THE SAXON HEPTARCHY.

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRIS

TIANITY.

P. What period are we learning about now?

L. The period of the seven kingdoms-the Heptarchy. We heard last Wednesday of the system on which they were managed-it was called the "Allodial System;" and you were to tell us, papa, how the people learned of Jesus Christ.

P. So I will. You may remember that the Saxons worshipped Thor and Woden, and other strange gods. When they found the Britons worshipping the true God, as the Romans had taught them, they would not allow it. But they had now settled down quietly, and they were better able to think.

It happened one day that as the Pope ST. GREGORY was passing through the slave-market, at ROME, he saw some beautiful white children standing up to be sold, and he asked what nation they belonged to. He was told that they were Angles, from Britain. "Ah!" he said, "If these children were Christians, they would not be 'Angles,' but 'angels:" and soon after he sent a missionary to this country to teach the Saxons.

This good missionary was called AUGUSTIN. He came over quickly to the King of Kent, and told him that he had glad news for him, from God; and that he might be saved, and be happy for ever.

The king, who was called ETHELBERT, listened to him, believed him, and became a Christian. Then the good monk was so encouraged that he preached the Gospel as often as he could; and, before he died, not only the Kentish people, but many of the other Saxons deter

mined to give up their idols, and to follow Jesus.

Soon, there came more Monks from Rome; and the people were so glad to hear the truth, that some of them went to Rome that they might become Monks, and might learn to preach.

They also had clergymen, called Bishops, who used to superintend the others and teach them; the two principal Bishops were called "Archbishops." They made an Archbishop of Canterbury, and another in York. There was a Bishop in London, a Bishop in Winchester, a Bishop in Worcester, in Rochester, Hereford, Durham, and other large towns.

They also built large churches with organs in them. In the year 604, King Ethelbert founded a church in London, called St. Paul's; and, in 611, another king founded a church, called Westminster Abbey.

The Monks did not live alone by themselves, but several of them lived together in large houses, called Monasteries, or Abbeys. There they had schools for children, just as the Romans used to have; and rooms where poor travellers, who were tired, might stop and sleep. So, because they tried to do good, the people gave them money, and lands for corn-fields, and gardens. Thus, in time, they became very rich.

Some of these Monks were very pious and learned; and one, called the Venerable Bede, was a very wise and good man indeed. But, I am sorry to say, they were not all so. Many of them were ignorant, and even wicked, for they taught the people many foolish things, which were untrue. We call such foolishness, “superstition."

Besides preaching and teaching, the Monks would practise a trade.

The kings thought that preachers ought to have a trade, just as our Saviour had-and to work like the Apostle Paul. In an old Saxon

work, a king called EDGAR says, "We command that every priest do diligently learn some handicraft." So we hear of one Monk as being a good blacksmith.

Another was made an abbot, because ke was a clever goldsmith. Ethelwald, a bishop, made bells for the churches, and "a wheel full of small bells, much gilt-to turn round and make music on feast-days."

W. I should think that an Archbishop must have been very clever!

P. Yes, Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury, could draw well-he could paint patterns for a lady's gown-he was a smithand could work in all kinds of metals. He made two great bells for the church at Abingdon.

The laws of this period were improved a little, but some of them showed that the people had learned superstition. They would sometimes try whether a man had done wrong, by making him put his hand into boiling water, or carry a red-hot iron. If one man killed another, he had to pay for his sin with a large sum of money.

In time, however, the people began to think more, and they found out a way to make good laws. They used to hold a great assembly, in which the nobles, and bishops, and rich men met, and considered about the laws very carefully, before making them-just as members of Parliament do now.

This great assembly was called "THE WITTENAGEMOT."

Now that you know something of the customs and laws of our ancestors, I will tell you something about their kings.

It was not a good plan to divide Britain into seven kingdoms, for the kings were always quarrelling. The King of Sussex would think, "My kingdom is not large enough, I should like to have a piece of Wessex;"-and each king would so often be wanting to make his own kingdom larger, and his neighbour's kingdom smaller, that there were too many wars. One of the kings was chosen to be master of the other six-and was called the BRETWALDA, or ruler of Britain, but the others would not obey him properly.

At last there was a King of Wessex, called EGBERT. He had lived in Europe, with a great king, called CHARLEMAGNE. There he became so wise and brave, that, when he came to Britain, he managed to conquer all the other kings and be the only king in the Island.

So when he had done this, he went to Winchester, where the bishops and priests met him.They made a great pomp,-put a crown on his head, and called him EGBERT THE FIRST, KING OF ALL ENGLAND. Thus the Island's name was changed from "Britain" to "England"-and instead of being divided into a Heptarchy, it was a Saxon kingdom. This was in the year 827.

Lessons 8 and 9. THE SAXONS.

(16.) The Saxons divided England into seven kingdoms, and lived together on the Allodial System." They soon afterward learned the Christian religion. The names of these seven kingdoms were NORTHUMBERLAND, EAST ANGLIA, MERCIA, SUSSEX, ESSEX, WESSEX, and KENT.

(17.) After many contests between these kingdoms, they were united into one by King EGBERT. The Island was then called ANGLE-LAND OR ENGLAND.

(18.) The PERIOD OF THE SAXON HEPTARCHY ended A.D. 827.

SALT (Concluded).

Ion. You said, mamma, that we should hear to-day why men and animals require so much salt. M. Then listen, and I'll amuse

you.

W. Oh! here is a curious thing mamma has brought from under the table. What is it-this shining stuff, like silver, mamma?

M. This is a metal called Sodium; it is a deadly poison. And in this retort is a gas called Chlorine.

L. Ah, that is the bleaching gas, which makes the "chloride of lime."

M. This gas, too, is a poison. Now, see me put a little of the metal with the gas. W. Ah, there! Oh, mamma, let me clap my hands, please. What a beautiful flame!

M. It will burn a little longer. Now, see what there is left. There is a white substance. Taste it!

L. Why, mamma, that is Salt. How strange, for two poisons to make such a good thing as salt.

M. This salt is not now poison. It contains two other substances, -muriatic acid and soda. You will understand this better, one day, if you study Chemistry.— What are the names of the two substances in this salt?

L. Muriatic acid, and soda. M. Now you shall see why we want salt with our food. I told you, in our Natural History lesson, that the food you eat must be made liquid, so as to become part of your blood.

W. Yes, mamma. First, our teeth chop it up, and then it is dissolved in our stomachs by a juice. I don't know what the juice is called.

M. It is called the gastric juice. When you take any salt into your stomach, the muriatic acid helps to make gastric juice; and the soda in the salt forms part of another juice, called bile; and, both of these juices are useful for changing your food into blood, or digesting it.

W. Now I see, mamma. Then, it is no wonder that the poor animals go so far for it. They can't make their food digest properly, I suppose. You told me, mamma, that vegetables were harder to digest than meat. I suppose that is another reason why the farmers give the sheep salt.

M. Do you think that you quite understand now why we require salt? Ion. Yes, mamma. It is very easy, it makes juices to digest food.

M. Now you shall hear where the salt is procured.

Here is the salt-cellar. Let us go to the place where the salt came from. We must travel all the way from this table to CHESHIRE.

W. Get your hat, Ion. Ion. No, no. Mamma means "travel in your mind."

M. Yes; by three different railways, until you reach a Cheshire town called Nantwich. There you will find, flowing from under ground, springs of water, which are very salt, they are called salt springs. This water is put into large iron pans, and boiled. The particles of water then form vapour, and rise up in the air; and, when all the water has changed into vapour, what is left in the pan?

W. Nothing! mamma.

M. But I said that the water contained salt. Now, the salt will not change into vapour. So, although the water goes away,

they find the salt remaining at the bottom of the pan.

W. Well, then. That is not making salt,-only separating it.

M. Salt is not only found in these springs; but you know that the sea-water is salt. This water is put into large clay pits, where the heat of the sun dries it up, leaving a thick crust of salt at the bottom. The salt from the sea is called Bay salt.

If you travel through Chester, past Middlewich, another town where they make salt, you will come to a town called Northwich, where it is dug out of the earth. There is a large mine of salt, which is as wonderful as the Northumberland coal mines. The salt is dug out in large lumps; it is coarser than the salt from the sea, or salt springs, and is called Rock salt.

But the most wonderful salt mine is in Europe. It is near Cracow, a town which was once the capital of a country called Poland. Many travellers have been to see it. I once read an account of it, written by a gentlemen. He said

"I and my guide, and two men with lamps, were let down the shaft, or opening, by a rope. Down we went-we were going to the depth of 150 feet; but, when we had reached 90 feet, we stopped at a broad open cavern, as large as a field. Here I saw large rocks of pure salt, which looked rather dingy; but, by the light of the oil lamps, I saw that they sparkled a little. We heard around us, in all parts, the busy sound of spades, mattocks, and wheelbarrows. We saw, in one part, great casks of salt, ready to be hoisted to the surface; beyond them were sleeping rooms for the miners, and stables for 20 horses. This large place was called the first floor of

the mine, and its height was about 20 feet."

W. That is nearly twice as high as our drawing-room.

"We then went out of this open cavern, through a long gallery, to another part of the first floor. We passed several turnings, which branched off in different directions like streets and lanes; and, at last, we reached a Chapel made of salt. There was an altar, a crucifix, a statue of the Virgin, and two images. They represented the Emperor and his wife, and were cut out of the solid salt. We saw, too, an ancient-looking pulpit, in the Gothic style.

"After we had wondered at all this, we went down to the second floor. This was 100 feet lower. The lamp-bearers went first, and I followed them down a long flight of steps. The cavern in this floor is not quite so large. It consists of one spacious hall, and has not any pillars to the roof.

"Here I noticed some miners cutting an enormous mass of salt. It was much taller than themselves, and I trembled for fear it should fall upon them. Some other men were packing salt in barrels, like those in the first floor.

"We passed on; then down we went again, lower still, and reached the third floor. There, as we walked along, we saw now and then a cavern full of workmen. Sometimes they were wheeling their little carts along the galleries; each cart was full of salt, with a lamp in the front.

"We followed our guides until we were very tired, and then we reached a wooden platform. Here we saw before us a broad, black, and dismal cavern, and we stood for a long time trying to see into it; - the guides held up their

lamps, but they were not bright enough to lighten it. There is a chandelier made of crystal salt, hanging from the centre of this cavern, and when any prince or great personage visits it, it is lighted up with 150 lights. Then, the inside may be seen, looking like a great castle in ruins. At the bottom are some rows of seats, rising one above the other, like the gallery in an infant-school; opposite these seats is an orchestra (that is a place where musicians play), and on such grand occasions, a small band play a slow simple tune, which echoes through the cavern; and, sounding solemnly, has a singular effect.

"We left this cavern, and then we went down again, deeper and deeper into the earth-to the fourth floor."

"Here is a dark subterraneous lake, 80 feet long, and 40 feet broad. When great people come to this place, they sometimes travel over it on rafts, made of fir logs, lighted up by many torches. In this part, the bed of 'green' salt ends-here it is 700 feet below the surface of the earth."

"Beneath this bed of green salt there lies the finest crystal salt. It is reached by long flights of steps, and inclined planes, and is in a cavern 300 feet lower."

W. Why, that makes a fifth floor!-and, if it is 300 feet lower, it is a thousand feet below the surface.

M. Yes, this cavern is even lower than the sea. Yet it is large enough to exercise a regiment of soldiers in. The air here is very cold.

After visiting this floor, the gentleman went up the mine again, and returned to the earth's surface by a different road, passing through

I

more caverns and galleries. should think that he and his men were very glad when they breathed the fresh air, and saw the light again; for, although they had been in the mine all day, they had only seen a small part of it. I have heard that, to visit the whole of this extraordinary and astonishing place, they would have had to travel a distance of no less than three hundred miles!

W. That is a wonderful tale, mamma. And are these salt mines in Poland now?

M. Yes. Perhaps you may see them one day, if you grow up to be a man. But I have just thought of something else about salt. You may not only find it in Poland, but in other parts of Europe. There are large mines in France, Germany, and Hungary. In Spain there is a solid roek of salt, so large that you have to travel nearly three miles to walk round it. It is more than three times as high as a house. The peasants, I have heard, break off great pieces, to make into pots and cups for their

own use.

There are large salt rocks in Asia; and, in Africa there is a plain of salt so large, that it would take four days to walk across it. There are also, in Africa, lakes of dried salt, to which the natives travel with baskets and pickaxes, and dig it out.

In America there is a country called MEXICO, which yields 1,800,000 bushels every year. Thus, you see that there is salt spread all over the earth, besides the salt found in the springs, and the sea. No place is entirely without salt. Who do you think has arranged this, that there should be salt everywhere?

Ion. GOD did, mamma, of course.