XIV. The powerful and ductile personality that was able to put an end
to the destructive religious wars of France and to lay a firm
foundation for the strongly-centralized power of a later time, a
foundation which the great statesman Richelieu broadened and deepened,
deserves all the credit that should be given to those who conquer the
first apparently insurmountable difficulties in the realization of a
great aim.

How brief was the reign of most of the popes of this time is shown by
the fact that no less than ten of them were at one time or other
Shakespeare's contemporaries, although the duration of his life was
but fifty-two years. Of these probably the most noteworthy was Gregory
XIII (1572-1585), in whose reign occurred the fearful Massacre of St.
Bartholomew, August 24, 1572, and the reform of the calendar from that
known as the Julian to the new style named the Gregorian Calendar in
honor of this pope.

In the East, just coming into closer commercial intercourse with
Europe, the long reign of the greatest of the Mogul emperors,
Jelal-ed-din Akbar (1556-1605), began two years before the accession
of Elizabeth and lasted two years after her death. Probably no
Oriental sovereign, certainly no Indian sovereign, ranks higher than
Akbar, who was at once a great statesman, an able organizer, and
singularly tolerant in religion. In Persia, one of the most marked
rulers of this land, Abbas the Great, began to reign in 1584 and died
in 1628.

In no period was jewelry worn more ornately, or with greater display,
we might almost say ostentation, than in the age of Shakespeare. As a
rule, in this period the precious stones were less considered than the