PROCEEDINGS FOR 1897 CLV 



worker for the outcast children of Great Britain and India — and many 

 others. And in our own time, the recent Bishop of Gloucester and 

 Bristol, to whom farewell has been said only within the last few days — 

 Bishop Ellicot — is one of the most distinguished scholars of the English 

 episcopate — whilst amongst the free churches there are men to-day in 

 the front rank of the ministry. 



Bristol is also the head of a Catholic diocese. The present bishop, 

 who is a man of many scholarly attainments, throws himself intensely 

 into the work of the city, in everything that is philanthropic and kind. 

 He has taken a very deep interest in the relief fund which has been 

 raised in the city for the persecuted Armenians, and has taken his full 

 shai-e of responsibility in helping to perfect the arrangements for the 

 Jubilee celebrations, which have just been so successfully carried out in 

 our city on Tuesday last. 



Old City. 



Now we might wend our way into the city proper, and when we get 

 to the very centre we find many traces of what it was hundreds of years 

 ago. The streets in the ancient wards are many of them very narrow 

 and whilst they may present to a newcomer an unfavourable impression 

 when he compares them with the centre of a modern large city, I have 

 to ask you to remember that Bristol was originally a walled city ; that 

 the streets wei-e necessarily very narrow and contracted, and that their 

 present width has only been accomplished by a vast expenditure of 

 money. 



Street improvements seriously commenced some thirty or forty 

 years ago, and those who are still in the forties will remember the 

 narrow old streets, with over-hanging gables, from the upper stories of 

 which persons could shake hands across the roadway. 



I was reminded of an incident just as I was leaving home, of a male 

 resident in Maryleport street, of a somewhat amatory disposition, who 

 was discovered risking his life by kissing a maiden across this street from 

 the upper storeys. Men often do strange things for love, money, or 

 fame. 



These old streets, in this utilitai"iau age, are now memories. Here 

 and there an old building has been left standing, connecting the present 

 with many centuries ago, and it will requii-e very great zeal on the part 

 of our Archaeological Society to preseiwe some of these ancient fabrics 

 from destruction. Personally my sympathy is very largely with city 

 improvements, but I confess to a feeling of very great reluctance in the 

 destruction of these ancient landmarks ; we do not want to make Bristol 

 entirely modern, because if we succeeded in this, it would not be so 

 beautiful a city as other cities which are entirely modern ; but in retain- 

 ing some of the old features of the ancient city, its want of special beauty 

 is compensated for by the retention of its ancient buildings. 



