Let us place this account at the lowest, and without assuming that there was a revelation of GOD's purpose, in this "bow in the cloud," still this is a most impressive passage. The procession of Abbots and brethren moving towards the church for compline, the bright circle, rising as from the grave of the departed Bishop, and like a crown of glory overarching the whole fabric which calls him its founder, and the shouts of joy and the ascriptions of praise to God, for what is accepted by all as a sign of promised protection: this is a scene worthy to grace the festival of a founder of churches.

With Wilfrid we may fairly leave this portion of our history, for there is little reason to suppose that any additions were made to the resources of the ecclesiastical architect, or any greater stimulus given to their employment, until the introduction of the Benedictine Order into England by Dunstan. We may add that portions of the present crypts of York and Ripon are attributed to Wilfrid.1

1 See a paper by Mr. Turner, in No. VII. of the Archæological Journal; and another paper by Mr. Waltham in the

York volume of the Transactions of the Archæological Institute.

48

CHAPTER IV.

THE SAXON PERIOD.

From the Birth of Dunstan to Edward the Confessor.

DUNSTAN INTRODUCES THE BENEDICTINE RULE INTO ENGLAND, AND REBUILDS GLASTONBURY WITH INCREASED SPLENDOur. - OSWALD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. - RAMSEY ABBEY, AND WORCESTER.-ADHELM, FOUNDER OF MALMSBURY ABBEY. - MIRACLES CONNECTED WITH THE ERECTION OF CHURCHES. RESTORATION OF CHURCHES AFTER DANISH INVASION.-CROYLAND, Kirkdale.

We now arrive at another marked era of church building. We have seen the introduction of a Cænobitic system followed everywhere by the erection of churches and monasteries, the most splendid buildings of their day: but in the middle of the tenth century, English monachism assumed a more regular form, and made, in consequence, very rapid advances, both in the number of its votaries and in all external indications of its wealth and greatness.

S. DUNSTAN may be called the second founder of the monastic system in England, and his character, full of the aesthetic element, would not let him neglect the beauty of the sanctuary; while his pursuits and varied acquirements rendered him every way capable of taking part even in the minutest details of the movement which he was originating.

This extraordinary man1 was born in the neighbourhood of Glastonbury, about the year 925. His parents were noble by birth, and still more noble, as Christians ought to be, by their piety. He was a sickly child, but his active spirit was not

1 The authority generally followed here, is the life of Dunstan by Osbern, published in Wharton's Anglia Sacra. 2" Mulier genuit filium, quantitate quidem corporis parvulum, sed ea qua

præventus fuerat gratia Dei immensum." His future history is evidently coloured by the excitability of a delicate frame, acted upon by an ardent spirit.

weighed down by the infirmities of nature.

The usual charac

ter of monkish histories leads us to expect an account of divine presages of his greatness, and we have one which cannot be omitted here; for the heavenly visitant, who reveals the future greatness of the youth, appears almost literally in the character of an Ecclesiastical Architect, revealing the architypal form of a church. His parents brought him to Glastonbury, already venerable for its ancient associations. Here, while they were watching all night in prayer, a man appeared to them of a heavenly aspect, who told them that the splendour of the place should, after a short time, be greatly increased, and bid them leave their boy there, foretelling his future beatification. Then stretching a surveyor's measuring line over the precincts of the church :2" After this fashion," said he, "shall a place be erected, for the religious profit of those who shall hereafter believe in GOD, through this youth."

Glastonbury was a noted school of such learning as the times afforded, under the charge of certain Irish priests; and there Dunstan, giving himself more diligently to his studies than his years and his tender frame would bear, brought on a dangerous illness, accompanied with delirium. His sad associates were beginning to think of the funeral obsequies of their beloved pupil, when CHRIST Himself administered a remedy by the hands of an angel. Dunstan by the guidance of the heavenly visitant, arose and proceeded at once to the church, to return

1 "The celebrated abbey of Glastonbury was probably a Welch monastery before King Ina of Wessex, at the close of the seventh century, took Somerset from the Welch, and raised his own great foundation there. There seems no reason to doubt that King Arthur was buried in the island of Avalon, or Ynis-vitryn, the glassy island,' as it was called by the Welch, being surrounded at that time with a wide lake of still water, before the streams that encircle it were confined to their banks; and here there was a church founded by the Saxons, built as they sometimes built their churches, of

E

that kind of stud-building still in use in many parts of the country, where it has not given way to brick or stone. In all likelihood the Britons had a monastery here, for at such places their princes were buried; and whatever may be thought of S. Patrick's coming to Glastonbury to die, and of the legend about Joseph of Arimathea, the tomb of Arthur, discovered in Henry II.'s reign, is a strong proof of the ancient religion of the place."Churton's Early English Church, p. 102.

thanks for the blessing he had received. His attendants, astonished at what was taking place, followed at a little distance to see the end. The devil, envious of his restored health, and fearing his future influence, beset him in his way accompanied with a pack of howling dogs; the youth calling on CHRIST, seized a staff which he brandished in the face of his opponent, and so, still attended by the angel, arrived at the church. Finding the door bolted, he mounted the stairs which led to the roof,1 and going thence to another part of the building from which there was no means of descent, he was gently let down. upon the pavement by the angel's hands. In the morning he was found among the brethren who were keeping their nocturns, fallen into a gentle sleep, and unable to satisfy the curiosity of those who asked him about the events of the night. His fame was now so widely extended, that many of both sexes crowded to see him; but the more his praises were sounded, the more apparent did his humility become.

But it is more immediately to our purpose to record his proficiency in those arts and sciences which are secular in themselves, though capable of receiving a religious direction in the hands of a Christian. He was learned beyond all his fellows in philosophy, and was soon wonderfully skilled in manual operations. He was a painter and a scribe; and we have still proofs remaining of his proficiency in these arts. He was, besides, a diligent and skilful artificer in gold, silver, brass, and iron, and used the more delicate gravers' tools, as well as the hammer and the tongs; but most of all he delighted not only in the practice, but in the science of music, and in the making of musical instruments.2 Miracles are brought to attest his skill in these

Scalam cui inniti solebant qui superiora templi sarciebant. The present church of Brixworth, which already existed in the time of Dunstan, retains all the requisites for this scene. The angel and the boy ascended up the wide and massive stairs contained in the semicircular appendage to the tower, and crossing over to the other side of the tower, looked down upon the church from the threefold opening in the west wall of the nave,

and then lightly descended, on angel pinions, to the floor.

2 William of Malmsbury tells us that Dunstan gave large and deeptoned bells (Signa sono et mole præstantia) to the Abbey of Malmsbury, and organs, in which the inflated bellows pour out the air which they have just received, through brazen pipes, of such length as to produce the various musical notes. (Organa, uti per æreas fistulas musicis mensuris elabo

matters. He was much pressed by a certain pious matron to paint a pattern upon a priest's stole which she might afterwards enrich with golden embroidery.1 Dunstan goes to her house and hangs his harp on the wall, he applies his hand to the work for which he came, and his heart and lips to the praises of God; when the harp, without touch of man, pours forth, with the utmost precision the melody of the anthem: "The souls of the saints rejoice in heaven, who have followed CHRIST on earth, who have poured forth their blood for love of Him, for they shall reign with CHRIST for ever." The damsels of the family,—the mistress, the servants, all exclaim that their guest is wiser than he ought to be; but Dunstan hears in this heavenly strain an admonition to follow CHRIST more closely, if necessary even to the shedding of his blood. He had soon an opportunity of practising this lesson; for being accused of magic, he was dismissed from the court, and his enemies brutally assaulted him as he retired, adding violence to their former enmity, and the danger of death to his disgrace.

Before he had taken the habit, Dunstan was a pattern of all those virtues which are most nourished by the monastic system, and most lauded in monkish legends; and now, having become a monk, he added to his former discipline the still greater asceticism of a hermit. He built for himself a little shed2 against the church, less like a human habitation than a tomb, in length about five feet, in breadth two and a half feet: one side of the shed which opened, and contained the only window, was the door.