carefully repaired again and again. If Glastonbury were really a seat of mysteries, Druidic or otherwise, it should not be beyond the bounds of possibilities that this bronze "Glastonbury Bowl" might have been a sacred vessel used in the celebration of the rites, and sent to the metal-workers of the Lake colony for repair.
Something should now be said, however briefly, of the condition which fostered the persistence of this tradition, even in so fragmentary a state as that in which we find it to-day. It is rather a difficult matter in a confined space, because of the many questions that it raises, some of which cannot now be touched on.
We know Glastonbury Abbey to be a Celtic foundation, and we know that it was already very old in the early days of the eighth century, as it was spoken of as "Vetusta Ecclesia" by King Ine. Quite briefly the facts are as follows:
In the year 658 Cenwalk, then a Christian, conquered the last remaining strip of country that stood out for the old British princes, the chief places of which were Malmesbury, Bradford and Glastonbury. Any subsequent risings of the British were no more than the insurrections of beaten rebels. It is quite uncertain what followed the conquest of Glastonbury, except that Cenwalk made gifts to the Church there, and set a Saxon abbot over the British Culdee monks. This militates against the idea that the sanctuary was deserted by the British clergy, or that it was desecrated by the invaders, as was suggested by Canon Scott Holmes. Cenwalk did not restore the settlement so much as put it in order, bringing it into subjection by placing there as its head Abbot Hemgisles, who was brought to his notice by Hedda, Bishop of his own new foundation at Winchester. For a few centuries this state of things continued, and Celtic and Saxon monks lived together in a Celtic monastery situated in an old Celtic town with a new English name; for Avalon or Ynyswytrin had become Glaestingaburgh. In the ninth century St. Dunstan, a native of the district, made radical changes, and swept away the last of the Culdees, bringing the Abbey definitely under the rule of St. Benedict. From this date on Glastonbury was, at least out-
