It was the work of Renaissance to change the one sort of man into the other;

to awaken in man a consciousness of his powers and to give him confidence in himself; to show him a beauty of the world and the joy of life; and to make him feel his living connection with the past, and the greatness of the future he might create.

It was in Italy that this connection was first made and this impulse first received. It was there that the new commercial age had begun and had first produced its results.

Woman became the equal of man, and took part in public life with the same self-confidence.