has given him a considerable place in ecclesiastical and civil history; and he appears to have been a man of extraordinary talents. Dr. Burney, in his history, notices
was born of noble parents at Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, in the year 925. Under the patronage of his uncle Aldhelm, archbishop of Canterbury,
he was instructed in the literature and accomplishments of
those times, and in consequence of his recommendation
invited by king Athelstan to court, who bestowed on him
lands near Glastonbury, where he is said to have spent
some years in retirement. Edmund, the successor of
Athelstan, appointed him abbot of the celebrated monastery which he began to rebuild in that place in the year
042, and by the munificence of the king, who gave him a
new charter in the year 944, he was enabled to restore it
to its former lustre. Among other legendary stories reported of St. Dunstan we are told that he had been represented to the king as a man of licentious manners; and
dreading the ruin of his fortune by suspicions of this nature, he determined to repair past indiscretions by exchanging the extreme of superstition for that of licentiousness. Accordingly he secluded himself altogether from
the world; and he framed a cell so small that he could
neither stand erect in it, nor stretch out his limbs during
his repose; and here he employed himself perpetually in
devotion or manual labour. In this retreat his mind was
probably somewhat deranged; and he indulged chimeras
which, believed by himself and announced to the credulous
multitude, established a character of sanctity among the
people. He is said to have 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 hy 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 the malignant spirit made the
whole neighbourhood resound with his bellowings. The
people credited and extolled this notable exploit, and it ensured to Dunstan such a degree of reputation, that he appeared again in the world, and Edred, who had succeeded
to the crown, made him not only the director of that
prince’s conscience, but his counsellor in the most important affairs of government. He was also placed at the
head of the treasury; and being possessed of power at
court, and of credit with the populace, he was enabled
to attempt with success the most arduous enterprizes.
Taking advantage of the implicit confidence reposed in
him by the king, Dunstan imported into England a new
order of monks, the Benedictines, who, by changing the
state of ecclesiastical affairs, excited, on their first establishment, the most violent commotions. Finding also that his
advancement had been owing to the opinion of his austerity, he professed himself a parti zan of the rigid monastic
rules; and after introducing that reformation into the convents of Glastonbury and Abingdon, he endeavoured to
render it universal in the kingdom. This conduct, however, incurred the resentment of the secular clergy; and
these exasperated the indignation of many courtiers, which
had been already excited by the haughty and over-bearing
demeanour which Dunstan assumed. Upon the death of
Edred, who had supported his prime-minister and favourite in all his measures, and the subsequent succession of
Edwy, Dunstan was accused of malversation in his office,
and banished the kingdom. But, on the death of Edwy,
and the succession of Edgar, Dunstan was recalled and
promoted first to the see of Worcester, then to that of
London and about the year 959, to the archiepiscopal
see of Canterbury. For this last advancement it was requisite to obtain the sanction of the pope; and for this
purpose Dunstan was sent to Rome, where he soon obtained the object of his wishes, and the appointment of legate in England, with very extensive authority. Upon his
return to England, so absolute was his influence over the
king, he was enabled to give to the Romish see an authority and jurisdiction, of which the English clergy had been
before in a considerable degree independent. In order
the more effectually and completely to accomplish this object, the secular clergy were excluded from their livings,
and disgraced; and the monks were appointed to supply
their places. The scandalous lives of the secular clergy
furnished one plea for this measure, and it was not altogether groundless; but the principal motive was that of
rendering the papal power absolute in the English church;
for, at this period, the English clergy had not yielded implicit submission to the pretended successors of St. Peter,
as they refused to comply with the decrees of the popes,
which enjoined celibacy on the clergy. Dunstan was active and persevering, and supported by the authority of
the crown, he conquered the struggles which the country
had long maintained against papal dominion, and gave to
the monks an influence, the baneful effects of which were
experienced in England until the era of the reformation.
Hence Dunstan has been highly extolled by the monks and
partizans of the Romish church; and his character has
been celebrated in a variety of ways, and particularly by
the miracles which have been wrought either by himself
or by others in his favour. During the whole reign of Edgar, Dunstan maintained his interest at court; and upon
his death, in the year 975, his influence served to raise
his son Edward to the throne, in opposition to Ethelred.
Whilst Edward was in his minority, Dunstan ruled with
absolute sway, both in the church and state, but on the
murder of the king, in the year 979, and after the accession of Ethelred, his credit and influence declined;
and the contempt with which his threatenings of divine
vengeance were regarded by the king, are said to have
mortified him to such a degree, that on his return to his
archbishopric, he died of grief and vexation, May 19, 988.
A volume of his works was published at Doway, in 1626.
His ambition has given him a considerable place in ecclesiastical and civil history; and he appears to have been a
man of extraordinary talents. Dr. Burney, in his history,
notices his skill in music, and his biographers also inform
us that he was a master of drawing, engraved and took
impressions from gold, silver, brass, and iron, and that
he even practised something like printing. Gervase’s
words are, “literas formare,
” which however, we think,
means no more than that he cut letters on metal.
, a man of extraordinary talents, and who by their means was enabled
, a man of extraordinary talents, and who by their means was enabled to emerge from poverty and obscurity, was born in 1695 in the little village of Artonay in Champagne. At the age rjf ten years he lost his father, a poor labourer, who left his wife poor, and burthened with children, at a time when war and famine desolated France. In this state Duval accustomed himself from his infancy to a rude life, and to the privation of almost every necessary. He had scarcely learned to read, when, at the age of twelve years, he entered into the service of a peasant of the same village, who appointed him to take care of his poultry, but at the commencement of the severe winter of 1709, he quitted his native place, and travelled towards Lorraine. After a few days journey he was seized by an excessive cold, and even attacked by the small-pox, but by the humane care of a poor shepherd in the environs of the village of Monglat, aided by the strength of his constitution, he recovered, and quitted his benefactor to continue his route as far as Clezantine, a village on the borders of Lorraine, where he entered into the service of another shepherd, with whom he remained two years; but taking a disgust to this kind of life, chance conducted him to the hermitage of La llochette, near Deneuvre. The hermit, known by the name of brother Palemon, received him, made him partake his rustic labours, and when obliged to resign his place to a hermit sent to brother Palemon by his superiors, he got a letter of recommendation to the hermits of St. Anne, at some distance from La Rochette, and a mile or two beyond Luneville, where he arrived in 1713, and was entrusted with the care of six cows. The hermits also taught him to write; and as he had a great ardour for books, he engaged in the business of the chase, and with the money he procured for his game, was already enabled to make a small collection of books, when an unexpected occasion furnished him with the means of adding to it some considerable works. Walking in the forest one day in autumn, he found a gold seal, with a triple face well engraved on it. He went the following Sunday to Luneville, to entreat the vicar to publish it in the church, that the owner might recover it by applying to him at the hermitage. Some weeks after, a Mr. Foster, or Forster, an Englishman, knocked at the gate of St. Anne’s, and inquired for his. seal. In the course of the conversation which passed between him and Duval, he was surprized to find that the latter had picked up some knowledge of heraldry, and being much pleased with his answers, gave him two guineas as a recompense. Desirous of being better acquainted with this young lad, he made him promise to come and breakfast with him at Luneville every holiday. Duval kept his word, and received a crown-piece at every visit. This generosity of Mr. Foster continued during his abode at Luneville, and he added to it his advice respecting the choice of books and maps. The application of Duval, seconded by such a guide, could not fail of being attended with improvement, and he acquired a considerable share of various kind of knowledge.