therto had by no means been fo abfolute in England as in the fouthern countries, began to be felt more ftrongly, and foon reached the fame height, which it had attained in France and Italy. The tyrant found it a convenient engine for the fupport of his own defpotic authority: and, while he took care that every one of his fubjects should, in ecclefiaftical matters, bow under the yoke of the bifhop of Rome, he reserved to himself the fupreme dominion in civil affairs, and exercised it with the moft unqualified rigour. Lanfranc, whom he appointed archbishop of Canterbury, zealously fupported the power of Rome, and confirmed the abfurd doctrine of tranfubftantiation by his influence and authority. His fucceffour, Anfelm, was no lefs devoted to the pope, and maintained feveral famous contefts with his fovereign William Rufus, the fon and fucceffour of the Conqueror. This archbishop contributed much, by his influence, to fettle the celibacy of the clergy in England; and it must be confeffed, that even the virtues of this great man, through the peculiar infelicity of the times, were attended with great difadvantages to the state of fociety. For it ought to be observed, that, if we fet afide his attachment to the authority of the pope, and his paffion for the fashionable fuperftitions, his conduct was pious and exemplary: his zeal against the luxury, fimony, and vices of the great was laudable: and, above all, his defence of evangelical truth, adorned by an upright course of life and conversation, preferved under God fome genuine

Conqueror, afterwards bishop of Salisbury, corrected the li turgy ufed in his diocefe. And he was thought to have done the work fo judiciously, that the fervice" In Ufum Sarum," was received in other diocefes, and became common throughout England. For, before this time, every diocese had its appropriate Liturgy, Collier's Eccles. History.

genuine remains of godliness in the nation. Nor ought we to follow implicitly the ideas of our proteftant hiftorians, who, in every debate between the king and the Church, are fure to decide against the latter. What could be more arbitrary, for instance, than the demand of a thousand pounds which William Rufus made upon Anfelm? and what more warrantable than the conduct of the latter*? He offered the king five hundred pounds, which were refufed in difguft. Anfelm Anfelm gave the fum to the poor, rather than rack his tenants to double it, and said to the tyrant,-" If I am used according to my station, all I have is at your fervice;—if I am treated as a flave, I fhall keep my property to myself."

And undoubtedly the rapacity and profaneness of the Norman princes, particularly of William Rufus, in the feizure and alienation of ecclefiaftical benefices, were juftly oppofed by the bifhops of thofe times. It is only to be wifhed, that they had conducted their oppofition on the grounds of Scripture, and the precedents of the primitive Church,—not on the authority of the court of Rome.

Nothing else feems to have occurred, deferving a place in these memoirs, in the general history of our island, during the courfe of this century, except what relates to the perfonal character of Margaret queen of Scotland: a woman of the rarest piety, and of a character fitted to throw a luftre on the pureft ages. She was fifter to Edgar Athelin, the grandfon of Edmund Ironfide, who was the fon and fucceffour of Ethelred. Edgar was a peculiar favourite of the English, becaule he was the laft of the Saxon line of princes. In the reign of William the Norman, he and his fifter found a fafe retreat in Scotland, under the protection of

*Collier. + Alban Butler, Vol. V.

Malcolm,

Malcolm, who, by the affiftance of Edward the Confeffor, had recovered the throne of Scotland from the ufurper Macbeth. Malcolm married the English princefs. Wonderful things are related of her piety, liberality, and humility. Through her influence, the ferocious fpirit of her husband received an happy tincture of humanity. She was enabled to reform the kingdom of Scotland in a great degree, and to introduce a more ferious regard to the duties of the Lord's day, than had been known in that country. She had by Malcolm fix fons and two daughters. Three of her fons reigned fucceffively, and were efteemed excellent monarchs. Her daughter Matilda was wife to Henry I. of England, and was looked on as a pious Chriftian. Margaret had taken uncommon care of her children's education, and the fruits of her labours appeared in their lives. Theodoric, her confeffor, obferves, that she was remarkably attentive in public prayer. And," fays he, "the would difcourfe with me concerning the sweetness of everlafting life, in fuch a manner, as to draw tears from my eyes." This fame Theodoric, a monk of Durham, wrote her life. She was afflicted with fickness at the very time in which her husband Malcolm was flain A.D. at Alnwick in Northumberland, in the time of 1093. William Rufus, in 1093. The bitter news was brought to her ears: her reflection upon it was truly Christian. "I thank thee, O Lord, that in fending me fo great an affliction, thou wouldst purify me from my fins. O Lord Jefus Christ, who by thy death haft given life to the world, deliver me from evil." She furvived this event only a few days. A princefs of fuch accomplishments, could not have fhone in vain in Scotland; but, most probably, muft have led many, in a rude and ignorant age, to think that there is fomething real in godliness.

CHAP.

CHAP. V.

ANSELM.

THA

HAT good men frequently appear to more advantage in private life than in publick, is a remark which was perhaps never better exemplified than in this prelate, of whom all that is known by the generality of readers is, that he was a ftrenuous fupporter of the papal dominion in England. I can easily conceive that he might be influenced by the pureft motives in this part of his conduct, when I reflect on the fhameless and profane manners of the Norman princes. But his private life was purely his own, originating more directly from the honeft and good heart, with which, through grace, he was eminently endowed. As a divine and a Chriftian, he was the firft of characters in this century, and will, therefore, deferve fome at

tention.

He was born at Aouft in Piedmont. From early life his religious caft of mind was fo prevalent, that, at the age of fifteen, he offered himself to a monaftery, but was refused, left his father should have been displeased. He afterwards became entangled in the vanitics of the world; and, to his death, he bewailed the fins of his youth. Becoming a scholar of Lanfranc, his predeceffor in the See of Canterbury, at that time a monk at Bec in Nor- a.d. mandy, he commenced monk in the year 1060, 1060. at the age of twenty-feven. He afterwards became the prior of the monaftery. His progrefs in religious knowledge was great; but mildnefs and charity

* Butler, Vol. IV.

charity feem to have predominated in all his views of piety. The book, commonly called Auguftine's meditations, was chiefly abftracted from the wriA.D. tings of Anfelm. At the age of forty-five, he became 1089. abbot of Bec. Lanfranc dying in 1089, William Rufus ufurped the revenues of the See of Canterbury, and treated the monks of the place in a barbarous manner. For feveral years this profane tyrant declared, that none should have the See while he lived; but a fit of fickness overawed his fpirit; and confcience, the voice of God, which often speaks even in the proudeft and the moft infenfible, feverely reproved his wickedness; infomuch, that he nominated Anfelm to be the fucceffour of Lanfranc. That Anfelm should have accepted the office with much reluctance, under fuch a prince, is by no means to be wondered at: and, the more upright and conscientious men are, the more wary and reluctant will they always be found in accepting offices of fo facred a nature; though it is natural for men of a fecular fpirit to judge of others by themfelves, and to fuppofe the "nolo epifcopari" to be, without any exceptions, the language of hypocrify.

Anfelm preffed the king to allow the calling of councils, in order to inftitute an enquiry into crimes and abufes; and alfo to fill the vacant abbeys, the revenues of which William had reserved to himself with facrilegious avarice. Nothing but the conviction of confcience, and the afcendency, which real uprightnefs maintains over wickednefs and profligacy, could have induced fuch a perfon as William Rufus, to have promoted Anfelm to the See, though he must have foreseen how improbable it was, that the abbot would ever become the tame inftrument of his tyranny and oppreffion. In fact, Anfelm, finding the Church

overborn