Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/118

 may therefore be placed with much probability about the middle of the seventh century, since Paulinus was banished Northumbria in A.D. 631, "on the death of his royal convert." Bede tells the story of Edwin's conversion with dramatic effect. There is the doubt as to the truth of the Christian doctrines—the hope that the power of the true God will aid him in his troubles, and the resolve that, if he be successful, then he would cast away his idols. Paulinus took advantage of this hesitation, and by confirming the sign of the hand upon Edwin's head, he brought the king to his knees in full determination that he and his should embrace Christianity. Coifi, his chief priest, was the next important convert; and after he had resolved to abandon the worship of Thor and Woden, he encouraged the people to imitate his example and learn from Paulinus. He then mounted the king's war-horse, and defiled the heathen temple at York by casting a spear into the sacred enclosure. He and "all the nobility of the nation, with a large number of the common sort," then "received the faith" and were baptized. Paulinus was appointed Archbishop of York, and soon after set out into the most distant parts of the kingdom, preaching, converting, and baptizing the crowds who flocked to hear him. When we look upon these weather-worn crosses, we may imagine that we see the venerable Archbishop standing on the banks of the Calder, or at Bishop Leap on the Brun, surrounded by the rude inhabitants of the district, eager to be instructed in the doctrines of the new religion. He is said by Bede to have been "tall of stature, a little stooping, his hair black, his visage meagre, his nose slender and aquiline, his aspect both venerable and majestic." No wonder, then, that his fervid exhortations produced