Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/222

198 198 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. PART compass of erudition, in reference to the ancient — — — languages, than is common at present ; a circum- stance attributable, probably, to the poverty of modern literature at that time, and the new and general appetite excited by the revival of classical learning in Italy. I am not av^are, however, that it was usual for learned ladies, in any other countrj? than Spain, to take part in the public exercises of the gymnasium, and deliver lectures from the chairs of the universities. This peculiarity, which may be referred in part to the queen's influence, who encouraged the love of study by her own example, as well as by personal attendance on the academic examinations, may have been also suggested by a similar usage, already noticed, among the Spanish Arabs. ^^ ka^u^g! While the study of the ancient tongues came thus into fashion with persons of both sexes, and of the highest rank, it was widely and most thor- oughly cultivated by professed scholars. Men of letters, some of whom have been already noticed, were invited into Spain from Italy, the theatre at that time, on which, from obvious local advantages, classical discovery was pursued with greatest ardor and success. To this country it was usual also for Spanish students to repair, in order to complete their discipline in classical literature, especially the Greek, as first taught on sound principles of criti- cism, by the learned exiles from Constantinople. Lebrija. The most remarkable of the Spanish scholars, who ^ See Part I. Chap. 8, of this History.