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THE ELIZABETHAN CHARACTER
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helpless of the nation. This Is a delightful characteristic. It is a noble characteristic. It is because of this that we forget and forgive the disagreeable and the savage, and, for we sometimes meet them, the foolish characteristics of the Elizabethan. We forget and forgive all this and express our idealisation of the country of Queen Elizabeth by the phrase "In Merry England." Our recollection is not of the tavern wherein Marlowe fought and died but of the tavern wherein Keats received his inspiration.
