WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 71 



With the exception of Margaret of Navarre, there were 

 but few literary women of more than ephemeral reputa- 

 tion during the French Renaissance. Among these Louise 

 Labe deserves mention, as she was the most distinguished 

 poetess in France during the sixteenth century. 1 She, like 

 Margaret, was the center of a coterie of men of letters ; but 

 the reunions over which she presided, as well as those of 

 the author of the Heptameron, were entirely lacking in the 

 dignity and refinement of those of the polished court of 

 Urbino in the days of the peerless Elizabetta Gonzaga. 



From what has been said respecting the rare learning of 

 the women of the Renaissance, one might infer that women 

 in general enjoyed special educational facilities during this 

 period of intellectual activity. Paradoxical as it may seem, 

 the very contrary was the case. For, as history tells us, 

 the education of the Renaissance was essentially aristo- 

 cratic. It was only for the women of the nobility and for 

 the wives and daughters of scholars, while the great ma- 

 jority of the sex remained in a state of complete illiteracy. 



The environment of the daughters of scholars was pe- 

 culiarly favorable to their intellectual development, and 

 learning was in a certain measure their natural heritage. 

 They did not receive their education in schools, for there 

 were then few or no schools for girls, but from their fathers 

 or from the men of letters who frequented their homes. A 

 typical home of this kind was that of the noted savant, 

 Robert Estienne of Paris, printer to Francis I. Here the 

 language of conversation was Latin, not only for the mem- 

 bers of the family but also for the servants as well. 2 Under 



1 Cf . (Euvres de Lovize Labe, nouvelle edition emprimee en carac- 

 teres dits de civilite, Paris, 1871. 



2 The French poet, Jean Dorat, who was then professor of Latin 

 in the College de France, expresses this fact in the following strophe : 



"Nempe uxor, ancillse, clientes, liberi ; 



Non segnis examen domus, 

 Quo Plautus ore, quo Terentius, Solent 

 Quotidiane loqui. " 



