the feast of the Apostle whose name he borea (Dec. 21), b C -most probably in the year 1118; and the old biographers of course embellish the story of it with omens of his future greatness. We are told, for instance, that, when the case of the Saracen maiden was propounded by Gilbert to the Bishop of London, who was sitting with six of his brethren in consultation on the affairs of church or state, the Bishop of Chichester burst forth into prophecy that from her must proceed an illustrious offspring, by whose holiness and exertions the Church would be "exalted aloft to the glory of Christ." Then follow tales of dreams with which Matilda was favoured during her pregnancy,-dreams which are neither very consistently reported, nor very congruously interpreted of the events which were to follow. And, lastly, it is related that on the day which witnessed his entrance into the world, a fire broke out in his father's house and laid waste a great part of the city-typical, according to Grim, of the fire of devotion and the zeal for churchbuilding which were to burst forth in consequence of his martyrdom!® Gilbert in the mean time, according to the legend, had again set forth for the Holy Land; for on the morning after his marriage his troubled appearance had excited the anxiety of Matilda, and, in answer to her inquiries, he told her that his night thoughts had allowed him no rest, and that he must once more take the cross; to which the pious heroine consented, on condition that the trusty Richard should be left with her as interpreter and steward. This absence is said to have lasted three years and a half,a and is, we need hardly say, as fabulous as the earlier expedition. The parents of Thomas are described as resembling Zacharias and Elizabeth in the piety and blamelessness of their lives. Among other exercises of charity, we are told that Matilda was accustomed to weigh her boy from time to time, putting into the opposite scale money, clothes, and provisions, which she afterwards distributed to the poor. She carefully taught him in his infancy the principles of religion, and by her direction he chose the Blessed Virgin as his especial guide and patroness, "on whom, after Christ, he should cast all his trust.' "" d At the age of ten Thomas was committed for education to the Prior of St. Mary's, at Merton, in Surrey, a society of Augustinian Canons which had then been lately founded. Here, it is said, his father, on one of his visits to the boy, prostrated himself reverentially before him. "Foolish old man," said the prior, "what art thou doing? Dost thou fall down at the feet of thy son? It would be fitter that he should do thee that honour." "I know, Sir," said Gilbert, "what I am about; for this a R. Gloucest. 8; Bromton, 1055. b Grim, 4. Roger, 97. d Joh. Sarisb. in S. T. C., i. 319. e See Manning and Bray, 'Hist. of Surrey,' i. 243-5. с с boy shall be great in the sight of the Lord." From Merton Thomas was removed to the schools of London, which he attended for some time. In these early days he displayed quick abilities and great strength of memory; but it would seem that he was little given to study, and his idler tendencies were encouraged by a rich and powerful nobleman, Richer de l'Aigle, of Pevensey Castle, in Sussex. This personage, the great grandson of a warrior who had fallen on the victorious side at Hastings, and kinsman of other De l'Aigles, who were conspicuous among the Normans of France and Italy, was in the habit, during his visits to London, of lodging at Gilbert Becket's house; and the host's handsome, clever, agreeable son became the favourite companion of the baron's amusements. They hunted and hawked together; and once, while hawking in Richer's company, Thomas narrowly escaped from being drowned in a mill-pond, or carried by the stream into the mill. The old biographers agree that his preservation was miraculous; but while one ascribes it to a spontaneous stoppage of the wheels, another makes the miracle consist in the circumstance that the miller, without knowing anything of the lad's danger, turned off the water at the critical moment.e Matilda died when her son had reached the age of • Fitzsteph. in S. T. C., i. 183. b Ib. Anon. Lambeth., ib. ii. 75. d See Order. Vital., ed. Le Prevost, t. ii. 400; iii. 29, 197, 198; Chron. Casin. iv. 7, 12, 53, &c. (in Pertz, vii.); Dugdale's Baronage, i. 495; Nicolas, Histor. Peerage, art. Aquila. e Grim, 8; Roger, 96; Garnier, 49*. There are other discrepancies in the accounts. twenty-one,a and it was probably about this date that he repaired for a time to Paris,—with a view to getting rid of his English accent, according to Thierry and Lord Campbell. Of Gilbert's later years we only know that he survived his wife, and that his circumstances were much reduced by repeated fires and other calamities. It was probably in consequence of this impoverishment that his son, on returning from France, became clerk and accountant to a rich kinsman, a merchant named Osbern Huit-deniers, and afterwards filled a like situation under the sheriffs (or portreves) of London. In those troubled days the citizens bore an important part in the contest between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, and thus, it would seem, the chief magistrate's a b Roger, 97. Thierry, iii. 97; Campbell, Lives of Chancellors, i. 63. I am not aware that this object is mentioned by the old writers (as Fitzst. in S. T. C., i. 183; Quadr. Prior, ib. ii. 190) but if it were, it would be no proof of Becket's Saxon origin, since the French of AngloNormans was not the purest. Garnier says of himself (p. 166)— "Mis languages est bons; car en France fui nez;" and John of Salisbury, in some verses De rotundatoribus verbi,' writes "Hoc ritu linguam comit Normannus, Sermo rotundus hic est, quem regula nulla coarctat, Quem gens nulla potest dicere jure suum." Entheticus de Dogm. Philosophorum, 139 seq. c Will. Cant. in S. T. C., ii. 1. d Grim, ib. i. 7. e Grim, 9. The name in Dr. Giles's edition is Octonumini, which Dean Milman, seeing that it could not be right, alters into Octouomini. (Lat. Christ. iii. 446.) Garnier, according to one MS., has "Osbern dit Deniers;" but another MS. reads "Witdeniers" (50*). Thus the French and the Latin serve to correct each other; the true readings being Wit- [or in modern French Huit-]deniers and Octonummi. Whether any such surname now exists I do not know; but we have analogous names in Twopenny and Twentypenny. [Since this was written I find that Mr. Morris takes the same view (p. 404).] Fitzst. 183. clerk was introduced into political business. He was, however, soon to emerge into a higher sphere. Among the persons who, like Richer de l'Aigle, were accustomed to lodge occasionally in Gilbert Becket's house, were two brothers of Boulogne, Archdeacon Baldwin and Master Eustace, who thus had opportunities of knowing the young Thomas from his early years, and, as he advanced in age, were greatly struck with his abilities and manners; and by these Norman ecclesiastics he was introduced into the service of the priA.D. 1144? mate Theobald, who (as we have already seen) is described by Fitzstephen as ready to welcome him for his father's sake." The favour by which his new master soon distinguished him was such as to excite envy, and especially in Roger of Pont l'Evêque, a clerk of eminent learning, but of a contentious and impracticable spirit, which he displayed throughout a long and prosperous, but restless, life. This man had recourse to every possible means of annoyance against Thomas -"the Baille-hache clerk," or "clerk with the hatchet," as he styled him from the name of a lay member of the household, in whose company he had first appeared at the archiepiscopal residence of Harrow. By his in . Pauli, 15. b See p. 14; Roger, 98; Fitzst. 184. "De Ponte Episcopi." Some writers translate this "of Bishopsbridge; " but Bromton describes Roger as a Neustrian (1057), and Pont l'Evêque in Normandy seems to be meant. d "E le clerc Baille-hache plusurs feiz "Clericum cum ascia vel securi |