[xvi]
The influence he rapidly acquired enabled him to commence the great work
of rebuilding Glastonbury, in which he was only interrupted by the
frequent calls which he had to court, to become the adviser of King
Edmund; where indeed he was often in the discharge of the office of
prime minister of the kingdom, and showed as much aptitude in civil as
in ecclesiastical affairs.
Glastonbury being rebuilt, the Benedictine rule [xvii]
was introduced, and Dunstan himself became abbot. It was far the noblest
and best monastic code of the day, being peculiarly adapted to prevent
the cloister from becoming the abode of either idleness or profligacy.
But this was not done without much opposition; the secular priests--as
the married clergy and those who lived amongst their flocks (as English
clergy do now) were called--opposed the introduction of the
Benedictine rule with all their might, and were always thorns in
Dunstan's side.
The unfortunate Edmund, after the sad event at Pucklechurch, on the
feast of St. Augustine, was buried at Glastonbury by the abbot, and his
two sons, Edwy and Edgar, were put under Dunstan's especial care by the
new king Edred. The rest of the story is tolerably well known to our
readers.
The first steps of Edwy's reign were all taken with a view to one great
end--to revenge himself and to destroy Dunstan, who, aware of the
royal enmity, and of his inability to restrain the sovereign, withdrew
himself quietly to Glastonbury, and confined himself to the discharge of
his duties as its abbot.
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