“How,” asks the author, “could the Sibyls have invented heroic, or Sappho
‘sapphick,’ or Corinna have thrice beaten Pindar at lyric verses, if they
had not been highly educated?” And to prove that the young ladies of
both Greece and Rome were instructed in all kinds of good literature, the
writer refers to a learned duel between twenty ladies a side, from each
nation, in which the Grecian women came off the better in philosophy, and
the Roman superior in oratory.
As instances of admirably educated English women, the following persons
are named, with much eulogistic comment:
The Lady Jane Gray. The “present Duchess of Newcastle, who, by her
own genius, rather than any timely instruction, overtops many grave
Gown-men.” The Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, a pupil of Mrs. Makin’s;
“well she understands Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Spanish,” and
“what a proficient she is in arts subservient to Divinity, in which (if I
durst, I would tell you) she excels.” The Princess Elizabeth, daughter to
King Charles the First, to whom Mrs. Makin was tutoress, “at nine years
old, could write, read, and in some measure understand Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, French, and Italian: had she lived, what a miracle she would have
been of her sex. Mrs. Thorold, daughter of the Lady Car, in Lincolnshire,
was excellent in philosophy, and all sorts of learning. I cannot, without
injury, forget the Lady Mildmay and Doctor Love’s daughters: their worth
and excellency in learning is yet fresh in the memory of many men.”
Finally, as the greatest sample of all, the author describes Queen
Elizabeth at some length, who, “according to Ascham, read more Greek in a
day than many of the doctors of her time did Latin in a week.”
In the Postscript to the above essay, the following passages occur:
“If any enquire where this education may be performed, such may be
informed that a school is lately erected for Gentlewomen, at Tottenham
High Cross, within four miles of London, on the road to Ware, where Mrs.
Makin is governess, who was formerly tutoress to the Princess Elizabeth,
daughter to King Charles the First. Where, by the blessing of God,
Gentlewomen may be instructed in the Principles of religion, and in all
manner of sober and virtuous Education: more particularly in all things
ordinarily taught in other schools.
“As Works of all sorts }
Dancing }
Musick } Half the time to
Singing } be spent in these
Writing } things.
Keeping accompts }
“The other half to be employed in gaining the Latin and French tongues;
and those that please may learn Greek and Hebrew, the Italian and
Spanish: in all which this Gentlewoman hath a competent knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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