Act I

SCENE I.

BECKET'S House in London. Chamber barely furnished. BECKET unrobing.

HERBERT OF BOSHAM and SERVANT:

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SERVANT: Shall I not help your lordship to your rest?

BECKET: Friend, am I so much better than thyself That thou shouldst help me? Thou art wearied out With this day's work, get thee to thine own bed. Leave me with Herbert, friend. [Exit SERVANT: Help me off, Herbert, with this--and this.

HERBERT: Was not the people's blessing as we past Heart-comfort and a balsam to thy blood?

BECKET: The people know their Church a tower of strength, A bulwark against Throne and Baronage. Too heavy for me, this; off with it, Herbert!

HERBERT: Is it so much heavier than thy Chancellor's robe?

BECKET: No; but the Chancellor's and the Archbishop's Together more than mortal man can bear.

HERBERT: Not heavier than thine armour at Thoulouse?

BECKET: O Herbert, Herbert, in my chancellorship I more than once have gone against the Church.

HERBERT: To please the King?

BECKET: Ay, and the King of kings, Or justice; for it seem'd to me but just The Church should pay her scutage like the lords. But hast thou heard this cry of Gilbert Foliot That I am not the man to be your Primate, For Henry could not work a miracle-- Make an Archbishop of a soldier?

HERBERT: Ay, for Gilbert Foliot held himself the man.

BECKET: Am I the man? My mother, ere she bore me, Dream'd that twelve stars fell glittering out of heaven Into her bosom.

HERBERT: Ay, the fire, the light, The spirit of the twelve Apostles enter'd Into thy making.

BECKET: And when I was a child, The Virgin, in a vision of my sleep, Gave me the golden keys of Paradise. Dream, Or prophecy, that?

HERBERT: Well, dream and prophecy both.

BECKET: And when I was of Theobald's household, once-- The good old man would sometimes have his jest-- He took his mitre off, and set it on me, And said, 'My young Archbishop--thou wouldst make A stately Archbishop!' Jest or prophecy there?

HERBERT: Both, Thomas, both.

BECKET: Am I the man? That rang Within my head last night, and when I slept Methought I stood in Canterbury Minster, And spake to the Lord God, and said, 'O Lord, I have been a lover of wines, and delicate meats, And secular splendours, and a favourer Of players, and a courtier, and a feeder Of dogs and hawks, and apes, and lions, and lynxes. Am I the man?' And the Lord answer'd me, 'Thou art the man, and all the more the man.' And then I asked again, 'O Lord my God, Henry the King hath been my friend, my brother, And mine uplifter in this world, and chosen me For this thy great archbishoprick, believing That I should go against the Church with him. And I shall go against him with the Church, And I have said no word of this to him: 'Am I the man?' And the Lord answer'd me, 'Thou art the man, and