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embrace the Christian faith , which they found chapestablished in thg empire ; and it was impossible I.but the Saxons , informed of this event, musthave regarded with some degree of veneration adoctrine, which had acquired the ascendant overall their brethren. However limited in their views,they could not but have perceived a degree c*cultivation in the southern countries beyond whatthey themselves possessed; and it was natural forthem to yield to that superior knowledge, as wellas zeal, by which the inhabitants of the Christiankingdoms were even at that time distinguished.

Hut these causes might long have failed ofproducing any considerable effect , had not afavourable incident prepared the means for intro-ducing Christianity into Kent. Ethelbert, in hisfather’s lifetime, had married Bertha , the onlydaughter of Caribert, king of Paris " , one of thedescendants of Clovis, the conqueror of Gaul;but before he was admitted to this alliance , hewas obliged to stipulate , that the princess shouldenjoy the free exercise of her religion; a con-cession not difficult to be obtained from the ido-latrous Saxons w . Bertha brought over a Frenchbishop to the court of Canterbury; and beingzealous for the propagation of her religion, sitehad been very assiduous in her devotional exer-cises, had supported the credit of her faith by anirreproachable conduct, and had employed every

Greg. of Tours, lib. 9. cap. 26. fl. Hunting, lib. 2.

Bede , lib. 1. cap. 25. Brompton, p. 729.

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