number of those who remained went into that part called Wales, where there were high mountains and thick woods, where they could hide themselves. And some went with King Arthur to a part of France, which they called Brittany, after their dear old country, and a good many went to Ireland, and to the Highlands of Scotland.

Now the Saxons were fierce and cruel, for they had not yet learned anything about the true God; but instead of loving and serving Him, they made a great many figures of stone and wood, in the shape of men and women, and called them by different names, such as Woden, and Thor, and fancied they could help them and bless them, if they prayed to them; but you know this was both foolish and wicked. It was foolish, because stones and wood cannot hear, or understand; and wicked, because we ought only to pray to the true God.

The Britons, who had all become Christians before the Saxons came to Britain, were very ill treated by the Saxons, because they would not leave off loving and serving the true God. Their churches were pulled down, and the clergymen either killed or driven away. And the people of England (as Britain now began to be called) were almost in as bad a state as before the Romans came; for although the Saxons were glad enough to make them build houses, and plough the corn-fields, and take care of sheep for them, they would not let them read-they spoilt their schools, and burnt the books, besides pulling down the churches, as I told you before.

At length, however, these bad times ended, and the Saxons themselves left off being cruel, and did more good to the country than ever the Romans did, as I will tell you in another chapter.

CHAP. VII. SAXONS CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY. 15

CHAPTER VII.

How there were seven kings in England at one time; how Augustine and his friends came from Rome and made the people Christians; and how some of the young men went to Rome to be taught.

I TOLD you, in the last chapter, that the Saxon brothers, Hengist and Horsa, made themselves kings over part of Britain.

Soon afterwards five more brave captains among the Saxons made themselves kings. So there were seven kings in England. As soon as they were settled, they and their people began to like the houses and gardens and bathing places the Romans had left in the country, and a few of them began to learn to read, and, by degrees, some of the Christian clergymen ventured to try to teach them to know the true God. But very few dared to do this at first, for most of the Saxons were so foolish and cruel that they would have killed them. And now I will tell you what chiefly helped the British clergymen to make all the Saxons Christians.

Soon after the seven Saxon kings had settled themselves quietly in Britain, a good many young men were taken from Britain to be made servants at Rome. Most of these were Angles, and it happened that as they were standing together the Bishop of Rome saw them, and he thought they were very beautiful, and asked where they came from and who they were. He was told they were Angles, from Britain, but that they were not Christians. He was sorry for this, and said if they were Christians they would be Angels, not Angles.

Now he did not go away and forget this, but he sent

for a good man named Augustine, and asked him if he would go to Britain and teach these people to be Christians; and Augustine said he would, and he chose some other good men to help him to teach.

When Augustine and his friends got to England they went to the king of the part they reached first, and asked leave to teach the people, and the king gave them leave, and gave them a church in the town of

Canterbury, and learned a great deal from them himself. But some of the other kings did not like to be Christians, nor to let their people learn, and were very angry with those who listened to Augustine, and killed some of his friends. But at last, when they saw that the Christians behaved better than those who served the wooden and stone false gods they brought with them from their own country, they allowed their people to learn, and so by degrees they all became Christians.

Ina, who was one of the kings of that part of England which was then called Wessex, but now part is called Hampshire and part Berkshire, was very fond of learning, and he collected a penny from every house where the master could spare it, and sent all these pennies to Rome to pay for a school that he might send the young men to, because they could get better masters in Rome than in England at that time. The pennies collected by Ina for this good use were called PETER'S PENCE; and at first they were used to pay for the school, and nothing else.

Now I must tell you what the young men at that time learned in the school. First of all to read, and to write, and to count; then to paint pictures in books, and to make beautiful churches, and to plant gardens, and to take care of fruit trees, and to sing well in church. And they taught all these things to their friends when they came back to England.

I should have told you that it was only the clergymen who went to school in Rome; and when they came home, though some of them lived in houses of their own, yet most went and lived in large houses, called convents, big enough to hold a great many of them, besides having schools in them for teaching children, and rooms where they allowed poor people, who were travelling, to sleep; and they were very

good to the poor, and took great care of people who were sick.

And because these clergymen did so much good, the kings and the people gave them money, and some land fit for corn-fields and gardens, that they might have plenty for themselves, and the schoolboys, and the poor.

CHAPTER VIII.

How the Saxons loved freedom, but made laws to punish those who did wrong.

I AM sure you wish to hear something more about the Saxons, now that I have told you that they had become Christians like the Britons, and had left off fighting with them.

nobody should go Besides that, they

There was one thing that the Saxons loved above all others, and that was freedom; that is, they liked that every man should do what he pleased as long as he did not hurt anybody else. And they liked that when a man went into his own house and shut the door he should be safe, and that into his house without his leave. liked wicked people to be punished; I mean, that if a man killed another, on purpose, they liked that he should be killed too, for fear he should do more mischief; but if he did it by accident, they made him give money to the relations of the man he had killed, or perhaps they put him in prison for a little while, to teach him to be careful. And the Saxons liked that when a thief stole anything, he should be made to give it back, and that he should be punished.

Rules like these are called laws, and they are needful, to keep men from doing wrong. All laws are