and thanking them for having come so far to do him good, he said that they might remain as long as they pleased. He then agreed to give the foreign monks an audience in the open air, in sight of the assembled men of Kent. 7. The meeting must have been an impressive scene. Somewhere in the island of Thanet a double throne was set up in the open air. When the King and Queen had ascended their royal chairs, sounds of sacred music were heard in the distance. The rough Jutes stood around in silent awe. Nearer came the song, and the words of Latin psalms and litanies, chanted by the voices of the monks, grew distinct as the procession advanced. Dressed in gorgeous robes of silk and gold, with a picture of the Saviour carried aloft, and a silver crucifix flashing in every hand, the monks reached the foot of the throne. Augustine spoke through his Frankish friends, setting forth the blessings and hopes that flowed from the faith he professed. The answer of the King was cautious; but the delighted face of Queen Bertha sufficiently rewarded the missionaries for their toils and fears. Before long, Augustine sent a letter to Gregory announcing the baptism of the Kentish King, and the conversion of ten thousand Jutes! 8. Augustine,3 appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, entered with zeal on the duties of his see. His grand object was to bend every man in Britain beneath Roman sway. He held a 'conference with the simple priests of the Cymri;4 but they resented the 'arrogance of the foreign monk, who desired to thrust on them the tenets of a distant city and an unknown man, and refused obedience to the Pope. A second meeting had the same result. Repelled by Augustine's crafty proposals, but 'undaunted by his violent threats, they broke off the conference, and went back to their mountains. 9. About twenty years after the arrival of Augustine, Æthelburh, the daughter of Æthelbert and Bertha, became the wife of King Edwin (Eadwine) of Deira. She was accompanied to Bamborough Castle by Paulinus, a Christian bishop, through whose preaching Edwin and the Northumbrians were converted to Christianity. In 627, Paulinus became first Archbishop of York. Not long afterwards, Aidan went from Iona to Holy Isle, and founded the see of Lindisfarne. There were thus introduced into Northumbria two 'ecclesiastical authorities-that of the Church of Iona, and that of the Church of Rome. There 664 naturally arose a dispute between them. Synod of Whitby, in 664, it was decided that Northumbria should owe allegiance to the Bishop of Rome alone. Thereupon the monks of Lindisfarne returned to Iona. al-le-giance, submission; loyalty. am-bas-sa-dor, a messenger of high rank. an-nounc-ing, making known; inti- ar-ro-gance, pride; assumed superi- At the A.D. The Royal History of England. im-pres-sive, telling; touching. mis-sion-a-ries, men sent forth to op-er-a-tions, work; doings. re-as-sured', restored courage to. re-spond-ed, answered; yielded. inquisi-sig-nif-i-cance, meaning. trans-ac-tion, business. un-daunt-ed, not terrified. con-fer-ence, meeting. de-spatched', sent off. 1 Gregory the Great.-Pope from 590 to 604 A.D. 2 Æsk'ing, a son of Æsc (-ing, son of); a descendant of Eoric of Kent, Hengest's son, who was surnamed Esc, or the ash-tree." 3 Augus'tine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, must not be confounded with "St. Augustine," one of the fathers of the Christian Church, who flourished |