Bede found that his pupils were curious and eager to know something about the world around them, and he compiled for them a book containing all that was then known about nature and its laws. This was the first English school-book of Natural Science, and it remained for centuries the chief book of that kind used in English schools.

The greatest of Bede's works was his "Ecclesiastical History of the English People," which was in fact the first history of England. It tells the story of the early times, when the "Englisc folc" first settled in this island, of the landing of Augustine and his missionaries, of the spread of Christianity in the various kingdoms into which England was then divided, of different events which had come under his own observation, or which he had learnt from friends in other parts of the country; and he tells everything with the clearness and simplicity of a man who believes he is speaking the truth in every line. The careful, conscientious way in which he did all his work is shown in a remark he made just before his death, about a book he was compiling "I will not have my pupils read a falsehood, nor labour therein without profit after my death.”

Bede wrote as many as forty-five different books, all of them intended for teaching and usefulness. At the end of his "Ecclesiastical History" he gives the names of these, and then says :—

"And now, I beseech Thee, good Jesus, that to whom Thou hast graciously granted sweetly to partake of the words of Thy wisdom and knowledge, Thou wilt also vouchsafe, that he may sometime or other come to Thee, the Fountain of all wisdom, and always appear before Thy face, who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen."

The fame of Bede as an earnest, successful teacher, and a man of great learning, spread far and wide through the

land; and in the later years of his life, there were as many as six hundred students of different ages in the schools of the religious house at Jarrow. All who came within Bede's influence must have felt the pure beauty of his simple, faithful life, as well as the power of his teaching; and many of his pupils were bound to him by ties as strong and tender as those uniting children to their father. But the time came when the dear master was to be taken from them; and through all the long thousand years and more that have passed since then, there has come down to us a letter, written just after Bede's death by one of his pupils, named Cuthbert, to his schoolfellow and friend, Cuthwin, who was not then at Jarrow, giving him an account of the last days of their much-loved teacher. This letter was written in the year 735; it begins :

"To his fellow-reader, Cuthwin, beloved in Christ, Cuthbert, his schoolfellow; health for ever in the Lord." He then goes on to thank Cuthwin for letters, the chief satisfaction of which had been the assurance that he was offering prayers "for our father and master Bede, whom God loved," and he proposes, for the love of him, to relate in what manner he departed this world-"understanding that you also desire and ask the same. He was much troubled with shortness of breath, yet without pain, before the day of our Lord's Resurrection, that is about a fortnight, and thus he afterwards passed his life, cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks to Almighty God every day and night, nay, every hour, till the day of our Lord's Ascension, and daily gave lessons to us, his disciples, and whatever remained of the day he spent in singing Psalms. He also passed the night awake in joy and thanksgiving, unless a short sleep prevented it. I declare with truth, that I have never seen with my eyes, nor heard with my ears, any man so earnest ir. giving thanks to the living God. O, truly happy man! He chanted the sentence of St. Paul the Apostle, 'It is fearful

to fall into the hands of the living God,' and much more out of Holy Writ; wherein also he admonished us to think of our last hour, and to shake off the sleep of the soul; and being learned in our poetry, he said some things also in our tongue. He also sang antiphons, one of which is, 'O glorious King, Lord of all power, who triumphing this day, didst ascend above all the heavens; do not forsake us, orphans, but send down upon us the Spirit of truth which was promised to us by the Father. Hallelujah.' And when he came to these words, 'do not forsake us,' he burst into tears, and wept much, and an hour after he began to repeat where he had commenced, and we, hearing it, mourned with him. By turns we read, and by turns we wept, nay we wept always while we read. During these days he laboured to compose two works well worthy to be remembered, besides the lessons we had from him, viz., he translated the Gospel of St. John as far as the words, 'But what are they among so many' (chap. vi. 9), into our own tongue for the benefit of the Church; and some collections out of the Book of Notes of Bishop Isidorus. When the Tuesday before the Ascension of our Lord came, he began to suffer still more in his breath, and a small swelling appeared in his feet; but he passed all that day, and dictated cheerfully, and now and then, among other things, said, 'Go on quickly; I know not how long I shall hold out, and whether my Maker will not soon take me away.' And so he spent the night awake, and in thanksgiving; and when the morning appeared, that is Wednesday, he ordered us to write with all speed, what he had begun. There was one of us with him, who said to him, 'Most dear master, there is still one chapter wanting; do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?' He answered, 'It is no trouble; take your pen, and write fast,' which he did. He said, 'It is time that I return to Him who formed me out of nothing; I have lived

long; my merciful Judge well foresaw my life for me; the time of my dissolution draws nigh, for I desire to die, and to be with Christ.' Having said much more, he passed the day joyfully until the evening; and the boy above mentioned said, 'Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written.' He answered, 'Write quickly.' Soon after the boy said, 'The sentence is now written; it is ended.' He replied, 'It is well; you have said the truth. It is ended. Receive my head into your hands; for it is a great satisfaction to me to sit facing my holy place where I was wont to pray, that I may also sitting call upon my Father.' And thus on the pavement of his little cell, singing, 'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,' he breathed his last, and so departed to the heavenly kingdom."

Thus Cuthbert tells his friend Cuthwin of the last days of this good and faithful servant of God, and of how he did his work to the end, and finished it before he lay down

to rest.

Besides Cadmon and Bede, there were many other poets and scholars in the first English times as true-hearted as they. Such was Aldhelm in the Religious House at Malmesbury, who would take his harp, and stand on the bridge as a gleeman, singing songs, with so much earnest purpose in them, and yet so much attractiveness, that the people who had slipped out of church without waiting for the sermon, would stop to listen, and get at the same time "health to their minds." Many of the sacred songs of this time have come down to us, and are preserved in two collections, one called the "Vercelli Book,” because it was found in 1823 in a monastery at Vercelli, in Italy, where it had perhaps been carried a thousand years before by some Englishman; the other is called the "Exeter Book," because it belongs to the library of Exeter Cathedral, having been presented to it by Bishop Leofric eight hundred years ago.

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And among the scholars of the time we may remember Alcuin, born probably the same year that Bede died, 735, and as earnest as he in striving to set up the kingdom of God upon earth, although, owing to much of his life being spent abroad at the Court of Charlemagne, he has less connection with English literature. Alfred the Great, too, has a place in the story of our literature, for he made, or caused to be made, translations of many valuable works into the English tongue; and besides this, he strove in every way to educate his people, and thus fit them to read and understand their own literature, and to profit by it.

The first English literature, as we have seen, had one strong, simple purpose running through all of it, and that was the raising of men to a higher life of thought and duty; so steadfast were its writers to this aim, that their works consist almost entirely of religious books, sacred poetry, histories, and school text-books. We may be thankful that God, who rules the onward course of truth and right, so ordered things that the foundations of our literature should be thus laid in the simple setting forth of our relations to God in trust, and love, and duty; although this may not include the whole scope of literature, as we shall see further on in our story.