14 



ENGLAND. (ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.) 



about from one to another, every one drinking as 

 much as he thought proper. This custom occasioned 

 frequent quarrels, some alleging that others drank a 

 greater quantity of the liquor than fell to their sliare, 

 and, at other times, some of the company compelled 

 others to drink more than they inclined. To prevent 

 tlic-e quarrels, Edgar commanded the vessels to be 

 made with knobs of brass, or some other metal, at 

 certain distances from each other ; and decreed, that 

 no person, under a certain penalty, should either 

 drink himself, or compel another to drink more than 

 from one of those knobs or pegs to another, at one 

 draught. 



The people of Germany and Scandinavia mark 

 the different periods of their history by the different 

 rites of burial which prevailed in these periods. In 

 the most ancient period, they burned their dead, which 

 w;is therefore called burna olid, or the age of burn- 

 ing ; in the succeeding period, they buried the dead 

 without burning, and raised heaps of stones or earth 

 over their bodies, which was therefore called bauga 

 olid, or the age of hillocks. Though the end of the first 

 and commencement of the second of these periods is 

 not distinctly marked, yet it seems to have taken 

 place before the arrival of the Saxons and Danes in 

 Britain, who generally, if not always, buried their 

 dead without burning, and raised barrows over them 

 to perpetuate their memory. When Hubba, a fa- 

 mous Danish chieftain, was slain by the English 

 A. D. 878, his followers buried his body, and raised 

 a great mount of earth over it, which they called 

 Hubbastow, or the place of Hubba. Though it be 

 now swept away by the sea, yet the place on the 

 strand near Appledore in Devon, where once it stood, 

 is still known by the name of Whibblestow. When 

 they deposited the body in the ground, and began to 

 cover it with earth, the whole company made the 

 loudest and most bitter lamentations. The Anglo- 

 Saxons were so much accustomed to lay the bodies 

 of the dead on the surface of the ground, and cover 

 them with stones and earth, that they even did this 

 when they buried them in churches ; and they became 

 quite unfit for the celebration of divine service, and 

 were therefore abandoned. The inconveniences of 

 this practice were at last so great, that several canons 

 were made against burying any in churches, except 

 priests, or such as paid very well for that privilege ; 

 and obliging those that were buried in them to be 

 deposited in graves of a proper depth under the 

 pavement. The house where a dead body lay, before 

 burial, was a continued scene of feasting, singing, 

 dancing, and all kinds of gambols and diversions, at 

 an enormous expense to the family of the deceased. 

 Even some kept their dead so long unburied, that all 

 the wealth left by the deceased was consumed in 

 these games and feastings. This custom, though 

 originating in paganism, and discouraged by the 

 church, was yet too agreeable to their excessive 

 fondness for feasting ana riot, to be soon abandoned. 

 The manner of preparing the body, and the funeral 

 procession of the famous Wilfred, archbishop of 

 York, who died at Oundle, in Northamptonshire, 

 and was buried at Rippon, is thus described by his 

 biographer, Eddius : " Many abbots and clergy met 

 the conductor of the corpse of the holy bishop in a 

 hearse, earnestly begging the privilege of washing 

 the sacred body, and dressing it honourably, and they 

 obtained the permission. Then one of the abbots, 

 named Bacula, spreading his surplice on the ground, 

 the brethren deposited the holy body upon it, washed 

 it with their own hands, dressed it in the pontifical 

 habits, and carried it towards the appointed place, 

 singing psalms and hymns in the fear of God. Hav- 

 ing advanced a little, they again deposited the body, 

 pitched a tent over it, bathed the corpse in pure 



water, dressed it in fine linen robes, placed It in the 

 hearse, and proceeded, singing psalms, towards the 

 monastery of Rippon. When they approached it, the 

 whole monks came out to meet them, bearing the 

 holy relics. Of all this numerous company, there 

 was scarcely one who refrained from tears ; and, all 

 raising their voices, and joining in hymns and songs, 

 they conducted the body into the cluirch, which the 

 holy bishop had built, and dedicated to Peter, and 

 there deposited it in the most solemn and honourable 

 manner." 



Our Anglo-Saxon and Danish ancestors, while 

 pagans, had their priests, bearing their idols, con- 

 stantly attending the armies, exercising military 

 discipline, and determining what were the most 

 proper seasons for giving battle. After their con- 

 version to Christianity, they long retained these 

 customs, a little changed and accommodated to their 

 religion. Before a crew of Christian pirates set sail, 

 on a plundering expedition, with the pious design of 

 robbing and murdering all who fell in their way, 

 they never neglected to take the sacrament, to con- 

 fess their sins to a priest, and to perform penances, 

 in hopes that God would bless them, and prosper 

 their design. The armies were always attended with 

 a great number of ecclesiastics, to pray for their 

 success ; who constantly carried with them their 

 most venerable relics, in order to procure the pro- 

 tection of those saints to whom they had belonged. 



It is impossible for us to fix, with precision, the 

 commencement of Christianity in Britain. It has 

 been conjectured that the light of the gospel may 

 have reached Britain, by the way of France, (then 

 called Transalpine Gaul,) before the conclusion or' 

 the first, or not long after the commencement of the 

 second century. As no churches are recorded to 

 have existed in France before the second century, 

 we may warrantably infer, that none existed in Bri- 

 tain till some time after they were established in 

 France. Tertullian, who died, A. D. 202, is the 

 most ancient authority, who attests the existence and 

 prevalence of Christianity in Britain, in his apology ; 

 but his authority, unless corroborated by other 

 evidences, must be received with caution ; for an 

 apparent proneness to exaggeration is visible in his 

 first and second apologies. But of this we are cer- 

 tain, that it made considerable progress in our island, 

 previous to the time of Constantine the great, so much 

 praised by some, and abused by others. Constantine 

 himself was a native of Britain, being born at York, 

 where Constantius Chlorus, his father, then emperor 

 of the west, resided; and whom he succeeded in 

 Britain. There can be no reasonable doubt, that 

 when Christianity was established by Constantine 

 within the ample range of the Roman empire, it 

 would make more ample progress in this country than 

 before that event. But we know very little about it 

 till the rise of the Pelagian heresy, at the commence- 

 ment of the 5th century. Pelagius, that noted here- 

 siarch, was himself a native of Wales, and his real 

 name was Morgan ; and his coadjutor in spreading 

 the heresy which bears his name, was Celestius, an 

 Irishman. Their peculiar opinions made consider- 

 able progress among the British Christians, as might 

 reasonably have been expected : but were at length 

 extinguished by the efforts of Germanus and his dis- 

 ciples. Several bishops, from Britain, sat in the 

 famous council of Nice, A. D. 325, as, also, at the 

 council of Sardis, 347 ; and of Ariminum, in Italy ; 

 and of Aries, in France ; and, in A. D. 519, an 

 ecclesiastical synod of all the British clergy was held 

 by St David, archbishop of Caerleon, and uncle of 

 the famous king Arthur, for extirpating the remains, 

 and preventing the revival, of the Pelagian heresy. 

 But, however flourishing and prosperous the stale 



