first crack at the throne, and that the king had promised to beq

Ths exposed for sale in Rome. They

were fine-looking fellows, and the good man pitied their benighted
land. Thus the Roman religion was introduced into England, and was
first to turn the savage
heart towards God. [Illustration: EGBERT GAINS A GREAT VICTORY OVER THE
FRENCH INVADERS.] Augustine was very kindly received by Ethelbert, and
invited up to the house. Augustine met with great success, for the king
experienced religion and was baptized, after which many of his subjects
repented and accepted salvation on learning that it was free. As many
as ten thousand in one day were converted, and Augustine was made
Archbishop
of Canterbury. On a small island in the Thames he built a church
dedicated to St. Peter, where now is Westminster
Abbey, a prosperous sanctuary entirely out
of debt. The history of the Heptarchy is one of murder, arson, rapine,
assault and battery, breach of the peace, petty larceny, and the
embezzlement of the enemy's wife.
In 827, Egbert, King of Wessex and Duke of Shandygaff, conquered all
his foes and became absolute ruler of England (Land of the Angles).
Taking charge of this angular kingdom, he established thus the mighty
country which now rules the world in some respects, and which
is so greatly improved socially since those days. Two distinguished
scholars flourished in the

eighth century, Bede and Alcuin. They at once attracted attention by
being able to read coarse print at sight. Bede wrote the Ecclesiastical
History of the Angles. It is
out of print now. Alcuin was a native of York, and with the aid of a
lump of chalk and the side of a vacant barn could figure up things and
add like everything. Students flocked to him

from all over the country, and
matriculated by the dozen. If he took a fancy to a student, he would
take him away privately and show him how

to read. The first literary man of note was a monk of Whitby named
Caedmon, who wrote poems on biblical subjects when he did not have to
monk. His works were
greatly like those of Milton, and especially like "Paradise Lost," it
is said. Gildas was the first historian of Britai