with twelve Benedictine monks from the monastery at Hulm. He exempted the abbey, and all within it, from episcopal authority; and, as has been seen, laid the foundation of a magnificent church, which was consecrated in the year 1032.

To Edward the Confessor the conventual establishment was indebted for a great accession of wealth and power. In the first year of his reign, he came to Bury on St. Edmund's day; and, on the following morning, seeing the young monks eating barley bread, he enquired of the abbot why those young men of his kinsman, as he called St. Edmund, were not better fed. "Because," replied the abbot," our possessions are too weak to maintain them with stronger food."-" Ask what you will," said the King," and I will give it to you, that they may be better provided for, and better enabled to perform the service of God." The result of this conference was, that the King granted to the establishment the town of Mildenhall, with its produce and inhabitants, the royalties of eight hundreds, with the half hundred of Thingoe, and also the royalties of all the villages situated in those eight hundreds and a half, which it had before possessed. This monarch granted likewise the privilege of coining, at a mint founded within the precincts of the abbey.

The two first churches were of wood, and the third is supposed to have been chiefly, if not entirely, of that material. From their increased riches and consequence, however, the monks now resolved to pro

vide a more magnificent receptacle for the body of their Saint. The church built by Canute was demolished, and another was erected of hewn stone, under the auspices of Abbot Baldwyn, who governed the abbey from the year 1065 to 1097. Of this abbot, and the structure which arose under his superintendence, Lydgate, the monk of Bury, thus speaks:

To Seynt Edward he was Phesecion
To many sickness he did remedye;
In nyne and twentye wynters ye may seen
A newe cherche he dyee edefye

Ston brought from Kane out of Normandye
By the Se, and set up on the Strande,
At Ratlysdene, and carried forth be lande.

About twelve years were occupied in the building of this church, which was constructed chiefly of calcareous stone, brought by the permission of William the Conqueror, free of expense, from the quarries of Barnack, in Northamptonshire. It is supposed that the stone, brought from Caen, in Normandy, alluded to by Lydgate, was marble, originally from Italy, employed in the ornamental parts of the building.-This church, which existed till the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, was in a state of sufficient forwardness to receive the sacred remains in the year 1095. It was 505 feet in length, the transept 212, and the west front 240. At the west end of the building were two large, side chapels, St. Faith's, and St. Catherine's; one on

the north-west, and the other on the south-west; and, at each end, was an octagon tower, extending 30 feet each way. The shrine of the Saint was preserved in a semicircular chapel at the east end. On the north side of the choir was the chapel of St. Mary, 80 feet long, and 42 broad. The chapel of St. Mary in Cryptis, supported by 24 pillars, was 100 feet in length, and 80 in breadth. Altogether, the church contained 12 chapels. The height of the building is unknown. Besides the dome, there was a lofty tower over the western aisle. Of this church, the grandeur of which is said to have been equal, in some respects, to that of St. Peter's at Rome, a curious model was to be seen, about seventy years ago, at Mr. Tillot's, on the Angel Hill. The model was 10 feet long, 5 broad, and a proportionate height; and it had 820 windows, and 300 niches, adorned with statues, and other Gothic sculpture. The shrine was ornamented with images and crowns, and gilt, as in its original state. The twelve chapels were also represented.

The remains of the west end of the conventual church, which constitute one of the boundaries of the church yard, in its present state, exhibit a very remarkable appearance. One of the octagon towers, which has been mentioned, is still standing, and has been converted into a stable. Three arches, once the entrances to the three aisles, have been filled up with modern brickwork, and converted into neat houses; whilst the intermediate, rugged, portions