of Warwick" was printed in the same style about
1560, "Syr Eglamoure of Artoys," about 1570. Many others were at this
period printed in the same way with engravings from the same wood
blocks.

[28] London, 1560? 4to.

[29] "The history of Graund Amoure and la bel Pucell, called the Pastime
of pleasure," by Stephen Hawes, London, Tottell, 1555, 4to. The same
engraving embellishes also "The Squyr of Lowe Degre," published by W.
Copland, &c.

[Illustration: DRAWING BY ISAAC OLIVER, AFTER AN ITALIAN MODEL.]

CHAPTER II.

TUDOR TIMES, THE FASHIONS AND THE NOVEL.

I.

One of the most remarkable effects of the Renaissance was the awakening
of a slumbering curiosity. The _regime_ of the Middle Ages was just
ended; its springs were exhausted, its mysteries unveiled, its terrors
ridiculed. Armour was beginning to be thought troublesome; the towers of
the strong castles, dark and too much confined for the pleasures of
life; the reasonings of the schoolmen had grown old: blind faith was
out of fashion; a world was ending, and all that was sinking with it
appeared in the eyes of the young generation, out of season and "tedious
as a twice-told tale." The rupture between the Middle Ages and modern
times was complete in certain countries, partial in others, and
consequently the Renaissance had very different results among the
various peoples of Europe. But the same characteristic symptoms of an
eager, newly awakened curiosity manifested itself in all. There was no
longer question of continuing, but of comparing and of discovering. What
did the ancient Greeks and the old Romans say? What do our neighbours
think? What are their forms of style, their recent inventions? England
competed with France in her youthful curiosity, and English poets and
travellers following the example of their rivals beyond the seas,
"plundered" (in the words of Joachim du Bellay's famous manifesto[30]),
not only Athens and Rome, but Florence, Paris, Venice, and all the
enlightened towns of France, Italy, and Spain.

This curiosity spurred on the English in the different paths of human
knowledge and activity with an audacity worthy of the Scandinavian
Vikings. After having destroyed the Armada, they were going to burn the
Spanish fleet at Cadiz, to discover new lands in America and to give
them the name of "Virginia" in honour of their queen, and to attempt
the impossible task of discovering a way to China through the icy
regions of the North