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17. The emperor enquired who had buried his empress. Porphyrius acknowledged that he had; and that he was also a Christian. In this painting the emperor appears attended by his sword-bearer, and sentences Porphyrius to death. The figure bending before the emperor is probably the executioner, and Porphyrius stands at his side.

18. This represents the massacre of the soldiers of the guard and of Porphyrius, who is seen slain on the left hand, denoted by his keys, as keeper of the prison.

FOURTH ROw.

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19. The emperor once more sent for St Catherine. said it was through her that he had lost his empress and his soldiers. He asked her if she would now worship his gods, threatening that if she refused he would order her to be flayed alive. The saint lifting up her hands, indignantly refuses to sacrifice.

20. The executioners are here seizing upon the saint, and preparing to execute the sentence.

21. Devils are here represented contending for the soul of St. Catherine.

22. The saint is here led to execution.

23. St. Catherine is beheaded, and her soul received into heaven by an angel.

24. Angels are carrying the body of the saint in a marble tomb to the top of Mount Sina, and two angels below are incensing it.

25. Pilgrims paying their devotions at the tomb of St. Catherine on Mount Sina, where the emperor Justinian afterwards built a magnificent church and monastery.

Notes on a Letter and Declaration

or

THE GENTRY OF NORFOLK AND NORWICH TO GENERAL MONK.

COMMUNICATED BY

ALFRED W. MORANT, F.S.A., F.G.S.

THIS "Letter and Declaration," a printed broadside in my possession, and exhibited at a recent Annual Meeting of the Society, relates to one of the most important events recorded by the historians of our nation, namely, the Restoration of King Charles II. For as the Revolutions of 1643 and 1688 rescued our ancestors from the arbitrary power of kings, so did the Restoration save them from a military despotism no less odious.

George Monk, who had been one of Cromwell's greatest generals, and who, until the abdication of his son Richard Cromwell, had also served the cause of the Parliament, becoming dissatisfied on learning that the junto of officers had dissolved the Parliament and usurped all authority in the State, was annoyed, and marched to London at the head of about seven thousand men, with the professed object of freeing the Parliament from the oppression of the soldiers. As he advanced towards the capital, the leading gentry of the various counties of England flocked around him, expressing their earnest desire that he would lend his aid to restore the kingdom to liberty and peace. A great number of these addresses were presented to him at St. Albans, on the 28th January, 1660, and very probably the one now reprinted.

Having reached London on the 3rd February, 1660, he waited for a few days in order to see in which direction the popular feeling went, and then declared for a free Parliament, which, as soon as it assembled, took steps to restore the exiled Stuart. Monk acted with great secrecy and dissim"lation, and shortly after the Restoration was created Duke of Albemarle and Knight of the Garter: he was appointed to fill the offices of Master of the Horse, Gentleman the Bed-chamber, and first Commissioner of the '

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asury; he also received the grant of an estate worth £7000 a year, and, Lord Macaulay tells us, became the third wealthiest subject in the kingdom. In 1664, when the war with Holland broke out, he was made head of the Admiralty,' and in 1667 was again placed at the head of the Treasury. He died 3rd Jan., 16%, leaving an only son, who succeeded as second Duke, was also a Knight of the Garter, and died in 1688, when the title became extinct.

The document now before us cannot be said to throw much fresh light on the history of the great national event to which it refers, but it is thought that even a bare list of the names of the principal landowners and gentry of the county, who had either survived the overthrow of monarchy or who had sprung up on its ruins, could not fail to be of interest to the members of our Society. It has, however, been attempted--and, thanks to the kind aid of the Rev. W. Grigson, with more success than could otherwise have been hoped for-to identify the individuals whose names are subscribed to this Declaration, and to state in a concise form whatever one was able, after this lapse of time, to recover concerning them.

1 "Great fleets had been entrusted to the direction of Rupert and Monk; Rupert, who was renowned chiefly as a hot and daring cavalry officer; and Monk, who, when he wished his ship to change her course, moved the mirth of his crew by calling out, 'Wheel to the left,'"-Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. p. 312.

A

LETTER

AND

DECLARATION

Of the Gentry of the County of Norfolk and the County of the City of Norwich, To his Excellency the Lord Generall MONK.

Right Honourable,

Wee

ee the Gentry of the County of Norfolk and of the County and City of Norwich do cordially rejoyce with many others of these Counties, and of the Nation, for your Excellencie's return into your Native Countrey with honour and safety: And that the late Differences in the Armies are now so happily composed without blood-shed: We are desirous to blesse our good God for these mercies, and to acquaint your Lordship, That we have signified the Resentment of our grievances to the Speaker of the Parliament; A true Copie whereof we have here inclosed, sent to your Excellency, least any persons should in our absence. mis-represent us or our intentions to your Lordship : We rest.

The Declaration.

We the Gentry of the County of Norfolk, and the County and City of Norwich, Being deeply affected with the sense of our sad Distractions and Divisions, both in Church and State; And wearied with the Miseries of an unnaturall Civil War, The too frequent Interruptions of Government, the Impositions of severall heavy Taxes, And the loud out-cryes of multitudes of undone and almost famished people, occasioned by a generall decay of Trade, which hath spread itself throughout the whole

Nation, and these Counties in particular; And having met together and consulted what may best remedy and remove Our and the Nation's present grievances and Distractions; Do humbly conceive, That the chief Expedient, will be, the Recalling of those Members that were secluded in 1648, and sate before the Force put upon the Parliament (We of this County of Norfolk, being by such Seclusion deprived of any person to represent us in Parliament) and also by filling up the vacant places thereof; And all to be admitted without any Oath or Engagement, previous to their Entrance; Which being done, We shall be ready to acquiesce and submit in all things to the Judgment and Authority of Parliament; Without which Authority, the People of England cannot be obliged to pay any Taxes.

The Letter to Generall Monk and this Declaration

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With many hundreds more of the Knights, Gentry, Citizens

and Free-holders.

LONDON

Printed for John Place at Furnivals Inne Gate in Holborne 1660.

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