several months, during which he prevailed upon his friend Eata, bishop of Lindisfarne, to exchange positions with him, Eata going to Hexham, and Cuthbert becoming chief ruler over the older but more secluded community. He died in 687, but his name and fame as apostle of the lowlands, and an example of sincere devotion, is still revered throughout the north of Britain. His body was buried at Lindisfarne, in a shroud wrought for it by the abbess of Tynemouth, and for generations pilgrimages were made to his tomb.

5. Anglo-Saxon Authors. In the early part of the 8th century the monastic schools began to produce original writers and thinkers, who became the fathers of that English literature which is

now the glory of the world. One of the earliest was Aldhelm, or Eadhelm, bishop of Sherborne. He wrote in Latin and in Saxon; he used to compose popular ballads in the vernacular, and stand in some public place to sing them, accompanying himself on an harp. Having gained the ear of his audience by means of the music, he generally finished by giving them some spiritual instruction. He translated the Psalms into the vulgar tongue, and persuaded one Egbert, of his brother bishops, to translate the Gospels in like manner; he is also famous for having induced the Celtic Christians in Cornwall to abandon their old rule of keeping Easter in favour of the more general custom. Like Wilfrid he was a great architect, and at Bradford-on-Avon, in Wiltshire, there may still be seen a monument of this branch of his labours, in the little church of St. Laurence. Until thirty years ago it was hidden among surrounding buildings and used for secular purposes, but in 1857 it was recovered to the Church, and is now used daily for public worship. It is the most perfect Saxon stone-building extant, and is a very precious relic of the early days of Christianity in the south-west portion of our land. Aldhelm lived among the Saxons in

(BUILT A.D. 684).

the south, but there was another noted poet belonging to the Angles in the north, named Cadmon whose gift of poesy is said to have come to him by a sudden inspiration, as he lay sleeping in a cowshed

belonging to Streanæshalch Abbey after a hard day's work of cattle tending. Previously he had been unable and therefore unwilling to take part in the easy alliterative rhyming which was the amusement of the common people in those simple times, but one winter's night, so he said, a celestial being came to him, and asked him to sing something. "I cannot sing," was his reply. "But you must," said the visitor. "What shall I sing?" asked the bewildered herdsman. "Sing the beginning of created things." And although he was an untaught labourer, he forthwith composed verses in praise of the Deity, which are still considered worthy of a place in our literature. When the Abbess Hilda heard his tale he was admitted to the monastery as a monk; his brethren translated to him passages from their Latin manuscripts of the Scriptures, and he immediately transposed their substance into earnest, passionate verses, in the phraseology of the Anglian peasantry. Aldhelm and Cædmon are both surpassed in merit by the greater monk whom we have so often quoted-the Venerable Bede-most famous among the scholars of Western Europe in his day. He lived at the monastery of Jarrowon-Tyne, which Benedict Biscop had built at the end of the 7th century. Its oratory still remains, having been used almost uninterruptedly from that time for Christian worship, thus forming an evidence in stone of the antiquity and continuity of the Anglo-Saxon Church, and another example of the substantial character of its buildings. Bede was born in the year 672, and at the early age of seven was placed in charge of the Jarrow monks, from which time, until his death, he never wandered further afield than to and from the sister monastery of Wearmouth, founded at the same period; but spent all his time in a constant course of study and instruction. He was a most voluminous writer. Scores of commentaries on the Scriptures compiled from the writings of the Christian Fathers, translations of the Bible and Liturgy into the vulgar tongue, a book upon the Saints and Martyrs, biographies of his contemporaries, treatises on orthography, astronomy, rhetoric, and poetry; besides innumerable letters to persons who sought his advice-all these are laid to his credit. Indeed his works were a kind of cyclopædia of almost all that was then known, and they are most of them now in existence; but above all in value is the book he wrote in Latin at the request of Ceolwulph, king of Northumbria, called "The Ecclesiastical History of the Anglian Nation," which is still the chief authority for historians when they seek to know anything respecting our forefathers up to this time. The monasteries of Jarrow and Wearmouth sought to uphold the principles which Wilfrid had enunciated, rather than those of the Lindisfarne teachers, and therefore we find many passages in the writings of Bede unfavourable to the Celtic Christians. He was the forerunner of many writers who were interested in advancing the claims of the see of Rome. He himself tells us that much of the information in the "Ecclesiastical History" was obtained from the libraries at Rome, and the writings of the popes.

We are not blaming Bede

for this partisanship, it

was part of his education, but we take the fact into account as we read his books. A beautiful wordpicture is left us by one of his scholars respecting the close of his life. It was the Eve of Ascension Day, A.D. 735, when he lay a-dying; the translation of the Gospel of St. John occupying his closing hours. A group of fair-haired Saxon scribes wrote from his dictation, as far as the words "What are these among so many, when Bede felt his end was approaching. "Write quickly," he said, "I cannot tell how soon my Master will call me

hence." All night he lay awake in thanksgiving, and when the festival

dawned he repeated his

request that they should BEDE'S TOMB IN DURHAM CATHEDRAL

accelerate the work. At last they said "There remains but one sentence."" Write quickly," answered Bede. "It is finished, master!" they replied. "Aye, it is finished!" he echoed; "now lift me up and place me opposite my holy place where I have been accustomed to pray." He was placed upon the floor of his cell, bade farewell to his companions to whom he had previously given mementoes of his affection, and having sung the Doxology, peacefully breathed his last.

6. Anglo-Saxon Foreign Missions." When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." So runs the apostolic

precept, which Christians in every age have endeavoured to fulfil. Long before the conversion of the Heptarchy, the Celtic Church had despatched its missionaries to Gaul and Switzerland, as we learn from the lives of the Irish monks Columban and Gall, and the Angles were soon filled with the like missionary zeal. From such schools as those of Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, and Jarrow, men were sent forth to convert the kindred Teutonic tribes who had colonised what we now call Germany. Wilfrid, of York, had preached in Friesland, and afterwards sent Willibrord and twelve monks from his monastery at Ripon to the same district. Two priests named Ewald attempted a similar task in Saxony, but they were torn limb from limb at Cologne, and their remains thrown into the Rhine. In 716, Winfrid, better known as Boniface, educated first at a Celtic monastery near Exeter, and afterwards in a West Saxon monastery in Hampshire, resolved to help Willibrord at Utrecht. Subsequently he was consecrated "Missionary Bishop of Germany" by Pope Gregory II., and succeeded in establishing a number of fully organised religious communities, over which he was made archbishop, with his see at