The Learned Lady in England, 1650-1760Reynolds, Myra
History
The Learned Lady in England, 1650-1760
Reynolds, Myra
Women -- Education -- Great Britain; Women -- Great Britain; Women authors, English
The daughters of Sir Thomas More were not the only girls trained
in the best learning of the day. Another important family where
particular stress was laid on the education of the daughters was
that of Sir Anthony Coke, one of the tutors of King Edward VI.[36]
Mildred, the eldest daughter (1526-1589), who married Lord Burleigh,
was celebrated for her knowledge of Latin and Greek. Two other
daughters, Elizabeth, Lady Russel (b. _cir._ 1529), and Katharine,
Mrs. Killigrew (b. _cir._ 1530), had fine natural abilities and
a learned education, and were distinguished both socially and
intellectually. But the most noted of the sisters was Anne (b. _cir._
1527), who married Sir Nicholas Bacon, and became the mother of two
remarkable sons, Anthony Bacon, and Francis Viscount St. Albans,
the great Lord Bacon. She was said to be "exquisitely skilled in
the Greek, Latin, and Italian tongues." In 1550 she translated
twenty-five sermons from the Italian. In later life she did a much
more important piece of translation. Bishop Jewel had written in
Latin _An Apology for the Church of England_. The book had made
so great a stir that an English translation seemed desirable and
Lady Bacon undertook the task. She sent her translation to the
Archbishop and to the author, with a letter written in Greek, that
they might correct any errors, but they found it so accurate that
they changed not the least word. In 1564 the Archbishop had the book
published without consulting Lady Bacon because he said he knew her
modesty would be abashed by any such publicity. He praised her clear
translation saying that she "had done honour to her sex and to the
degree of ladies." Lady Bacon was associated with her father in his
duties as tutor to Edward VI. She also conducted the early education
of her sons and they owed much to her wise care and great ability.
Sir Anthony Coke believed that women should be educated on the same
lines as men, and that they were quite as capable of acquiring
knowledge, and his own daughters brilliantly sustained this theory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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