Page:Elizabeth Elstob - An English-Saxon homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory.djvu/45

 This is apparent enough from Bede, who says, that that Slaughter did not happen till after the Death of St. Augustine; whose Words are these, "And so was fulfilled the Prophecy of the holy Bishop Augustine, altho' himself was taken up to Heaven long before, that the perfidious Britains'' shou'd undergo the Vengeance of temporal Destrucion, who had despised the Councel that was offer'd them for their eternal Safety." The Words of the Clause, that express his being dead before, are said to be interpolated: which Opinion is thought to be confirm d by their not appearing in the Saxon Version of K. Alfred. Yet however, Mr. Whelock confesses he found them in all the most ancient Manuscripts he had consulted of the Original. But the Saxon has omitted it, because in the following Chapter, he is supposed to be yet alive, and to ordain two Bishops, Mellitus and Justus. But whether that Clause be genuine or no, Bede speaks of the Event, as prophesyed by St. Auguftine; and 'tis probable, had he been of that bloody, and assuming Character his Enemies wou'd suppose him to have been of: upon his survival of the Slaughter, he would have been apt to boast and triumph in having liv'd to see his own Prophecy fulfill'd; but of this Bede is silent, and so much all others. But I am informed by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Smith, Prebendary of Durham, who is preparing a most exact Edition of Bede, and has examined a very great number of Manuscripts; that in all the''