Saint, a famous archbishop of Canterbury. He was descended from a noble family in Wessex, and educated in the abbey of Glastonbury, where he studied so hard that he was seized with a violent fever, which brought him to the very point of death. When the whole family were standing about his bed, dissolved in tears, and expecting every moment to see him expire, an angel came from heaven in a dreadful storm, and gave him a medicine which restored him to perfect health in a moment. Dunstan immediately started from his bed, and ran with all his speed towards the church to return thanks for his recovery; but the devil met him by the way, surrounded by a great multitude of black dogs, and endeavoured to obstruct his passage. This would have frightened ordinary boys, but it had no effect whatever upon Dunstan, who, having pronounced a sacred name, and brandished his stick, put the devil and all his dogs to flight. The church doors being shut, an angel took him up in his arms, conveyed him through an opening in the roof, and set him softly down on the floor, where he performed his devotions. After his recovery, he pursued his studies with the greatest ardour, and soon became a perfect master in philosophy, divinity, and music; painting, writing, and sculpture; besides working in gold, silver, brass, iron, and other metals. Whilst still young he entered into holy orders, and was introduced by his uncle Athelstan, archbishop of Canterbury, to King Athelstan, who, being charmed with his person and accomplishments, retained him at his court, and employed him in many great affairs. At leisure hours he used to entertain the king and his courtiers with playing on the harp, or some other musical instrument; and now and then, by way of variety, he wrought a miracle, which gained him great admiration. But his old enemy the devil was much offended at this, and prompted some envious courtiers to persuade the king that his favourite was a magician; a story which that prince too readily believed. Dunstan, however, having discovered by the king's countenance that he had lost his favour, resolved to resign rather than be dismissed, and accordingly retired from court to another uncle, who was Bishop of Winchester. This good prelate prevailed upon his nephew to forsake the world and become a monk; and Dunstan retired to a little cell built against the church wall of Glastonbury. Here he slept, studied, prayed, meditated, and sometimes amused himself with forging several useful things in brass and in iron. One evening as he was working very busily at his forge, the devil, putting on the appearance of a man, thrust his head in at the window of his cell, and asked him to make something or other for him. Dunstan was so intent upon his work that he made no answer, upon which the devil began to swear and to talk obscenely. This betrayed the lurking fiend. But the holy blacksmith was prepared for all casualties; so putting up a secret ejaculation, he pulled his tongs, which were red hot, out of the fire, and seizing the devil by the nose, squeezed the Satanic organ of smell with a degree of energy which caused his infernal majesty to bellow and scold at such a rate that he awakened and terrified all the people for many miles around. Thus far the legend.

However ridiculous these fictions may seem, they served, in those times of ignorance, to procure Dunstan a reputation which has been confirmed by the authority of several succeeding historians. It appears that this extraordinary person was called to court in 941 by King Edmund, who bestowed upon him the rich abbey of Glastonbury, which for his sake he honoured with many peculiar privileges. Dunstan enjoyed in a very high degree the favour of this prince during his short reign of six years; but he stood much higher in the grace of his brother and successor King Edred, to whom he was confessor, chief confidant, and prime minister. During this period of court favour he employed all his influence in promoting the interest of the monks of the Benedictine order, to which he belonged, and of which he was a most active and zealous patron. Having the treasures of these two princes, especially of the last, at his command, he lavished them away in building and endowing monasteries for these monks, because almost all the old monasteries were in the possession of secular canons; and not contented with this, he persuaded Edred to bestow, by his last will, such immense treasures on the churches and monasteries, that the crown was stripped of its most valuable possessions, and left in a state of indigence. This conduct of Dunstan, whilst he was in power, rendered him very odious to Edwy, who succeeded his uncle Edred in 955; and his rude behaviour to the king himself; and his beloved queen Elgiva, raised the resentment of the prince to such a height that he deprived Dunstan of all his preferments, and drove him into exile. The banishment of Dunstan, the great patron, or, as Malmesbury calls him, the prince of monks, was a severe blow to that order, who were in consequence expelled from several monasteries. But their sufferings were not of long continuance; for Edgar, the younger brother of Edwy, having raised a successful rebellion against his brother, and usurped all his dominions on the north side of the Thames, recalled Dunstan, and in 957 conferred on him the bishopric of Worcester. From this moment he was the chief confidant and prime minister of King Edgar, who in 959 became sole monarch of England, by the death of his elder brother Edwy. In the following year Dunstan was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury; and being thus possessed of the primacy and assured of the royal support and assistance, he prepared to execute the grand design which he had long meditated, of compelling the secular canons to put away their wives and become monks, or, in case of resistance on their part, of driving them out; and introducing Benedictine monks in their stead. With this view he procured the promotion of Oswald to the see of Worcester, and of Ethelwald to that of Winchester, two prelates who were monks themselves, and animated with the most ardent zeal for the advancement of their order; and these three great champions of monachism found means, by their arts and intrigues, in the course of a few years, to fill no fewer than 48 monasteries with Benedictines. But on the death of Edgar in 957 they received a check. The sufferings of the persecuted canons had excited much compassion; and many of the nobility, who had been overawed by the power and zeal of the late king, now espoused their cause and promoted their restoration. Elfec duke of Mercia drove the monks by force out of all the monasteries in that extensive province, and brought back the canons, with their wives and children; whilst Elfin duke of East Anglia, and Brithnoth duke of Essex, raised troops to protect the monks in these countries. In order to allay these commotions, several councils were summoned, and Dunstan was so hard pushed by the secular canons and their friends, that he was obliged to practise some of his holy stratagems; but finally, by dint of miracles, he overcame all opposition.

St Dunstan died in 988, in the sixty-fourth year of his age; having held the bishopric of London, together with the archbishopric of Canterbury, about 27 years. As this prelate was the great restorer and promoter of the monastic institutions, the grateful monks, who were almost the only historians of those dark ages, have loaded him with the most extravagant praises, and represented him as the