491 A.D . 988 . DEATH OP AECHBISHOP DtHfSTAK. " in the three bishops of Mayence, Cologne, Treves, The chancellors of three empires you have ; The noble palatine arrays the board, The fearless duke bears the imperial sword, Brandenburg's marquis doth the chamber tend, Bohemia's king the goblet round doth send ; All with their well-weigh'd suffrages unite, To raise a subject to the empire's height." These verses are found in the Chronicle of Martin, written in the time of the emperor Otho. The same year, the holy Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, departed to the Lord, and was succeeded by iElfeg, abbot of Bath; a man of learning, politeness, and virtue. A.D. 985. Einewald, bishop of Wells, died, and was succeeded by the most reverend abbot Sigar. The same year, JElfric, duke of Mercia, son of duke iElfer, was expelled from his kingdom. A.D. 986. Ethelred, king of England, who, in spite of the prohibition of the blessed Dunstan, had extorted a hundred pounds fromthehishopof Rochester, was compelled to pay asum of sixteen thousand pounds for a peace of very short duration. A.D. 987. Two plagues afflicted the people of England, namely a fever among the men, and a mortality among the animals ; and afflicting the people and consuming the cattle with a very heavy destruction, greatly weakened the nation throughout all the provinces of the kingdom. A.D. 988. That most blessed confessor of the Lord, the archbishop Dunstan, finished his praiseworthy course of life by a happy death on the eighteenth of May, being the sabbath day. And the glorious miracles which he wrought, are recorded as having commenced while he was in his mother's womb. For God, the author of all things, indicating by a pleasing prodigy his future sanctity, showed to his mother,* while she still bore Dunstan in her womb, what should be the future destiny of her son, who was not yet born. For on the day of the purification of the blessed virgin Mary, while she was in the church, all the people of the city being present with their candles lighted, and the priest being solemnly adorned, according to custom, with his sacred vestments, and ready for the office of the altar, suddenly, whether it was chance or the act of God I know not, the candles of all present were extinguished. Then, when all were amazed, the wax taper of the mother of Dunstan suddenly rekindled, and so she, giving light to all the rest, restored cheerfulness. Again, in