CUTHBERT, archbishop of Canterbury, and confirmed by a subsequent bull issued by Papal authority, in the reign of EDWARD the Third.

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That AUSTIN was zealous, and successful in his pious efforts, every page of history will bear testimony; and that he was untainted by the idolatry of SAINT-WORSHIP afterwards introduced is likewise manifest. "Dead men," said he, ought to be so honoured that we may imitate them, but they ought not to be worshipped:" whether, however, to secure the power of the Pope, whose express messenger he was, AUSTIN appeared too desirous of extending the influence of the Roman Pontificate over the Christian Churches which he found to have existed in Wales, and in some parts of England, even before his mission, must be left for liberality to determine. Now that we have thrown off the assumed patriarchal jurisdiction of the See of Rome, we should be candid in our consideration of the acts of those who had been taught from their earliest infancy to think differently upon that point; and it is under this impression, that not any of AUSTIN'S pretended miracles are here recited, lest his character and exertions should be tarnished, by the representation of circumstances, which, in these enlightened times, would be far from being honourable to his memory. Indeed if we may credit the historians of that age, it was the advice of GREGORY to Saint AUSTIN to be "sparing of his miracles.”

Uenerable-Bede, or Beda.

(27TH MAY.)

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Sometimes called the "ADMIRABLE BEDE," and the "WISE SAXON," appears, by the history he gives of his own life, to have been born within the territories of the monastery of St. PETER and ST. PAUL, at Jarrow, in the bishoprick of Durham in Northumberland, A. D. 672. When seven years of age, he was committed to the care of BENEDICT, a learned abbot; and afterwards to that of COELFRID and JOHN of BEVERLEY, under whom he received every advantage of education, which the low state of knowledge, at that period, would admit. At the early age of nineteen, he was ordained deacon, and had assigned to him the instruction of the youth who resorted to the monastery:―at thirty, he received priest's orders from his old preceptor JOHN of Beverley, then bishop of Hexham.

The vast fame BEDE had obtained for learning, and the ecclesiastical virtues, caused him to re-. ceive from Pope SERGIUS a pressing invitation to settle at Rome; but owing to the death of that pontiff, BEDE, happily for this country, never quitted his monastery. Having observed, with surprise and concern, the very deficient state of

Church history in this country, BEDE collected together every manuscript then extant,-such as the lives of saints, annals of converts, chronicles of our kings, &c.-From these he composed his renowned ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE SAXONS, which is considered as comprising the whole body of knowledge which his time afforded. But as these manuscripts, written by the Monks, were overcharged with those absurd miracles, so usual in the dark ages of superstition, it cannot be a matter of wonder, that BEDE has introduced into his work many occurrences too marvellous for credence: However this is to be la mented, we must, at the same time, regard him as a man possessed of superior powers of mind, who shone like a meteor in the darkness of a barbarous age, and to whose invaluable labours we are indebted for even the imperfect accounts we now have of the Anglo-Saxons, for upwards of 300 years after their settlement in Britain. In speaking of the works of BEDE, it is but justice to admit, that he could not be expected wholly to divest himself of the prejudices of his time, so as to meet the ideas of the present enlightened period. The pains which he took in the collection of all the scattered records of his time, and the ability he displayed in reducing them into a connected historical series, must necessarily be held in the highest consideration; and we ought, in return for the real and valuable knowledge he has communicated, to pardon him for the errors of

superstitious blandishments. The sources, from which alone he could draw his information, were replete with fable; and living as he did, at a period of general credulity and ignorance, the omitting such tales, whether believed by himself or not, might have thrown his history into disrepute, and perhaps have prevented it from having been preserved for the use of more enlightened times, when the dross can be separated from the sterling and valuable facts he has afforded us. Except within the walls of the monasteries, not any record whatever was preserved; and loaded, as were the whole of the legends, with false zeal and bigotry, it is nevertheless to them alone we are indebted for even the imperfect knowledge we now have of the early ages of this country.

BEDE'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY was first published in 731, and its fame speedily spread throughout this country, and on the Continent:It was transcribed into all the languages then in use, and retains its celebrity even to this day :King Alfred himself translated it from the Latin, the more strongly to mark his high opinion of its merit, and the more generally to promote its study: -Very soon after the art of printing had gained ground, it was printed in the Saxon and Latin Languages; and in 1722, was re-edited at Cambridge: -At one period it was so greatly in estimation, that an English council directed it to be publicly read in the churches.-Besides this famous and truly valuable work, BEDE appears to have been

actively employed in numerous others, of great importance at the time he wrote; though they are no longer of interest, excepting his Epistle to ÉGBERT bishop of York, which furnishes a picture of the state of the Church at that period, no where else to be found.

AUSTIN, when he converted the Anglo-Saxons, had forcibly impressed upon their minds, the virtues attendant upon monastic life, and he succeeded so effectually, that monasteries became extremely numerous, powerful, and wealthy; BEDE strongly urged the bishops to lessen their numbers, and to augment that of the bishops and secular clergy, to preach the Gospel in country towns and villages; many of which places, he said, never were visited by a bishop; nor had they any presbyters to instruct the people in religion and morality. The language he has used is nervous, his arguments impressive; and it is to be remembered, that not only the first Protestants availed themselves of his ideas, but that the subsequent Reformers of the English Church, under HENRY the VIIIth, EDWARD the VIth, and ELIZABETH, all severally acted upon his principles.

The translation of the Gospel of ST. JOHN was the last of BEDE's labours, and he is said to have completed it only a few hours before he died, on the 26th of May, 735. His remains were deposited in a golden coffin in the church of the monastery at Jarrow, where he had passed his life, though his body was removed to Durham in