power to be grasped by the daring man, instant and complete surrender to the spirit of adventure; visions of the greatness of an imperial Britain including transatlantic colonies, treasure-ships coming in from distant ports-such were the characteristics of the age of Elizabeth. The old romances were embodied in the lives of

THE BOYHOOD OF RALEIGH

men like Raleigh and Drake and Sidney. It was as though Gawain, Galahad, Lancelot had become incarnated in these men that mingled with London crowds, sought favor of the Queen, and set out in quest of treasure to lands inhabited by monsters or strange peoples.

The Discovery of the Ancient World. This rebirth, or Renaissance, that made men's blood pulse faster through their veins was partly due to events of the fifteenth century that attained full effect only in the age of Elizabeth. Printing, as we have seen, carried learning and literature to wider circles. The re-found treasures of the classics disclosed a new philosophy of life, based on the idea that man should develop all his powers for action and knowledge and all his capacities for enjoyment of earthly existence. Keats, living in the nineteenth century, found an Elizabethan translation of Homer that opened an entire new world to him, so that he felt like an explorer looking for the first time on the great expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Even more intensified was the effect in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries of the dis

covery of the achievements of the ancient world. Scholars lived in poverty that they might secure some of the precious manuscripts. "First I buy books," said Erasmus, one of the greatest of these scholars, "and then clothes." Men found new standards; the old authorities were not so binding as they had been in the Middle Ages; there was an enormous expansion in thought.

panying this intellectual movement was a new interest in the phenomena of nature. Since ancient times little scientific advance had been made. Magic and various forms of superstition had influenced ideas of medicine and the treatment of disease. An elaborate and false theory about the structure of the universe had been built up and was regarded as fact. Of experimental and laboratory science little was known. But in 1543 Copernicus, a Polish scholar, published a small book about the relation of the earth to the sun and other heavenly bodies. This book marked the beginning of a series of brilliant studies carried on by Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and others, that completely transformed knowledge. Great advances were also made in other branches of science. Lord Bacon wrote a book on the necessity for gathering facts and observing phenomena in order to find out the secrets of nature "for the glory of God and the relief of man's estate." He complained that men made no progress because they asked no questions of nature. The great inventions of the compass, gunpowder, and printing had been made, he said, by chance. If men would only ask questions of nature they would get answers that would transform the world. Thus he opened the way for the discovery of the world of nature, inaugurating a movement that has lasted to our time.

In both these ways, then the contact established with the accumulations of the ancient civilizations, and the discovery of

the infinite posIsibilities in the study of external naturemen's minds began to gain new outlooks. The walls of the stuffy room in which they had been living were suddenly opened, disclosing an immense prospect.

The Discovery of Man. The effects of this new birth were not confined to the expansion of the material environment of the human race or the mental enlargement that accompanied it. The greatest discovery of the Renaissance was not printing, or America, or the law that governs the stars in their courses. It was man himself. For centuries men had thought of the world as an evil place, at best a place of preparation for the hereafter. If you are taking a railway journey and find it necessary to change trains at a wretched little junction, you may disregard the discomforts of the wait between trains because you know that soon you will be on your way to your destination. To the Middle Ages this life was but a way-station in the passing of the soul to eternity. To the Renaissance the transforming idea came that the way-station had possibilities. There was much beauty about. Man could make something of his time while on the road to heaven. It was possible to live, not merely to wait; to think of improving the present, not to fix all his thoughts on his destination.

For this infinite curiosity about the far distant regions, manifested in the journeys of explorers and the investigations of astronomers and other scientists, extended also to the intellectual and emotional life of men. Plato's dialogues of love and beauty were studied, were made the basis of discussion in academies, and were translated into a philosophy suited to the new times. Love was the theme of poetry, of the new prose fiction, of the new comedy. Men also wrote of the ideal courtier, the

man who was

to win a career in the service of the state. He was to have an education that trained every side of his character. He was to be expert in horsemanship and all athletic sports, in music and art. Skill in conversation and ability to tell a good story were not overlooked. He was to be schooled in poetry and, indeed, to write poems for circulation in manuscript among his friends. Statesmanship he was to learn through travel to foreign courts, conversing with wise counselors, observing manners and customs and studying the details of foreign policy so that he might advise his prince. Above all, he was to be a man of learning.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

If such was the many-sided appeal of life to the ambitious youth who was in training for a career, scarcely less varied and interesting was the life of the ordinary citizen. The old nobility had largely disappeared. An ambitious youth might rise to any height. Business and international trade afforded new opportunities. Honest work was exalted in the novels of Thomas Deloney, who wrote of weavers and shoemakers, preached industry and thrift, and held out visions of the rewards open to right-minded tradesmen. Living conditions became safer and more comfortable. In place of gloomy castles and wretched hovels, homes for men and women were to be found. According to a contemporary account, the glass windows in London houses rivaled the stars in their shining. Richness of dress and entertainment became the rule. Visitors from the continent marveled at the wealth everywhere displayed. London was so crowded with coaches that we find many complaints about the dangers of traffic congestion. One worthy remarks that "the world runs on wheels with many whose parents were glad to go on foot." The Queen's "Prog