ing over from beyond the sea the Saxon nation to their help;* the effect, as it would seem, of the divine appointment, that evil might come upon them for their wickedness, as indeed was made but too manifest by the event. Meanwhile, messengers are despatched into Germany to effect their purpose. Note, that not might, but virtue, is the stay in war. In the year of grace 448, the Picts and Scots, with united forces, attacked the Britons, who, deeming themselves unequal to the contest, implored the aid of the holy bishops, Germanus and Lupus. At length, when the greater part of their forces was preparing to arm for the war, Germanus declares that he will be their leader. He selects the most active, reconnoitres the country round about, and finding a valley encompassed with hills in the way by which it was expected that the enemy would approach, he there draws up his inexperienced troops, himself acting as their general. And now intelligence is brought by their scouts that a vast multitude of their fierce enemies is approaching. Whereupon Germanus commanded his men to respond with one shout to his voice ; and then the priests three times cried, Hallelujah. On which, one voice bursts forth from the whole multitude, and a deafening shout ascends to heaven, the air reverberating the sound. The hostile army, smitten with terror, in their fear believe that not only the surrounding rocks, but also the very skies, were coming down upon them, and their feet were not swift enough to deliver them from their terror. The flight becomes general ; they cast away their arms, well satisfied if, with their naked bodies, they can escape the danger ; numbers, in their precipitate flight, were swallowed up in repassing a river. The Britons, without having slain a man, behold the vengeance inflicted on their foes, and are passive spectators of the victory. The spoils of the field are collected, and the devout soldier rejoices in the victory which Heaven had given. The bishops triumph in the overthrow of the enemy without bloodshed, and the victory is the more glorious for having been obtained not by might but by faith. The island being reduced to peace and security by the over * The Saxons did not arrive in England all at one time, as is generally supposed, but in different and unconnected bodies, and at different periods, extending over the space of more than a hundred years.