been able to learn any songs, and when he was at a feast, and saw that his turn to sing was coming round, he would get up and go out, that he might not suffer shame by having to say that he could not sing.

One day he had left a feast for this reason, and he went to a stable where he had to stay all night to take care of the horses. When the night time came, he settled himself amongst the hay and went to sleep. Then it seemed to him that in his sleep a man came to him and stood before him and said, "Cadmon, sing some song to me." He answered, "I cannot sing; that was the reason why I left the feast and came to this place, because I could not sing." But the man replied, "All the same you shall sing." Then Cadmon asked, "What shall I sing?" And the man answered, "Sing the beginning of created things." It seemed to Cadmon that he at once did as he was bidden, and began to sing verses which he had never heard before, to the praise of God. When he awoke from his sleep he remembered the verses which he had sung, and was even able to sing others in the same strain.

In the morning he went to the steward under whom he worked, and told him how in his sleep God had taught him to make verses. The steward went to the abbess Hilda, a wise and holy lady, who ruled over a great monastery at Whitby, where dwelt many learned and God-fearing men, and told her how God in a dream had put verses into the heart of the ignorant peasant Cadmon. So Hilda called Cadmon to come before her, and there were many learned men with her; she bade Cadmon tell them his dream, and repeat the verses which

he had made. When they heard the verses, they all declared that it must have been God Himself who had taught him. They then explained to him a part of the Bible, and bade him put it into verse, and afterwards tell them the verses.

Cadmon went away and came back the next morning, and told them some very beautiful verses which he had made, as they had bidden. Then Hilda said that as God had given him this gift, he must become one of the brothers in her monastery, that he might spend his days in making verses. Cadmon was quite willing, and he became a monk at Whitby. There those brothers who could read taught Cadmon what was in the Bible, and he pondered over what he had heard and turned it into verse. He sang it to the monks so sweetly that they who had been his masters were willing in their turn to sit at his feet and feel that he was their master. There was in those days no English Bible which all men could read. The monks only had the Bible in Latin, and those who were learned enough to read the Latin Bible used to teach others what they had read. But now Cædmon sang in English verses how God had made all created things, and he sang the lives of the holy men of old, and the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, and the teaching of the Apostles. These verses all men could understand, and it was easy to remember them; so Cadmon helped to give every one the teaching of the Bible. In his verses he bade men turn from sin and love good works; for he was a good man himself, and wished to make others good. He lived humbly and quietly in the monastery all his life. When he felt himself dying he gathered the monks around his bed and spoke loving words to

them; then he laid his head upon his pillow and fell asleep like a little child; and as he slept his sweet spirit passed quietly away.

III.

THE DEATH OF THE HOLY BEDE.

A.D. 754.

THE first great English scholar was the holy Bede, who lived about twelve hundred years ago. He spent his life as a monk at Jarrow in Northumberland; and he himself has told us how his days were passed. His chief attention was given to the study of the Bible; but he had to sing the services in the church, and to help the other monks in doing the work of the convent. He liked to take exercise in winnowing and threshing the corn, and he would carry milk to the lambs and the calves, and help to bake the bread, and work in the garden; for all these things were part of the work of the monks. All the spare time he could get he spent in learning, or teaching, or writing. In the course of his busy life he wrote a surprising number of books, most of which have come down to us; and his writings have taught us much about the things which happened in England in his day. All who knew Bede loved and honoured him, and many young men gathered round him to learn of him and help him with his writing. He loved learning so deeply that even on his deathbed he could not be