148 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

C H A p. to procure them the credit of sanctity by anII. appearance of the most rigid mortification, and tobreak off ail their other ties which might interferewith his spiritual policy. Under pretence , thereforeof reforming abuses , which were , in some degree,unavoidable in the ancient establishments, he hadalready spread over the southern countries ofEurope the severe laws of monastic life, andbegan to form attempts towards a like innovationin England. The favourable opportunity offereditself ( and it was greedily seized ) arising fromthe weak superstition of Edred, and the violent.impetuous character of Dunstan.

Dunstan was born of noble parents in the westof England; and being educated under his uncle,Aldhelm , then Archbishop of Canterbury, hadbetaken himself to the ecclesiastical life, and hadacquired some character in the court of Edmund.He was, however, represented to that prince asa man of licentious manners 120 ; and finding hisfortune blasted by these suspicions, his ardentambition prompted him to repair his indiscretionsby running into an opposite extreme. He seclud- ted himself entirely from the world ; he frameda cell so small that he could neither stand erectin it nor stretch out his limbs during his repose;and he here employed himself perpetually eitherin devotion or in manual labour It is probable,that his brain became gradually crazed by thesesolitary occupations, and that his head was

Osberne, p. 95. Matth. West. p. 187.

Osbeoie, p. 96.