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 English history. His historical plays appealed then, as
they do now, to every heart. At his touch the dullest and driest
records of the past are transformed and glow with color, life,
movement, and meaning.[1] On the other hand, Francis Bacon, son of
Sir Nicholas Bacon, of Elizabeth's council, was giving a wholly
different direction to education. In his new system of philosophy,[2]
he taught men that in order to use the forces of nature they must
learn by observation and experiment to know nature herself; "for,"
said he, "knowledge is power."
[1] On the value of Shakespeare's Historical Plays, see S298, note 1;
S313, note 2; and S410.
[2] In his tract on "The Greatest Birth of Time," in 1582.