victory, made Osulf, one of the murderers of Eric, governor of Northumbria, with the title of earl. Up to this period Northumbria had been esteemed a kingdom.

Edred suffered from a wasting disease, which ended his life at an early age. Yet though so disabled in body, his mind was vigorous and active, as the promptitude with which he asserted his dominion in the north plainly shows.

CHAPTER XIX.

EDWY.-BENEFITS OF THE GOSPEL.- MONASTERIES: THEIR ATTEMPTS TO REMEDY

USE:

GOES TO COURT; IS

THEIR ABUSE. THEIR ABUSES.-BENEDICT.-REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY: THEIR DIFFERENCES.-DUNSTAN.-GLASTONBURY.-DUNSTAN'S BOYHOOD: HIS STUDIES; DISGRACED.-CELIBACY. —DUNSTAN'S ATTACHMENT: HIS ILLNESS; HE BECOMES A MONK. -EDRED MAKES HIM HIS ADVISER. EDWY.-ELGIVA.-DUNSTAN OFFENDS EDWY.DUNSTAN BANISHED; HAS A LARGE PARTY ATTACHED TO HIM. PERSECUTION OF ELGIVA.-EDWY'S BROTHER. EDWY'S UNHAPPY FATE.

EDRED left no children. He was succeeded by his nephew Edwy, or Edwin, A.D. 955. It was now two centuries and a half since Augustine preached the gospel in England : the knowledge of a Saviour had spread through the land; the Anglo-Saxons had everywhere given up their idolatry; the good seed had brought forth much good fruit; the cruelty of the pagan sacrifices was no more to be heard of; the attention of a large class of men was turned from the mere animal education, in which the heathen.

delighted, of warlike exercises, to a training which had to do with the spiritual part of men. The descendants of the ancient pirates became Christian teachers. Some among them were distinguished as writers in the Latin language, others composed in their own native tongue. Their writings have been preserved, and we see by them that the truths which at this day nourish the spiritual part of man were known and valued by our ancestors so long ago. Study could not be carried on unless quiet hours were secured to the students, and these they could not have in their own homes while the work of converting men from paganism was only slowly going on. The clergy had found it necessary to make establishments furnished with the apparatus for learning as a first step towards improving the people, and the converted kings and nobles willingly gave money for the endowment of these religious houses, or monasteries. The Roman missionaries had come from a country as far above England in civilization as our country

now is above New Zealand; and as we see in our days that the English clergy in New Zealand introduce as much as they can of the civilization of England there, so the Roman clergy encouraged the Anglo-Saxon people to learn the industrious arts. The monasteries were first of all schools of learning, and the villages, which were soon formed wherever a monastery stood, were inhabited by a people whose industry in cultivating the ground and in manufacturing articles of clothing and household furniture was encouraged by the servants of God who lived within the convent walls. The monks themselves laboured with their hands as well as their heads. Their time was laid out with great regularity: they had stated hours for daily and nightly prayer, appointed times for study, for manual labour, and for their meals. Many among them became so much attached to this kind of life that they never quitted the convent walls. Thus the time of a large class was passed in devotion to God and usefulness to man. Their writings and

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example were profitable to many. At the first foundation of these religious houses, when the land was undrained and uncultivated, the labour and difficulty of their work was very great. They had also to work in the midst of danger, as it was not till long years had gone by that the religion of Christ became popular.

But this time of danger and labour was the best time for the Christians. When the advantage of their labour began to appear, and they had gathered round about the monastery an attached and industrious people, and when their own and the neighbouring lands were so cultivated as to yield abundance, the men who had toiled and struggled through difficulties were laid in their graves, and were succeeded by another race who had not the same necessity to toil.

As one generation after another passed away the condition of England was greatly altered. The same command from their Lord and Master was given to all His followers: "Seek first the kingdom of God