250 -ROGER OF WENDOVER. [A.D. 040. whom by evil counsel he had caused to be drowned in the sea, commanded two monasteries to be built at Middleton and Muchelney, and enriched them with lands and possessions. Death of king Ethelstan and succession of his son [brother] Edmund. A.D. 940. Ethelstan, the great king of England, ended his days at Gloucester on the 27th day of October in the sixteenth year of his reign. He was succeeded in the kingdom by Eadmund his brother and lawful heir, who conveyed his body to Malmesbury, and buried him with honour in the place which the king had in his lifetime chosen for his sepulture. On his elevation to the regal dignity, king Eadmund admitted to his counsels the blessed Dunstan, and had him numbered among his royal courtiers and nobles, knowing him to be of approved life and of ready speech, which had been evinced while his brother was yet living. Beholding the undeviating good conversation of the man, many of the king's officers and servants said, " He is a good man," others said, " Nay, but he deceiveth the people." Wherefore certain persons, envious of his goodness and prudence, began to lessen him in the king's eyes; to whom the king, lending a favourable ear, and not well examining the matter, commanded Dunstan to be deprived immediately of every honour with the dignity of chancellor, and to seek service elsewhere where he would. On the morrow the. king, for his amusement, went out hunting with his attendants : straightway the woods resounded with the hunter's horn and the barking of the dogs ; a multitude of deer took to flight, one of which of extraordinary size the king singled out for the chace, and followed with his dogs alone, driving him through difficult paths unto the edge of a precipice, over which the stag and dogs fell headlong and were dashed to pieces. The king following at full speed, and seeing the precipice, strove to rein in his steed ; but not being able to keep back the unruly and stiff-necked animal, he gave up all hope of saving himself, and commended his soul to the pleasure of almighty God, saying, "I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, that at this time I do not remember having injured any one but Dunstan only; and this fault I will with ready zeal amend by a hearty reconciliation, if thou only grant me time." At these words, through the merits of the blessed man, the