and, "spending all the remainder of my life in that monastery, I wholly applied myself to the study of the Scriptures; and amidst the observation of regular discipline, and the daily care of singing in the church, I always took delight in learning, teaching, and writing." 23. We read this about the occupations of the monastery: "The founder, like the rest of the brothers, delighted to exercise himself in winnowing the corn and thrashing it, in giving milk to the lambs and calves, in the bake-house, in the garden, in the kitchen." These were all healthy, peaceful, and useful employments. But besides helping to attend to all this, Bede studied religion and all the learning of the times. He knew Latin and Greek, and had read some at least of the old poets and philosophers whom scholars love to read now. He knew as much as could be known at that time of astronomy, physical science, arithmetic, grammar, and medicine. He was also very fond of music, singing, and poetry. He taught all the other monks, and many strangers, who came from all parts to learn of him, and he wrote forty-five books. Most of these were sermons or explanations of the Bible; but others were hymns and poems, or on scientific subjects. One was about spelling. But the one we prize most is that from which so much has been quoted here, his 'Church History.' He was the first English historian. This book was written in Latin (and we shall see who first translated it another time), but Bede loved his native tongue, and the last work he did was to translate the Gospel of St. John into English. Is not this a picture of a noble and a happy life? Now read the story of his beautiful death, written by one of his pupils who was with him to the end. He tells us that after the beginning of his last illness "he led his life cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks to Almighty God every day and night, nay, every hour, till the day of our Lord's ascension." He was labouring hard to finish his translation of St. John, he dictating, while one of his pupils wrote. On "the Tuesday before the ascension of our Lord... he passed all that day pleasantly, and dictated now and then, saying, 'Go on quickly; I know not how long I shall hold out, and whether my Master will soon take me away."" the Wednesday "he ordered that we should speedily write what he had begun, and this done, we walked till the third hour with the relics of saints, according to the custom of that day. There was one of us with him, who said to him, 'Most dear master, there is still one chapter wanting; do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?' He answered, 'It is no On . . Hav trouble. Take your pen, make ready, and write fast.' ing said much more, he passed the day joyfully till the evening, and the above-mentioned boy said, 'Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written.' He answered, 'Write quickly.' Soon after the boy said, 'The sentence is now written.' He replied, Well, you have said the truth. It is ended.' Then he said, 'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.' When he had named the Holy Ghost he breathed his last, and so departed to the heavenly kingdom." 735. 24. Some of the monasteries of this time seem to have been presided over by ladies. There was one very famous one, of which the ruins are still to be seen at Whitby in Hilda. Yorkshire, which was ruled by the Abbess Hilda. She belonged to the royal family, and must have understood the art of governing very well, for she trained up many clergymen, and no less than five bishops. In her abbey dwelt Cadmon, the first English poet, who made so many and such beautiful verses on the Bible histories, that he was believed to have "learnt the art of poetry, not from men, but from God." Thus we see how the monasteries are like islands of harmony and culture in the midst of wild oceans of discord and strife. LECTURE VIII.-THE UNITING OF THE ENGLISH The kingdoms of the English. The "Bretwalda." Egbert. The Danes. St. Edmund. 1. ENGLAND was now beginning to have far more intercourse with the rest of Europe than she had had for a long time. In the fervour of their new conversion, the English began to send missionaries to convert their heathen kinsfolk on the Continent; and by means of them, their zeal and their learning, England became well known and famous; for at that time our country was more learned and more religious than many of its neighbours. The Romans and the Teutons. 2. It is now time, then, that we should inquire a little more into the state of the Continent, and how the great empire of the Romans had fared during the centuries which had passed since they left Britain. It will be remembered how the Teutonic or German races were falling upon it on all sides, settling themselves in Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Britain. By the beginning of the ninth century the Teutons had lost some of these conquests. They had entirely lost their African possessions, and had given way to the Arabs or Saracens. The Saracens had also established themselves in Spain and in a part of France. 3. But, on the other hand, the Teutons were growing stronger and stronger in other parts. There was a great tribe or people of Teutonic race called the Franks, who were now the chief people in Germany and Gaul. Their name means "free men." In English the word "frank" still means open, unreserved, free-handed, free-hearted. As the Angles had changed the name of Britain into England, so the Franks changed that of Gaul into France. They also gave their name to Franconia in Germany. The difference between the settlement of the Franks in France and that of the English in England, is that the English destroyed the old inhabitants, and brought in their own language and habits. The Franks did not destroy the people of Gaul, but settled in among them, and by degrees learnt their language, which the Gauls before this had learnt from the Romans. The French is one of those languages which are called Romance, as having been learnt from Rome, and being very much like the Roman or Latin speech. But at the time of which we are now speaking the Franks still talked their own native German. 4. And now it was that, to show how completely the Germans had conquered the Romans, the King of the Franks was made Emperor of Rome! This German emperor was called Charles the Great, which was afterwards He 800. Charles. Charlemagne." The Emperor translated into French as 66 really deserved the name of "great," and we have something to do with him in English history; for he began to take an interest in English affairs, and it was under him that the first king of all the English was trained up. It seems that he began to notice the English through the missionaries whom they sent among the Franks. One of his dearest friends was an Englishman from York, named Alcuin, who had, perhaps, been one of Bede's own pupils. Alcuin had a great love for Charles, calling him "David" as a sign of affection, and went to live in France, that he might help him in many ways, especially in teaching the people. It shows how much the Franks were behind the English in learning, that he had to send to York to get books for his school. 5. Hitherto the Germans on the Continent, as well as the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons in England, had been very much broken up into small states or tribes, which was a great hindrance to their progress and strength. Charles conquered some of these scattered tribes, and made alliances with others, so as to join them all into one, under his own government. We know that afterwards the German empire broke up again, for we have seen in our own day how it has been reunited, and there is an Emperor of Germany again (though he has nothing to do with Rome, as Charles the Great had) 6. In England the various kings and kingdoms had been constantly fighting and struggling; now one being master, and now another. Though we will not call our ancestors "kites and crows," as Milton did, and though all this conflict was really the rough-hewing of the grand English nation, yet we need not linger over it, or burden our memories with the details. The time was coming when all the smaller kingdoms would be gathered under one head, and would thus become far more great and powerful, even then; still more, would have the possibility of growth and future greatness. It had often been the case that one of the kings would gain a certain authority over some or all of the others, as Edwin of Northumberland had done. When that was the case he was called "Bretwalda." It is not quite certain what that word meant, though some people believe that it meant “ Wielder of Britain." 66 7. At the time at which we have now arrived, Northumberland, which had been so strong, learned, and civilized, had sunk down again, and was weak and distracted. The most powerful kingdom was Mercia, and Offa, the Mercian king, began to lord it over the others. He set one of his sons in-law to be King of Northumberland, and another to be King of Wessex. In each of those countries another man claimed the throne; both of these were obliged to fly the country, and both took refuge with Charles the Great. Egbert. 8. One of these, the claimant of the throne of Wessex, was Egbert, who afterwards gained that and a great deal more. It has been mentioned that in the old heathen times the kings were all supposed to be descended from the god Woden. By this time, as they had been Christians so long, they had altered their opinion about Woden. They now thought of him as a man, but still he was believed to be the founder of the royal family, and one of his descendants says of him, "He was the king of many nations, whom some of the pagans still worship as a god." Though they no longer thought the royal family sprang from a god, yet they still had a great reverence for it. Now Egbert, besides being a very clever man, was the only living descendant of Woden; therefore Bertric, Offa's son-in-law, was very jealous of him. 9. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." Had Egbert not been banished from his country, had he been made king easily and at once, he would, perhaps, never have been the king he His training. was. While living under the protection of Charles he learnt a great deal. He watched him uniting the scattered German tribes into one strong kingdom, and when he came home he followed the example. 10. Bertric, the supplanting King of Wessex, came to a melancholy end. His wife, the daughter of Offa, was a very wicked woman, jealous of every one whom her husband loved. If she could not get rid of them openly she would give them poison; and at last, when she was intending to poison a young friend and favourite of the king, by some mistake Bertric also partook of the cup, and so both perished together. After this the queen, detested by every one, was obliged to leave the country, and she |