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WILFRID'S CONVERSION OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 73
Etiielwalch. It was still Pagan, and though Cadwalla,
its invader, was still unbaptised, he seems to
have gained some dim and indistinct feeling of reverence
for the True Clod from his intercourse with
Wilfrid. He vowed to devote to that God, if he
gained possession of the isle, one fourth part of its
land, and of the booty which would be the conqueror's
prey. Three hundred hydes of land were accordingly
made over to \\'ilfrid, who assigned them to
certain ecclesiastics whom he united with himself in
the work of evangelising this outlying abode of
heathendom. The inhabitants were converted, and
thus it came that by Wilfrid's means the religion of
Christ became the outward profession, at all events,
of the inhabitants of the whole of England.
It is impossible to suppose that Theodore was
cither ignorant of, or indifferent to the missionary
work which Wilfriti had accomplished amongst the
barbarous and unintelligent population of Sussex and
the Isle of Wight. Perchance he may at times have
had some regretful feeling for the abrupt and arbitrary
manner in which he parcelled out the diocese
o\'er which Wilfrid ruled without asking his concurrence
or seeking for his counsel.
Theodore, who was now well nigh ninety years of
age, expressed a desire that Wilfrid should visit him
in London, and that Erconwald should be present at
the meeting. Wilfrid obeyed the summons. The
aged Archbishop acknowledged that he had been a
consenting party to the spoliation which A\'ilfrid had
suffered, and expressed his sorrow that he should
have been subjected to so long an exile. If Eddi's