A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Cicci, Marie Louisa

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CICCI, MARIE LOUISA,

Was born at Pisa, in 1760. When she was seven years old her father placed her in a convent, ordered her to be instructed merely in domestic duties, and forbade her to be taught even to write. By stealth, however, she read some of the best poets, and acquired the rudiments of writing, supplying the want of pen and ink by grape-juice and bits of wood. With these rude materials she wrote her first verses in her tenth year. At a more mature age, she made herself mistress of natural philosophy, of the English and French languages, and studied the works of Locke and Newton. Her Anacreontic verses are distinguished by their graceful ease and spirit. In private life she was virtuous and amiable. She died in 1794.