against me thus armed?" The Baron, resolute as himself, and in a worse purpose, told him to get out from thence, and die! at the same time laying hold of his robe. Becket withdrew the robe, and said he would not move. "Fly, then," said Fitzurse, as if at this moment a compunctious feeling had visited him, and he would have been glad to see the intent frustrated, in which his pride more than his oath constrained him to persist. "Nor that either," was Becket's answer; "if it is my blood you want, I am ready to die, that the Church may obtain liberty and peace only, in the name of God, I forbid you to hurt any of my people." Still it appears that in some, at least, there was a wish to spare his life: one struck him between the shoulders with the flat part of the sword, saying, "Fly, or you are dead!" And the murderers themselves afterwards declared their intention was to carry him prisoner to the King; or, if that was impossible, put him to death in a place less sacred than the Church; but he clung to one of the pillars, and struggled with the assailants. Tracy he had nearly thrown down, and Fitzurse he thrust from him with a strong hand, calling him pimp. Stung by the opprobrious appellation, Fitzurse no longer hesitated whether to strike. A monk-Edward Grimes, of Cambridge, was his name -interposed his arm, which was almost cut off by the blow. Becket, who had bowed in the attitude of prayer, was wounded by the same stroke in the crown of his head. His last words were, "To God, to St. Mary, and the Saints, who are patrons of this Church, and to St. Dennis, I commend myself, and the Church's cause!" The second blow brought him to the ground, on his face, before St. Benedict's altar; he had strength and composure enough to cover himself with his robes, and then to join his hands in prayer, and in that position died under their repeated strokes, each pressing near to bear a part in the murder. Brito cleft his skull; and an accursed man, the subdeacon, Hugh of Horsea, known by the appellation of the Ill Clerk, scattered the brains over the pavement from the point of his sword.

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CHAPTER IX.

PROCEEDINGS UPON BECKET'S DEATH.-KING JOHN.-TRIUMPH OF THE PAPAL POWER.

As soon as Henry was informed that the four Barons had suddenly left the Court and taken the road to the coast, he apprehended some mischief, knowing the characters of the men, and probably remembering also the rash expressions which had escaped him in his anger. Immediate orders for stopping them were despatched to all the sea-ports of Normandy, but they had found a fair wind, unhappily for all parties, and had thus outstripped pursuit. They looked for no reward or favour for the atrocious act which they had committed. On the contrary, they hastened to Knaresborough, a castle belonging to Moreville, believing that they had rendered the King good service, but not daring to appear before him.

When the news reached Henry, he was at once struck with remorse for the cause of the crime, and alarmed for its consequences. At first, he broke out into loud and passionate lamentations, then seemed to be overpowered and stupified by the violence of his emotions: he put on sackcloth and ashes, and for three days was incapable either of consolation or counsel. At length, by the advice of those who, meantime, had consulted what might best be done in these unexpected and most critical circumstances, an embassy was sent to the Pope, and messengers to Canterbury. The latter were instructed to inform the clergy of that Church, how deeply the King grieved for the death of Becket, and abhorred the murder: to say, that if any guilt attached to him for words rashly spoken in his anger, it might best be expiated by their prayers; and to command that the body should be honourably buried; for, though the Primate had been his enemy while living, he would not prosecute him when dead, but remitted to his soul whatever offences he had committed against him and his royal dignity. This was acting as became

him, convinced as he was, that in the grounds of the dispute he stood justified to his own heart, and to his people. If he did not persevere in this dignified and becoming course, it is because a sane opinion may be subdued, though insanity is invincible when the world appears combined against it.

The King of France failed not to improve this opportunity for distressing his enemy. He called upon the Pope to unsheath the sword of St. Peter, and therewith signally avenge the martyr of Canterbury, whose blood, not so much for itself as for the Catholic Church, cried out for vengeance. The Archbishop of Sens, who had been commissioned, with the Archbishop of Rouen, to interdict Henry's continental dominions, if the agreement with Becket were not executed, called upon his colleague now to join with him in so doing, but he replied, that he would do nothing to aggravate his master's affliction; and he interposed an appeal to the Pope. Upon this, the former, who had been Becket's friend, and seems to have partaken no small portion of his immitigable spirit, pronounced the interdict; but no regard was paid to this unwarrantable act: the appeal was believed to suspend its force; and it is probable, that in Normandy there prevailed a fair and temperate opinion, both concerning the dispute, and the death of Becket.

The Pope, like the King of France, regarded the murder as an event which might be made subservient to his policy. It was not till after long and humble entreaties, that he admitted two of Henry's ambassadors to an audience; and when they saluted him in their master's name, the assembled Cardinals interrupted them by clamours, as if the very mention of that name had been an abomination. They obtained a private hearing in the evening; but though Becket was dead, his cause had not died with him, rather it had acquired tenfold strength: two of his former chaplains, sent by the Archbishop of Sens, appeared to plead against the reconciliation which Henry solicited, and all countenances looked so darkly upon his ambassadors, that they almost despaired of success. Holy Thursday was at hand,... the day whereon it was customary for the Pope to excommunicate notorious offenders; and they were informed, that on that day the sentence passed by Becket against the Bishops would be confirmed, the whole of Henry's dominions placed under an inter

dict, and he himself excommunicated by name. In those days, when men were as licentious upon great points as they were scrupulous in indifferent ones, ambassadors did not hesitate to exceed their commission where any great advantage was to be gained, and pledge their Sovereign to terms which they were far from being certain that he would perform. Thus, to prevent the impending stroke, they assured the Pope that the King would submit wholly to his mandates in this affair: this they said they were empowered to confirm by an oath in his presence, and their master would swear to the same effect.

Their object was answered by this unwarrantable expedient; and the Pope contented himself, on the dreaded day, with excommunicating the murderers of Becket in general, and all who advised, abetted, or consented to their crime, or who should, knowingly, receive and harbour them. Shortly afterwards, other members of the embassy who had been detained on the road, arrived; these, more scrupulous, refused to take the same oath; upon which the Pope confirmed the interdict which the Archbishop of Sens had imposed, and interdicted Henry himself from entering any church. The intermediate time had not been misemployed, or these measures would not have fallen so far short of what was threatened; in fact, some of the Cardinals had been gained over, and money was said to have been largely distributed. The Pope absolved the Bishops, whose sentence he had just before ratified, and wrote himself to Henry, (a mark of special favour,) exhorting him to humility. Every thing was thus composed till Urban should send legates into Normandy; and it was plain that an accommodation would then be effected by the disposition which the Pope had thus manifested.

The terms of accommodation were such as saved appearances for both parties. They were, that Henry should give the Knights-Templars a sum sufficient to maintain 200 knights for the defence of the Holy Land, one year: that he should take the cross for three years himself, and go in person to Palestine the ensuing summer, unless it were deemed a more urgent duty to go to the assistance of the Christians in Spain: that he should not prevent appeals in ecclesiastical causes from being made freely, with good faith, and without fraud or evil intention, to the Roman Pontiff; nevertheless he might require security, from

any suspected appellants, that they would not attempt any thing to the prejudice of him or his kingdom: that he should absolutely give up those customs which had been introduced in his time against the English Church: that any lands which had been taken from the see of Canterbury should be fully restored, as they were held by that see a year before Becket went out of the kingdom; and that he should restore his peace and favour, with all their possessions, to all the clergy and laity of either sex, who had been deprived of their property on Becket's account. Henry also took a voluntary oath before the legates, that he had neither ordered nor desired the murder; but was exceedingly grieved when the report thereof was brought him; yet, he said, he feared the perpetrators took occasion to commit that wicked act from the passion and perturbation which they had seen in him. Other things, the legates informed the Pope, he was to do of his own free accord, but it was not proper to set them down in writing.

Whatever these secret conditions may have been, the ostensible terms were better than Henry had reason to expect; nothing for which he had contended was, in reality, yielded by them, and the obligation of taking the cross was one from which the Pope would easily release him upon such excuses as were sure to occur. The conditions, which were concealed from public knowledge, related probably to the price which was paid for the Pope's moderation, and perhaps to certain acts of imaginary expiation which the King was willing to perform. For Becket was already • regarded as a saint and martyr, and upon this point Henry's understanding was subdued by the spirit of the age. The craft in which Dunstan had excelled, and in which his successors had been no mean proficients, was still exercised at Canterbury with equal audacity and equal success.' The martyred saint, on the morning after he was killed, had lifted up his hand after the service, and given the monks his blessing. His eyes, which had been injured by the blows of the assassins, miraculously disappeared, and were replaced by others, smaller in size, and of two different colours. He had appeared in his pontificals at the altar on the third day, and directed that a verse from the Psalms should, in future, be recited instead of sung in the mass ;-and, at his requiem, angels had visibly assisted at the quire. The persons

1 Alford, iv. 220.