This notable exploit was seriously credited and extolled by
the public; it is transmitted to posterity by one, who, considering the
age in which he lived, may pass for a writer of some elegance;[***]
and it insured to Dunstan a reputation which no real piety, much less
virtue, could, even in the most enlightened period, have ever procured
him with the people.
[* Osberne, p. 95. M. West, p. 187.]
[** Osberne, p. 96.]
[*** Osberne, p. 97.]
Supported by the character obtained in his retreat, Dunstan appeared
again in the world; and gained such an ascendent over Edred who had
succeeded to the crown, as made him not only the director of that
prince's conscience, but his counsellor in the most momentous affairs of
government. He was placed at the head of the treasury,[*] and being thus
possessed both of power at court, and of credit with the populace,
he was enabled to attempt with success the most arduous enterprises.
Finding that his advancement had been owing to the opinion of his
austerity, he professed himself a partisan of the rigid monastic
rules; and after introducing that reformation into the convents of
Glastonbury and Abingdon, he endeavored to render it universal in the
kingdom.
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