y under the control of the priests of the new doctrine.

It was indeed among their own people, the Celts of Ireland and of the
Irish colony in the west of Scotland, that the reign of these saints was
absolute. But if we count this ecclesiastical influence a feature of the
Celtic nation, either the Welsh must not be counted as Celts, or they
must be looked on as exceptions from this spiritual dominion. They were
the people among whom, of all the tribes who inhabited Britain between
the days of Julius Caesar and those of William of Normandy, it might
have been primarily expected that we would find the most vital
Christianity and the greatest missionary force. They professed to have
carried with them into their mountains the traditions and the
nationality of that very important portion of the Christianised Roman
Empire which was called Britannia. When the heart of the Empire became
paralysed, this branch, doubtless after a long harassing contest with
the Picts and the Irish of the north, was broken, and partly subjected,
partly driven away by the Saxons. That they should have failed, through
all their revolutions and calamities, to preserve any remnants of Roman
social habits, is not perhaps wonderful. But that they should have
failed to preserve enough of Christian influence to second and support
the missions sent to the Saxons, so soon after these had superseded the
British power, looks like an exception to the usual rule of Christian
progress. The Welsh antiquaries, through meritorious efforts, strive in
vain to establish the existence of Welsh ecclesiarchs during the time
when the countless saints of Ireland were swarming over Scotland and
penetrating into England. They point to a stone said to commemorate a
victory gained over the Picts and the Saxons by the Britons, not through
their courage or their skill in fight, but by the Halleluiahs raised by
two saints who were present in their host. These saints, however,
Garmon and Lupus, were, as Bede tells us, Frenchmen, missionaries from
the Gallican Church to correct the errors of the Britons. The venerable
Bede scolds these Britons roundly for not having kept up the faith
planted among them, and for not having been prepared to help Augustin
and his followers in the very hard task of converting the Saxons. It is
a pity that we do not know something more of Roman Christianity, and
indeed of Roman civilisation generally in Britain, before the Saxon
days. There appears to ha