afterwards, when it was believed his prayers had delivered the
owner from a storm, he secured it on his own terms.[1]

[1] This copy was still at Malmesbury in the twelfth century.--W.
of Malmesbury, Ang. Sacr., ii. 21.


Aldhelm at length became abbot of Malmesbury
(c. 675), and under him it grew to much greater eminence,
and attracted a large number of students. Here, in the
solitude of the forest tract, he passed his time in singing
merry ballads to win the ear of the people for his more
serious words, playing the harp, in teaching, and in reading
the considerable library he had at hand. Bede describes
him as a man "of marvellous learning both in liberal and
ecclesiastical studies." Judging by his writings he was in
these respects in the forefront of his contemporaries, although
his learning was heavy and pretentious. From them also
it is perfectly evident he could make use not only of the
Bible, but of lives of the saints, of Isidore, of the
Recognitions
of Clement, of the Acts of Sylvester, of writings by Sulpicius
Severus, Athanasius, Gregory, Eusebius, and Jerome, as well
as of Terence, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, and Prosper,
and some other authors.[1]

[1] Sandys, i. 466; Camb. Eng. Lit., i. 75.