Church; his writings, though he was not really a theologian of the first rank, were among the popular text-books of the early medieval Church of Europe.

His "Morals" (Magna Moralia) were greatly admired, and his "Pastoral Care" (Liber Pastoralis Cura) was translated into various languages. An AngloSaxon version was made by King Alfred, who sent a copy of it to every bishop in his kingdom, to be preserved in the cathedral church. It is the greatest of his writings, and is still a living work. In his Dialogues he gives incidentally his views of the condition of the soul after death, and puts forth the doctrine of a purgatory of purifying fire more distinctly than it had been stated by any previous writer.

We are always curious to know the personal appearance of the men whose lives have interested us, and his biographer, John the Deacon, gratifies this natural curiosity in the case of Gregory. He describes a picture which in his time existed in the hall of the Monastery of St. Andrew on the Cælian Hill, which contained the portraits of Gregory and his parents. The description of Gregory gives a minute analysis of every feature. He says that he was of just stature, but well formed:-Gregory of Tours, however, who paid a visit to his great namesake, has a good-natured remark, that it was remarkable that so great a man should be so small a person, which enables us to interpret John's complimentary epithet of "just" stature. John's statement that his face combined his father's length with his mother's roundness of visage is perhaps rather indefinite. He goes on to say that he had large round tonsure, surrounded by dark hair curling under the ears, and with two little curls on the forehead

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CHAPTER III

HE YORKSHIRE SLAVE-BOYS IN THE ROMAN FORUM

VHEN Gregory returned from Constantinople, he took up his position as abbot of his monastery, and the Pope Pelagius II. made him his secretary. Jerome held the same office under Damasus, and we gather from him that the duties were rather those of a secretary of state than of a mere scribe.

Bede records the tradition of the origin of the mission to Britain. Some merchants arrived in Rome, and on a certain day exposed many things for sale in the market-place, and abundance of people rushed thither to buy. Gregory went among the rest. His route would be by the road which runs through the valley between the Cælian and the Palatine Hills, past the Arch of Constantine, by the huge ruin of the Colosseum, and so into the Forum, the focus of the city's life, still surrounded by the ruins of the temples and palaces of its earlier splendour. Here was the market for all kinds of vendibles, and slaves were included among the chattels offered for sale. A group of these attracted the abbot's attention by the peculiarity of their appearance. In contrast with the brown skins and black hair and eyes of the native population, these were of large frame, with white bodies, beautiful faces, and hair of remarkable beauty. Having viewed

turning towards the right; a yellowish (sub-fulva) beard of moderate dimensions; the eyes not large but well opened, and of hazel colour; the eyebrows long, slender, and arched; the nose slightly aquiline, thin where it descends from the eyebrows, broader about the middle, and expanded at the nostrils; the lips red, full, and well shaped; the chin rather prominent; the expression, as a rule, mild; with fine hands, taper fingers, and well-shaped nails. He is represented as habited in a chestnut-coloured planeta over a dalmatic, and a narrow pall adjusted round the shoulders in the manner shown by the mosaics of the period. He held the Gospels in the right hand and a cross in the left A square nimbus behind the head indicated that he was still living, and that the picture was a portrait.

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CHAPTER III

THE YORKSHIRE SLAVE-BOYS IN THE ROMAN FORUM

WHEN Gregory returned from Constantinople, he took up his position as abbot of his monastery, and the Pope Pelagius II. made him his secretary. Jerome held the same office under Damasus, and we gather from him that the duties were rather those of a secretary of state than of a mere scribe.

Bede records the tradition of the origin of the mission to Britain. Some merchants arrived in Rome, and on a certain day exposed many things for sale in the market-place, and abundance of people rushed thither to buy. Gregory went among the rest. His route would be by the road which runs through the valley between the Cælian and the Palatine Hills, past the Arch of Constantine, by the huge ruin of the Colosseum, and so into the Forum, the focus of the city's life, still surrounded by the ruins of the temples and palaces of its earlier splendour. Here was the market for all kinds of vendibles, and slaves were included among the chattels offered for sale. A group of these attracted the abbot's attention by the peculiarity of their appearance. In contrast with the brown skins and black hair and eyes of the native population, these were of large frame, with white bodies, beautiful faces, and hair of remarkable beauty. Having viewed