Nay, nay, canst thou, that holdest thine estates
In fee and barony of the King, decline
The judgment of the King?
BECKET.
The King! I hold
Nothing in fee and barony of the King.
Whatever the Church owns--she holds it in
Free and perpetual alms, unsubject to
One earthly sceptre.
LEICESTER.
Nay, but hear thy judgment.
The King and all his barons--
BECKET.
Judgment! Barons!
Who but the bridegroom dares to judge the bride,
Or he the bridegroom may appoint? Not he
That is not of the house, but from the street
Stain'd with the mire thereof.
I had been so true
To Henry and mine office that the King
Would throne me in the great Archbishoprick:
And I, that knew mine own infirmity,
For the King's pleasure rather than God's cause
Took it upon me--err'd thro' love of him.
Now therefore God from me withdraws Himself,
And the King too.
What! forty thousand marks!
Why thou, the King, the Pope, the Saints, the world,
Know that when made Archbishop I was freed,
Before the Prince and chief Justiciary,
From every bond and debt and obligation
Incurr'd as Chancellor.
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