So we were launched by theElizabethan seamen upon our long career of adventure across the seas: adventure leading to discovery, discovery to exploration, exploration to colonisation and settlement, and so to Empire. So that you might say theBritish Empire was a product — almost a by-product — of adventure. It certainly was not planned; it came into being naturally, gradually, as the result of the adventurous spirit, the stout heart and courage of our forefathers looking for a livelihood and an outlet for their energy and spirits across the ocean.
'The Spirit of Adventure: The British Interpretation', broadcast to schools (October 1940), inThe English Spirit: Essays in History and Literature (1944), p. 55
The truth is that all these men exemplify a triumph ofwill-power: that is what enabled them to succeed. The strain made some of them harsh —Grenville was harsh, andBligh of theBounty. PerhapsDrake too — as certainly he was in his execution ofCaptain Doughty in South America, before breaking into the Pacific. Still you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. It is a mistake to be too soft; one can't expect to achieve anything without grit.That they all had.
'The Spirit of Adventure: The British Interpretation', broadcast to schools (October 1940), inThe English Spirit: Essays in History and Literature (1944), p. 56
Within thechurch the authorities had increasing difficulties to contend with from thepuritans in these middle years of the reign: at their height from 1571 to 1584. The strength of puritanism was that it was the ideology, or if you prefer, the religion, of the forward-looking gentry and middle class.
The fact of our being an island has been a great advantage all through our later history. It has given us the benefit of a time-lag, imposed a bulwark between us and the too violent impact of forces from outside. We were given time to work out our own solutions, to absorb the shock of new ideas and movements, to bide our own time and interpose with effect in Europe when the moment was ripe. Since thelast war people have got into the habit of underestimating the importance of our insularity; they have been apt to say that the development of air power has annihilated it. Air power has, of course, made an immense difference; but it has not annihilated it. It was our insularity that saved us in 1940.
'The Historical Tradition of British Policy', inThe English Spirit: Essays in History and Literature (1944), pp. 29-30
The most elaborate of theserevels were those of Christmas 1594, of which we have a detailed, somewhat tedious account — for what amused the Elizabethans does not much amuse us (Shakespeare andBen Jonson excepted).
...Marlowe's plays had the advantage of being performed by the greatest of Elizabethan actors, then coming to the fore in his youthful prime. Similarly, Marlowe's plays, dominated by one towering character — Tamburlaine, the Guise, Barabas, Faustus — gaveAlleyn's large-scale personality the scope it demanded.
I consoled myself with a rare bout of gossip with the piano-tuner, rather a dear little man, with up-turned, waved mustaches, bright bird-like eyes, a slightly lisping manner of speech, which recalled his great days in London and rubbing shoulders with celebrities. He had been piano-tuner to some well-known pianist — I thinkAdela Verne — of a previous generation. From him I heard the gossip of county society, and life atTruro, our cathedral city.
We must put these things in the perspective of the age, its ubiquitous cruelty: flogging and beating were frequent, schoolmasters believed in beating learning into their pupils' heads — the exemplaryLady Jane Grey was frequently beaten for her book. For scolds there werebranks or gags across the mouth, spiked chastity-belts for unreliable wives,ducking stools for women who made nuisances of themselves.
... I suggested that he write for Oldham's Press, which I was advising, a biography ofMountjoy: Elizabethan General. This was a congenial subject, whichCyril made the most of. ... ...Mountjoy's long liaison withEssex's beautiful sister, the wife ofLord Rich, was recognised by society, until Mountjoy married the lady, when social humbug made a scandal of it. All this appealed to Cyril, who had a soldierly gallantry for the fair sex.
