E; the passage appointed for the martyrdom of St.
Stephen, whom the primate thereby tacitly pretended to resemble, in
his sufferings for the sake of righteousness. He went thence to
court, arrayed in his sacred vestments: as soon as he arrived within
the palace gate, he took the cross into his own hands, bore it aloft
as his protection, and marched, in that posture, into the royal
apartments [p]. The king, who was in an inner room, was astonished at
this parade, by which the primate seemed to menace him and his court
with the sentence of excommunication; and he sent some of the prelates
to remonstrate with him on account of such audacious behaviour. These
prelates complained to Becket, that, by subscribing himself to the
constitutions of Clarendon, he had seduced them to imitate his
example; and that now, when it was too late, he pretended to shake off
all subordination to the civil power, and appeared desirous of
involving them in the guilt which must attend any violation of those
laws, established by their consent, and ratified by their
subscriptions [q]. Becket replied, that he had indeed subscribed the
constitutions of Clarendon, LEGALLY, WITH GOOD FAITH, AND WITHOUT
FRAUD OR RESERVE; but in these words was virtually implied a salvo for
the rights of their order, which, being connected with the cause of
God and his church, could never be relinquished by their oaths and
engagements: that if he and they had erred in resigning the
ecclesiastical privileges, the best atonement they could now make was
to retract their consent, which, in such a case, could never be
obligatory, and to follow the pope's authority, who had solemnly
annulled the constitutions of Clarendon, and had absolved them from
all oaths which they had taken to observe them: that a determined
resolution was evidently embraced to oppress the church; the storm had
first broken upon him; for a slight offence, and which too was falsely
imputed to him, he had been tyrannically condemned to a grievous
penalty; a new and unheard-of claim was since started, in which he
could expect no justice; and he plainly saw, that he was the destined
victim, who, by his ruin, must prepare the way for the abrogation of
all spiritual immunities; that he strictly inhibited them who were his
suffragans from assisting at any such trial, or giving their sanction
to any sentence against him; he put himself and his see under the
protection of the supreme pontiff; and appealed to