There was no affectation of ignorance among the learned women of the sixteenth century. Learning among women was held in esteem. It was not thought unfeminine to speak good Latin, write correct Greek, or translate from Hebrew. Unusual and extraordinary it was undoubtedly deemed for women to show fine scholarship, but it was an unusual and extraordinary merit. The absurd notion that the acquisition of knowledge, or intellectual ability, are things to be ashamed of, was one of the base products of eighteenth-century sentimentalism.
When we think of the great difficulties in the way of learning in the sixteenth century, we cannot but wonder at the assiduity and patience of the scholars of that period, both men and women. There were no primers, exercise-books, or well-printed dictionaries of the classical languages into English. Grammars were scarce, and were sometimes composed by the tutors for their pupils. There were no carefully prepared passages for translation with notes and explanations. The scholar had to go straight to the original, and ferret out the meaning unaided. Latin was the common medium of communication between scholars and the polite world generally. At a time when every one with any pretensions to education understood Latin, the standard of good scholarship must have been fairly high, and when we find the daughters of Sir Anthony Coke and Sir Thomas More, and other ladies, commended for their pure Latin, we feel that the encomium was well deserved, as a moderate degree of proficiency would not have attracted notice.
The learned ladies of the sixteenth century possessed the advantage of having their attention concentrated on a few subjects. French and Italian were commonly learned by the daughters of the nobility, and these comparatively easy studies were facilitated by the constant application to the classics. Music ranked with dancing and ornamental needlework as an accomplishment. It was a fashionable study for both sexes among the highest classes. Italy then was to England, in musical matters, what Germany has since become; but there were also English composers, among whom Henry VIII. himself was included. Vocal music was extremely popular, instrumental music being in a comparatively elementary stage. The English in the sixteenth century seem to have been a very music-loving people; Erasmus says, “The most accomplished in the skill of music of any people;” and the degree to which it was practised at court in the time of Henry VIII. may be guessed from the fact that singing at sight was then a common accomplishment among the courtiers. Counterpoint was studied by those who aspired to be connoisseurs; but musical literature was very scanty, and the repertorium available for the lute and the mandoline, the clavichord, or the virginals, must soon have been exhausted.