With Any Ambassador Went A Bevy
Of Young Gentlemen, Who On Their Return Diffused A Certain Mysterious
Sophistication Which Was The Envy Of Home-Keeping Youth.
According to
Hall, when they came back to England they were "all French in eating and
drinking and apparel, yea, and in the French vices and brags:
So that
all the estates of England were by them laughed at, the ladies and
gentlewomen were dispraised, and nothing by them was praised, but if it
were after the French turn."[32] From this time on young courtiers
pressed into the train of an ambassador in order to see the world and
become like Ann Boleyn's captivating brother, or Elizabeth's favourite,
the Earl of Oxford, or whatever gallant was conspicuous at court for
foreign graces.
There was still another contributory element to the growth of travel,
one which touched diplomats, scholars, and courtiers - the necessity of
learning modern languages. By the middle of the sixteenth century Latin
was no longer sufficient for intercourse between educated people. In the
most civilized countries the vernacular had been elevated to the dignity
of the classical tongues by being made the literary vehicle of such
poets as Politian and Bembo, Ronsard and Du Bellay. A vernacular
literature of great beauty, too important to be overlooked, began to
spring up on all sides. One could no longer keep abreast of the best
thought without a knowledge of modern languages. More powerful than any
academic leanings was the Renaissance curiosity about man, which could
not be satisfied through the knowledge of Latin only.
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