s. The good monk sighed deeply. "Alas, and woe!" said he, "that
people with such faces of light should belong to the author of darkness,
and that so goodly an outward favour should be void of inward grace." He
asked what was the name of their nation, and was told that they were
_Angles_. "It is well," he said, "for they have _angels'_ faces, and
such as they ought to be joint-heirs with the angels in heaven.--What is
the name of the province from which they come?" He was told that it was
Deira (a Saxon kingdom, which stretched along the eastern side of
Britain, from the Humber to the Tyne). The name of Deira sounded to
Gregory's ears like two Latin words, which mean "from wrath." "Well,
again," he said, "they are delivered _from the wrath_ of God, and are
called to the mercy of Christ.--What is the name of the king of that
country?" "Aella," was the answer. "Alleluiah!" (_Praise to God!_)
exclaimed Gregory; "the praises of God their maker ought to be sung in
that kingdom."

He went at once to the pope, and asked leave to go as a missionary to
the heathens of Britain. But, although the pope consented, the people of
Rome were so much attached to Gregory that they would not allow him to
set out, and he was obliged to give up the plan. Yet he did not forget
the heathens of Britain; and when he became pope, although he could not
himself go to them, he was able to send others for the work of their
conversion.

An opening had been made by the marriage of Ethelbert, king of Kent, the
Saxon kingdom which lay nearest to the continent, with Bertha, daughter
of Charibert, a Frankish king, whose capital was Paris (A.D. 570). As
Charibert and his family were Christians, it had been agreed that the
young queen should be allowed freely to practise her religion, and a
French bishop, named Luidhard, came to England with her, and acted as
her chaplain. Ethelbert by degrees became much more powerful than he was
at the time of his marriage, and in 593 he was chosen Bretwalda, which
was the title given to the chief of the Saxon kings. This office gave
him much influence over most of the other kingdoms; so that, if his
favour could be gained, it was likely to be of very great advantage for
recommending the Gospel to others. But Ethelbert was still a heathen,
after having been married to Bertha about five-and-twenty years,
although we may well suppose that she had sometimes spoken to him of her
religion, and had tried to bring him over to it.