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But we cannot regret that this scheme was not carried out, as an archiepiscopal see is much more picturesquely framed by the hills which encircle Canterbury than it could have been by the dingy vastness of the political and social capital. #Augustine# reached England in 597, and found that his path had been made easy by the fact that Bertha, wife of Ethelbert, King of Kent, was a Christian.

Bearing their silver cross in front of them, they entered the town of Canterbury. 'Turn from this city, O Lord, they sang, 'Thy wrath and anger. Then in joy and thankfulness they sang 'Alleluia' in the streets, while the people looked on and wondered. Ethelbert gave the missionaries a church to preach in, and he and his people often came to listen to them.

This was the state of things in the time of Offa, king of Mercia, towards the close of the eighth century, when that prince, having caused Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, to be treacherously murdered, fled to the Pope for pardon, to please whom, and to expiate his own sin, he caused those tithes to become dues in his own dominions, which were only at the will of the donors before.

It is needless to tell how the father swore that he would send no more money and receive no Jew; nor how Charlotte declared that Ethelbert could not be left penniless in Jerusalem; and how 'La Signora Neroni' resolved to have Sidonia at her feet. The money was sent, and the Jew did come.

Then he adds, for her face is cloudy: "Trouble not yourself over these matters which are of the years to come; today all is well." "Ay, today. But when the time comes that Ethelbert knows his strength? I will mind you that East Anglia has had a king ere this nigh as powerful as yourself. He will have other teachers in king-craft besides ourselves."

'Your German professors, sir, prefer beer, I believe, said the sarcastic little meagre prebendary. 'They don't think much of either, said Ethelbert; 'and that perhaps accounts for their superiority. Now the Jewish professor

Then, of course, we must talk of the court of King Carl, and of all that I had seen and done beyond the sea, and the time went fast. I had my breakfast with the king there in his private chamber, for he wanted to hear of laws and the like, of which, to tell the truth, I could let him know little. "Best ask the old paladin who is the head of the embassy, King Ethelbert," I said presently.

I had no thought that Offa seemed otherwise than as we met him yesterday, and I suppose that all thought, or perhaps all remembrance, of what he and his queen had talked of last night had gone from him. Gay and friendly he was, and we heard him jesting lightly with Ethelbert as they led us.

Ethelbert revived the reputation of his family, which had languished for some generations. He reduced all the princes, except the King of Northumberland, to a strict dependence upon him; and even established himself by force on the throne of Mercia, the most extensive of the Saxon kingdoms.

Hengist's descendant, Ethelbert, King of Kent, received them in the open air on the chalk downs above Minster, and, though he would not at once renounce the faith of his fathers, promised them shelter and protection. His conversion occurred a year later, and after that Christianity spread rapidly among his subjects. The royal city of Canterbury continued to be the centre of St.