Page:Daughters of Genius.djvu/176

 168 GIELHOOD OP QUEEN ELIZABETH. But then, she added, would, come the summons to her tutor, Mr. Elmer, who taught so gently and so pleasantly that time passed without her knowing it, and she cried when obliged to leave him. Thus it was, she said, that she became so fond of learning. Ascham dwells fondly upon this noble, ill-starred lady, and claims her as a bright proof of the excellence of this gentle system. Not less does he extol his own pupil, who was Queen when he wrote this book. While she was still under his care he was full of enthusiasm for her talents and. learning. " She shone like a star among all the ladies of England." She had " the genius of a man, without the weakness of a woman." She was not only a deep and sound theologian, but she spoke Latin and Greek so well that she could defend her opinions so as to be victorious over the most learned doctors. When she was queen, she still kept up her habits of daily study with her old tutor. " Point forth," he says, " six of the best given gentle- men of this court, and they altogether show not so much good will, spend not so much time, bestow not so many hours, daily, orderly, and constantly, for the increase of learning and knowledge, as doth the Queen's majesty herself." He declared that, besides her familiarity with Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish, all of which she had occasion to use frequently in public business, she read more Greek every day than some dignitaries of the Church read of Latin in a whole week. Seldom has a work been written more adroitly than this Schoolmaster of Roger Ascham. The great examples which he adduces, and the skillful manner in which he introduces them, greatly contributed to its influence. He is certainly entitled to the gratitude of the whole world of scholars and students. He died in 1568, in his fifty-fourth year, Queen Eliza-