BURY ST. EDMUND'S. THE annals of Bury record the visits of many royal and noble personages, drawn thither by motives of piety, or by the fame and splendour of its monastic establishment. Besides these circumstances of local interest, the town and its immediate vicinity have been the theatre of important national events. To Bury belongs, if not in a superior, at least in an equal degree with Runimede, the honour of that celebrated charter, by which the rights and liberties of Englishmen are secured. It is not generally known, perhaps, that the foundation of Magna Charta is a charter of Henry I., 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 himcommunicated to the principal nobles of the kingdom, a meeting of whom was convened at Bury to deliberate on the subject. On the 20th of November, 1214, a large body of the English nobility assembled in the abbey church on pretence of devotion, but in reality to enter into a solemn league against the throne. They swore, on the high altar, to wage war against the king, until he should agree to the restoration of their ancient rights and privileges; and to the perseverance with which their demand was urged, we are indebted for the granting of Magna Charta on the 15th of June in the following year: the king, on his return from Poitou in 1215, met his barons at Bury, and with the utmost solemnity confirmed this celebrated deed; binding himself by a public oath to regulate his administration by the grand principles which it established. KING JOHN. ACT V. SCENE IV. THE ABBEY OF ST. EDMUND'S-BURY. MELUN and English Lords. Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold; Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, And welcome home again discarded faith. Seek out king John, and fall before his feet; For, if the French be lords of this loud day, |