St.
Peter in this letter, as Boniface did in writing to Bertha's daughter. In
his letter to Ethelbert, Gregory remarks at the end that he is sending him
some small presents, which will not be small to him, as they come from the
benediction of the blessed Peter the Apostle. Boniface, his fifth
successor, considerably developed the Petrine position. Writing to Edwin
of Northumbria, curiously enough while he was still a pagan, he says:--"We
have sent to you a benediction of your protector the blessed Peter, prince
of the Apostles, that is to say, a chemise embroidered with gold, and a
garment of Ancyra." Probably Boniface did not know how nearly related the
Galatian workers of the garment of Ancyra were to the Gallo-Britons whom
Edwin's ancestors had expelled. And his letter to Ethelberga ended in the
same way:--"We have sent to you a blessing of your protector the blessed
Peter, prince of the Apostles, that is to say, a silver mirror and an
ivory comb inlaid with gold." It is a significant note on this difference
of language, that in the ordinary lists, where a distinction, more or less
arbitrary, is made between bishops and popes, the break comes between
Gregory and Boniface.

On the whole, then, I believe that Ethelbert and Bertha had been married
many years when Augustine came, and, by consequence, that Luidhard had
been living among the English many years. Though his work was in the end
barren, there had been times when it was distinctly promising. His
experiment had so far succeeded, that only more help was wanted to bring
the heathen people to Christ. That help he had sought; perhaps especially
when he felt old age coming upon him. Gregory distinctly states, in more
than one of his letters, that the English people were very ready, were
desirous, to be converted, and that applications for missionary help had
been made, but made in vain, to the neighbouring priests. The tone and
address of the letters imply that this meant the clergy of the
neighbouring parts of Gaul. There certainly would be no response if they
applied to the very nearest part they could reach by the ordinary route,
namely, their landing-place, Boulogne. We Londoners are accustomed to say,
no doubt with due contrition, but at the same time with some lurking sense
of consequence, as having been actors in a striking episode, that after a
few years of Christianity we went off into paganism again in a not
undramatic manner, and from 616 to 654 repudiated