"
Thus his life, which had been begun in silence, ended also in
silence, with just a few singing years between.
"Thus it came to pass, that as he had served God with a simple
and pure mind, and undisturbed devotion, so he now departed to
His presence, leaving the world by a quiet death. And that
tongue which had composed so many holy words in praise of the
Creator, uttered its last words while he was in the act of
signing himself with a cross, and recommending himself into His
hands."*
*Bede, Ecclesiastical History
At Whitby still the ruins of a monastery stand. It is not the
monastery over which the Abbess Hilda ruled or in which Caedmon
sang, for in the ninth century that was plundered and destroyed
by the fierce hordes of Danes who swept our shores. But in the
twelfth century the house was rebuilt, and parts of that building
are still to be seen.
Chapter XIV THE FATHER OF ENGLISH HISTORY
WHILE Caedmon was still singing at Whitby, in another
Northumbrian village named Jarrow a boy was born.
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