God for her love for the Christian religion and the propagation of the truth, and tells her that fame had not been silent about the favour and munificence which she had shown to Augustine when proceeding to England, and that certain monks who returned from England had also related it to Gregory. How many and how great miracles our Redeemer has worked in the conversion of the above-mentioned nation is known to her Excellency, at which she ought to rejoice, because it is partly due to her aid. He goes on to pray that she will the more graciously bestow her patronage upon the monks who are the bearers of these presents (whom he is sending to Augustine, together with his beloved sons Laurence the Priest and Mellitus the Abbot, because Augustine says that those who are with him are not sufficient), so that they may find no difficulties or delays; and tells her that she will the more obtain the mercy of God towards herself and her grandsons who are dear to Gregory, the more she shall for His love show kindness in this matter.

By the hands of these newcomers Gregory sent to Augustine the honorary distinction of the pall, and the tenor of the letter which accompanied it seems to indicate that it was distinctly intended to be a badge of Metropolitan jurisdiction. The letter is as follows:"To his most Reverend and Holy Brother and Fellow-Bishop Augustine - Gregory the Servant of the Servants of God.

"Since it is certain that the unspeakable rewards of the eternal kingdom are reserved for those who labour for Almighty God, yet it is requisite that

we bestow upon them the advantage of honours, to the end that they may, by this recompense, be enabled the more vigorously to apply themselves to the care of their spiritual work. And whereas the new Church of the English is, through the goodness of the Lord and your labours, brought to the grace of God, we grant you the use of the pall in the same, for the performance of the solemn service of the mass only; so that you in several places ordain twelve bishops, who shall be subject to your jurisdiction, in such manner that the Bishop of London shall for the future be always consecrated by his own synod, and that he receive the honour of the pall from this Holy and Apostolical See, which I by the grace of God now serve. But we will have you send to the city of York such a bishop as you shall think fit to ordain; yet so that if that city, with the places adjoining, shall receive the Word of God, that bishop shall also ordain twelve bishops and enjoy the honour of a Metropolitan; for we design, if we live, by the favour of God to bestow on him also the pall; and yet we will have him to be subservient to your authority; but after your decease he shall so preside over the bishops whom he shall ordain as to be in no way subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. But for the future let this distinction be between the bishops of the cities of London and York, that he may have the precedence who shall be first ordained. But let them unanimously dispose, by common advice and uniform consent, whatever is to be done out of zeal for Christ; let them arrange matters with unanimity, decree justly, and perform what they judge convenient in a uniform manner.

"But to you, my brother, shall, by the authority of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, be subject, not only those bishops you shall ordain, and those that shall be ordained by the Bishop of York, but also all the priests [sacerdotes, may mean bishops] in Britain; to the end that from the mouth and lips of your Holiness they may learn the rule of believing rightly and living holily; and so fulfilling their office in faith and good conduct, they may, when it shall please the Lord, attain the heavenly kingdom. God preserve you in safety, most reverend brother.-Dated the tenth of the Kalends of July [22nd June] in the nineteenth year of our most pious Lord and Emperor, Mauricius Tiberius, the eighteenth year after the consulship of our said Lord, in the fourth indiction [A.D. 601].

CHAPTER XIII

THE HISTORY OF THE PALL

THE subject of the pall is an important one in the history of our English Church. This ecclesiastical ornament was assuming a new meaning at the period of which we are writing; and the gift of it to Augustine seems the very point at which that new significance was definitely attached to it by the See of Rome, which lasted throughout the medieval period of the Church's history. It is quite worth while to bestow some time and pains upon it.

About the time of Augustus, the toga, which had formed the usual upper garment of a Roman, was superseded in general use by the pallium. The pallium was a large oblong piece of woollen fabric, like the robe which some races as the North American Indians, and the native tribes of South Africa-still wear as their ordinary outer garment; not unlike the plaid the Gaelic inhabitants of the northern part of our own island still use.

It was worn in various ways. Sometimes it was put round the neck, and fastened at the shoulder by a brooch or pin; sometimes passed over the left shoulder, drawn behind the back under the right arm, leaving it at liberty for use, and thrown again over the left shoulder, covering the left arm; sometimes,

when it was not needed for warmth or shelter, it was folded twice or thrice lengthwise, and thrown over the shoulder. A man permanently engaged in active occupation would lay aside his pallium altogether. In the old time the officials of the State were distinguished by an embroidered toga-toga picta, and when the pallium came into general use, an embroidered pallium equally marked out the officials of the Empire.

But the pallium also went out of fashion in its turn, and was succeeded by the planeta, a square of woollen material with a slit in the middle, through which the head was passed, and the garment fell in natural folds round the person. It still survives in Spanish South America under the names of poncho and serapé. About the same time the dalmatic came into use, a garment shaped and fitted to the person, like a short and broad tunic, with short, wide sleeves.

But officialism would no longer follow the vagaries of fashion; a civic dignitary still wore the pallium as a badge of office; only the pall was reduced to its embroidered hem; it was now a long narrow slip of embroidered material, which was worn in a peculiar way about the shoulders. John the Deacon describes it minutely, as it was worn by Bishop Gregory. It was brought round from the right shoulder under the breast, reaching down to the stomach, then up by the left shoulder and thrown behind the back; while the other end, coming over the same shoulder, hung by its own weight down the left side. This exactly describes the pall, as we see it represented in the mosaics of the sixth and later centuries at Rome and Ravenna.