who had confined him. At ,this time they (aid nothing further, but went away : the duke of Lan-cafter to his own houfe, leaving the mayor and men of law to aft as they plcafcd. The mayor went to the town-houfe of London, called the Guildhall, where juftice is adminiftered to the citizens, followed by crowds of people, expefting fomething cffeftive to be done, as in-deed there was. I will detail what paflcd. Firft, all the articles which had been drawn up againft the king and read to him, were again read aloud, with comments by the perfon who read them, adding, that the king had not denied their truth, but confefled he had done them through the ad-vice of'four knights of his chamber, by whole counfels he had put to death the duke of Glocefter, the earl of Arundel and fir Thomas Corbet, and that they had for a long time excited him to thefe aéts. Such deeds were unpardonable, and muft be punifhed ; for by them and their fellows had the courts of juftice been (hut at Wcftminfter, and all the other royal courts throughout England, which had caufed great mifchiefs, and encouraged bands of robbers, to pillage merchants travelling from town to town, and to plunder the houfes of farmers. By thefe means the kingdom of England had been almoft irrecoverably ruined * and it was to be fup-pofcd, from this wanton negleft of England, that Calais or Guifnes, or both, would have been given up to their enemies the French. Such fpeeches as the above made an impreflion on the minds of the people, fo that many1 of the ' L 3 ' ' ' dif- 149