150 STATESMEN AND SAGES
governess to the young princess. It appears to have been the custom of the limes to instruct young women in the learned languages, an admirable substitute for fashionable and frivolous acquisitions ; habits of real study and application have a tendency to strengthen the faculties and discipline the imagination. Mr. William Grindal was Elizabeth's first classical tutor ; with him she made a rapid progress. From other masters she received the rudiments of modern languages ; at eleven years of age she translated out of French verse into English prose "The Mirror of the Sinful Soul," which she dedicated to Catherine Parr, sixth wife to Henry VIII. At twelve years of age she translated from the English into Latin, French, and Italian, prayers and meditations, etc., collected from dif- ferent authors by Catherine, Queen of England. These she dedicated to her father, December 30, 1545 ; MS. in the royal library at Westminster. She also, about the same period, translated from the French "The Meditations of Marga- ret, Queen of Navarre, etc.," published by Bale, 1548. Mr. Ascham thus speaks of Elizabeth in a letter to Sir John Cheke : " It can scarcely be credited to what degree of skill in the Latin and Greek she might arrive, if she should proceed in that course of study wherein she hath begun by the guidance of Grindal." In 1548 she had the misfortune to lose her tutor, who died of the plague. At this time, it is observed by Camden, that she was versed in the Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian tongues, had some knowledge of the Greek, was well skilled in music, and both sung and played with art and sweetness. After the death of her father, her brother, King Edward, who tenderly loved her, encouraged her in her studies and literary pursuits, while, without imposition or restraint, he left her to choose her own principles and preceptors. To supply the loss of her tutor she addressed herself to the celebrated Roger Ascham, who, at her solicitation, left Cambridge and consented to become her instructor. Under him she read the orations of ^Eschines, and Demosthenes' " On the Crown," in Greek, and understood at first sight not only the force and propriety of the lan- guage and the meaning of the orator, but the whole scheme of the laws, customs, and manners of the Athenians. By Doctor Grindal, professor of theology, she was initiated into the subtleties of polemic divinity, to which she gave assiduous application. Such, during the short reign of her brother, was the laudable and tranquil time of her life, and by these occupations and pursuits she was prepared for the great part she was to act on the theatre of Europe. In July, 1553, Mary, after the death of Edward, succeeded to the throne ; and having received from her sister many favors and testimonies of esteem, she treated her at first with a form of regard ; but Elizabeth was aftenvard impris- oned and harshly treated, even to the hazard of her life. Her sufferings were, however, mitigated by the interposition of Philip, the husband of Mary, for which she was ever grateful. The reign, the bigotry, and the butchery of Mary, who, to do God service, amused herself by burning and torturing her people, lasted five years and four months. She died, fortunately for the nation, November 17, 1558. A parlia-
