The following verses by a sixteenth-century writer well express the feeling of the times:--
“You men yt read the memoryes Of wonders done and paste, Remember well the historys Of women first and laste; And tell me if I saye not true, That women can do more than you,
“And more than any man can doo So quicklie and so trym (fast?). What counterpointes of pollycie, Of arte and of artyfyce, But women w^{ th} facylitie Can compas and forecaste.”
Perhaps queens should not be taken as examples, inasmuch as they possess advantages peculiar to their position, and their acquirements are apt to be overstated. Henry VIII., the Sovereign Bluebeard, showed himself admirable as a father in at least one respect, and the care with which his daughters were educated goes some way towards palliating his crimes towards their mothers. If he had not obscured his own talent by his passions and vices, we should be better able to appreciate the encouragement he gave to literature and art, and his accomplishments as one of the best-educated gentlemen of the day. The tastes of the sovereign and the _personnel_ of the court had a more direct influence on society than at the present time. Individual members of the nobility who cultivated learning, did a good deal in raising the tone of their immediate circle.
It may be that the excellence of the tuition given to the Princess Mary was rather due to Queen Catherine of Aragon, who procured, among other tutors for her daughter, a learned countryman of her own, Ludovicus Vives of Valencia. This preceptor succeeded to the post held by the first tutor of the princess, Dr. Lynacre, who died in 1524, when his pupil was six years old. During the short time she was under his care, he drew up a work for her on “The Rudiments of Grammar.” There are probably few princesses now who are handed over to men of scholarship and learning out of their nurses’ arms, as was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII. After the learned Spaniard had instructed the princess a short time, he returned to his own country, and the king then selected Dr. John Harman.
The Princess Mary was specially proficient in Latin, for which she is commended by Erasmus, who, always ready to fall a victim to female charms, regarded learning as an extra embellishment. Speaking of this period, he says, “It is pretty enough that this sex should now at last betake itself to the ancient languages.” Mary wrote excellent Latin epistles, and in later years translated Erasmus’ Paraphrase on the Gospel of St. John. The preface to this work was written by the Master of Eton, Udall, who, after a courtly eulogy of the royal translator, speaks of her “over-painful study and labour of writing,” whereby she had “cast her weak body in a grievous and long sickness.” The work had apparently to be completed by other hands, as Queen Mary’s health was in so declining a condition. She also wrote prayers and meditations.