13.] Mellitus and Justus, who had been consecrated bishops of London and Rochester, had already departed the kingdom,[*] when Laurentius, before he should entirely abandon his dignity, made one effort to reclaim the king.

He appeared before that prince, and, throwing off his vestments, showed his body all torn with bruises and stripes which he had received.
Eadbald, wondering that any man should have dared to treat in that manner a person of his rank, was told by Laurentius, that he had received this chastisement from St.Peter, the prince of the apostles, who had appeared to him in a vision, and severely reproving him for his intention to desert his charge, had inflicted on him these visible marks of his displeasure.[**] Whether Eadbald was struck with the miracle, or influenced by some other motive, he divorced himself from his mother-in-law, and returned to the profession of Christianity:[***] his whole people returned with him.

Eadbald reached not the fame or authority of his father, and died in 640, after a reign of twenty-five years, leaving two sons, Erminfrid and Ercombert.
[* Bede, lib.ii.cap 5.] [** Bede, lib.

ii cap.2.Chron.Sax.p.

26.
Higden, lib.