Fountains, and Byland, you will have seen only a small part of the abbeys of Yorkshire. There are many others of great interest, such as Kirkstall, Jervaulx, Roche, Easby, and others, which will give you some idea of the extent of the monastic buildings in this county. You are not going to see many of the great castles of Yorkshire, which have a very distinct interest, such as Middleham; but there are spots which you will pass when journeying on the railway which are full of interest and beauty. I hope that, when on the way from York to Ripon, you will cast your eyes over Marston Moor, the site of a great battle of two-and-a-half centuries ago, and that you will not forget to look at that most picturesque scene from the railway-bridge at Knaresborough. Then, beginning with the minster, you are going to visit churches in actual use, but which contain many reminiscences of the past. If I may allude to Ripon Cathedral, I may say that it possesses many points of interest, both on account of its architectural features and its history. Ripon is connected with St. Wilfred, who flourished in the seventh century, and you will therefore be carried far back into the history of our land. You are going to see Selby Church, which, I believe, was founded by William the Conqueror, and is a church of many attractions. Thence you will proceed to Howden, where there is one of the most beautiful churches in our country, now used as a parish church. You will see that in this part of Yorkshire, within reasonable distance of this great capital of the county, we can show our visitors many things which are not unworthy of their attention. In regard to the objects of the Association, I believe the study of archæology, using the word in its widest and most comprehensive sense, to be a study full of the deepest interest; it brings before us in succession all the most beautiful buildings of our country; it takes us into some of the most beautiful scenery which the country can afford; it presents to us, in various aspects and forms, and under different circumstances, the works of man of all descriptions; and it recalls in the liveliest manner recollections of great men. We can all read of the great men of the past, and can get from our histories a good idea of their

life and of their character; but a distinct class of feelings arise in our minds when we are actually on the spot on which these men dwelt, in which they worked, in which their great deeds were accomplished-when we see books which they have handled, or garments which they have worn-we have then a more real, close, and lively comprehension of their existence, and a better understanding of their lives.

The details of archæological investigation help to bring before us all the past history of our country; and such associations as are afforded us of the lives of our forefathers must have many strong attractions, and especially so to the minds of those who may be worried by the trials of actual life, and the difficulties with which they are daily surrounded. It would be an error, and a serious disparagement of archæological studies, if we overlook their practical utility for the purposes of our time, and the conduct of our lives. If these investigations were purely antiquarian, without any application to the days in which we live, they might be deserving of the carping criticisms which from time to time have been directed against them; but I hold very strongly that those criticisms are unjust, because to studies of this kind are greatly due our better understanding of the past, and greater justice to those who dwelt in olden times. If there is any distinction more than another between the present-and shall I say the eighteenth century-it is, I think, to be found in the greater appreciation, and the wider and juster understanding, of past times, and especially of the Middle Ages. If we look at the writings of a century ago, all these beautiful buildings, not omitting York Minster itself, were considered to be hideous monuments of a barbaric time, and for anybody to examine them, and to care about them, or the times in which they were erected, was altogether an insane proceeding. I believe that change is greatly due-not exclusively, no doubt-to the spread of archæological investigations, and the greater realisation of what has been the life of the past which those investigations have brought home to us. If that be true, these studies. have had for us a great and permanent benefit, because they have taught us to understand out of what it is

that the time in which we live has grown. We have often been told to study history, because it teaches by experience, and there is much truth in the saying; but at the same time men may often go wrong in their judgment of current events, if they think they can apply directly the exact lessons which the history of times different from their own teaches them. I think it is a good thing that in these days the first and foremost aim in the pursuit of history is to bring before us such a picture of the past that we may understand how the present has come about. All history is really one. We all talk about ancient history, mediæval history, and modern history; but all these lines are imaginary and artificial. There is but one history from the earliest times down to the present, the history which has grown up gradually from century to century. The future is the product of the past and the present. Therefore, any science which enables men better to understand what has gone before, and out of what it is that their own times have grown, must have a very valuable teaching, not only for men of science, but for public men-for the politician and for the statesman. If ever there were a country in which archæological studies might well be pursued, that country seems to me to be our own. I look upon it as singularly fortunate that the English people have had no violent severance in their history. However different these days of railways, telegraphs, manufacturing industries, and democratic institutions may be from the days of Cistercian abbeys and feudal tenures, they are the outcome of the olden times, and we cannot understand them aright, nor act wisely in them, unless we know from what they have

sprung.