subdued; and their submission to the English government, which was then accomplished, has unquestionably been beneficial to themselves. A Parliament was held here about Michaelmas, 1283, by Edward I., and adjourned to Acton Burnell. The Lords sat in a castle, but the Commons in a barn. The deliberations and negotiations were only of slight moment. They referred to nothing more important than the most effective way of securing payment of debts—a matter upon which information would be thankfully received by some in these days—and to the course to be taken with David, brother of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales. But the Parliament is memorable from its having been the first national convention in which the Commons had any share by legal authority. David, who had been pledged to Edward, and created by him Earl of Denbigh, but afterwards joined his brother Llewellyn in resisting an invasion of Edward’s army into Anglesea, was condemned to die the death of a traitor. The head of Llewellyn was sent to the king at Shrewsbury, by his command it was sent to London, where it was placed on the Tower with a crown of willows—an accompaniment of mockery. The person of David was brought in chains to Shrewsbury. He was tried and convicted of high treason for obeying the instincts of a patriot. The punishment was carried out with the greatest ignominy. He was first drawn through the town at the hind of a horse; then he was hanged; then he was beheaded; then his body was quartered, and his intestines burned: and as the conclusion of the tragedy, his head was sent to London, exposed on the Tower beside that of his brother, and his four quarters to York, Bristol, Northampton, and Winchester. With the butchery of David’s corpse the conquest of Wales was complete. Nearly forty years later, namely, in 1322, Edward II. marched through Shrewsbury from Worcester with his army. The burgesses went out to meet him clothed in armour, and conducted him with acclamations into the town. [Picture: Shrewsbury Grammar School] Another Parliament was held here by Richard II. in the end of 1397 or the beginning of 1398, in the chapterhouse of the old monastery, where the Abbey Church now stands. It was called “The Great Parliament,” partly from the momentous nature of the state affairs transacted, but principally from the number of earls and other nobles that attended. It was held here because the king declared that “he bore great love to the inhabitants of these parts, where he had many friends.” He sat at this session with the crown upon his head; and through his instrumentality several exorbitant acts were passed, which, however, were repealed in the succeeding reign of Henry IV., and which formed a count in the indictment that resulted in the deposition of this king. THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY.