250 NOVELLA D' ANDRE A. 



Hebrew, and Arabic, sang the verses which she herself com- 

 posed, and discussed with eloquence on mathematics, music, 

 astronomy, theology, and the most abtruse points of philoso- 

 phy- 



MRS. F. 



Yes; she died at the early age of thirty-eight, and under 

 the vestibule of the University of Padua I have seen the 

 marble statue which is erected to her honor, and in which she 

 is represented in the habit of St. Benedict, of which austere 

 order she followed the rules, although she always lived in 

 the house of her father. But it is Bologna which bears on its 

 list more female doctors than ever appeared at any university 

 Novella d' Andrea, Tambroni, Bassi, and Agnesi, all of 

 whom filled the chairs of different professors. 



FREDERICK. 



Pray tell us more about them, aunt. 

 MRS. F. 



The beautiful Novella d'Andrea belongs to an earlier age 

 than the others; she was the eldest daughter of the most cele- 

 brated professor of canon law in the fourteenth century. The 

 degree of doctor was conferred upon her by the Academy of 

 Bologna, and she frequently filled her father's chair; but lest 

 her beauty should disturb the attention of her auditors, she 

 had a little curtain placed before her, whenever she taught in 

 the schools. 



Next comes Clotilda Tambroni, who filled the chair of the 

 Greek language at Bologna. 



MRS. F. 



And then the no less celebrated Laura Bassi, a native of 

 that city, and daughter of a doctor of laws. She early 

 evinced a passion for study, and at the age of twenty-one, 

 publicly sustained a thesis in philosophy, and answered her 

 opponents in the most elegant Latin. She soon after received 

 the doctor's degree; and the same year the chair of philosophy. 



