that purpofe: But Robert de Broc, to whom the house was better known, fhewed them a paffage through a window, by which they got in, and, not finding Becket in any chamber of the palace, followed him to the cathedral. When the monks within faw them coming, they haftened to lock the door; but the archbishop forbad them to do it, faying, You ought not to "make a caftle of the church. It " will protect us fufficiently without "being but: nor did I come hither to refift, but to fuffer." Which they not regarding, he himself opened the door, called in fome of the monks, who flood without, and then went up to the high

altar.

The knights, finding no ob ftacle, rushed into the choir, and, brandishing their weapons, ex claimed, Where is Thomas "Becket? where is that traitor to "the king and kingdom?" at which he making no aufwer, they called out more loudly," Where "is the archbishop?" He then turned, and coming down the fteps of the altar, Here am I,

no traitor, but a priest. What "would you have with me? I am "ready to fuffer in the name of him "who redeemed me with his blood, "God forbid that I should fly for fear of your words, or recede "from juftice," They once more commanded him to take off the excommunication and fufpenfion of the bishops. He replied," No "fatisfaction has yet been made; "nor will I abfolve them. Then (faid they) thou fhalt inftanily "die, according to thy defert.

I am ready to die (anfwered he) "that the church may obtain liberty

"and peace in my blood. But in "the name of God, I forbid you 10 "hurt any of my people." They now rufhed upon him, and endeavoured to drag him out of the church, with an intention (as they afterwards declared themselves) to carry him in bonds to the king; or, if they could not do that, to kill him in a lefs facred place: but he clinging faft to one of the pillars of the choir, they could not force him from thence. Dur. ing the struggle he hook William de Tracey fo roughly, that he almost threw him down; and as Reginald Fitzurfe preft harder upon him than any of the others, he thruft him away, and called him pimp. This opprobrious language more enraged that violent man; he lifted up his fword against the head of Becket, who then bowing his neck, and joining his hands together in a pofture of prayer, recommended his own foul, and the cause of the church, to God, and to the faints of that cathedral. But one of the monks of Canter bury interpofing his arm to ward off the blow, it was almost cut off; and the archbishop alfo was wounded in the crown of his head. He food a fecond ftroke, which likewife fell on his head, in the fame devout pofture, without a motion, word, or groan: but, after receiving a third, he fell proftrate on his face; and all the accomplices preffing now to a fhare in the murder, a piece of his fkull was ftruck off by Richard Brito. Lastly, Hugh the fubdea. con, who had joined himself to them at Canterbury, fcooped out the brains of the dead archbishop with the point of a fword, and

fcat

fcattered them over the pave

ment.

Thus, in the fifty-third year of his age, was affaffinated Thomas Becket; a man of great talents, of elevated thoughts, and of invincible courage, but of a moft violent and turbulent fpirit; exceffively paffionate, haughty, and vain-glorious; in his refolutions inflexible, in his refentments im placable. It cannot be denied that he was guilty of a wilful and premeditated perjury: that he oppofed the neceffary courfe of public juftice, and acted in defiance of the laws of his country; laws which he had moft folemnly acknowledged and confirmed: nor is it lefs evident, that; during the heat of this difpute, he was in the highest degree angrateful to a very kind mafter, whofe confidence in him had been boundlefs, and who from a private condition had advanced him to be the fecond man in his kingdom. On what motives he acted can be certainly judged of by him alone to him all hearts are open. He might be misled by the prejudices of a bigotted age, and think he was doing an acceptable fervice to God, in contending, even death, for the utmost excefs of eccleiaftical and papal authority. Yet the ftrength of his under standing, his converfation in courts and camps, among perfons whofe notions were more free and enlarged, the different colour of his former life, and the faddennefs of the change which feemed to be wrought in him upon his election to Canterbury, would make one fufpect, as many did in the times wherein he lived, that he only be

came the champion of the church from an ambitious defire of sharing its power; a power more independent on the favour of the king, and therefore more agreable to the haughtinefs of his mind, than that which he had enjoyed as a minifter of the crown. And this fufpicion is increafed by the marks of cunning and falfenefs, which are evidently feen in his conduct on fome occafions. Neither is it impoffible, that, when firft he affumed his new character, he might at the part of a zealot, merely or principally from motives of arrogance and ambition; yet, afterwards, being engaged, and inflamed by the conteft, work himfelf up into a real enthufiafm. The continual praises of those with whom he acted, the honours done him in his exile by all the clergy of France, and the vanity which appears fo predominant in his mind, may have conduced to operate fuch a change. He cer tainly fhewed in the latter part of his life a fpirit as fervent as the warmest enthufiaft's; fuch a fpirit indeed as conftitutes heraifm, when it exerts itfelf in a caufe beneficial to mankind. Had he defended the established laws of his country, and the fundamental rules of civil juftice, with as much zeal and intrepidity as he oppofed them, he would have deferved to be ranked with thofe great men, whofe virtues make one eafily forget the allay of fome natural imperfec tions: but, unhappily, his good qualities were fo mifapplied, that they became no lefs hurtful to the public weal of the kingdom, than the worst of his vices.

Commentaries on the Laws of England. Books the first and fecand; in two volumes quarto. By Wil liam Blackstone, Efq. Vinerian Profeffor of Law, and Solicitor general to her Majefty. The fecond edition. Oxford: printed at the Clarendon prefs.

HE Royal prophet, fpeaking of the divine law, fays, that it was a light to the eyes of the understanding, which imparted wisdom to the moft fimple.

It were much to be wifhed, that what David thus faid of the laws of God, could, almoft with any allowance, be faid of the laws of men; fo that while the univerfal juftice, and extenfive principles, on which they were founded, fhould enlighten and enlarge the underftanding of the wifeft, their com. prehenfive clearness and perfpicuity fhould give immediate information and knowledge to the most fimple; and that mankind should fear to break them, from a confcioufnefs of their apparent and undoubted equity, and a reverential fenfe of the benefits which they continually imparted. If even ordinary rulers, who are invested with an authority merely judicial and executive, pretend to claim fome refemblance to the Deity, in the cafual difpenfation of law; it fhould certainly be the part of great legiflators of nations, to endeavour to refemble him in the permanent establishment of it.

It is unfortunate that few human bodies of law, if any, can be faid to poffefs perfpicuity, together with a strict regard to univerfal juftice. Thofe in which the falus populi is, as it ought always

to be, principally confulted, are often exceedingly dark, doubtful and intricate; whilft those on the other hand, in which any degree of clearness is to be found, owe it chiefly to the will of the fovereign, being prepofteroufly adopted, as a meafure of a fubject's right.

Of these two evils, want of perfpicuity, and want of a strict regard to univerfal juftice; the former muft be allowed to be the moft tolerable, as it may be conquered by an extraordinary degree of application in fome of the members of the community, while the affluence confequent on fecurity and created by it, will furnifh others with the means, occafionally, to parchafe their knowledge and advice. The latter evil nothing can compenfate for, except the temporary hope of an extraordinary degree of wifdom and goodness in the fovereign; endowments little to be expected, and feldom to be found in men, liable from their cradles to imbibe the poifon of flattery, and the intoxication of power.

It must not however be diffem-ˆ bled, but that in the former cafe, the neceffity of fuch a tedious and tirefome application, by one part of the members of the community, to acquire a knowledge of the laws of their country, and the confequent lofs of time and money, which the others must be at to pay for the fruits of their labours, which, in fact, is to purchase the protection of thofe laws, are too apt to weaken, and in time totally to wear out of men' minds, that affection and reverential awe, which we ought to bear towards the laws of our country. This habitual affection and awe is infinitely prefer

able

of moft fyftems of laws.

In this fituation of things, we muft owe no trivial obligation to any gentleman of abilities equal to the task, who will take the pains to remove any part of the obfcurity in which our fyltem of laws is involved, and thereby contribute to render the whole more intelligible. It will increafe this obligation if we reflect, that the law has been long looked on, as the most difagreeable of all tudies; and of fo dry, difgufting, heavy a nature, that fudents of vivacity and genius were deter. red from entering upon it, and thofe of a quite contrary caft were looked upon as the fittest to encounter the great difficulties which attended a science, which, however excellent in its principles, lay in fuch a ftate of rudeness and diforder.

Thefe obligations we owe to Mr. Blackstone, who has entirely eleared the law of England from the rubbish in which it was buried; and now fhews it to the public, in a clear, concife, and intelligible form. This matterly writer has not confined himfelf to dif. charge the task of a mere jurifconfult; he takes a wider range, and unites the hiftorian and politician with the lawyer. He traces the firft establishment of our laws, developes the principles on which they are grounded, examines their propriety and efficacy, and fometimes points out wherein they may be altered for the better.

It is not to be denied, but that many law-writers have before wrote treatifes, which were very much to the purpofe; their infti

all their ufe. But Mr. Blackftone is the firft who has treated the law of England as a liberal fcience. His commentaries, befides affording equal inftruction, are infinitely better calculated to render that inftruction agreeable. His book may vie with the purity and elegance of the writers of the Roman laws in its beft age. They are not, therefore, the fubjects of England only, or thofe that underftand our language, that are likely to be benefitted by this work. It will probably be tranflated into others of the European languages; and become a diffufive benefit, by bringing other nations acquainted with the advantages of a free conftitution.

Mr. Blackstone acquaints us, in his preface, that he gave private lectures on the laws of England in the university of Oxford, before Mr. Viner had left funds to establish public ones; a circumftance greatly to his honour, as fo able a lawyer could not fail of employing his talents to much greater advantage at the bar. Upon the death of Mr. Viner, the univerfity elected him first Vinerian profeffor, and as this election was an honour to the university; fo it was a happiness to the memory of Mr. Viner, that they had fuch a man to elect.

Mr. Blackstone introduces wltat he more immediately calls his commentaries or lectures, with four fections. The firft is on the ftudy of the law, in which after mentioning many motives of a private nature, for its being made more or lefs part of almoft every man's education, he very judici

oufly

oufly points out one of a more public confideration. After re marking, that all gentlemen of. fortune are, in confequence of their property, liable to be called upon to establish the rights, to eftimate the injuries, to weigh the accufa tions, and fometimes to difpofe of the lives of their fellow-fubjects, by ferving upon juries: That in this fituation they have frequently a right to decide, and that upon their oath, queftions of nice importance, in the solution of which fome legal fkill is requifite; efpe cially where the law and the fact, as it often happens, are intimately blended together; he pertinently adds: "And the general incapa city, even of our best juries, to do this with any tolerable proprie ty, has greatly debased their authority; and has unavoidably thrown more power into the hands of judges, to direct, control, and even reverfe their verdicts, than perhaps the conftitution intended." This fection concludes with a curious hiftory of the many fruggles, between our and the Roman (commonly called by way of excel. lence, the civil) laws, and the great victory lately gained by the former, by its being put, in confequence of Mr. Viner's will, upon an equal footing with the latter in one of our universities.

The fecond fection of the introduction is on the nature of laws in general. In this fection, the British conftitution is proved to be the beft for the bulk of the people; not only in fpite, but rather in confequence, of the fhare of monarchical power refiding in the prince, and of ariftocratical lodged in the nobles.

The third fection is on the laws

of England in general; and the fourth treats of the countries fubs ject to thofe laws.

What Mr. Blackstone feems more properly to confider as his commentaries, is divided into two books; the first concerning the rights or duties of perfons; the fecond concerning the rights of things, or thofe rights which a man may acquire, in and to fuck external things, as are unconnected with his perfon.

The first book treats, in as many different chapters, of the following fubjects. Of the abfolute rights of individuals; the parlia ment; the king and his title; the king's royal family; the councils belonging to the king; the king's duties; the king's prerogative; the king's revenue ;-fubordinate magiftrates, the people, whether aliens, denizens, or natives; the clergy; the civil ftate; the mili tary and maritime ftates; matters and fervants; husband and wife; parent and child; guardian and ward; corporations.

The fecond book treats, in fo many different chapters likewife, of property in general; of real property; and firft of corporeal hereditaments; of incorporeal hereditaments; of the feodal systems; of the ancient English tenures; of the modern English tenures; of freehold eftates of inheritance; of freeholds not of inheritance; of eftates lefs than freehold; of eftates upon condition; of estates in poffeffion, remainder, and reverfion; of eftates in feveralty joint tenancy, coparcenary, and common; of the title to things real in general; of title by defcent; of title by purchase; and firft, by efcheat; of title by occu

pancy ;.