102 DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN ENGLAND 



Bank of England, from the conduct and success of which the 

 whole theory of subsidiary currencies is derived. It made 

 England the first mercantile power in Europe, and put its 

 manufactures on the most solid and substantial basis. It 

 formulated with infinite labour, with many rebuffs, and after 

 many errors, the political forces of a representative Parliament 

 and a responsible Government, and has therefore taught all 

 nations what are the conditions, the machinery, the safeguards 

 of constitutional liberty. 



So remarkable is the vigour of this age in our own and in 

 the world's history, that the men of the seventeenth century 

 have more personality than the men of any other age. We 

 know more of the statesmen, the poets, the churchmen of this 

 century than we do of those who are far nearer our own time. 

 Shakespeare and Milton have been studied and expounded as 

 no other poets have. Bacon at the beginning of the century, 

 Newton at the end of it, are more familiar to us than any other 

 physicists are. The student of the English constitution is 

 more concerned with the action of Eliot and Selden, Pym and 

 Hampden, Hyde and Falkland, than with that of later states- 

 men. The leading churchmen and divines in the same age 

 have the same striking personality. The character of Laud 

 has been discussed more than that of any archbishop since the 

 days of Cranmer. The works of the humble preacher o 

 Bedford have been more read than those of any other writer 

 on religious subjects. 



There is still a controversy about the merits or misdeeds of 

 Shaftesbury, but no one doubts that his conduct and policy 

 were powerful in shaping the Revolution. The attack on the 

 character of Penn, and the defence of his career, are still 

 matters of interest. Men differ about the political genius of 

 William the Third, but they cannot fail to admit that he 

 developed a new departure in Europe, and few I should think 

 would doubt that he was the worst used king who ever sat on 

 the English throne. One might multiply examples. Great 

 as the historical abilities of Clarendon were, his opportunities 



