Elizabethan

"Here too [Francis] Drake had luck: he took advantage of the Sultan of Ternate's war with the Portuguese garrison upon Tidore to make a treaty with him to sell his produce exclusively to the English. The literal-minded Elizabethans attached great importance to this: on the principle of never throwing an argument away, they regarded it as giving them a right to share in the spice-trade."

"The ‘New Elizabethans’ were to be in continuity with their past, but also youthful, inventive, exploratory – a spirit most clearly to be seen in the arts."

"This Elizabethan Era, and all its nobleness and blessedness, came without proclamation, preparation of ours. Priceless Shakspeare^([sic]) was the free gift of Nature; given altogether silently;—received altogether silently, as if it had been a thing of little account. And yet, very literally, it is a priceless thing."

"Some people have expressed the hope that my reign may mark a new Elizabethan age. Frankly I do not myself feel at all like my great Tudor forbear, […] But there is at least one very significant resemblance between her age and mine. For her Kingdom, small though it may have been and poor by comparison with her European neighbours, was yet great in spirit and well endowed with men who were ready to encompass the earth."

"In any case, his [Peter III’s] action was a complete reversal of the Elizabethan policy, and his offer of unconditional peace eliminated Russia’s chance to secure concessions from Frederick."