it the old anthropocentric ideas.  Men looked into the heavens and saw a new universe.  In the grand scheme of creation there unfolded before them, they read in spite of themselves the comparative insignificance of their own world, and an overwhelming blow was dealt at the narrowness and superstition which had hitherto characterized their thoughts.  A new world, too, was fast becoming known.  The circumnavigation of the earth by Drake, the visits of other Englishmen to the shores of Africa and America, even to the Arctic seas, awakened a deep and healthful curiosity.  There arose a passion for travelling, for seeing and studying foreign lands.  Those who were forced to remain at home devoured with eagerness the books of those who wandered abroad.  The effects of this widening of the mental and physical horizon are observable in the new occupations which absorbed the energies of men, and in the new social life which all classes were beginning to lead.  Improvements in husbandry doubled the productiveness of the soil, and greatly enhanced its value.  The development of manufactures made English woolens in demand throughout Europe.  In commerce the new spirit of enterprise was strikingly apparent.  Tradesmen and nobles, ministers of state, Elizabeth herself—­all who could, ventured something in the ships which sailed for America or Africa in the hope of golden cargoes.  The Russia company brought home furs and flax, steel, iron, ropes, and masts.  The Turkey merchants imported the productions of the Levant, silks and satins, carpets, velvets, and cloth of gold.  By the side of these were laid in London markets, the rice, cotton, spices, and precious stones of India, and the sugar, rare woods, gold, silver, and pearls of the New World.[37]

Under the influence of this new enterprise and prosperity, the picture of social life becomes more pleasing.  The English noble succeeded to the feudal baron, the manor to the fortress.  With the coat of mail and huge two-handed sword passed away the portcullis and the moat.  The new homes of the nobility, erected during Elizabeth’s reign, were marked by a beauty and luxury in keeping with the new ideas of their owners.  The eye still rests with admiration on the numberless gables, the quaint chimneys, the oriel windows, the fretted parapets of the Tudor building.  Within, the magnificent staircases, the great carved chimney-pieces, the massive oaken furniture, the costly cabinets, and elaborate tapestries all attested the new wealth and the new taste of the occupants.  A large chamber of Hardwicke Hall was decorated with a frieze representing a stag hunt, and beneath that the story of Ulysses wrought in tapestry.[38] Harrington rejoiced in the number of “goodly chambers, large gardens and sweet walks” of Elizabeth’s palaces.  The “goodly chambers” were filled with cloths of gold and silver, with satin-covered furniture, and silk coverlids lined with ermine.  In the houses of knights and gentlemen were to be seen a great