arms, so that they might be ready to defend themselves.

5. Judicial Reforms.-Other reforms, too were made by Henry. The law was improved in many ways. His grandfather had begun to send judges round the country, as they go now to the Assizes in different parts. Henry II. sent them out frequently, and directed them to find out the truth by asking a certain number of men in each county to which they came, who was the true owner of land in dispute, or who had committed murders or robberies. These men were sworn to tell the truth. After a while it was found that they did not always know what the truth was, and wanted to ask some one else. So by degrees after Henry's reign, the custom grew up that they should not say what they thought was true till they had heard the evidence of other people. In this way they gradually grew to be what our jury is, that is to say, a body of men which, after it has heard evidence in Court, declares its belief that something is true. This is called giving a verdict, a word which means truly said.' In Henry's time they declared their belief from their own private knowledge, without hearing evidence at all.

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6. Union of English and Normans.-These changes were brought about by Henry. There was another change which was going on, with which he had nothing to do. There was no longer a strict line of division between English and Normans. When Henry came to the throne, eighty-eight years had passed since the Conquest, and during that time Normans and English had often married one another. In Henry's

reign the upper classes still talked French, and the lower classes, who were almost entirely English by birth, talked English. But no one in the higher classes could say that he was altogether Norman, as he was almost certain to have had an English mother or grandmother.

7. Henry II. and the Clergy.-Henry was very successful in most things, but there was one thing in which he was not successful. The clergy then held the opinion that no clergyman who had committed any crime ought to be tried by the king's courts. He should be tried by special Church courts, and as the Church courts could not put any one to death, if a clergyman committed a murder he was only shut up in a monastery, whilst a layman who committed the same offence, and was tried by the king's court, was hanged. The idea of a clergyman committing a murder happily seems strange now. But now clergymen are men who devote themselves to religious work. Then, everybody who wanted to live otherwise than by manual labour or by fighting became a clergyman. Scarcely any one except the clergy learned to read and write. Many men, therefore, became clergymen who wanted to work with their brains rather than with their hands. Then, as now, some people wanted to use their brains for the purpose of cheating others. Then, as now, some people wanted to use their brains to lead idle lives at the expense of others, and therefore the clergy in Henry the Second's time included a great many idle and wicked men. Henry II. insisted that these men, if they committed crimes, should be tried in his courts.

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8. Henry II. makes Becket Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Becket had been Henry's chancellor, whose business it was to write letters for him, and look after his affairs. He had been a gay, extravagant man, very zealous in doing all that Henry wished, and Henry therefore now appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury, expecting him to help him in making the clergy submit to be tried in the king's courts.

9. Quarrel between Henry II. and Becket.-As soon as Becket became archbishop he turned against the king, lived very plainly, and gave up all his expensive habits. Becket was the sort of man who was sure to take up any quarrel warmly, and he was not quite without arguments on his side. Henry might ask why a clergyman who had committed a murder should not be punished in the same way as a layman. Becket would answer that a clergyman belonged to a holy order, and ought not to be punished by a lay judge, which is not an answer to which we should pay much attention now. He might also have said that it did not follow that a lay judge would always judge justly. We are accustomed to judges who always do their best to be just. In early times judges often did not care whether they were just or not. Henry himself, when he was out of temper, did not care whether he was just or not. He caused Becket to be accused before his court on a trumpery pretext and had him fined enormously. What the clergy really had to fear was that the king, if once his courts were allowed to judge them, would not be content with punishing those of them who robbed or murdered, but would also punish those

who were quite innocent, for the sake of getting their money. Even Henry, lover of order as he was, was capable of the wildest passion. Sometimes, when he received news which he disliked, he would throw himself on the floor, and roll about amidst the straw or rushes which then served instead of a carpet, biting them with his teeth in his rage. But though all this was true, it is also true that Becket was an ambitious man fond of contention, and not at all a gentle and holy saint who cared only for righteousness as Anselm had cared for it.

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10. Murder of Becket.-At first Henry got the better of the archbishop; Becket refused to submit, and left the kingdom. After some years the two made peace and Becket returned to Canterbury. Becket again displeased the king. Henry fell into one of his rages and cried out, Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?' Four knights at once left the house and made their way to Canterbury. They found Becket, and after using angry words to which he replied no less angrily, they rushed away to arm themselves. Becket's friends persuaded him to take refuge in the cathedral. He showed no sign of fear. When the armed knights were heard approaching, he refused to allow his followers to shut the doors. No one,' he said, 'should be debarred from entering the house of God.' Most of those who were with him ran off to hide themselves. He remained quiet and unmoved as the knights dashed in, shouting, 'Where is the traitor?' 'Behold me,' he answered; 'no traitor, but a priest of God.' One of the knights seized on him to drag him out

of the cathedral. Becket dashed him to the ground, calling one of the others by a foul name, not such a one as would have proceeded from the lips of Anselm. The knight smote at him with his sword. One of Becket's few faithful attendants thrust his arm

forward to receive the blow. The arm was almost cut off. Other blows followed, and Becket fell bleeding to the floor. The murderers did not leave

him till life was gone. Nothing worse could have