from the monastery of Iona,
founded in the sixth century by St. Columba, on the model of the
convents of Ireland. About the middle of the seventh century the work is
nearly accomplished; the old churches abandoned by the Romans have been
restored; many others are built; one of them still exists at
Bradford-on-Avon in a perfect state of preservation[71]; monasteries are
founded, centres of culture and learning. Some of the rude princes who
reign in the country set great examples of devotion to Christ and
submission to the Roman pontiff. They date their charters from the
"reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, reigning for ever."[72] The Princess
Hilda founds, in the seventh century, the monastery of Streoneshalch,
and becomes its abbess; Ceadwalla dies at Rome in 689, and is buried in
St. Peter's, under the _Porticus Pontificum_, opposite the tomb of St.
Gregory the Great.[73] AEthelwulf, king of the West Saxons, goes also on
a pilgrimage to Rome "in great state, and remains twelve months, after
which he returns home; and then Charles, king of the Franks, gave him
his daughter in marriage."[74] He sends his son Alfred to the Eternal
City; and the Pope takes a liking to the young prince, who was to be
Alfred the Great.

The notion of moderation and measure is unknown to these enthusiasts,
who easily fall into despair. In the following period, after the Norman
Conquest, when manners and customs were beginning to change, the
chronicler, William of Malmesbury, trying to draw a correct picture of
the ancient owners of the land, is struck by the exaggerations of the
Saxons' temperament. Great numbers of them are drunkards, they lead
dissolute lives, and reign as ferocious tyrants; great numbers of them,
too, are pious, devout, faithful even unto martyrdom: "What shall I say
of so many bishops, hermits, and abbots? The island is rendered famous
by the relics of native saints, so numerous that it is impossible to
visit a borough of any importance without hearing the name of a new
saint. Yet the memory of many has vanished, for lack of writers to
preserve it!"[75]

The taste for proselytism, of which the race has since given so many
proofs, is early manifested. Once converted, the Anglo-Saxons produce
missionaries, who in their turn carry the glad tidings to their pagan
brothers on the Continent, and become saints of the Roman Church. St.
Wilfrith leaves Northumberland about 680, and goes to preach the Gospel
to the Frisians; St. Will