Page:The Dioceses of England.djvu/16

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10

alone, though we perhaps think that Norman Stigand might have done more wisely if he had planted his bishopstool at Lewes.

Of Wessex I have already spoken casually. Several things might well be done; but the lines for all these are obvious. Somerset, Devonshire, Cornwall, as you are. Different bishoprics of Berkshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire—that is, all Wiltshire, taking in Cricklade and the rest that is gone to Bristol. Hampshire should be apart from Surrey. As for Surrey itself, the difficulty has already suggested itself.

Here is a good deal of change proposed. But it is all of it change working on ancient lines; a good deal of it would simply be the undoing of unwise changes in late times. And, as I am asked to speak to a map, I look at the matter simply as a question of ideal ecclesiastical geography. Practical questions of all kinds, above all, questions of income, I must leave to others.

E. A. Freeman.