The English Bible
❖ Ampart from its religious influence, the Authorized Version has had a great influence on English language and literature. About 93 percent of the 6,000 words used in it are the main words of native English. So with the widespread influence of the English Bible, the standard modern English had been fixed aqnd confirmed. A great number of Bible coinages and phrases have passed into daily English speech as householde words and are often used with no knowledge of their origin. So English Bible has woven its phrases and expressions into the texture of the English language, English literature and English life.
the Reformation
❖ She was shrewd and tactful to a fault. She made friends with the opposing sides of the religious conflict—Catholic Spain and Protestant France, and at home she set about uniting the divided country. She made the Church of England steer strictly the middle of the road, learning toward neither the Catholics nor the Protestants, and effectively practiced religious tolerance to the relife of the people. She encouraged learning and adventures and was a great patron of literature. As a result she was able to secure a 30-year period of peace for the country so that England slowly but steadily crawled to the zenith of wealth and power during her reign. When Francis Drake defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, England became the first sea power in the world. This was the point at which the expansion of the British Empire began.