Shall hands that do create the Lord be bound
Behind the back like laymen-criminals?
The Lord be judged again by Pilate? No!

JOHN OF OXFORD.
'When a bishoprick falls vacant, the King, till another be appointed,
shall receive the revenues thereof.'

BECKET.
And that I cannot sign. Is the King's treasury
A fit place for the monies of the Church,
That be the patrimony of the poor?

JOHN OF OXFORD.
'And when the vacancy is to be filled up, the King shall summon the
chapter of that church to court, and the election shall be made in the
Chapel Royal, with the consent of our lord the King, and by the advice
of his Government.'

BECKET.
And that I cannot sign: for that would make
Our island-Church a schism from Christendom,
And weight down all free choice beneath the throne.

FOLIOT.
And was thine own election so canonical,
Good father?

BECKET.
If it were not, Gilbert Foliot,