scattered over the face of the country, but also over the free holders in the gá or scýr. To these however was added one of still greater moment. The introduction of Christianity in a settled form, which finally embraced the whole Saxon portion of the island, dates from the commencement of the seventh century. Though not unknown to the various British tribes, who had long been in communication with their fellow-believers of Gaul and, according to some authorities[23], of Rome, it had made but little progress among the German tribes, although a tendency to give it at least a tolerant hearing had for some time been making way among them[24]. But in 595 Pope Gregory the Great determined upon giving effect to his scheme of a missionary expedition to Britain, which he had long revolved, had at one time determined to undertake in person, and had relinquished only as far as his own journey was concerned, in consequence of the opposition manifested by the inhabitants of Rome to his quitting the city. Having finally matured his plan, he selected a competent number of monks and ecclesiastics, and despatched them under the guidance of Augustine, with directions to found an episcopal church among the heathen Saxons. The progress and success of this missionary effort must not be treated of here; suffice it to say that, one by one, the Teutonic kingdoms of the island accepted the new faith, and that before the close of the first century from the arrival of Augustine, the whole of German England was united into one church, under a Metropolitan, who accidentally was also a missionary from Rome[25]. ----- Footnote 23: See Schrödl, Erste Jahrhund. der Angl. Kirche, 1840, p. 2, notes. If the assertion of Prosper Tyro is to be trusted, that Celestine sent Germanus into Britain as his vicar, _vice sua_, the relation must have been an intimate one. See also Nennius, Hist. cap. 54. Neander however declares against the dependence of the British church upon Rome, and derives it from Asia Minor. Alg. Geschichte der Christ. Relig. u. Kirche, vol. i. pt. 1. p. 121. The question has been treated in late times as one of bitter controversy. Footnote 24: This may be inferred from Gregory’s letters to Theódríc and Theódbert and to Brunichildis. “Atque ideo pervenit ad nos Anglorum gentem ad fidem Christianam, Deo miserante, desideranter velle converti, sed sacerdotes e vicino negligere,” etc.; again: “Indicamus ad nos pervenisse Anglorum gentem, Deo annuente, velle fieri Christianam; sed sacerdotes, qui in vicino sunt, pastoralem erga eos sollicitudinem non habere.” Bed. Op. Minora, ii. 234, 235. Footnote 25: Theodore of Tarsus. -----