treasures buried here?"

"Yes," his father replied; "we have no means of transporting
them, and we can at ally time return and fetch them.
We must dig up the big chest and take such garments as we
may need, and the personal ornaments of our rank; but the
rest, with the gold and silver vessels, can remain here till we
need them."

Gold and silver vessels seem little in accordance with
the primitive mode of life prevailing in the ninth century.
The Saxon civilization was indeed a mixed one. Their mode
of life was primitive, their dwellings, with the exception of
the religious houses and the abodes of a few of the great
nobles, simple in the extreme; but they possessed vessels of
gold and silver, armlets, necklaces, and ornaments of the same
metals, rich and brightly coloured dresses, and elaborate bed
furniture while their tables and household utensils were of
the roughest kind, and their floors strewn with rushes. When
they invaded and conquered England they found existing the
civilization introduced by the Romans, which was far in advance
of their own; much of this they adopted. The introduction of
Christianity further advanced them in the scale.

The prelates and monks from Rome brought with them
a high degree of civilization, and this to no small extent the
Saxons imitated and borrowed. The church was held in much
honour, great wealth and possessions were bestowed upon it,
and the bishops and abbots possessed large temporal as well
as spiritual power, and bore a prominent part in the councils