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 442 BECKFORD magnificent shrine, and the cathedral itself was partly destroyed by fire in 1872, the interior of the eastern part of it, known as Becket's crown or corona, having been only recently finished. The most important contemporary Latin biographers of Becket were Edward Grim, Roger of Pontigny, William Fitz-Stephen, Alan of Tewkesbury, Herbert of Bosham, and an anonymous writer whose MS. was found in the library of Lambeth palace and reproduced by Dr. Giles. Gamier de Pont Sainte Max- ence, who was acquainted with Becket's sister Mary, abbess of Barking, published a French biography in verse at the close of the 12th century. Lord George Lyttelton (1764-7) and Joseph Berington (1790), in their historical works on Henry II., were the most important English writers on the subject in the 18th cen- tury. Southey's " Book of the Church " (1824 ; new ed., 1869) contains an attractive biography of Becket. Lei deux, chanceliers d'Angleterre, by Ozanam, appeared in Paris in 1836. The "Remains" of R. H. Froude (4 vols., 1838-'9) was followed by two editions of Dr. Giles from the Latin (8 vols., Oxford, 1845 ; 5 vols., 1848), and by his better known English "Life and Letters of Thomas a Becket" (2 vols., 1846). Dean Stanley's " Historical Memorials of Can- terbury" (1855; 5th cd., 1869) gives a minute narrative of the martyrdom and the posthumous history of Thomas in the chapter on the shrine. Dean Milman's " History of Latin Christianity " contains in the 3d and last volume (London, 1854) a full account of the Becket or Thomasian controversy, and this is regarded as one of the best authorities. The German work, Der Heilige Thomas und sein Kampffur die Frei- heit der Kirche, by Buss (Mentz, 1856), was followed in London in 1859 by "The Life and Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket," &c., by john Morris, canon of Northampton, and by "Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, a Biog- raphy," by James Craigie Robertson, canon of Canterbury. Edward A. Freeman's essay on " St. Thomas of Canterbury and his Biog- raphers," in his " Historical Essays" (London, 1871), throws new light on Becket's life, re- futes the fallacies of Thierry and of other writers, and reveals the religious bias of the different biographers. A "Life of Thomas a Becket," translated from an Icelandic saga, is in course of publication under the auspices of the master of the rolls (London, 1872). BECKFORD. I. William, an English politician, born in the West Indies in 1690, died at Font- hill, Wiltshire, June 21, 1770. He became a member of parliament in 1746 for Shaftesbury, and afterward for the city of London, and was the friend and supporter of Wilkes. Succes- sively alderman, sheriff, and twice lord mayor of London, he acquired celebrity in 1770 by volunteering manly remarks to George III. while presenting an address of the city of London remonstrating against parliament, against the king's former unfavorable reply to the popular grievances, and demanding the re- moval of the cabinet. The speech concluded thus : " Permit me, sire, to observe that who- ever has already dared, or shall hereafter en- deavor, by false insinuations and suggestions, to alienate your majesty's affections from your loyal subjects in general, and from the city of London in particular, is an enemy to your majesty's person and family, a violator of the public peace, and a betrayer of our happy con- stitution, as it was established at the glorious revolution." The excitement produced by his boldness preyed upon his mind to such an ex- tent that he died soon afterward. His statue was placed in Guildhall, and his speech to the king engraved on the pedestal. As he was a man of limited culture, it was believed that John Home Tooke, who claimed the author- ship of the speech, had either prepared it before or revised it after its delivery. II. William, an English romancer, son of the preceding, born in 1760, died May 2, 1844. He inherited a vast fortune", estimated as yielding over 100,000 annually, and he claimed lineal descent from the royal dynasties of Scotland and from other illustrious ancestors. The great earl of Chat- ham, his father's friend, was his sponsor and the promoter of his education. The precocity of his mind was revealed in 1780 by the publi- cation of a satirical work against artists (" Bi- ographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Paint- ers"). He was in Paris in 1778, where he be- came acquainted with Voltaire, and travelled extensively till 1783, when he .married Lady Margaret Gordon, a daughter of the earl of Aboyne, who bore him two daughters, the eldest of whom married Col. (afterward Lieut. Gen.) James Orde, and the younger became duchess of Hamilton. He was a member of parliament at difterent periods, and acquired literary celebrity by his romance of " Vatliek, an Arabian Tale," written in French. An English version was published by an anony- mous author without his consent in 1780, pre- vious to the issue in 1787 at Lausanne of his original edition in French (UHutoire dit calif e Vathek), which was so perfect in style and idiom that many regarded it as the work of a Frenchman. North in his " Memoir of Beck- ford " says that " Vathek " is " the finest of oriental romances, as ' Lalla Rookh ' is the finest of oriental poems ; " and Lord Byron said that " as an eastern tale even ' Rasselas ' must bow before it. His happy valley will not bear a comparison with the hall of Eblis." He displayed his fastidious taste for magnificent buildings in the erection of Fonthill abbey, with a lofty tower, which afterward fell owing to its hasty construction. After having sold Fonthill in 1822, in consequence of the dimin- ished income from his Jamaica estates, he built another remarkable mansion on Lansdown Hill, near Bath ; and previously while in Portugal he had a fairy palace constructed at Cintra, which was his residence for several years, and which is commemorated by Lord Byron in tho first canto of " Childe Harold." His life was