but the following year he assisted at a General Council held at Rome, and during his absence from England the King died. In 1223, at the head of the Nobility of the nation, he required of Henry III., then declared of age by the Bull of Honorius III., the confirmation of King John's Charter of Liberties; and when one of the Sovereign's Councillors answered for him, that, having been extorted by force, it was not binding on him, he replied, "If you loved the King, Sir, you would not prevent the peace of the realm:" which convinced Henry how much he would hazard by a refusal. The royal castles which had been seized on and retained to enforce King John to perform the engagements of Magna Charta, were by the same Bull ordered to be restored, though the Earls of Chester and Aumerle, and several other Barons who held them, not only refused to obey it, but even proceeded to raise forces to support their denial, and another civil war seemed inevitable. It was here that Langton shewed his loyal and prudent spirit; for upon his proceeding to excommunicate those who remained refractory, the fortresses were at length given up to the King. The other acts of this Prelate were the passing of a Canon in 1222, against the adulterous conduct of his Clergy, and the division of the Sacred Writings into chapters, is also ascribed to him. He is likewise said to have erected the Archbishop's Palace at Canterbury: and, on July 7th, 1220, he translated the remains of Thomas à Becket from his plain, yet adored, place of burial, in the undercroft of the Cathedral, to a costly altar-tomb in the centre of Trinity Chapel there; and deposited it within the new Shrine, which was covered with plates of gold, chased and embossed, adorned with broaches, images, angels, chains, precious stones, and orient pearls. The expences attending this Translation, at which the King, Cardinal Pan

dulph, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Rheims, several Prelates and Abbots, and the greater part of of the English Nobility were present, was undertaken by Langton; who provided free entertainment and forage along the road from London, for all who would attend, beside wine to flow in various parts of Canterbury, and a magnificent banquet for his illustrious visitants he thus, however, incurred so heavy a charge upon the See, that neither himself, nor three of his successors were able to defray it.

This Prelate also held a Convocation at Osney, in the County of Oxford, which was principally celebrated for the decrees which were there instituted, and for the appearance of three extraordinary impostors, who professed to be Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene; the former of whom shewed several wounds in his hands, feet, and side, in proof of his assertion: they were condemned by that Council to be immured within four walls until they died.

In John Bale's Scriptores Illustres Majoris Britanniæ. Wesal. 1549, 4to. fol. 102 b, will be found a short memoir and list of the works of Cardinal Langton; the latter consisting of Commentaries on the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Kings, the Psalms, and the lesser Prophets; the Lives of Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, and King Richard I.; Annotations on the whole Bible and Testament by distinct chapters, and some other religious tracts. A more extended catalogue, together with almost a literal copy of Bale's account of Langton, are inserted in the Lives and Acts of the Popes and Cardinals of the Holy Church of Rome, by Alphonso Ciaconio, Rom. 1630, Fol. page 647. It is not now to be discovered whether all of these works are extant; but Langton's account of the Translation of Becket's Remains is attached to the Letters of that Archbishop, printed at Bruxelles in

in 1682, 4to.; and in D'Acheri's Spicilegium, Fol. Edit. Vol. III., page 258, may be found copies of two Letters which passed between King John and Langton, on the subject of the Archbishop's election. Beside these writings, the Cardinal has also left behind him some specimens of his poetry; although in a work not the most likely to contain such a production. In a communication from the Abbé De la Rue, printed in the Archæologia, Vol. xiii., page 231, it is stated that in the Duke of Norfolk's library there is a manuscript, containing a Sermon and two other pieces, written by Langton; and that in the course of the Sermon, which is upon the Holy Virgin, there occurs the following

stanza:

Bele Aliz matin leva
Sur cors vesti et para,
enz un verger s'en entra,
cink fleurettes y' truva,
Un chapelet fit en a
De Rose flutie
Pur Deu trahez vous en a la
Vus ki ne amez mie.

Fair Alice arose in the morning,

And put on her vest and made her ready;
Then she went into her bower,
And found there five flowerets,
Which she made into a chaplet
With the blooming rose:
And you will betray God herein
If you do not love me. (Alice.)

en

"The orator, then," continues this account, forces each particular verse, and applies it mystically to the Holy Virgin. The allegorical turn which he gives the whole of the above stanza is very happily handled, and the preacher in speaking of his subject cries out at frequent intervals with enthusiasm,

'Ceste est la Bele Aliz,

This, this is Alice, fair to see,
Cest est la flur, ceste est la lis. The flower, the lily, this is she."'"

It may appear somewhat singular that, at a period when elegant literature was so perfectly unknown, poetical allegories and allusions should be introduced into the pulpit, but they were very frequent in the older monastical sermons, which often partook of a highly mystical character; and the author of the above account states that, in the twelfth century the life of Thomas à Becket was delivered in French

verse in Canterbury Cathedral. M. De la Rue considers Cardinal Langton to have been the best of the Anglo-Norman poets of the thirteenth century, and continues to remark that, in the manuscript containing the Sermon, there are two other pieces, which he attributes to the same Author. The first is a fine religious drama on Morality, in which Truth, Justice, and Mercy, consider what should be the fate of man after his fall; the idea of which is taken from Psalm lxxx. 10, and the other is a poem of upwards of 600 verses, on the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Cardinal Langton died on July 9th, 1228, at his Manor of Slindon in Sussex, after reigning twenty-two years as Archbishop; and his remains were deposited in a Chapel, called St. Michael's, or the Warrior's, in Canterbury Cathedral, which stands on the South side against the Western Transept. His tomb, which is represented in the initial letter and tail-piece of this Memoir, is a plain stone sarcophagus, having a rich patriarchial cross sculptured on the cover. It originally stood under the altar, and is now partly fixed beneath an arch, and partly projecting into the Chapel.

This Prelate is considered to have been an elegant and learned Author for the age in which he lived; since his explanations of the Scriptures even in his youth were very greatly esteemed, and none of his contemporaries were better acquainted with the logic of Aristotle, or superior to him in adapting it to the doctrines of Scripture.