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 The I The Monks and tJie Conversion of the Germans 97 to all eternity. This flowery place, in which you see these most beautiful young people, so bright and gay, is that into which the souls of those are received who depart the body in good works, but who are not so perfect as to deserve to be immediately admitted into the kingdom of heaven ; yet they shall all, at the day of judgment, see Christ and partake of the joys of his kingdom ; for whoever are perfect in thought, word, and deed, as soon as they depart the body immediately enter into the kingdom of heaven ; in the neigh- borhood whereof that place is, where you heard the sound of sweet singing, with the fragrant odor and bright light. " 'As for you, who are now to return to your body and live among men again, if you will endeavor nicely to watch your actions, and to direct your speech and behavior in right- eousness and simplicity, you shall, after death, have a place of residence among these joyful troops of blessed souls ; for when I left you for a while, it was to know how you were to ba disposed of.' When he had said this to me I much abhorred returning to my body, being delighted with the sweetness and beauty of the place I beheld and with the company of those I saw in it. However, I durst not ask him any questions; but in the meantime, on a sudden, I found myself alive among men." IV. THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND, AS DESCRIBED BY BEDE In the year of our Lord 582, Maurice, the fifty-fourth emperor from Augustus, ascended the throne and reigned twenty-one years. In the tenth year of his reign, Gregory, a man renowned for learning and behavior, was promoted to the apostolic see of Rome, and presided over it thirteen years, six months, and ten days. He, being moved by divine inspiration, about the one hundred and fiftieth year after the coming of the English into Britain, sent the servant of God, Augustine, and with him several other monks who feared the Lord, to preach the word of God to the English nation. . . . 39. The arrival in Kent of the missionaries sent by Gregory the Great (597). (From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England.)