B K C 



the followinpf year, Icing Henr)-, on his retnrn to England, 

 went to Canterbury, where lie did penance, and unckr- 

 went a voluntary difciphne, walking barefoot to his tomb, 

 proftrating himfelf before it, and fubmitting to be fcoiirgcd 

 by the monks, pafiing all tlie day and night without any 

 rctVe(hment, kneeling on the bare ftones, and bellowing 

 great benefadions on the church of Canterbury, as a 

 teftimony of his regret for the murder. His virtues were 

 the fubjefts of cndlefs panegyric, and the miracles, ope- 

 rated by his relics, were more numerous, more nonfenli- 

 cal, and more impudently attefted, fays Hume, than thofe 

 which ever filled the Ugtnd of any confclTor or m^rtjr. 

 Gervafe of Canterbur)- informs us, that two large volumes 

 of them were prcfcrved ill that church. In 1221, his body 

 was taken up, in the prefence of king Henry HI. and a vafl 

 concourfe of the nobility and others, and dtpofited in a rich 

 ftlriue crtftcd nt the expence of archbilhop Stiplien Larg- 

 ton. This (hriiie was enriched with prcfcnts from all parts 

 of Chiiftendom ; pilgrimages were performed to it for ob- 

 taining the martyred prelate's intcrceflion with heaven ; and 

 it has been computed that, in cne year, above 100,000 pil- 

 grims arrived in Canterbur)', for the purjiofc of paying their 

 devotions at this tomb. " It is indeed," fays Hume, " a 

 mortifying refledion to thofe wlui are aftuated by the love 

 of fame, (o juftly denominated the lall iiiiirmity of noble 

 minds, that the wifell legillator and moll exalted genius that 

 ever reformed or enlightened the world, can nev.r cxpeft 

 fuch tributes of praife as are lavilhcd on the memor)' of a 



J)rctcnded faint, whofe whole conduft was probably, to the 

 aft degree, odious or contemptible, and whofe indudiy was 

 entirely devoted to the purfuits of objefts pernicious to 

 mankind." Lyttelton's Hiil. Henrj' II. vol. ii. p. 321, 

 &c. vol. iv. p. 361, &c. 8vo. Hume's Hill, of England, 

 vol. i. p. 447, &c. 8vo. Henry's Hift. of Great Britain, 

 vol. v. p. 340, Src. 8vo. 



BECKET, William, fon of Ifaac Becket, a furgeon 

 of fome eminence at Abingdon, in Btrklhire, under whom 

 he received his education, was born in the year 1684. At 

 a proper age, he was fent to London, and was for foxe 

 years pupil to Mr. Jof. Bateman, furgeon to St. Thomas's 

 hofpital in Southwark. That he was diligent in cultivating 

 his profeffion, appears by the early fpecimens he gave of the 

 refult of what he had feen in praftice : for in 1 707, he pub- 

 hfhed a cnllcftion of chirurgical obfervations, containing re- 

 lations of fome curious cafrs that had fallen under his notice; 

 and in 1712, " New Difcovcries in the Cure of Cancers ;" 

 and foon after, a recital of the cafe of Dr. James Keil, the 

 celebrated phyfician and mathematician, who died of a can- 

 cer in his mouth. Becket had been accufed of mifmanaging 

 this cafe, and therefore publidicd the account in vindication 

 of his prafticc. In his New Difcovcries, he preten.-^s to have 

 been frequently fucccfsful in removing cancerous tumours, 

 by means of a digeflive, the iranner of preparintr which he 

 does not however difclofe. In a fubfequent edition of this 

 \v.)rk, he g'ves the defcription of a medicine, which had 

 been ufed fuccefsfuUy, it was faid, in eradicating cancers 

 by the family of the Paincs of Northampton. It confills of 

 yellow arfenic and hole armenic, mixed to the confiiler.ce of 

 a pafte with the pulp of an apple. It is called the red 

 cauftic. A fimilar preparation has been fincc ufed by Plun- 

 ket and others. In 1721, he publiflicd two Ltters addrefTed 

 to fir Hans Sloane, in which he refutes the current opinion 

 of the efficacy of the royal touch in curing the evil, which 

 was perhaps preparatory to his being eleclcd fellow of the 

 Royal Society. About this time he publifh^-d propofals 

 for printing an account of the lives and writings of the moft 

 cmiacnt BritiHi vrriters in medicine, in i vols. Svo. which he 



B E C 



did not however complete. Dr. Milward, who had formed a 

 fimilar defign, is faid to have purchafed what nianufcripts 

 were left by him on this fubjeft, of his executors ; but nei- 

 ther did he carry his intention into execution. It is proba- 

 ble that, while making this ftarch after ancient Britidi writ- 

 ers, Becket met with accounts of the difeafe called a brenn- 

 iuiT, and conceiving that to be a fymptom of the venereal 

 difeaie, he was induced to publifh liis three differtations on 

 the antiquity of that complaint, which was known, he fays, 

 before the difcovery of the AVeft Indies by Columbus. 

 Tliefe were firll printed in the Philofophical Tranfadlions. 

 Becket died at Abingdon in 173"!. His works were col- 

 le£led togellier, and publifhed in 9 vols. 8vo. in 1740, by ' 

 the noted Mr. Edmund Curl. 



BECKET, Isaac, a mczzotinto engraver of fome emi- 

 nence, was born in Kent in 1653, was originally an appren- 

 tice to a callico-printcr, and obtained the tetiet of fcrapii g 

 mczzotinto from one Loyd, a print-fcller, with whom he 

 lived for fome time. He afterwards conncded himfelf with 

 an engraver in mezzotinto, with wliom he had been acquaint 

 ed at an earlier period of his hfe, and who aililled him, as he 

 drew better and m.ore expcditioufly than hinilclf. His mez- 

 zotintos are often clear and well fcraped ; but his middle 

 tints are not fiifficicntly diilinguifhed, fo that his fliadows 

 appear flat and heavy. One of his bell prints is engraved on 

 a middliiig-fiztd upright jilate, reprefenting Adrian Bever- 

 laiid drawing from a llatuc, and having in the back ground 

 monuments, pyramids, and feveral relics of antiquity. The 

 time of his dtath is not known. Strutt. 



Becket, St. Thomas, Brotherhood of , in Commerce, a 

 name given to the moll ancient company of Englllh mer- 

 chants of which hillory furniflies any record, which was efla- 

 blifiicd about tiie end of the i3th century, and thus called in 

 honour of Becket. The dclign of this company was to ex- 

 port the woollen cloth, which about that time began to be 

 manufaduved in confiderablc quantities in England ; and as 

 that manufadure increaled, the trade of the brotherhood 

 alfo increafed. Henry IV. A. D. 1406, incorporated this 

 fociety by a charter, regulating their government and their 

 privileges. By this charter, any merchant of England or 

 Ireland, who defired it, was to be admitted into the com- 

 pany on paying a fmall fine. As this fociety was compofcd 

 of the native fubjeds of the kings of England, it was fa- 

 voured both by government and by the people, made gradual 

 encroachments on the trade of the merchants of the ftaple, 

 and at length ruined that company. Anderf. Comm. vol. i. 

 p. 233, 260, &c. See Staple. 



Becket, in Geography, a townfhip of America, in Berk- 

 (liire county, Maffiichufetts, containing 75 1 inhabitants, 10 

 miles ea!l of Stockbridge, and 130 weft from Bofton. 



BECKETS, in the Marine, fignify large hooks, or cir- 

 cular wreaths of rope, or wooden brackets, ufed to confine 

 ropes, tackles, oars, or fpars, in a convenient place, till they 

 arc wanted. And lo put the tachs and facets in the bcclets, is 

 to liang up the weather-main and fore-ftieet, and the lee- 

 main and fore-tack, to a little knot and eye- becket on the 

 fore-maft, main, and fore-fhrouds, when tlie fliip is clofc- 

 hauled, to prevent them from hanging in the water. Some 

 beckets have an eye fpliced in one end, and a fmall walnut- 

 knot crowned at the other, and fome have both ends fpliced 

 togetlier like a wre-ath. The noofe made at the breaft of a 

 block, to make faft the Handing part of a fall-to, is alfo 

 called a becket. 



BECKINGTON, Thomas, in Biography, an Englilh 

 prelate of the 15th century, was born in the parifti of Beck- 

 ington, in Somerfctftiire, towards the clofe of the 14th 

 century, educated at Wykeham's fchool, near Winchefter, 



and 



