138 The Thirty-Fifith General Meeting. 
condition of men which we were able from various little indications 
here and there, and especially from the comparison of one country 
with another, to piece together, so that we got a picture of the life 
of man, without any annals of the events which succeeded one 
another; and onwards, through the medieval period, and up till 
quite recently, when, as they knew, that neighbourhood had very 
interesting literary associations connected with the names of Bowles 
and Coleridge and Moore, to some of which he believed their at- 
tention would be specially called on the morrow. The one thing 
which would come out strongly and probably impress them most as 
they took their rapid survey of the whole history of mankind as it 
presented itself to them in a tour of that kind, would be the effect 
of religion in England, as shaping the history of the country, and 
the power of the family. There was a time when these two things 
were in contrast, if not in conflict. Speaking at Calne, one could 
not help remembering that wonderful meeting when the Archbishop 
of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester were set face to face, 
one, as it were, as the champion of monastic life, antagonistic to 
the family, and the other the champion of family life. It was re- 
ported that Archbishop Dunstan and his supporters, the champions 
of monastery life, were left standing masters of the field, when the 
champions of family life were swallowed up in the ruins of the 
building in which they were gathered. He did not know whether 
this was true or not, but that was the legend. Now, as they looked 
round and saw so many ladies of their friends and families about 
them, they could not help feeling that after all in England family 
life had won the day. Anda very happy thing it wasfor us. But 
on the other hand, side by side with that, he thought they would 
find, as they went about, not only relics of personal histories of 
families which would be extremely interesting, and which such 
annalists as so happily belonged to their Society would be able to 
explain with the greatest facility and power, but they would also 
find proofs of the great power of the Church in moulding the 
history of the country. Speaking as Bishop of Salisbury, he could 
not help recording (this was the first time he had spoken in that 
neighbourhood on such a subject) his deep regret at the severance 
