skies; the desecrating priest sat his horse unharmed. When, then, he
bade them follow him to the neighboring stream, to be baptized in its
waters into the new faith, an eager multitude crowded upon his steps.

The spot where Edwin and his followers were baptized is thus described
by Camden, in his "Description of Great Britain," etc.: "In the Roman
times, not far from its bank upon the little river Foulness (where
Wighton, a small town, but well-stocked with husbandmen, now stands),
there seems to have formerly stood Delgovitia; as it is probable both
from the likeness and the signification of the name. For the British
word _Delgwe_ (or rather _Ddelw_) signifies the statues or images of the
heathen gods; and in a little village not far off there stood an
idol-temple, which was in very great honor in the Saxon times, and, from
the heathen gods in it, was then called Godmundingham, and now, in the
same sense, Godmanham." It was into this temple that Coifi flung his
desecrating spear, and in this stream that Edwin the king received
Christian baptism.

But Christianity did not win England without a struggle. After the
death of Ethelbert and Edwin, paganism revived and fought hard for the
mastery. The Roman monks lost their energy, and were confined to the
vicinity of Canterbury. Conversion came again, but from the west instead
of the east, from Ireland instead of Rome.

Christianity had been received with enthusiasm in Erin's isle. Less than
half a century after the death of St. Patrick, the first missionary,
flourishing Christian schools existed at Darrow and Armagh, letters and
the arts were cultivated, and missionaries were leaving the shores of
Ireland to carry the faith elsewhere. From the famous monastery which
they founded at Iona, on the west coast of Scotland, came the new