A.D. 1170. AKCHBISnO? THOMAS RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 331 beloved Thomas, and to crown his long labours with the victorious palm of martyrdom. He, therefore, brought the king of England to a better frame of mind, who, through the paternal exhortation of our lord the pope, and by the advice of the king of the Eranks and of many bishops, received the archbishop again into favour, and allowed him to return to his church. Accordingly, peace was established between the archbishop and the king of England, on the fourth day before the ides of October, being the second day of the week, at Montluet, between Tours and Amboise, upon which, everything being arranged, they returned, each to his place. Thomas, the archbishop of Canterbury, returned to the abbey of Saint Columba, where he had resided'for nearly the last four years. But, one day whUe the said archbishop lay there, prostrated in prayer before a certain altar in the church, he heard a voice from heaven saying to him, " Arise quickly, and go unto thy see, and thou shalt glorify my Church with thy blood, and thou shalt be glorified in me." Thereupon, at the commencement of the seventh year of his banishment, when he was now beloved by God and sanctified by spiritual exercises, and rendered more perfect by the sevenfold grace of the Holy Ghost, he hastened with aB speed to return to his see. For the pious father was unwilling any longer to leave the church of Canterbury desolate ; or else it was, because, as some beheve, he had seen in the spirit the glories of his contest drawing to a close, or through a fear that, by dying elsewhere, he might be depriving his own see of the honor of his martyrdom. As for his life, it was perfectly unimpeachable before God and man. To arise before daybreak did not seem to him a vain thing, as he knew that the Lord has promised a crown to the watchful. For every day he arose before daybreak, whUe aB the rest were asleep, and entering his oratory would pray there for a long time ; and then returning, he would awake his chaplains and clerks from their slumbers, and, the matins and the hours9 5 of the day being chaunted, devoutly celebrate the mass ; and every day and night he received three or five flagellations from the hand of a priest. After the celebration 9 4 The " horse" were services performed with chaunts at certain hours in the day : they were seven in number, and were styled " matutina, prima, tertia, sexta, nona, vespera," and " completorium."