Among the Saxons and Normans it seems to have been confined to the men, for during those periods the women kept their heads so completely covered that there was no inducement for them to resort to such practices; but at the time of which we are now treating the custom had some vogue among the ladies, although it does not appear to have become general until the reign of Elizabeth, when the ladies had reduced the art to such a nicety that they were able to produce various colors and, indeed, almost to change the substance of the hair itself:
"Lees she can make, that turn a hair that"s old, Or colour"d, into a hue of gold."
A religious writer of the fifteenth century, declaiming against the various adornments of the hair and the arts which were employed to stimulate its growth as well as alter its color, and against the practice of wearing false hair, says: "to all these absurdities, they add that of supplying the defects of their own hair, by partially or totally adopting the harvest of other heads." To point a moral, he then gravely relates an anecdote to the effect that during the time of a public procession at Paris, which had drawn a great mult.i.tude of people together, an ape leaped upon the head of a certain fine lady, and seizing her veil, tore it from her head; with it came her peruke of false hair, so that it was discovered by the crowd that her beautiful tresses were not her own; thus, by the very means to which she had resorted to attract the admiration of the beholders, she received their contempt and ridicule.
A preposterous form of headdress arose in the time of Henry IV. and became more exaggerated throughout the fifteenth century; this was styled the horned headdress. It began with a heart-shaped headdress, which rose higher on either side until, in the reign of Henry V., the points of the heart had become veritable horns. This ungraceful coiffure a.s.sumed all sorts of extravagant and absurd varieties. It became a favorite mark for the shafts of the satirists and the jests of the wits, to say nothing of themes for sermons; but the fair ladies, invulnerable to all such criticisms, were not to be deterred from indulging their pet follies. One of the first references to the prevailing style was that made by John de Meun in his poem called the _Codical_: "If I dare say it without making them [that is, the ladies] angry, I should _dispraise_ their hosing, their vesture, their girding, their head-dresses, their hoods thrown back with their _horns_ elevated and brought forward, as if it were to wound us.
I know not whether they call them _gallowses_ or _brackets_, that prop up the horns which they think are so handsome; but of this I am certain, that Saint Elizabeth obtained not Paradise by the wearing of such trumpery." But this style of hair dress was not made by the hair after all, but by the wimple, which was raised on either side of the head and supported by a frame or by pins. John de Meun flourished at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and had he lived in the fifteenth, when the horned headdress _par excellence_, made up of p.r.o.ngs of hair protruding forward from the forehead, was in vogue, he would have been still more aghast. These horns were carefully constructed with the aid of rolls of linen. Sometimes they had two long wings on either side, and received the name of "b.u.t.terflies."
The high, pointed cap which was worn was covered with a piece of fine lawn, which hung to the ground, and the greater part of which was tucked under the wearer"s arm. By a writer of the day we are told that the ladies of the middle rank wore caps of cloth which consisted of several breadths or bands twisted round the head, with two wings on each side "like a.s.ses" ears." As one wanders through the mazes of description of the hair dress of the period, he is prepared to agree with the author to whom we have just referred, that "it is no easy matter to give a proper description in writing of the different fashions in the dresses of the ladies"; and so we shall submit the case in terms of still another writer"s description; Philip Stubbs says: "Then followeth the tr.i.m.m.i.n.g and tricking of their heads, in laying out their hair to the show; which, of force, must be curled, frizzled, and crisped, laid out in wreaths and borders, and from one ear to another; and, lest it should fall down, it is underpropped with forkes, wires, and I cannot tell what; then, on the edges of their bolstered hair, for it standeth crested round about their frontiers, and hanging over their faces, like pendices or vailes, with gla.s.s windows on every side, there is laide great wreathes of gold and silver, curiously wrought, and cunningly applied toe the temples of their heads; and, for feare of lacking anything to set forth their pride withal, at their hair thus wreathed and crested, are hanged bugles, I dare not say bables, ouches, ringes of gold, silver, gla.s.ses, and such other gew-gawes, which I, being unskillful in woman"s tearmes, cannot easily recompt." He then discusses the "capital ornaments" upon the "toppes of these stately turrets," which he informs us consisted of a French hood, hat, cap, kerchief, and such like. He laments the fact that to such excesses did the fashions go, and so widely were the women influenced by them, "that every artificer"s wife almost will not stike to goe in her hat of velvet every day; every merchant"s wife, and meane gentlewoman, in their French hoods; and every poor cottager"s daughter"s daughter in her taffeta hat, or else wool at least, well lined with silk, velvet, or taffeta." He adds that they had other ornaments for the head, "made net-wise," and which he says he believes were termed "cawles," the object of this tinsel being to have the head with its ornaments glisten and shine like a ma.s.s of gold. He then dismisses with a word the "forked cappes" and "such like apish toyes of infinite variety."
Face painting, which came in direct derivation from the tattooing of the ancient Britons, is a practice that at the time of which we are writing was very prevalent in England. It came under as vigorous arraignment by the writers of the fifteenth century as did the ridiculous forms of hair dress. The cosmetics in use were of many sorts, and were usually injurious to the skin of the user.
The dress of the women also fell under censure and satire, although that of the men was even more strongly reprobated by contemporary writers. It does not do to accept too readily the strictures pa.s.sed upon the dress of any age without considering the source of the criticism. Throughout the Middle Ages, the clergy found dress a convenient topic for their moralizing, and there is no doubt that the strictures were often excessive, although the activity with which the matter was discussed indicates the importance in which it then was held and also makes it an important subject for our investigation as a determining element in the study of the manners and customs of the period as they relate to woman and reveal her to us.
The great variety of fabrics, many of them imported, which were in use enabled women to make a wide choice in the selection of material for their clothing, while it also afforded the women of the lower orders an opportunity for almost as varied a display as was made by those in higher ranks. In the reign of Henry IV., who revived the sumptuary legislation of the kingdom with regard to dress, Thomas Occliff, the poet, in rebuking the extravagances of the times, speaks of those who walked about in gowns of scarlet twelve yards wide, with sleeves reaching to the ground and lined with fur, of value beyond twenty pounds, and who, if they had been required to pay for what they wore, would not have been able to buy enough fur to line a hood; and he adds that the tailors must soon shape their garments in the open field for lack of room to cut them in their houses. He mourns chiefly the extravagance of dress on the part of the wealthy, because "a n.o.bleman cannot adopt a new guise, or _fashion_, but that a knave will follow his example."
After the middle of the fifteenth century, the ladies ceased to wear the long trains which they had formerly affected, and subst.i.tuted excessively wide borders of fur or velvet. By the end of the century, the dress of the two s.e.xes was so nearly alike that it was difficult to distinguish between them. The men wore skirts over their lower clothing, their doublets were laced in front like a woman"s stays, and their gowns were open in the front to the girdle and again from the girdle to the ground, where they trailed slightly. At first, the ladies imitated the men, who wore greatly padded trunks, by extending their garments from the hips with foxes" tails and "b.u.m rolls," as they were called; but as they could not hope to keep pace with the vast protuberance of the men"s trunks, they introduced the farthingales, which enabled them to appear as large as they pleased.
Such were the manners and styles of the period with which the Middle Ages closed and the modern era began. They were not markedly different from those of the later Middle Ages generally, but that was because fundamental changes in society do not find their first expression in matters which are superficial. The great revolution which had been going on in the basic forms of society, through peaceful processes as well as social upheavals and the prowess of arms, had its reflux more in the morals than in the manners of the age. Nevertheless, one cannot pursue the theme of custom and manners throughout the mediaeval period without being conscious of a progress or development significant of more than mere caprice. This, in fact, was the case. Any philosophic treatment of English society during the Middle Ages would have to take cognizance of manners and customs as indices of the growth of political, const.i.tutional, and religious principles; and in this growth would appear the consistently developing status of woman.
While it is difficult to fix upon any one fact as comprehending the condition of women in English society at the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the new era, there is one which challenges attention. In reaping the harvest of the narrow and bigoted times through which she pa.s.sed, woman found herself possessed of one sort of fruitage, namely, public rights. The essential equality of the woman and the man, which first appeared in the castle, had become a general fact of English society. Feudalism and its va.s.salage of the female s.e.x had disappeared, and the women of the industrial cla.s.ses, whatever their economic condition, became sovereigns of themselves. The women of the towns, largely through the instrumentality of the guilds, had established precedents which marked the path of their progress as "persons" before the law. a.s.sociated industry drew them out of their homes, or at least out of the limited sphere of home life, and placed in their hands the loom and the spindle of the world"s industry. "The candle" of the goodwife "that went not out by night" no longer burned for the provident industry of household needs, but became a veritable torch to illumine the paths of England"s commerce and to add to that glory of civilization which const.i.tutes her commercial greatness.
Out of the whole body of womankind, the Church had chosen to select a cla.s.s of women who were dedicated to its service and who taught by their acts the responsibility of the prosperous toward their needy brethren; while this does not appear to have been a benefit to women generally, but simply a training in charity for the cla.s.ses who were consecrated to that object, nevertheless the influence of these chosen women upon their s.e.x, in awakening their keener sensibilities toward poverty and distress, aided in placing upon the brow of woman the queenly crown of compa.s.sion which has made her so largely a ministering force in modern society.
The elegance and refinement of the women of the manors, as well as the stability and resourcefulness of the wives of the wealthy burghers, already gave indication of the development of the splendid type of modern English society known as the country gentry and the no less admirable cla.s.s of the English tradespeople. Indeed, the evolution of the middle cla.s.s as a conservative force is one of the greatest factors to be considered in mediaeval study. "Blue blood," once regarded as a peculiar strain of vital fluid by which, through some mysterious means, the upper stratum of society was marked off from the lower, came to be detected in the veins of those whose only pedigree was poverty and whose only claim upon the consideration and respect of their fellows was real worth of character. An aristocracy which could be repleted from the plebeian ranks of the middle cla.s.ses of society, upon whose members t.i.tles were bestowed, not because of their readiness to respond to the needs of the privy purse of a monarch, but because they had a.s.sumed leading and important positions in relation to England"s honor and power, was an aristocracy that did not become archaic or degenerate. The equality of opportunity, which is the pride and promise of modern society, had its beginnings in those early days when the gate of emergence from lower cla.s.s conditions was so seldom opened far anyone to pa.s.s out to where the ascent of Parna.s.sus might quicken his ambition.
Long after feudalism had ceased, however, it was difficult to disabuse the minds of people of the idea that the blood which flowed in the veins of a gentleman was different from that of a peasant or a burgher. It is curious to note one of the legendary explanations of the division of blood as given by Alexander Barclay, a poet of the reign of Henry VII. According to his story, while Adam was occupied with his agricultural labors, Eve sat at home with her children about her, when she suddenly became aware of the approach of the Creator, and ashamed of the number of her children, she hurriedly concealed those which were less favored in appearance. Some she placed under hay, some under straw and chaff, some in the chimney, and some in a tub of draff; but such as were fair and comely she kept with her.
The Lord told her that He had come to see her children, that He might promote them in their different degrees. When she presented them, according to age, one was ordained to be a king, another a duke, and so on through the list of high dignities. The maternal solicitude of Eve made her unwilling that the concealed children should miss all the honors, and she brought them forth from their hiding places. Their rough and unkempt appearance, which was due to the nature of their places of concealment, added to their unprepossessing personalities, disgusted the Lord with them. "None," He said, "can make a vessel of silver out of an earthen pitcher, or goodly silk out of a goat"s fleece, or a bright sword out of a cow"s tail; neither will I, though I can, make a n.o.ble gentleman out of a vile villain. You shall all be ploughmen and tillers of the ground, to keep oxen and hogs, to dig and delve, and hedge and dike, and in this wise shall ye live in endless servitude. Even the townsmen shall laugh you to scorn; yet some of you shall be allowed to dwell in cities, and shall be admitted to such occupations as those of makers of puddings, butchers, cobblers, tinkers, costard-mongers, hostlers, or daubers." This, so the story informs us, was the beginning of servile labor; and such a view of caste was no more displeasing to the peasantry, who knew nothing better, than it was to the baron, whose pride it pampered.
A poem of the latter part of the fifteenth century gives the wishes appropriate to the men and women of the different ranks of French society. Those of the women are most characteristic. Thus, the queen wishes to love G.o.d and the king, and to live in peace; the d.u.c.h.ess, to have all the enjoyments and pleasures of wealth; the countess, to have a husband who is loyal and brave; the knight"s lady, to hunt the stag in the green woods; the lady of gentle blood also loves hunting, and wishes for a husband valiant in war; the chamber maiden takes pleasure in walking in the fair fields by the riversides; while the burgher"s wife loves, above all things, a soft bed at night, with a good pillow and clean white sheets. This statement of the characteristic desires of the various cla.s.ses of French women holds good as well for the English women of that period.
The court of Burgundy, which, during the fifteenth century, was notable for its pomp and magnificence and its ostentatious display of wealth, was regarded as furnishing the models of high courtesy and gentle breeding; and it was the centre of literature and art. Circ.u.mstances had brought the court of England into intimate connection with it, so that England was more affected by Burgundy than by any other part of Europe. The social character in England and France, which, to some extent, had followed parallel lines since the Norman conquest, now began to diverge widely. The breakdown of feudalism in England, where it had never been so fully developed as in France, was not contemporaneous with French conditions in this respect. Consequently, in the latter country, the chasm between the lower and the upper strata of society grew ever wider, the lower cla.s.ses becoming more and more miserable, and the upper more immoral.
In England, as we have seen, serfdom disappeared, or existed in name only, and the relation between the country gentry and the peasants became increasingly intimate and kindly. The growth of commerce had spread wealth among the middle cla.s.ses and had added much to their social comfort. Although social manners were still very coa.r.s.e, the influence of religious reformers, such as the Lollards, was being felt in an improvement in the moral tone of the middle and lower cla.s.ses of society. Moreover, the discussion of great social questions had become general among the people. Even in the middle of the fourteenth century, the celebrated poem of _Piers Plowman_ took up such discussions, and one of the tenets of the Lollards was the natural equality of man. In England, conditions were ripe for the advent of a new era, and in the fulness of time there came forth the spirit of new learning, of new industry, of exploration, of investigation, and of religious freedom, to lead the English people into the inheritance for which they had been prepared by those centuries over a part of which hung such a pall as to secure for them the t.i.tle of the Dark Ages.
CHAPTER X
THE WOMEN OF THE TUDOR PERIOD
As the year has its seasons, marked by alternations of active growth and recuperation for new development, so likewise has history. If the Middle Ages were a time of comparative dearth as viewed in the light of the modern era, certainly there was ample vitality hidden in the quiet forms and the mechanical fixity of the period. The season of vernal glory for England, which opened with the reign of Henry VIII.
and found its climax in that of Elizabeth, was glorious because the beauty and brilliancy which characterized it were due to the splendid utilities which were pa.s.sed on to it from the Middle Ages. Art, literature, and the pleasant pastimes of leisure--the affluence of prosperity--are the efflorescence of a people"s history, though the absence of these graces and privileges of life may not mean a dearth in any profound sense, for it may be that their absence but indicates a lack of favoring conditions for the root stock to put forth foliage and flower. The simple form of social life which obtained during the Middle Ages, as contrasted with the brilliancy of intellect and the breadth of view of the modern era, does not denote any important difference in the character of the great ma.s.s of the English people, any more than it can be said of the fallow land not under cultivation that it has less productivity than the fields which by the waving grain give evidence of their fertile worth.
The easy acceptance in modern times of the benefits of inventions which greatly broaden the scope of living and add immeasurably to its comfort shows how readily people adjust themselves to advances in the conditions of life. So that which we look upon as an era was not so considered by the people who witnessed the stimulus which we regard as the beginning of all modern intellectual and social life. For this reason, we need not expect to discover in the women of the early modern period any radical difference from their sisters of preceding generations; but we shall find that, with the change of environment and the coming of a better state of life in general, womankind was gradually and insensibly affected in ways of permanent improvement.
The opening up of new avenues of human interest and the enlargement of old ones increased the sphere of woman"s life and influence; yet had it not been for the status she had achieved already, she would no more have entered prominently into the blessings and privileges of the new era than did the women of Greece generally benefit by the Golden Age of Pericles.
It is interesting to note that at the beginning of the modern era population was increasing so slowly as to be practically stationary, and, indeed, for generations past there had been no appreciable increase. Even after the favorable conditions of the reign of Henry VIII. became general, population made comparatively slow progress.
Families were not so numerous, or the number of their members so great, as compared with to-day. It was an exception for a laborer to maintain his family in a cottage to themselves. Farm work was commonly done under the superintendence of country esquires, and the laborers lived in the paternal cottage and remained single, marrying only when by their providence they had managed to save enough to enable them to enter upon some other career. The compet.i.tion of other countries, notably France, with the industries of England proved disastrous to many forms of England"s industrial activities; and to the introduction into the kingdom of a number of wares and merchandise of foreign make was attributed the great number of idle people throughout the realm. To counteract this condition, Henry issued statutes for the encouragement of manufacturing. One of these aimed to stimulate the linen industry. In order that the men and women living in idleness, which was styled "that most abominable sin," might have profitable employment, it was ordained and enacted that every person should sow one-quarter of an acre in flax or hemp for every sixty acres he might have under cultivation. The immediate purpose of the act was to keep the wives and children of the poor at work in their own houses, but it also indicated that the condition of manufactures in England was not such as to encourage an enlarging population.
The condition of the laboring cla.s.ses during the reign of Henry VIII.
was not such as to excite general dissatisfaction; indeed, there are evidences of a general state of contentment among the people. The laws for the encouragement of trade and the sumptuary legislation for the regulation of wages and prices were economic measures which may not stand the test of examination according to modern ideas, but which nevertheless tended, on the whole, to benefit those in whose behalf they were made. Industry was the spirit of the times, and idleness was the most abhorrent of vices. Men, women, and children, alike, were to be trained in some craft or other, to prevent their becoming public charges. The children of parents who could afford the fees which were exacted for apprenticeship were set to learn trades, and the rest were bound out to agriculture; and if the parents failed to see to it that their children were started out in a career of labor, the mayors or magistrates had authority to apprentice such children, so that when they grew up they might not be driven to dishonest courses by want or incapacity.
Throughout the sixteenth century, all cla.s.ses of society appear to have had a reasonable degree of prosperity, according to their several needs and stations. The country gentlemen lived upon their landed estates, surrounded by those evidences of solid comfort which give attractiveness to such life. The income of the squire was sufficient to afford a moderate abundance for himself and his family, and between him and the commons there was not a wide difference in this respect.
Among all cla.s.ses of the people there was a spirit of liberality, open and free; the practicality of the age was not inaccordant with generous hospitality. To every man who asked it, there were free fare and free lodging, and he might be sure of a bountiful board of wholesome food. Bread, beef, and beer for dinner, and a mat of rushes in an unoccupied corner of the hall, with a billet of wood for a headrest, did not const.i.tute luxurious entertainment, but were regarded as elements of real comfort. Nor was the generous hospitality proffered to strangers often abused; the statutes of the times kept suspicious characters under such close notice, and were so repressive of predatory and vicious instincts, that there was little occasion for alarm such as is felt by the modern housewife in country districts along much-travelled roads. The hour of rising, both summer and winter, was four o"clock; breakfast was served at five, after which the laborers went to their work and the gentlemen to their business.
Life lacked much of modern refinement, although it made up for this lack in wholesomeness and heartiness. The large number of beggars in the reign of Henry VIII. was due in part to the suppression of the monasteries and the drying up of those springs of charity, and the open-handed hospitality which had encouraged begging while relieving distress. Upon the a.s.sumption that there was no excuse for an able-bodied vagrant, the penalties imposed upon "st.u.r.dy beggars"
were severe. Such, in brief, was the state of English society at the beginning of the modern era.
The influence of the Church was on the wane before the rupture with the papacy was brought about by Henry VIII., and the laity were beginning to a.s.sume the positions, liberties, and privileges which had appertained to the clergy as the one scholarly and dominant cla.s.s of the kingdom. Under the new conditions of liberty in which we find woman, there was no room for the continuance of even the forms of chivalry. Idealized woman no longer existed; she had become practical.
Having sought a position of public activity, she had been recognized as possessing the private rights of an individual of the same nature and of similar status as man. It was no longer needful to go to the convent to find the religious or intellectual types of womankind, for religion, benevolence, and literature were no longer identified only with the cloister. However disastrous was the suppression of the monasteries to the little bands of women who wore the habit of the _religieuse_, women in general did not feel the upheaval nearly so much as they did the other social changes, which were not so radical, but were very much more influential in their relation to the destiny of the s.e.x as a whole.
Although manners were very free, and nowhere more so than among persons of the higher orders of society, such coa.r.s.eness is not the true criterion by which to gauge the women of the day. Even if they did not hesitate to use profanity, were adepts at coquetry of an undisguised type, and were guilty of conduct which merited more than the term "indiscreet," it must be borne in mind that they were creatures of their times. While English society was noted for its rudeness and coa.r.s.eness, it was saved from much of the effeminacy which poisoned the life of its neighbors on the continent. The sixteenth century took a more generous, complimentary, and true view of womankind. In the Middle Ages, she suffered from the exaggerated praise of the knight and the troubadour on the one hand, and on the other from the contempt and contumely of the ecclesiastic. From this equivocal position of being at the same time an angel and a devil she was rescued by the sanity and sincerity of the sixteenth century, and was placed in her true position as a woman, possessed of essentially the same characteristics as men, worthy of like honor, and making appeal for no special consideration excepting that which her s.e.x evoked instinctively from men. The modern idea had begun to prevail, and woman was no longer either worshipped or shunned, but was welcomed as a sharer of the common burdens and joys of life. To continental observers it was marvellous that the English woman should have the large amount of liberty that she enjoyed; and Europeans not understanding the English point of view were apt to construe such liberty as boldness. Thus, one writer from abroad is found commenting upon the sixteenth-century English woman as follows: "The women have much more liberty than perhaps in any other place; they also know well how to make use of it; for they go dressed out in exceedingly fine clothes, and give all their attention to their ruffs and stuffs to such a degree indeed that, as I am informed, many a one does not hesitate to wear velvet in the streets, which is common with them, whilst at home perhaps they have not a piece of dry bread."
Elizabeth Lamond"s _Discourse of the Commonweal_ recites that there was more employment for the men and women of the towns and cities when the wants of people were more modest. The population of London, despite the attempts made by Queen Elizabeth to prevent the influx of foreigners and persons from the rural districts, increased rapidly during her reign. On coming into the city, the rustics soon wasted their small savings in the rioting and revels which characterized the rough life of the metropolis. Drinking, gambling, and all forms of license enticed the husband from his home and destroyed the domestic felicity which had been the characteristic of country living. Country and town life were still widely separated by bad roads and poor means of conveyance. The wives even of the gentry knew, as a rule, nothing of city life, excepting from the accounts which their husbands might bring back to them from occasional jaunts to the metropolis; to all such accounts they listened with wide-eyed wonder.
The amus.e.m.e.nts of the women of the better sort, who did not find their entertainment in the vices of the times, took chiefly the form of spectacles, to which they readily flocked. It mattered little whether it was a mask, a miracle play, a church procession or a royal progress, a c.o.c.k fight or a bear baiting. The brutality of their sports no more affected their feelings than do the revolting circ.u.mstances of a bull fight shock the sensibilities of the women of Spain"s cultured circles. When any morning they might see the heads of some unfortunates stuck on pikes and gracing with their gruesome presence the city gate, it is not surprising that the people were not repelled by brutal exhibitions of a lesser sort. Nor did the forms of punishment in use for malefactors of one kind or another tend to soften the feelings of the women of the time. It was no unusual thing for a woman convicted of being a common scold to be seen going about the streets with her face behind an iron muzzle clamped over her mouth, a subject for the jeers and ribald mirth of coa.r.s.e-minded women no better than herself. Such characters were also taken to the ducking stool and thoroughly doused in the water. The punishment of thieves by branding and by mutilation, and the punishment meted out to women whose characters, even in that gross age, affronted public morals, were of a public nature and matters of daily observation. Nor was any woman quite sure that the gibbet, from which she could at almost any time see the swaying form of some unfortunate, might not next serve for the execution of her own husband; for the number of capital offences was large, and the inquiries of justice by no means lenient on the side of the accused.
The destruction of the monasteries brought about, in a large measure, the dissolution of the educational system of the realm. The sons of the poor husbandman, who had been taught at the convent schools, and then pa.s.sed on through the universities, and thence had gradually worked their way into the professions of religion or the law, had the door of opportunity to a higher station closed to them. The deprivation was more severe in the case of girls, although it did not signify so much for them in relation to their future--unless, indeed, it did so by debarring from the profession of religion some who might have entered it. The clergy tried to meet the educational demands which were so suddenly thrown upon them, but it was impossible for them to afford educational facilities for the youth of either s.e.x at schools without endowment or adequate support. Elizabeth, with the wide view and the sagacity which she showed with regard to all aspects of her kingdom, evinced her recognition of the importance of education by establishing one hundred free grammar schools, whose number rapidly increased during her reign. In the course of time, these schools fell under the control of the middle cla.s.s and afforded education for their sons and daughters. But in England there were certainly very few, if any, women of the middle cla.s.s who entered largely into the benefits of the new learning which came in with the Renaissance. The study of Latin and Greek and the discussion of philosophy and science were confined to the women of the leisure cla.s.ses. The English universities in the sixteenth century were closed to women; but such lack was made up by private tutors, women of rank and position thus having the benefit of the brightest minds of the age.
The great awakening of intellectual life in England, in common with the continental countries, showed itself in activity in all departments of thought: poetry flourished, theology caught the infection of the new spirit of liberty, and the cla.s.sics were studied with avidity as the springs of the world"s literature and learning.
The invention of the printing press let loose the floods of knowledge, and the women of the higher cla.s.ses were caught in the flow of books and pamphlets, and their intellects were quickened and their characters formed by these new sources of inspiration and wisdom.
Woman was no longer designated as the daughter of the Church, which was formerly the highest encomium that the condescension of the Church could afford her. She now stood on her own independence of character, possessed of an intellect and accorded the freedom of its use.
The example of the Virgin Queen was held up to the youth of England for their imitation. Elizabeth"s education had been most zealously cared for. To her remarkable apt.i.tude for learning she added a studious disposition. At an early age she was an accomplished linguist; the sciences were familiar to her, she "understood the principles of geography, architecture, the mathematics, and astronomy." Her studies, save one, however, she regarded rather in the light of pastime; to the exception--history--she "devoted three hours a day, and read works in all languages that afforded information on the subject." Thus was her mind stored with the philosophy of history; men and events in their ever changing relations were an open book to her. Hence, when the responsibilities of sovereignty devolved upon her she was resourceful and prompt. Whether dealing with her ambitious subjects, or receiving the wily amba.s.sador of a foreign power, her poise could not be disturbed.
With the example and influence of the Tudor princesses before them, the women least needed the exhortation to intellectual attainments.
It was said by a foreign scholar who visited England in the middle of the sixteenth century that "the rich cause their sons and daughters to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, for, since this storm of heresy has invaded the land, they hold it useful to read the Scriptures in the original tongue." With all the profession of knowledge which was a.s.sumed by the people of this age, there went a great deal of pedantry. It became very tiresome to listen to the conversations of select bodies of the devotees of the new wisdom, who had touched but the skirts of the garments of the Muses. The great number of literary c.o.xcombs and dilettanti who were scribbling Latin verse and propounding philosophical theses, or p.r.o.nouncing upon new theological views, serves to impress one with the superficiality of the learning of the day, so far as is concerned the great body of its professed disciples, while in contrast to these we are led to respect more profoundly the genuine attainments of the brilliant group of men and women who made the reign of Elizabeth ill.u.s.trious for its varied and almost matchless learning. In spite of all the pretence to learning on the part of the great ma.s.s of women who had neither the taste nor the capacity to drink deep at the Pyrenean spring, it must be said that in no other period of English history has there been shown such marked and general eagerness for knowledge as in the sixteenth century, nor has any other period exhibited such a galaxy of great women. The wide diffusion of a love of literature is in striking contrast to the literary dearth of the preceding centuries.
It was not, however, a period of brilliant authorship among women.
The new learning had first to be imbibed and become a part of the national thought before it could express itself in literary products.
Translations of the cla.s.sics and the works of the Church Fathers, with literary correspondence and discussions in choice Latin prose, as well as the composition of distiches in the same tongue, with occasional instances of adventure into Greek and Hebrew composition, summed up the literary labors of the women of the times. As such matters possess little interest to posterity, not many of these literary essays and letters have been preserved; but such as have come down to us mirror the intellect of the women of the age so creditably as to invite comparison with the results of modern education for the s.e.x.
Lady Jane Grey may be cited as one of the women of the day who became notable for learning and scholarship. Of her, Fox writes: "If her fortune had been as good as her bringing up, joined with fineness of wit, undoubtedly she might have seemed comparable not only to the house of the Vespasians, Semp.r.o.nians, and the mother of the Gracchi, yea, to any other women besides that deserve of high praise for their singular learning, but also to the University men, who have taken many degrees of the Schools." The facility of this n.o.ble lady in Greek composition was strongly commended by Roger Ascham. Her remarkable knowledge of the cognate tongues of the East and of modern languages made her almost deserving of the encomium which was pa.s.sed upon Anna Maria van Schurman, a Dutch contemporary, of whom it was said: "If all the languages of the earth should cease to exist, she herself would give them birth anew." The conversance of the literary ladies of the sixteenth century with the languages of the East, as well as with philosophy and theology, and the really marvellous attainments of some of them in these subjects, indicate a sound education, even though an unserviceable one.
Erasmus warmly commended the Princess Mary for her proficiency in Latin, and in later years she translated Erasmus"s _Paraphrase of the Gospel of Saint John_. Udall, Master of Eton, who wrote the preface to this work, complimented her for her "over-painful study and labour of writing," by which she had "cast her weak body in a grievous and long sickness." The literary attainments and linguistic versatility of Elizabeth herself, which made her a criterion for her times, are well enough known to need no especial notice here. She had the benefit of instruction from Roger Ascham, with whom she read the cla.s.sics, and from Grindal, under whom she studied theology, which was a favorite subject with her. In Italian, Castiglione was her master, and Lady Champernon was her first tutor in modern languages. She became familiar with the works of the Greek and Latin authors by hearing them read to her by Sir Henry Savil and Sir John Fortescue. In this way she became intimately acquainted with Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon, and herself translated one of the dialogues of the latter, besides rendering two orations of Isocrates from Greek into Latin.
Among other studious and accomplished women of the times, Sir Thomas More"s daughters held a high place. All of them were clever and applied themselves to abstruse subjects; but Margaret, wife of William Roper, the daughter who clung pa.s.sionately to her father"s neck when he was being led off to execution, was the most brilliant of this family of accomplished women. Sir Anthony c.o.ke, whose scholarship gave him the position of preceptor to Edward VI., had the gratification of seeing his daughters attract the attention of the most celebrated men of the nation. One of them married Lord Burleigh, the treasurer of the realm; another wedded Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper of the Great Seal, becoming in time the mother of the famous Francis Bacon, the celebrated philosopher; and as her second husband, the third had Lord Russell.
Nothing delighted the brilliant women of the Elizabethan era so much as to have themselves surrounded by great writers, statesmen, and other celebrities. Stately magnificence was maintained at many of the great houses, and the presence of noted artists and celebrated authors gave to such homes an intellectual atmosphere. One of the centres of intellectual thought and literary life of her time was the home of Mary Sidney, after she had become the wife of Henry, Earl of Pembroke, and mistress of his establishment at Wilton. Around her hospitable board gathered poets, statesmen, and artists, drawn there not by the rank of the hostess or to satisfy her pride by their presence and fame, but because her cultivated intellect made her a fit companion for the greatest intellectual personages of the day. To have had the honor of entertaining, as guests, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, besides the lesser poets of the time, and to have been recognized by such literati as worthy of their serious consideration because of her undoubted gifts, not only reflected high compliment upon the lady, but lasting credit upon her s.e.x, and was one of the many significant things of the Elizabethan era which indicated how wide open stood the door of intellectual progress and equality of opportunity for the women of modern times. Spenser celebrated the Countess of Pembroke as:
"The gentlest shepherdess that liv"d that day, And most resembling in shape and spirit Her brother dear."
Udall, the Master of Eton, speaks enthusiastically of the great number of women in the n.o.ble ranks of society, "not only given to the study of human sciences and strange tongues, but also so thoroughly expert in the Holy Scriptures that they were able to compare with the best writers as well in enditeing and penning of G.o.dly and fruitful treatises to the instruction and edifying of realmes in the knowledge of G.o.d, as also in translating good books out of Latin or Greek into English for the use and commodity of such as are rude and ignorant of the said tongues. It was now no news in England to see young damsels in n.o.ble houses and in the courts of princes, instead of cards and other instruments of idle trifling, to have continually in their hands either Psalms, homilies, and other devout meditations, or else Paul"s Epistles, or some book of Holy Scripture matters, and as familiarly both to read and reason thereof in Greek, Latin, French, or Italian as in English. It was now a common thing to see young virgins so trained in the study of good letters that they willingly set all other vain pastimes at nought for learning"s sake. It was now no news at all to see Queens and ladies of most high estate and progeny, instead of courtly dalliance, to embrace virtuous exercises of reading and writing, and with most earnest study both early and late to apply themselves to the acquiring of knowledge, as well in all other liberal artes and disciplines, as also most especially of G.o.d and His holy word."
The doubts as to the utility of higher education for women in general which trouble some minds at the present day were not altogether unknown in the age of Elizabeth. Ecclesiastics especially, even the more liberal, were most p.r.o.ne to entertain doubts as to the advisability of permitting women to have a free range through the avenues of knowledge. It is probable that the middle cla.s.ses, to whom the opportunities of education were not so general, felt the value of schools too highly to speculate upon the utility of that which was not readily within their grasp. Richard Mulcaster, who was the master of a school founded by the Merchant Taylors Company in the parish of St.
Lawrence, Pultney, says: "We see young maidens be taught to read and write, and can do both with praise; we have them sing and playe: and both pa.s.sing well, we know that they learne the best and finest of our learned languages, to the admiration of all men. For the daiely spoken tongues and of best reputation in our time who so shall deny that they may not compare even with our kinde even in the best degree ... Nay, do we not see in our country some of that s.e.x so excellently well trained and so rarely qualified either for the tongues themselves or for the matter in the tongues: as they may be opposed by way of comparison, if not preferred as beyond comparison, even to the best Romaine or Greekish paragones, be they never so much praised to the Germaine or French gentle-wymen by late writers so well liked: to the Italian ladies who dare write themselves and deserve fame for so doing?... I dare be bould, therefore, to admit young maidens to learne, seeing my countrie gives me leave and her costume standes for me.... Some Rimon will say, what should wymend with learning? Such a churlish carper will never picke out the best, but be alway ready to blame the worst. If all men used all pointes of learning well, we had some reason to alledge against wymend, but seeing misuse is commonly both the kinds, why blame we their infirmitie whence we free not ourselves." He then contends that a young gentlewoman who can write well and swiftly, sing clearly and sweetly, play well and finely, and employ readily the learned languages with some "logicall helpe to chop and some rhetoricke to brave," is well furnished, and that such a one is not likely to bring up her children a whit the worse, even if she becomes a Loelia, a Hortensia, or a Cornelia. In discussing whether or not girls should be taught by their own s.e.x, he inclines to the belief that this practice were advisable, but that discreet men might teach girls to advantage. To use his own words: "In teachers, their owne s.e.x were fittest in some respects, but ours frame them best, and, with good regard to some circ.u.mstances, will bring them up excellently well." In the higher circles, where cynicism frequently a.s.sumes the forms of wisdom, it was not universally agreed that women should have the widest opportunities of education. In one of his discourses, Erasmus, possibly the most accomplished of the schoolmen of the time, opens to our view the opinion of the Church as to female scholarship when he represents an abbot as contending that if women were learned they could not be kept under subjection, "therefore it is a wicked, mischievous thing to revive the ancient custom of educating them." A remark in one of Erasmus"s letters lays him open to the suspicion of sharing somewhat in this view, for, in his description of Sir Thomas More, he speaks of him as wise with the wise, and jesting with fools--"with women especially, and his own wife among them."
Besides the graver matters of study which claimed their attention, the women of England were devoted to music, needlework, and dancing, which were the favorite fashionable pastimes. Erasmus speaks of them as the most accomplished in musical skill of any people. Early as the reign of Henry VIII., to read music at sight was not an uncommon accomplishment, while those who aspired to the technique of the subject were students of counterpoint. Musical literature was scanty; the princ.i.p.al instruments were the lute, the mandolin, the clavichord, and the virginals.