he servant which is read of the Only-begotten: "They who spoke evil
of thee shall come unto thee, and adore the traces of thy feet." Now the
celebrated champion and martyr of God, Thomas, suffered in the year from
the incarnation of the Lord, according to Dionysius, 1171, on the fourth
of the kalends of January, on the third day of the week, about the
eleventh hour, that the birth-day of the Lord might be for labour, and
his for rest; to which rest the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ
vouchsafe to bring us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth
and reigneth God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O good Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS,
Forgive us our debts;
Visit the house, the gate, the grave;
And raise us from the threefold death.
What has been lost by act, in mind, or use,
Restore with thy wonted pity.
Pray for us, O blessed Thomas.

N.B. This appears to be the end of the first service in honour of Thomas
Becket[78]; and at this point {216} another service seems to commence,
with a kind of new heading, "In the commemoration of St. Thomas[79]."

[Footnote 78: All the Lessons between this passage and "In
Lauds," are wanting in MS. 1512.]

[Footnote 79: Another Feast was kept in honour of his
translation, on the 7th of July.]

_The First Lesson._

When Archbishop Theobald, of happy memory, in a good old age, slept with
his fathers, Thomas, archdeacon of the Church of Canterbury, is solemnly
chosen, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to be archbishop and primate of
all England, and afterwards is consecrated. Then pious minds entertained
firm hope and confidence in the Lord[80].

[Footnote 80: There is much of obscurity in the next paragraph.
Reference seems to be made to his twofold character of a regular
and a secular clergyman, and to his improved state morally. The
Latin is this: "Erat autem piis mentibus spes firma et fiducia
in Domino, quod idem consecratus utriusque hominis, habitu
mutato moribus melioratus praesideret. Probatissimum siquidem
tenebatur sedem illam sedem sanctorum esse sanctam recipere aut
facere, vel citius et facile indignum abicere, quod et in beato
Thoma Martyre misericorditer impletum est."]

_Second Lesson._

Therefore the chosen prelate of God being elected, and anointed with the
sanctifying of the sacred oil, immediately obtained a most hallowed
thing, and was filled with manifold grace of the Holy Spirit. For