The holy see had already a considerable patrimony in Gaul, bestowed by the piety of the faithful: we shall see from the following epistle of the pope to the priest Candidus, whom he sent as its administrator, the use which was made of its income. * * * * * Lib. v. Epist. x.—GREGORIUS Candido Presbytero eunti ad patrimonium Galliæ. Pergens auxiliante Domino Deo nostro Jesu Christo ad patrimonium, quod est in Galliis gubernandum, volumus ut dilectio tua ex solidis quos acceperit, vestimenta pauperum, vel pueros Anglos, qui sunt ab annis decem et septem, vel decem et octo, ut in monasteriis dati Deo proficiant, comparet; quatenus solidi Galliarum, qui in terrâ nostrâ expendi non possunt, apud locum proprium utiliter expendantur. Si quid vero de pecuniis redituum, quæ dicuntur ablatæ, recipere potueris, ex his quoque vestimenta pauperum comparare te volumus; vel, sicut præfati sumus, pueros qui in omnipotentis Dei servitio proficiant. Sed quia pagani sunt, qui illic inveniri possunt, volo, ut cum eis presbyter transmittatur, ne quid ægritudinis contingat in viâ, ut quos morituros conspexerit debeat baptizare. Ita igitur tua dilectio faciat, ut hæc diligenter implere festinet. GREGORY _to the Priest Candidus, going to the patrimony of Gaul_. _As you are going, with aid of the Lord Jesus Christ, our God, to govern the patrimony which is in Gaul; we desire that out of the shillings you may receive, you, our beloved, should purchase clothing for the poor, or English youths about the age of seventeen or eighteen, that, being placed in monasteries, they may be useful for the service of God; so that the money of Gaul, which ought not to be expended in our land, may be laid out in its own place beneficially. If you can also get any of the money of that income called tolls_, (ablatæ,) _we also desire that you should therewith buy clothing for the poor, or, as we have before said, youths who may become proficients in the service of God. But as they who dwell in that place are pagans, it is our desire that a priest be sent with them lest they should get sick on the journey, and he ought to baptize those whom he may see in a dying state. So let you, our beloved, do, and be alert in fulfilling what we have desired_. * * * * * The commission of Pope Gregory to purchase those youths was executed. But, as Lingard observes, (Ant. Anglo-Saxon Chu. c. i.,) “their progress was slow, and his zeal impatient.” The result was that St. Augustine and his companions were sent by the pope, and effected the conversion of the island. In the same chapter, Lingard describes the Saxons who had settled in England, previous to their conversion, and refers to Will. of Malmesbury (_de reg._ 1. i., c. 3.)