tury, the daughter of a gentleman of Bologna devoted herself to the study of the Latin language and jurisprudence: at the age of three and twenty she pronounced a funeral oration in Latin, in the great church of Bologna; and, three years after, she took the degree of Doctor, and publicly read the Institutes of Justinian, in her native city. When she had completed her thirtieth year, her reputation was so great as to raise her to the chair of jurisprudence; and her lectures were frequented by a crowd of disciples, composed of various countries and ages. The picture of this extraordinary female will be heightened by adding that, with these more masculine endowments, she possessed all the charms and beauty of her own sex*.

At the end of the fourteenth century, when the knowledge of the Greek, as well as the Latin tongue, was spread over Italy, the merits of Aristotle and

*M. Thomas, in his admirable Essai sur le Caractere, les Mœurs, et l'Esprit des Femmes dans les differents Siecles, p. 86, to which I am indebted for many of the conclusions drawn from the facts related in this discourse, tells us, that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the same prodigy was renewed in the same city; and it is worthy of remark, that, in the eighteenth century, a female was again raised to a chair at Bologna: it was the celebrated Laura Bassi who obtained this distinction. Her letters upon natural philosophy are said to have first instigated her relative, Lazarus Spallanzani, to the pursuit of a science, in which he afterwards acquired such high renown.

Plato divided the attention of the learned: the church and universities paid a servile respect and veneration to the dogmatic opinions of the former*, while the writings of the latter philosopher were universally admired by poets, lovers, and women. The study of classic literature was not, however, destined to be confined to Italy: the rest of Europe was soon animated with a similar spirit. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw France, Spain, Germany, and England, introduced to an acquaintance with the poets, philosophers, orators, and historians, of Greece and Rome; and the records of those times bear ample testimony, that women were so distinguished for their learning, as to be qualified to enter the lists with men in literary contests; to sustain Theses in public assemblies; to preach and mix in controversies; to fill the chair of philosophy and jurisprudence; to harangue

* About that period he began to obtain the title of Philosopher, by way of pre-eminence: and his authority in philosophy (such an object was he of excessive admiration, observes Bacon,) was equal to that of St. Paul in divinity. See Bacon, Opus Majus, edit. a Jebb, p. 36. To such a remarkable pitch was this veneration for Aristotle then carried, that in some of the most renowned universities, especially in that of Paris, the students were obliged to take a solemn oath to defend the opinions of Aristotle, of his commentator Averrois, and of his other ancient commentators-See Bulai, Hist. Univer. Parisien, Tom. IV.

p. 275.

in Latin before Popes; to write Greek; and to study Hebrew*.

Women then dedicated themselves to the pursuit of learning with an ardour and devotion, of which it is difficult to form any idea in these times: this passion was alike felt in cloisters, courts, and even upon thrones. In the times of which we are speaking, one of the chief objects in the minds of English queens was, the acquisition of the ancient languages. Catharine Parr is said to have translated a book; and Lady Jane Grey's fame as a scholari, if we look to the age in which she lived, cannot be too highly extolled, or too loudly applauded. It is well known, that Elizabeth was intimately acquainted with the Greek and Latin classics, nor was her knowledge of the French and Spanish

* M. Thomas, in his Essay before referred to, pages 87-91, has given us the names of those females who have rendered themselves eminent in different countries, either by their own writings, or by their indefatigable application to the study of the ancient languages.

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+ The letter she addressed to her sister, in the Greek language, the night before her execution, the purport of which was to exhort her "to live and die in the true christian faith," may be cited as an equal proof of her uncommon proficiency in classical learning, and her presence of mind upon that trying occasion. It is to be found in Heylin's History of the Reformation of the Church of England, p. 166, 167.

languages less profound*; while, from the following sentence of an author who lived and wrote in her reign, it would appear, that the ladies of the court had imitated her example:-"The stranger+," says Harrison," that entereth the Court of England, upon the sudden, shall rather imagine himself come into some public school of the University, where many give ear to one that readeth unto them, than into a prince's palace, if you confer this with those of other nations." The hours now bestowed at the glass and the toilet, were then passed in studying the writings of the ancients.

Many pens were employed in commemorating the praises of illustrious women: Italy began soon to be overwhelmed with works of this description. After Boccacio's Panegyric de Claris Mulieribus, upwards of twenty writers published successively eulogies upon the celebrated women of all nations. About the end

* The famous Roger Ascham, in proclaiming the scholastic attainments of his royal pupil Elizabeth, observes, to use his own words, "Yea, I believe, that besides her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish, she readeth here now at Windsor, more Greek every day, than some prebendary of this church doth Latin in a whole week." See the Schoolmaster.

+ See Description of Britain, Book ii. Chap. xv. printed in 1577.

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of the fourteenth century, Brantome produced his entertaining work, Memoires des Dames Illustres. It has the unpardonable fault, however, of substituting too often adulation in the place of truth. Even the characters of Jane of Naples, and of Catharine de' Medici, this complacent biographer can consider as fit subjects for unbounded panegyric; although the first has been accused, by the impartiality of all contem porary historians, as the murderer of her husband; and the second as the author of the civil wars in France, and the chief promoter of the massacre of the Huguenots: yet does not Brantome scruple, in his excessive admiration of the fair sex, to maintain them innocent of those flagitious acts.

The next commendatory work upon the female sex came from the pen of Hilarion de Coste. His ponderous volumes contained the eulogies of all the women in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, who were either distinguished by their courage, their talents, or their virtues: but we must not expect a bigoted catholic to be much inclined to break forth into a strain of compliment upon those who were not attached to his theological tenets. Accordingly we find, that Hilarion de Coste passes over in total silence the name of Queen Elizabeth, and indulges himself in a long and pomp

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