the church. The door was immediately closed and barred against the assassins, who were already in sight. 10. Becket walked leisurely along the transept", and was ascending the steps which led to his favorite altar, when he heard the cries of the knights, demanding admission at the door. Without hesitation, he ordered it to be thrown open, saying that the house of God should not be made a military fortress. Immediately his attendants, monks, and clergy, dispersed to conceal themselves, some behind the columns, others under the altars. Had he followed their example, he might have saved his life; for it was growing dark, and both the crypts and the staircase before him, which led to the roof, offered places of concealment. But he turned to meet his enemies; and stationing himself, with his back against a column, between the altars of St. Mary and St. Bennet, waited their approach. 11. The four knights and their twelve companions rushed into the church, with drawn swords and loud cries. "To me, ye king's men," shouted their leader. "Where is the traitor?" exclaimed Hugh of Horsey, a military sub-deacon, known by the characteristic surname of Manclerc. No answer was returned; but to the question, "Where is the archbishop?” Becket replied, "Here I am, the archbishop, but no traitor. What is your will?" They turned to him and insisted that he should immediately absolve all whom he had placed under ecclesiastical censures; to which he replied that, until they had promised satisfaction, he could not. "Then die," exclaimed a voice. "I am ready," returned the prelate, "to die for the cause of God and the Church. But I forbid you, in the name of the Almighty God, to touch any one of my household, clerk or layman." 12. There seems to have been some hesitation on the part of the murderers. They would rather have shed his blood without the church than within its walls. An attempt was made by some of them to drag him away; but he resisted it with success, through the aid of a clergyman called Edward Grim, who threw his arms round the archbishop's waist. "Reginald," said Becket to Fitzurse, "how dare you do this? Remember, that you have been my man." "I am now the king's man," replied the assassin, aiming a blow at the primate's head. Grim interposed his arm, which was broken and severed in two; still the sword passed through Becket's cap and wounded him on the crown. 13. As he felt the blood trickling down his cheek, he wiped it away with his sleeve, and having joined his hands and bent his head in the attitude of prayer, said, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." In this posture, with his face to his murderers, and without shrinking or speaking, he awaited a second stroke, which threw him on his knees and elbows. The third stroke was given by Richard Brito, with such violence that he cut off the upper part of the archbishop's head and broke his own sword on the pavement. The murderers were retiring, when Hugh of Horsey, turning back, set his foot on the neck of the corpse, and drawing the brain out of the skull with the point of his sword, scattered it around. "Fear not," he said, "the man will never rise again." They returned to the palace, which they rifled, taking away with them spoil, as it was estimated, to the value of two thousand marks (1170). 14. Thus, at the age of fifty-three, perished this extraordinary man, a martyr to what he deemed his duty—the preservation of the immunities of the Church. The moment of his death was the triumph of his cause. His personal virtues and exalted station, the dignity and composure with which he met his fate, the sacredness of the place where the murder was perpetrated-all contributed to inspire men with horror for his enemies and veneration for his character. [The king was thrown into the greatest consternation on hearing of the murder of the archbishop. He expressed the deepest sorrow for the words he had hastily uttered, and evinced the sincerity of his repentance by acts of the severest penance, consenting, a short time afterward, to go as a pilgrim to the tomb of the murdered prelate, already canonized as a saint and martyr, and for miles of the way walked barefoot over the flinty road, marking his steps with blood. The anniversary of Becket's death was set apart as the yearly festival of St. Thomas of Canterbury. In 1220 his bones were exhumed by order of Henry III., and deposited in a splendid shrine, which for three centuries continued to be the object of one of the great pilgrimages of Christendom. At the Reformation, Henry VIII. caused the shrine to be despoiled, erased Becket's name from the calendar, and ordered his remains to be burnt and scattered to the winds.] Sir William Wallace.--Scott. [Alexander III., King of Scotland, was an excellent sovereign and much beloved by his people. His death was very sudden; for as he was riding, in the dusk of the evening, along the sea-coast of Fife, he approached too near the brink of the precipice; and, his horse stumbling, he was precipitated down the cliffs and instantly killed. There being no heirs, disputes arose as to the succession; and the question was referred to Edward I., of England. This monarch was ambitious and energetic, and taking advantage of the circumstance, imposed upon the candidate in whose favor he decided, the condition of vassalage to himself. John Baliol was thus placed upon the Scottish throne, but in a short time revolted, but was defeated at Dunbar (1296) and dethroned. Edward thus acquired, and determined to keep, possession of the Kingdom of Scotland. The Scots were greatly exasperated at this, especially as the English rule was very oppressive; and soon began to look out for a leader under whom they might shake off the invader's yoke. The following extract is from "Tales of a Grandfather," by Sir Walter Scott.] 1. SUCH a leader, arose in the person of WILLIAM WALLACE, whose name is still so often mentioned in Scotland. It is a great pity we do not know exactly the history of this brave man; for at the time when he lived every one was so busy fighting, that there was no person to write down the history of what took place; and afterward, when there was more leisure for composition, the truths that were collected were greatly mingled with falsehood. What I shall tell you of him is generally believed to be true. 2. William Wallace was none of the high nobles of Scotland, but the son of a private gentleman, called Wallace of Ellerslie, in Renfrewshire, near Paisley. He was very tall and handsome, and one of the strongest and bravest men who ever lived. He had a very fine countenance, with a quantity of fair hair, and was particularly dexterous in the use of all weapons which were then used. Wallace, like all the Scotchmen of high spirit, had looked with great indignation upon the usurpation of the crown by Edward, and upon the insolences which the English soldiers committed upon his countrymen. 3. It is said, that when he was very young, he went a-fishing for sport in the river of Irvine, near Ayr (air). He had caught a good many trouts, which were carried by a boy, who attended him with a fishing-basket, as is usual with anglers. Two or three soldiers, who belonged to the garrison of Ayr, came up to Wallace, and insisted, with their usual insolence, on taking the fish from the boy. Wallace was contented to allow them a part of the trouts, but he refused to part with the whole basketful. The soldiers insisted, and from words came to blows. Wallace had no better weapon than the butt-end of his fishingrod; but he struck the foremost of the Englishmen so hard under the ear with it, that he killed him on the spot; and getting possession of his sword, he fought with such fury that he put the others to flight, and brought home his fish safe and sound. 4. The English governor of Ayr sought for him, to punish him with death for this action; but Wallace lay concealed among the hills and great woods till the matter was forgotten, and then appeared in another part of the country. He is said to have had other adventures of the same kind, in which he gallantly defended himself, sometimes when alone, sometimes with very few companions, against superior numbers of English, until at last his name became generally known as a terror to them. 5. But the action which occasioned his finally rising in arms, is believed to have happened in the town of Lanark. Wallace was at this time married to a lady of that place, and residing there with his wife. It chanced, as he walked in the marketplace, dressed in a green garment, with a rich dagger by his side, that an Englishman came up and insulted him on account of his finery, saying, a Scotchman had no business to wear so gay a dress, or carry so handsome a weapon. 6. It soon came to a quarrel, as on many former occasions; and Wallace having killed the Englishman, fled to his own house, which was speedily assaulted by all the English soldiers. While they were endeavoring to force their way in at the front of the house, Wallace escaped at a back door, and got in safety to a rugged and rocky glen, called the Cartland Crags, all covered with bushes and trees, and full of high precipices, in the vicinity of Lanark, where he knew he should be safe from the pursuit of the English soldiers. 7. In the mean time, the governor of Lanark, whose name was Hazelrigg, burned Wallace's house, and put his wife and servants to death; and by doing this, increased to the highest. pitch, as you may believe, the hatred which Wallace had always borne against the English. Hazelrigg also proclaimed him an outlaw, and offered a reward to any one who should bring him to an English garrison, alive or dead. 8. On the other hand, Wallace soon collected a body of men, outlawed like himself, or willing to become so, rather than any longer to endure the oppression of the English. One of his earliest expeditions was directed against Hazelrigg, whom he killed, and thus avenged the death of his wife. He fought skirmishes with the soldiers who were sent against him, often defeated them, and at length became so well known and so formidable, that multitudes began to resort to his standard, until he was at the head of an army, with which he proposed to restore his country to independence. 9. About this time is said to have taken place a memorable event, which the Scottish people call the Barns of Ayr. It is said, the English governor of Ayr had invited the greatest part of the Scottish nobility and gentry in the western parts, to meet him in some large buildings called the Barns of Ayr, for the purpose of friendly conference upon the affairs of the nation. But the English earl entertained the treacherous purpose of putting the Scottish gentlemen to death. 10. The English soldiers had halters with running nooses ready prepared, and hung upon the beams which supported the roof, and as the Scottish gentlemen were admitted by two and two at a time, the nooses were thrown over their heads, and they were pulled up by the necks, and thus hanged or strangled to death. Among those who were slain in this base and treach erous manner, was, it is said, Sir Ranald Crawford, sheriff of the County of Ayr, and uncle to William Wallace. 11. When Wallace heard of what had befallen, he was dreadfully enraged, and, collecting his men in a wood near to the town of Ayr, he resolved to be revenged on the authors of this great crime. The English in the meanwhile made much feasting, and when they had eaten and drank plentifully they lay |