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Perhaps the chapter of English historyfullest of romantic interest, is that containingthe life of Thomas à Becket. In fact,the great struggle between Becket andHenry II.,—between individual genius andsovereign power, between a subject andhis king, between religion and the sword,between the Church and the State, isscarcely equaled in the annals of theworld. And nowhere do we find a parallelto the strange story of Becket's life,beginning in Oriental legend, ending inheroic tragedy. By an accident of position,he questioned with the terrible powerof genius the divine right of kings, andthe grateful people of England, a hundredthousand at a time, flocked as pilgrims tohis tomb.
[iv]The biography here presented has beentaken from Dean Milman's great historyof Latin Christianity. The style is atonce dignified, terse, and eloquent. Thelearning of Milman is abundant and accurate,his judgment singularly sound andfree from prejudice. One of the gems ofhis history is this life of Becket. A biographyof the biographer is part of ourplan, and we gladly transfer to our pages,from the English Cyclopedia, a sketch ofMilman's life.
The Rev. Henry Hart Milman, D.D.,Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, was bornFebruary 10th, 1791, in London. He isthe youngest son of Sir Francis Milman,first baronet, who was physician to GeorgeIII., and is brother to Sir William GeorgeMilman. He was educated at Dr. Burney'sacademy at Greenwich, at EtonCollege, and at Brazenose College, Oxford,where he took his degrees of B. A. andM. A., and of which he was elected a Fellow.[v]In 1812 he received the Newdegateprize for his English poem on the ApolloBelvidere. In 1815 he published "Fazio,a Tragedy," which was performed withsuccess at Covent Garden Theatre, at aperiod when theatrical managers seizedupon a published play, and produced itwithout an author's consent. Mr. Milmancould not even enforce the proper pronunciationof the name of "Fazio." He tookholy orders in 1817, and was appointedvicar of St. Mary's, Reading. In the earlypart of 1818 he published "Samor, Lordof the Bright City, an Heroic Poem," ofwhich a second edition was called for inthe course of the same year. The heroof this poem is a personage of the legendaryhistory of Britain in the early partof the Saxon invasions of England. Thefullest account of his exploits is given inDugdale's "Baronage," under his title ofEarl of Glouc