influenced it for good, advanced it in true enlightenment, and preserved it in its darkest hour. It was the cause of THE PEOPLE in a pre-eminent sense, not in that of the infidel demagogues who both here and in France would use that sacred watchword as the excuse for all that is violent, but in that of true Religion, which regards the Christian world as one great brotherhood, in which, while different positions imply different ranks, and different responsibilities require different respects, all are joined and are equal in the one great law that must be the foundation of all domestic and political intercourses, the love of the brethren. Of this cause Thomas à Becket was the champion and the martyr, and we who have entered into the fruits of his labours, in the happy organization of what we affectionately call Old England, and who in the stormy future before us see a prospect of disturbances in the same, should not be forgetful of the merits or unsympathizing in the sufferings of that noble and saintly prelate. "Ecce sacerdos magnus qui in diebus suis placuit DEO et inventus est justus; et in tempore iracundiæ factus est reconciliatio." Thomas à Becket was born in the city of London about the year 1118. The usual babillage of nurses has been gravely turned into prophecy by the chroniclers, and the future Archbishop was hailed at the very hour of his birth. Of his father, Gilbert Becket, a citizen in London, little is known save his name. It is disputed whether he was of Norman or Saxon extraction, and the identification of the interests of the Church with the poor (a note of it in all pure ages,) has been tortured by worldly historians into an assertion that Becket was by birth Saxon, and that his quarrel with the King was in protecting his brethren. Of his mother, still less is certain: her name was Rose or Matilda, and tradition soon invested her with a romantic air. It was said that Gilbert taking upon him the LORD'S Cross by way of penance, set out with a single servant named Richard to the Holy Land. There he was made prisoner and enslaved by one Amurath, whose daughter became attached to the fair-haired Northman. Much they communed with regard to the Christian faith, and though she declared she would become a Christian and be his wife, he apprehensive of deceit put her off from day to day. At last Gilbert and his servant broke their chains and escaped, and Amurath's daughter braving the danger of a distant journey, forsook her home and followed them to London. Only knowing the words "London" and "Gilbert," she by chance was recognized by his servant. The rest of the tale need not be recited. The Paynim's daughter was received into the Church of CHRIST, was married to her former slave, and became the mother of the future Martyr. We have the Archbishop's own testimony that his mother, whatever her extraction was, brought him up piously and godly, "in the fear of the LORD and the reverence which was due to CHRIST'S Mother, the Holy Virgin Mary, whom next to her Divine SoN, he adopted as his patroness." We are told that his mother used to weigh him at stated times, placing in the opposite scale bread, meat, and nothing, until they equalled the weight of the child: all these were then given to the poor. She died before he was twenty-one, and before that time he is described as being "modest and agreeable in speech, in person tall and elegant, easily led by good example, prudent beyond his years, combining the personal beauty of youth with the gravity of a more advanced age.' He was educated first in the schools of London, and then at Merton Abbey, whence he proceeded to finish his education at Paris. While young, a circumstance occurred which tended to rivet upon his mind the holy lessons he had learnt from his mother. While indulging in the manly sport of hawking, he was by accident precipitated into a mill stream: anxious to save his falcon, he was nearly drawn in under the wheel, when the Providence of GoD interfered and he was saved. The effect of this circumstance on a well-disciplined generous mind, may have sustained him through. many of the trials of an active youth. On his return from Paris, he began public life as a clerk under the Sheriff of London, but he soon found a friendly patron in the person of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who retained him at his court, and finding his talents superior, and his address winning, presented him to two livings, and ordained him deacon. Thomas was now fairly enlisted on the clerical profession, and accordingly obtained permission to pursue his studies in canon and civil law at Auxerre, and at Bologna, where he attended the lectures of the celebrated Gratian. On his return he was speedily promoted through the patronage of Theobald to the important position of Archdeacon of Canterbury. In this place he was remarkable for his condescension to all below him, and for his charity to the poor. He lived a life of remarkable purity, the more strange from the temptations in which he was placed, for now he was launched, one of the handsomest and most accomplished young men in the kingdom, into the stormy sea of worldly politics. The future saint soon showed his ability in influencing the political events of his times. He was employed in two negociations with the court of Rome, which was at that time the centre of the civilization of the world, and the arbiter of the politics of Europe. The first of these was to obtain the restoration of the legatine power to the See of Canterbury, which had been for some reason interrupted, and the second was to obtain a bull from Pope Eugenius forbidding the bishops to anoint King Stephen's son as King of England. This was obtained with some difficulty; for Henry Plantagenet, in whose favour it was requested, had already shown some disposition to resist the powers of the Church, and it was felt necessary by the English prelates, that some one should be placed near his person who should, by securing his affections, support the cause of the Church against the powers of the world. The services and admirable qualifications of the Roman ambassador, pointed him out to Theobald and the rest, as the fittest person for the situation, and at the age of thirty-eight Becket was appointed Chancellor of England. Viewing the Church as a purely spiritual polity, and therefore not to be compared with the dignities of this world, Becket was now the second person in the realm, and by the fascination of his manners, he speedily gained such ascendancy over the young king, that all matters of state were given up to his guidance and direction. He now began to live in a splendour almost regal. Feasting and sumptuous fare were ever to be found at his court, the young nobility were brought up as pages at his table, where foreign ambassadors were constantly entertained, and every luxury appeared in profusion. One feels a difficulty in reconciling this with his duties as a cleric, and certainly one cannot defend, except by the prevalent morality of the age, the monstrous quantity of preferment he held; but it must be recollected, that in those days a much more wholesome estimate of the comparative dignity of the priesthood and diaconate prevailed. The many minor orders of the Church accustomed men to expect different degrees of responsibility from each, and while in all, freedom from gross sin was demanded, there was a very different standard required of those who held the inferior offices of Holy Church, and those who had to touch the sacred and tremendous Mysteries. Then the diaconate was not regarded as a mere step to the priesthood, for many never rose higher; neither did it involve the superhuman holiness of life which the higher office claimed as its requisite: indeed any person who will take the trouble of looking into our own Office of Ordination, will observe that such is still in theory the view of the English Church. It is true that Becket seems to have for the time "laid aside the deacon," from a conversation he had with Aschetinus, prior of Leicester; but if he did, he repented of it bitterly afterwards, and even then, in the midst of all his pageantry he lived a hidden life, for anecdotes remain to us of his private purity. We are told, "he was himself singularly frugal," and "amid all this pomp of worldly honours, he often bared his back in private to the scourge, and received the lash of discipline from Ralph, prior of the Holy Trinity, when he was in the neighbourhood of London, and at Canterbury, from Thomas, a priest of S. Martin's." A sumptuous embassy to Paris made his splendour known throughout Europe, and in the succeeding war with France, which the profligate Eleanor caused, we find him in armour leading his knights to battle, and unhorsing the valiant Engleran de Trie. Such things in those violent days were not uncommon. One of the Bishops of Beauvais always fought with a mace, because being a priest he liked not to shed blood; and on another occasion, when the Pope sent to a king to set at liberty one of his prelates who had been made prisoner in battle, the king sent the harness in which he had been taken, with these words, "Nonne hæc vestimenta filii tui Joseph ?" No wonder then that a deacon, who for years had perhaps never devoted himself to the clerical duties, should not excite scandal by his conduct. In short, Becket was, as in fact, so in life more of a Chancellor than a churchman, and this view may account for the various positions of secular occupation into which his ardent nature drew him. We cannot believe that during this time he betrayed the interests of the Church, but we must do him credit for an active and faithful discharge of present duties. That he was virtuous, and true, and religious, we believe; but he was not yet a saint. He had yet to be perfected by suffering. : A change in his fortune was now to take place in 1161 or 1162, Archbishop Theobald died, and the King fancying that he would be a facile tool in his hands, immediately declared that Becket should succeed. The Church was in some fear of his elevation, he had been a faithful servant to the King, he had lived an apparently worldly life, he was not a Benedictine monk-a stricter Wolsey was the character that seemed about to be forced upon them. But GoD had determined otherwise; and accordingly, with the exception of Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of Hereford, the bishops and monks of Canterbury unanimously concurred in electing the royal nominee. Becket had had a year to ponder the matter, had told the King what the future must be, and having fully counted the cost, at once accepted the office. We may conceive that that year was the turning point in his spiritual state. It was his one great trial, and he conquered. He had warned the King of the probable future, but neither that King nor any one else was prepared for the complete change of life which followed his consecration. Hear a contemporary author. "The Archbishop in his consecration was anointed with the visible unction of God's mercy, and pulling off the secular man was clothed in CHRIST JESUS; he laid aside the temporal duties of the Chancellor, and how to discharge the functions of a good Archbishop alone occupied his thoughts. To this end he kept watch over his mind with all diligence, his words assumed a serious tone so as to edify the hearer: his works were those of mercy and piety: his thoughts those of justice and equity. Clad in sackcloth of the coarsest kind reaching to his thighs, he mortified his flesh by spare diet, and his general drink was water, in which hay had been boiled. He often exposed his naked back to the scourge of discipline. Immediately over the sackcloth he wore the monk's habit, as being Abbot of the monks of Canterbury; above this he wore the dress of a canon, that he might be in conformity with the clerks, but the stole, that delightful yoke which binds us to CHRIST was ever day and night around his neck. His countenance externally * * was fashioned like that of the multitude, but in his inward soul he was very different. In these respects he took for his pattern S. Sebastian and S. Cecilia-the former of whom, beneath the covering of a military cloak, bore the spirit of a soldier of CHRIST, while the latter subduing the flesh with sackcloth appeared outwardly adorned in vestments wrought with gold. In his talk and dress he essayed to be religious rather than to seem so. Intent on prayer he endeavoured to reconcile, and in a manner to unite his created spirit to the Great Spirit his Creator. As the interpreter between GoD and man, he in his prayers commended man to God, whilst in his preaching he commended God to men. He was zealous in reading the Scriptures, and had some one to instruct him in its sacred pages." After mentioning how Thomas doubled the alms which Theobald had before increased, the historian continues: * "In his secret cell he every day kneeling on his knees washed the feet of thirteen beggars in memory of CHRIST. * In his solitary hours it was marvellous how plentifully he moralized in tears, and when he was serving at the altar, you would fancy he had before him our LORD's Passion bodily in the flesh. He handled the Holy Sacrament with awe and respect, so that his very manner confirmed the faith and conduct of the lookers on. Further he received into his house the wandering and needy: he clothed many against the severities of winter, At Canterbury he frequented the cloisters, where he sat like one of the monks who generally sit there, studying some useful book; afterwards he went to meet the infirm monks and to learn their wishes, that he might gratify them. He was the comfort of the oppressed, the husband of the widowed, the friend of the orphan. * In all his actions he studied firmness, grandeur, gravity, and decorum; to refer all things to the test of wisdom; to govern himself; * *to believe himself born not for himself but for all who needed his assistance, and especially for his own church, the good of which was on his shoulders; to contemplate heavenly things even whilst he was on earth; to emulate JESUS CHRIST, Who was born and came down from heaven to suffer; to love Him and keep His commandments; and to seek the salvation of himself and the souls committed to his charge." * All this asceticism was unknown at the time, for good men shrink from the fact that their deeds shall be known. Their exterior conduct, as the account quoted declares, is like that of other men, but it covers a depth of secret spirituality. During life, as has been well said, perhaps it is not known, till men begin to compare notes and think over the character of the departed, and then the hidden virtue shines forth. So much was this the case with our new convert that two letters exist, though apparently written at a later period, one from John Bishop of Poictiers, urging him to display less magnificence in his retinue the other from John of Salisbury, moving him to be less diligent in the study of canon law and school philosophy, and to betake himself "to the |