MATTHEW OP WESTMIÎîSTEB. AD . 590. Cyssa, king of the South Saxons, died, and that kingdom devolved on Ceaulinus, king of the West Saxons. A.D. 591. A flood, almost exceeding the belief of men, tool place in Italy, and after a great deal of confusion a pesa lence followed, which was called an inguinal plague ; am which slew Pelagins the pope first of all, and after that, thinnet the people with a terrible mortality. At that time, the blessed Gregory was filling the office of archdeacon in the city of Borne, and he ordered a sevenfold litany to be performed for this terrible mortality among the citizens. It is called a sevenfold litany, because in the first rank came all the regular clergy; in the second, all the abbots and their monks ; in the third, all the abbesses and their nuns; in the fourth, all the infants ; in the fifth, all the laymen ; in the sixth, all the widows ; in the seventh, all the married couples. And so, having arranged all these matters properly, the man of God, by appeasing the wrath of God, completely eradicated this before-mentioned pestilence from the city. A.D. 592. The blessed Gregory was elected pope, the people joining their acclamations to those of the clergy, and although he was himself very reluctant, and strove against it, and absented himself, he was at last discovered and enthroned. Among other works of piety, he was able by his prayers to release the soul of Trajan, who had formerly been emperor, although he was a pagan, from the pains of hell. He composed an Antiphoner, and ordered Eyrie Eleeson with the Hallelujah to be sung at the masses. And he very advantageously added three sentences to the canon of the mass, namely, " And order our days in thy peace, and deliver us from eternal damnation, and cause us to be reckoned in the flock of thy elect." A.D. 593. Ceaulinus and his brother Quicheline died, and Cedric succeeded Ceaulinus in the kingdom of the West Saxons, and reigned five years. The same year, pope Gregory ordered the Lord's prayer to be recited over the host, after the canon. The same year, Ella, king of the Deiri, died. And on his death, Ethelred, king of the Bernicians, expelled his son Edwin from the kingdom of the Deiri, and governed the two kingdoms with great vigour. But Edwin being driven into exile, went and dwelt in banishment at the court of Redwald, king of the East Angles, till he was restored by his means to his kingdom.