superiors, in order to accustom yourself to respect and politeness. With equals one grows negligent; the mind falls asleep.'"
She urged her daughter to treat servants with kindness. "One of the ancients says they should be regarded as unfortunate friends. Think that humanity and Christianity equalize all."
Up to the latter half of the 18th Century the salon had become the most characteristic feature of Parisian society. Having multiplied indefinitely, they catered to all tastes and thoughts. Besides the rallying points for philosophers, literateurs and femmes d'esprit, there were other salons, where sly maitresses and political adventurers met the corrupt officials of the Government. Still other salons served as meeting places of fiery spirits, who, disgusted with the debauchery and unrestrained immorality of the ruling classes, made the discussion of politics and the deliverance of the oppressed people their chief topic.
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Like the French Renaissance so the English Renaissance received its first impulse from Italy. But less concerned with culture as such, it was more practical in England and distinguished itself chiefly by the greater attention given to education. While the sons and daughters of the nobility were carefully trained by tutors, the children of the middle class received an education in grammar schools founded during the reign of King Henry VIII.
This interest in education was greatly stimulated by the doctrines of the Reformation, which had spread from Germany to England, and which were favored by the king, as they served his political interests as well as his passion for the beautiful Anne Boleyn, one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting. That he divorced his wife and married Anne Boleyn, and that she, on September 7th, 1533, gave birth to a girl, are facts familiar to everyone acquainted with English history.
This girl later on ascended the throne and as Queen Elizabeth became famous as one of the most remarkable and illustrious of all female sovereigns.
Most remarkable was her attitude toward Rome. When the "Virgin Queen" in her twenty-fifth year ascended the throne, it was not only as queen, but also as the head of the rebellious Church. Religious strife had already passed the point of reconciliation and Elizabeth's position was extremely difficult, as the Catholic party was still very strong and was bent on maintaining the connection with Rome. Aware of this fact, the Pope, claiming England as a fief of the Holy Sea, refused to recognize Elizabeth's title to the crown, and demanded that she should renounce all her pretensions so much the more since she was an illegitimate child. But whereas many monarchs would have cringed before the Pope,
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