THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



What powers it shall bring in, what spirits command ? 



What thoughts let out, what humours keep restrained ? 

 What mischief it may powerfully withstand, 



And what fair ends may thereby be attained ? ' 



The poets as Before the first acre of land beyond the seas had 

 builders ^^^^ effectively added to the dominion of England, the 

 poets had foretold the British Empire. The expansion 

 of England was, in the main, the work of the Eighteenth 

 Century ; but the soldiers and statesmen who planted 

 the Empire in India and Canada and the American 

 Colonies, were the successors and pupils of Hakluyt's 

 heroes ; it was theirs to build the fabric that had been 

 designed and to fulfil the prophecies that had been 

 uttered in the great age of imagination. 

 Influence of The chief influence of the Voyages on the English 

 on thousfit. imagination is not to be looked for in special tributes or 

 even in exalted prophecies like these. The new ferment 

 wrought in a deep and hidden fashion on the temper 

 and habits of the mind. All preconceived notions and 

 beliefs concerning cosmography, history, politics and 

 society were made ridiculous by the new discoveries. 

 The widened The world had been opened up by the fanatical self- 

 confidence of visionaries, and had proved to be wilder 

 than their wildest fancies. New kingdoms were to be 

 had for the taking. Powers and virtues unknown to 

 the peoples of the Old World had perhaps been pre- 

 served through the ages in remote and fortunate islands. 

 All things became possible ; credulity was wiser than 

 experience ; and the wonders reported were reckoned 

 merely the first-fruits of greater things to come. The 

 society of the Old World meanwhile was rent in twain 

 by the schism in the Christian Church. Great monarchies 

 were tottering to their fall. The signs and portents 



