Ages the remains of good King Arthur were disenterred!

[Illustration: ST. AUGUSTINE'S APPEAL TO ETHELBERT.]

Of the great church and its five chapels there yet remain parts of the
broken wall, and the three large crypts where the early kings of
England and founders of the English Church were buried. A little
westward from the ruin stands the beautiful Chapel of St. Joseph of
Arimathaea.

"I do not wonder," said Wyllys Wynn, "that the old English people
liked to believe that their church sprang from the mission of so
amiable a saint as St. Joseph."

"Christianity," said Master Lewis, "was really first established in
Great Britain in 596 by St. Augustine and forty missionaries who came
with St. Augustine from Rome to preach to the Anglo-Saxons. These
missionaries were kindly received by King Ethelbert, whose wife was
already a Christian. It is related that one of the Saxon priests, to
see if indeed his gods would be angry, went forth on horse-back, and
smote the images the people had been worshipping. To the astonishment
of the Saxons no judgment followed. The king was baptized, and the
missionaries baptized ten thousand converts in a single day in the
river Swale. The Christian religion had been preached in Britain
before, but not generally accepted."

[Illustration: THE SAXON PRIEST STRIKING THE IMAGES.]

"I like the association of St. Joseph's name with this old ruin so
well," said Wyllys, "that I wish to see the staff that you say is
believed to bloom at Christmas."

On the south side of Glastonbury is Weary-all Hill. It owes its name
to a very poetic legend. It is said that St. Joseph and his
companions, _all_ of them _weary_ in one of their missionary journeys,
here sat down to rest, and the Saint planted his staff into the earth,
and left it there. From it, we are told, springs the famous
Glastonbury Thorn which blossoms every Christmas, and whose miraculous
flowers were adored in the Middle Ages. Such a shrub still remains
which blooms in midwinter, and perpetuates the memory of the pretty
superstition.

CHAPTER XII.

LONDON.

London.--Westminster Abbey.--Westminster Hall and Parliament
Houses.--The Tower.--Sir Henry Wyat and His Cat.--Madame
Tussaud's Wax Works.--Tommy Accosts a Stranger.--Hampton Court
Palace.--Stories of Charles I. and Cromwell.--The Duchess's
Wonderful Pie.--The Boys' Day.--Tommy goes Punch and Judy
Hunting.--Street Amusements.--Tommy's Misadventure.--George