vinces, and finally of entire countries, until during the first three or four centuries of the Christian era, it comprised nearly the whole civilized world. With power and wealth came also luxury and many evils. The hardy Teutonic races of the northern regions of Europe, who had never for long submitted to the Roman yoke, now poured down on their lands, and under Alaric, the powerful king of the West Goths, Rome itself fell a prey to the fierce invaders. They did not however stay in Italy, but founded a kingdom, partly in Spain, and partly in Southern Gaul; while their kinsmen the Franks established themselves in Northern Gaul and part of Germany, which came to be called Francia; and the Burgundians settled in the south-east of Gaul. Thus the western parts of the empire fell away from the eastern part, and the seat of empire was removed to Constantinople, until that city fell into the hands of the Turks. With these dangers and troubles at home, you can easily understand that the Romans could ill afford to keep troops in so distant a part of the empire as Britain. Hence, in 410, under the Emperor Honorius, they were recalled for the defence of their home territory, and the Britons were left to shift for themselves. We have already told you that, while the most promising British youths had been drafted off for foreign military service, the population generally had been trained in the arts of peace. Hence, no sooner had the Roman "keepers of the peace," departed, than the lawless Celts from the north poured down upon the southern province; while the Britons lacked the unity and military skill which alone would have enabled them successfully to resist these fierce attacks. In this difficulty, a British prince, Vortigern, obtained the help of two Teutonic chiefs, who with their followers came over the North Sea from near the mouth of the Elbe; and these, having defeated the northern Celts, or Picts and Scots, as they are sometimes called, settled down in the new country, and so formed, about 450, the kingdom of Kent. These Jutes having thus obtained a firm footing here, were soon followed by others of their Teutonic kindred, and as time passed on tribes of Saxons and Angles overspread the land. A period of struggle, which lasted nearly a hundred and fifty years, followed, when the southern, eastern, and central parts of Roman Britain became Teutonic. Of these conquerors, the Jutes were the earliest, and held the kingdom of Kent; the Saxons founded Sussex comprising our modern Surrey and Sussex; Wessex which included the western country south of the Thames and Severn, excepting what is now Cornwall; and Essex pretty nearly agreeing with the existing county of that name. The Angles founded East Anglia consisting of Norfolk and Suffolk; Mercia comprising the whole of the central part of England; and Northumbria which, embracing Bernicia on the north and Deira on the south, extended from the Forth to the Humber. These seven kingdoms were established one after another from the year 450 to about the close of the sixth century. The Angles possessed the largest territory, and moreover, from them our country took its name of Angla-land or Eng-land; we may therefore, fairly allow them the first place; the Saxons were second, and the Jutes last. It was this Anglo-Saxon-Jutish occupation that constituted the true birth of our English nation. But we must now try to find out more exactly what And first we notice this English occupation really was. that it was wholly unlike that of the Romans, for they came to govern, and not to destroy or supplant the native Britons. Neither was this English settlement like that of the Goths and Burgundians in the south of Europe; for these adopted the religion and language of the peoples amongst whom they settled, and so became one with them. In our country, the Angles and their allies came not merely to conquer, but to settle and possess. Hence, whole tribes came, tillers of the soil as well as fighting men, and at once formed communities speaking the language they brought from their German home. They treated the old British inhabitants, whom they called Welsh, or foreigners, as enemies to be got rid of; and so, killing many and making slaves of others, they forced the remnant westward to the region of Strath-Clyde, the country from the mouth of the Clyde to Warwickshire, to Wales, to Cornwall, Devon, and part of Somerset. This change in the occupation of the country retarded its progress in civilization for many long years. The new comers were rude and fierce Pagans, and hence the Roman arts were swept away; the towns with their villas, baths, and theatres were demolished, and little was left to tell of Roman civilization. Moreover, these hardy men professed a rude faith, whose chief deities were Woden, Thunder, the Sun and Moon. Their ideas of a heaven were, that it was to be won by the slaughter of one's enemies, and enjoyed by feasting on the spoils of war. They could not understand, nor would they hear of, a religion that they were told was ushered in by a song of peace and goodwill, and which taught that the crown was to be won by the cross. Such a faith they despised as fit, perhaps, for Roman women and children, but not to be accepted by the free warriors of the North. Thus was Christianity as well as Roman civilization banished from the land. But not for ever; for the old English Chronicle tells us that in 597 came the Roman missionary monk Augustinus, and "gospelled God's word" to our forefathers. The occasion of his coming seems to have been thus: A priest, named Gregory, saw in the market-place of Rome some fair-haired English slave boys for sale. He asked to what nation they belonged. "They are Angles," said the trader. "Angels!" replied Gregory, with ready wit, "not Angles." "From what province ?" again inquired the priest. "From Deira," said the merchant. "Then," said the priest, "must they be saved de irâ, from the wrath of God." Whether the boys received any immediate benefit, the chronicle does not say; but we know, that when, a few years after, the monk became Pope, he never rested till he had sent St. Augustine to herald out the truths of the gospel in our land. So, in 597, St. Augustine left Rome, passed through Gaul, and crossed over the channel to the coast of Kent. Æthelberht, who was then king of Kent and English Bretwalda, ordered that he should stay at the Isle of Thanet until he had heard what he had to say. Now King Æthelberht had married a Christian wife, the daughter of the Frankish king, and her virtues and loving ways had no doubt done much toward winning over the king. So when he heard the good-spell, or good story, from the lips of St. Augustine, he gave him permission to teach throughout his kingdom; and as a proof of his own conversion, he gave him a house to dwell in at his royal city of Canterbury. From that time the faith of Christ grew and prevailed,-churches were built everywhere, and, in course of time, the Saxon kingdoms. became nominally Christian. You were told that the Welsh had become Christians. An effort was once made by Augustine to bring the Welsh Church into submission to the see of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rome. So a meeting was held under an oak at Aust on Severn; St. Augustine was there, and so were some of the Welsh bishops. For a while all went smoothly; but at last, some points of disputed doctrine were raised, whereupon they broke up in anger, and the prayer "that they all may be one," was as far from accomplishment as ever. EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Inhabitants, progress, slaughter, inquired, immediate, and submission. 2. State briefly how our forefathers became Christians. 3. What parts of the country were respectively occupied by Jutes, Angles, and Saxons ? 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