nd
treacherous quagmires. And they saw before them the gray walls of a
great city of which they had never heard.

They advanced cautiously: they found themselves on a firm road, the
Vicinal Way, covered with grass: they expected the sight of an enemy on
the wall: none appeared. The gates were closed, the timbers were rotten
and fell down at a touch: the men broke through and found themselves
among the streets of a city all in ruins. They ran about--shouting--no
one appeared: the City was deserted.

They went away and told what they had found.

But Augusta had perished. When the City appears again it is under its
more ancient name--it is again London.

8. THE FIRST SAXON SETTLEMENT.

A hundred and fifty years passed away between the landing of the East
Saxons and their recorded occupation of the City. This long period made
a great difference in the fierce savage who followed the standard of the
White Horse and landed on the coast of Essex. He became more peaceful:
he settled down contentedly to periods of tranquillity. Certain arts he
acquired, and he learned to live in towns: as yet he was not a
Christian. This means that the influence of Rome with its religion, its
learning and its arts had not yet touched him.

But he had begun to live in towns; and he lived in London.

Perhaps the first of the new settlers were the foreign merchants
returning, as soon as more settled times allowed, with their cargoes.
London has always been a place of trade. But for trade no one would have
settled in it. Therefore, either the men of Essex invited the foreign
merchants to return; or the foreign merchants returned and invited the
men of Essex to come into the City and to bring with them what they had
to exchange.

In the year 597 Augustine, prior of a Roman monastery, was sent by Pope
Gregory the Great with forty monks, to convert the English. Ethelbert,
King of Kent, and most powerful of the English kinglets, was married to
Bertha, a Christian princess. She had brought with her a chaplain and it
was probably at her invitation or through her influence, that the monks
were sent. They landed at Thanet. They obtained permission to meet the
King in the open air. They appeared wearing their robes, carrying a
crucifix, and chanting Psalms. It is probable that the conversion of the
King had been arranged beforehand; for without any difficulty or delay
the King and all his Court, and, following the King's example, all the
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