justice ?" Trajan answered, " He who shall reign after me." And she said, " But what good will it do you, if some one else does me justice ?" Trajan replied, " None, certainly." And the widow said, " Is it not then better for you to do me justice yourself, and to receive your reward for it, than to transmit this reward to another ?" Then Trajan, being moved both by her piety and her reasoning, dismounted from his horse, and did not depart before he had given sentence for the widow, and seen his sentence executed. And, as a reward for this humanity and exhibition of justice, he deserved to be released, five hundred years afterwards and more, from the punishments of hell by the prayers of the blessed Gregory. The same Father Gregory was the first man who, in the beginning of his epistles, before giving his greeting and favour and blessing, announced himself as the servant of the servants of God, and so showed to all his successors a pattern of humility. And he added to his humility usefulness, when he said, "Health," that is, health of soul and body, " Goodwill," that is, from God and man, and " Blessing," which is in the seed of Abraham, namely, Christ, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And this blessed father Gregory, although he was so eminent for virtue and knowledge, soli had numerous detractors after his death to such a degree, that out of hatred to him, and for the sake of eradicating all recollection of him, his books would all have been burnt, if Peter had not been his deacon. For he said that he had seen the Holy Spirit hovering over him like a dove, while he was writing his books. A.D. 606. Sabinianus became bishop of Rome, and occupied the Roman chair one year, five months, and nine days. The same year, a poor man was asking alms of some sailors, and received none, as the captain said, ** We have nothing here but stones ;" so the poor man said, " Let everything then be turned into stones." And when he had said that, everything that there was eatable in the ship was turned into stone, though preserving its original shape and colour. A.D. 607. Ceolric, king of the West Saxons, died, and Ceulf succeeded him, and reigned twenty-four years. The same year, pope Sabinianus reproved the liberality of his predecessor the blessed Gregory, and under this pretence held back his hand from the needy ; and so Gregory in a vision thrice reproved hhn for the fault of covetousness, and for differing