A. L. ROWSE. The Expansion of Elizabethan England. Pp. xiii, 450. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1955. $5.75

• Author: E.A. Beller
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400158
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

178

eral

earnest

attempts

to

mitigate

social

animosities.

Moreover,

the

author’s

failure

to

define

&dquo;radical&dquo;

leaves

the

reader

in

doubt

as

to

whether

he

means

working

class

agitators

or

the

followers

of

Jeremy

Bentham.

Notwithstanding

these

defects

of

meth-

odology,

Mr.

Webb

has

compiled

a

useful

catalogue

of

the

literature

designed

to

edu-

cate

and

uplift

the

working

people.,

Since

he

is

unable

to

engender

sympathy

for

the

middle

classes,

Mr.

Webb

would

do

well

to

turn

his

attention

to

the

study

of

liter-

ature

of

the

working

classes

and

present

a

catalogue

of

the

materials

which,

in

his

judgment,

lifted

the

working

classes

to

literacy.

R.

G.

COWHERD

Lehigh

University

A.

L.

ROWSE.

The

Expansion

of

Elizabe-

than

England.

Pp.

xiii,

450.

New

York :

St.

Martin’s

Press,

1955.

$5.75.

To

Dr.

Rowse,

Elizabethan

expansion

begins

at

home-English

law

and

order,

English

language

and

custom

are

intro-

duced,

by

force

when

necessary,

into

the

Celtic

lands

of

the

Scottish

border,

Wales,

and

Cornwall.

Ireland

is

another

story,

for

here

bloody

conquest

was

necessary

to

subdue

the

country.

Even

while

these

tasks

were

being

accomplished,

Englishmen

penetrated

to

the

distant

East

and

Mus-

covy,

and

finally

made

their

first

attempts

to

settle

in

the

New

World.

In

a

great

burst

of

energy,

the

island

people

caught

up

to

and

prepared

to

surpass

the

mighty

Spanish

bid

for

empire.

The

author

tells

the

story

with

gusto

and

unabashed

partisanship.

There

are

heroes

and

villains,

wise

men

and

fools.

The

great

English

soldiers

and

sailors

flash

brilliantly.

Of

the

foreigners,

William

the

Silent,

&dquo;one

of

the

truly

great

men

of

his-

tory,&dquo;

and

Parma,

although

an

enemy,

re-

ceive

the

accolade.

Essex

is

the

light-

weight

dilettante,

and

Philip

of

Spain

is

the

bigot,

sometimes

the

fool.

Above

them

all

is

Queen

Elizabeth-guiding,

goading,

scold-

ing,

praising,

with

an

uncanny

knowledge

of

all

that

goes

on;

but

being

a

woman

she

hates

war!

Yet

the

queen

is

vigorously

defended

against

the

detractors

who

accuse

her

of

criminal

parsimony

in

the

payment

and

care

of

her

valiant

troops.

In

truth,

she

could

do

little

to

prevent

the

rampant

corruption

of

captains

and

civilian

purvey-

ors.

Corruption,

disease,

and

inefficiency

made

for

the

miseries

of

the

armed

forces.

Despite

these

difficulties,

such

great

ad-

vances

were

made

in

ship

designing

and

in

military

organization,

training

and

equip-

ment,

that

Elizabethan

England

emerged

as

a

first-class

power.

In

fact,

in

the

author’s

opinion,

Elizabeth

made

only

two

major

mistakes:

she

failed

to

supply

sufficient

funds

for

the

conquest

of

Ireland

earlier

in

the

reign,

and

secondly

she

intervened

in

the

French

civil

wars.

To

this

reader

at

least,

there

is

hardly

a

dull

moment

in

Dr.

Rowse’s

book,

even

though

the

expert

may

not

find

much

that

is

new

or

different

from

previous

accounts.

Attention

is

held

by

the

careful

blending

of

contemporary

sources

and

modem

au-

thorities,

and

by

the

verve

of

the

writing,

particularly

in

describing

the

exploits

of

the

sailor-heroes,

the defeat

of

the

Armada,

intervention

in

the

Netherlands,

and

the

Irish

troubles.

May

the

reviewer

never-

theless

express

a

few

disagreements?

The

learned

author

seems

to

fall

into

a

curious

Celtic

racism:

Celts

are

withdrawn,

sensual,

and

bad

cooks!

Dr.

Rowse

hates

the fan-

atic,

Puritan

or

Catholic;

but

is

not

this

hatred

carried

too

far,

apropos

Motley:

&dquo;Puritans

have

seldom

much

minded

about

truth

in

what

they

say

of

others&dquo;?

Or

in

the

dictum

that

&dquo;the

odious,

the

superfluous

Civil

War

in

England&dquo;

destroyed

the

pos-

sibility

of

integrating

England

and

Ireland?

But

then,

perhaps

these

crochets

add

spice

to

an

admirable

book,

and

in

any

case

do

little

harm.

We

look

forward

to

the

final

volume

of

Dr.

Rowse’s

Elizabe-

than

trilogy.

E.

A.

BELLER

Princeton

University

WILLIAM

HALLER.

Liberty

and

Reforma-

tion

in

the

Puritan

Revolution.

Pp.

xv,

410.

New

York:

Columbia

University

Press,

1955.

$6.00.

Professor

Haller

in

this

latest

work

con-

tinues

his

earlier

study,

The

Rise

o

f Puri-

tanism

and

brings

it

down

to

1649.

Uti-