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from judice." They orce more connmanded him to tr,ke off 

 ihe excommunication and fiifpei-finn of the biP.iops. He re- 

 plied " no falisfaciion has yet been made ; nor viill I abfolve 

 iheir." "Then," faid they, " thou fiialt inftantly die ac- 

 Lordiiijr to thy defcrt." " I am ready to die," reolicd 

 I'ecket, "that the church may obtain hlierty and peace in 

 my blood. But in the name of God, I forbid you to hint 

 any of my people." They now rufned upon him, and en- 

 deavoured to dr?.jj him out of the church, with an intention, 

 as they themfclvcs afterwards declared, to carrv him in bonds 

 to the king, or if they could not do that to kill him 

 in a lefs facred place. But as he clung faft to one of 

 the pillars of the choir, they could not free him from 

 thence. During the ftruggle, he fhook William de 

 Ti-acy fo roughly, that he almoil threw him down ; and as 

 Reginald Fitzurfe prcffcd harder upon him than any of the 

 others, he thruft him away, and called him " pimp." This 

 opprobrious language more enraged that violent man ; he 

 lifted up his fword againft the head of Becket, who, bowing 

 li'.s neck, and joining his hands together, in a pofture of 

 prayer, recommended his own foul, ard the caufe of the 

 church, to God, and to the faints of that cathedral. But 

 Edward Grime, one of the monks of Canterbury, intcrpof- 

 ing his ai-m to ward off the blow, it was almoft cut off ; and 

 the archbifhop alfo was v/oundcd in the crown of his head. 

 He ftood a fecond ftroke, which likewife fell on his head, 

 in the fame devout pofture, without a motion, word, or 

 groan ; but after receiving a third, he fell proftrate on his 

 face ; and all the accomplices preffing now to a (hare in the 

 murder, a piece of his (Iculi was llruck off by one of them ; 

 upon which another fcoopcd out the brains of the dead arch- 

 bifiiop with the point of a fword, and fcattered them over the 

 pavement of the church. 



Thus was afiafTmated in the 53d year of his age, and 9th 

 of his pontificate, A.D. 1 170. Dec. 29, Thomas Becket ;-^ 

 " a man," fays lord Lyttelton, " of fcreat talents, of ele- 

 vated thoughts, and of invincible courage ; but of a mofl 

 violent and turbulent fpirit ; exceffively pafTionate, haughty, 

 and vain-glorious ; in his refolutions inflexible, in his refent- 

 ments implacable. It cannot be denied that he was guilty 

 of a wilful and premeditated perjury ; that he oppofed the 

 neceffary courfe of public jullice, and afted in defiance of 

 the laws of his country, laws which he had mod folemnly 

 acknowLdged and confirmed ; nor is it lefs evident, that 

 during the heat of this difpute, he was in the higheft degree 

 ungrateful to a very kind mafter, whofe confidence in him 

 had been boundlefs, and who from a private condition had 

 advanced him to be the fecond man in his kingdom. On 

 what motives he afled can be certainly judged of by Him 

 alone, to luhom all hearts are open. He might be milled by 

 the prejudices of a bigotted age, ai d think he was doing an 

 acceptable fervice to God, in contending, even to death, for 

 the utmoll excels of ecch-fialtical and papal authority. Yet 

 the ftrength of his undcrftanding, his converfation in courts 

 and camps, among perfons whofe notions were more free 

 and enlarged, the different colour of his former life, and the 

 fuddennefs of the change which feemed to be wrought in 

 him upon his elefticu to Canterbury, would make one fuf- 

 peft, as many did in the times wherein he lived, that he only 

 became the champion of the church from an ambitious de- 

 fire of fh^ring its power ; a power more independent on the 

 favour of the king, and therefore more agreeable to the 

 haughtincfs of his mind, than that which he had enjoyed as 

 miai'der of the crown. And this fufpicion is Increafed by 

 the marks of cunning and falfenefs wliich are evidently feen 

 in his conduA on fome occafions. Neither is it impofTible, 

 that when firil he afRumed his new charadcr, he might. adl 



th? part of a zealot, merely or principally f.om motive, of 

 arrogance and ambition ; yet afterwards, being engaged and 

 inflamed by the conteft, work hinnfelf up into a real en- 

 thuliafm. The continual praifes of thofc with whom he 

 aiSeJ, the honours done him in his exile by all the clergy 

 of France, and the vanity which appears fo predominant in 

 his mind, may have conduced to operate futh a charge. He 

 certainly (hewed in the latttr part of his life a fpirit as fer- 

 vent as the warracfl enthufiall's ; fuch a fpirit indeed as 

 conftitutes heroifm, when it exerts Itfclf in a caufe beneficial 

 to mankind. Had he defended th.e eftabUfned laws of his 

 countr)', and the fundamental rules of civil juflice, with as 

 much zeal and intrepidity as he oppofed them, he would 

 have dcferved to be ranked with thofe great men, whofe 

 virtues make or.eeafily forget the alloy of fome natural imper- 

 feftions ; but unhappily his good qualities were fo mifapplied, 

 that they became no l<-fs hurtful to the public weal of the 

 kingdom, than the worft of his vices." Mr. Hume clofcs 

 his account of the afTaSnation of Bo-cket with the following 

 concife (Itetch of his charaiter. He was " a prelate of the 

 moll lofty, intrepid, and inflexible fpirit, who was able to 

 cover to the world, and probably to himftlf, the enterprifes 

 of pnde and ambition under the difguife of fanAity and of 

 zeal for the intereffs of piety and rehgion. An extraordi- 

 nary perfonage, truly, if he had been allowed to remsin in 

 his firfl flation, and had direfted the vehemence of his cha- 

 radler to the fupport of law andjuftice; intlcad of being 

 engaged, by the prejudices of the times, to facrifice all pri- 

 vate duties and all public connections to ties which he ima- 

 gined or reprefentcd as fuperior to evei-y civil or political 

 confideration. But no man, who enters into the genius of 

 that age, can reafonably doubt of this prelate's fincerity." 

 Another judicious hiflorian (Dr. Henry) fays of Becket: 

 " He was evidently a man of very great abilities, particu- 

 larly of confummate cunning, undaunted courage, and in- 

 vincible conftancy in the profecution of his defigns. But 

 his fchem.es were of a moft pernicious tendency, to emanci- 

 pate the minifters of religion from the rcftraints of law, and 

 to fubjeft his king and country to a foreign power. He 

 was vain, obftinate, and implacable ; as little affefted by 

 the entreaties of his friends, as by the threats of his enemies. 

 His ingratitude to his royal m.afler admits of no excufe, and 

 hath fixed an indelible fiain upon his charaAer. Though 

 his murderers were highly criminal, his death was very fea- 

 fonable, and probably prevented much milchief and con- 

 fufion." 



The refpeft paid to the memon- of Becket, after hi- death, 

 was extravagant beyond all bounds, and rem.oins on record as 

 an evidence of the fuperflition and credulity which prevailed 

 at the period in which it occurred. The king of England, 

 to whofe commands it was generally imputed, ^vasreprtfentcd 

 as " that horrible perfecutor of God, who exceeded Nero in 

 cruelty, Julian in perfidy, and Judas in treachery ;" and 

 the pope was loudly called upon by the kings of France and 

 many prelates to draw the fword of St. Peter, and to infli£l 

 feme exquifite punifliment upon him. But none e.xprcffcd 

 greater grief and horror at this deed than Henrj- himfclf, 

 who broke out into the loudeil lamentations, refufed to fee 

 any company, or admit of any confolation for three days. 

 He alfo difpatched an embaffy to Rome to vindicate himfelf 

 from the imputation of having been the caufe of it. All 

 divine offices were fufpended for nearly a year in the church 

 where it had happened ; ar.d the church itfelf was, by order 

 of the pope, re-confecrat(d. In 1173, Becket was canon- 

 ized by a bull of pope Ahxander ; and a particular colled 

 was appointed to be ufed in all the churches of the province 

 of Canterburv, for expiating the guilt of his murder. In 



the 



