had a synagogue there, which is yet standing, and is justly regarded as one of the most interesting antiquities of the place. It has been used for many years as the common Bridewell.-For the offence just mentioned, and others of a similar nature alledged to have been committed in different parts of the kingdom, the Jews were banished. It is probable, however, that in some parts they found means to make their peace, as, about ten years afterwards, they had again become so odious to the nation, that the people arose, almost with one accord, to destroy them. Many of those who inhabited Bury were surprised, and put to death; and such as escaped, by the assistance of the Abbot Sampson, were expelled from the town, and never permitted to

return.

Previously to his departure for the Holy Land, Paris, the child was fattened for ten days with white bread and milk, in a secret chamber; and almost all the Jews in England were invited to the crucifixion: the body was then buried, but, the earth, in abhorrence of the fact, would not retain it in her^ bowels, but cast it up again; it was at last thrown into a well, and there found by the child's mother, and, at her prosecution, several Jews were hanged, whose goods were of course sold ad opus regis.-Respecting the truth of a statement, attributing to men the commission of so monstrous a crime-a crime at the very idea of which humanity must revolt—it is now impossible to speak; but the King's commission for the trial of the fact is extant, as well as his warrant to the Sheriffs of London to sell the houses of the Jews who had been convicted, (or at least hanged for it), and to enquire what had become of the rest of their chattels.

Richard the First paid a devotional visit to the Abbey and shrine of St. Edmund; and, on his return, he offered up the rich standard of Isaac, King of Cyprus, at the shrine.

Equally with Runnemede, Bury is entitled to claim the honour of that celebrated charter by which the rights and liberties of England are secured. The foundation of Magna Charta is known to have been a charter of Henry the First, which had fallen into oblivion as early as the time of King John. A copy of it having fallen into the hands of Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, was by him communicated to the principal nobles of the kingdom, a meeting of whom was convened at Bury to deliberate on the subject. On this occasion, each of the persons present went to the high altar of the church of St. Edmund, in which the assembly was held, and there swore, that if the King should refuse to abolish the arbitrary Norman laws, and restore those enacted by Edward the Confessor, they would make war upon him until he should comply. At first the King refused; but, impelled by necessity, he, on his return from Poictou, in the year 1214, met his barons at Bury, and, with the utmost solemnity, confirmed this celebrated instrument; binding himself, by a public oath, to regulate his administration by the grand principles on which it was founded.

Henry the Third, in whose reign may be traced the first outline of the House of Commons, paid

several visits to Bury. In the year 1272, he held a parliament there; after which, agreeably to the advice of that body, he proceeded to Norwich, to punish the authors of a violent insurrection which had broken out against the prior and monks of that city. Having accomplished the object of his journey, he returned to Bury, on his way to London, that he might offer his devotions at the shrine of St. Edmund. At Bury, however, he was seized with the disorder which, in the month of November following, carried him to his grave.

Edward the First, in the year 1296, held a parliament at Bury, for the purpose of demanding an aid of the clergy and people. The principal citizens and burgesses granted him an eighth, and the lower classes a twelfth, of their goods; but the clergy, sanctioned by a decree of the Pope, refused to contribute to the wants of the crown. As they persisted in their refusal, the King thought proper to seize the whole revenues of the Church; in consequence of which, the borough of Bury, the goods of the Abbot and Monastery, and all their manors, were confiscated. After a lapse, however, of more than two years, the clergy, who had been subjected to dreadful sufferings, redeemed their property with a subsidy of their goods and rents; the amount of which is variously stated, at a fifteenth, a tenth, and a fifth.

In the reign of Edward the Second, his Queen, Isabella, dissatisfied with the conduct of the

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Spencers, who, at that time, controuled the councils of the King, procured the assistance of the prince of Hainault, and landed with a force of 2,700 men at Orwell Haven, in Suffolk. Thence she marched to Bury, where she remained some time to refresh her troops and collect her adherents. In the sequel, the king was deposed, and the prince his son placed upon the throne.

Edward the Third, and Richard the Second, respectively offered their vows at the shrine of the Saint and Martyr.

In the year 1381, soon after the Kentish insurrection, headed by Wat Tyler, the people of Suffolk and Norfolk rose in great numbers, and, under the conduct of Jack Straw, committed the most alarming depredatious. Proceeding in a body of not less than 50,000 men to Cavendish, they plundered and burned the house of Sir John de Cavendish, the Lord Chief Justice, whom they seized and carried to Bury, where they struck off his head, and placed it on the pillory. The Abbey was their next object of attack. Sir John Cambridge, the Abbot, fled, but was overtaken, and executed near Mildenhall. His head, and Sir John Lakenhythe's, the keeper of the barony, were afterwards placed on the pillory near that of the Lord Chief Justice. The mob then plundered the Abbey of an immense quantity of jewels, defaced the conventual buildings, and compelled the monks to grant new privileges to the townsmen. Henry Spencer, however, the martial

Bishop of Norwich, soon afterwards met them at Barton Mills, when, with a very inferior force, he dispersed them and drove them to their homes.

It does not appear that either Henry the Fourth, or Henry the Fifth, visited Bury; but Henry the Sixth celebrated Christmas there, in the year 1433, and remained in the Abbey till the St. George's day following. In 1446, a parliament was convened at Bury, under the influence of the Queen, and of Cardinal de Beaufort, the inveterate enemy of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, whose deserved popularity, as Regent of England, had rendered him obnoxious to those whose motives and conduct were less pure. It is believed that the real object for assembling this parliament, at which the King presided in person, was to afford an opportunity for the destruction of the Duke. On the second day of the sessions he was arrested, under the alledged suspicion of having committed sundry crimes and misdemeanours; all his servants were removed, and his retinue were sent to different prisons. Preparations were made for bringing him to a public trial; but it is considered that his enemies, dreading the triumph of his innocence and virtue, had recourse to a more certain method of dispatching him than by the doubtful result of an impeachment. On the morning after his apprehension, "the good Duke," as he was emphatically called, was found lifeless in his bed. Apoplexy was declared to have been the cause of his death; but, by the people at