mor; the Navy.

Though gunpowder had been in use for two centuries, yet full suits of
armor were still worn during a great part of the period. An improved
matchlock gun, with the pistol, an Italian invention, and heavy cannon
were introduced. Until the death of Henry VIII foot soldiers
continued to be armed with the long bow; but under Edward VI that
weapon was superseded by firearms. The principal wars of the period
were with Scotland, France, and Spain, the last being by far the most
important, and ending with the destruction of the Armada.

Henry VIII established a permanent navy, and built several vessels of
upwards of one thousand tons register. The largest men-of-war under
Elizabeth carried forty cannon and a crew of several hundred men.

IV. Literature, Learning, and Art

409. Schools. The revival of learning gave a great impetus to
education. The money which had once been given to monasteries was now
spent in building schools, colleges, and hospitals. Dean Colet
established the free grammar school of St. Paul's, several colleges
were endowed at Oxford and Cambridge, and Edward VI opened upwards of
forty charity schools in different parts of the country, of which the
Christ's Hospital or "Blue-Coat School," originally established in
London, is one of the best known. Improved textbooks were rpepared
for the schools, and Lily's "Latin Grammar," first published in 1513
for the use of Dean Colet's school, continued a standard work for over
three hundred years.

410. Literature; the Theater.

The latter part of the period deserves the name of the "Golden Age of
English Literature." More, Sydney, Hooker, Jewell, and Bacon were the
leading prose writers; while Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, and Jonson
represented the poets.

In 1574 a public theater was erected in London, in which Shakespeare
was a stockholder. Not very long after, a second was opened. At both
these, the Globe and the Blackfriars, the great dramatist appeared in
his own plays, and in such pieces as "King John," "Richard the Third,"
and the Henrys, he taught his countrymen more of the true spirit and
meaning of the nation's history than they had ever learned before.
His historical plays are chiefly based on Holinshed and Hall, two
noted chroniclers of the period.

411. Progress of Science; Superstitions.

The discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, Magellan, and other navigators,
had proved the earth to be a globe. Copernicus, a Prussian