the meaning of this statement (pages 120, &c.). It
seems to me clear that Bede believed the church in question to have been
dedicated to St. Martin while the Romans were still in the land. As Martin
was living up to 397, and the Roman empire in Britain ended in 407, there
is not much time for a dedication to this particular Martin. But our ideas
of dedications are very different from those which guided the nomenclature
of churches in the earliest centuries of Christianity here. If Martin
himself ever lived at Canterbury, and had this church, the difficulty
would disappear.

[10] The contradictory instructions given by Gregory on the question of
using heathen temples for Christian worship are rather puzzling. They are
found in a letter to Mellitus, dated June 15, 601, and in a letter to
Augustine, dated June 22, 601. The surmise of Messrs. Haddan and Stubbs
that the former date is wrong, and that the letter to Mellitus was later
than that to Augustine, is reasonable, and solves the puzzle. On this
view, Gregory wrote to Augustine, on June 22, 601, to the effect that the
idol-temples must be destroyed. This letter, as we know, he gave to
Mellitus, who was in Rome, to be brought by him to England. Then, a few
days later, perhaps on June 27, he sent a short letter to Mellitus, to say
that he had carefully considered the matter, and had decided that if an
idol-temple was well built, it should be cleansed, and consecrated to the
service of Christ. It is an interesting fact that the earliest historical
testimony to the existence and martyrdom of St. George, who was recognised
for so many centuries as the Patron of England, is found in an inscription
in a church in southern Syria, dating from about the year 346, stating
that the church had been a heathen temple, and was dedicated as a church
in honour of the "great martyr" St. George.

[11] Known as the Goidelic branch of the Celtic race.

[12] The names Galatae and Celtae are not improbably the same word, the
latter name being pronounced with a short vowel between the _l_ and the
_t_, as though spelled Cel[)a]tae or Cel[)u]tae. It is in fact so
pronounced to this day in many parts of the island.

[13] Known as the Brythonic branch of the race.

[14] As has been already remarked, they are now generally described as the
Brythonic and Goidelic branches of the Celtic race.

[15] Or with ab, as Bevan and Baddam, that is, ab Evan and ab Adam. Map
and mab, ap and ab, stand for