Dunstan was born of noble parents in the west of England; and being
educated under his uncle Aldhelm, then archbishop of Canterbury, had
betaken himself to the ecclesiastical life, and had acquired some
character in the court of Edmund. He was, however, represented to
that prince as a man of licentious manners;[*] and finding his fortune
blasted by these suspicions, his ardent ambition prompted him to repair
his indiscretions, by running into an opposite extreme. He secluded
himself entirely from the world; he framed a cell so small, that he
could neither stand erect in it, nor stretch out his limbs during his
repose; and he here employed himself perpetually either in devotion
or in manual labor.[**] It is probable that his brain became gradually
crazed by these solitary occupations, and that his head was filled with
chimeras, which, being believed by himself and his stupid votaries,
procured him the general character of sanctity among the people. He
fancied that the devil, among the frequent visits which he paid him,
was one day more earnest than usual in his temptations, till Dunstan,
provoked at his importunity, seized him by the nose with a pair of
red-hot pincers, as he put his head into the cell; and he held him there
till that malignant spirit made the whole neighborhood resound with his
bellowings.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202