154 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



we cannot overlook the ardour which led to the 

 establishment and maintenance of the great monas- 

 teries of Peterborough, Ely, Croyland, and Bury St. 

 Edmunds, or the remarkable family of royal warrior- 

 saints that culminated with St. Etheldreda. The East 

 Anglian churches also are celebrated for their size and 

 splendour, and the beauty of their internal decoration, 

 wherever it remains. 



The early manifestation of religion was suppressed 

 by the massacres of the Danish invasions. The prob- 

 able effect of the friars in breeding religious fervour 

 out of the race has already been considered. Milman 

 has called the Franciscan movement the " democracy 

 of Christianity " ; and doubtless there was something 

 in its attitude of mind which appealed to the East 

 Anglian temperament, in the same way as did the earlier 

 and later developments of religious fervour. How- 

 ever, the close settlement and enthusiastic reception 

 of the friars in that region must have led for a 

 time to an effective elimination of this type of 

 religious thought. Again, the very large emigration 

 to America at a later period must have produced 

 a severe weeding- out of the stronger and dourer 

 elements of Puritanism. It will be interesting to 

 see whether, at any future period, the characteristic 

 East Anglian religious temperament rises again into 

 national prominence, when it has had time to re-create 

 itself by new genetic permutations and combinations 

 among the people. 



Let us now turn to a consideration of the Eliza- 

 bethan age on the same lines as those suggested by 

 our present train of thought. The causes producing 



