rs
of Religion." He thought it would have been "Ministers of all
denominations." There was one denomination in Bristol that had no
ministers, and it went on wonderfully well. He referred to the Society
of Friends. He was sure His Lordship would agree. They only spoke when
_the_ spirit moved them, but a good many spoke when _a_ spirit moved
them. Some denominations were better without a minister, and some
ministers would be better without denominations. In the city of Bristol
there was room enough for all, and they need not spend time in attacking
each other, but might do the work God sent them to do. They had one
present that night--a broad-minded gentleman who did his work like the
Bishop, and minded his business, and did not interfere with other
people--Mr. Blatchford.

They always listened in Bristol with special pleasure to a speech from
their friend Mr. Francombe, the Lord Bishop said. He desired to thank
Mr. Francombe for the pleasant manner in which he had spoken of him. The
clergy and ministers had looked about in the world for the faces that
were on the side of right, besides the purely spiritual faces and
spiritual work, and he was always thankful to think a great deal of good
was done in the country by that great service represented that evening.
Their army of postmen and employes of the Post Office were a very great
factor indeed in keeping steady a State like their own. He always said
the same of certain other bodies, but of the postmen it seemed to him
they were so particularly careful about their business, they learned of
necessity to be so sober and so well conducted, or they would lose their
place, that he looked upon them and the railway men as two of the
greatest civilising influences they had among them, apart from such work
as Mr. Blatchford and he were called upon officially to do. He desired
to express, on his own part, his extreme gratitude to those gentlemen
for another reason--the wonderful accuracy with which they delivered the
letters. That gentleman who laughed might once in his life have missed a
letter addressed to him, but it did not happen to the Bishop. In the
five and a half years he had been in Bristol, with a large
correspondence, he was not conscious of having lost one single letter.
He should have been exceedingly glad if a good many had been lost. It so
happened he gave the Post Office a good deal of trouble. He lived at a
place called the Palace. Now Henry VIII. created a bishop'