The Elizabethans dreamed
glorious dreams, which they translated into action. They defeated the
Spanish Armada; they circumnavigated the globe; they made it possible for
Shakespeare's pen to mold the thought and to influence the actions of the
world.
If we except those indentured servants and apprentices who came to America
merely because others brought them, we shall find not only that the first
colonists were born in an age distinguished for its initiative, but also
that they came because they possessed this characteristic in a greater
degree than those who remained behind. It was easier for the majority to
stay with their friends; hence England was not depopulated. The few came,
those who had sufficient initiative to cross three thousand miles of
unknown sea, who had the power to dream dreams of a new commonwealth, and
the will to embody those dreams in action.
In the second place, the Elizabethans were ingenious, that is, they were
imaginative and resourceful. Impelled by the mighty forces of the
Reformation and the Revival of Learning which the England of Elizabeth
alone felt at one and the same time, the Elizabethans craved and obtained
variety of experience, which kept the fountainhead of ingenuity filled.
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