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The youthful heart too must feel from this instance how true are the words of Solomon, "that a wise son maketh a glad father, and that a foolish one is the heaviness of his mother."

THOMAS A BECKET.

Continued from Vol. III. p. 38.

STATE OF PARTIES IN THE TIME OF HENRY II.

IN what precedes, it has been my object to throw a doubt over the notions commonly received concerning Becket's character, and to show that the charges commonly insisted on to his disadvantage are either groundless or, at least, reconcileable with the hypothesis of his sincerity.

I was prompted to this investigation partly because it seemed in itself curious, and partly because the story in which Becket plays so conspicuous a part is in itself too fascinating and romantic to let one willingly acquiesce in the disgrace of its hero. And if my object has been in any degree attained, I hope that some of the details of this story may not prove unacceptable to my readers. However, I have still some perplexities to disentangle before I can take up the thread of my narrative with advantage; and this I purpose to do, though, as I fear in a somewhat rambling manner, in the present article. The points to which I shall now direct my attention are the following:-(1.) The state of parties in Church and State at the opening of the contest between Becket and the King. (2.) The kind of warfare by which this contest was maintained. (3.) The causes which more immediately occasioned its outbreak. And in this inquiry I shall not indulge any subtle speculation of my own, or attempt, at a distance of seven centuries, generalisations for which contemporaries can hardly be trusted.

I shall take for the basis of my remarks a letter written to Becket at the end of 1165, by Arnulph, Bishop of Lisieux. Arnulph was one of the most celebrated and accomplished men of his times, and, when he wrote the letter in question, had access to the best information respecting what passed in England: for though he kept up a correspondence with Becket's party, still, this was done with such guarded secresy, that it excited no suspicions in the mind of the King. He had lately received two of Becket's emissaries, Herbert and Nicholas of Rouen, while in retirement at his manor of Nonant, and from thence had sent a trusty messenger to England to collect information.

"He likewise sends into England," says Nicholas, " R. of Arderva, a most intimate friend of his, through whom he will make diligent inquiries about whatever is passing at Court, and let you know, by letter, all he hears from thence."

"Item mittit in Angliam familiarissimum sibi R. de Ardervâ, per quem omnibus indagatis quæ in Curiâ deliberantur, quicquid inde cognoverit, vobis per litteras significabit.'

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OF THOMAS

ABECKET.

MURDER
From an ancient Design in Preston Church, Sussex.

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And shortly after he wrote to Becket as follows. After speaking of the King's resentment, and his power to make it felt, he proceeds"Considering they, whose advice and suffrages you ought to have been supported by [your suffragans], which indeed have, in a body, seceded from you * In these men, therefore,

*

*

*

I think you can place but a vain confidence; because they do not give a faithful heed to a reconciliation who gave cause for a separation. But all others, who stand in inferior places, embrace your person with the arms of sincere charity, imploring, with deep but silent sighs, that the spouse of the Church may second your wishes, to the glory of His name, with a happy issue. Indeed their compassion ought to be most grateful to us-because, although the wishes of inferiors do not move the minds of their superiors, they gain over the indignation of the Divine Majesty, since He becomes the more prone to indulgence the more humble is the suppliant * * Their devotion may therefore avail you with God; but with the King, as they have no confidence to obtain, so have they not the boldness to entreat. Besides, if you think the desires of the noble ought to be inquired into, it is certain that they have formed a league, as it were, against the Church, ever to impede its advantages, and incessantly oppose its dignities; because they think, that whatever they see added to its honour, or revenues, is all lost to them. They, therefore, urge the more actively because the occasion appears favourable. For the king's power supports them, and to his majesty they repeat that they are taking the greatest care in these matters to preserve the state of his kingdom.* They say, that his (the king's) predecessors had neither so great strength, nor such extent of power as he has, and that he ought not to reign more unworthily than they-that one ought to stand more for dignity than utility * they therefore attribute to dignity whatever it is evident was formerly taken away from power.

* * *

"But he embraces more greedily than is expedient the blandishing speeches of these flatterers, which he will find, by their latest effect, are nothing but a trick of malignity; for, should any one of them utter his wishes too loud, he will understand, that for themselves they are aiming at his favour, and for him, matter for future difficulty and detriment. For this point they pant with full desire, and try every art, (so that their own intention does not become known,) viz. that his power may one time or other be repressed.

"If you should think this ought to be shewn, let the writer's name be suppressed, for your experience must know of how much importance it is to me that it should not come to the King's knowledge."+

This translation is entirely conjectural, as indeed must frequently be the case with such barbarous Latin. Two or three other translations will suggest themselves at once.-ED.

+"Quod sanè contemplati quorum muniri consilio et suffragio debuistis, (Suffraganei vestri) a vobis facto agmine decesserunt In his igitur quantum mihi videtur non nisi inanem vobis potestis collocare fiduciam ; quia fidelem reconciliationi operam non impendent, qui causam dissidio præstiterunt.

Such was the opinion of Arnulph, who was more frequently a deceiver than deceived. He observed that the Government party was made up of two elements, the higher order of the Clergy, who joined the King out of cowardice, having more at stake than they could make up their minds to lose, and the higher order of the Laity, who in this instance sided with the King against the Church, that when they had removed this obstacle, they might afterwards fight him single handed. While, on the other hand, the lower orders were all in their hearts attached to the cause of the Church; and though they were not strong enough to make head at any given point, still, collectively, afforded to it a broad base of passive support.

This rough sketch of a contemporary I shall endeavour to fill up with such details as have come under my notice: and first, as to the support derived by the Church from the affection of the lower orders.

With our notions, it will doubtless be surprising to find the party who, in the 12th century, advocated what are now called high church principles, maintaining their ground on the affections of the common people, against a united aristocracy. The alliance, which has happily so long subsisted, between Church and State, is now regarded as indispensable, at least to the well being of the former; and the political relations which have grown up under this state of things are now so intricate, as almost to disable us from even conceiving the two societies as independent of one another. A modern high churchman has been taught from his youth to identify the Church and the Establishment,-to suppose that the respectability of the Clergy is the result of their connexion and intercourse with the

"Reliqui vero omnes inferioribus gradibus constituti Personam vestram sinceræ caritatis brachiis amplexantur, altis, sed in silentio, suspiriis implorantes ut Sponsus Ecclesiæ ad gloriam sui nominis felici vota vestra secundet eventu. Profecto gratissima nobis eorum debet esse compassio-quia licet animos sublimium vota minorum non moveant, indignationem Divinæ Majestatis expugnant, ut tanto fiat ad indulgentiam pronior quantum ab humiliori fuerit supplicatum. Eorum igitur apud Deum vobis poterit prodesse devotio; sed apud Regem sicut nullam impetrandi fiduciam habent, sic nullam audaciam supplicandi.

"Ad hæc si studia Procerum ducitis inquirenda, certum est eos adversus Ecclesiam quasi fœdus invicem contraxisse, ut utilitates ejus semper impediant, et dignitatibus incessanter obsistant. Quia totum sibi reputant deperire, quicquid ejus vel honori vel proventibus viderint accessisse. Instant alacrius eò quod grata de temporis opportunitate refulget occasio. Quia vires eis Regiæ suffragantur, quibus prædicant se in his ad statum Regni conservandum fidelem diligentiam adhibere. Aiunt Prædecessores ejus nec tantas vires nec tantam Potestatis amplitudinem habuisse, nec oportere eum indigniùs regnare, dignitati magis quam utilitatibus nitendum attribuunt ergo dignitati quicquid olim de potestate constat

esse præsumptum

"Ille vero avidius quam expediret, blandos adulantium sermones amplectitur, quos nihil aliud quam dolum malignitatis esse, novissimo deprehendet effectu. Si quis enim eorum altius vota discutiat, intelliget quia callidè sibi gratiam ejus, et ipsi laboris et detrimenti materiam præparant in futurum. Ad hoc totis anhelant desideriis, totis artibus elaborant, dummodo eorum non innotescat intentio, ut scilicet ejus quandoque potentia reprimi possit.

"Si hæc alicui duxeritis ostendenda,nomen supprimatur Auctoris: Quia quantum meå intersit hæc ad Regis notitiam non venire, vestra experientia non ignorat."

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