buried ; the church of St. Stephen, where he was stoned to death ; and Sebastea, where John the Baptist was buried with the prophets Elisha and Abdias. And now, this must suffice the reader for the present concerning the land of Jerusalem and the holy city. How king William first held his court in the new hall at Westminster. In the same year, which was A.D. 1099, William king of England, returning to England out of Normandy, held his court for the first time in the new hall at Westminster. When he first entered with a large retinue of soldiers to inspect it, some said that it was much larger than was necessary, but the king replied that it was not half so grand as it ought to be, and would be only a bedroom in proportion to the palace which he intended to build.* A short time after, as he was hunting in the New Forest, a messenger came to inform him that his family were besieged in Maine. The king immediately hastened down to the sea-side, and went on board ship, but the sailors said to him, " Great king, why do you put out to sea in this storm ? are you not afraid of being drowned ?" To which he replied, " I never yet heard of a king being drowned." In this manner he crossed the sea, and never gained so much credit from any other act during his whole life ; for arriving at Maine, he drove out of it count Helias, and, having taken the city, returned to England. The same year, king William gave the bishopric of Durham to his pleas-man,f Eandolph, a bad man ; and Osmund, bishop of Salisbury, departed this life. Sigebert, a monk of Gemblours, brought his Chronicle down to this date.f The same year, also, blood was seen to ooze out of the earth at Finchampstead in Berkshire, and the whole night after, the heavens appeared red, as if they were on fire. Of the death of William Rufus, and of certain signs which prognosticated his death. A.D. 1100, king William Eufus held his court at Christ * Perhaps even "William Rums would be satisBed with the palace which has now been built at Westminster. f An officer who held pleas, and defended the rights of the crown to escheats, &c , a sort of procurator. ; This is a mistake : Sigebert's Chronicle came down to A.D. 1152.