Note 2 — Chapter I
Reading edition
Neither Cromwell nor Elizabeth in this respect must be measured by the standard of judgment respecting political morality which is commonly recognized in our day. The fable of Reynard the Fox, the Life of Louis XI., by Comines, and the writings of Machiavel, are proofs of the high repute in which dissimulation was held in the middle ages and after the Reformation, as a quality essential to the government of mankind. See also Bacon's Essays.