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 such impression, that not any of AUSTIN'S pretended miracles are here recited, lest his character and exertions should be tarnished by the representations of circumstances, which, in these enlightened times, would be far from being beneficial to his memory.

Venerable Bede,

(MAY 27TH,)

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 was ordained priest, by 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 receive 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 bis monastery. He had observed with surprise and concern, the very deficient state of

Church history in this country; and he collected together every manuscript then extant,-such as the lives of saints, annals of converts, chronicles of our kings, &c.-from which he composed his renowned ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE SAXONS, which is considered as comprising the whole body of knowledge which his time afforded. These manuscripts, written by the Monks, were overcharged with those absurd miracles, so usual in the dark ages of superstition; and it cannot be a matter of wonder, that BEDE, therefore, has introduced in his work many occurrences too marvellous for credence: while at the same time we must 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 the imperfect accounts we now have of the AngloSaxons, for upwards of 300 years after their settlement in Britain. In speaking of the works of this great and excellent man, 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. 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. The pains, therefore, which BEDE

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. In 731, this great work was first published, 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:It was printed in Saxon, and Latin, very soon after the art of printing had gained ground; 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 EGBERT 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