Excerpt from The Regent Moray: The Stanhope Essay, 1895 The origin Of the singular interest which attaches to the history Of the Sixteenth Century is not far to seek. It was the period of transition, through which mediaeval Europe passed and from which modern Europe emerged. It was a century of revolution, distinguished by a universality and a complexity of change that are alike unexampled. A fresh impulse was imparted to almost every department Of thought or action. The Reformation Of the Christian Church, the Renaissance in literature and the fine arts, the practice Of the new diplomacy by such consummate masters as Machia velli, Cromwell, and the Guises, the discovery and develop ment of the New World, which had made Spain the wealthiest power on the continent, the success of the new tactics, whereby Swiss and Spanish infantry had been trained to face the feudal cavalry Of France, all these combined to effect a transformation absolutely without parallel in the history Of the human race. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.