ety
only; but now that the Wars of the Roses had destroyed the old feudal
barons (SS299, 316), there was no need of such precaution. Men were
no longer content to live shut up in somber strongholds, surrounded
with moats of stagnant water, or in meanly built houses, where the
smoke curled around the rafters for want of chimneys by which to
escape, while the wind whistled through the unglazed latticed windows.

Mansions and stately manor houses like Hatfield, Knowle, parts of
Haddon Hall, and the "Bracebridge Hall" of Washington Irving,[2] rose
instead of castles, and hospitality, not exclusion, became the
prevailing custom. The introduction of chimneys brought the cheery
comfort of the English fireside, while among the wealthy, carpets,
tapestry, and silver plate took the place of floors strewed with
rushes, of bare walls, and of tables covered with pewter or woooden
dishes.

[2] Aston Hall, Birmingham, is the original of Irving's "Bracebridge
Hall." It came a little later than Elizabeth's time, but is
Elizabethan in style.

An old writer, lamenting these innovations, says: "When our houses
were built of willow, then we had oaken men; but, now that our houses
are made of oak, our men have not only become willow, but many are
altogether of straw, which is a sore affliction."

392. An Age of Adventure and of Daring.

But they were not all of straw, for that was a period of daring
enterprise, of explorers, sea rovers, and freebooters. Sir Walter
Raleigh planted the first English colony in America, which the maiden
Queen named Virginia, in honor of herself. It proved unsuccessful,
but he said, "I shall live to see it an English nation yet"; and he
did.

Frobisher explored the coasts of Labrador and Greenland. Sir Francis
Drake, who plundered the treasure ships of Spain wherever he found
them, sailed into the Pacific, spent a winter in or near the harbor of
San Francisco, and ended his voyage by circumnavigating the globe.
(See map facing p. 222.) In the Far East, London merchants had
established the East India Company, the beginning of English dominion
in Asia; while in Holland, Sir Philip Sydney gave his lifeblood for
the cause of Protestantism.

393. Literature and Natural Philosophy.

It was an age, too, not only of brave deeds but of high thoughts.
Shakespeare, Spenser, and Jonson were making English literature the
noblest of all literatures. Furthermore, Shakespeare had no equal as
a teacher of Engl