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the advice of many of his lords, made a maritime ordinance at this place. King John granted the town many exemptions from tolls and customs, which were confirmed by succeeding monarchs. By an order dated October 23, in the fourteenth year of Henry VII. the election of the mayor and bailiffs was fixed to be taken on the Tuesday next ensuing the exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the Tuesday next the feast of St. Michael the Archangel: they were to remain in office for one year. This order is still continued. A very singular ordinance appears upon record in the year 1595, which obliges the mayor and his eleven brethren, likewise the other twenty-four members of the body corporate, to sit in the chancel of the Church on Sundays and holidays, in decent apparel, otherwise to forfeit 3s. 4d. Their wives were enjoined the same attendance, to be there also in decent apparel. A similar order appears in 1636, when the forfeiture for non-attendance was, an alderman is. and the rest of the body 6d. each for every neglect. According to a very ancient tenure, the lord of the manor of Bradley, an adjoining village, was obliged to provide yearly, a wild boar, to be hunted in Bradley Woods, for the diversion of the mayor and burgesses of Great Grimsby: hence, it is

said, originated the arms of the town, three boars' heads. This diversion, however, has been long since laid aside.

Stow relates, that John Walsh, a native of this place, being accused of high treason by a gentleman of Navarre, did, on St. Andrew's day, according to the savage custom of the times, engage with his accuser in single combat, and having refuted the charge by victory, his traducer was hanged for false accusation.

Grimsby was originally defended by a castle, that stood on a rising ground, known by the name of Holm Hill. The town was, in former times, extremely rich and populous, carrying on considerable trade with the northern countries: at what period its commerce began to decline cannot now be ascer tained; it is certain that the harbour, from disuse, became nearly choked with sand, and the once active seaport dwindled into little better than a solitary village, till a few years since, when its spirit began to revive, in consequence of the improvement of the harbour, and the construction of a dock, capable of receiving vessels of 700 tons burden. This work was commenced in 1796, and completed at the expense of 75,000l.

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PEN is a small village on the borders of Somersetshire, near Stourton, at the extremity of that vast tract formerly called Selwood Forest, and is memorable for having been the scene of several bloody conflicts between the Britons and Saxons, and afterwards between the Danes and Saxons, of which the Saxon chronicle particularly records three that happened A. D. 658, 1001, and 1016. The tradition of the last battle, fought by Canute the Dane, with Edmund, probably near the spot on which the Church of Pen was founded, in gratitude, by the victor, seems to be confirmed in the ancient Door. way, the only remaining portion of the original structure, where the heads of two crowned monarchs have been placed as supporters to the arch, which is of the Saxon order, decorated with the usual zigzag ornaments, and a piece of rude emblematical sculpture in the centre.

Adjoining the site of this Church are those singular excavations called Pen Pits, evidently the work of human art, which extended over a surface of ground not much short of 700 acres, if we include those nearly filled up in the course of progressive cultivation. These pits are of various depths, from sixteen to eighteen feet, in form of an inverted cone, unequal in their dimensions, and in some instances double, divided only by a slight partition of earth. The spot they occupy, together with the corresponding portion on the Zeals side of the little river Stour, though nearly levelled, yet retaining faint traces of what it was, appears, at a very early period, to have been cleared from the great forest of Selwood, to be a rendezvous of the population of that age, and continued to later times the capital of that extensive district.

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THIS beautiful city, an epitome of the metropolis, and the capital of an extensive district, was known among the Britons by the name of Caer-Gwyrangon, which the Romans latinized to Branonium. The Saxons named it Weogorna Ceastre, whence it was corrupted to Wirecester, or Worcester.

Its ancient history does not make mention of any particular circumstance, except that it was the residence of the Wiccian viceroys belonging to the kingdom of Mercia. Worcester owed great part of its prosperity, under the Saxon government, to duke Ethelred and his lady Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, before the year 900. They gave a charter, by desire of bishop Warfred, that the city might be improved and fortified with bulwarks for the security of its inhabitants; for this purpose they granted to the church or minister there one half of the royal dues or tolls arising from the market or the street, reserving only the wain-shilling and the seam-penny; which was a duty on wares carried out; one-penny each horseload, and twelve times as much a loaded wain, to the king.

The ancient castle was repaired about this time, and some fortresses erected round it, of which only one, denominated Edgar's Tower, remains at the present day.

In

This city was destroyed by fire in 1041, by Hardicanute, in revenge against the inhabitants, who had killed the collectors of his exorbitant taxes. 1080, Roger de Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury, burnt the suburbs and attacked the city; but the citizens headed by bishop Wulstan, bravely resisted him, killed or took prisoners 5000 men, and obliged the enemy to raise the siege. It was again burnt at different periods, and suffered very materially during the civil wars between the adherents to the houses of York and Lancaster.

This city has been peculiarly remarkable for its loyalty. In 1486 it had nearly suffered the most dreadful calamities, on account of its adherence to Henry VII. during lord Lovel's rebellion. But the sieges of Worcester during the rebellion in the reign of Charles I. will ever place it high in the annals of this country for the unshaken fidelity of its citizens to their king. This loyal attachment has been the cause of several visits to Worcester by the sovereigns of these realms: the last was in 1788, when his majesty king George III. the queen, the duke of York, and the princesses, honoured this city with their presence, the particulars of which are amply detailed in Mr. Green's History.

Worcester, in its civil capacity, is a county in

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