ich the disputed
passage occurred. He had been taught this one trick of fetching a
certain volume from the shelves of the library, and the conversation
was turned and turned till it was brought round to a passage in that
very volume. The guests were, no doubt, amazed, but as it was before
the days of Darwin and Lubbock, it led to no more than a good laugh. I
was surprised and delighted at the honesty with which the Archdeacon
admitted the weak points of the Anglican system, and the dangers which
threatened not only the Church, but the religion of England. The real
danger, he evidently thought, came from the clergy, and their
hankering after Rome. "They have forgotten their history," he said,
"and the sufferings which the sway of a Roman priesthood has inflicted
for centuries on their country." I think it was he who told me the
story of a young Romanizing curate, who declared that he could never
see what was the use of the laity.

One day when I called on Bunsen with my books, and I frequently called
when I had something new to show him, he said: "You must come with me
to Oxford to the meeting of the British Association." This was in
1847. Of course I did not know what sort of thing this British
Association was, but Bunsen said he would explain it all to me, only I
must at once sit down and write a paper. He, Bunsen, was to read a
paper on the "Results of the recent Egyptian Researches in reference
to Asiatic and African Ethnology and the Classification of Languages,"
and he wanted Dr. Karl Meyer and myself to support him, the former
with a paper on Celtic Philology, and myself with a paper on the Aryan
and Aboriginal Languages of India. I assured him that this was quite
beyond me. I had hardly been a year in England, and even if I could
write, I knew but too well that I could not read a paper before a
large audience. However, Bunsen would take no refusal. "We must show
them what we have done in Germany for the history and philosophy of
language," he said, "and I reckon on your help." There was no escape,
and to Oxford I had to go. I was fearfully nervous, for, as Prince
Albert was to be present, ever so many distinguished people had
flocked to the meeting, and likewise some not very friendly
ethnologists, such as Dr. Latham, and Mr. Crawford, known by the name
of the Objector General. Our section was presided over by the famous
Dr. Prichard, the author of that classical work, _Researches into the
Physical History of Ma