From what has been already said, it will readily be admitted that we owe a deep debt to those monks of old for the loving care and artistic skill which they lavished on the Houses of God, and for the patient labour whereby they preserved for future ages our literature, both ecclesiastical and secular. The services, too, in many a parish were maintained by them, and it is hardly too much to say that the lamp of religion would have been utterly darkened in many a place, if it had not been kept alight by the teaching and preaching of those who had their home in the monasteries. Nor must we forget, what has already been hinted at, that the monks were virtually the only--at any rate the chief--instructors of the youth of the country, and thus did much for the education and elevation of the people. They, too, were the principal almoners of the poor, who must have suffered acutely when the monasteries were suppressed. In all these different ways there is no reason to doubt that the Abbeys of Cheshire (and especially the comparatively wealthy one of St. Werburgh’s) did their part and share for the benefit of those around them, and, like similar institutions elsewhere, did much to inspire and preserve a high and noble ideal of Christian life. This is not the occasion or the place to discuss fully the great question of the suppression of the monasteries, or the motives of those who were responsible for it, and the means which they adopted for the purpose. But the candid student of history, unless he be very bigoted, cannot but admit that the measure was characterised by some very questionable acts, and marked by deeds which cannot be defended. The reformation of the religious houses--or of such as needed such treatment--could probably have effected all that was necessary, and have been more beneficial to the country at large. The monasteries might have adapted themselves to the changed circumstances and to the growing needs of the age. At any rate there need not have been that terrible and needless waste shown in the wanton destruction of countless treasures of art and learning, whereby opportunities for the improvement of man were deliberately thrown away. Not to mention the reliquaries and church plate, which were unscrupulously seized and desecrated, books and manuscripts of priceless value were destroyed, painted windows broken, hospitals and schools closed, buildings unroofed, and suffered to fall into ruin, and to become a mere quarry for the neighbourhood. In these various ways no doubt Cheshire suffered much like the rest of England; but the preservation of the Abbey of St. Werburgh as the future Cathedral of the newly founded See of Chester, rendered the loss much less than it would otherwise have been. Still it was sufficiently great, though it is not possible now fully to estimate it. All that was left to the Church from the Dissolution of the monasteries were the six poorly-endowed bishoprics, Westminster,