It took the whole of the Middle Ages--a thousand years--to establish law and justice and order in England, a fact which shows with what care order should be treasured, once it has been attained. But at last men began to feel that even their rulers, who in a rough age are liable to attack, might leave their houses unfortified, and place them in the midst of pleasant gardens. This was the beginning of Modern Times. Here is Hatfield House, built for one of England’s most famous statesmen, the Lord Burleigh, who three hundred years ago, served one of her greatest monarchs, Queen Elizabeth. A few years ago Hatfield was the home of another British statesman, Lord Salisbury, who was a descendant of Lord Burleigh, and served a still greater monarch--Queen Victoria. You see how different from a castle is the appearance of this house. It has square broad windows, giving a flood of light within, even to the ground floor; for the men who built it had no longer to fear that they would be attacked by arrows and by guns through their windows, and therefore they could afford to let in the light of the sun, which is loved in this cool Northern land. But you must not think that all of England’s greatness has been made by her rich and powerful men. It is the glory of England that some of the most valuable things done for her have been done by poor men. You remember from the second Lecture that in Westminster Abbey, not only was our King-Emperor crowned, with the dignitaries of the empire round him, but also that there is a space called the Poets’ Corner, where are the tombs and monuments of some of the chief writers who have inspired the English with ideals of order and justice and freedom. These poets were mostly poor men--some of them very poor. [Sidenote: 23. Stratford-on-Avon.] Here in the town of Stratford-on-Avon, in the centre of England, is the humble cottage, still preserved with care, in which at the time when the splendid house of Hatfield was built for Lord Burleigh, there was born and lived the greatest of all English writers, Shakespeare. To-day, in every town in which the English live throughout the world there are copies of at least two books, the holy book of the English--the Christian Bible--and the book full of human wisdom, which was written by Shakespeare. [Sidenote: 24. Blenheim.]