The Bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Creighton, delivered on Wednesday at
Oxford the " Romans" lecture, choosing for his subject the English character. He believed national character to be "the abiding product of a nation's past," and more important than its institutions, which, indeed, derive from that character their vitality. Empire, riches, even literature and science, may come to an end if the national character fails in power to keep what it has acquired, as happened, we may remark, though Dr. Creighton did not, certainly to the Athenian and possibly to the Roman, though the latter may have perished from slaughter rather than decay. The English character was formed first of all by segregation, England displaying very early the instinct to carry on a separate life divorced from the general life of the Continent. It is true she showed a desire to expand on the Continent rather than within the islands, where she slowly absorbed Wales, waited for Scotland, and neglected Ireland, but though she borrowed and expanded Continental theories she refused to submit to abstract ideas. The consequence is that we • are hardly understood, the ignorance being deepened by the fact that we have never suffered the misfortunes which have bitten into foreigners "a trace of something fantastic, fanatical, or unreasonable."
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