A.D . 710 . EOTBED PUTS OK THE MONASTIC HABIT. 343 said to those bright men in white garments, who were sitting by me, 'Why sit ye here, knowing that this man.most undoubtedly belongs to us V They replied, ' You speak truly, take him and lead him away to the crowd of your damnation.' Then two most wicked spirits rose up, baying forks in their hands, and smote me, one on the head and the other on the feet, and they now are creeping, to my great torture, into all my inward parts, and as soon as they meet I shall die, and then, as all these devils are prepared to carry me off, I shall be dragged down to hell." Thus spoke that despairing wretch, and immediately bis miserable death ensued. But it is evident, in this case, that this display of his crimes was not made for his own sake, as he derived no beneiit from it, but for that of others, that they, knowing the circumstances of his death, might not delay their repentance, lest they should be anticipated by some unforeseen stroke of death, and so die unrepentant. A.D. 708. Ina, king of the West Saxons, fought a battle against Gerens, king of the Welch ; and at the beginning of the battle, Higebald, his general, was slain. But at last, the king of Wales fled, and left his arms and spoils to the Angles, who were pursuing him. The same year, Offer, governor of Northumberland, fought against the Picts, and slew a great multitude of them, and so became the avenger of king Egfrid. A.D. 709. Aldelm, bishop of Sherborne, died. When that holy man was only a priest, and abbot of the monastery which they call the city of Maildulph, he, at the command of a synod, wrote an admirable book to his nation against the errors of the Britons, by which he induced them to adopt the Catholic celebration of Easter. He also wrote an excellent treatise on Virginity, and many other books likewise, being a man of the greatest learning on every subject, and admirable for his erudition, as well in mundane as in spiritual affairs. And after his death, Forther succeeded him in bis pontificate, who was also a man of most praiseworthy learning in the holy Scriptures. A.D. 710. Kinred, who had for some time governed the kingdom of Mercia in a most noble manner, abandoned the sceptre of the kingdom in a more noble manner still. For while Constantine filled the office of pontiff at Rome, Kinred devoutly travelled to the threshold of the apostles, and there put on the monastic habit, and remained there till the day of