ds that were there, and break his neck, it was
reported that he had been shown over the building by an angel. He had
also made a harp that was said to play of itself--which it very likely
did, as AEolian Harps, which are played by the wind, and are understood
now, always do. For these wonders he had been once denounced by his
enemies, who were jealous of his favour with the late King Athelstan, as
a magician; and he had been waylaid, bound hand and foot, and thrown into
a marsh. But he got out again, somehow, to cause a great deal of trouble
yet.
The priests of those days were, generally, the only scholars. They were
learned in many things. Having to make their own convents and
monasteries on uncultivated grounds that were granted to them by the
Crown, it was necessary that they should be good farmers and good
gardeners, or their lands would have been too poor to support them. For
the decoration of the chapels where they prayed, and for the comfort of
the refectories where they ate and drank, it was necessary that there
should be good carpenters, good smiths, good painters, among them. For
their greater safety in sickness and accident, living alone by themselves
in solitary places, it was necessary that they should study the virtues
of plants and herbs, and should know how to dress cuts, burns, scalds,
and bruises, and how to set broken limbs. Accordingly, they taught
themselves, and one another, a great variety of useful arts; and became
skilful in agriculture, medicine, surgery, and handicraft. And when they
wanted the aid of any little piece of machinery, which would be simple
enough now, but was marvellous then, to impose a trick upon the poor
peasants, they knew very well how to make it; and _did_ make it many a
time and often, I have no doubt.
Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, was one of the most sagacious of
these monks. He was an ingenious smith, and worked at a forge in a
little cell. This cell was made too short to admit of his lying at full
length when he went to sleep--as if _that_ did any good to anybody!--and
he used to tell the most extraordinary lies about demons and spirits,
who, he said, came there to persecute him. For instance, he related that
one day when he was at work, the devil looked in at the little window,
and tried to tempt him to lead a life of idle pleasure; whereupon, having
his pincers in the fire, red hot, he seized the devil by the nose, and
put him to such pain, that
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