Christianity was first preached in Britain while the Romans were there. It was carried by missionaries even beyond the Roman frontiers into Ireland, and afterwards into Scotland. When the Romans left the country, after ruling there for 400 years, there came over the seas the forefathers of the English--a race of wild, bold seamen. They were not Christians; but at first they did not conquer either Ireland or Scotland, and the Christian religion continued among the ancient peoples of those countries. Some of the most ancient of the Irish and Scottish monuments relate to the time when the English were newly come into England. This round tower, for instance, is probably a monument of that time. It is in a very beautiful mountainous portion of Ireland, and is known as the Round Tower of Glendalough. [Sidenote: 5. Iona Cathedral.] Crossing the sea to Scotland, we come to the islet of Iona, placed out in the Western ocean beyond the coast of the mainland of Scotland. Here are the ruins of a Cathedral of great antiquity. At Iona there ruled the Lord of the Isles, who was King over the pirates from the North. They seized all the Western isles of Scotland and held them until about six hundred years ago, when they were defeated at sea, and there was peace on the ocean off Britain. [Sidenote: 6. King Alfred’s Statue at Winchester.] Let us now return to England--to the England which had been conquered by the Romans and abandoned by them, and had been conquered afresh by the tribes of the English from over the water. Let us pass on through some dark centuries, as they are called, because history has little to tell of them, until we come to the first great Englishman, King Alfred the Great, from whom our present King-Emperor, Edward the Seventh, is descended. King Alfred lived a thousand years ago, and is called Great because he united the tribes of the English, and made the Kingdom of England. Here is the monument erected in his city of Winchester on the thousandth anniversary of his death. [Sidenote: 7. Bradford-on-Avon Church.] Some generations before King Alfred, Christian missionaries came again to the land of England and slowly converted the English to Christianity--first one tribe and then another. Here is, perhaps, the most ancient of the Christian churches of England--it is at Bradford-on-Avon. The missionaries came from Rome, and taught the English to build in stone, with round tops to the windows, as the Romans built.