of the city, "Sacrarum vero ædium magnifica structura et frequentia celeberrimas quasque superavit. Inter has duæ maxime enituerunt, Christi scilicet et S. Augustini, utrumque Benedictinis monachis oppletum. Christi templum, in medio quasi urbis sinu, tanta majestate se in cœlum erigit, ut procul etiam intuentibus religionem incutiat." The latter passages are copied, word for word, from the "Peregrinatio Religionis Ergo."

(39) Tuscus, Fuscus, and Berrus.

These are not much like the real names of the reputed assassins of Becket, who were four in number,-William de Tracy, Reginald Fitz Urse, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Brito; and of whom some notice will be found, combined with the account of the Murder given in the Appendix. Hasted supposes that the statues mentioned by Erasmus stood in the four niches still remaining over the doorway of the South Porch of the cathedral. (History of Kent, fol. 1799, iv. 519.) This porch was erected towards the close of the fourteenth century.

(40) Books fixed to the pillars.

This was a practice customary both before and since the invention of printing. A remarkable inscription still

remains in Saint George's chapel, Windsor, opposite the monument of Richard Beauchamp, bishop of Salisbury, who died in 1482, recording such a benefaction:

"Who lyde this Booke here? The Reverend Fader in God Richard Beauchamp, Bischop of this Diocess of Sarysbury. And wherefore? To this intent, that Preestes and Ministers of Goddis Chirch may here have the occupacion thereof, seyyng therein theyr divyne servyse, and for all othir that lystyn to sey thereby ther devocyon. Askyth he any spiritual mede? Yee, asmoche as oure Lord lyst to reward hym for his goode intent; praying every man, whose duté or devocyon is eased by thys booke, they woll say for hym thys commune oryson, Domine Jesu Christe, knelyng in the presence of this holy crosse, for the wyche the Reverend Fadir in God aboveseyd hathe grauntid of the tresure of the Chirche to every man xl. dayys of pardon."

It is well known that, after the Reformation, it was usual to fix the printed Bible, the Homilies, and other books in churches: but further information on this subject than had previously been collected will be found in an article by Mr. Dawson Turner in the Gentleman's Magazine for Feb. 1846, accompanying an engraving of the closet and desk made for Fox's Book of Martyrs in Lessingham church, Norfolk.

(41) The Gospel of Nicodemus.

The spurious Gospel of Nicodemus, which Erasmus suggests was preferred at Canterbury to those of the Evangelists, had been printed at London by Wynkyn de Worde in 1509, with woodcuts (see Typographical Antiquities, by Dibdin, vol. ii. p. 144). For the dates of other editions, see Watt's Bibliotheca and Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual.

(42) Altar of the Virgin.

"There the pious man is said to have breathed his last farewell to the Virgin when his death was at hand,” was the story told to Erasmus; and, from the usual pictures of the saint's martyrdom, it was no doubt supposed that his death took place at the foot of an altar. But in truth the altar was erected after the catastrophe, as is clearly stated by the historian Gervase, who describes the spot where the holy Thomas fell as being in front of the solid wall, which is shaded in the accompanying Plan, at the entrance to the north transept (afterwards called The Martyrdom). Gervase adds, "The pillar which stood in the midst of this cross, (or entrance to the transept,) as well as the vault which rested on it, were taken down in process of time, out of respect for the martyr, that the altar, elevated on the place of the martyrdom, might be seen from a greater distance."

I

“A stone (remarks Professor Willis) is still pointed out on the pavement, which tradition assigns as the exact spot on which Becket fell a small piece has been cut out of it, which is said to be still preserved at Rome. In some of the monastic representations of Becket's fall he is slain at the very foot of an altar, but this is only introduced to heighten the sacrilege. The altar [described by Erasmus, and shown in the Plan,] was erected afterwards, and the nearest altar was that of Saint Benedict [in the centre of the ancient apse*]. Thus, comparing representations of this murder on the seals of the archbishops, that of Boniface, 1259, has no altar; on the seal of Robert, 1273, the altar is in the background, and Becket has his back to it; on the seal of John Peckham, 1278, the altar again disappears; but in the seal of John Stratford the victim kneels at the altar with his back to his assailants, and this position is retained in the seals of Islip, Langton, and Arundel." At the moment when Becket was encountered by the king's knights, he had just crossed the north transept from the door leading from the cloisters, and was mounting the steps towards the choir, in which the monks were then performing their vespers. He turned round to confront his enemies, and after an altercation, which is fully described by the chronicler, was struck and fell on the spot. The scene

* The apse, which is shaded in the Plan, was removed in 1449, and in its place was erected the Lady Chapel, which still remains.