have said the truth. into yours, for it is a great satisfaction to me to sit facing my holy place, where I was wont to pray." Then the loving hands of his pupils placed their master on the pavement of his little cell. He then sang, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," and, as his voice reached the last word, he passed quietly away.

It is ended. Receive my hand

We are not surprised that Alfred should choose this typical English writer, and that, of all Bede's works, he translated the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Alfred's aim in life was to be so thorough that he should be a pattern to his people, even as Bede was, who did not want his pupils to read a falsehood.

It is from Bede's History that we get our knowledge of the conversion of England to Christianity. His story of the fair young Angles in the Marketplace at Rome is well known; but as illustrations of his charm as a story-teller, we will select two other stories of the conversion of Northumbria.

Paulinus, a Christian missionary, had gone into Northumbria to convert its king and its people from heathenism. "Then," says the story, "King Edwin sent forth and gathered together his Aldermen and his Thanes, and all his wise men, and they took counsel together. And some agreed to become Christians, but others would not. Then arose Coifi, the High Priest of Woden, and said: 'Tell us, O king, what this new law is; for this one thing I know, that these Gods, whom we have so long worshipped, profit us not at all. For none of your people has applied himself more

diligently to the

worship of our Gods than I; and yet there are many who receive greater favours from you, and are more prosperous in all their work. Now, if the Gods were good for anything, they would rather forward me who have been so careful to serve them. Wherefore let us hearken to what these men say, and learn what their law is, and if we find it to be better than our own, let us serve their God and worship Him.''

To these brave words of Coifi there succeeds the Story of the Sparrow. One of the king's chief men said: “Truly the life of man on this earth, compared with that life of which we know nothing, is on this wise. It is as when thou, O King, art sitting at supper with thine Aldermen and thy Thanes in the time of winter when the hearth is lighted in the midst and the hall is warm, but without the rains and the snow are falling and the winds are howling. Then cometh a sparrow and flieth through the hall; she cometh in at one door and goeth out by another. While she is in the room she feeleth not the storm of winter, but yet, when a short time is passed, she flieth again into the storm, and passeth away from our eyes. So it is with the life of man. It is but for a moment. What goeth before it, and what cometh after it, we know not at all. Wherefore, if these strangers can tell us aught that we may know whence man cometh and whither he goeth, let us hearken to them and follow their law."

Paulinus then preached the Gospel to the king,

his thanes, and his wise men.

Then arose Coifi and

spake again the second time, "Wherefore, O King, let us at once root up and burn down those temples

and altars which we have hallowed, and yet have got no good thereby." Then in answer to a challenge as to the man who would dare to do this, Coifi advanced, girded him with a sword, took a spear in his hand, and rode on the king's own horse to the place where was the temple of idols. But when men saw Coifi the priest wearing weapons, and riding on the king's horse, they said, “Of a truth Coifi the priest is mad." Then Coifi drew near to the temple, and, hurling his spear at it, he bade his followers break down the temple and burn it with the hedge that was round. about it.

Bede then finishes his story by telling us that the king believed, with all his thanes and wise men, and the common folk of Northumbria. Moreover, he

built a church of wood in the city of York, and called it by the name of St. Peter. There he was baptised at Easter, and he ordered that Paulinus should be Bishop of the City of York.

The English Chronicle.

IN the course of this life of Alfred we have frequently had to refer to the English Chronicle, which is one of the most valuable records possessed by any European nation. Without it, much of our early history would be unintelligible, and so reliable is the Chronicle that Professor Freeman says, "It is the book we should learn to reverence next after our Bible."

This valuable national chronicle of English history is generally associated with the name of Alfred. We

have seen how he translated Bede's History, and it is not unlikely that he then proceeded to the arrangement of the Chronicle. Most of the bishops kept a Roll, which was really a list of the dates, of the events in their own sees Winchester had such a Roll, kept in Latin, and it was probably Swithun, one of the bishops of that see, who transformed this Roll of dates into national history giving us the earliest particulars we have of the coming of the English.

Alfred took this Latin chronicle in hand, and, about the year 887, he had translated it into English, and had prefixed to it an introduction dating from the birth of Christ. Swithun's work had ended with the death of Ethelwulf, and it is from that date that Alfred's work really begins. The Chronicle henceforth becomes a continuous narrative, written with much freshness and originality. It It may be imagined how great an effect such a work had on the English character; it did much to weld together the different parts of the land, and made the people feel they had a common heritage. Bede had made English history accessible to monk and priest, but Alfred gave it to the common people.

This Chronicle was kept by various hands till the year 1154; and no one can pretend to any exact knowledge of our English history who has not studied this remarkable book. There are now in existence six ancient copies of the English Chronicle, of which four are in the British Museum.