emblems, moved solemnly towards the city of Canterbury, where Bertha's
church awaited them. As they entered the city they sang:

"Turn from this city, O Lord, thine anger and wrath, and turn it from
Thy holy house, for we have sinned." Then Gregory's joyful cry of
"Alleluia! Alleluia!" burst from their devout lips, as they moved into
the first English church.

[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.]

The work of the "strangers from Rome" proceeded but slowly. Some
converts were made, but Ethelbert held aloof. Fortunately for Augustine,
he had an advocate in the palace, one with near and dear speech in the
king's ear. We cannot doubt that the gentle influence of Queen Bertha
was a leading power in Ethelbert's conversion. A year passed. At its end
the king gave way. On the day of Pentecost he was baptized. Christ had
succeeded Odin and Thor on the throne of the English heart, for the
story of the king's conversion carried his kingdom with it. The men of
Kent, hearing that their king had adopted the new faith, crowded the
banks of the Swale, eager for baptism. The under-kings of Essex and
East-Anglia became Christians. On the succeeding Christmas-day ten
thousand of the people followed the example of their king. The new faith
spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the kingdom of Kent.

When word of this great event reached Pope Gregory at Rome his heart was
filled with joy. He exultingly wrote to a friend that his missionaries
had spread the religion of Christ "in the most remote parts of the
world," and at once appointed Augustine archbishop of Canterbury and
primate of all England, that he might complete the work he had so
promisingly begun. Such is the story of the Christianizing of England as