Gloucester better than London." The Statutes of Gloucester were passed here in an Edwardian Parliament, and the murdered king, Edward II., found here his last resting-place. Numerous Parliaments were held here, and monarchs visited the city. In the Civil War period Gloucester was held by the Parliamentarians, and subjected to a protracted siege, which was eventually raised by the advent of Earl of Essex. The city retains many of its old houses. The house of Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday Schools, is a fine old building. The Deanery, formerly the prior's lodging, has many interesting associations. Here Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn sojourned. The inns are famous, especially "New Inn," which was used by the pilgrims to the shrine of Edward II., and "The Old Raven." Colonel Massey, the governor during the siege, sojourned at 154 Westgate Street. Before the dissolution of monasteries there were many religious houses, and the friars were numerous; there were colleges of Grey, White and Black Friars, some remains of which still exist. There are several interesting churches--St. Mary de Crypt, a cruciform building of twelfth century, with some Decorated and Perpendicular work; St. Mary de Lode, built on the site of a Roman temple, with an old chancel and tower; St. Michael, from the tower of which the curfew sounds each night; St. Nicholas, of Norman construction. [Illustration The Deanery Herbert Railton] HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL Gloucester was one of the sees founded by Henry VIII.; its episcopal life, therefore, does not extend further back than 1541, when the last Abbot of Tewkesbury became the first Bishop of Gloucester. The story of the minster, however, carries us back to very early times. The first Abbey, as we have said, was founded by Osric, nephew of King Ethelred, in 689, and was designed for both monks and nuns. It was not long-lived, and in a century was deserted and fell into decay. The Mercian kingdom was much distracted, and confusion reigned until Beornwulph restored the ruined walls of St. Peter's Abbey, and introduced secular canons, who seem to have lived as they pleased, and loved not discipline. So Canute in 1022 turned them out and established Benedictine monks. These did no better. Their abbot, Eadric, was a waster of the goods of the Abbey, and the pious chronicler saw in the destruction of the monastery by fire the vengeance of God for their sins. Then Bishop Ealdred of Worcester, who brought back the Black monks of St. Benedict, began to build a new church. Then came Abbot Wulfstan from the Worcester Monastery in 1072, and Abbot Serlo, a worthy monk of Mont St. Michel, who found desolation, an almost empty monastery, a poor, mean building, and began to raise that glorious pile which we see now. It was dedicated in 1100, when there was a mighty concourse of bishops and great men. A remarkable sermon was preached here by Abbot Fulcher of Shrewsbury, prophetic of the death of the cruel king, Rufus. Abbot Serlo sent to