l^jgi. LITERARY INTELLrOEWCER. 47^ 



*' His endowments from nature were great j and he had 

 given to them fuch cultivation, as the ftate of the times 

 permitted. It would have been well, perhaps, had ha 

 never feen Bologna, and imbibed from its mailers thofe 

 maxi.Tis of church domination, which, though the a^c 

 held them facred, were to him the occafion of an unfor- 

 tunate controverfy, and to others brought much affliftion. 

 Early in life, he was engaged in buiinefs, which made 

 him an able negociator j and the favour of his prince, 

 which foon followed, raifed him to uncorantion great- 

 nefs. But the unbounded confidence he enjoyed, was 

 all tifed to ennoble the fource from which it flowed. 

 He did not enrich himfelf, his family, or his retainers. 

 All was Henry's. His influence he employed to gain 

 him friends, and to fpread his interelt ; and when he 

 difplayed a munificence more than royal, it was his 

 mailer's fame he looked to. The love of pleafure, 

 which, in a dlffipated court, can make the ftoutelt vir- 

 tue tremble, palled over his fenies, as a gentle gale. 

 There was a fternnefs in his charadter, which would 

 not bend to affeftions that enervate ; and it is remark- 

 able, that, when his enemies were moft numerous and 

 malevolent, they never charged him with a fingle vice. 

 His ruling pafiions, were the paf-lons of a great mind, 

 fuch as, when circumflances favour, lead men to the 

 acliievments of patriots and of heroes ; and had provi- 

 dence given Becket to his country but a few years later, 

 we lliould have feen him, oppofing with main fortitude 

 the wild preteiifions of Rome, and at the head of barons, 

 •wreftingiV/rt^;/^ Charta from the tyrant fon of the Henry. 

 Ou fome occafions, 1 think he was too acrid in his ex- 

 prcfllons, and too imyielding in his conduft ; but when 

 we weigh his provocations, and the inceffant ftrefs of 

 low oppofition, wonder we cannot, and we may eafily 

 forgive. His private virtues were amiable. They en- 

 deared him to Henry, who loved him with a brother's 

 love; nor were they foiired, it feems, by adrerfe for- 

 tune. They made liim piany friends ; and John of 



