Decadence in art-forms, in short, is to be studied like other forms of decadence, in the light of the totality of conditions; and is not to be explained in terms of itself. Mr. Macaulay's thesis as a whole might be rebutted by simply citing the fact that the florescence of Spanish drama at the hands of Lope de Vega and Calderon occurred in a period of political decline, when "patriotic enthusiasm" had nothing to live upon. Vega began play-writing just after the defeat of the Armada; and his Dragontea, written in exultation over the death of Drake, is not a memorable performance. Velasquez, like Calderon, flourished under Philip IV, in a time of national depression and defeat.
FOOTNOTES:
[987] "The distinctive characteristics of the Saxon race—talents for agriculture, navigation, and commerce" (T. Colley Grattan, The Netherlands, 1830, p. 2).
[988] A.L. Smith, in Social England, i, 201, 202. When Alfred built ships he had to get "Frisian pirates" to man them. It was clearly the new agricultural facilities of England that turned the original pirates into thorough landsmen. Cp. Dr. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, 3rd ed. 1896, App. E. pp. 640, 641.
[989] H. Hall, in Social England, i, 464. Cp. ii, 101; Prof. Ashley, Introduction to English Economic History, 1888-93, i, 111; Hallam, Middle Ages, 11th ed. iii, 327; Schanz, Englische Handelspolitik, 1889, i, 1. When the Jews were expelled by Edward I, Lombards were installed in their place. Later, as we shall see, the Hansards seem to have tutored natives up to the point of undertaking their own commerce.
[990] Cp. A.L. Smith, as cited, p. 203.
[991] Seebohm, The English Village Community, 3rd ed. 1884, pref. p. ix. Cp. Prof. Ashley, Introduction to English Economic History, i, 13-16.
[992] Prof. Maitland, the most circumspect opponent of the "serf" view, did not consider this when he asked (Domesday Book and Beyond, ed. 1907, p. 222) how either the Saxon victors could in the mass have sunk to serfdom or the conquered Britons, whose language had disappeared, could be so numerous as to constitute the mass of the population.
[993] That the serf or villein was not necessarily an abject slave is noted by Kemble (Saxons in England, as cited, i, 213) and Stubbs (Const. Hist. 4th ed. i, 466).
[994] Maitland, Domesday Book, pp. 43, 46.