Glastonbury, “first ground of the saints, the rise and foundation of all religion in the land,” is the earliest and most important Benedictine centre in England; and though, owing to the depredations of men and the wear and tear of time, services are not held now within its ruined walls, it still holds first place among the ecclesiastical monuments in this country. Coel, King of the Britons; Caradercus, Duke of Cornwall; King Arthur and Guinevere his Queen; Kings Kintevymus, Edmund, Edgar, and Edmund Ironside were buried here, as well as other great personages of Church and State. “In so great reverence was the church and churchyard held where these were interred that our forefathers did not dare to use any idle discourse or to spit therein without great necessity. Enemies and naughty men were not suffered to be buried therein, neither did any bring any Hawk, Dog or Horse upon the ground, for if they did, it was observed that they immediately died thereupon.”--Dugdale’s _Monasticon_. King Ina, persuaded by St Aldhelm, rebuilt and re-endowed the abbey in the 8th century, renounced his royal state, and lived as an ordinary civilian, being induced to do so by extraordinary devices on the part of his wife Ethelburh. On one occasion, after King Ina had given a great feast to his barons, he and his queen left the castle and proceeded to another of the royal residences. Before leaving, Ethelburh had commanded the servants to strip the castle of all its valuables, furniture, etc., and to fill it with rubbish and to put a litter of pigs in the king’s bed. A short distance on their journey, Ethelburh persuaded the king to return, and showing him over the desecrated palace, exhorted him to consider the utter worthlessness of all earthly splendour and the advisability of joining her on a pilgrimage to Rome. Impressed by her words, Ina acted as she advised, and later endowed a school in Rome in which Anglo-Saxon children might become acquainted with the customs of foreign countries. Ina and Ethelburh spent the remainder of their days in privacy in the Holy City.