could not drive them out of the country. They had come to stay. On
the other hand, many Britons were forced to take refuge among the
hills of Wales. There they continued to abide. That ancient stock
never lost its love of liberty. More than eleven centuries later
their spirit helped to shape the destinies of the New World. Thomas
Jefferson andseveral of the other signers of the Declaration of
American Independence were either of Welsh birth or of direct Welsh
descent.

40. Gregory and the English Slaves.

The next period, of nearly eighty years, is a dreary record of
constant battles and bloodshed. Out of this very barbarism a
regenerating influence finally arose.

In their greed for grain, some of the English tribes did not hesitate
to sell their own children into bondage. A number of these slaves,
exposed in the market place in Rome, attracted the attention of a monk
named Gregory.

Struck with the beauty of their clear, ruddy complexions and fair
hair, he inquired from what country they came. "They are Angles"
(S37), was the dealer's answer. "No, not Angles, but angels,"
answered the monk; and he resolved that, when he could, he would send
missionaries to convert a race of so much promise.[2]

[2] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History."

41. Coming of Saint Augustine, 597.