VI. 1.

Early Years of St. Dunstan.

His family was noble: all historians agree, that his education was suitable to his birth; that his proficiency, both in sacred and profane literature, was great; that he was eminently skilled in the elegant arts of music, painting, engraving, and working in metals; and that his knowledge, and exemplary conduct, made him universally respected and beloved, and destined him, in public opinion, to the highest dignities, and most important employments. While he was thus rapidly advancing to distinction, he fell into disgrace at court, and was visited by a long illness. In the serious hours of a protracted convalescence, he determined to embrace a religious life; and, sometime after his recovery, received the order of priesthood, and, with it, the monastic habit. He was attached to the parish church of Glastonbury; still, he lived in retirement, and devoted, in an obscure and humble cell, all the time which his parochial duties left at his disposal, to prayer and penitential austerities. He distributed his own fortune, and a considerable property which had been bequeathed to him, between his church and the poor. His virtues attracted the attention of Edmund, his sovereign the monarch conferred on him the royal palace and manor of Glastonbury, and appointed him abbot of the adjoining convent of Benedictine

monks. Edred, the brother and successor of Edmund, showed him the same favour. Edred was succeeded by Edwin, a dissolute youth, then in his fourteenth year.

Such was the early life of Dunstan. Modern writers profess to discover in it strong indications of hypocrisy, ambition and turbulence. To me, these are invisible, unless it be certain that a person, who retires in his youth from the dignities and gaudes of the world, spends many years in privacy and humble occupations, and afterwards attains great dignities in the church, must necessarily hence have been in his youth hypocritical, ambitious, and turbulent.

VI. 2.

The Conduct of St. Dunstan towards King Edwin.

At the time of which we are now writing, two women, Ethelgiva, and Elgiva her daughter, frequented the monarch's court. "The former," says an antient writer," was of high rank, bút

silly. She followed the king every where, and "endeavoured, by familiar and shameful blandish"ments, to induce him to unite himself to her, "or to her daughter, by the tie of marriage. "Shameful to relate, each submitted to the mo"narch's will." Decency compels us to suppress the rest of the scandalous narrative. On the day of his coronation, the monarch, the clergy, and the nobility, assembled, as was customary on this occasion, at a sumptuous feast. In the midst of

some serious discourse, the monarch suddenly rose from the table, and hurried into an adjoining apartment. There, Ethelgiva and Elgiva awaited him. The assembled ecclesiastics and nobles felt themselves insulted; they expressed their indignation by a general murmur; and unanimously commanded Dunstan and Kinsey, a prelate of royal blood, to repair to the apartment, and bring back the monarch, willing or unwilling, to his seat. Kinsey and Dunstan found the sovereign in a situation, which it would be offensive to our readers to describe, and his royal crown on the floor. The monarch was unwilling to quit the scene of infamy. Dunstan strongly represented to him the consequences of his conduct; dragged him from the embraces of the women; placed the crown upon his head; and returned with him to the banquet*: It is surprising that the conduct of Dunstan, on this occasion, should be the subject of modern blame. The monarch had outraged decency; the clergy and nobles were irritated; and the worst consequences might have followed. Dunstan brought back the unwise youth to the assembly, and thus stifled the discontent.

But his conduct was resented, both by the king and Ethelgiva. He was banished from the court, confined to his monastery, and threatened with personal violence. Then, with the permission of the earl of Flanders, he retired to the monastery of St. Peter at Ghent; but Edwin and Ethelgiva pursued their vengeance against him. His two

* See Lingard's Hist. vol. I, note (A), 2. 543..

abbeys of Glastonbury and Abingdon were dissolved, and the monks expelled from them. Edwin continued his connexions with Ethelgiva: the Wittenagemot, which was both the supreme council, and the supreme judicial tribunal of the nation, took cognizance of it, and threatened Ethelgiva with ignominious punishment, if she should persist in her scandalous conduct. She paid no attention to their representations, and the scandal continued. By the direction of the Wittenagemot, she was branded with a hot iron, and conveyed out of the kingdom. The public discontent increased: all the provinces on the north of the Humber revolted, and transferred their allegiance to Edgar, the brother of Edwin.

A civil war ensued: Ethelgiva returned from her banishment, and was seized and murdered by a party of the insurgent soldiers. To put an end to the distraction of the nation, the Wittenagemot interfered, and divided the kingdom between the two brothers. On the death of Edwin, which happened soon after this event, Edgar became the sole possessor of the Anglo-saxon throne. Modern historians have worked the misfortunes of Ethelgiva and Elgiva into a very tragic tale, and described Dunstan as the author of their calamities; but must not all, who read doctor Lingard's account of them, and examine his authorities, acknowledge that the tale is considerably embellished, and wholly acquit Dunstan of having acted any part in it? During the whole of these proceedings, Dunstan was in Flanders.

VI. 3.

The Conduct of St. Dunstan towards King Edgar.

FROM the time of his being sent into banishment, till the death of Edwin, Dunstan remained abroad. One of the earliest acts of king Edgar, after the death of his brother, was to recal Dunstan. After his return, he was successively promoted to the bishoprics of Worcester and London, and to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury.

Edgar uniformly displayed great talents for government; but he too often yielded to his passions. It is a strong argument in favour of the historical fidelity of the monastic writers, that, although Edgar was one of their greatest benefactors, all of them have represented his vices and follies in the strongest colours. On one occasion Edgar violated, in a convent, a lady of noble birth, who resided among the nuns. After the first ferment of his passion had subsided, Dunstan waited on the monarch, and pointed out to him the enormity of his crime: Edgar submitted both to the prelate's admonitions, and to the penance which he imposed. The prelate enjoined him to abstain, during ten years, from wearing his crown; and to observe a rigorous fast during two days in every week; to distribute large alms among the poor; to publish a code of laws for the more impartial administration of justice; and to transmit, at his own expense, to the different counties of the Anglo-Saxon