JOHN OF OXFORD. 'If any cleric be accused of felony, the Church shall not protect him: but he shall answer to the summons of the King's court to be tried therein.' BECKET. And that I cannot sign. Is not the Church the visible Lord on earth? Shall hands that do create the Lord be bound Behind the back like laymen-criminals? The Lord be judged again by Pilate? No! JOHN OF OXFORD. 'When a bishoprick falls vacant, the King, till another be appointed, shall receive the revenues thereof.' BECKET. And that I cannot sign. Is the King's treasury A fit place for the monies of the Church, That be the patrimony of the poor? JOHN OF OXFORD. 'And when the vacancy is to be filled up, the King shall summon the chapter of that church to court, and the election shall be made in the Chapel Royal, with the consent of our lord the King, and by the advice of his Government.' BECKET. And that I cannot sign: for that would make Our island-Church a schism from Christendom, And weight down all free choice beneath the throne. FOLIOT. And was thine own election so canonical, Good father? BECKET. If it were not, Gilbert Foliot, I mean to cross the sea to France, and lay My crozier in the Holy Father's hands, And bid him re-create me, Gilbert Foliot. FOLIOT. Nay; by another of these customs thou Wilt not be suffer'd so to cross the seas Without the license of our lord the King. BECKET. That, too, I cannot sign. DE BROC, DE BRITO, DE TRACY, FITZURSE, DE MORVILLE, _start up--a clash of swords_. Sign and obey! BECKET. My lords, is this a combat or a council? Are ye my masters, or my lord the King? Ye make this clashing for no love o' the customs Or constitutions, or whate'er ye call them, But that there be among you those that hold Lands reft from Canterbury. DE BROC. And mean to keep them, In spite of thee! LORDS (_shouting_). Sign, and obey the crown! BECKET. The crown? Shall I do less for Canterbury Than Henry for the crown? King Stephen gave Many of the crown lands to those that helpt him; So did Matilda, the King's mother. Mark, When Henry came into his own again, Then he took back not only Stephen's gifts, But his own mother's, lest the crown should be Shorn of ancestral splendour. This did Henry. Shall I do less for mine own Canterbury? And thou, De Broc, that holdest Saltwood Castle-- DE BROC. And mean to hold it, or-- BECKET. To have my life. DE BROC. The King is quick to anger; if thou anger him, We wait but the King's word to strike thee dead. BECKET. Strike, and I die the death of martyrdom; Strike, and ye set these customs by my death Ringing their own death-knell thro' all the realm. HERBERT. And I can tell you, lords, ye are all as like To lodge a fear in Thomas Becket's heart As find a hare's form in a lion's cave. JOHN OF OXFORD. Ay, sheathe your swords, ye will displease the King.