The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-06-06


coirpore, depend upon it that amiability and
good temper are largely promoted by the
good digestion which waits on appetite,
neither trihed with nor defrauded. But let
us pass to more serious considerations.
AS to what should constitute the intel
lectual training-and what should be the
scope and extent of the studies OF young
women, there have been, at different times,
various and variant opinions. The wom-
en-or at least the ladies-among the an
cient Greeks were for the most part entire
ly without mental culture. It is true, wom-
en- of the class Of Aspasia were some
times found, who were what we might call
"highly educatcd" /" and fitted, in intellec-
tual gifts, for companionship with great
statesmen like Pericles. But those were
rare exceptions.
And it was very much the same with
the Roman ladies. "The mother of the
Gracchi - was rather what we would call
" strong minded woman" " than woman
highly educated" /" and of much intellec-
tual culture.
Indeed, we may say that Christianity
gave the first real impetus to the education
of woman, as it first elevated her in social
dignity and influence. But it was hardly
before Printing and the Reformation had
famed into fame "the New Learning"
as the Renaissance or revival of letters"
has been called, that the education of
women received particular attention. The
capture of Constantinople by the Turks in
1853 dispersed many learned Greeks
throughout Europe and gave a special i'm
pulse to "classical studies," as we term
them. Men like Erasmus, Colet and Sir
Thomas Moore gave in England prodlg-
ious impetus to them. From this period
women were educated Gn some respects)
with thoNughness that may put our no.
tons of what constitutes ga thoroughly ed
ucated lady" to the blush. Queen Eliz-
abeth, we are told, "spoke French and ltal-
ian as fuently as English: began every day
with an hours reading in the Greek Testa-
ment, the tragedies of Sophocles or the
orations of Isocrates and Demosthenes.'
She was familiar with Ariosto and Itssso,
nor did she neglect to encourage Or fail to
appreciate the great poet of her own coun-
try, Spencer, the author of the "Fairie
Queen" the next great luminary after
Chaucer, then just rising above the literary
horizon.
hor ov,1 OnDfaYr3-
porary, studied Hebrew at fifteen and at
the same age could write Greek and at six
teen corresponded with diyines in Latin.
We have all read the anecdote told by her
early tutor, Roger Ascham, Of his finding
her reading the Pl1aedo of Plato in her
room while all the company at her fathers
country place were enjoying themselves in
various sports in the park. And when he
asked her why she didnot join the others
in the amusements, she replied with a
smile: 81 think all their sport in the park
is but shadow to that pleasure that 1 find
i'll Plato; alas! good folks, they never felt
what true pleasure means" Nor was tlsis,
with the sweet and natural girl, either ped
andry or afectation.
Now I propose to point the moral OF my
discourse by contrasting these two charac-
ters-Elizabeth and Jane Grey-when they
we're young women about the same age,
Elizabeth being only some four years the
elder of the two. Here is the portrait Of
Elizabeth as drawn by the historian Green:
Personally, Elizabeth had much
of her mothers beauty Her figure was
commanding, her face long, but queenly
and intelligent, her eyes quick and fine.
She had grown up amid the liberal culture
of Henry's court, bold hocsewoman, a
good shot, graceful dancer. skilled mu-
sician and an accomplished scholar. \ n
From her father she inherited her frank
and hearty address, her love of popularity
and of free intercourse with the people, her
dauntless courage and her amazing self
confidence. Her harsh, man-ike voice, her
impetuous will, her pride, her furious out
bursts of anger, came to her with her Tu-
dor blood. She rated great mobiles as if
they were school-boys; she met the inso-
lence of Essex with box on the ear she
would break, now and then, into the gray
est deliberations to swear at her ministers
and laughter and wit. A happy retort or a
finished compliment never failed to win her
favor. She boarded jewels. Her dresses
were innumerable. Her vanity remained,
10 al tho uorify7 of 70 ~,
her teens. No adulation was too fulsome
for her. no fattery of her beauty too gross.
OF wonanly reserve or self-re-
straint she knew nothing. No instinct of
delicacy yelled the voluptuous temper which
had broken out in the romps of her girl
hood and showed itself almost ostentatlous-
ly throughout her later life. Personal
beauty in man was sure passport to he1
liking. She patted handsome young squires
on the neck when they knelt to kiss he1
hand, and fondied her sweet Robin Lord
leicester, in the face of the court.
Nothing is more revolving in the Queen, but
nothing is more characteristic than hei
shameless mendacity. It was an age of po,
| litical lying; but in the profusion and reck-
lessness of her lies Elizabeth stood without
peer in ChrisIendom. A falsehood was
| to her simply an intellectual means Of
| meeting difficulty, and the ease with
which she asserted or denied whatever suit
ed her purpose was only equalled by the
cynical Indifference with which she met
the exposure of her lies as soon as thei,
purpose was answered" But the blackes
shadow from Mr. Green's brush remains te
be given. "No woman ever lived" he says
"who was so totally destitute of the senti
ment of religion"
From this hard, harsh, repufsive and IN
| womanly portrait let US turn to the sweet