of his zeal in maintaining ecclesiastical
privileges, must attain the highest honours of martyrdom; while his
murderer would be ranked among the most bloody tyrants that ever were
exposed to the hatred and detestation of mankind. Interdicts and
excommunications, weapons in themselves so terrible, would, he
foresaw, be armed with double force when employed in a cause so much
calculated to work on the human passions, and so peculiarly adapted to
the eloquence of popular preachers and declaimers. In vain would he
plead his own innocence, and even his total ignorance of the fact: he
was sufficiently guilty, if the church thought proper to esteem him
such; and his concurrence in Becket's martyrdom, becoming a religious
opinion, would be received with all the implicit credit which belonged
to the most established articles of faith. These considerations gave
the king the most unaffected concern; and as it was extremely his
interest to clear himself from all suspicion, he took no care to
conceal the depth of his affliction [w]. He shut himself up from the
light of day, and from all commerce with his servants: he even
refused, during three days, all food and sustenance [x]: the
courtiers, apprehending dangerous effects from his despair, were at
last obliged to break in upon his solitude; and they employed every
topic of consolation, induced him to accept of nourishment, and
occupied his leisure in taking precautions against the consequences
which he so justly apprehended from the murder of the primate.
[FN [w] Ypod. Neust. p. 447. M. Paris, p. 87. Diceto, p. 556.
Gervase, p. 1419. [x] Hist. Quad. p. 143.]

[MN 1171. and submission of the king.] The point of chief importance
to Henry was to convince the pope of his innocence; or rather, to
persuade him that he would reap greater advantages from the
submissions of England, than from proceeding to extremities against
that kingdom. The Archbishop of Rouen, the Bishops of Worcester and
Evreux, with five persons of inferior quality, were immediately
despatched to Rome [y], and orders were given them to perform their
journey with the utmost expedition. Though the name and authority of
the court of Rome were so terrible in the remote countries of Europe,
which were sunk in profound ignorance, and were entirely unacquainted
with its character and conduct; the pope was so little revered at
home, that his inveterate enemies surrounded the gates of Rome itself,
and even controll