326 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

eminent place.'* It is said that although many others
could rival him in the mere acquisition of knowledge,
"none since Aristotle had so succeeded in impressing the
whole with his own mental stamp, and in inspiring a new
campaign against ignorance and disorder." His Essays are
still the most popular of all his works. In one of them
Bacon says,

" There are three means to fortify belief. The first; is experience ;
the second, reason ; the third, authority : and that of these which
is far the most potent is authority; for belief upon reason or
upon experience will stagger."

The greatest imaginative work of the Renaissance period
was Sir Thomas More's Utopia. In that age of discovery,
romances, poetry, and new ideals the Renaissance dreamer,
4 weary of old abuses, and longing for a more rational and
more kindly society/ created this unique work, first publish-
ed in 1516. More was far ahead of his times, for he " not
only denounced the ordinary vices of power, but evinced
an enlightenment of sentiment which went far beyond the
most statesmanlike ideas to be found among his contem-
poraries, pronouncing not merely for toleration, but rising
even to the philosophic conception of the indifference of
religious creed." We shall make a survey of the religious
outlook of the age in the next chapter. But before that
we must briefly notice the progress in Art.

An age of such expanding horizons and boundless creative
energies was bound to express itself in enduring forms of
art. With the growth of wealth and the spread of enlighten-
ment came also the desire for better architecture and better
aesthetic surroundings. Medieval towns and buildings
had been buUt more for security than for the satisfaction
of any artistic ideas. Thus the manorial house was a castle
and even the. churches and monasteries conformed to the