Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/213

189 CLASSICAL LEARNING. — SCIENCE. 189 Of Prince .lohn. ters, the infantas made attainments rarely permitted chapter . . XIX. to the sex, and acquired such familiarity with the — '- — '— Latin tongue especially, as excited lively admira- tion among those over whom they were called to preside in riper years. '' A still deeper anxiety was shown in the educa- tion of her only son. Prince John, heir of the united Spanish monarchies. Every precaution was taken to train him up in a manner that might tend to the formation of the character suited to his exalted sta- tion. He was placed in a class consisting of ten youths, selected from the sons of the principal no- bility. Five of them were of his own age, and five of riper years, and they were all brought to reside manca. The younger brother, AI- essandro, after bearing arms in the Portuguese war, was subsequently employed in the instruction of the infantas, finally embraced the eccle- siastical state, and died bishop of St. Domingo, in 1525. Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16. — Tiraboschi, Letteratura Ita- liana, tom. vi. part. 2, p. 285. 7 The learned Valencian, Luis yives, in his treatise " De Christia- na Femina," remarks, " ^tas nos- ter quatuor illas Isabellas reginse filias, quas paullo ante memoravi, eruditas vidit. Non sine laudibus et admiratione refertur mihi passim in hac terra Joannam, Philippi con- jugem, Caroli hujus matrem, ex tempore latinis orationibus, quaj de more apud novos principes op- pidatim habentur, latine respondis- se. Idem de regina sua, Joannse sorore, Britanni praedicant; idem omnes de duabus aliis, quae in Lu- sitania fato concessere." (De Christiana Femina, cap. 4, apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.) — It appears, however, that Isabella was not inattentive to the more humble accomplishments, in the education of her daughters. " Regina," says the same author, " nere, suere, acu pingere quatuor filias suas doctas esse voluit." Another contemporary, the author of the Carro de las DoHas, (lib. 2, cap. 62, apud Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., Ilust. 21.) says, " she educated her son and daughters, giving them masters of life and letters, and surrounding them with such persons as tended to make them vessels of election, and kings in Heaven." Erasmus notices the literary at- tainments of the youngest daughter of the sovereigns, the unfortunate Catharine of Aragon, with unqual- ified admiration. In one of his letters, he styles her " egregie doc- tam " ; and in another he remarks, " Regina non tantum in sexus mi- raculum literata est ; nee minus pietate suspicienda, quam eruditi- one." Epistolae, (Londini, 1642,) lib. 19, epist. 31 ; lib. 2, episi. 24.