Here it was, in
the path-way between these two churches, that a tragical and almost
unheard-of act of barbarity was committed, which made the place
less pleasant for some time than it used to be, when Arundel Coke,
Esq., a barrister-at-law, of a very ancient family, attempted, with
the assistance of a barbarous assassin, to murder in cold blood,
and in the arms of hospitality, Edward Crisp, Esq., his brother-in-
law, leading him out from his own house, where he had invited him,
his wife and children, to supper; I say, leading him out in the
night, on pretence of going to see some friend that was known to
them both; but in this churchyard, giving a signal to the assassin
he had hired, he attacked him with a hedge-bill, and cut him, as
one might say, almost in pieces; and when they did not doubt of his
being dead, they left him. His head and face was so mangled, that
it may be said to be next to a miracle that he was not quite
killed: yet so Providence directed for the exemplary punishment of
the assassins, that the gentleman recovered to detect them, who
(though he outlived the assault) were both executed as they
deserved, and Mr. Crisp is yet alive. They were condemned on the
statute for defacing and dismembering, called the Coventry Act.
But this accident does not at all lessen the pleasure and agreeable
delightful show of the town of Bury; it is crowded with nobility
and gentry, and all sorts of the most agreeable company; and as the
company invites, so there is the appearance of pleasure upon the
very situation; and they that live at Bury are supposed to live
there for the sake of it.
Pages:
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85