the charge of the treasury, and regulated the expenditure of the king. dom. Such were his occupations when the King was in England; such, without an associate or inspector, when the King resided in Normandy. And not only the King, but the nobility-even those who were secretly stung with envy by his good fortune, and more especially the inferior ministers and the debtors of the King-gave him almost whatever he could fancy. Did he desire to add to his domain any contiguous possession, he would soon lay hold of it by entreaty, or purchase, or force. He erected splendid mansions of unrivalled magnificence on all his estates. His cathedral he dignified to the utmost with matchless buildings and ornaments. In the beginning of Stephen's reign his power was undiminished, the King repeated often to his companions, 'By the birth of God, I would give him half England, if he asked for it. Till the time be ripe, he shall tire of asking before I tire of giving.' But Fortune, who in former times had flattered him so long and so transcendently, at last cruelly pierced him with scorpion sting. The height of his calamity was, I think, a circumstance which even I cannot help commisserating;—that though in his fall he exhibited to the world a picture of such wretchedness, yet there were very few who pitied him; so much envy and hatred had his excessive prosperity drawn on him from all classes, not excepting those very persons whom he had advanced to honour."*

The precise time when Roger gave up the custody of the Great Seal in exchange for the office of Chief Justiciar is not ascertained; and there is great obscurity with respect to the Chancellors after him, during the remainder of the reign of Henry I. WALDRIC, GODFREY Bishop of Bath, HERBERT Bishop of Norwich, GEOFFREY RUFUS Bishop of Durham, RANULFUS, or ARNULPH, and REGINALD Prior of Montague, are enumerated in different lists of Chancellors, and are casually noticed by different writers as having held the Great Seal in this interval; but the superior splendour of Roger of Salisbury threw them all into obscurity; and little is known respecting any of them, with the exception of Geoffrey Rufus and Ranulphus, and it would have been well for the memory of these two if they had been as little known as all the rest.

GEOFFREY RUFUS is famous for being recorded as the first that openly bought the office of Chancellor for money. There was an ancient legal maxim, "Quod Cancellaria non emenda est,"‡ yet the Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I. states that Geoffrey Rufus, Bishop of Durham, purchased the Chancery from the King for 30067. 13s. 4d., a sum equivalent to 45,000l. of present money; and he must, no doubt, have

+ Or. Inst. 1. Spel. Gloss. 109.

* Gesta, Reg. Angl. p. 637. This probably arose from the semi-sacred nature of the office, including the care of the King's chapel and the keeping of his conscience, so that the purchase of it might be considered to savour of simony.

Et idem Cancellarius, viz., " Gaufridus debet MMM et vil. et xiijs. et iiijd. pro sigillo." This is the most ancient roll in the series, and for many years was sup. posed to belong to the 5th Stephen. But, first, Prynne discovered it had been wrongfully assigned, and fixed it to the 18th Henry I.:-then Madox (though he

been guilty of much extortion and oppression to indemnify himself for so great an outlay. From the fractional sum which the Great Seal then fetched, we might almost suppose that it had been put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder. In subsequent reigns we shall find other instances of its being disposed of for money; but we are never distinctly informed whether this was by public auction or private contract.*

Of RANULPHUS Henry of Huntingdon relates, that from the general hatred excited by his misdeeds, he was supposed to have come to his end by a special visitation of Divine Providence. The King having kept his Christmas at Dunstable, proceeded to Berkhamstead. "Here there was a manifestation of God worthy of himself. Ranulphus, the King's Chancellor, had laboured under sickness for twenty years. Nevertheless, at court he was ever more eager than a young man after all manner of wickedness, oppressing the innocent and grasping many estates for his own use. It was his boast, that while his body languished his mind was still vigorous. As he was conducting the royal party to his castle, where the King proposed to stay some time as his guest, and he had reached the top of a hill from which the stately structure might be descried,-while he was pointing to it with great elation, he fell from his horse, and a monk rode over him. In consequence, he was so bruised that he breathed his last in a few days. Ecce quanta superbia quam vilissime, Deo volente, deperiit."†

We shall not attempt giving any further details respecting the Chancellors of Henry I. It is to be regretted that the accounts of them which have descended to us are so very scanty. From the character of this Sovereign, who was not only a great warrior, but the brightest wit and most accomplished scholar of his age, we may believe that those who were selected by him to hold his great seal, and consequently to be in constant familiar intercourse with him, were distinguished by their talents, acquirements, and agreeable manners. We should be particularly glad to know which of them was the author of the Code which passes under the name of Henry I., but which must have been compiled by a jurist under his orders, a work so useful to instruct us in the manners and customs of the times, and showing the great dis tinction still made between the English and the Normans. But though the names of these functionaries are preserved as having filled the always quotes it as 5 Steph. in the body of his "Exchequer,") in a learned Latin "Disceptatio," following the "Dialogus de Scaccario," at the end of his work, clearly shows that it belongs to Henry's reign, but leaves the precise year uncer. tain :-lastly, Mr. Joseph Hunter, in his Preface to the Roll itself, published by the Record Commission, proves without the possibility of a doubt, that the Roll is that of 31 Henry I.

The office of Common-law Judge was likewise venal. The same year Richard Fitz-Alured fined in fifteen marks of silver that he might sit with Ralph Basset at the King's Pleas," Ricardus filius Aluredi dabat xv. marcas argenti ut sederet cum Radulfo Basset ad Placita Regis."-Mad. Ex. iv. 3.

+ Hen. Hunt. lib. vii. p. 382. The last reflection is too quaint for translation.

office of Chancellor, dark night envelopes their history and their cha

racter.

When, on the usurpation of Stephen, the Ex-chancellor Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, had by his treachery to the family of Henry, his benefactor, acquired great influence with the new Sovereign and made himself Treasurer, he obtained for his nephew ALEXANDER the office of Chancellor, and made him Bishop of Lincoln.

It is related that there was in the first year of this reign a convention of the estates held at Oxford, at which the Chancellor presided under the King, when a charter was passed, confirming the liberties of the church, the barons, and the people.* On this occasion the new Chancellor seems to have given considerable satisfaction; but it is said that having been brought up in great luxury by his uncle, he had contracted an inordinate taste for expense, which soon brought him into difficulty and disgrace. Wishing to excel other chiefs by his splendour and his largesses, he tried to supply the deficiency of his own resources by preying upon others who were in his power. Still his extravagance exceeded all his means of supplying it. His vanity was gratified by being called "the Magnificent" at the Court of Rome. He went thither in 1142, and again in 1144, with a view to settle the disputes between the King and the Pope, and he had the singular good luck in these negotiations to please both parties. With the approbation of the King he was appointed legate by the Pope, with power to convene a Synod, at which several useful canons were made to repress the enormities of the times. He made a third journey to the Pope, then in the south of France, where, in the month of August, in the year 1147, growing sick, as was supposed from the heat of the climate, he returned home and died.

During his career he had been more than once in arms against his Sovereign. Besides founding convents, he built three strong castles, Banbury, Sleford, and Newark. These excited the jealousy of Stephen, who compelled him to surrender them, and, after he had got possession of Newark, this capricious tyrant for some time detained him in prison. However, he was speedily restored to favour, and at his death was denominated "Flos et Cacumen Regni et Regis."+

His successor as Chancellor was the natural son of his uncle "ROGER THE GREAT," Bishop of Salisbury. This promotion shows strongly the power and influence which the family had attained; the new Chancellor displayed no personal good qualities to compensate for the stain on his birth. He is mentioned by the monkish historians under the name of "ROGER PAUPER." He seems neither to have possessed the wealth nor the pliancy of his father. Taking part with the Barons who held out their castles against the King, he was made prisoner. He might have been set at liberty if he would have changed sides; but this he constantly refused to do, even when threatened with the penalties *Parl. Hist. 5.

+ Hen. Hunt. lib. vii. p. 290. Guil. Neib. l. i. c. 6.

of treason. As a singular favour he was allowed to abjure the realm, and he is supposed to have died in exile.*

We ought here to mention the Chancellors of Queen [A. D. 1142.] Matilda. Though not enumerated by historians among the sovereigns of England, she was crowned Queen, and while Stephen was her prisoner,-by the prowess and fidelity of her natural brother, Robert Earl of Gloucester, she was in the enjoyment of supreme power throughout the greatest part of the kingdom. Making the city of Gloucester her metropolis, she filled up all the great offices of state with her adherents. She was the first English sovereign that ever intrusted the Great Seal to the keeping of a layman. For her Chancellor she had WILLIAM FITZGILBERT, a knight who had gallantly fought for her; and she granted the office in reversion to Alberic de Vere, Earl of Oxford, to be held by William de Vere his brother, when it should be rendered up by William Fitzgilbert.

But Stephen was released from prison, and after a [A. D. 1150-51.] protracted struggle, being successful in the field, this grant was nullified by the arrangement allowing him to reign during his life, and the sceptre on his death to descend to the issue of Matilda. There are three other Chancellors of this reign, whose names have been discovered by antiquaries, PHILIP, ROBERT DE GAUT, and REGINALD, Abbot of Walden ;† but every thing respecting them is left in impenetrable obscurity. What part they took in the civil war, whether they mitigated or aggravated its horrors, and whether they were steady to their party or changed sides as interest prompted, must remain for ever unknown. Of this disturbed period little can be learned respecting the administration of justice or change of laws. The contending parties were both exclusively Norman; the descendants of the conquered were equally oppressed by both, and no one had yet arisen to vindicate the reputation or to defend the rights of the Anglo-Saxon race. The darkest hour is immediately before break of day, and the next Chancellor we have to introduce to the reader was of Saxon origin; he was one of the most distinguished men of any race that this island has ever produced, and he is now invoked as a Saint by all the votaries of the Romish church. We have a full and minute biography of him by a contemporary who was his kinsman, and the various events of his life, which make a conspicuous figure in our national annals, are as well known and authenticated as if he had flourished in the eighteenth century.

CHAPTER III.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR THOMAS à BECKET.

KING STEPHEN having died in the year 1154, he was succeeded by the son of Matilda, the first of the Plantagenet line,-a prince for vigour and ability equal to any that ever filled the throne of Eng[A. D. 1154.] land. From early youth he had given presage of his discrimination and talents for government, and one of the first acts of his reign after his arrival in England, was to appoint as his Chancellor the famous THOMAS à BECKET.*

Gilbert Beck or Becket, the father of this most extraordinary man, was of Saxon descent, a merchant in London, and though only of moderate wealth had served the office of sheriff of that city. His mother, whose name was Matilda, was certainly of the same race, and born in the same condition of life as her husband;-although, after her son had become chancellor and archbishop, a martyr and a saint,—a romantic story was invented that she was the daughter of an Emir in Palestine; that Gilbert, her future consort, having joined a crusade and being taken prisoner by her father, she fell in love with him; that when he escaped and returned to his native country, she followed him, knowing no words of any western tongue except "London" and "Gilbert ;" that by the use of these she at last found him in Cheapside; and that being converted to Christianity and baptized, she became his wife.†

Thomas, their only child, was born in London in the year 1119, in the reign of Henry I. Being destined for the Church, his education was begun at Merton Abbey in Surrey, and from thence he was transferred to the schools of London, which, (making ample allowance for exaggerated praise) seem then to have been very flourishing.

He

* We are not informed in whose custody the Great Seal was between the king's accession and the appointment of Becket.

That monkish chroniclers and old ballad-mongers should have repeated and credited this fable is not surprising; but I cannot conceal my astonishment to find it gravely narrated for truth by two recent, most discriminating and truthful historians, Sharon Turner and Thierry, who, while they were enlivening, one would have thought must have had some suspicion that they were deluding their readers. Becket himself, in an epistle in which he gives an account of his origin, is entirely silent about his Syrian blood, and Fitzstephen, his secretary, says expressly that he was born of parents who were citizens of London. I should much sooner expect to find the statement believed, that his mother when with child with him dreamed that she carried Canterbury Cathedral in her womb, or that the midwife, when she first received him into the world, exclaimed, "Here comes an archbishop,"-for which there is uncontradicted authority, "Eum in lucem editum obstetrix in manibus tollens, ait, Archiepiscopum quendam a terra elevavi." -Fitzst. 10. The story of the Emir's daughter first appears in the compilation called Quadrilogus, not written till long after, lib. i. C. 2.

"In Lundonia tres principales ecclesiæ scholas celebres habent de privilegio et antiqua dignitate. Disputant scholares, quidam demonstrative, dialectice alii;