OF THE SAXON SAINTS BY AUBREY DE Vere 'Hic sunt in fossa Bedæ Venerabilis ossa (Old Inscription LONDON C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., I PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1879 A HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY OCT 211919 WILLIAM ENDICOTT, JR. (The rights of translation ana of reproduction are reserved) TO THE VENERABLE BEDE 'Mid quiet vale or city lulled by night PREFACE. MANY YEARS AGO a friend remarked to me on the strangeness of the circumstance that the greatest event in the history of a nation, its conversion to Christianity, largely as it is often recorded in national legends, has never been selected as a theme for poetry. That event may indeed not supply the materials necessary for an Epic or a Drama, yet it can hardly fail to abound in details significant and pathetic, which especially invite poetic illustration. With the primary interest of that great crisis, many others, philosophical, social, and political, generally connect themselves. Antecedent to a nation's conversion, the events of centuries have commonly either conduced to it, or thrown obstacles in its way; while the history as well as the character of that nation in the |