sed in the water. The punishment of thieves
by branding and by mutilation, and the punishment meted out to women
whose characters, even in that gross age, affronted public morals,
were of a public nature and matters of daily observation. Nor was any
woman quite sure that the gibbet, from which she could at almost any
time see the swaying form of some unfortunate, might not next serve
for the execution of her own husband; for the number of capital
offences was large, and the inquiries of justice by no means lenient
on the side of the accused.

The destruction of the monasteries brought about, in a large measure,
the dissolution of the educational system of the realm. The sons of
the poor husbandman, who had been taught at the convent schools, and
then passed on through the universities, and thence had gradually
worked their way into the professions of religion or the law, had
the door of opportunity to a higher station closed to them. The
deprivation was more severe in the case of girls, although it did not
signify so much for them in relation to their future--unless, indeed,
it did so by debarring from the profession of religion some who might
have entered it. The clergy tried to meet the educational demands
which were so suddenly thrown upon them, but it was impossible for
them to afford educational facilities for the youth of either sex at
schools without endowment or adequate support. Elizabeth, with the
wide view and the sagacity which she showed with regard to all aspects
of her kingdom, evinced her recognition of the importance of education
by establishing one hundred free grammar schools, whose number rapidly
increased during her reign. In the course of time, these schools fell
under the control of the middle class and afforded education for their
sons and daughters. But in England there were certainly very few, if
any, women of the middle class who entered largely into the benefits
of the new learning which came in with the Renaissance. The study
of Latin and Greek and the discussion of philosophy and science were
confined to the women of the leisure classes. The English universities
in the sixteenth century were closed to women; but such lack was
made up by private tutors, women of rank and position thus having the
benefit of the brightest minds of the age.

The great awakening of intellectual life in England, in common
with the continental countries, showed itself in activity in all
departments of thought: p