of as undoubted authenticity as the Reform Bill.

The writer can well remember the impression the tale made upon his
youthful imagination, and the dislike, to use a mild word, with which he
ever viewed the character of the great statesman and ecclesiastic of the
tenth century, Dunstan, until a wider knowledge of history and a more
accurate judgment came with maturer years; and testimonies to the
ability and genius of that monk, who had been the moving spirit of his
age, began to force themselves upon him.

Lord Macaulay has well summed up the relative positions of Church and
State in that age in the following words: "It is true that the Church
had been deeply corrupted by superstition, yet she retained enough of
the sublime theology and benevolent morality of her early days to
elevate many intellects, and to purify many hearts. That the sacerdotal
order should encroach on the functions of the chief magistrate, would in
our time be a great evil. But that which in an age of good government is
an evil, may in an age of grossly bad government be a blessing. It is
better that men should be governed by priest craft than by brute
violence; by such a prelate as Dunstan, than by such a warrior as Penda."

The Church was indeed the salt of the earth, even if the salt had
somewhat lost its savour; it was the only power which could step in
between the tyrant and his victim, which could teach the irresponsible
great--irresponsible to man--their responsibility to the great and
awful Being whose creatures they were. And again, it was then the only
home of civilisation and learning. It has been well said that for the
learning of this age to vilify the monks and monasteries of the medieval
period, is for the oak to revile the acorn from which it sprang.