But in time the companies lost their healthy
vitality, and, with other relics of feudalism, were in the reign
of Elizabeth hastening away. There were no longer tradesmen to be
found in sufficient number who were possessed of the necessary
probity; and it is impossible not to connect such a phenomenon
with the deep melancholy which, in those days, settled down on
Elizabeth herself.
"For indeed a change was coming upon the world, the meaning and
direction of which even is still hidden from us--a change from era
to era. The paths trodden by the footsteps of ages were broken up;
old things were passing away, and the faith and life of ten
centuries were dissolving like a dream. Chivalry was dying; the
abbey and the castle were soon together to crumble into ruins; and
all the forms, desires, beliefs, convictions of the old world were
passing away, never to return. A new continent had risen up beyond
the western sea. The floor of heaven, inlaid with stars, had sunk
back into an infinite abyss of immeasurable space; and the firm
earth itself, unfixed from its foundations, was seen to be but a
small atom in the awful vastness of the Universe.
"In the fabric of habit which they had so laboriously built for
themselves, mankind was to remain no longer.
Pages:
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141