Page:The ancient Irish church.djvu/100

 not only a ruler, but a preacher, for we are told that notwithstanding sickness, she never failed 'publicly and privately to instruct the flock committed to her charge.'

Among those who acknowledged her as abbess was one whose name has come down to us as the first of the Anglo-Saxon writers, Cædmon, whose Metrical Paraphrase of Holy Scripture is not only a monument of literature, but presents us with the earliest attempt to translate the Bible into the vulgar language of the people. Bede tells us that 'he sang the creation of the world, the origin of man, and all the history of Genesis: and made verses on the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and their entering into the land of promise, with many other histories from Holy Writ; the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection of our Lord, and His Ascension into heaven; the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the preaching of the Apostles; also the terror of future judgment, the horror of the pains of hell, and the delights of heaven; besides many more about the Divine benefits and judgments, by which he endeavoured to turn away all men from the love of vice, and to excite in them the love of and application to good actions; for he was a very religious man, humbly submissive to regular discipline, but full of zeal against those who behaved themselves otherwise; for which reason he ended his life happily.'

A branch of Hilda's establishment was founded thirteen miles from Whitby, and again a lady was placed at the head of it. Saint Bega, from Ireland, who is still commemorated by the name Saint Bees, which the place bears at the present day, and where in the well-known Theological College the same