90 
Archdeacon of London, and without the means of support,. 
his only solace was in books. 
In tracing the history of this Bath antiquary of bygone 
days, I fear I have trespassed on your patience. In some 
aspects of his life he resembled the good and great Bishop 
Grosseteste. This Prelate was born forty years after Peter, 
in the lowest rank of life, but from a poor scholar in the Gram- 
mar School of Lincoln became the most celebrated Prelate 
that ever ruled this most important, and then the most 
extensive, diocese in England. 
Far above all his contemporaries in the depth and extent 
of his scholarship and general culture, he was superior to the 
bulk of the clergy in zeal and piety. 
In consequence of the increasing exactions and encroach- 
ments of the Papal power in this country at that time, he made 
remarkable efforts for the resuscitation of learning and the 
revival of public spirit in the English Church of the 13th 
Century, the effects of which stimulated and permeated the 
Church and nation for a hundred years afterwards. Both 
Grosseteste and Peter obtained their early religious habits 
and instincts at the Paris University, but the Archdeacon 
lacked the varied and profound learning of the Bishop ; 
neither had he the resolute and determined will to concen- 
trate all his powerful faculties in the service of the One 
Great Master. The Archdeacon rather resembled Wolsey, 
who served two masters, and consequently failed to realise 
Grosseteste’s lofty ideal of holy life and unceasing activity. 
Nevertheless, he was a man ‘sui generis.”” Of no other 
could it be more truthfully said, that he possessed a marvellous 
personality and a winsome address. That h was sanguine and 
impulsive in youth, earnest and determined in manhood, 
desponding and melancholy in old age, I think has been 
admitted in this brief sketch of his life and character. 
