[47] Augustin was prior of St. Gregory's Monastery, dedicated to St. Andrew in Rome, and was sent by Gregory in the year 597 with several other monks into Britain. Ethelbert was then king of Kent, and, as they landed on the Isle of Thanet, he ordered them to stay there. According to Bede, "Some days after, the king came into the island and ordered Augustin and his companions to be brought into his presence.... They came ... bearing a silver cross for their banner, and an image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board; and singing the litany they offered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal salvation both of themselves and of those to whom they were come." (_Ecclesiastica Historia gentis Anglorum_, book i. chap, xxv.)--ED. XV PAULINUS But, to remote Northumbria's royal Hall, Where thoughtful Edwin, tutored in the school Of sorrow, still maintains a heathen rule, _Who_ comes with functions apostolical? Mark him,[48] of shoulders curved, and stature tall, 5 Black hair, and vivid eye, and meagre cheek, His prominent feature like an eagle's beak; A Man whose aspect doth at once appal And strike with reverence. The Monarch leans Toward the pure truths[49] this Delegate propounds, 10 Repeatedly his own deep mind he sounds With careful hesitation,--then convenes A synod of his Councillors:--give ear, And what a pensive Sage doth utter, hear![50] FOOTNOTES: [48] The person of Paulinus is thus described by Bede, from the memory of an eye-witness:--"Longæ staturæ, paululum incurvus, nigro capillo, facie macilenta, naso adunco, pertenui, venerabilis simul et terribilis aspectu."--W. W. 1822. [49] 1832. Towards the Truths.... 1822. [50] Paulinus won over Edwin, king of the Northumbrians, to the Christian faith, and baptized him "with his people," A.D. 627. (See _The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_.)--ED. XVI PERSUASION "Man's life is like a Sparrow,[51] mighty King! "That--while at banquet with your Chiefs you sit "Housed near a blazing fire--is seen to flit "Safe from the wintry tempest. Fluttering,[52] "Here did it enter; there, on hasty wing, 5 "Flies out, and passes on from cold to cold; "But whence it came we know not, nor behold "Whither it goes. Even such, that transient Thing, "The human Soul; not utterly unknown "While in the Body lodged, her warm abode; 10 "But from what world She came, what woe or weal "On her departure waits, no tongue hath shown; "This mystery if the Stranger can reveal, "His be a welcome cordially bestowed!" FOOTNOTES: