Cranmer sat on the Chair, which had been that of an Augustine, a Dunstan, a Lanfranc, an Anselm, and a Thomas à Becket. If our holy Martyr and Archbishop had looked through the then existing generation of his Brethren, he would, indeed, have found one, who followed his example and died a Martyr-John Fisher:-but he was the only one; and his sacrifice, glorious as it was, had not power to save his country. The Liberty of the Church had long before then been destroyed;-Faith was sure to die out. The Mass and Vespers are as on the Feast, page 351. We here insert the third Sequence written by Adam of Saint-Victor in honour of the glorious Primate of the Isle of Saints. Calce puer qui matrem læserat, Poenitendo calcem absciderat; Mox, ut opem Sancti petierat, Bipedalem gressum meruerat, Res stupenda! Nauta potens in navi mysstica, Nostra, Thoma, laudes et cantica Summo Regi prece gratifica Et eidem prece magnifica Nos commenda. Amen. A boy had kicked his mother, and repenting of his deed, had maimed himself. No sooner has he begged the prayers of the Saint, than, oh! wonderful miracle! he recovers the use of both his feet. O Thomas! thou skilful pilot in the mystic Bark! let thy prayers give worth to our praises and hymns, that they be pleasing to the King, our God; and, by thy powerful intercession, commend us to the same! Amen. Our readers will not regret our giving insertion to the following beautiful Prose, taken from the ancient Missals of Liege. PROSE. Quem gratanter et condigne, Tam devote quam benigne, Sicut patrem visitat. Rejoice, O Canterbury! adorned with thy late Martyr, Thomas, as Rome is with her Peter. Nay, let the whole Church Militant be devout to thy Saint, and pay him the holy tribute of her praise. This is the Pontiff, who draws on himself the anger of England's king, because he defends the law of God. For which reason he is sent into banishment, and crossing the sea, seeks protection from the King of France. The king receives him gladly, as he well-deserved; and visits the Pontiff, devoutly and affectionately, as he would a father. In France, Thomas, like a young novice, serves the King of kings with wonderful fer vour. At length, when peace was restored, though it was but the crafty show of peace, he returns to his country. He asserts the Church's right, and serves his God; wherefore, the king, his artful enemy, grows mad with rage and wantons in his wrath. Now like a cunning fox, and now like a savage_tigress, he tries each door, each scheme : At one time, threats; at another, flattery; but Thomas is nothing moved, unflinching as at first. The king finding that the champion of the truth was not to be moved, and that his resolve was inflexible; He turns all men against the Pastor, and whispers murder to a minion troop. The parricides have understood the king; crafty and faithless, they enter the Church, that they may make away with the Champion of Liberty, and usurp his throne. The Pontiff was at prayer in the sanctuary; he comes forth, heeding not the enemy. The serenity of his soul is ruffled not with fear of the raging troop; he goes to meet them. The head of that saintly Priest, which had been fondly caressed on a mother's breast, Now feels the edge of deadly steel; the blood gushes forth; and there, in the Ubi, velut novus tyro, Thomas, in fervore miro, Regi regum militat. Tandem pace reformata, Pace dolis palliata, Regressus ad propria. Jura servans, Deo servit ; Inde sævit et protervit, Hostis arte varia. Nunc ut vulpes fradulen- Nunc ut tygris virulenta, Ille nihil emollitur, Virum assertorem veri, Omnes armat in Pastorem, Cohortatur ad cruorem Cohortem satellitum. Ergo nequam patricidæ Tam in fraude quam in fide, Libertatis ut Patronum Tollant et usurpent thronum, Ruunt in Ecclesia. Præsul orans in secreto, Palam prodit, hoste spreto; Nec turbat quies mentis Turbæ metu sævientis, Sed procedit obviam. Sancti caput Sacerdotis, Exoptatum mille votis Suæ matris gremio, Ferrum bibit, cruor manat, Et ibidem cœcos sanat |