f the Archbishop
to that of the Pope. By this means the authority of that prelate was
provisionally suspended; and though his friends maintained that these
appeals were not vested with the conditions required by the canons,
they were always admitted by Alexander. The King improved the delay to
purchase friends. By the Pontiff his presents were indignantly
refused: they were accepted by some of the cardinals, by the free
states in Italy, and by several princes and barons supposed to possess
influence in the papal councils.

On some occasions Henry threw himself and his cause on the equity of
Alexander; at others he demanded and obtained legates to decide the
controversy in France. Twice he condescended to receive the Primate,
and to confer with him on the subject. To avoid altercation, it was
agreed that no mention should be made of the "customs"; but each
mistrusted the other. Henry was willing to preserve the liberties of
the Church "saving the dignity of his crown"; and the Archbishop was
equally willing to obey the King, "saving the rights of the Church."
In the second conference these cautionary clauses were omitted; the
terms were satisfactorily adjusted, and the Primate, as he was about
to depart, requested of his sovereign the kiss of peace. It was the
usual termination of such discussions, the bond by which the
contending parties sealed their reconciliation. But Henry coldly
replied that he had formerly sworn never to give it him; and that he
was unwilling to incur the guilt of perjury. So flimsy an evasion
could deceive no one; and the Primate departed in the full conviction
that no reliance could be placed on the King's sincerity.

He had now in view the coronation of his son Henry, a measure the
policy of which has been amply but unsatisfactorily discussed by
modern historians. The performance of the ceremony belonged of right
to the Archbishop of Canterbury; and Becket had obtained from the Pope
a letter forbidding any of the English bishops to usurp an office
which was the privilege of his see. But it was impossible for him to
transmit this prohibition to those to whom it was addressed; and his
enemies, to remove the scruples of the prelates, exhibited a pretended
letter from the Pontiff empowering the Archbishop of York to crown the
prince. He was knighted early in the morning of June 14th; the
coronation was performed with the usual solemnities in Westminster
Abbey; and at table the King waited on his s