ABSTRACT
The dramatists were alarmed yet excited by the sciences of power and of money, so self-sufficiently exclusive of influence from morality or tradition. R. H. Tawney memorably wrote in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism that the social doctrines advanced from the pulpit offered, in their traditional form, little guidance. The unabated violence of the price rise had a thoroughly disturbing effect on the social life of England throughout the period 1500 to 1642. The Elizabethan and Jacobean social structure is better understood in terms of ranks. The long-term importance in the economic history of Britain of investment in such industries suggests that the attention given to the successes of Elizabethan privateers at sea may be misplaced. The good planning which ensured control of fuel supplies at an economic cost, installation of good equipment, and sufficient geographical proximity of the two enterprises to allow co-ordination, resulted in success.
