between the parties, however, were at last got over, and Becket was permitted to return on conditions both honourable and advantageous: a certain proof how A. D. 1170. much Henry dreaded the interdict that was ready to be laid upon his dominions, if he had continued in disobedience to the church, and how terrible the thunder of the church must then have been, since it could humble a prince of so haughty a spirit!

This accommodation with Becket, though settled on terms by no means favourable to the crown, did not even procure Henry that temporary tranquillity which he had hoped to reap from it. Instead of being taught modera. tion by a six years exile, the primate was only animated with a spirit of revenge. Elated by the victory which he had obtained over his sovereign, he set no bounds to his arrogance. On his arrival in England, where he went from town to town in a sort of triumphal cavalcade, he notified to the archbishop of York the sentence of suspension; and to the bishops of London and Salisbury that of excommunication, which at his solicitations, the pope had pronounced against them, because they had assisted at the coronation of prince Henry, whom the king had asso ciated in the royalty, during the absence of the primate, and when an interdict was ready to be laid upon his do minions; a precaution thought necessary to insure the succession of that prince. By this violent measure, therefore, Becket in effect declared war against the king him. self; yet, in so doing, he appears to have been guided by policy as well as passion. Apprehensive lest a prince of such profound sagacity should in the end prevail, he resolved to take all the advantage which his present victory gave him, and to disconcert the cautious measures of the king, by the vehemence and vigour of his own conduct. Assured of support from Rome, he was little apprehensive of dangers, which his courage taught him to despise and which, though followed by the most fatal consequences, would still gratify his thirst of glory, and reward his ambition with the crown of martyrdom.

The suspended and excommunicated prelates waited upon the king at Baieux in Normandy, where he then resided, and complained to him of the violent proceedings of Becket: and Henry, sensible that his whole plan of operations was overturned, and the contest revived, which he had endeavoured by so many negociations to appease, was thrown into the most violent agitation. " Will my "servants," exclaimed he, "still leave me exposed to "the insolence of this ungrateful and imperious priest?" These words seemed to call for vengeance; and four gentlemen of the king's houshold, Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Moreville, and Richard Brito, communicating their thoughts to each other, and swearing to revenge their sovereign's quarrel, secretly withdrew from court, and made the best of their way to England.

In the mean time Henry, informed of some menacing expressions which they had dropt, dispatched a messenger after them, charging them to attempt nothing against the person of the primate. But these orders came too late to prevent their fatal purpose. Though they took different roads, to avoid suspicion, they arriv ed nearly about the same time at Canterbury, where they found the primate in perfect security: and on his refusing, with his usual insolence and obstinacy, to take off the excommunication and suspension of the bishops, they murdered him in the church of St. Bene dict, during the evening service15.

Such, my dear Philip, was the tragical death of Thomas à Becket; a prelate of the most lofty, intrepid, and inflexible spirit, who was able to cover from the world, and probably from himself, the efforts of pride and ambition, under the disguise of sanctity, and of zeal for the interests of Christ and his church. His death confirmed to the clergy those privileges which his opposition could not obtain. Though Henry had proposed to have him arrested, when informed of his renewed

15. Vit. St. Thom. lib. iii. M. Paris. Benedict. Abbas.

insolence,

insolence, he was no sooner told of the primate's murder than he was filled with the utmost consternation. Interdicts and excommunications, weapons in themselves so terrible, would now, he foresaw, be armed with double force: in vain should he plead his innocence, and even his total ignorance of the fact; he was sufficiently guilty, if the church thought fit to esteem him so. These considerations gave him the deepest and most unaffected concern, which he was at no pains to conceal. He shut himself up from the light of the sun for three days, denying himself all manner of sustenance; and as soon as he recovered, in any degree, his tone of mind, he sent a solemn embassy to Rome, main

taining his innocence, and offering to sub. A. D. 1171. mit the whole affair to the decision of the holy see1.

The pope, flattered by this unexpected condescen sion, forbore to proceed to extremities against Henry; more especially as he was sensible, that he could reap greater advantages from moderation than from violence. Meantime the clergy were not idle in magnifying the sanctity of the murdered primate. Other saints had borne testimony, by their sufferings, to the general doctrines of Christianity, but Becket had sacrificed his life for the power and privileges of the church. This peculiar merit challenged (nor without a ready concur, rence) a tribute of gratitude to his memory from the whole body of the priesthood. Endless were the panegyrics on his virtues; and the miracles wrought by his relics were more numerous, more nonsensical, and more impudently attested, than those which ever filled the legend of any saint or martyr. His shrine not only restored dead men to life; it also restored cows, dogs, and horses. Presents were sent, and pilgrimages performed, from all parts of Christendom, in order to obtain his intercession with Heaven: and it was computed that in one year, above an hundred thousand pil

16. M. Paris. R. Hoveden.

grims arrived at Canterbury, and paid their devotions at his tomb'.

As Henry found, however, that he was in no immediate danger from the thunder of the Vatican, he undertook the conquest of Ireland; an enterprize which he had long meditated, and for which he had obtained a bull from pope Adrian IV. but which had been deferred by reason of his quarrels with the primate. Of that island something must here be said.

Ireland was probably first peopled from Britain, as Britain was from Gaul; and the inhabitants of all those countries seem to have proceeded from the same Celtic origin, which is lost in the most distant antiquity. The Irish, from the earliest accounts of history or tradition, had been buried in ignorance and barbarism; and as their country was never conquered, or even invaded by the Romans, who communicated to the western world civility and slavery, they had remained almost in their primitive condition. The small principalities into which the island was divided, exercised perpetual hostilities against each other; and the uncertain succession of the Irish princes was a continual source of domestic convulsion, the usual title of each petty sovereign to his principality being the murder of his predecessor. Courage and force, though exercised in the commission of violence, were more honoured than pacific virtues; and the most simple arts of life, even tillage and agriculture, were almost wholly unknown among the rude natives of Ireland.

From this short account of the state of the country, you will be less surprised, my dear Philip, when you are told, that Henry, who landed at the head of no more than five hundred knights and their attendants, in a progress which he made through that island, had little other occupation than to receive the homage of his new subjects. He left most of the Irish

A. D. 1172.

17. Gul. Neubrig. J. Brompton. R. Hoveden.

chieftains

chieftains or princes in possession of their ancient territories: he bestowed lands on some of his English adventurers; and, after a stay of a few months, returned to Britain, where his presence was much wanted, having annexed Ireland to the English crown 8.

The pope's two legates, Albert and Theodin, to whom was committed the trial of Henry's conduct in regard to the death of Becket, were arrived in Normandy, before his return, and had sent frequent letters to England full of menacing expressions. The king hastened over to meet them; and was so fortunate as to conclude an accommodation with them, on terms more easy than could have been expected. He cleared himself by oath of all concern in the murder of Becket. But as the passion which he had expressed on account of that prelate's conduct, had probably been the cause of his violent death, he promised to serve three years against the infidels either in Spain or Palestine, if the pope should require him; and he agreed to permit appeals to the holy see, in ecclesiastical causes, on surety being given that nothing should be attempted against the rights of his crown'. Henry seemed now to have reached the pinnacle of human grandeur and felicity. His dangerous contro

versy with the church was at an end, and he appeared to be equally happy in his domestic situation and his political government. But this tranquillity was of short duration. Prince Henry, at the instigation of Lewis

VII. his father-in-law, insisted that his father A. D. 1173. should resign to him either the kingdom of England, or the duchy of Normandy: and the king's two younger sons, Geoffrey and Richard, also leagued with the court of France, by the persuasions of their mother, queen Eleanor; whose jealousy, when in years, was, as violent as her amorous passions, in youth.

Thus Europe saw, with astonishment, the best and most indulgent of parents obliged to maintain war against

18. Benedict. Abbas. M. Paris. Expugnat. Hibern. lib. i.

19. M. Paris. R. Hoveden.

his