" Undone, undone, the lawyers are, Thuy wander about the towne, Nor canfind the way to Westminster, Now Charing Cross is down. At the end of the Strand they make a stand, Swearing they are at a loss, And chaffing say. that's not the way, They must go by Charing Cross. Tlie parliament, to vote it down, Conceived it very fitting, For fiiar it should fall, and till them all, In the house as they were sitting. They were lold, God-wot, it had a plot. Which made them so hard-hearted, To give command it should not stand, But be taken down and carted. Men talk of plots ; this might have been worse, For any thing I know, Than that Tomkins and Challoner Were hanged for long ago ;* Our parliament did that prevent, And wisely them defended, For plots they will discover still, Before they were intended. But neither men, women, nor child, Will say, I'm confident, They ever heard it speak one word Against the parliament. An informer swore it letters bore, Or else it had been freed ; I'll take, in troth, my Bible oath, It could neither write nor read. The committee said that verily To popery it was bent; For aught I know, it might be so, For to church it never went. What with excise, and such devise, The kingdom doth begin To think you'll leave them ne'er a erosa Without doors nor within. M e think the common-council should Of it have taken pity, 'Cause, good old cross, it always stood Sofirmly to the city. Since crosses you so much disdain, Faith, if I were as you. For feare the King should rule again, I'd pull down Tyburn too." As may he supposed, civilization and the arts rapidly advanced during the period that Eleanora of Castile graced the English court. For the preservation of the peace, laws were passed to revive the ancient custom of requiring sureties from strangers, debtors, and lodgers ; to more vigorously enforce the watch and ward, from sundown to sun * The plot referred to, is that entered into by Mr. Waller, the poet, and others, with a view to reduce the City and Tower to the service of the King; for which two of them, Nathaniel Tomkins and Richard Challoner, suffered death, July thefifth, 1643. rise, in all cities, boroughs, and villages ; to clear the highways of wood, excepting high trees, to the width of two hundred feet, that they might afford no shelter to banditti ; and to enforce the hue and cry, by which every man, when called upon, was bound to arm himself and join the sheriff in pursuit of malefactors. A statute was also passed, rendering it penal for people to roam the streets of London with swords, bucklers, spears, or other arms, after the tolling of the curfew bell at St. Martin's le Grand, and ordering all taverns to be closed before the same bell had ceased to toll; thus the despotic curfew was converted into an excellent institution of civil police. In the arts, gothic architecture continued to advance in grace and beauty ; sculpture, and casting in bronze, were brought to great perfection. In seal engraving, and in the beautiful illuminations, and the richly-wrought covers which adorn the manuscripts of this era, an elegance and surprizing degree of taste andfinish are visible. Staining of glass, first introduced into England in the middle of the thirteenth century, rose rapidly into favour, and every edifice of importance, both ecclesiastical and domestic, was richly decorated with unique specimens of that truly English art, carving in wood. About this period, the first clock in England was erected in a clock tower at Westminster, opposite the royal palace ; and that best of fuel, coal, said to have been first discovered near Newcastle, in 1234, and first dug by a charter granted by Henry the Third, was first used for domestic purposes in England about the year 1280. Eleanora of Castile left five surviving daughters and one son. Eleanora, the eldest daughter, whilst yet an infant, was betrothed to Alphonso, son of Peter, King of Arragon ; but a bitter political strife ensued between the houses of Arragon and Anjou, and the nuptials, for somo reason, nowhere explained, were not consummated. However, in 1293, Eleanora was married by the Archbishop of