The great mind, the noble character of Sir Thomas More stand out the best production of his time. The strong religious bias of the man made it inevitable that he should remain considerably under the influence of the old theological teachings, but in the intelligent man of the world, in the large-hearted philanthropist, in the honest patriot, appear the new and beneficent tendencies which were at work. Like all men who have been in advance of their time, More was looked upon as a dreamer. A dreamer he might naturally seem, who, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, looked for peace, for religious toleration, for justice to the lower classes. But these dreams were destined to be realized long after More's headless body had crumbled to dust, by that learning which he himself so seduously cultivated, and by the decay, too, of some of those ideas for which he died a martyr's death. The growth of the universities, the establishment of grammar schools, the impetus given to all useful occupations during the reign of Henry VIII, were gradually aiding the advance of that new era in the history of England which developed so brilliantly under Elizabeth. In her reign the old warlike spirit had decayed, theology had lost its obstructive power, and human reason began to bear its legitimate fruits--prosperity and civilization.
[Footnote 26: Green's "Short History of the English People," p. 203.]
[Footnote 27: "Tom-a-Lincoln" has been reprinted in W.J. Thorn's valuable collection of "Early English Prose Romances," where may also be found a story similar in nature, called "Helyas, Knight of the Swanne." I do not consider these productions worthy of more extended notice here, as they possess no interest in themselves, and serve only to illustrate the degeneracy of the fictions relating to the knighthood during the 16th century. The compilation called "The Seven Champions of Christendom", by Richard Johnson, the author of "Tom-a-Lincoln", said to contain "all the lyes of Christendom in one lye," obtained considerable popularity and circulation during this period. Dunlop mentions ("Hist. of Fiction," chap. xiv) the "Ornatus and Artesia", and "Parismus, Prince of Bohemia," by Emmanuel Ford, and the "Pheander, or Maiden Knight," by Henry Roberts, belonging in the same class of composition. An English version of the old tale of Robert the Devil belongs to this period, and may be found in W.J. Thom's collection.]