Chap. XXV.] Education. 129 



minent feature in the age, and forms one of its sig- 

 nal honours, that its close found the fe-male sex, 

 through a great part of the civilised world, naore 

 generally imbued with the elements of literature 

 and science, than they ever before were since the 

 creation. 



The learning of the female world, in the period 

 under review^ i^i^}^ be considered as bearing some 

 peculiarity of character. What might have been 

 the nature or extent of the attainments made by 

 literary women in ancient Egypt, Greece, and 

 Rome, we are scarcely qualified to judge j but 

 the learned women of Europe, in the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries, according to the fashion 

 of the day, entered deeply into the study of an- 

 cient languages* ; they chiefly belonged to the 

 higher ranks of life; and as writing and publish- 

 ing were comparatively rare among all classes, so 

 few females presented themselves before the pub- 

 lic in this manner. lu the eighteenth century 



* Lady Jane Gray, who lived in the sixteenth centun", was a 

 proficient in classic literature. " She had attained a familiar 

 knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, beside modern 

 tongues; had passed most of her time in an application to learn- 

 ing, and expressed a great indifierence for other occupations and 

 amusements usual with her sex and station. Roger Ascham, 

 having one day paid her a visit, found her employed in reading 

 Plato, while the rest of the family were engaged in hunting in 

 the park ; and on his admiring the singularity of her choice, 

 she told him that she received more pleasure from that author 

 than the others could reap from all their sport and gayety.'' 

 Hume. Queen Elizabeth was no less remarkable for her learn- 

 ing. She is said to have spoken both Greek and Latin with rea- 

 diness, and to have been familiarly acquainted with the French, 

 Italian, and Spanish languages. Other instances of the same 

 kind might be adduced as belonging to that «ge. 



Vol. in. K 



