Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/183

Rh the delight of children they bounded forward to take possession of their new-found lands across the seas. The expeditions were full of danger, but faith in an omnipotent God steeled their spirits. Every explorer took the sacrament in his parish church before he set forth on his adventures, and his first act on landing in a strange country was to kneel in thanksgiving for his safe arrival in port. There were many who never returned home, and in days of few letters and no telegrams one can picture the anxiety of the eager throng that would crowd round the weather-beaten sailors—bronzed and bearded men with deep-set eyes and hollow cheeks—men who had seen strange sights and heard strange tales. Their ships were laden with gold dust and ingots of silver, pearls, emeralds, and diamonds; they had negroes on board and Red Indians, crocodile skins, chattering monkeys, and gorgeous-hued parrots. "The little world had become &hellip; inconceivably large."

Wealth increased by leaps and bounds, and commerce began that more rapid development which till the end of the Victorian era made England supreme among nations. London, too was becoming the wonder of the world, "a large