bore in their attributes, and in the particular days that were consecrated to them, though not in their names, a near resemblance to the divinities of ancient Rome. But still the great and capital objects of their worship were taken from Druidism; trees, stones, the elements, and the heavenly bodies. 1 These were their principal devotions, laid the strongest hold upon their minds, and resisted the progress of the Christian religion with the greatest obstinacy. For we find these superstitions forbidden amongst the latest Saxon laws. A worship which stands in need of the memorial of images or books to support it, may perish when these are destroyed. But when a superstition is established upon those great objects of nature, which continually solicit the senses, it is extremely difficult to turn the mind from things, that in themselves are striking, and that are always present. Amongst the objects of this class must be reckoned the goddess Eostre, who, from the etymology of the name, as well as from the season sacred to her, was probably that beautiful planet which the Greeks and Romans worshipped under the names of Lucifer and Venus. It is from this goddess that in England the Paschal festival has been called Easter.2 To these they joined the reverence of various subordinate genii, or demons, fairies, and goblins; fantastical ideas, which in a state of uninstructed nature grow spontaneously out of the wild fancies or fears of men. Thus they worshipped a sort

of goddess whom they called Mara, formed from those frightful appearances that oppress men in their sleep; and the name is still retained among us.3

As to the manners of the Anglo-Saxons, they were such as might be expected in a rude people; fierce, and of a gross simplicity. Their clothes were short. As all barbarians are much taken with exterior form, and the advantages and distinctions which are conferred by nature, the Saxons set a high value on comeliness of person, and studied much to improve it. It is remarkable that a law of King Ina orders the care and education of foundlings to be regulated by their

Gentiles Deos; et solem vel lunam; ignem vel fluvium; torrentem vel saxa; vel alicujus generis arborum ligna. L. Cnut. 5. Superstitiosus ills conventus, qui Frithgear dicitur, circa lapidem, arborem, fontem. Leg Presb. Northumb. The Nightmare.

Spelman's Glossary, Tit. eod

beauty. They cherished their hair to a great length, and were extremely proud and jealous of this natural ornament. Some of their great men were distinguished by an appellative taken from the length of their hair.2 To pull the hair was punishable; 3 and forcibly to cut or injure it was considered in the same criminal light with cutting off the nose, or thrusting out the eyes. In the same design of barbarous ornament, their faces were generally painted and scarred. They were so fond of chains and bracelets, that they have given a surname to some of their kings from their generosity in bestowing such marks of favour.4

Few things discover the state of the arts amongst people more certainly than the presents that are made to them by foreigners. The pope, on his first mission into Northumberland, sent to the queen of that country some stuffs with ornaments of gold, an ivory comb inlaid with the same metal, and a silver mirror. A queen's want of such female ornaments and utensils shows that the arts were at this tinte little cultivated amongst the Saxons. These are the sort of presents commonly sent to a barbarous people.

Thus ignorant in sciences and arts, and unpractised in trade or manufacture, military exercises, war, and the preparation for war, was their employment, hunting their pleasure. They dwelt in cottages of wicker-work, plastered with clay, and thatched with rushes, where they sat with their families, their officers and domestics, round a fire made in the middle of the house. In this manner their greatest princes lived amidst the ruins of Roman magnificence. But the introduction of Christianity, which, under whatever form, always confers such inestimable benefits on mankind, soon made a sensible change in these rude and fierce manners.

It is by no means impossible, that, for an end so worthy, Providence on some occasions might directly have interposed. The books which contain the history of this time and change are little else than a narrative of miracles; frequently, however, with such apparent marks of weakness or design, that they afford little encouragement to insist on

'L. Inæ 19. 2 Oslacus promissâ cæsarie heros. Chron. Saxon. 123. 3 L. Elfred. 42, L. Cnut. apud Brompt. 21.

• Edgarus nobilibus torquium largitor. Chron. Sax. 123. Bed. Hist Eccl. 1. iv. c. 29.

them. They were then received with a blind credulity; they have been since rejected with as undistinguishing a disregard. But as it is not in my design, nor inclination, nor indeed in my power, either to establish or refute these stories, it is sufficient to observe that the reality or opinion of such miracles was the principal cause of the early acceptance and rapid progress of Christianity in this island. Other causes undoubtedly concurred: and it will be more to our purpose to consider some of the human and politic ways, by which religion was advanced in this nation; and those more particularly, by which the monastic institution, then interwoven with Christianity, and making an equal progress with it, attained to so high a pitch of property and power; so as, in a time extremely short, to form a kind of order, and that not the least considerable, in the state.

CHAPTER II.

ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY-OF MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS
AND OF THEIR EFFECTS.

THE marriage of Ethelbert to a Christian princess was, we have seen, a means of introducing Christianity into his dominions. The same influence contributed to extend it in the other kingdoms of the heptarchy, the sovereigns of which were generally converted by their wives. Among the ancient nations of Germany the female sex was possessed not only of its natural and common ascendant, but it was believed peculiarly sacred,1 and favoured with more frequent revelations of the Divine will; women were, therefore, heard with an uncommon attention in all deliberations, and particularly in those that regarded religion. The pagan superstition of the North furnished, in this instance, a principle, which contributed to its own destruction.

In the change of religion, care was taken to render the transaction from falsehood to truth as little violent as possible. Though the first proselytes were kings, it does not ap

1 Inesse quinetiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant; nec aut consilia earum aspernantur aut responsa negligunt. Tacit. de Mor, Ger. c. 8.

pear that there was any persecution. It was a precept of Pope Gregory, under whose auspices this mission was conducted, that the heathen temples should not be destroyed, especially where they were well built; but that, first removing the idols, they should be consecrated anew by holier rites and to better purposes,1 in order that the prejudices of the people might not be too rudely shocked by a declared profanation of what they had so long held sacred; and that everywhere beholding the same places to which they had formerly resorted for religious comfort, they might be gradually reconciled to the new doctrines and ceremonies which were there introduced; and as the sacrifices used in the pagan worship were always attended with feasting, and consequently were highly grateful to the multitude, the pope ordered that oxen should as usual be slaughtered near the church, and the people indulged in their ancient festivity.2 Whatever popular customs of heathenism were found to be absolutely not incompatible with Christianity were retained; and some of them were continued to a very late period. Deer were at a certain season brought into St. Paul's church in London, and laid on the altar; and this custom subsisted until the Reformation. The names of some of the church festivals were, with a similar design, taken from those of the heathen, which had been celebrated at the same time of the year. Nothing could have been more prudent than these regulations; they were indeed formed from a perfect understanding of human nature.

Whilst the inferior people were thus insensibly led into a better order, the example and countenance of the great completed the work. For the Saxon kings and ruling men embraced religion with so signal, and in their rank so unusual, a zeal, that in many instances they even sacrificed to its advancement the prime objects of their ambition. Wulfere, king of the West Saxons, bestowed the Isle of Wight on the king of Sussex, to persuade him to embrace Christianity.* This zeal operated in the same manner in favour of their instructors. The greatest kings and conquerors frequently resigned their crowns, and shut themselves up in monasteries. When kings became monks, a high lustre was reflected upon the monastic state, and great credit accrued to the 2 Id. c. eod.

1 Bed. Hist. Eccl. 1. i. c. 30.
3 Dugdale's History of St Paul's.

Bed. Hist. Eccl. 1. iv. c. 13.

power of their doctrine, which was able to produce such extraordinary effects upon persons over whom religion has commonly the slightest influence.

The zeal of the missionaries was also much assisted by their superiority in the arts of civil life. At their first preaching in Sussex, that country was reduced to the greatest distress from a drought which had continued for three years. The barbarous inhabitants, destitute of any means to alleviate the famine, in an epidemic transport of despair frequently united forty and fifty in a body, and joining their hands, precipitated themselves from the cliffs, and were either drowned or dashed to pieces on the rocks. Though a maritime people they knew not how to fish; and this ignorance probably arose from a remnant of Druidical superstition, which had forbidden the use of that sort of diet. In this calamity, Bishop Wilfred, their first preacher, collecting nets, at the head of his attendants plunged into the sea; and having opened this great resource of food, he reconciled the desperate people to life, and their minds to the spiritual care of those, who had shown themselves so attentive to their temporal preservation.1

The same regard to the welfare of the people appeared in all their actions. The Christian kings sometimes made donations to the church of lands conquered from their heathen enemies. The clergy immediately baptized and manumitted their new vassals. Thus they endeared to all sorts of men doctrines and teachers, which could mitigate the rigorous law of conquest; and they rejoiced to see religion and liberty advancing with an equal progress. Nor were the monks of this time in anything more worthy of praise than in their zeal for personal freedom. In the canon, wherein they provided against the alienation of their lands, among other charitable exceptions to this restraint they particularize the purchase of liberty.2 In their transactions with the great the same point was always strenuously laboured. When they imposed penance, they were remarkably indulgent to persons of that rank. But they always made them purchase the remission of corporal austerity by acts of beneficence. They urged their powerful penitents to the enfranchisement of their own slaves, and to the redemption of those which 1 Bed. Hist. Eccl. 1 iv. c. 13. 2 Spelm. Concil. p. 329.