Yet in spite of the attendant discomforts the whole
period is undeniably one of growth.
The reign of Elizabeth coincided with this stage in the development of
England. The young vigour was beginning to stir--and Hawkins and Drake
taught the world that it was so, and that when England stretched herself
catastrophe abroad must follow. She loved finery and feathers and velvet,
and to see herself on the dramatic stage and to sing her love-songs
there, as a growing maid dresses up and leans on her hand and looks into
her own eyes in the mirror--and Marlowe and Greene and Shakespeare are
witnesses to it. Yet she loved to hang over the arena too and watch the
bear-baiting and see the blood and foam and listen to the snarl of the
hounds, as a lad loves sport and things that minister death. Her policy,
too, under Elizabeth as her genius, was awkward and ill-considered and
capricious, and yet strong and successful in the end, as a growing lad,
while he is clumsier, yet manages to leap higher than a year ago.
And once more, to carry the parallel still further, during the middle
period of the reign, while the balance of parties and powers remained
much the same, principles and tendencies began to assert themselves more
definitely, just as muscles and sinews begin to appear through the round
contour of the limbs of a growing child.
Thus, from 1571 to 1577, while there was no startling reversal of
elements in the affairs of England, the entire situation became more
defined.
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