the man you have hitherto been. DESCRIPTION of the Town of You may now perceive that to at- St. EDMUND's-BURY, in SUFtain a little uncertain pelf, of which no man can enfure to himfelf the FOLK. URY St. Edmund's is fituated BU on the weft side of the river Bourn or Lark, which within thefe few years has been made navigable from Lynn to Farnham, about a mile north of the town. I is fo regularly built, that almost all the streets cut one another at ihi angles. It stands on an e.fy afcent, and overlooks a fuitful encoled country on the fouth and futhweft, on the north and north w ft, the moft delightful champaign-fields, which extend themselves to Lynn, and that part of the Norfolk coaft; and on the east the country is partly enclofed, and partly open. So pleafantly is this town fituated, that it has been called the Mompiler of England. continuance, it is not worth while to (With a View elegantly engraved.) give up all that man ought to refpect, his character, his honour, and the friendship and efteem of the virtuous. Whether any fuch change has been wrought in you by the change of circumstances I cannot fay; but though there thould not, neither the natural feelings of my heart, nor my ideas of moral duty, will permit me to leave you in poverty and wretchednefs while I am in affluence. I know not even whether I may not owe you a kind of acknowledgment of gratitude, fince your treatment of me was eventually the caufe of my prefent wealth. It is, however, my determination to fettle on you, for life, the intereft of five thoufand pounds in the funds, the capital, after your death, to become the property of your wife and children; to you I do not give it, left, from a miftaken eagerness for gain, you fhould lofe it in the manner you have loft the property you before poffeffed. I have likewife a houfe untenanted, in which, if you pleafe, you may refide rent-free. Should circumftances, time, experience, or the exertions of your reafon and reflection, ever alter your fentiments and manners, I fhall be happy to fee you both as a brother and a friend." This town, including the fuburbs, extends above a mile from call to weft, and near two miles from fouth to north. It contains five wards, five gates, and thirty-four freets, which are ftraight, fpacious, and well-paved. The chief public buildings are the Guild-hall, Wool-hall, and Shire-houfe; befides the Abbeygate, which is ftill a fine monument of what the abbey once was. St. Mary's, which is much the old. ft church, was first built in 1005, and rebuilt in 1439. S. James's was not quite finished till the refern a HENRY ASHTON. tion, at which time here were five hospitals, one college, and above forty churches and chapels. They are both remarkable for their fymmetry, large, beautiful windows, neat pillars, and noble roofs; and both ftand in one church yard. This noble and generous conduct on the part of his brother had a great effect on the mind of John. He received the proffered donation with gratitude, conquered, by degrees, at least in part, his propenfities to avarice and felfifhnefs: and the two brothers lived ever after in uninterrupted amity. 8 This town is governed by an alderman, who is the chief magif trate, twelve capital burgeffes, and twenty-four common council-men, and and fends two members to parlia ment. It has been famous for feveral conventions of the nobility and parliament. The barons made their league here against king John. A parliament was held here in the reign of Henry III. and another in that of Edward I. In that of Edward III. the townímen broke open the abbey, carried off its treafures, and made the abbot and monks their prifoners, till they had fealed a charter of incorporation for the town, and given them the custody of all the town-gates, and the wardfhip of all its orphans; but nineteen of the rioters were executed, and the writings that had been extorted from the abbot, made void, and the town fined 60,000l. In the reign of Henry VI. a parliament met here, when Humphrey duke' of Gloucester, who had been regent during his minority, was murdered here, which gave the firft occafion to the war between the houfes of York and Lancaster. In February 1772, fome workmen, employed in the ruins of the abbey, found a leaden coffin that had been cafed in an oak cafe, which contained the body, of Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, uncle to Henry V. and depofited in 1427. The flesh, hair, and toe and hand nails, were as perfect as though, but juft dead; but foon decayed; and the workmen turned the carcafe into a hole, and fold the leaden coffin to a plumber. In the time of Edward VI. here were reckoned 3000 houfekeepers, and in that of queen Elizabeth 4000 communicants. They petitioned for the privilege of fending members to parliament, but could not obtain it till it was conferred on them by Charles I. who alfo granted them their charter of incorporation; and," in 1608, when feveral hundred houfes were burned down, they had a grant from the crown of great Wes of timber to rebuild them. Here is an hofpital or workhouse for thirty boys and girls, which was formerly a fynagogue of the Jews, who were very numerous here, till 1179, when they were accufed of having crucified a boy, and for that, and fimilar offences, which it was alleged they had committed in other places, they were banished the kingdom. Here are two weekly markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays; and three annual fairs; one three days be fore, and three days after the feaft of St. Matthew, and it is generally protracted to a fortnight. TR RUE benevolence acts without view to reward, but fometimes unexpectedly meets an ample recompenfe as the hofpitable patriarch is faid to have entertained angels unawares." Mrs. Vincent was a widow lady, of a fmall but competent fortune, who, after the death of her husband, a tradefman of fome eminence, had retired to a village on the weftern road, at a confiderable diflance from the metropolis, where the intended to pafs the remainder of her life, devoting her time to the education of an only daughter, and performing fuch acts of charitable beneficence among the poor cottagers, her neighbours, as rendered her at once admired and beloved by all who knew the goodnefs of her heart, and the extent of her munificence. One day, as the walked cut into an orchard he had behind the house. the found a poor thepherd-boy lying under one of the trees, exceedingly hart |