The Hospital of St. Petronilla stood just beyond the south gate, and when this was not long since demolished, its chapel was left nearly entire. Its east window, of beautiful tracery, which was to be seen in 1810, is now walled up, and the edifice has been since used as a malt-house; a modern house is now erected on the site. From a part of the hospital walls, lately used as fences, the building itself seemed to have been large; and as several human bones have been found in a small piece of ground between this and the chapel; this was probably the burial-place belonging to the foundation.

Our Lady's Chapel formerly stood near the west gate, and had a hermitage contiguous to it, which has since been used as a cowhouse.

Close to Risby Gate was a chantry called Stone Chapel, since the Cock public house. The neatly cemented flint stones of this edifice justly excite admiration. Not far from this spot is an octangular stone, which once served as a pedestal to a cross.

College Street, in Bury, is supposed to have derived its name from a religious house called Jesus College, founded by King Edward IV. in the 21st year of his reign; it consisted of a warden and six associates or priests. This building has been occupied as a workhouse.

With respect to scenery about Bury, the Vine fields eastward of this town command a charming view of the place, and particularly of the Church-gate, the Abbeygate and grounds. This spot, which derives its name from the vineyard belonging to the monks, it is said' still exhibits vestiges of the parterres. About the end of the twelfth century it is recorded that Robert de Gravele, sacrist of the convent, purchased this ground, and enclosed it with a stone wall for the solace of in valids, and of his friends.

The circumstance of a vineyard having existed in

this, and in the vicinity of other religious houses, has given rise to some curious observations: a late writer, Williams, on the climate of Great Britain, contends with much probability on his side," that it has been gradually growing colder and less favourable for the production of those fruits which require a genial sun.” This hypothesis he supports by the fact, that some centuries ago the vineyards, chiefly belonging to abbeys and religious houses, were highly flourishing, and yielded abundance of wine, with which the pious fathers of those times felt no repugnance to solace themselves. It might perhaps be imagined that our ancestors possessed some method of training and managing the vine, which has been lost in the lapse of ages; but this militates too strongly against the proud progress since made in every branch of science. The more probable conjecture is, that people of former times were contented with a beverage which modern refinement in luxuries would reject with disdain.

St. Edmund's Hill. This is a very elegant seat, erected in the vicinity of this town in 1773, from a plan by Mr. Adam, by John Symonds, LL.D. professor of modern history and languages in the university of Cambridge. From the beautiful eminence on which it stands, few spots in Suffolk are supposed to afford a prospect so pleasing and extensive. This is now the residence of Martin Thomas Cocksedge, esq.

During the late war, a little to the southward of the town, a brick edifice, with two small detached wings, was erected as a magazine for arms and ammunition. The necessity for this at present is completely done away by a happier change of circumstances.

The gates of this town, five in number, have been taken down about half a century ago, to afford a more convenient passage for carriages. At each of these gates there was formerly either an hospital or some religious foundation, or both. Beyond the north

gate on the east side, and close to the Thetford road, are the ruins of St. Saviour's Hospital, once a most extensive building, as in the year 1446 the parliament assembled here. A stately portal seems to have distinguished the entrance: the ground which this occupied, and the fragments of a large window above it, still remain, as does also a part of the wall which surrounded the hospital and its offices.

Bury St. Edmund's, it has been observed, though seated on two rivers, cannot boast of its communications by water. The river Larke has been rendered navigable to within a mile of the town; but it should have been brought into the place, which the corporation did not seem to approve of. Another project was for forming a second navigable canal from Bury to Manningtree, in Essex; a tunnel of two miles would have been wanting, and not more than 70,000l. to defray the whole expense. This undertaking was frustrated by the proprietors of the Larke navigation, whose interest it is acknowledged would have been materially affected.

Bury, it has been said, claims with an equal, if not in a superior degree, the honour of that celebrated charter by which the rights and liberties of Englishmen are secured, namely, Magna Charta. The real foundation of this charter is said to have been a prior one of Henry I. 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, and a meeting of them convened at Bury to deliberate on the subject. Upon this occasion each person went to the high altar of St. Edmund, and there swore that if the king should refuse to abolish the arbitrary Norman laws, and to restore those of Edward the Confessor, they would make war upon him till he complied. The king, on his return from Poitou, in the year 1214, met his barons at Bury, and with the