ow-creatures. And yet Ipswich has a history as long as the
dullest cathedral town. It was a place of note during the existence of
the Saxon Heptarchy. Twice it had the honour of publicly entertaining
King John; and there is a tradition that in the curious and
beautifully-ornamented house in the Butter Market--formerly the residence
of Mr. Sparrow, the Ipswich coroner, whose old family portraits,
including one of the Jameses, presented to an ancestor of the family,
filled me not a little with youthful wonder--Charles II. was secreted by
one of the Sparrows of that day, when he came to hide in Ipswich after
the battle of Worcester. 'The house is now a shop,' but, observes Mr.
Glyde, a far-famed local historian, 'a concealed room in the upper story
of the house, which was discovered during some alterations in 1801, is
well adapted for such a purpose.' And, at any rate, the gay and
graceless monarch, in search of a hiding-place, might have gone farther
and fared worse. Be that as it may, Ipswich can rejoice in the fact that
it was the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey; and that he was one of the
first educational reformers of the day must be admitted, at any rate, in
Ipswich, of which, possibly, he would have made a second Cambridge.
Alas! of his efforts in that direction, the only outward and visible sign
is the old gateway in what is called College Street, which remains to
this day. Ipswich fared well in the Elizabethan days, when her Gracious
Majesty condescended to visit the place. Sir Christopher Hatton, the
dancing Lord Chancellor, who led the brawls, when

'The seals and maces danced before him,'

lived in a house near the Church of St. Mary-le-Tower. Sir Edward Coke
resided in a village not far off, and in 1597 the M.P. for Ipswich was no
other than the great Lord Bacon, who by birth and breeding was
emphatically a Suffolk man. From Windham's diary, it appears that at
Ipswich that distinguished statesman experienced a new sensation. In
1789 he writes: 'Left Ipswich not till near twelve. Saw Humphries there,
and was for the first time entertained with some sparring; felt much
amused with the whole of the business.'

In the early part of the present century Miss Berry, on returning from
one of her Continental trips, paid Ipswich a visit, having landed at
Southwold. 'Appearance of Ipswich very pretty in descending towards it,'
is the entry in her diary. About the same time Bishop Bathurst made his
visit