His remains were deposited in a magnificent shrine, which was speedily enriched by presents from all parts of Europe. Devotees thronged around his tomb, and thousands of miracles were commonly believed to have been performed there. But ages of increasing light have scattered these delusions, and unmasked this ambitious priest. He now stands confessed, as a consummate hypocrite, an implacable bigot, and an ungrateful traitor. He was undoubtedly possessed of great talents, which, if properly directed, and under the influence of right principles, might have rendered him the blessing of his age and country. But unhappily they were so dreadfully perverted, that he became a scourge to his sovereign, and a curse to society at large.

Hoveden. M. Paris. Gervais. Fitz-steph. W. Neubrig.

REFLECTIONS.

It is a signal happiness to live under the protection of a well-regulated government-a government that steers a middle course between licentiousness on the one hand, and oppression on the other-that maintains equally the rights of the higher and lower classes of societythat guards alike the authority of the sovereign, and the liberty of the subject. When this is the case, social security and national prosperity must be the certain result. The magistrate, who governs according to these principles, will not bear the sword in vain; but will auswer the end of his appointment, by being a "terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well." To the influence of these principles, embodied as they are in her happy constitution, Britain is chiefly indebted for the rank she holds among the nations of the earth, and the high degree of happiness which her inhabitants enjoy. So long as these shall characterize her administration, they will confer upon her more real dignity than all the laurels she has won, or all the treasures which commerce has poured into her lap.-But where shall we look on

earth for a government perfectly free from corruption and error? We must penetrate far beyond the narrow confines of this inferior world, if we would discover a kingdom, all whose laws are "holy, just and good;" and all whose inhabitants enjoy perfect security and undisturbed repose. He who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and he alone, administers the affairs of his vast empire without imperfection. In his government may be traced, wisdom without the least mixture of error, purity without the slightest taint of corruption, and justice sweetly blended with mercy and compassion. Happy, thrice happy they, who repose beneath the shadow of his divine protection, and enjoy the privileges of his spiritual, his celestial kingdom!

It is impossible to contemplate, without mingled sentiments of indignation and horror, the degraded and vicious character of the professed ministers of religion, at the period to which the preceding pages refer. Accused of the most heinous crimes, which were either overlooked or treated as venial offences, the influence of their example must have been dreadfully contagious. When those who sustain the sacred office, instead of exerting themselves to restrain the aboundings of iniquity, become the fomenters of sedition, or ringleaders of vice, the mischief which they may be the means of producing is incalculably great. It is " as when a standard-bearer falls." What, then, can be expected, but that panic and dismay spread through the camp of Israel, and that myriads, betrayed by their fatal example, become the prey of the destroyer. It is of the utmost importance, that they be "clean, who bear the vessels of the sanctuary;" and that on their sacred vestments should be inscribed, in characters which all may read, "Holiness to the Lord!

If the unyielding firmness which Becket displayed had been exerted in a nobler cause-if he had laboured with equal zeal to stem the torrent of vice, or to arrest ine growth of those corruptions which were making rapid progress in that church, of which he was a distinguished member-and if, in the ardent pursuit of these objects, his life had been sacrificed-he would have obtained imperishable renown, and been deservedly enrolled among

VOL. I.

I

the confessors and martyrs who have sealed the truth with their blood. But when we cannot but perceive that all this zeal was enkindled on the altar of pride, with the unhallowed fire of worldly ambition-that the mortifications of body to which he submitted, were but the hypocritical artifices of priestcraft, which ill concealed "the pride and naughtiness of his heart"-and that his ostentatious devctions were but employed as panders to his malignant passions-then, indeed, this angel of light is transformed into a minister of darkness, falls like lightning from heaven, and sinks for ever in merited infamy and ruin.

No plea, however, can be admitted in justification of the manner and instruments of Becket's death; for assassination, by whomsoever committed, or under whatever circumstances, must always be a moral offence of deepest dye. Yet it is scarcely possible not to recognise, in this event, the avenging hand of JEHOVAH. Many ages before this transaction took place, it had been recorded in indelible characters, "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Many impressive comments on these admonitory words had been accumulating from age to age; yet, uninstructed alike by the warnings of scripture, and the valuable lessons of antiquity, this presumptuous prelate pressed forward to the giddy steep, and rendered himself famous, no less by the uddenness of his fall, than by the elevation which he had previously obtained.-Nor he alone, but, since the memorable period of his downfall, thousands of the infatuated votaries of ambition have pursued the same perilous course, and found it to terminate in the same ignominy and ruin. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery "places, thou castedst them down into destruction. "How are they brought into desolation as in a moment !

they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream "when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, "thou shalt despise their image."

ESSAY II.

The Reign of HENRY II. concluded.

A. D. 1170-1189.

THE intelligence of Becket's death, so far from proving grateful to the king, filled him with the utmost consternation. He saw at once the advantage it would give to his enemies, and trembled for the consequences of an act which he had unintentionally occasioned. He well knew that it would produce a strong sensation at the court of Rome, and be likely to bring down upon him at once, those anathemas which it had been the labour of many years to avert. His first object was, therefore, to convince the world, and especially the Roman pontiff, that he was innocent of Becket's murder. With this design, he abandoned himself to the deepest sorrow, and shut himself up in a dark room three successive days and nights, during which period he suffered no one to approach him, and refused all manner of food. An embassy was despatched to Rome, consisting of eight persons of distinguished rank, three of whom were prelates; who were instructed to declare on oath that their sovereign had neither contrived nor approved the death of the archbishop; and that he was willing to submit himself to the decision of the Holy See. Pope Alexander was so far pacified by their entreaties and presents, as to delay the publication of the interdict, till the matter should be fully investigated by legates specially appointed for that pur

pose.

The threatened storm having been thus averted, Henry resolved on the prosecution of a design which he had meditated from the commencement of his reign, but which he had not yet found leisure to execute. This was the subjugation of Ireland; a country at that time immersed in the deepest ignorance, and rent asunder by intestine divisions. Henry had obtained, in the commencement of his reign, a warrant from Pope Adrian, (the only English

man who ever filled the papal chair), to annex that island to his widely-extended empire. The bull containing this grant was dated A. D. 1156, and is one of the most cu rious documents of that age, as it proves what were the pretensions of the Roman pontiffs, and the right they claimed to dispose of crowns and kingdoms at their pleasure. In his pontifical letter, Adrian commends the zeal of the king in wishing to extend the limits of the church, and permits him to take possession of Ireland, on condition that its inhabitants were required to pay the tribute of Peter-pence, and to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope. Armed with this ecclesiastical weapon, Henry now proceeded to Ireland, accompanied by a veteran army.

The state of the island was peculiarly favourable to his design. It was divided into five sovereignties, Munster, Leinster, Meath, Ulster, and Connaught; each of which was governed by its independent chief. One of these petty sovereigns, Dermot kmg of Leinster, had been driven out of his kingdom by his own subjects, whom he had cruelly oppressed, aided by a neighbouring prince, whose wife he had seduced. Dermot solicited the assistance of Henry to enable him to recover his crown, which he promised to hold as a vassal of England. Henry was too much occupied with continental affairs to admit of his personal interference when this application was made; but he furnished Dermot with letters patent, to authorize any of his subjects who were inclined to raise forces for this enterprise. Two powerful barons, named FitzStephen and Richard de Clare, surnamed Strong-bow, embarked in this undertaking, and quickly obtained possession of several stroug fortresses. But Henry had no intention that his subjects should rob him of the honour which would result from the entire subjugation of Ireland. On his arrival in that island with his army, he made an unobstructed progress through its provinces, and received the homage of all its chiefs. The native princes were for the most part confirmed in their dominions; and those English barons who had made conquests were permitted to retain them. Before Henry quitted the island, he introduced among its inhabitants those civil and political institutions which their circumstances required, and which