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Full text of "Olympia Morata : her times, life and writings, arranged from contemporary and other authorities"

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CIVI C^ELESTI. P. 



VIC IT M.D. 

SE OCTOB. 



TR1VMPHAT SLJi- 
TERJJVM. 




MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION TO THE MEMORY or Or \MIMA MOHAT 

1556. 



OLYMPIA MORATA, 



LIFE AND WRITINGS, 



ARRANGKD fHOM 



CONTEMPORARY AND OTHER AUTHORITIES, 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 

SELWYN," " MORNINGS WITH MAMMA," " PROBATION,' 

"TALES or THE MOORS," ETC. 



I could have died 

For ihre, my country ! but I might not dwell 
In tbt tweet vales at peace. The voice of long 
Breathes with the myrtle scent, thy bills along ; 
The citron's glow is caught from shade and dell ; 
But what are these ? upon thy flowery tod 
I might not kneel, and pour my free thought! out to God. 

With nought my spirit breathing! to control ? 
I will, I will rejoice! My soaring soul 
Now hath redeemed htr birthright of the day, 
And won through clouds to Him her own unfettered way. 

Mm. HCMAKI. 



LONDON: 
SMltH, ELDER AND CO., CORNHILL. 

1834. 







LONDON : 

PRINTED BY STEWART AND CO. 
OLD BAII.EY. 



TO HER MAJESTY, 

ADELAIDE, 

QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 

THE FOLLOWING 

MEMORIALS OF A DISTINGUISHED FEMALE, 
ORIGINALLY DEDICATED TO HER ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSOR, 

QUEEN ELIZABETH, 

ARE, WITH PECULIAR APPROPRIATENESS, 
AND RESPECTFUL GRATITUDE FOR THE GRACIOUS PERMISSION, 

Inscribed, 
BY THE AUTHOR. 



2203159 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE ' ix 

PART I. Olympia Morata ; Her Times ... 1 

P ART H. Her Life . . .129 

PART III. Her Writings . 253 

APPENDIX : Ancient Psalms, published in 1543 385 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION . . . Frontispiece 
COSTUMES OF AUGSBURGH . 184 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 



OLYMPIA MOKATA, the beautiful and ac- 
complished subject of the following memoir, 
was a young lady of Ferrara, educated as a 
companion and model to the daughters of 
the princely house of Este ; and, from her 
high endowments, natural and acquired, the 
friend and idol of the most learned men of 
her day. Having embraced the Reformed 
tenets, then beginning to excite suspicion 
in Italy, she narrowly escaped persecution 
in her own country by marrying and fol- 



X INTRODUCTORY NOTICE 

lowing to his native Germany, an amiable 
youth of similar opinions. It was, how- 
ever, only to be plunged by an untoward 
fate in all the horrors and vicissitudes of 
war. Successively the inhabitant of va- 
rious besieged cities, and hunted from one 
to another by the utmost virulence of bi- 
gotry pestilence, famine and peril were her 
portion during the brief remainder of a life, 
whose termination they accelerated at the 
early age of twenty-nine ; when she gently 
expired, lamented by all who admired her 
talents or appreciated her virtues. Elegant 
poems (chiefly on sacred subjects) in Greek 
and Latin, and familiar letters, breathing the 
very soul of unobtrusive piety, establish her 
claim to the admiration of posterity, and the 
affection of a large circle of sorrowing friends. 
Her death took place at Heidelberg, in 
1555. 

It is to brief but beautiful notices of this 
interesting person, occurring in the admirable 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XI 

work of Dr. M'Crie on the progress and sup- 
pression of the Reformation in Italy, that the 
authoress is indebted for the pleasure derived 
from the compilation of the following pages. 
The motive to which they owed their origin 
was simply the desire of becoming herself 
better acquainted with, and introducing to 
other unlearned readers, the life and writings 
of a Christian heroine uniting, in so rare 
and eminent a degree as Olympia Morata, 
the qualities and accomplishments which en- 
gage human esteem, with the more imperish- 
able treasures of that " better part," of which 
early death itself could not deprive her. 

With this, as the pleasing task proceeded, 
might mingle a spark of pardonable fe- 
male exultation, at the discovery happily 
for the sex, no unprecedented one how 
compatible are not only great natural ta- 
lents, but the deepest acquired erudition, 
with the most feminine delicacy and gentle- 
ness of character with a sweetness of dis- 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 



position which quickly converted cold pane- 
gyrists into affectionate friends, and an 
unostentatious fervour of piety, which, while 
it disarmed death of its sting, imparted even 
to the grief of bereaved survivors somewhat 
of its own heavenly balm. 

Last, not least, while the bright galaxy of 
virtue and talent displayed by Olympia and 
her gifted associates in religion and litera- 
ture floated, like some angelic vision, before 
the mind's eye the thought would exult- 
ingly (not, it is hoped, presumptuously or 
unbecomingly) arise how foremost ever 
in the ranks of spiritual truth, have shone 
its female votaries, in every age and country, 
where rays of genuine light from on high 
have been graciously permitted to pene- 
trate from pious Anna, first to acknow- 
ledge in the Jewish Temple, the glory veiled 
in infant garb from many a prouder eye 
and those devoted " Maries," whose cheer- 
ful ministry to a houseless Master was re- 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XU1 

warded with the first glimpse of their resus- 
citated Saviour and Lydia, whose " heart" 
the same " Lord opened" and the u ho- 
nourable women not a few" who hung for 
salvation on the lips of Paul to the not 
less docile or less devoted daughters of our 
own glorious Reformation the dauntless 
Anne Askew, and intrepid Elizabeth, and 
saint-like Jane Grey of England the high- 
souled and benevolent Renee of France, and 
the accomplished Olympia Morata of Italy. 

Let these, and a thousand more well-known 
names, with others no less meritorious, whose 
" record is on high," bear witness, that where- 
ever true Christianity has emerged from the 
mists of error and superstition, there women 
have been found to pour their early and wil- 
ling tribute. And while we appeal for the 
soundness as well as sincerity of the homage, 
to the sufferings for the truth of one, and the 
love to the brethren of another, and the ad- 
mirably scriptural writings of a third mav 



XIV INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 

not the union of them all, in the gifted sub- 
ject of the following memoir, awaken for her, 
in the hearts of Christian females of our hap- 
pier and less perturbed days, a feeling warmer 
and holier than mere talent could ever com- 
mand, or even abstract goodness, apart from 
the charities and sufferings of humanity, in 
which she so largely participated, could ever 
inspire ? 

If so, the fruits of a few hours of leisure 
will not be confined to the solitary gratifi- 
cation they have afforded ; and those laurels 
of earth, and palms of immortality, which 
flourished so lovely and undivided in the life 
of Olympia Morata, may be taught, though 
by no skilful hand, to blend once more over 
her early grave. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 



TO OLYMPIA MORATA. 

WHAT shall thy praise resound ? bright child of song ! 
The classic lyre of Greece, which, swept by thee, 
Woke deep Eolian echoes, slumbering long ? 
Or thy own land's soft lute, whose harmony 
Breathed, all unconscious, from thy hand and heart '( 
Not these ! For thou didst chuse that better part, 
The Harp of Zion, and to holier shell 
Didst, swan-like, sing thine own untimely dirge. 
Oh ! how unlike (in all, save Genius' spell) 
To the wild, fiery Lesbian on life's verge 
I see thee stand, nor raging depths explore, 
But with meek heav'nward eyes on dove-like pinions soar. 



Thou too didst love but though a hallow'd band, 
Knit by high kindred hopes, and faith sublime, 
Led thee reluctant from thy fatherland, 
Yet, to the last faint sand of ebbing Time, 
Yearn'd thy soft bosom for its rosy clime ! 
Still, from ungenial northern realms afar 
Came angel tokens of enduring love, 
Till, by blind havoc of relentless war 
Driv'n harassed forth, at length the exil'd dove, 
With heart yet clinging to her land of flow'rs, 
Sought for her wearied foot repose in deathless bowers ! 



XVI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 

Brief was thy earthly span ! Thou wert of those 
Bright things which suns and storms alike decay. 
In a court's sunshine nurs'd, the opening rose 
Shrunk meekly from its withering glare away, 
To be, ere long, the ruder tempest's prey. 
Playmate of princes ! idol of a court ! 
Worshipp'd of sages ! was it thine each dire 
Extreme of ill to prove ? Th' unhallowed sport 
Of a rude soldiery ? plague, famine, fire ? 
Yes ! and 'twas thine amid that ordeal dread, 
A guiltless victim, with unfaltering steps to tread. 



It sank at length subdued, that martyr frame, 

A seraph spirit's perishable shrine. 

How brighter glow'd in death th' undying flame 

Of raptured faith ! while many a tender line 

Prov'd how pure earthly ties with homeward thoughts 

may twine ; 
While parting words, with heaven's own odours 

fraught, 

Drop, balm-distilling, on each sorrowing heart, 
Fancy revives the scene we see in thought 
The lov'd of mortals to that sphere depart 
Where mortal loves are all unknown. Oh ! why ? 
Blest thought! all there are robed in Immortality! 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 



PART I. 

HER TIMES. 



THE writer of these pages knows not how the 
discovery may have affected others, more learned, 
more callous, or more philosophical than her- 
self; but it was with a sense of strange and 
spirit-stirring emotion, that she first gathered, 
from the valuable work of her countryman, Dr. 
M'Crie, how bright, though brief a ray, the 
beacon-light of the blessed Reformation, once 
shed over now, alas ! universally benighted 
Italy. 

It might originate, perhaps, in the indefinable 

degree of personal interest, which a sojourn of 

some length in that beautiful country seldom 

fails to inspire perhaps, in a holier feeling still 

B 



2 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

that of sympathy for the deep and palpable 
darkness, which has settled down, after the 
short-lived flash of mental illumination, on the 
religious character of a people, who once " heard 
the truth gladly," and whom that truth, (not un- 
timely quenched and stifled) would, like our- 
selves, have " made free." 

Nor was this painful, and in the end, en- 
grossing contrast, the only one which enhanced, 
at the time, the novel view afforded of Italy, by 
her partial adoption of the tenets of the Reforma- 
tion. There was no other possible feature, 
either of history or romance, which her eventful 
chronicle had not exhausted. In arms, in mag- 
nificence, in freedom nay even in degeneracy 
and misfortune her pre-eminence had, at some 
period or other, been unquestioned. Her mili- 
tary glory under the Romans under the popes, 
the fine arts, which consoled her amid de- 
cline the stormy freedom and poetical tri- 
umphs of her middle ages the flush of hectic 
beauty still lingering in the last stage of decay, 
on her well-nigh lifeless features and decrepid 
institutions all had been in turn the theme of 
exultation or regret : till sympathy for great 
names alone kept alive an interest, in most 



HER TIMES. 

minds vague and unsatisfactory, as the chaos of 
virtue and crime, of glory and meanness, of 
magnificence and decay, on which it had its 
foundation. 

Amid all the stages of this long, and in its 
latter portions distressing vista, into the times 
and things of old, how refreshing was the 
sunny spot of calm and hallowed beauty, of 
which (for the first time, perhaps, to the general 
reader) a glimpse has been afforded by our in- 
defatigable countryman ! To find, that even in 
close contact with, and under the direct influ- 
ence of papal tyranny, the " truth as it is in 
Jesus" had but to show its lovely face, to be at 
once hailed and recognized by many of the 
master spirits of a deeply-learned age ; to see, 
" pressing," in despite of persecution and mar- 
tyrdom, " into the kingdom of heaven," the 
suddenly enlightened monk the strangely 
humbled philosopher the princess on her 
cheerfully hazarded throne and her young 
and tender, yet unshrinking convert and pro- 
tegee formed, indeed, a spectacle, which men 
and angels might gaze on with pleasure; and 
over which, when, like some bright vision, it 
fades from our delighted view, we can scarce 
B 2 



4 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

refrain from murmuring, that the flames of per- 
secution, and thick clouds of error should have 
early and sadly closed. 

But that an end, mightier far in the counsels 
of Omnipotence, than our finite views can discern, 
was attained by even this short " time of re- 
freshing from on high," it becomes us not to 
doubt ; and while, in all probability, to the 
bright names of martyrs and confessors, which 
have descended to us (embalmed chiefly in the 
frail memorial of contemporary correspondence) 
might be added those of hundreds of obscure 
converts the pious reader is in no danger of 
lacking gratitude for a Reformation, which 
swelled the ranks of protestantism with such 
names, and such characters as those of Ochino 
and Peter Martyr, of Paleario, and of Curio, of 
Renee of Ferrara, and her favourite and ours, 
Olympia Morata ! 

For the glow of Christian triumph which these 
names have inspired, we are indebted to the 
author so often mentioned ; and if, in striving 
to extend its gladdening influence to other fe- 
male bosoms, some degree of plagiarism may be 
unavoidable, it is not the thankless and shame- 
less robbery, which seiks to appropriate what it 



HER TIMES. 5 

could never have originated but rather the 
humble and reverential feeling with which the 
refreshing draught from some costly marble 
fountain, is transferred in a cup, precious for 
its homely utility alone to the lip of the hur- 
ried and unobservant traveller. 

But, perhaps, to enable the reader to estimate 
aright the character, and sympathise with the 
vicissitudes of the heroine, whom it is the object 
of the following little work to make more fully 
known, it may be necessary to dwell more mi- 
nutely on the circumstances of the court beneath 
whose smiles that character was developed, than 
would have been consistent with the views of 
the general historian of the Italian Reformation. 

In the end of the fifteenth, and beginning of 
the sixteenth century at which latter period 
flourished the charming woman, the biographical 
memoir of whom it is deemed expedient rather 
to usher in by this preliminary sketch of her 
" times," than, by blending both, to weaken the 
interest of an unbroken narrative the cities of 
northern Italy comprised all that was polished 
and distinguished, and attractive in the lately re- 
suscitated arts, and revived literature of Europe. 
Italian writers, and their skilful and gifted in- 



6 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

terpreter, our own accomplished Roscoe, have 
made the name of Florence almost synonimous 
with that of Athens ; and placed before us, in 
sober reality, what might rather pass for a poetic 
vision of that court of the Medici, whose sove- 
reigns were poets, their counsellors philosophers, 
and their very recreations and popular pastimes 
cast in a classic mould. But well may the 
writer of these humble pages shelter herself 
under the admission of even the biographer of 
Lorenzo, when he thus acknowledges the dis- 
tracting variety, as well as unparalleled richness 
of his subject. " A mind of greater compass," 
says he, " and the possession of uninterrupted 
leisure, would be requisite to comprehend, to 
select, and to arrange the immense variety of 
circumstances which a full narrative of those 
times would involve ; when almost every city of 
Italy was a new Athens, and that favourite 
country could boast its historians, its poets, its 
orators, and its artists, who may contend with the 
great names of antiquity for the palm of mental 
excellence; when Venice, Milan, Rome, Flo- 
rence, and Ferrara vied with each other, not in 
arms but in science and genius ; and when the 
splendor of a court was estimated by the num- 



HER TIMES. 7 

her and talents of the learned men who illus- 
trated it by their presence ; each of whose lives 
and productions would, in a work of this nature, 
merit a full and separate discussion." 

But, happily for her, it is one of those courts 
alone that last mentioned, of Ferrara whose 
intellectual glories it falls within her province to 
record ; and truly, not all the justly boasted 
patronage of the Medici could exalt (except, 
perhaps, in the departments of sculpture and 
painting) their renowned capital, above the com- 
paratively far less known metropolis of the house 
of Este. 

The princes of that illustrious house, thanks 
to their munificence, and steady encouragement 
of letters, have not lacked biographers; from the 
eulogistic, yet scarcely exaggerated poetical tri- 
bute of the author of the Orlando, to the sober 
prose of many a matter-of-fact historian. The 
earlier sovereigns of Ferrara contrived to com- 
bine with the character of renowned warriors, 
the more enviable one of successful pacificators. 
To one of them, Ariosto, in the prophetic vision 
afforded to his hero, of the coming glories of his 
illustrious line, ascribes the noblest of preroga- 
tives that of employing his victorious arms to 



8 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

put a stop to the future ravages of war : and 
their stormiest reigns generally afforded a tran- 
quil evening, devoted to good government and 
the welfare of their people. Thence arose the 
wealth and prosperity which gave birth to the 
splendid palaces and public buildings, which yet 
astonish the comparatively few travellers who 
visit Ferrara; and stand, in their silence and 
solitude, the memorials of a greatness for ever 
passed away. 

But to no one who has seen Ferrara, even in 
her desolation, will it be at all difficult to recall 
her days of splendor and prosperity. Indeed, a 
charming recent writer, whose picture of the 
former is affecting even to sadness, says, " The 
city looks as if it only wanted the inhabitants 
back, to resume in a moment, all its attractions." 
His sketch of its present condition, to which the 
writer of these pages can add a heart-felt corro- 
boration, is as follows. 

"Ferrara is a melancholy city very me- 
lancholy. The principal streets are long and 
wide, with a pavement on each side smoothly 
flagged. There are numbers of palaces, spacious 
and many-windowed, with arched gateways be- 
low, and proud cornices above. There are long 



HER TIMES. 9 

narrow streets in other parts of this fair city ; 
but in these, the grass grows long, and the 
planted foot treads on the hard round paving 
pebbles. Monasteries, too, and convents, open 
into them ; but the convent-bells are silent ; 
no monk comes forth from the gate ; no beggar 
lies under the wall. There is no hoof-clatter 
on the paved streets : there are no beautiful 
women looking from the windows; no hand- 
some horsemen riding by unbonnetted ; no rib- 
boned jennets in the court-yards; no silken 
tapestries hanging from the balconies. You 
cannot but feel sad, as you walk about this 
city, whose ' symmetry was not made for soli- 
tude.' " * 

Let us endeavour to wield the wand alluded 
to by the elegant and feeling writer, and con- 
jure up, from the graphic pages of an old 
'chronicler, one of those scenes of real, not fic- 
titious splendour, which contrasts so forcibly 
with the above melancholy picture of silence 
and decay. The following gorgeous account is 
given of the elevation of the warlike Borso 
d'Este, to the ducal dignity, and of the admi- 

* Sherer's " Scenes in Egypt and Italy." 



10 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

table conduct by, which that elevation was 
amply justified. 

" Frederick the Third, on his passage to 
Rome, was invited by Borso to Ferrara, and 
treated there for a week most magnificently, 
with all his train, consisting of above two thou- 
sand persons. He presented the emperor, at 
his departure, with forty of the finest horses in 
Italy, * besides other rarities ; the German 
princes and nobility, every one according to his 
quality, carrying away some token of the mar- 
quis's liberality. 

" The emperor, wonderfully taken with the 
noble nature of Borso, resolved to advance him 
to the dignity of a duke, which was done at his 
return in this manner : A large theatre being 
erected in the middle of the piazza, before the 
palace, and upon it a throne of cloth of gold ; 
the emperor, in his imperial robes, with the 
crown which the pope had set on his head some 

* This munificence seems to have been usual with Borso. 
In the famous tournament of Lorenzo di Medici, in 1468, it 
is said, that while his armour was furnished by the Duke of 
Milan, " the steed on which he relied in the combat, was 
presented to him by Borso, Marquis of Ferrara." Roscoe's 
Lorenzo di Medici. 



HER TIMES. 11 

days before, came thither, and being placed on 
his throne, with the King of Hungary sitting 
upon his right hand, and the Duke of Austria 
upon his left, besides many German princes 
placed according to their quality Borso being 
richly apparelled, and attended by four hun- 
dred gentlemen, dressed all in the same manner, 
began his cavalcade at the old castle, and rode 
from thence towards the piazza, three of the 
chief officers of his court carrying large banners 
before him ; the first of which had the imperial 
eagle, as the arms of the house of Este, in a 
field vert, and immediately after them a gentle- 
man with a naked sword. When they came 
near the theatre, and saw the throne, all 
alighted ; and Borso, advancing towards the 
throne, kneeled before it, and had his ducal 
robes put on by the emperor, who delivered 
him the first banner for the earldom of Rovigo ; 
the second for the duchy of Modena and Reggio ; 
the third, with the naked sword, as a badge of 
his absolute authority, making him take his 
place by the King of Hungary ; whereupon all 
the ambassadors came to the duke to compli- 
ment him ; the emperor in his patent expressly 
mentioning, his doing now the same honour to 



12 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

the house of Este, which Frederick the Second 
had done about two hundred years before, to 
that branch of it settled in Germany, meaning 
the Dukes of Lunenburgh and Brunswick. The 
ceremony being over, they returned to the 
palace, where the emperor was treated according 
to the solemnity of the occasion ; and having 
stayed some days longer, went for Germany, 
Ferdinand and all his court being fully satisfied 
that this great honour was well placed upon 
Borso. 

" He was, in truth, a just, splendid, and 
bountiful prince : every day he used to walk in 
the outer court of his palace, there to hear what- 
soever complaints were brought against him. 
If he observed any one that had not the con- 
fidence to come, he called to them, and by his 
affable carriage encouraged them to speak ; and 
in this he took a particular pleasure, often saying 
it was the chief work of princes to be ready to 
examine and redress the grievances of the mean- 
est of their subjects. * The hospitality and 

* A most decisive testimony to the virtues and popularity 
of him who bore with such justice the title of the good Duke 
Borso, existed in the right of "asylum or sanctuary," which, 
for centuries after his death (indeed till the usurpation of 



HER TIMES. 13 

bounty of Borso were yet beyond the rest : 
whoever came within the court might eat and 
drink what they pleased, officers being still in 
readiness to treat them according to their qua- 
lity. The names of all the poor in the city were 
written down, their wants plentifully relieved, 
and portions given by the duke with their 
daughters in marriage. Every Christmas day, 
the treasury being opened, Borso came thither 
in person, and called all to whom he or his 
officers owed any thing, to receive their money ; 
which, being done, as seldom it was then to do, 
with his own hands he divided what remained, 
among the gentlemen of his court. These 
princely virtues made his subjects heartily love 
him : and the love of his subjects was, of all 
things, most proper to recommend him to stran- 
gers. The Duke of Milan and the Venetians, 
who differed in most things, agreed in their 
good opinion of Borso. His family after him 
bore the honourable badge of the value the 
emperor and pope had for him ; and as if all 

Ferrara by the Roman see), extended for twenty paces in 
every direction around his equestrian statue opposite the ca- 
thedral, a privilege inscribed on the pedestal of the statue 

ilself. 



14 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

this had been too little, or as if somewhat of 
partiality had been in it, because proceeding 
from those of his own country and religion, a 
great Mahometan prince, the Sultan of Egypt, 
by an embassy and rich presents sent to Borso a 
little before his death, did demonstrate that his 
reputation was too large to be confined within 
Italy, or indeed within Europe." 

If such was the fame and magnificence of 
Ferrara, as early as 1452, it was far from having 
degenerated in the days when a Hercules or 
Alfonso * reigned, and an Ariosto, a Tasso, or 
an Olympia Morata basked in the sunshine of a 
court, whose splendour as far transcended the 
inconsiderable extent of its dominion and reve- 
nues, as in elegance and cultivation it surpassed 
the then rude and turbulent great monarchies of 

* " The family of Este," says Mr. Roscoe, " may be con- 
sidered powerful rivals to the Medici in the encouragement of 
learning and the arts." Of Alfonso the First, he says, " he 
was one of the first commanders of the age, and adored as the 
father of his subjects. And though no scholar, his encourage- 
ment of learned men was such, that he made use of his own 
plate and purse, to relieve the wants or pay the salaries of 
those whom he had invited to his court, and treated like 
friends and equals." Roscoe's Life of Benvenuto Cellini. 



HER TIMES. 15 

Europe. When the German empire was a mere 
bloody arena for rival and often unworthy oppo- 
nents ; when France, torn by intestine divisions, 
could afford the dove of literature no rest for 
the sole of her foot ; when England, under the 
ferocious sway of her eighth Henry, presented 
a vast scaffold, to whose horrors learning and 
beauty seemed an equally certain passport, and 
from which, rank and sex afforded no protection ; 
when even pontifical Rome, where the harassed 
votaries of letters might have anticipated not 
only shelter, but patronage, was, according to 
the testimony of an indignant contemporary, a 
place in which the refugees from Constantinople, 
the misfortune-hallowed depositaries of all the 
exiled learning of the East, might have starved, 
but for the munificence of the houses of Medici 
and of Este Ferrara,the seat of the latter, could 
with justice be described by the same writer in 
this glowing though antiquated language, which 
it would be a pity to weaken by modernizing. 

" But the late duke did yet outdo all those 
who were before him, rendering his court an 
epitome of whatever was fine or great in France, 
Germany, or Italy. Princes came long journeys 
on purpose to see it ; and by all their confes- 



16 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

sions, though some courts might be greater, yet 
none, in other respects, came near to that of 
Ferrara. 

" Nor was it an empty shew ; for with that 
noble entertainment such as Italy hath not since 
seen, for strangers of all qualities, some thou- 
sands of poor had their daily maintenance there. 
The young gentlemen of quality were at such an 
age received into the number of the dukes pages, 
and bred up to all manner of exercises, beyond 
any academy in the world. The happy influence 
a virtuous court has, upon all near it, was here 
apparent ; for the whole city resembled a great 
university, academies being erected for painting, 
music, poetry, and mathematics, and the like, 
in every corner. The very monasteries turned 
seminaries of virtue ; and most citizens, con- 
sulting the capacity and genius of their children, 
spared no charge in breeding them to what one 
day they hoped might advance their fortunes at 
such a court." 

To these prose testimonies and many others 
might be adduced to the princely qualities of 
the house of Este, let us add that of the monarch 
of Italian poets, who has acknowledged its 
splendid patronage by one of the few panegyrics, 



HER TIMES. 17 

from which posterity has not found it necessary 
to make any material abatement. 

Of the Borso above mentioned, equally cele- 
brated as a warrior and a peace-maker, he 
says : 

Vedi Leonello, e vedi il primo Dace 
Fama della sua eta, 1' ioclito Borso 
Che siede in pace, e piu trionfo adduce 
Di quanti in altnii terra abbian corso 
Chiudera Marte, ove piu non veggia luce 
E stringera al furore le mani al dorso, 
Di questo Signor splendido, ogni intento 
Sara che'l popol suo viva contento. 

Lionel see ! and him, first duke proclaimed 
Borso the invincible ! His age's pride 
Who, 'mid his trophies sits, for ever famed, 
Adding this brighter meed to all beside : 
By him shall Mars in dungeon dark be tamed, 
And strife's fell hands bound harmless by her side. 
While every wish that lordly heart can feel, 
Shall fondly centre in his people's weal ! 



We cannot resist the panegyric on his own 
special patron, the munificent Cardinal Hip- 
polito, of whom Brantome says, " No prince or 
c 



18 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

prelate ever showed himself more noble, splen- 
did, or liberal." 

Quel che in pontificate abito imprime 

Del purpureo cappel la sacra chioma 

E il liberal, magnanimo e sublime 

Gran Cardinal della chiesa di Roma 

Ippolito ! ch'a prosa, a versi, a rime 

D ara materia eterna in ogni idioma. 

La cui fiorita eta, vuole il ciel giusto 

Ch'abbia un Maron, com' un altro ebbe Augusto ! 

Little did Ariosto, when he wrote these extra- 
vagantly eulogistic lines, foresee their exact fulfil- 
ment first, in Hippolito's praise really becom- 
ing (and by his means) celebrated in every civi- 
lized idiom ; still less that he should occupy, in 
the eyes of posterity, a position as immeasurably 
superior to that of his princely Mecsenas, as his 
own fame, however great, must yet fall short of 
the majesty of Virgil. 

There is one more stanza of this prophetic 
vista of the fortunes of the house of Este, which, 
with the alteration of a single word, expresses, 
in the most terse and bitter manner, the papal 
ingratitude towards this princely line. It is 



HER TIMES. 19 

when after a beautiful allusion to the re- 
ceived opinion which placed on the banks of 
the Po, near the site of Ferrara, the scene of 
the catastrophe of the ambitious Phaeton and 
the metamorphosis into a swan of the despair- 
ing Cygnus he says of this classical terri- 
tory 

"E questa, di mille oblighi mercede 
Gli donera 1'apostolica sede." 

If, instead of " give," we read, that in token 
of a thousand obligations, the pope should 
" take away" this rich inheritance, we shall 
have, in two lines, a poetical picture of that 
death-blow to the power and greatness of Fer- 
rara, which its prose historian thus feelingly 
bewails 

" Little did they (the citizens of Ferrara) ima- 
gine their envied felicity was so near a period 
that Alfonso the Second was to be the last 
Duke of Ferrara or that the Court of Este 
was to be removed to another city ; while they, 
having no prince either to reward their virtue 
or redress their grievances, were to be left to 
the mercy of ministers that bought their places 
c 2 



20 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

at Rome, and came thither only to reimburse 
themselves at Ferrara's cost." 

The pretext for this spoliation (which took 
place in the person of a grand-nephew of that 
Duke Hercules, at whose court Olympia Mo- 
rata flourished, and on whose reign we shall, 
on that account, have occasion to dwell more 
minutely than this brief preliminary sketch will 
allow) was the supposed illegitimacy of a younger 
brother of Hercules by his father's last wife 
the lovely but lowly-born Laura Eustochia on 
which slenderly-supported plea the pope as- 
serted the sovereignty of Ferrara to have re- 
verted to the holy see. 

Loaded with excommunications by him whom 
his uncle had been instrumental in elevating 
to the papacy, and menaced with the whole 
power of Rome, the young Duke Ceesar 
(whom his own subjects had not, for a mo- 
ment, hesitated to acknowledge) hastily re- 
solved to save his other dominions, by relin- 
quishing Ferrara ; and the sudden withdrawal of 
the court, and with it of all whose territorial 
possessions did not confine them to the spot, 
to Modena gave the death-blow to the long 
prosperity and magnificence of the former ; 



HER TIMES. 21 

which afforded, in little more than half a cen- 
tury, the picture of desolation it has ever since 
exhibited.* 

The impression is certainly heightened by the 
dreary nature of the surrounding country, at 
least as seen by the writer of these pages on the 
approach of winter ; when the turbid and swollen 
torrents of the Po and the Rheno threatened 
it with hourly overflow : while dykes, elevated 
like those of Holland, formed the only roads, 
and boats a necessary appendage to the di- 
lapidated and solitary farms. 

There is one circumstance connected with 
Ferrara in her high and palmy state, which has, 
no doubt, often disposed the modern traveller 
to view, with a satisfied feeling of poetical jus- 
tice, the retributive curse, which seems to have 
closed, not inappropriately, the line of Ferrara.'s 
sovereigns in the person of the relentless jailor 

* Misson, who travelled in 1687, says, " the desolation of 
Ferrara at that period was pitiable, and that he and his illustrious 
pupil, the son of the Duke of Ormond, stood some minutes 
on a piazza, whence the two principal streets direrged, with- 
out seeing a soul in any of them." He mentions as one 
cause of the ruin of the place, that, in 1570, it experienced 
within forty hours, no less than 160 shocks of an earthquake. 



22 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

of Tasso.* In the dungeon of Santa Anna it is 
certainly impossible either to think or speak 
charitably of the " magnanimo Alfonso ;" nor 
can any motive vindicate the sordid destitution, 
of which the gifted captive complained to in- 
dignant Europe. But perhaps, in a calmer and 
more impartial mood, the uniform testimony 
borne by all contemporaries to the mild as well 
as princely character of the duke, may incline 
us to that less odious view of the transaction, 
which represents the incarceration of the bard 
rather as a measure of mistaken compassion for 
the undoubted occasional aberrations of a 
master-mind, than of isolated and wholly gra- 
tuitous cruelty. Be this as it may, even the 
indignant shade of the Italian Virgil might be 
propitiated by the gloom, and desolation, and 
silence, which the proud palace of his oppressor 
now more than shares with the hospital (situated 

* By a coincidence too singular not to be mentioned, it 
was in this dungeon that a party of friends of the writer re- 
ceived the very first intelligence which reached Italy (by way 
of Dalmatia) of the death of the illustrious author of the 
" Lament of Tasso !" The vanity of earthly renown has ex- 
torted few more strangely-mingled tributes, than the sigh 
given in the cell of Tasso, to the memory of Byron ! 



HER TIMES. 23 

exactly opposite), where Tasso, amid darkness, 
chains, and occasional insanity, breathed forth 
the most wonderful Epic of modern times. 

The thoughtful mind might find food for 
much reflection in the contrast afforded by the 
literary career of the two great poets of Italy. 
Ariosto, who chose for the subject of his muse 
the wildest and most puerile fictions of chivalry 
and romance partaking but too often of the 
licentiousness of a later age lived in the uni- 
form enjoyment of court favor, and acquired, 
even in his life time, the epithet of " Divine !" 
Tasso, whose selection of a splendid Christian 
theme was sustained throughout by the sincerest 
and sublimest piety, as well as the most ele- 
vated genius, began his life in exile and mis- 
fortune, passed one of its fairest portions in a 
dungeon, and had its evening embittered by a 
rancour of contemporary criticism which com- 
pelled him to remodel (greatly to its disadvan- 
tage) his immortal poem. The death of Tasso, 
ere the laurel awarded by a tardily grateful 
country could reach his fevered r brow his 
sepulture, scarce distinguished by a stone in the 
obscure church of San Onofrio at Rome while 
the tomb, and chair, and inkstand of Ariosto, 



24 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

form still the sole boast and pride of declining 
Ferrara, complete the parallel.* 

If the lyres of earth are to be estimated by 
their fitness to join, unaltered, save in added 
power and sweetness, the harmonies on high, 
how different will be the rank assigned to the 
two great poets of Ferrara ! In taking leave 
of the vexed and harassed bard of Jerusalem, 
pining in darkness and captivity, we may say, 
in the words of his own Christian heroine, 
Sofronia, to her less courageous companion in 
martyrdom 

Va ! lieto aspira alia superna sede ! 
Mira il ciel com' e bello e mira il sole 
Ch' a se par che n'invite e ne console ! 

Rise ! joyful, rise ! to yonder realm of light ! 
Behold yon beauteous heav'ns, yon radiant sun, 
That beckoning smile, and to their sphere invite ! 

And gladly do we ourselves turn, (as if in com- 
pliance with the soft, celestial invitation, and 
lured by the heavenward train of thought it has 

* A ragged boy, while conducting the writer and her party 
to the university, said, exultingly, " How proud you will be 
to-morrow, to write to your friends in England, that you have 
sat in Ariosto's chair !" 



HER TIMES. 25 

involuntarily suggested) alike from the pomps 
and pageants of Ferrara's earlier days, and the 
sad spectacle of her decline, to that lovely 
middle ground of moral and intellectual su- 
premacy which she exhibited in the intervening 
period, to which our attention will hencefor- 
ward, it is hoped not unprofitably, be directed. 

The earlier part of the sixteenth century is 
allowed by all to have been singularly fertile in 
men of talent and learning ; and of those thus 
endowed, it would scarcely be credited by any 
whose attention had not been directed to the 
subject, how large a portion the magnet, re- 
siding in one generous and Christian female 
bosom, had power to attract within her sphere. 

The marriage of the accomplished Renee of 
France, daughter of Louis XII., with Duke 
Hercules the Second of Ferrara, and the na- 
tural deference of a petty sovereign for a wife 
thus elevated above him by rank, seemed won- 
derfully designed to enable her to afford at her 
court that asylum, which so many votaries of 
religion and letters were, ere long, to require 
from the impending storm of persecution. Had 
the protestantism fragile of course, and imper- 
fectly imbibed in stolen visits to the court of 
Navarre of a youthful princess of two-and- 



26 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

twenty, been carried, at that early age (as 
her betrothment to its monarch rendered at one 
time probable), to the bigotted court of Ma- 
drid, -the trembling bride of the all-powerful 
Charles V., little favoured as she was in per- 
son upheld by no sense of superiority in 
birth and estranged by the stern usages of 
Spain from intercourse with her own country- 
women would, in all probability, have shrunk 
into a timid professor at least, of Catholicism ; 
and her utmost efforts in favour of a purer creed 
might have been as fruitlessly exerted in mi- 
tigating the rigours of an Auto da Fe, as those 
of her Aa(/"-protestant daughter, Anne, (when 
married to a scion of the bigotted house of 
Guise,) were to move the iron heart of Ca- 
therine di Medici to shorten, by a moment, the 
horrors of the massacre of St. Barthelemi. 

But the faith of Renee, though destined to 
be tried, and that by domestic persecution, was 
not doomed to extinction ; and, in rewarding, 
by his daughter's hand, the military services 
and unshaken fidelity of Hercules of Este, Louis 
was but unconsciously fulfilling the designs of 
Providence, for her own immortal welfare, and 
that of others. 



HER TIMES. 27 

Her birth had been regarded (almost prophe- 
tically) by her mother, as a special boon, hav- 
ing long resigned hopes of another child ; and 
she was, in consequence it is to be hoped not 
inappropriately named Renee, literally signi- 
fying " born again." Her education seems to 
have been placed in excellent hands ; for, be- 
sides the eulogium universally paid by French 
authors to those talents and acquirements, by 
which her personal imperfections were amply 
compensated, she had, in Madame de Soubise, 
her governess, who accompanied her to the court 
of Ferrara, not only an able and conscientious 
instructress, but a firm supporter in those doctrines 
of the Reformation, which both had brought 
from their common country;* and of which the 
noble house of Parthenai were to be in after, 
and still more troublesome times, distinguished 
champions and martyrs. Anne de Parthenai, 

* She was the worthy sister of the Vicomte d'Aubeterre, 
who left all he had in the world, for the sake of religion, 
"and," says Brant6me, "though a nobleman of the best 
family, submitted to gain his living at Geneva, (where I saw 
him in great poverty ) by the laborious trade of a button- 
maker." He afterwards rejoined the protestant army of 
France, and was condemned to death, but pardoned at the 
request it is said, of the Duke of Guise more probably that 
of his amiable duchess, the daughter of Hunt c. 



28 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

daughter to Madame de Soubise, educated 
with Renee, and who, to equal enthusiasm in 
classical and theological learning, added an ex- 
quisite voice and great proficiency in music, 
proved the means of inducing her husband, 
(who accompanied her to Ferrara, and shared 
her pursuits,) to extend not only protection, but 
his warmest countenance, to the cause of the 
Reformation. Two other heroines of the name, 
niece and grand-niece to Anne, sustained, with 
unflinching courage, the dreadful hardships of 
the siege of La Rochelle ; living (the mother 
at the age of upwards of eighty) on horse-flesh, 
and four ounces of bread per day ; yet writing 
to her brave son, the Duke de Rohan, to let no 
consideration of their extremity inducehim to make 
the slightest concession injurious to the protestant 
cause. Both ladies refused to be included in 
the capitulation, and remained, at their own 
request, prisoners of war.* The temptation to 

* Of this conduct, Madame de Soubise herself had set the 
worthy example ; having, on a former occasion, when her 
husband commanded at Lyons, on being told that she and her 
daughter were to be seized by the cathclics, and stabbed be- 
fore the gates of the place, if it did not surrender sent him 
letters, in which she intreated him to let them both perish, 
rather than desert his duty and his cause. 



HER TIMES. 29 

digress thus far, to mention facts so honourable 
to female patriotism, was irresistible ; and the 
similarity of the sufferings endured during a 
siege, by the heroines of the French Reforma- 
tion, to those of Olympia Morata herself, may, 
perhaps, afford an additional palliation. 

With such associates, the germ of true reli- 
gion, which Renee had early cherished, was not 
likely to languish ; and so palpably was this the 
case, that the first painful shape in which do- 
mestic disapprobation of her opinions manifested 
itself was the command issuing, indeed, from 
the more paramount authority of the pope, and 
King of France to dismiss her beloved go- 
verness ; whose inestimable society she had, 
however, enjoyed for upwards of seven years.* 
Clement Marot (then at Ferrara) thus bewails 
to her cousin, the Queen of Navarre, Renee's 
grief on the occasion : 

Ha ! Marguerite ! ecoute la souffiance 
Du noble Coeur de Ren6e de France 
Puis comme sceur plus fort que d'esperance 
Console la ! 



* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



30 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Tu sais comment hors son pays alia, 
Et que parens et amis laissa la ; 
Mais tu ne sais quel traitement elle a 
En terre etrange. 

Elle ne voit ceux a qui se veut plaindre 
Son ceil rayant si loin ne peut atteindre 
Et puis les monts, pour ce bien lui 6teindre 
Sont entre deux. 

A charming family had, in the mean time, 
grown up, to console and reward their gifted 
parent, whose cares for their education were, as 
yet, fully seconded by her well-intentioned and 
complaisant husband. 

Hercules, of whom it is time to speak, had 
manifested early proofs of a disposition and ta- 
lents suited to the husband of so accomplished 
a princess. Being sent by his father, Alfonso, 
attended by the chief nobility of his court, to 
compliment Adrian the Sixth, on his elevation 
to the holy see, an old chronicler tells us that 
" the young prince, not yet fourteen years of 
age, having his audience of Adrian before the 
consistory, harangued so finely, and with so 
good a grace, that the pope embraced him with 
tears ; and, having asked him several questions 
in Latin, found him so much a master of that 



HER TIMES. 31 

language, his answers so pertinent and lively, 
and, in his whole behaviour, a modest assur- 
ance so fitting to his age and quality, that 
Adrian declared, before all the cardinals, that 
he must grant the Duke of Ferrara whatever he 
demanded by so extraordinary an ambassador." 
Calcagnini has left, in a letter to Fulvio Mo- 
rata, the father of Olympia, the following tri- 
bute to the talents and virtues of Hercules : 
" What greater blessing," writes he, " can 
befal a people, than to have the public affairs 
administered by so excellent and so prudent a 
prince, whose sole or principal object is to 
make his subjects happy under his govern- 
ment ?" He goes on to praise his affability, his 
liberality, justice, eloquence and prudence, and 
is uncertain in which he excels. " Though he 
acts," says he, " as a prince, according to the 
dignity of his station, he never forgets that he 
is a man, and who does not admire his modera- 
tion ? Though most indulgent to all good 
men, he is far from being so to himself; and, 
though ever ready, by the most princely rewards 
to true genius, to promote the extension of 
science and literature, yet he never acts, either 
in public or private, without the advice of his 



32 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

most enlightened counsellors. Indeed, he seems 
in youth to possess all the maturity of judgment 
which belongs to age ; and we ought to thank 
God that we have the prospect of long enjoying, 
from the course of nature, his many virtues, of 
which, and of the joy thereby afforded to his 
people, report will, I fear, convey to posterity 
a very inadequate idea. As for myself, I am 
far more aspiring than Apelles, who, when he 
found he could not complete his picture ot % 
Venus to his own satisfaction, wisely left it un- 
finished ; since I persist in endeavouring to con- 
vey a representation of a prince to whom So- 
crates himself would fail in doing justice." 

Such, with due allowance for the learned 
canon's classical hyperbole, was Hercules the 
Second, about the period of his marriage with 
Renee of France ; and such according to the 
testimony of the soberer historian, who says 
that, " in the fiftieth year of his age, he died 
universally beloved and regretted by his sub- 
jects, whom he had ruled with all gentleness," 
he remained through life. The chief blemish 
of his reign was the violence which, at the in- 
stigation of others, he exercised on the con- 
science of his amiable wife ; and the rigour 



HER TIMES. 33 

with which he permitted foreign inquisitors to 
harass, and finally disperse the infant church of 
Ferrara. But for this, his times and education 
must perhaps be held responsible ; rather than 
harshness or indifference towards a partner, 
whom, her countryman Brantome says, " even 
when religion had somewhat embroiled matters 
between them, he always highly respected and 
honoured." 

And well had Renee of France deserved to 
be thus estimated, if the concurring testimony 
of men of all nations, and all parties, can hand 
down to the admiration of posterity a truly il- 
lustrious character. " Wise, witty, and vir- 
tuous," are terms too feeble to express the 
rntlmsiastic pride felt in her by her native 
biographers ; one of whom thus pleasingly cha- 
racterises even that exterior appearance, of 
which her virtues made her so truly independ- 
ent. " The daughter of Louis the Twelfth, 
without being handsome, was one of the most 
engaging persons in the world. She had an 
agreeable expression, fine eyes, beautiful teeth, 
and an air of youthful bloom, which rendered 
her countenance inexpressibly pleasing." 

Another, after alluding to some defects in 
D 



34 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

her shape, says, " They were so amply com- 
pensated by the beauties of her mind, that, 
taking all together, she had far more reason to 
think herself obliged to nature than to com- 
plain. She had more delicacy and quickness 
of wit than had been seen in any woman not 
excepting those of Italy who pretend to it 
most and it was but a diversion to her to 
learn all that was most difficult in the most 
sublime sciences. Not one of her sex spoke 
of philosophy and divinity with a better grace, 
and she excelled in all parts of the mathe- 
matics, but especially astronomy." 

If to this we add the familiar knowledge of the 
Greek and Roman classics, great eloquence, and 
a dignity of deportment and manners, which, 
notwithstanding some personal disadvantages, 
enabled her admirably to support her high sta- 
tion, we shall have the picture unanimously 
drawn by native historians, of the qualities and 
accomplishments of her whom they fondly style 
" a true king's daughter of France." 

Let us now see how far, in these features of 
a truly noble character, they are corroborated 
by the testimony of her new subjects. The his- 
torian of Ferrara says, that " when, on her hus- 



HER TIMES. 35 

band's death, she returned to her native country, 
she left all Ferrara (except the Jesuits) in tears 
for the loss of so incomparable a princess. The 
gentry, when she first came thither, consider- 
ing her as Louis the Twelfth's daughter, bred 
up in the most glorious court of Christendom, 
where princes of the blood, especially the king's 
children, could not have too much respect paid 
them, expected to be kept at a greater distance 
than under former duchesses ; but, on the con- 
trary, access to her was so easy, her conversa- 
tion so free, and her whole deportment so 
modest, that, had she been the daughter of a 
little Duke of Saluzzo, or a Laura Eustochia 
raised by her own virtue, she could not have 
taken less state upon her." 

The arrival of a princess, at once so dignified 
in birth, and so celebrated for talent and virtue 
as Renee, must, indeed, have derived, from the 
period at which it occurred, all the advantages 
of a favourable contrast. Alfonso the First, 
after the early dissolution, by death, of his union 
with the daughter of John Galeazzo, Duke of 
Milan, found himself compelled to purchase 
reconciliation with the Holy See, the then 
formidable displeasure of which had long sent 
D 2 



36 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

him forth an exile from his dominions by a 
marriage with the infamous Lucretia Borgia, 
daughter of Pope Alexander the Sixth ; the 
moral atmosphere of whose court, if we may 
judge from the cautious silence of Ferrarese 
historians, and the unanimous execrations of all 
other contemporary authorities, must have been 
the very antipodes to that of the virtuous 
Renee. 

This disgrace to her sex, whom a popular 
French dramatist, in the prevailing avidity of 
his country for horrors, has recently chosen for 
the heroine of a tragedy, of which the passion 
of her illegitimate son for his unknown mother 
forms the groundwork, some dozen or so of 
gratuitous murders the episodes, and a whole- 
sale poisoning scene on the stage the denoue- 
ment must have infused into the tone of society 
at Ferrara a mingled levity and ferocity much 
requiring the hallowed purity of manners of a 
Renee to obliterate its remembrance. And the 
chastened splendour and innate dignity of the 
latter would be still farther heightened by com- 
parison with the unostentatious privacy of the 
last years of Alfonso, when, freed at length by 
death from his papal Messalina, he sought and 



HER TIMES. 37 

found domestic comfort in his marriage with 
the low-born Laura Eustochia. 

The descent of Hercules the Second (the hus- 
band of Renee), and of his brother, the celebrated 
Cardinal of Ferrara, from Lucretia, sufficiently 
account for the silence on her enormities pre- 
served by native chroniclers ; while, in the rest 
of Europe, the name of Borgia has become sy- 
nonimous in her person and that of her bro- 
ther the atrocious Csesar, as well as of that op- 
probrium to the papacy, their father with 
every crime of which human nature is capable. 

She is said to have been eminently hand- 
some ; and truly the science of physiognomy 
must own itself at fault, while gazing, in the 
Borghese Gallery, on that matchless portrait 
of the youthful Csesar, which unites the perfec- 
tion of manly beauty with a dignity, grace, and 
openness of expression, which have in them 
something actually appalling, when found com- 
bined in the betrayer of a sister, the murderer 
of a brother, and, at length, (by the retributive 
justice of heaven, and the misdirection of a 
poisoned bowl,) the unintentional, biit scarcely 
less criminal, assassin of a parent. 

But the virtues of Renee needed not the foil 



38 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

of comparison with monsters such as these, to 
set off their pure and hallowed lustre. Her 
munificence and charity, on which volumes 
might be written, are briefly characterized as 
follows 'by the already quoted historian of Fer- 
rara : 

" All the learned found the good effects of 
her patronage. The poor and sick were sure 
of relief orphans of care and protection : so 
that, in the whole city of Ferrara, there was 
scarce a person who could not shew some in- 
stance of that unlimited goodness which had, 
so long a time, diffused itself upon all her sub- 
jects, without missing rich or poor." 

Nor were her charities, or the sympathies in 
which they originated, confined to her new do- 
minions ; for, as Brantome exultingly testifies, 
she bore a true French heart, and never lost, 
however distant from it, the memory of her be- 
loved country. To her liberalities, and their 
princely scale, after her return to France, we 
shall have occasion afterwards to allude ; but, 
even while yet an alien, her poor countrymen 
participated largely in her bounty. " No 
Frenchman," says the same writer, " passing 
through Ferrara, and addressing himself to the 



HER TIMES. 39 

duchess, ever failed to receive the necessary 
assistance to carry him on his journey home; 
and if sick, and unable to proceed, was care- 
fully attended at her expence, and dismissed 
with liberal alms. Thus," adds he, " I have 
been credibly informed, that, in the late dis- 
astrous expedition of Monsieur de Guise into 
Italy, this princess saved the lives of not much 
fewer than ten thousand persons of various 
ranks and professions, most of whom, but for 
her, would have literally died of hunger ; and 
many a necessitous gentleman of good family 
among the rest. Often have I heard them extol 
her liberality and charity ; and her maitre 
d'hotel once informed me that she expended in 
this way not less a sum than ten thousand crowns : 
and, on his remonstrating against so excessive 
an expence, she thus answered him : ' What 
would you have me do ? they are poor 
Frenchmen and countrymen, and would, if it 
had pleased God I had been born a man, or if 
that iniquitous Salique law had not interfered to 
prevent it, have been now my subjects.' " 

In the latter part of this reply, it is impos- 
sible not to recognise a trait of the same " coeur 
fort haut et noble," as Brantome calls it, which, 



40 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

when at a subsequent period threatened with 
the whole power of France, for giving an asylum 
in her castle of Montargis to hundreds of dis- 
tinguished protestants dictated her noble reply 
to the Duke de Guise; which awed that proud 
champion of Catholicism from his purpose, and 
saved from present destruction her unfortunate 
inmates. 

The anecdote, though well known, is so cal- 
culated to raise in the reader's estimation the 
character of the princess, and to prove on what 
a noble groundwork of firmness and magna- 
nimity were based those doctrines of pure Chris- 
tianity, which we shall hereafter see she had not 
lightly embraced or patronised, that we cannot 
forbear relating it, perhaps prematurely, in the 
simple language of a contemporary : 

" The Duke of Guise, her son-in-law, not 
being able, either by entreaties or menaces, to 
bring her into the right way, sent thither John 
de Maliverne with four troops of horse, who, 
having summoned her to deliver up to him the 
chiefs of the factious who had fled to her into 
the castle threatening withal to bring cannon 
to get them out by force received an answer 
worthy a princess. ' Consider well,' said she, 



HER TIMES. 41 

' what you do. I will put myself foremost in 
the breach, and see whether you will have the 
insolence to kill a king's daughter !' ' 

Is it not delightful to see a woman thus, in 
the. expressive language of scripture, "valiant 
for the truth," and, at the same time, retaining, 
in their gentlest and most endearing form, the 
more feminine qualities of charity and mercy ? 
When, after entertaining, as Brant&me tells us, 
in the same castle of Montargis, more than three 
hundred protestants for a length of time, most 
of whom were indebted to her bounty for their 
daily maintenance, she was at length obliged, 
with the greatest reluctance, and by the para- 
mount authority of the king, to dismiss this 
persecuted band she furnished the distressed 
company, two-thirds of them consisting of help- 
less women and children, with an hundred and 
forty waggons, eight travelling coaches, and a 
great many horses. " So that," adds he, " if 
her courage appeared on a former occasion, her 
charity was now no less conspicuous." 

Having thus established, it is hoped, in the 
breast of the reader, a sympathetic feeling for 
one who, by such active exertions of virtue, 
thus gloriously supported the character of her 



42 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

sex, return we to our primary object of examin- 
ing the share which enlightened and scriptural 
views of religion unquestionably had in the 
formation of so consistent and beautiful a cha- 
racter. Here, again to the eulogies, " fre- 
quent as leaves in Vallombrosa," of friends to 
herself and the bright doctrines she had adopted, 
we shall have to add the reluctant and very 
differently intended admissions of adversaries to 
both. Father Maimbourg, in his history of 
Calvinism, after giving the most unsuspicious 
of all testimonies that of an enemy to the 
wisdom, learning, probity, and goodness of 
Renee,* brings forward, as matter of accusa- 
tion, precisely that circumstance in her religion 
to which it probably owed both its stability and 
its lustre, viz. " that she too eagerly investigated 
on what the principles and differences of reli- 
gion turned ; and thence was led to commise- 
rate, and finally to approve and protect, the 
men who were driven from their homes for the 
sake of it." When industry in examining, can- 
dour in adopting, and firmness in maintaining 

* " EUe avait," says he, "un fond de bont6 in6puisable." 



HER TIMES. 43 

the pure doctrines of scripture, are thus openly 
stigmatized, along with their beautiful results of 
personal piety, charity, and goodwill to men, it 
would be difficult indeed not to draw an infer- 
ence unfavourable to that opposite system, so 
feebly as well as erroneously advocated. 

The religious principles which the youthful 
Renee had brought into Italy, which had been 
happily fostered by the prolonged residence of 
her enlightened friend, Madame de Soubise, and 
strengthened by the diligent studies so dispa- 
ragingly alluded to by one of that body of Je- 
suits, whose rejoicings at her departure from 
Ferrara we have formerly noticed were destined 
to receive confirmation from the kindred opi- 
nions and yet more mature scriptural knowledge 
of some of the most eminent refugees from fo- 
reign persecution ; among others, of the cele- 
brated Calvin himself; who, driven from France, 
and attracted by the fame of the duchess, took 
refuge at Ferrara, in 1535. 

He came, furnished with the strongest recom- 
mendations from their mutual friend, the Queen 
of Navarre, to whom her cousin, Renee, owed 
not only the benefits arising from this, and many 
a similar interchange of hospitality to the exiles 



44 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

for their common faith, but the precious germs 
of that faith itself; and who may well claim on 
these, and other grounds, a place in a narrative, 
of which the commemoration of female Christian 
excellence forms the avowed groundwork.* 



* Of her personal qualifications, so interesting to the female 
reader, the following glowing description is given by a memoir- 
writer of a shortly subsequent period. " The Queen of Na- 
varre had a tall elegant figure, and in her whole air, some- 
thing so graceful and engaging that it was impossible not to be 
in love with her. Her beauty was absolutely dazzling, and her 
eyes so brilliant, that it was difficult to bear unmoved, either 
their sparkling fire, or downcast softness. Hermouth was awon- 
der for shape and colour, and the regularity of her fine teeth 
enhanced the beauty of lips which seldom opened but to cheer 
the bystanders with wit or wisdom. The voice in which 
these oracles were delivered, was sweet-toned and harmoni- 
ous, and its gentle music irresistible. 

" The mind which inhabited this fair exterior, was worthy of 
its shrine. Her genius was so elevated and noble, as to com- 
mand for her name the veneration of posterity. She was 
pious far beyond others yet her piety, though so exemplary 
to thousands, was rather a matter of personal and private 
concern, than of ostentatious display. She was neither rigidly 
scrupulous nor severe on those around her, little given to cen- 
sure thinking no evil, and ever ready to excuse error and 
succour misfortune. Her disposition was cheerful and serene 
good-hearted beyond all expression trust- worthy, and 



HER TIMES. 45 

This princess, about the extent of whose pro- 
fession of protestantism much has been unprofit- 
ably written, gave unequivocal proof of her 
reception of its leading features ; first, by her 
extreme diligence and regularity in reading the 
Scriptures, the necessity of which she inculcated 
on a recent convert, in the strong terms he has 
thus recorded, viz. " That he should never allow 
a day to pass, without dedicating a portion 
of it to an attentive perusal of some pages of the 
holy Book; which, watering the mind with dew 
from heaven, formed the best preservative against 
all evils and all temptations." 

Another proof of the prevalence of an emi- 
nently Christian spirit in the Queen of Navarre, 
may be found in her uniform endeavours, carried 
on for a series of years, and in the face of every 
discouragement not only to extend her personal 
protection to the protestants in her own domi- 
nions, but to use her great and well-merited 
influence over her brother, Francis the First, to 
moderate his rigour towards them, and counter- 
devoted to her friends; especially to her beloved brother, to 
whom she sacrificed the most brilliant foreign establish- 
ments." Mtmoires de la Reine de Navarre. 



46 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

act the furious counsels by which he was conti- 
nually stimulated to severities against them. 
These were so far successful, that while pro- 
testant writers have, on the strength of them, 
claimed her for their own, and represent her a~s 
expressly raised by God as "a shield to his 
persecuted servants," a more unsuspicious style 
of witnesses, the enemies of the Reformation,, 
accuse her (even while attempting to prove her 
own Catholicism untainted) of having, by her 
mistaken compassion, prevented the utter ex- 
tinction of Lutheranism in France ; which, but 
for her, they scruple not to add, would have 
been strangled in its very cradle. 

From the same reluctant source we learn, that 
she not only opened her house and territories to 
the banished and persecuted reformers of France, 
but educated several at her own expense, in fo- 
reign seminaries; to which, in times of distress, 
she so far extended her liberalities, as to send to 
Geneva, on one occasion, a charitable donation 
of 4000 francs. 

But, perhaps, a more honourable proof still, 
in the eyes of protestants, and more unpardon- 
able in those of catholics, was the actual pub- 
lication, by this accomplished princess, of a 



HER TIMES. 47 

book of devotion, called the " Mirror of a sin- 
ful soul ;" in which there occurred, (to the pious 
horror of the latter,) no mention either of saints, 
or merits, or purgatory, save only in the blood 
of Jesus Christ ; nay, where even the prayer 
called " Salve Regina," commonly dedicated 
to the Virgin, was, in her native language, ap- 
plied to the Saviour Himself. For this work she 
had the honour of being censured by the Sor- 
bonne ; and it required all the authority and 
partiality of her royal brother, to avert more 
serious consequences. 

When we add, that she furnished Paris, at 
her own cost, with a succession of able preachers 
" almost," if not altogether, " Christian," while 
at her own castle of Pau, not only was true 
preaching constantly heard, but even the cele- 
bration of the Eucharist, according to the pri- 
mitive apostolic institution, actually witnessed 
in those secret vaults under the castle, formerly 
contrived for the concealment of earthly trea- 
sures, we can have little scruple, notwithstand- 
ing some blame-worthy outward conformity to 
catholic rites, to number among the " honour- 
able women," who, in the times of which we are 



48 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

writing, did homage to the truth the amiable, 
learned, and able Margaret of Navarre. 

In a woman endowed with qualities so lofty and 
masculine, as to make her not only (as all authors 
agree) of the greatest utility to her brother in 
his government, but to induce him, during his 
captivity after the battle of Pavia, to appoint her, 
in case of his mother's death, regent of the king- 
dom it is delightful to trace the most ami- 
able feelings of sisterly affection. These were 
fully proved by her arduous journey into Spain, 
to attend on and console her sick and captive bro- 
ther ; whose imprisonment she narrowly escaped 
sharing, in consequence of the intrepidity with 
which she had pleaded his cause with the em- 
peror and his ministers, and reproached their 
inhumanity and want of Christian courtesy. It 
had been privately determined to arrest her on 
her return to France, the instant her safe con- 
duct should expire, a treachery which she, 
with her usual spirit and address, defeated, by 
performing the fatiguing journey on horseback, 
in half the usual time ; and reaching, late in the 
evening of the very day in question, the frontiers 
of her own beloved country. From this sisterly 



HER TIMES. 49 

and amiable conduct arose those strong claims 
on Francis's gratitude and affection, which, in 
the counsels of Providence, were made the in- 
strument of averting, from the reformed of 
France that fierceness of persecution under 
which at least according to the opinion of their 
disappointed enemies they must otherwise have 
been extinguished. 

Not only did Renee owe to this kindred 
spirit the acquaintance of Calvin, and the be- 
nefit which (according to Theodore Beza) she 
derived fro'm his faithful ministrations, during 
upwards of a year's sojourn at Ferrara ; but it 
was to the Queen of Navarre that this eminent 
man was himself indirectly indebted for his own 
early knowledge and adoption of the reformed 
opinions : as it was from a German professor of 
Greek whom she had invited (on the score of his 
Lutheranism) to the city of Bourges, that he im- 
bibed at once the rudiments of that language, 
and of protestantism . 

Endowed by nature with admirable talents, he 
had been originally educated for the church of 
Rome, under which he even, in his youth, en- 
joyed benefices; but having, (probably from 
the lessons received at Bourges,) on his father's 



50 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

death, disposed of his church preferments, he re- 
paired to Paris, to pursue his studies in theology, 
and the Hebrew and Chaldee languages. 

Here he was introduced to the personal notice 
of the Queen of Navarre, whose well-known 
opinions already drew around her all of the same 
way of thinking, and who lent a partial ear to 
his discourse. But this good fortune did not last 
long. All Lutherans being banished from Paris 
by Francis the First, Calvin was obliged to re- 
treat, first to the provinces, where he subsisted 
by teaching Greek ; and finally to Basle, where 
Erasmus (according to catholic authorities) 
predicted the future peril to the church of Rome 
from the young man she had brought up in her 
bosom. 

After residing once more under the protection 
of the Queen of Navarre, he returned to Basle, 
where he published his Institutes. From thence 
he proceeded to Ferrara, " possessed," says his 
biographer, " with an earnest desire to see the 
Duchess Renee," whose faith, and that of her 
household, he strengthened by his instructions ; 
till once more driven forth, by the storm of do- 
mestic persecution by which that household was 
dispersed. The protestant reader will translate 



HER TIMES. 51 

(as we have already done other catholic vitu- 
perations) that fastened upon Calvin, of having 
" put the finishing stroke to the fatal perver- 
sion of mind of the Duchess of Ferrara," into 
the more Christian language of having com- 
pleted, by his assiduous ministrations, the con- 
version of that illustrious lady ; though it does 
not appear that either she, or her protegee 
Olympia, ever adopted his peculiar tenets in 
preference to the Lutheran one? they had previ- 
ously imbibed. 

But protestantism was not yet a thing of 
shades and differences, but a " turning from 
darkness into light," " a passing from death unto 
life." No sooner did controversy usurp the 
place of scriptural truth, and disunion weaken 
what persecution failed to shake, than the fabric 
of the Reformation every where tottered to its 
base ; and a return of the reign of darkness and 
error, in many parts of the lately illumined reli- 
gious horizon, became fatally facilitated. 

It is impossible for the distant and dispassion- 
ate spectator of that " wordy war" that com- 
bat for names, not essentials, which so early rent 
and marred the unity of the blessed Reforma- 
tion not to marvel at the possibility, and mourn 

E2 



52 DLYMfIA MORATA. 

over the occurrence of divisions, which afforded 
to the common enemy the sole strong point in his 
otherwise hopeless cause; and by which, like the 
numerous nameless channels, that have robbed 
the noble Rhine of the glory of rolling its un- 
broken waves to the ocean protestantism has 
been deprived of the mighty influence with which, 
if united in doctrine and spirit, she might long 
since have swept the feeble barriers of error and 
superstition resistlessly before her. 

Among the various professors of the reformed 
tenets, who visited Ferrara, during the early 
years of Olympia, and who, from that circum- 
stance, might have some influence in forming her 
tastes, was the famous Clement Marot, like her- 
self a court favourite, and poet to Anne of Brit- 
tany and King Francis the First, and who, like 
herself, was induced, by his adoption of a purer 
faith, to employ his poetical powers in a version 
of the psalms. Attached to the suite of the 
Princess Margaret (afterwards Queen of Na- 
varre,) he followed her first husband, the Duke 
d'Alenc,on, to the battle of Pavia, where he was 
wounded and taken prisoner, along with his 
illustrious master. On his return to France, he 
was imprisoned on suspicion of protestantism, 



HER TIMES. 53 

and though he, at that time, escaped by the 
interposition of the king, he was so much alarmed 
as to take refuge with his old mistress, the Queen 
of Navarre, (the faithful protectress of all perse- 
cuted Hugonots,) by whom he was strongly re- 
commended to the Duchess of Ferrara, who made 
him her secretary, and took great pleasure in his 
conversation. 

His version of the psalms in metre, afterwards 
completed by the celebrated Theodore Beza, was 
the earliest translation into the French language ; 
and adopted for more than a century by all the 
Reformed churches, until that of Geneva alone, in 
1695, exchanged it for a more modern one.* It 
forms a singular feature in the history of this 
earliest version of the psalms in a modern lan- 
guage, that it was dedicated to, and continued, 
at the desire of Francis the First, a zealous ca- 
tholic, by whom it was subsequently prohibited ; 
and contemporary historians have left us many 

* A French Testament of 1543, with the Psalms of Marot 
se.t to music annexed to it, is in the possession of the author, 
who is led to think it rare, from the earliest publication of 
this psalter being ascribed by Bayle to the year 1545. Two 
specimens of this primitive church music are given in the 
Appendix. 



54 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

curious particulars of the indiscriminating avi- 
dity, which both catholics and protestants 
testified for the new species of sacred poetry, 
and the eager adaptation of it (but with- 
out the slightest idea of irreverence) to the 
airs of the most popular profane ballads of the 
day.* 

Francis, who was fond of singing, himself 
set to music the hundred and twenty-eighth 
psalm ; while Henry the Second made the hunt- 
ing-field ring with his favourite, " As pants the 
hart ;" and the Queen, the royal mistress, and 
the King of Navarre, all chose separate ones, 
suited to their various circumstances, adapting 
them, as was mentioned before, to any air 
which the measure happened to suit. The per- 

* A striking proof how little associations, which to us 
seem hardly short of blasphemous, were thus regarded at the 
period of which we are writing, occurs in the solemn decla- 
ration of religion put forth by Henry the Eighth of England 
to his subjects, in which, (among other matters of exultation,) 
it is boasted, that " the Bible is now in almost every man's 
hand, instead of the old fabulous and phantastical books of 
the Table Round, Launcelot du Lac, Huon de Bourdeaux, 
and Guy of Warwick, &c., whose impure filth and vain 
fabulosity the Light of God has abolished utterly !" Paper 
Office, A. D. 1539. Collier's History of the Church. 



HER TIMES. 55 

scented King of Navarre's began very appro- 
priately : " Revenge moi, prens ma querelle." 

No sooner, however, had these divine songs, 
after a reign of court favour, which they seem 
to have owed entirely to their vast superiority 
over the idle ballads they superseded, been in- 
corporated with the prohibited ritual of Geneva, 
than the use of them became synonymous with 
heresy ; and to sing a psalm, equivalent to con- 
viction of Lutheranism, at a court where, a short 
time before, to join in them in public, formed the 
favourite recreation of its most elegant and ac- 
complished members. 

A more Christian and valuable testimony to 
their merit and efficacy is, however, left us, under 
the hand of Theodore Beza, who completed the 
pious work of Marot. He thus writes in 1581, 
in a paraphrase on the Psalter : " It is now 
exactly thirty-two years, since I heard, for the 
first time, this ninety-first psalm sung in a 
Christian assembly ; and I may truly say, I 
heard it with such delight, on so good an occa- 
sion, that I have ever since borne it engraved on 
my heart." 

It is not improbable, that during Marot's 
visit to Ferrara, the closet of the pious Renee 



56 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

resounded, for the first time also, with the songs 
of Zion ; in which Olympia, Anne de Parthenai, 
and other ladies of a court, renowned for skill in 
music, may have borne no unworthy part.* 
The friend of Marot, Lyon Jamet, a man of 
similar religious opinions, and of sound ability, 
to whom some ascribe a secret mission, as me- 
diator on the part of Henry the Second, between 
the Duke of Ferrara and the pope, joined him 
at the court of Renee, and remained, after 
Marot's return to France, in the capacity of her 
secretary. 

We have thus briefly noticed the share (no 
inconsiderable one) which accomplished foreign 
refugees from persecution numbering among 
their distinguished band the great Calvin him- 
self had in repaying, by the inestimable benefits 
of spiritual illumination, the temporal protection 

* So celebrated was Ferrara for the study and cultivation 
of music, that Benvenuto Cellini, the famous Florentine, 
mentions, in one sentence, as among its most distinguished 
ornaments, the Cardinals Salviati and Accolti, and the 
" connoisseurs in music." His biographer tells us that, be- 
sides the eminent masters in the art who flourished at Fer- 
rara, Anna and Lucretia, the daughters of Rene, were (in 
addition to their profounder studies) its successful and dis- 
tinguished cultivators. Roscoe's Benvenuto Cellini. 



HER TIMES. 57 

extended to thembyRenee. We must now, under 
the united guidance of the able historian of the 
Italian Reformation, and of the learned biogra- 
pher of Olympia Morata, cast a rapid glance 
over the galaxy of native and foreign talent, 
which that princess, with the laudable purpose 
of perfecting the education of her children (an 
object by which the co-operation of her husband 
was, in the first instance, secured) succeeded in 
attracting, either transiently or permanently, to 
Ferrara. 

The offspring, for whose instruction so able a 
parent thus judiciously provided, were, in every 
respect, worthy of her care ; and united to a 
degree of personal beauty, which caused a con- 
temporary to remark, that Renee, in spite of her 
defective shape, had made Hercules the father 
of " five of the finest children in Christendom," 
of the most promising talents and virtuous dispo- 
sitions. 

Alfonso, the eldest, who succeeded to the 
dukedom, became one of the most munificent 
and polished princes in Italy; and testified, by 
a patronage of letters, the sole blot in which was 
the inexplicable imprisomnent of Tasso, how 



58 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

deeply he was imbued with the spirit of the 
liberal education thus afforded him. 

Louis, the younger, became the third of the 
celebrated cardinals of his illustrious house ; 
and although, unfortunately too early removed 
from his mother's influence to partake of her 
purer faith, did honour to that he had embraced, 
by a piety, gentleness, and benevolence of dis- 
position, which rendered him as generally be- 
loved and respected, as his more splendid and 
worldly uncles, in the Conclave, had been 
courted and panegyrized. 

Of Anna, the eldest daughter, the special as- 
sociate and fellow-student of Olympia Morata, 
we shall have occasion to speak more at large ; 
and commemorate her adherence to those lessons 
of Christian charity and sympathy, at least, 
towards the victims to the faith she had imbibed 
in the cradle, so carefully instilled by the ex- 
ample of her mother, and the gentle counsels of 
her admirable foster-sister. The " obliquity" 
of mind, and leaning to protestantism to which 
these lessons gave rise, are thus quaintly but 
forcibly expressed by an old writer : " The Duke 
of Ferrara was not dextrous enough to hinder 



HER TIMES. 59 

Anne of Este, his daughter, from being tainted 
with the new opinions. Her mother, who caused 
her to be brought up to learning, gave her as a 
companion in her studies, Olympia Morata, a 
young lady of great parts, who was afterwards 
a good Lutheran," &c. 

Of the second daughter, Lucretia, who mar- 
ried the Duke of Urbino, little has been re- 
corded ; while the chief immortality of the third, 
the beautiful Leonora, who died unmarried, has 
been derived from the devotion unauthorized, 
indeed, and presumptuous, but according to the 
chivalrous custom of the times, neither criminal 
nor unprecedented of the unfortunate Tasso ; 
the immediate pretext for whose imprisonment, 
is generally supposed to have been afforded by 
some ill-judged public testimony of so aspiring 
a passion. 

That the homage of so distinguished a votary 
of the Muse, was neither resented by, nor un- 
acceptable to its object, we may gather from the 
circumstance, that after both had arrived at an 
age, when the levities of youth, especially if 
tinged with aught of dishonour, are reflected on 
with anything but complacency, the harassed 
and necessitous bard, in making his will, ex- 



60 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

presses a confident hope, that if his already 
pledged scanty personal effects should prove 
inadequate to the discharge of his debts, and 
the pious purpose of marking with a stone the 
site of his father's grave the princess Leonora, 
for the good-will and regard she bears his me- 
mory, will make good the deficiency. 

It is a curious coincidence, that almost all 
the recorded attachments of private individuals, 
to ladies of royal blood, should have been ex- 
piated by the longest and most rigorous cap- 
tivities on record ; from that of Tasso, by far 
the most innocent, and founded, apparently, on 
mere chivalrous admiration of superior excel- 
lence to the more ambitious and interested pre- 
tensions of the Duke de Lauzun to the hand of 
Mademoiselle of France and the boyish passion 
of the unfortunate Baron Trenck for the princess 
Amelia of Prussia. The result of a meeting in 
the evening of life, between the latter pair of 
lovers when the prison-bleached locks of the 
one, and the faded brow of the other, are said 
to have startled and dispelled visions of tender- 
ness, founded on youthful romance and personal 
advantages alone confirms the conjecture above 
hazarded, as to the more honourable and less 



HER TIMES. 61 

evanescent character of the devotion of Tasso, 
for which he seems to challenge a duration be- 
yond the grave. 

But to return to the promise of talent, ex- 
hibited even in childhood, by those whose future 
destinies we have been unconsciously led to 
pursue a striking proof of its precocity is left 
us, in the circumstance that, " in the year 1543 
during a visit which Pope Paul the Third paid 
to Ferrara, theAdelphi of Terence was acted by 
the youth of the family ; and the three daugh- 
ters of the duke, the eldest of whom was only 
twelve, and the youngest five years of age, per- 
formed their parts with great applause."* 

That we may form a higher estimate of the 
importance and splendour of a pageant, in which 
the residence at court, and superior classical 
attainments of our heroine, in all probability, 
made her a performer we have only to refer to 
the gorgeous account given by Sismondi, in his 
Literature of the South, of similar theatrical re- 
presentations, as then conducted at the Italian 
courts. " About the year 1470," says he, " the 
academy of learned men and poets at Rome 

* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



62 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

undertook, for the better revival of the ancients, 
to represent, in Latin, some of the comedies of 
Plautus. The taste for theatrical performances 
was renewed with great eagerness, as it was 
regarded as an essential part of classical an- 
tiquity. 

" The sovereigns who, at this epoch, placed 
all their glory in the protection of letters and 
the arts, endeavoured to surpass each other in 
erecting, on occasions of solemnity, a theatre, 
often for the purpose of a single representation.* 
The scholars of the court disputed for the 
honour of the parts, in the performance of the 
piece, which was sometimes translated from the 
Greek or Latin, sometimes the production of 
a modern poet. Italy boasted of exhibiting, 
annually, two theatrical representations ; the 
one at Ferrara, the other at Milan, Rome, or 

* A more permanent monument to the magnificence of 
these classical entertainments exists in the Olympic Theatre 
of Palladio at Vicenza, built on the exact model of those of 
the ancients, and which appeared to the writer admirably 
calculated for scenic representation. Its stage decorations, 
instead of being painted on canvas, are solidly constructed 
of wood, and represent, with great accuracy of perspective, 
five long streets, terminating in a handsome piazza. 



HER TIMES. 63 

Naples. All the neighbouring princes, within 
reach, repaired thither with their courts and 
retinue. The magnificence of the spectacle, the 
enormous cost, and the gratitude of the public, 
for an unbought pleasure, disarmed the severe 
judgment of the audience. The records of the 
Italian cities, in presenting to us the recollection 
of these representations, speak of them always 
in terms of unqualified admiration.* 

" But little," remarks Dr. M'Crie, " did the 
bigotted pontiff, who," on the occasion above, 
alluded to, " so highly admired the proficiency 
of the juvenile princesses, as yet suspect the 
religious doctrines of the masters, by whom they 
had been qualified for affording him this clas- 
sical amusement." Of these, it is time to speak, 
and the detail may derive additional interest 
from the little-known fact, mentioned by Dr. 
M'Crie, " that there were, in the beginning of 
the sixteenth century, so many English students 
at the university of Ferrara, as to form a dis- 
tinct nation in that learned corporation." Then 
and there may perhaps have been laid the 
foundation of some of those Christian friendships, 

* SismoDdi Literature du Midi. 



64 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

which, somewhat later, led to the emigration to, 
and sweetened the residence in England of 
several distinguished Italian reformers ; whose 
first shelter from persecution was found at the 
court of Ferrara. 

The University of Ferrara was endowed by 
the Emperor Frederick the Second, and en- 
joyed, for centuries after its foundation, a well- 
merited reputation. Misson says it was famous 
for the number of great men it had produced ; 
and truly there are names connected with it well 
calculated to do honour to the literature of their 
native city. 

Among these, perhaps the most celebrated, 
and the one whose labours have most perma- 
nently benefited the temporal interests of man- 
kind, was the famous Lilio Gregorio Giraldi, 
whom De Thou and others represent as the most 
learned man of his age. It is said that Pope 
Gregory the Thirteenth was guided, in his Re- 
formation of the Calendar, by the calculations 
of this deeply scientific man ; whose memory ,- 
according to his friend and contemporary, Al- 
berti, was so astonishing, that he never forgot 
anything which he had once read over. A hand- 
some monument in the cathedral amply attests 



HER TIMES. 65 

the estimation in which he was held by his 
countrymen ; and it is no small testimony to the 
learning and merits of Olympia Morata, that he 
should have been numbered among those of her 
correspondents, in whom her studies and pur- 
suits excited the liveliest interest. 

" You will learn with pleasure," she writes to 
him, (after having quitted Ferrara,) " that I am 
very happy ; spending the whole day with the 
Muses, having no other occupation to withdraw 
me from them, except my studies in divinity, to 
which I always return with yet greater delight 
and advantage." 

Whether the protestant opinions entertained 
by Olympia and so many other distinguished 
persons at Ferrara were adopted by Giraldi, 
does not exactly appear ; though the allusion to 
religion in the above extract favours the suppo- 
sition. It is also doubtful whether (like most 
of the other literati) he had a direct share in 
the education of the royal pupils; respecting 
whose proficiency, two of the most celebrated of 
them, Aonio Paleario (of whom we shall have to 
speak farther) and Bartolomeo Ricci, thus ex- 
change mutual felicitations. 

The former asks "Is it not a legitimate 



66 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

subject of exultation, that the daughter of a 
powerful monarch, and the wife of our great 
Duke, should have entered so deeply into our 
studies, as to have acquired high excellence ; 
and that Anna and Lucretia, the golden off- 
spring of Renee, should prosecute, in Greek and 
Latin, the most abstruse sciences ?" To which, 
Ricci replies " What you write is most true of 
my princesses, who are the most learned, as 
well as the most noble, of women. Well do I 
know that they are highly educated, that they 
far surpass others of their own age, and have 
established themselves in the highest place of 
literature." 

Among the learned and accomplished persons 
to whom, under the patronage of Renee, the 
cause of literature and that of protestantism 
(though without any open profession of the 
latter) were alike indebted, was Pier Angelo 
Manzolli, chief physician to the Duke, and 
better known by his assumed name of Palin- 
genius. Under the latter, he published those 
satirical works, (one, especially, entitled " The 
Zodiac of Life,") the severe reflections in which 
on the errors of Rome have caused Reforming 
historians to assign him a place among the de- 



HER. TIMES. 67 

fenders of those tenets at the court of Ferrara ; 
while they procured, for the volume itself, a 
place in the index of prohibited books, and for 
the bones of the author, the honour of being 
disinterred, and burnt as those of a heretic. 

The same suspicions of Lutheranism, and 
posthumous desecration of his remains, are said 
to have been the portion of Marc Antonio Fla- 
minio, the son of a celebrated Latin professor at 
Bologna, and himself one of the most learned 
men, and most elegant poets, of his time. 
Among his poetical works, was a Latin version 
of the Psalms, and an epitaph on Savonarola, 
(by some styled the Italian Luther,) much ad- 
mired by contemporaries, and pretty conclusive 
as to the author's own adherence to similar opi- 
nions. The following is a literal version : 

" While the fierce flames fed on the joints of Hieronymus, 
Religion, having torn off her sacred tresses, 
Wept, and said, ' Oh ! spare me, ye cruel flames, 
Spare me ! my very vitals are on that burning pile !' " 

The biographer of Olympia collects innumer- 
able testimonies to the soundness of the general 
views on religion of Flaminio. Scultetus, in his 
Annals of the Reformation, says, " When 
F 2 



68 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Renee, daughter of Louis the Twelfth of France, 
and wife of Duke Hercules of Este, illuminated 
the darkness of Italy itself by the light of reli- 
gion, there flourished at Ferrara, among other 
friends of the Gospel, Marc Antonio Flaminio." 

The extent of his protestantism has been 
questioned, and it is undoubtedly true that it 
was somewhat restrained and obscured by a 
natural timidity of disposition, as well as by the 
temporizing counsels of that arch renegade, our 
own Cardinal Pole, his intimate friend, and 
once among the most zealous concealed favour- 
ers of the Reformed opinions. Yet not only do 
the writings of Flaminio abundantly corroborate 
the leading doctrines of the Gospel, but he gave 
a still more decided proof of attachment to them 
by declining, on that very ground, the honour- 
able employment of secretary to the Council of 
Trent. As, therefore, the account of his subse- 
quent re-conversion rests on none but catholic 
authorities, it is to be presumed it is fictitious 
the more so, as his works were entirely prohi- 
bited, and the intention, at least, of disinterring 
and dishonouring his remains was positively en- 
tertained at Rome. 

What chiefly lends interest in the eye of the 



HER TIMES. 69 

English reader to the history of this amiable 
and accomplished man, is his intimacy with, 
and the influence exercised on him by Pole, by 
which he and several other Italian converts were 
robbed of the glory which would have attached 
to a decided and consistent profession of the 
Gospel. And truly has England cause to blush 
for her degenerate son, as well as to weep tears 
of blood over that selection of an agent of papal 
tyranny, which not only fastened the stain of 
apostacy on one of her own children, but un- 
doubtedly facilitated, by the natural influence 
which, as such, he possessed, the return of an 
emancipated people to the most galling of spi- 
ritual servitudes. Surely, in the private mo- 
ments of the proud cardinal, the pompous papal 
brief by which he was constituted the arch-per- 
secutor of those pure doctrines to which his unso- 
phisticated mind had, in earlier days, yielded 
not only assent, but countenance and of some 
of his most familiar Italian associates, whom the 
tyranny introduced by him drove out of Eng- 
land must have seemed a badge of infamy 
rather than a subject of exultation ! 

It is thus mourned over by an Italian author 
quoted by Dr. M'Crie : " O wretched cardinal ! 



70 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 



miserable despiser of the truth ! The purity 
of religion had been restored in England the 
doctrines of justification by faith and true re- 
pentance, were taught in this kingdom. Pole 
went thither, and what was the consequence? 
He absolved the whole nation, including the 
king and queen on their throne, from the 
crimes they had committed against the church 
of Rome ; and what were these ? Adherence to 
the very doctrines which he himself had fa- 
voured, and pretended to secure by the arts 
of moderation and prudent delay. Nor did he 
rest until, to gratify the pope, he had restored 
all the abuses and superstitions which had been 
abolished, and had sent a printed account of 
his deeds through every country in Europe !" 

But enough of our recreant countryman, and 
of those doubtful characters among the Italians 
who, (like one of the correspondents of the 
father of our heroine), were content to " hold 
the truth for themselves ; regardless alike of the 
personal evils of dissimulation, and of the duty 
of recommending by example, the doctrines 
they internally admired. Turn we to the more 
pleasing task of accompanying the biographer 
of Olympia, aided by the further invaluable 



HER TIMES. 71 

lights afforded by Dr. M'Crie,* in his survey of 
those confessors at least, if not martyrs to the 
truth, by whom, in conjunction with the 
short-lived success of the Reformation in Fer- 
rura, the cultivation, intellectual and religious, 
of a mind so exalted, was either directly or inci- 
dentally promoted. 

And deep are the obligations owed by general 
readers female ones especially, to a pen, 
which has rescued from the comparative obli- 
vion of a learned language, invaluable speci- 
mens of the solidity and purity of that " faith, 
once delivered to the saints," which, with little 
in the beginning of personal concert, these men 
of the highest intellectual refinement and cul- 
tivation contrived, nearly about the same time, 
to extract (each for himself) from the newly- 
opened fountain of vernacular holy writ. 

There is something inexpressibly delightful and 
confirmatory to the sincere Christian, in tracing, 
in these preciously resuscitated narratives, the 
universal effect simultaneously, and, as we have 
before said, separately produced on such a multi- 
tude of superior minds, by the study of unadul- 

* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



72 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

terated Scripture, either in their own or in the 
various original languages, versions of which had, 
recently, (with a rapidity betokening awakened 
attention to the subject), succeeded each other!* 
By these, they were not only in the first instance 
directed, but, as they proceeded in their enqui- 
ries, to borrow the forcible expression of St. 
Paul, " shut up into the faith ;" as if Scripture, 
fairly and dispassionately investigated, left no 
alternative to minds unbiassed by interest or pre- 
judice, in interpreting its obvious dictates. 

The fact, that some, or even many of those 
thus far enlightened, either paused in mere 
indolence on the threshold of conversion, or 
(like our own countryman, Pole) actually drew 
back into perdition, at the powerful bidding of 



* The first edition of the Septuagint came from the Aldine 
press in 1518. In 1516, Erasmus published, at Basle, 
his edition of the Greek text of the New Testament, to 
which his fame gave an extensive currency in Italy. 
And, in 1527, Paginini, of Lucca, published his Latin 
translation of the whole Bible, which had excited great 
expectation, from the reputation which the author enjoyed 
as a Hebrew scholar, and its being known that he had 
spent above twenty-five years on the work. M'Crie's 
History. 



HER TIMES. 73 

interest or ambition strengthens rather than in- 
validates the evidence afforded to scriptural truth 
by their previous unsophisticated adoption of it; 
and such examples, (happily rare ones,) of dis- 
simulation or defection, serve but to heighten, 
tenfold, that " perseverance of the saints," amid 
contumely, expatriation, and, in many cases, 
martyrdom, of which every page of the history 
of the Italian reformation, displays abundant 
and honourable proofs. 

In glancing over, and gleaning from those 
pages, a few of their most interesting particulars 
connected with Ferrara, and, consequently, with 
the main design of this tributary memorial ; it 
may not be presumptuous to hope that other fe- 
males, may have (like its accomplished and 
amiable subject) their minds expanded, and 
their piety strengthened, by the record of the 
opinions, lives and sufferings of the Italian con- 
verts to protestantism. 

Among these, the place of honour may, per- 
haps, without impropriety, be here assigned to 
the father of our heroine ; both as her own ear- 
liest instructor in religion and literature, and as 
one of the first and ablest among those who es- 
poused at Ferrara the reformed opinions. 



74 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Fulvio Peregrine Morata was a native of Man- 
tua, who, as his daughter's biographer quaintly 
but forcibly expresses it, " had eagerly imbibed 
the doctrines of the Gospel, then bursting out 
in the greatest purity, and flowing into the re- 
gions of Italy ; and, having tasted its sweetness, 
gave to others to drink of it, as of the purest 
water." He had acquired the principles of 
Scriptural truth from Celio Secundo Curio, who, 
driven from his native country of Piedmont, took 
refuge at the court of Renee, and under the roof 
of Morata ; whose hospitality he richly repaid 
by that introduction to the pure faith of the 
Gospel, which his learned convert has, in two 
different letters, gratefully commemorated. In 
one, he thus addresses Curio : " Farewell ! 
best instrument and chosen vessel for the glory 
of God!" and, in the other, he says, " It 
would have been truly a sad event for me to be 
deprived of my divine preceptor, sent to me by 
God himself for my instruction and edification. 
I do not believe that Ananias, the master of 
Paul, taught him to know Christ with more holy 
admonitions than thou hast bestowed on me." 

Nor were these pious cares unrewarded by the 
richest success. " Morata," says the same au- 



HER TIMES. 75 

thor above quoted,* " adorned with many vir- 
tues, but, above all, with the indispensable one 
of sincerity, finally attained to the knowledge of 
the truth he so eagerly desired." Celio himself 
says ""that he was a man excelling in doctrine 
and good works, in whom existed all the friend- 
ship and hospitality of ancient days." His re- 
maining letters are said by contemporaries to 
"breathe the very odour of piety;" and his 
temporary adoption of some doctrinal errors then 
prevalent, especially the belief that " before he 
prayed to God, he ought to know whether he 
was elected from all eternity," were soonjdis- 
pelled by the forcible reasoning of his able, 
though only partially converted, friend Cal- 
cagnini.f 

* Noltenii Vita Olympiae. 

t The refutation above alluded to, and still more, one ad- 
dressed subsequently by Olympia herself to the Princess 
Ursini, are so sound, that we cannot resist extracting them 
from the notes of her biographer. The former says that " the 
gifts of predestination, surpassing the comprehension of mor- 
tals, as being hid in the impervious recesses of the divine 
foreknowledge, are best passed over in silence." But Olympia, 
a far deeper Scriptural student, quotes the universality of the 
Gospel promises, as a ground for laying aside the opinion 
above ascribed to her father, which she characterizes as an 



76 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

The testimony of this writer (himself a man of 
deep erudition) to the learning and secular vir- 
tues of Morata, is equally decisive. After hav- 
ing honorably and successfully discharged the 
functions of private tutor to the two brothers of 
Duke Hercules the Second (one of them after- 
wards the celebrated Cardinal Hippolito*), as 
well as those of Latin professor in the University 
of Ferrara, he was exposed to much unmerited 
opposition and obloquy. Being beloved equally 
by the prince and his pupils, his extreme good 
fortune gave rise to envy and malice ; and the 
calumnies consequently spread against him oc- 
casioned him to banish himself in disgust and 
indignation from the place. It was upon this 
half voluntary retreat to Venice, that the follow- 

" ancient error." Instead of perplexing anxieties about elec- 
tion, she earnestly recommends faith in the plain invitations 
of Scripture, and fervent prayer to their Author, as the surest 
tests of personal salvation. 

* Ippolito di Este, son of Alfonso Duke of Ferrara, was 
elected Archbishop of Milan at fifteen years of age ! Faithful 
to the ruling bias of his family, Ippolito persevered in patron- 
izing artists and learned men, in whose company he was ac- 
customed to relax his mind from the vexatious and tedious 
cares of state. Roscoe's Benvenuto Cellini. 



HER TIMES. 77 

ing flattering testimonies to the affection and 
respect of his quondam pupils, were addressed 
to him by his friend Calcagnini. 

" All the good and learned of Ferrara love 
and admire you, and are of opinion that in your 
departure the city will sustain a severe loss; 
for most of the young men who attended your 
instructions are greatly dissatisfied with the 
other teachers ; ingenuously confessing that 
none among them can be compared with your- 
self." 

In accordance with this opinion, the learned 
Canon used all his influence to procure the re- 
call of his friend ; and the innocence of Morata 
being fully proved, and his detractors silenced, 
he was permitted, in 1539, to resume his pro- 
fessorship at Ferrara. His forced sojourn at 
Venice, disastrous as it must have seemed in a 
worldly point of view, and accompanied as it was 
by personal apprehensions sufficiently strong to 
induce him to pass there by a feigned name 
may have conduced, in no small degree, to his 
religious illumination and growth in grace ; for, 
during its continuance, Venice was favored with 
that truly scriptural preaching of the celebrated 
Ochino, the extraordinary sensation caused by 



78 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

which, even in minds less happily prepared 
than Morata's for the reception of Gospel truth, 
we shall ere long have occasion to remark. 

The chief joy of Fulvio on revisiting Ferrara, 
was no doubt his reunion with his excellent wife 
and promising family ; of whom Olympia, the 
eldest, was now of an age to profit by, and of 
talents richly to repay, his efforts for her educa- 
tion. On these, or on their happy result, which 
at the early age of twelve, introduced her to that 
court of which she was so distinguished an or- 
nament, it would be premature at present to 
enter. Suffice it that a letter addressed to her 
at this time, on that science of declamation in 
which she became so early a proficient, abun- 
dantly testifies his ability as a teacher, and zeal 
as a parent ; while to his knowledge of general 
literature numerous monuments remain in the 
erudite correspondence between him and his 
before quoted friend Calcagnini. 

This learned person was a canon of the ca- 
thedra] at Ferrara, a poet, and an orator. He 
was well versed in languages, and wrote volumi- 
nous Latin works ; but is thought less felicitous 
in his prose style than in verse, of which he has 
left elegant specimens. His correspondence with 



HER TIMES. 79 

eminent persons, among others, with Morata 
,ts well as treatises, in some of which singularly 
acute conjectures are hazarded on the lately 
revived subject of Egyptian hieroglyphics suf- 
ficiently attest his vast erudition. He left his 
library, which, from his multifarious quotations 
must have been extensive, to the Dominican 
convent of Ferrara, where he was buried. 

Though, by thus dying in communion with the 
church of Rome, this eminent scholar has for- 
feited, like many others of his day, the rank of a 
declared professor of protestantism, the sound 
religious sentiments already quoted, along with 
many other similar passages, bear witness, that, 
on fundamental points, he shared the views of 
his intimate friend and correspondent, Morata. 
His distinguished favour at the court where his 
youth was passed, as well as strict private friend- 
ship with the parents of our heroine (the title of 
whose godfather he eagerly claims) assign him 
a double place, in the sketch of the former and 
biography of the latter. 

The immediate care of instructing in literature, 
and, by a happy coincidence, in scriptural re- 
ligion, also, the royal children of Ferrara, was 
intrusted to the brothers Sinapii, German pro- 



80 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

testant physicians ; whose superior knowledge 
of languages led to their appointment as pro- 
fessors in the university of that city. Of these 
excellent men we shall have occasion subse- 
quently to speak ; and as their connexion with 
Italy was accidental and transient, while that 
with our heroine was permanent, and cemented 
by the tenderest Christian friendship in their na- 
tive country, we shall confine ourselves at pre- 
sent to their eminent qualifications as teachers ; 
of which, as well as of the success that in this 
instance attended their labours, ample proof is 
left us by the biographer of Olympia, and many 
contemporary authorities. Of Chilian Sinapius, 
Thuanus speaks highly in his history of his own 
times, and having, like his brother, quitted Fer- 
rara for the free exercise of the protestant faith, 
he became professor of medicine at Spires in 
Germany. 

Of John Sinapius, to whom the peculiar friend- 
ship by which he was united to his townsman, 
the husband of Olympia, will induce us hereafter 
to recur suffice it at present to say, that she 
and her royal fellow-students were fortunate in 
an instructor, of whom his biographer says, that 
" by his eloquence and learning he acquired the 



HER TIMES. 81 

favour and respect of many, among others of the 
emperor Charles the Fifth. Celio Curio styles 
him " that most eminent man;" and Melchior 
Adam, in his Lives of the German physicians 
and philosophers, tells us that " from a boy he 
\s i> a most zealous student in literature ; and 
when he went to Italy, he was received and be- 
loved by the greatest and most learned men of 
his time. His principal sojourn," says he, " was 
at Ferrara, where he was appointed preceptor to 
Anne of Este and her friend Olympia Morata." 
Fortunately for his pupils, he seems to have re- 
fused a pressing invitation to return to his native 
country, so early as 1536. Camerarius thus 
notices it in a letter to A. Niger. " Sinapius 
has been called to our city, but has declined. 
He probably does not wish to exchange the 
wealth of Italy for our poverty, and he does 
wisely." This circumstance, and the opinion 
formed on it by a contemporary man of letters, 
are chiefly noticed, to prove the extent of the 
sacrifice, which some years later Sinapius cheer- 
fully made, by quitting Ferrara, when his in- 
terest and religious profession became incom- 
patible ; a sacrifice which, like many of those 
made for conscience sake, was, even in this 
o 



82 OLYMPIA MOKATA. 

world, rewarded by brilliant appointments at 
the courts of his native countay. 

But it was not thus, alas ! with his amiable as 
well as able Italian coadjutor, in the grateful 
task of the tuition of such pupils as Anne of 
Este and Olympia Morata, the famous Aonio 
Paleario whose far higher claims, as a sound 
divine and Christian martyr, entitle him to so 
honourable a place in the records of his country. 
On a footing of intimacy with its most learned 
individuals, he is said to have been himself one 
of the best men and best writers of his time. 
About the year 1534, he was appointed public 
teacher of Greek and Latin to the University of 
Sienna; and though still in communion with 
the church of Rome, was exposed by the opi- 
nions acquired in the study of the Scriptures, 
and works of the German reformers, to suspicion 
of heresy, and a consequent load of obloquy, of 
the justice of which the following extract from 
x>ne of his own letters will enable us to judge. 

" Cotta asserts that if I am allowed to live 
.there will not be a vestige of religion left in this 
city ; and why ? Because being asked one day 
what was the chief ground on which men should 
rest their salvation, I replied ' Christ: ' being 



HER TIMES. 83 

asked what was the second, I replied ' Christ ; ' 
and being asked what was the third, I replied 
Christ!'"* 

The chief cause, indeed, of his persecution, 
was a work entitled the " Benefits of the Death 
of Christ," his manly and convincing defence 
of which before the Senate of Sienna, for a while 
refuted the calumnies of his adversaries. He 
was, however, soon after obliged to quit that 
city, and being subsequently offered by the 
magistrates a professorship of eloquence, with a 
splendid salary, took up his residence at Milan. 

It was probably in the interval, that, while a 
harassed wanderer, his talents as a teacher were 
exercised at the sheltering court of the Duchess 
of Ferrara ; of whose proficiency, and that of 
her daughters, in classical pursuits, the opinion 
of ttis eminent scholar and truly amiable man, 
has already been recorded. The particulars of 
his imprisonment at Rome, and ultimate mar- 
tyrdom under Pius the Fifth, are so affectingly 
given by Dr. M'Crie, that it would be superflu- 
ous to repeat them here. Suffice it, that the 
flames which consumed, at the ripe age of 
seventy, his earthly tabernacle, were power- 
* M'Crie's History of the Italian Reformation. 



84 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

less alike against his constancy and his writings. 
Of the former, the best testimony is to be found 
in the beautiful letters which, before his execu- 
tion, he addressed to his wife and children ; 
while of the latter, his great work especially, on 
the Benefits of Christ's Death, forty thousand 
copies were sold in six years.* 

Who shall dare to estimate the moral effects 
on its witnesses, of one conscientious and mildly- 
encountered martyrdom for the truth ? or who 
would be inclined to question the importance of 
the Italian reformation, had its sole achievement 
been the above circulation of a work, breathing 
the very essence of Gospel purity? But the 
pages of its historian are rich in similar records, 
and reluctantly must we confine ourselves to a 
few illustrious refugees for the cause of Protest- 
antism at the Court of Ferrara; the possible in- 
fluence of two of whom, on the religion of in- 
dividuals there, is enhanced to the English reader 
by their close connection with that of England, 

* That it was translated, even in Scotland, appears from a 
note to the new edition of Dr. M'Crie's work, with which the 
writer has been favoured. The Testament of an Edinburgh 
printer, deceased in 1577, contains the following item. 
" Foure Benefite of Christ, the price 2 sh:" 



HER TIMES. 85 

where both were for many years honored, and 
there is reason to believe, eminently useful 
preachers of the truth. 

Few of the Italian protestants have enjoyed a 
more extensive or well-merited reputation than 
Bernardo Ochino, or as he is sometimes called, 
Ocello of Sienna whom a deep sense of reli- 
gion had induced, in early youth, to make trial 
successively of the discipline of the strictest and 
most austere monastic orders ; with a view to 
achieve by mortification and his own strenuous 
efforts, the attainment of sanctity and salva- 
tion. 

Of the utter inadequacy of such endeavours, 
he has left in his writings a most valuable and 
interesting record ; as well as of the opposition 
which his acute mind soon discerned between 
them, and the spirit of those Scriptures, to 
which, as a monk, he had free access. The di- 
ligent study of these, with the blessing of God, 
soon removed the veil from the understanding 
and heart of this eminent man ; and it was to 
his singular gift of preaching, exercised for a 
long time under the outward garb and protec- 
tion of the Romish Church, that many of the 
most eminent contemporaries of Olympia owed 



86 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

their conversion. Such was probably the case 
with herself also, (for, his death being resolved 
on at Rome, he fled to Ferrara, where he was 
protected by the Duchess Renee,) and the affec- 
tionate veneration which through life Olympia 
expressed for him, favours the supposition. 

It is strange to those who have subsequently 
viewed him as a martyr to persecution, and the 
object of the most rancorous hatred to the 
Church of Rome, to observe his unbounded 
popularity while at Venice, and while his pro- 
testantism (not from dissimulation, but want of 
fuller light) was still shrouded under the cowl of 
a capuchin. Not only did hearers of all ranks 
and sexes flock as to an inspired oracle, but 
monarchs, bishops, and cardinals, some of them 
of the most bigotted character, were transported 
(they little knew wherefore,) with not merely 
the eloquence, but the actual doctrine of this as 
yet unconscious advocate of the Reformation. 
Charles the Fifth, all haughty and inflexible as 
he was, said, after hearing him, "That monk 
would make the stones weep." The renegade 
Cardinal Pole, and the courtly papal secretary 
Bembo, extol him to the skies. It is impossible 
to resist quoting the very words in which the 



HER TIMES. 87 

historian of the Italian reformation records the 
delight with which (while delivered under the 
sanction of Catholicism) those its staunchest 
votaries, hailed the energy and persuasiveness 
of the " truth as it is in Jesus." Bembo, at 
whose solicitation Vittoria Colonna, the cele- 
brated Marchioness of Pescara, with whose 
talents and accomplishments Europe rung,* but 
whose bias towards protestantism was afterwards 
unhappily overcome, had persuaded Ochino to 
visit Venice, thus writes to her in February, 
1539. 

" I send your highness the extracts of our 
very reverend Frate Bernardino ; to whom I have 
listened during the small part of Lent which is 
over, with a pleasure which I cannot sufficiently 
express. He discourses in a very different and 
more Christian manner than any other that has 
mounted the pulpit in my day, and with more 
lively charity and love brings forth truths of 

* Tolomei, one of the most elegant writers of his day, 
thus terminates a highly laudatory note to this distinguished 
lady. " I might be superfluous enough to assure you how 
highly I admire your rare and matchless virtues ; were it not 
that it would look like a confession of ignorance on my part, 
or an inference of diminished merit on yours." 



88 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

superior excellence and usefulness.* In the 
name of the whole city, I send your highness 
immortal thanks for the favour you have done 
us, and I especially will ever feel obliged to 
you."f 

In a subsequent letter of the 14th April, he 
speaks still more strongly. " Our Frate Ber- 
nardino, whom I desire henceforth to call mine 
as well as yours, is at present adored in this 
city. There is not a man or woman who does 

* An entire sermon of Ochino on the then totally new, and, 
in the Church of Rome, unknown doctrine of " Justification 
by faith," is given in the Appendix, both on account of its inter- 
est to English readers, as delivered by one, long a popular 
London preacher, and for its amazing ability in treating a 
difficult subject, which it has, in a brief discourse absolutely 
exhausted. 

t It is singular that Venice, notwithstanding its short but 
sharp persecution, (during which the characteristic mode of 
martyrdom adopted, was by drowning,) should have been 
more than once favoured with truly apostolic preaching. Our 
admirable Bishop Bedell, the friend of the learned Sarpi, and 
himself a good Italian scholar, heard at Venice (near a cen- 
tury later) a sermon by Fulgentio, which he never forgot. It 
was on those words of Christ, " Have ye not read in the 
Scriptures'!" Whence he took occasion to ask, how such a 
question of our Lord could be answered, in times when the 
book itself was prohibited 1 



HER TIMES. 89 

not extol him to "the skies. Oh! what plea- 
sure! oh! what delight ! oh! what joy has 
he given ! But I reserve his praises until I 
meet your Highness ; and, in the mean time, 
supplicate our Lord to order his life so that it 
may endure longer to the honor of God, and 
profit of man, than it can hold out according to 
the treatment he now gives it."* 

We shall the less be disposed to wonder at 
the prodigious sensation created by the truly 
scriptural preaching of Ochino, if we consider, 
not only the rarity of the ordinance itself (at 
least in the vulgar tongue), which was chiefly 
reserved in catholic countries for the great fes- 
tivals of the church, but also the style and 
matter of those ' prediche' with which the sound 
truths of Gospel doctrine might, even in this 
comparatively enlightened day, be contrasted 
in Italy. Compared with the ' old wives' fa- 
bles,' which may yet, in the nineteenth century, 
be heard in many country pulpits and of 
which the sermons of the sixteenth were, of 
course, mainly composed they must have 
seemed little short of inspiration ; so completely 

* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



90 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

(from the time, perhaps, when Paul himself 
" preached the Gospel at Rome also") had every 
thing like argument, or addresses to the under- 
standing, been discarded by the illiterate orators 
of Italy. Even in the present more fastidious 
period among all the flood of impassioned 
addresses to the feelings which it has been the 
fate of the writer to hear from the Lent preachers 
of that country never have the " words of 
truth and soberness" (which she rejoices to 
learn, on recent authority, are now, though 
rarely, to be heard) happened to meet her ear. 

If the true end of preaching be to excite emo- 
tion of that deep and terrible kind, whose work- 
ings on the rude and ferocious countenances 
around her, have made her sensations, as a he- 
retic in their vicinity, any thing but comfort- 
able, the declaimers, who, on Good Friday in 
the churches of Rome, during the supposed 
mysterious hours of the Saviour's crucifixion, 
literally harrow the feelings of their organized 
auditory, are preachers of no common stamp. 
Yet the protestant feels that this emotion, fran- 
tic as it is in some, and deep and tearful in 
others, is as unreal a mockery, and destined 



HER TIMES. 91 

to prove as evanescent as the motley paste- 
board pageant of guards and executioners, and 
weeping females (not to mention an object more 
awfully venerably still !) which, got up for the 
occasion, will either be cast aside when the ex- 
hibition is over, or, at best, repose in the con- 
ventual lumber-room till its annual return. 

But even the protestant may derive, in the 
midst of his complacent superiority, a salutary 
warning 1 from the inference which the able his- 
torian has drawn from all the zeal and apparent 
relish for the Gospel exhibited in the foregoing 
passages, and for the sake of which, indeed, 
they have chiefly been extracted from his va- 
luable pages. " How doubtful," says he, " are 
the warmest feelings excited by hearing the 
Gospel ! and how do they vary with the ex- 
ternal circumstances in which the truth is pre- 
sented to the mind ! Bembo was delighted with 
the sentiments he heard, as well as with the 
eloquence with which the preacher advocated 
them ; and yet the future conduct of the car- 
dinal leaves us at no loss in determining that 
he would have felt and spoken very differently 
had he been told that the doctrine, to which 



92 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

he listened with such devout ravishment, was 
essentially protestant."* 

From the unconscious protestantism of 
Ochino, and of those among his hearers who did 
not, like him, embrace her in firmness and fide- 
lity, when the cowl had at length dropped off, 
and she stood confessed in all her scriptural 
majesty, the indignant opponent and reprover of 
Rome it is impossible to avoid reverting to an- 
other subject of kindred remark, forced on the 
most careless, by the miscellaneous history of the 

* Of this we may form some idea from the virulence of 
expression with which, on Ochino's open conversion, he was 
addressed (in a letter which will be given at full length by 
Dr. M'Crie, and with a perusal of which the writer has been 
favoured) by Tolomei, one of the most esteemed literati of 
the age, who says, " his ' very flesh crept' on hearing of his 
defection from Catholicism;" an apostacy which (if true) 
he thus stigmatizes : "a thing blameable in a man, abhorrent 
in a Christian, damnable in a monk, and worthy of ana- 
thema in one pretending to preach the word of God !" Such, 
in short, as to give rise to suspicion that he who could so 
act was "no longer a man, but, by sorcery, transformed into 
a demon ! !" Such, at this period, and on this subject, 
were the sentiments of a scholar, a gentleman, and a man of 
the world, and one, moreover, the occasional soundness of 
whose religious sentiments stamp him ' almost' a Christian. 



HER TIMES. 93 

sixteenth century. We mean the influence ex- 
ercised on the character and conduct of even 
the least regenerate minds of the age, by the 
dissemination of the scriptures in the vulgar 
tongue, during the short but happy period 
which intervened between their translation and 
prohibition by papal authority. 

Of this a singular instance is related at length, 
and with so much interest, by a celebrated con- 
temporary of Olympia Morata, as having hap- 
pened immediately previous to a pretty long so- 
journ he made at Ferrara ; that the recital of 
the circumstances, which must have been familiar 
to all the accomplished circle of which she 
formed a part, will, it is hoped, be esteemed a 
pardonable digression. 

The well known Florentine, Benvenuto Cel- 
lini, the prince of goldsmiths, as he has been 
called, and whom posterity has ranked, from his 
many splendid works in bronze as well as silver, 
in the far higher class of eminent artists, was, 
perhaps, fully as celebrated for his turbulent 
and ungovernable spirit, (which kings and popes 
alike failed in subduing,) as for his inimitable 
skill in his art. Alternately the spoiled child of 
princes, and the victim of his own headstrong 



94 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

pride and obstinacy, as well as of base profes- 
sional jealousy, his time was pretty equally 
divided between courts and prisons ; his usual 
conduct in which last, partook more, (as from 
his peculiar temper might be imagined,) of 
frenzy, than of resignation. 

But if such was his behaviour in cases where 
the incarceration was only the just consequence 
of his own passions, which (according to the 
too prevalent Italian fashion of that and subse- 
quent times,) he was little scrupulous of in- 
dulging even to homicide the extreme contrast 
of feeling and deportment produced in him, on 
an occasion when, to the original injustice and 
iniquity of the charge, was added every aggra- 
vation of the rigour of his confinement which 
malice could suggest or cruelty execute be- 
comes a curious subject of speculation. It 
assumes an interest directly connected with our 
subject, when we find him ascribing it, in the 
plainest and most direct terms, to the undis- 
turbed perusal of a bible in his own language,* 

* Although an Italian version of the Scriptures, by Mal- 
ermi, was printed at Venice so early as 1471, and is said to 
have gone through nine editions in the fifteenth, and twelve 
in the sixteenth century ; it is likely that the ' Bible,' which 



HER TIMES. 95 

which was the sole companion of his solitude ; 
and from the diligent study of which, he seems 
to have imbibed a patience, calmness, and even 
heavenly transport which perfectly astonished 
himself, as well as his enemies. But (what is 
yet more to our purpose) he derived from it 
such insensibly purified and amended notions 
of religion, as never once (all catholic as he 
still, in idea, remained) to address himself, in 
any of his numerous recorded prayers, to saint 
or intermediate intercessor, but directly to the 
Almighty Disposer of events, through his blessed 
Son Jesus Christ ; while, in seasons -either of ex- 
treme danger and despondence, or of approach- 
ing deliverance, instead of the unmeaning lita- 
nies and invocations of the day, it was in well- 
afforded such exquisite delight to Cellini, was that of his 
countryman Brucioli, of Florence, which, published in 1530, 
and the subsequent years, would be a work of recent interest 
at the period of his imprisonment in 1538. That the transla- 
tion more than leaned to Lutheranism, may be inferred from 
the circumstance of the author's persecution for ' heresy,' and 
from his having dedicated an Exposition of Job to the Queen 
of Navarre, as "the refuge of oppressed Christians." 
M'Crie's History of the Reformation. 



96 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

selected psalms that his devotional feelings found 
their appropriate vent. 

So delightful, so enviable, was the state of 
mind, which this reckless bon vivant and bravo 
represents himself as experiencing in a loath- 
some dungeon, (inhabited by bats and tarantu- 
las, and where his scanty portion of food was 
embittered by more than suspicion of a repeated 
intention to poison him,) solely from the com- 
forts of Scripture, perused during the hour and 
half of reflected light, which his dungeon each 
day enjoyed that it extorted from his persecu- 
tor, these memorable expressions : "Good God! 
this man triumphs and lives happily in all his 
distresses, while I am miserable in the midst of 
affluence, and suffer death on his account!"* 

* The autobiography of another tenant of an Italian dun- 
geon the recently published " Mie Prigione," of Silvio 
Pellico, (without exception the most delightful book of mo- 
dern times,) affords, at the distance of three hundred years, a 
blessed proof of the unimpaired efficacy of the before neg- 
lected Word of God ! "not only for softening nine years of 
imprisonment, but during their almost blessed continuance, 
bringing into captivity," also, " every lofty thought, and 
casting down every vain imagination," and " moulding into 
the fairest specimen of love to God and man a free- 
thinker, and liberal of the nineteenth century." 



HER TIMES. 97 

Indeed, even from the depths of that yet more 
horrible cell, to which these involuntary excla- 
mations of his ruthless enemy were but the 
passport, his victim might have said (as were, 
afterwards, nearly his words) to his papal per- 
secutor and his courtly abettors "Would that 
thou, and every one who hears me, were, not 
almost, but altogether as I am, except these 
bonds !" 

Alas ! the " almost Christianity" of Benvenuto, 
unripened, as we fear it was, to full evangelical 
fruition, afforded, already, a sufficiently appal- 
ing contrast with the avowed infidelity of that 
unworthy successor of St* Peter, of whom, 
(without ceasing to style him God's vicegerent on 
earth,) his still partially-blinded prisoner coolly 
says, that he " believed neither in God nor in 
any article of religion !" 

The vices and enormities of the popes of 
that day were surely sufficient, humanly speak- 
ing, to have brought about the Reformation,! 
They are curiously stated, however, as the most 
powerful of arguments for the truth of a religion 
which could survive amid such iniquities, in a 
dialogue from Boccacio, which Olympia Mo- 
rata has employed her pen in translating into 



98 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Latin ; and which, though we have not judged 
it necessary to give an English version, merits 
attention, both as a striking proof of the free- 
dom indulged in speaking of papal corruptions 
by Romish writers, even of Boccacio's day, 
and, still more so, as having contributed, by its 
unsparing recital of them, to confirm Olympia 
in her abjuration of Catholicism. 

The narrative represents a rich merchant, of 
the Jewish persuasion, as resisting all the efforts 
of a Christian associate in trade to convert him 
to his own faith, until he should have visited 
Rome, the fountain-head and emporium, doubt- 
less, of genuine Christianity. The endeavours 
of his friend well aware of the profligacy and 
secularity of that court to dissuade him from 
a journey so little likely to terminate in his 
conversion, are given with great liveliness and 
acuteness. But the severity of the satire be- 
comes excessive, when the author (a staunch 
catholic, be it remembered, all the time) dilates 
on the actual enormity of the vices witnessed in 
the modern Babylon by the astonished Jew. 

The conclusion at which, however, that acute 
and enlightened person arrives, is one which 
would do honour to Christian candour and phi- 



HER TIMES. 99 

losophy. Convinced that a religion capable of 
flourishing in the face of such scandalous defec- 
tion in its ostensible heads must be genuine, and 
superior to his own, the magnanimous Jew em- 
braces Catholicism, on his return from Rome ! 
What would one of such temper and talent, or 
rather, the acute writer by whom they were 
thus liberally ascribed to him, have thought of 
that pure Christianity, before which both Ju- 
daism and Catholicism must one day melt like 
vapours in the sunshine ? 

But return we to it, and to its celebrated pro- 
fessor, Ochino, whose soon undisguised sentiments 
exposed him to a long series of persecutions, in 
the course of which he took refuge, as has been 
said, at the court of Ferrara, and also resided 
some years with his still more distinguished 
friend, Peter Martyr, in England. Here his 
talents as a preacher found undisturbed, and, it 
is to be hoped, successful exercise ; and such 
was the estimation in which he was held by his 
former protestant associates there, that, having 
been driven thence by the virulence of spiritual 
tyranny during the reign of Mary, her successor 
Elizabeth had serious thoughts of inviting him 
back, as the likeliest as well as fittest person to 

H2 



100 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

compose the differences, and settle the forms of 
English protestantism. 

By the frustration of this plan, England was, 
perhaps, providentially delivered from all pos- 
sibility of taint from the Anti-Trinitarian opi- 
nions which, at a later period of life, this great 
and good man is accused of having unhappily 
imbibed. But he was for some years, in an 
humbler sphere, an instrument of distinguished 
usefulness to a little proscribed and exiled 
church ; which, at the risk of another digres- 
sion, must be briefly (and with renewed obliga- 
tions to Dr. M'Crie) introduced to the female 
reader; were it only for the sake of the romantic 
escape from persecution and death, of one of her 
own sex, on the banks of that lovely Italian 
lake, which this addition to its " dolce me- 
morie" will invest, it is hoped, with new in- 
terest. 

There are few travellers who pass into Italy 
by the route of the Simplon, at least without 
lingering, in delighted admiration, on the banks 
of Lago Maggiore. But it is in quest of na- 
tural or, perhaps, in the case of the far-famed 
Borromean islands, we should rather say arti- 
ficial beauties, or the singular union of both, 



HER TIMES. 101 

that the pilgrim chiefly haunts the lovely shores 
of Fariolo or Baveno. Or if, at Arona, the 
shrine of the least spurious saint of the Romish 
calendar, Carlo Borromeo, calls forth the tribute 
which benevolence and charity (under whatever 
garb) must elicit from every friend to humanity 
still it is to virtue, debased by error, and allied 
with much of superstition, that the palm of ad- 
miration is, with somewhat of alloy, awarded. 

But little know or dream the host of careless 
travellers, who, lounging or sailing away the 
sultry day on those lovely shores, reck little 
even of the striking contrast almost forced upon 
them, between the use and abuse of wealth by 
the fantastic pile, reared by a prince's folly on 
the mis-named /so/a Bella, on the one hand, 
and the gigantic monument of a nation's grati- 
tude for princely compassion and munificence, 
rising, as if in rebuke, on the opposite shore * 
that at the upper, and wilder, and seldom vi- 
sited end of the lake, lies an obscure little town, 
which boasted, at the era of Italy's temporary 
and half-forgotten Reformation, a band of as 
noble confessors as ever early Christian coramu- 

* The colossal statue to the memory of Cardinal Borromeo. 



102 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

nity, or Alpine valley of later times, sent forth 
out of its pure bosom. 

This reformation was still in the infancy of 
its bright but brief career, when the flourishing 
church of Locarno (the more flourishing, per- 
haps, that it had been built, not on the " tradi- 
tions," or opinions, however well supported, of 
learned men, but chiefly on the preaching of its 
apostle, Beccaria, who derived his own protest- 
antism direct from the pure " well undefined" of 
Scripture,) had become an object of great and 
painful anxiety to the pope ; and of hostility, fo- 
mented by political feelings, to the popish part 
of the Swiss cantons, to whose confederation it 
was, though in a subordinate capacity, attached. 
No efforts of intrigue, on the one hand, or inti- 
midation, on the other, were spared, till the 
courageous Beccaria himself was driven into 
exile ; while another zealous teacher, an emi- 
nent physician, owed only to his then rare pro- 
fessional skill, his escape from the fangs of the 
already formidable inquisition. But, when art 
and menace were found alike inefficient to 
compel the protestants of Locarno to conform to 
the popish rites, or relinquish the light which 
had so clearly and mercifully dawned upon 



HER TIMES. 103 

them, a manoeuvre "was resorted to, perhaps 
unparalleled in the annals of treachery, and 
calculated, when detected, to exasperate the 
very resistance it was intended to overpower. 

A native of the popish canton of Uri, little 
worthy of his descent from that birthplace of 
Helvetic liberty, who happened to be town-clerk 
of Locarno, forged a deed, purporting to be one 
of solemn adhesion to the catholic faith, signed 
by the senators, citizens, and inhabitants of the 
town. Some years having been allowed to elapse, 
and thus render more difficult the detection of 
this impudent forgery, it was laid as genuine 
before the seven cantons (with whom it was said 
to have been entered into) who, delighted with any 
colour for their bigotted interposition, immedi- 
ately passed a decree to enforce, in all its rigour, 
the supposititious and nefarious bond. Agree- 
ably to its tenor, all Locarnese were enjoined 
immediate confession and penance ; and those 
who declined the mass on their death-bed, were 
to be denied the rites of sepulture. 

Vain were the fervent protestations of the 
astonished Locarnese against the iniquitous de- 
cree which fell upon them like a thunderbolt. 
The urgently entreated mediation of the pro- 



104 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

testant cantons, in behalf of the professors of the 
common faith, was artfully defeated by cruel re- 
ports, accusing the people of Locarno of grievous 
departures from the genuine tenets of the re- 
formers. In vain were these triumphantly put to 
silence by the publication of their confession of 
faith ; nay in vain was the fictitious bond unani- 
mously set aside by two successive diets. With 
an iniquity and partiality which has seldom been 
equalled, the usual manner of voting in ques- 
tions of religion was violated ; and undue pre- 
ponderance being thus given to the catholic 
party, it was decreed that the inhabitants of Lo- 
carno should either embrace the Romish religion, 
or leave their native country never to return, 
taking with them their families and property ; 
while, in the same partial spirit of persecution, 
the execution of this barbarous decree was en- 
trusted to the representatives of the seven ca- 
tholic cantons, provided the four protestant ones 
refused to share its iniquity. One of the latter 
only, that of Zurich, recorded on the spot its 
noble protest against a measure, which the com- 
parative weakness of the protestant body alone, 
it is to be hoped, deterred it from preventing, or 
at least avenging. 



HER TIMES. 105 

Never, perhaps, since the promulgation of 
Christianity, did the opposite spirit of its spu- 
rious and genuine forms, assume a more decided 
contrast, or one more to the advantage of the 
latter, than in the conduct of the fanatical popish 
deputies, and that of the mild but determined 
confessors of Locarno. Well might our Lord's 
benign admonition " Pray that your flight be 
not in the winter," have been adopted by this 
persecuted portion of his followers! for their 
popish tyrants, in the fury of their rage, sent 
their agents across the Alps, to enforce, at that 
rigorous season, the banishment of the unfortu- 
nate Locarnese. 

It was a memorable day, and well worthy to 
be recorded in the annals of consistent piety, on 
which (after the morning had witnessed the re- 
cantation of a large portion of the more timid 
or more worldly of the inhabitants) the tried ad- 
herents to the truth, consisting of two hundred 
heads of families, were seen walking in a regular 
order, the men abreast, followed by their wives car- 
rying the infants, and leading their little children 
by the hand, boldly, though meekly, to confront 
their enemies, in full council ; by whom they 
were received, instead of the sympathies common 



106 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

to humanity, with indecent levity and haughty 
contempt.* 

Their calm and solemn appeals to Scripture, 
as the foundation of their purified doctrine, and, 
in the name of their common Saviour, to the 
compassion of the audience towards helpless 
women and children, proved alike ineffectual, 
with judges, whom the historian of the Reforma- 
tion (from whom this account is abridged) trirly 
says, " were rigid and haughty as the Alps, to 
whose impenetrable snows they sternly consigned 
these unoffending pilgrims. Their petitions to be 
spared a winter's journey was rudely disregarded 
by men ; and it was only by the still sharper 
trial of persecution that its immediate hardships 
were for a short time (perhaps in mercy) de- 
layed. 

* " The answer of these dauntless men to the arrogant 
question, whether they were prepared, at the bidding of their 
foreign tyrants, to renounce their faith, is too striking not to 
be given at large. ' We will live in it, we will die in it ; ' 
they with one voice replied, while the exclamations ' It is 
the only true faith ! it is the only saving faith ! ' continued 
for a considerable time to resound from different parts of the 
assembly, like the murmurs which succeed the principal peal 
in a thunder-storm." M'Crie's History. 



HER TIMES. 

A papal nuncio came to fill up at Locarno the 
measure of injustice and tyranny ; and though 
he failed in the atrocious design of confiscating 
the property and detaining the children of the 
unhappy exiles, he obtained full power to em- 
bitter their remaining sojourn, by attempts at 
conversion ; all of which, however, proved ut- 
terly fruitless in seducing a single renegade from 
their late public profession. On the contrary, 
being himself foiled and mortified by the dex- 
terity and acuteness of three admirable ladies, 
whose names have descended to enrich the an- 
nals of female protestant heroism, he carried his 
resentment against one of them, the heroic Bar- 
bara di Montalto, so far as to procure an order 
from the deputies to arrest her for blaspheming 
against the Mass. 

Her escape combines with all the interest of 
romance, the far higher and more sacred charac- 
ter of one of those Divine interpositions by which 
the lives of the early disciples of Christ were 
sometimes miraculously preserved. Her hus- 
band's house on the lake constructed as a 
place of defence in the wars of the Guelfs and 
Ghibellines had a concealed door, which it 
required the strength of six men to move, open- 



108 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

ing on the water, where a boat was always kept, 
to carry off the inmates on any sudden alarm. 
This door (under the influence of an alarming 
dream, relating not to his wife but himself,) her 
husband caused his servants to open before night; 
and early the next morning, while the lady was 
dressing, the officers of justice burst into the 
room, with the warrant for her apprehension. 

With the presence of mind which belongs both 
to true courage and true piety, she begged to be 
allowed to retire to complete her dress; and 
availing herself of the secret door, leaped into 
the boat, and was rowed off in safety before the 
eyes of her exasperated enemies. The confisca- 
tion of her husband's property was the first gra- 
tification of their malice ; but it found full vent 
in the torture and subsequent execution of a 
poor tradesman of the reformed faith, for ex- 
pressions derogatory to the Virgin Mary ; a fate 
which not even the intercession of his Catholic 
townsmen had influence to avert. 

From such a home as Locarno had now become 
it was almost a relief to the harassed exiles to be 
permitted to depart, on the 3d of March, 1555. 
But, not content with the natural inhospitality 
of the Alps, which they were, at that early sea- 



HER TIMES. 109 

son, sent forth to encounter, their enemies took 
care their journey should be embittered by the 
denial of all the common charities of life. An 
edict was passed prohibiting all Milanese sub- 
jects from entertaining them, on pain of death ; 
and imposing a fine on any one who should even 
converse with them. 

The nearest and most practicable road being 
thus barbarously closed against them, they had 
no resource but to sail to the northern extremity 
of the lake, and endeavour to reach some place 
of shelter in the territory of the Grisons. At 
Regoreto, a small town at the foot of the Alps, 
snow and ice effectually barred their further 
progress ; and here they had to remain two 
months, amid all the inconveniences attending 
the residence of such a multitude among stran- 
gers. The welcome spring then opened a pas- 
sage for them to their protestant brethren in the 
Grisons, among whom about half their number 
took up their permanent abode ; while the re- 
mainder, amounting to 114 persons, went for- 
ward to Zurich ; the inhabitants of which (acting 
up to the spirit of their manly protest) came out 
to meet them at their approach, and consoled by 



110 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

their kind and fraternal reception, the weary 
hearts of the disconsolate exiles. 

The ungrateful city of their nativity, it may be 
remarked, never recovered the forcible expulsion 
of its most industrious inhabitants. As if visibly 
to punish the cruelty of the remaining citizens, 
tempest laid waste their lands, and pestilence 
ravaged the city ; while its decline was accele- 
rated by the intestine divisions of the two chief 
families who had persecuted the protestants ; 
who, turning their animosities against each other, 
harassed the country with civil broils, and finally 
drew upon it the evil of a large foreign garrison. 

Such, or similar, it is impossible to avoid re- 
marking, has been the decline of every state 
which has sacrificed to religious bigotry the most 
valuable portion of its sons. The revocation of 
the edict of Nantes paralysed for centuries the 
industry of France; while the persecutions in 
the Low Countries reared the manufacturing 
prosperity of England on the temporary ruin of 
that of Flanders. And who shall say that the 
convulsions which to this day agitate both those 
countries, in one of which intolerance still holds 
perennial sway, while in the other it has been 



HER TIMES. Ill 

exchanged for still more fatal indifference are 
not retributive vindications of the justice of Him, 
to whom the blood shed in the dragonnades of 
the Cevennes, or in the ruthless massacres of 
Alva, perhaps yet " crieth " (like that of righteous 
Abel) " from the ground." 

It will be satisfactory to those whose sympa- 
thy has followed in any degree, the fate of the 
Locarnese exiles, to learn that they obtained at 
Zurich, from the senate, the use of a church for 
the celebration of worship in their own language; 
and enjoyed, as has been already said, the pas- 
toral ministrations of the once popular, but now 
persecuted, Ochino; a charge to which he was 
solemnly admitted in 1555. The Locarnese 
church continued to flourish, and many of the 
chief families of Zurich are descended from 
exiles, who were able amply to repay the pro- 
tection so generally extended to them, by the 
introduction of the silk manufacture, dyeing, and 
other arts, which soon raised the place of their 
refuge in wealth and celebrity above all the 
other cities of Switzerland.* 

Among the many religious privileges enjoyed 
by Zurich, may be reckoned that of shelter- 
* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



1 12 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

ing the declining years and benefiting alike by 
the talents and virtues of another eminent 
Italian reformer. This was Pietro Martire Ver- 
migli, better known by the name of Peter 
Martyr, at least in England, which country 
(after a series of persecutions and their usual 
consequence, a protracted residence at Ferrara, 
where he was hospitably entertained by the 
Duchess,) he and his friend Ochino visited to- 
gether, on the invitation of Cranmer, during 
the brief halcyon reign of Edward the Sixth. 
At his command, while Ochino edified the me- 
tropolis by his preaching, Martyr delivered at 
Oxford a course of lectures on the Epistles of 
St. Paul ; probably the same as those in which, 
at a far earlier period, in Italy, he had tacitly 
refuted by able and totally opposite interpreta- 
tions, the catholic inferences drawn from the 
apostolic writings. Driven out of England on 
the accession of Mary, in 1554, he filled the 
chair of Theology and Hebrew at Zurich till his 
death in 1562. 

None of the reformers of Italy, or indeed of 
Europe, lived and died with a more unblemished 
reputation than Peter Martyr; for while atro- 
cious calumnies have been forged by their ene- 



HER TIMES. 113 

mies, of almost all the other eminent men of 
protestant opinions, nothing unfavourable was 
ever whispered to his prejudice. Though dis- 
tinguished throughout life for manly resolution 
and firmness in defending the truth, his latter 
days were peacefully spent in the enjoyment of 
the friendship of his excellent colleague at Zu- 
rich. " Bullinger, who loved him as a brother, 
closed his eyes ; Conrad Gesner spread the 
cloth over his face, while the pastor and elders 
of the Locarnese church wept around his 
bed."* 

We have dwelt, perhaps, the more fondly 
on his character, from the frequent occurrence 
of his name in Burnet's history, as associated 
with whatever was " richest or most rare" 
among the promoters of our own happy Refor- 
mation. Hooper, whom he loved and esteemed, 
and " wished there were more bishops who 
resembled," was his intimate friend ; and Jewel, 
with whom he seems to have kept up a constant 
correspondence, informed him of, and consulted 
him on every important feature of the unsettled 
and disastrous religious a Hairs of England ; 

* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 
I 



114 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

which, on the accession of Elizabeth, he was 
repeatedly on the eve of being called over to 
compose. 

Burnet procured many interesting letters 
from Martyr to Bullinger on the affairs of Eng- 
land, by favour of the magistrates of Zurich ; 
probably from the same collection of MS. amid 
which, in the library of that place, the writer of 
these pages gazed with almost reverential in- 
terest and curiosity on two letters to the same 
eminent reformer, from the unfortunate Lady 
Jane Grey. The beautifully formed and fault- 
less hand-writing of these last (if such indica- 
tions are indeed worthy of any consideration) 
is eminently characteristic of that serenity and 
equanimity of mind which never deserted her, 
either on her pageant throne, or amid the sterner 
realities of the scaffold which succeeded. 

It may afford a pleasing proof of the united 
power of religion and affliction to expel the 
most fondly cherished weaknesses of the human 
heart to learn that, Aylmer, her preceptor, 
complained of this illustrious and gifted pupil, 
that he could not prevail on her to throw off (in 
imitation of her still more illustrious cousin, the 
princess Elizabeth) the vanities of dress, and to 



HER TIMES. 115 

abstain from wearing gold and gems, and plait- 
ing the hair ; and that he entreated Bullinger in 
a letter to exhort her on the subject.* 

One cannot help contrasting with this prema- 
ture sobriety in Elizabeth, the subsequent love, 
not of magnificence only, but even coquetry in 
dress, which, amid the mightiest affairs of state, 
and to an advanced period of life, the " maiden 
queen" retained. And it forms a curious subject 
of comparison between that " Jane of Suffolk" 
and the " Olympia Morata," with whom her 

* One loves to hope that it was rather fond remembrance 
of the virtues of his gifted pupils, than hopes of preferment, 
which induced Aylmer (then an exile in Switzerland, but 
afterwards made by Elizabeth Bishop of London,) to pen his 
indignant reply to Knox's " Blast against the monstrous re- 
giment of women," from which, as few female readers have 
probably met with the ungallant diatribe, we cannot resist 
extracting the uncourteous opening lines. " To promote a 
woman to bear rule, superiority, or dominion over any realm, 
nation, or city, is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, 
and finally, the subversion of good order, and of all equity 
and justice." The reasons assigned are yet more humiliating. 
" For their sight in civil government is but blindness, their 
strength weakness, their counsel foolishness, and their judg- 
ment frenzy ! !" Alas, for Mary of Scotland ! since such was 
her stern censor's opinion of female sovereigns ere she had yet 
assumed her thorny sceptre ! 



116 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

name is by several authors' (as twin wonders of 
female erudition and excellence) coupled that 
in youth both should have had a decided taste 
for vanities, which, beneath the weaning hand 
of early affliction, both so unhesitatingly re- 
signed. 

But the name of Olympia recals us (by a 
magic as yet unknown to the reader) within 
that hallowed circle of her own peculiar friend- 
ships and history, to which the second, and, it 
is hoped, far more interesting portion of this 
little work will be specially devoted ; and (as a 
meet introduction to which) we have reserved 
for the close of our preparatory sketch, the 
eventful and almost romantic career of the 
dearest and most influential of all the friends 
of her youth, the learned, amiable, and accom- 
plished Celio Secundo Curio. 

The life of Curio, like that of his charming 
friend and correspondent, was early chequered 
with vicissitudes ; though unlike hers, prolonged 
to an advanced period, and permitted tranquilly 
to close, amid the peaceful discharge of the 
most congenial duties, fourteen years after that 
of the pupil, whose father he had first led to 
the full knowledge of the truth. His own early 



HER TIMES. 117 

acquaintance with the pure faith of the Gospel 
may be traced, as directly as that of most of 
the Italian reformers, to the diligent perusal 
of Scripture ; which a beautifully written copy 
of the Bible, bequeathed to him by his father, 
proved the means of inducing him to study with 
uncommon attention. 

Left an orphan (the youngest of twenty-three 
children) at the early age of nine years, but 
allied to some of the best families of Piedmont, 
he received a liberal education at the university 
of Turin. Having met, at the age of twenty, 
with the writings of the German reformers, they 
inspired him with a strong desire to visit that 
country ; for which he set out, accompanied by 
twoother natives of -Italy, afterwards, like himself, 
eminent protestant ministers. Some youthful 
want of caution on religious subjects exposed 
the friends to imprisonment by the Cardinal 
Bishop of Ivrea ; from which Curio was not 
only released, on the intercession of his rela- 
tives, but the bishop, pleased with his talents, 
placed him, for the purpose of assisting his 
studies, in the priory of San Benigno. 

This was not a field in which a zealous young 
convert was likely to remain long inactive > 



118 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

and his first attacks on superstition were directed 
against that of the monks, and were carried to 
a length, which, but for the interposition of 
Providence, might, even in less bigotted times, 
have proved fatal to the young reformer. He 
had the daring to abstract from their repository, 
on the altar of the convent-chapel, the relics 
usually worshipped there, and to substitute a 
copy of the Bible with the following inscription 
annexed to it, " This is the Ark of Covenant 
which contains the genuine Oracles of God, and 
true relics of the Saints." 

The fervour which could dictate so hazardous 
a proceeding, was reserved for further useful- 
ness ; and Curio, on whom suspicion had na- 
turally fallen, succeeded in escaping to Milan. 
During his stay in the Milanese he married a 
lady of the illustrious family of the Isaaci, and 
gained great reputation by teaching polite let- 
ters, the then sure road to distinction through- 
out Italy. Driven from home by the invasion 
of the Spaniards, he first resided under the pro- 
tection of the Count de Monferrat ; and was 
then induced to revisit his native country, where 
a married sister and her husband, who had 
possessed themselves of his patrimony, were 



HER TIMES. 119 

unnatural enough to prefer against him a charge 
of heresy. 

Retiring to an obscure village of Savoy, his 
warmth of disposition, and inherent love of truth, 
again induced him to come forward as its cham- 
pion. A Dominican monk, whom he had gone 
to hear preach, having bitterly calumniated the 
German reformers, and corroborated his calum- 
nies by falsified quotations, Curio, after sermon, 
producing the book, which he happened to have 
with him, confuted the friar, to his utter dis- 
comfiture and the indignation of the audience, 
who drove the propagator of the falsehoods with 
ignominy from the place. 

Curio, as might have been supposed, was 
forthwith informed against and apprehended by 
the inquisition, who, it may be believed, did 
not let slip so good an opportunity of adding 
to his present transgression, the former enor- 
mity relating to the relics. To counteract the 
powerful influence of his connexions, the admi- 
nistrator of the bishoprick of Turin went himself 
to Rome to procure his condemnation ; and the 
prisoner was left in the custody of a brother of 
Cardinal Cibo, who, to obviate all attempt at 
escape, put him (like a yet more illustrious 



120 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

apostle of the truth) "in an inner prison, and 
made his feet fast in the stocks." 

In this apparently hopeless situation his re- 
solution and presence of mind did not desert 
him. Having resided in his youth in the very 
vicinity of the prison, he was aware of the pos- 
sibilities of escape, could he once release his 
limbs. This he effected by the ingenious ex- 
pedient related at length by Dr. M'Crie, of first 
procuring the permission to remove one of his 
legs, which had become swelled, and then making 
out of some rags, a fictitious limb ; which, having 
contrived to substitute for the other, both were 
thus set at liberty ; and his knowledge of the 
localities enabling him to scale the walls suc- 
cessfully even in the dark, he once more made 
his escape into Italy. 

After another sojourn in the Milanese, at 
Pavia, where (says the biographer of Olympia) 
" he taught with the greatest approbation for 
the space of three years," the utmost virulence 
of papal persecution was again let loose against 
him. It is equally honourable to himself and 
to his scholars, many of whom came from a 
great distance to attend his lectures, that three 
years they enabled him to elude the vigilance 



HER TIMES. 121 

of the inquisition by forming a guard to accom- 
pany him to and from his house every day. 
At length the papal threat of excommunicating, 
on his account, the senate of the city, obliged 
him to fly to Venice ; whence he took shelter 
at Ferrara, the common refuge (as we have so 
often seen) of all exiles for the truth. 

" He went thither," (says the biographer of 
Olympia,) " that he might take counsel with 
the Princess Renee, who can never be suffici- 
ently extolled, and by whose benevolence he 
was favoured and protected, both on account 
of his learning and his pure religion." Here, 
as we have already noticed, he became the 
guest of Fulvio Morata, whose hospitality he 
richly repaid by the blessings of spiritual illu- 
mination ; and here was laid, in the earliest 
youth of his accomplished daughter, the founda- 
tion of that tender friendship, by which, at a 
later period, the loss of a parent was to be, in 
some measure, compensated. 

But the comforts of peace and a settled 
home, were not yet to be enjoyed by one, 
whose labours in the cause of truth, though 
already eminently blessed to the conversion of 



122 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

many, were still further to be exercised in a 
field of varied usefulness. 

The Duchess, on the discountenance shown 
by her husband to all suspected Lutherans, was 
obliged to forward her proteye with high recom- 
mendations, to Lucca ; trusting, that in the 
comparative obscurity and distance from Rome, 
of that small city, he might pursue, unmolested, 
his vocation as a professor in the university. 
But scarcely had he been there one short year, 
when fresh orders were sent from Rome for his ap- 
prehension and transmission thither ; which the 
hospitable senate of Lucca refused to execute, 
but advised him to consult his safety by flight. 

Switzerland, whither he proceeded with new 
recommendations from the Duchess of Ferrara, 
was his ultimate refuge, but on returning some 
time afterwards, (when the heat of persecution 
had, he thought, a little subsided,) to remove his 
family from the neighbourhood of Lucca, he 
met with another of those remarkable escapes 
by which his eventful career was so often provi- 
dentially lengthened. 

While sitting at dinner in an inn, the room 
was suddenly entered by a captain of papal fa- 



HER TIMES. 123 

miliars, or* Sbirri,' who commanded him, in the 
pope's name, to yield himself a prisoner. Curio 
rose, retaining (but with no thought of resist- 
ance,) the large knife with which he had just 
been carving ; an involuntary gesture, which so 
intimidated the functionary, (of a class proverbial 
to this day for the extreme of cowardice,) that 
Curio, taking advantage of his consternation, 
walked out of the room deliberately, threw himself 
on his horse, and escaped.* 

Honours and repose now awaited the declining 
years of one, who might almost have applied to 
himself the language of an apostle : " In jour- 
neyings oft, in perils in the city, and in perils 
by the way, and in perils among false brethren ;" 
and from whom, though successively the boast 
and ornament of nearly every university of Italy, 
public veneration was there powerless to avert 
the consequences of unflinching adherence to 
the Gospel. 

* It affords singular corroboration to the above, that an 
acquaintance of the writer's owed to a precisely similar cir- 
cumstance, the abandonment against him of a charge of in- 
cendiarism ; which, however absurd and preposterous, would 
have led, in France, (where the thing happened,) to vexatious 
delay and detention. 



124 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Immediately on his arrival in Switzerland, the 
senate of Berne placed him at the head of the 
college of Lausanne, whence he was translated, 
in 1547, to the chair of Roman eloquence in the 
university of Basle. On this occasion the de- 
gree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him 
sitting, a mark of respect hitherto confined to 
Bucer alone. But greater honour was done him 
by the numbers who came from all parts of 
Europe to attend his lectures ; the anxiety of 
various sovereigns to attract him to their respec- 
tive courts. " He was invited, by the emperor 
Maximilian, to the university of Vienna by the 
Vaivode of Transylvania, to Weissembourg, and 
by the Duke of Savoy, to Turin ; while the 
pope employed the Bishop of Terracina to pre- 
vail on him to return to Italy, by the promise of 
an ample salary and provision for his daughters ; 
on no other condition than that of abstaining 
from inculcating his religious opinions." * 

But all these splendid offers, the last of which 
especially, his love of country must have ren- 
dered the most tempting of any, he steadily re- 
sisted ; and remained at Basle till his death, in 

* M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



Mil; TIM. is. 125 

1569. Few testimonies to the invaluable merits 
of Curio as a preacher of the truth, could be 
quoted, more decisive than the circumstance 
just mentioned ; viz. the price at which his 
mortal enemy the pope, was willing to purchase 
the silence of so formidable an adversary. The 
eulogies lavished on his character and writings 
by friends to the cause, and echoed by the whole 
contemporary literature of the period, would fill 
a volume. "Of all the refugees," says Dr. 
M'Crie, " the loss of none has been more re- 
gretted by Italian writers than that of Curio. 
His children, females as well as males, were dis- 
tinguished for their talents and learning, and 
among his descendants are some of the most 
eminent names in the protestant church." 

Such was the man who esteemed it (as we 
find from his own subsequent correspondence 
with her whom he styles " the glory and orna- 
ment of her sex,") one of his chief consolations 
in exile to be remembered and cherished with 
hereditary friendship and veneration by Olympia 
Morata ; who entreated (in no tone of hollow 
compliment, but with the genuine paternal in- 
terest with which he had regarded her from the 



126 OLYMP1A MORATA. 

cradle,) to be a participator in the enjoyment of 
any new work that might issue from her pen ; 
and to whom, on her early death-bed, she be- 
queathed the collection and arrangement of the 
few the, alas ! very few specimens of the 
once so highly esteemed writings, which the 
ravages of civil war had permitted to escape 
from the flames. 

To the mixture of affection and reverence 
with which the editorial office was performed, 
the original collection of her recovered works 
(dedicated, with singular propriety, to the pro- 
testant Queen Elizabeth of England) bears suf- 
ficient witness. And it is felt to be no very 
presumptuous hope, that the fragments of ex- 
alted piety and classical eloquence, judged 
worthy of being presented to the admiration of 
contemporaries by one himself so gifted with 
both as Curio, may command (especially when 
embalmed in the venerable antiquity of nearly 
three centuries) not only the curiosity, but in- 
terest, of the countrywomen of her to whom 
they were originally, as no unworthy or unac- 
ceptable offering, inscribed. 

We have now sketched, with somewhat of the 



HER TIMES. 127 

rambling discursive freedom attributed by pro- 
fessional artists to the unregulated efforts of 
humbler amateurs, the chief features, historical, 
moral, and religious, of the court and age of 
one, whom (had we allowed ourselves to em- 
bark on the gentle, though, alas ! oft ruffled 
current of her own fascinating biography) we 
felt that to quit would be impossible, even to 
chronicle monarchs, or commemorate saints. 
And it is hoped, that the transition from the 
lofty region of court splendour, classical erudi- 
tion, and even Christian heroism amid the early 
reformers, to all the gentler sympathies and 
charities of private life, will but the more re- 
freshingly introduce the feminine virtues of her 
whom splendour could not bribe, nor persecu- 
tion intimidate, nor literature seduce, from the 
path of domestic duties, warm affections, and 
Christian usefulness. 

Enough has been done (or, at least, at- 
tempted) though amid much of acknowledged 
obligation to abler pens, and much of conscious 
imperfection in arrangement to prove the 
splendour, external and intellectual, of Fer- 
rara, the learning and eminence of its literati, 



128 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

the devotion and magnanimity of its confessors. 
To have lived in such times was, indeed, a pri- 
vilege to read of them may, perhaps, with the 
blessing of God, toe in some measure to revive 
them ! 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 



PART II. 

HER LIFE. 



IT was in the precincts of a court, thus at once 
brilliant and virtuous at an era, alike famous 
for polite literature and deep learning and 
amid the dawning splendour of that day-spring 
from on high, which poured, for a few bright 
halcyon years, its unchecked radiance over what 
a contemporary historian has (notwithstanding 
its boasted illumination) emphatically called 
" the darkness of Italy," that Olympia Fulvia 
Morata was born in the year 1526, of parents 
well qualified to transmit to their offspring an 
inheritance of talent and worth. Her mother, 
Lucretia, was a model of matronly and domestic 
virtue, and testified, by her admirable subse- 

K 



130 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

quent conduct in times of trial and persecution, 
that, in strength of mind and principle, she 
resembled her accomplished daughter. 

Her father, as has been already mentioned, 
was a parent admirably fitted to form the mind, 
and foster the genius, of so promising a pupil : 
nor was he unassisted in the grateful task by 
associates of equal eminence. Even in her 
sixth year, she had attracted the notice, and 
enjoyed the tuition, of Cselio Calcagnini, a 
learned canon of the cathedral, her father's 
intimate friend, who had stood sponsor for her 
at her baptism, and who, being absent, desires 
Fulvio, in one of his letters, to " imprint a kiss, 
in his name, on the brow of the little maiden, 
already endeared to him by her sprightly prat- 
tle." Indeed, so early did this discerning in- 
structor detect the superiority of her talents and 
genius for literature, that he advised her father 
to devote her attentin exclusively to the studies 
she had so auspiciously begun, and to substi- 
tute, in her hands, the pen for the needle, and 
books for the ordinary employments allotted to 
her sex.* 

* What the precise nature of those employments then was, 
we gather from another letter on education, (addressed to her 



HER LIFE. 131 

The advice coincided too strongly with pa- 
rental partiality, and the pursuits most conge- 
nial to her father's disposition, not to be adopted 
to its fullest extent ; and the result was, that at 
the early age of twelve, Olympia was already 
(to use the exact words of her biographer) "tho- 
roughly instructed, not only in the Greek and 
Latin languages, but also in rhetoric and other 
learned sciences." 

It is pleasing to be able to assert, on unques- 
tionable contemporary authority, that this pre- 
cocity of genius was set off, in her case, by its 
beautiful and invariable attendants through life 
sweetness of disposition, and the most en- 
gaging modesty. Indeed, it is impossible for 
those familiarly acquainted with her character 
to think of her splendid intellectual acquire- 
ments with any other feeling than that with 
which cultivated minds regard those external 


father by his celebrated friend, Cffilio Secondo Curio,) in 

which he says " The duties of girls are to spin/ to sew, to 
knit, and to be able to exercise the culinary art; for Solomon, 
in his praise of a holy woman, says, ' She seeketh wool and 
flax, and worketh with her hands.' But," adds the courteous 
writer, " we do not exclude females from letters and know- 
ledge, for there are many who are more able to pursue those 
studies than the other sex." 

K 2 



132 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

trappings of greatness, which, while they ap- 
propriately adorn and distinguish exalted rank, 
can add nothing to intrinsic nobility of cha- 
racter. And to pursue the parallel a little 
farther as true nobility walks unfettered, and 
almost unconscious, under a weight of magnifi- 
cence by which vulgar minds are either over- 
whelmed or elated, the cumbrous robe of learn- 
ing floated as easily and gracefully round the 
youthful form of Olympia Morata, as if, in 
reality, that " tenth Muse," whom, in after-life, 
(according to the somewhat trite style of com- 
pliment then in use,) she was perpetually styled 
it had been her native element. 

The talents thus prematurely developed were 
destined to expand in a still more genial and 
elevated atmosphere, by the event which trans- 
ported her, in her thirteenth year, from the 
bosom of her own family, to become a sojourner 
in a palace, and the companion of its princely 
inmates. It is thus noticed by her friend 
Curio, in a letter to a learned contemporary, 
who had applied to him for information re- 
specting her. "Anna d'Este, being instructed 
in Greek by that eminent man, John Sinapius, 
in order that she might have some one to excite 



HER LIFE. 133 

in her honourable emulation, it was thought pro- 
per by her mother, (a princess who well deserved 
her exalted reputation for worth and honour,) 
that Olympia should be called to court, in which 
she resided many years with the highest credit." 
It is to Chilian Sinapius, however, a brother of 
the above, and joint preceptor to the Princess, 
that Olympia, in subsequently dedicating to him 
an elaborate Greek panegyric en Mutius Scevola, 
acknowledges her obligation for the great care 
with which he had instructed her in that lan- 
guage. Her biographer also enumerates among 
those whose instructions she shared with her 
royal playmate, the heroic martyr Aonio Pale- 
ario ; so that the admirable talents of both the 
youthful fellow-students seem to have lacked no 
advantage which a variety of preceptors, in that 
then favorite branch of learning, could confer. 

But though the child-like simplicity, amid 
similar pursuits, of our own Lady Jane Grey, 
and the graceful simplicity of Olympia herself, 
seem to render the acquisition of Greek, even as 
a learned language, by no means synonymous 
with pedantry, yet it may not be amiss to re- 
mark, that in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, it was regarded rather in the light of a 



134 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

fashionable and elegant accomplishment, than 
of an abstruse and recondite study.* We might 
almost as well accuse of pedantry those of our 
countrywomen who availed themselves, for en- 
creasing their acquaintance with French litera- 
ture, of the numerous refugees of that nation 
whom its revolution forced to take shelter on the 
shores of Britain as those fair daughters of 
Italy, whom hosts of talented exiles from Byzan- 
tium inoculated with the knowledge and love of 
what had been to them the language of a refined 
and highly civilized court. 

And let us only consider with what encreased 
avidity the language of France would have been 

* Among the circumstances favourable to the promotion of 
letters, enumerated by the biographer of Lorenzo di Medici, 
he particularly notices " the partiality shown to the study of 
languages, and the proficiency made in them by women, illus- 
trious by their birth, or eminent for their personal accom- 
plishments ;" such as the beautiful Alessandra Scala, or yet 
yet more highly endowed Cassandra Fidelis. Of the former 
of these distinguished females (the Olympia Morata of the 
court of Lorenzo) a recent Italian writer (Manzoni " Monaca 
di Monza") remarks, with regret, that " no relic remains, not 
even her portrait ;" a circumstance calculated to enhance our 
gratitude to those whose friendship has preserved from oblivion 
the mental lineaments of a character more valuable far. 



HER LIFE. 135 

cultivated among us, had the fugitives from that 
country brought with them not merely the pre- 
cious existing materials of a for-ever-annihilated 
literature, but, like the banished Greeks, the ac- 
cumulated treasures of a period of remote and far 
higher civilization. How delightedly, under such 
circumstances, would the fair students, who now 
coldly scan Racine, have (like Olympia Morata) 
enjoyed and analysed Homer, and made perhaps, 
as she did, the lyre of Greece once more vocal 
with their juvenile effusions. It is impossible 
not to figure to oneself the interesting spectacle 
which, at the revival of letters, must have been 
afforded by the picturesque attire and sonorous 
dialect of the long robed, and long bearded, 
Grecian refugees ; who peopled with a thousand 
classical recollections the princely halls of the 
Este and the Medici ;* taught their children to 

* It was at Florence that the Greek language was first in- 
culcated by native Greeks, (at the head of whom was the 
eminent Johannes Argyropulus and Demetrius Chalcondyles) 
whose services were procured by the diligence of Lorenzo di 
Medici, and repaid by his bounty. Hence succeeding scho- 
lars have been profuse in their acknowledgments to their 
great patron, who first formed that establishment, whence (to 
use their own classical figure), as from the Trojan horse, so 



136 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

" lisp in numbers," and made Europe re-echo 
once more with the well-nigh-forgotten name of 
Athens. 

It was in times rather later, certainly, but par- 
taking still, in a great measure, of the spirit 
which characterized their immediate precursors, 
that Olympia Morata, with her royal fellow- 
pupil, imbibed from two worthy successors of 
the exiled Byzantines, the elements of the Greek 
language ; of which, at a subsequent period of 
her short life, she was qualified herself to be a 
public instructress. Nor let us view this female 
professor of Greek (in an age when mathematics 
and Hebrew were deemed no unsuitable branches 
of female education) in any other or less interest- 
ing light, than we are accustomed to "do those 

many illustrious champions have sprang ; and by means of 
whom the knowledge of Greek was extended, not only through- 
out all Italy, but through France, Spain, Germany, and 
England. William Grocin, professor of Greek literature in 
the University of Oxford, resided two years at Florence, to 
attend the instructions of Chalcondyles ; and the great Eng- 
lish scholar, Thomas Linacer, was so eminently distinguished, 
during his abode there, by the elegance of his manners, and 
singular modesty, as to be selected by Lorenzo as the associate 
of his children in their studies. Roscoe's Lorenzo di Me- 
dici. 



HER LIFE. 137 

heroines of the French Revolution, who turned 
to account, in a foreign land, the talents ac- 
quired in a higher and widely differing sphere. 

This being premised, we may venture, with 
more of sympathy than a display of female eru- 
dition (unassociated with everything that could 
adorn or refine the female character) would be 
apt to inspire, to follow the biographer of Olym- 
pia, in his enthusiastic enumeration of her won- 
derful proficiency in literature and learning. 

" Under the tuition of such men," says he, 
" our Olympia profited so much, as to excite the 
admiration of all, for learning so infinitely be- 
yond her tender age. Before she had completed 
her sixteenth year, she had composed a defence 
of Cicero against some of his calumniators * ; in 

* " We should have been at a loss to imagine the neces- 
sity for such a defence, or the existence of such calumniators, 
had we not been told that Argyropulus, the eminent Greek to 
whom the great Lorenzo di Medici, Politian, and others of 
their day, owed the knowledge of that language professed 
open hostility to the reputation of Cicero, whom he repre- 
sented as a sciolist in the Greek tongue, and as unacquainted 
with the different sects of philosophy, to which so many of 
his writings relate. The influence of his authority degraded, 
in the estimation of his pupils, the character of the Roman 
orator ; and Politian, in his riper years, shuddered at the 



138 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

which, (according to the opinion of Calcagnini, 
who had first advised her to study assiduously 
those works of Cicero, of which, from an hum- 
ble admirer she became the most successful 
commentator,) she has wonderfully emulated the 
beauty and elegance of the original. At the 
same age she wrote the most polished Greek and 
Latin letters (of which many have unfortunately 
been lost) ; she translated much from the Italian 
into Latin, which the malignity of time and fate 
has destroyed. 

" It is said, that Olympia was scarcely em- 
ployed two years in these pursuits ; for, not 
content with the praise arising from these pleas- 
ing occupations, she aspired to attain the pin- 
nacle of glory and honour, and began to study 
the higher branches of philosophy and theology, 
in which, as in other literary studies, she soon 
excelled in a high degree ; penetrating into the 
most difficult questions, with great quickness of 
mind, and converting them to public and private 
benefit. 

" That a young girl should be able to accom- 

recollection of the time when the ignorance of Tully was a 
matter taken for granted by him and his fellow students." 
Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo di Medici. 



HER LIFE. 139 

plish this was astonishing, and almost miracu- 
lous, especially since her preceptor, Chilian, 
styles her, in many of these branches of science, 
self-taught. Nor did she ever relax in her studies 
and diligence, but proceeded even beyond what 
could have been imagined. Having collected a 
rich treasure of the sciences, she never hesitated 
to draw from it, and to distribute to others. 

" The year in which she began to put on the 
professional habit, we learn, from the epistle of 
Curio to Xystus Betuleius, was, that before the 
death of her father, when she had just completed 
her sixteenth year. This is more distinctly 
stated in the preface to the first edition of the 
works of Olympia, which Curio dedicated to 
that illustrious lady, Isabella Manricha, of Bre- 
segna, where he circumstantially relates the 
particulars of her entrance into the academy of 
Ferrara ; and as this account of Curio is of much 
importance in her history, I subjoin his precise 
words. ' She wrote observations on Homer, the 
prince of poets, whom she translated with great 
strength and sweetness. She composed many 
and various poems with great elegance, especially 
on divine subjects, and dialogues in Greek and 
Latin, in imitation of Plato and Cicero, in such 



140 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

perfection that even Zoilus himself could have 
found nothing to criticise. And she wrote those 
three essays on the paradoxes of Marcus Tullius 
Cicero, which in Greek are called prefaces, when 
she was scarcely sixteen years old ; and declaim- 
ed, from memory, and with excellent pronuncia 
tion, her explanation of the paradoxes in the 
private academy of the Duchess of Ferrara.' 

" Colomesius is therefore in error in stating 
in his Bibliotheca Delecta, that Olympia was 
twenty-nine years of age when she taught pub- 
licly in Greek, in the University of Heidelberg. 
For, in the first place, it is evident, from the 
words of Curio just quoted, that she, as a girl, 
and while yet in Italy, lectured before Renee ; 
and it is also certain that she had scarcely at- 
tained her twenty-ninth year, when the fatal 
sisters cut the thread of her life. Teissius, Tho- 
masinus, and others, fall into similar error, 
when they assert, with Colomesius, that Olympia 
taught publicly in Germany." * 

We have given the above long, and (like the 
greater part of the Latin biography, on which 
our simple narrative is founded) pedantic quota- 
tion, at full length ; both from pardonable pride 

* Nolteni Vita Olympiae Moratae. 



HER LIFE. 141 

in showing to how many learned men of her own 
day, our heroine's talents and history afforded 
matter for admiration or controversy ; and still 
rather to establish, on more than one or two 
partial authorities, the astonishing versatility, as 
well as extent of her genius. To these may be 
added the following, from the same letter of her 
friend and preceptor Curio, to the learned indi- 
vidual, mentioned as having questioned him 
about his pupil. 

" You write to me that you desire to be in- 
formed of our Olympia, because many deem the 
name and character fictitious. I will do what 
you ask willingly, and shortly, although I might 
refer you to George Hermann, who knows her 
well. Her father was Fulvio Morata, a native of 
Mantua, a man famous for learning and probity, 
with whom I was very intimate. I have heard 
her at court declaiming in Latin, speaking Greek, 
and answering questions, as well as any of the 
females among the ancients could have done. 
Do not feel a doubt respecting the Sapphic ode, 
written in Greek, in which she celebrates the 
praises of the Most High. It is indeed the work 
of a real Olympia, whom we have known from 
her infancy, and whose other productions we 



142 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

possess. Nor does it at all astonish us. For she 
is skilled in Greek and Roman literature beyond 
what any one can credit, and she is also re- 
nowned for her knowledge of religion." 

And how delightfully, after having discharged, 
with due biographical fidelity, the pleasing task 
of recording the extraordinary classical acquire- 
ments of this gifted creature, does the concluding 
eulogium of her beloved " Father in Christ" 
introduce us to those higher features of her mind 
and character, on which we thus find him dwell- 
ing, with truly paternal warmth of exultation, in 
a letter written to her soon after her marriage 
and settlement in Germany. 

" I give you eternal thanks, my Olympia, the 
glory and ornament of your sex, that although 
so long a time has elapsed, and there is so great 
a distance between us, you have not. forgotten 
me ; and still cherish for me an hereditary re- 
gard as for your own, and your father's friend. 
In return, I assure you, that as, while he lived, 
there was no individual in the world to whom I 
felt more attached, so you, who worthily emu- 
late his proficiency in all liberal studies, but espe- 
cially his piety, are the only female (my own wife 
and daughters excepted) whose friendship I value 



HER LIFE. 143 

and cultivate. Wherefore I congratulate your 
excellent husband as cordially as if he had been 
united to one of my own children ; and return 
thanks to God, who, taking pity on you, rescued 
and restored you to liberty. 

" I am much pleased with the hymn or ode 
translated into Greek, to which you have added 
the forty-sixth Psalm of David. I wish you 
would treat more psalms in the same manner, 
and then we should not envy the Greeks their 
Pindar. Go on, my Olympia, wherever the 
muse shall call you, and place a divine laurel on 
your inspired brow ; for you have imbibed the 
poetical spirit from a fountain more sacred far 
than Pindar or Sappho. If you write any thing 
new, pray communicate it, that I may congratu- 
late you afresh, and share your enjoyment. I 
wish, dearest Olympia, you would write more 
frequently, for nothing delights me more than 
the eloquence, piety, and sweetness of your let- 
ters. And that you may know how dear your 
very fame is to me, I send you a copy of a letter 
I wrote about you, at the request of Xystus Be- 
tuleius, a learned man and intimate friend of 
mine, a short time after you left Augsburgh. 

" Adieu, dearest Olympia, to you and your 



144 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

excellent husband, and may God defend and 
cherish you. If ever you return to Italy, I be- 
seech you pass this way, that we may embrace 
each other, and having joined our hands, as our 
hearts have long been united, may renew our 
former friendship. My wife and children salute 
you. Alike happy and pious one! once more, 
" Basle, 5th Sept." " Farewell. 

But we must return from this digression to 
that brilliant morning in the life of Olympia 
which was ere long, in a temporal point of view, 
to be so suddenly and sadly overcast. That she 
should, in addition to her other proofs of genius, 
have " lisped in numbers," is not to be wondered 
at, considering the poetical atmosphere which 
from childhood she had breathed. Probably the 
earliest pageant on which her young eyes gazed 
may have been the splendid obsequies of Ariosto ; 
whose death all Italy deplored as a national loss, 
and whose verses derived from it additional in- 
terest and celebrity. During her residence in 
the palace, the post of private secretary to the 
Duchess was filled by Bernardo Tasso, father to 
the celebrated Torquato, himself a most elegant 
Italian poet ; while the court physician, Angelo 



HER LIFE. 145 

Manzolli (better known by his assumed name of 
Palingenius), her godfather Calcagnini, and her 
father himself, as well as her preceptors the two 
Sinapii and Paleario, were all more or less cele- 
brated for their excellent Lathi verses. 

The effect of such an atmosphere in kindling 
the slightest spark of latent genius, may easily 
be estimated by those whose fortune it has been 
to move in a talented and intellectual circle ; 
and who know how readily the young mind ex- 
pands under the fostering influence of example 
and encouragement. Who can think of this 
period of the existence of a young creature thus 
highly-gifted and enviably circumstanced, and 
not feel reminded of the gay and gorgeous po- 
megranate of her own bright sunny land, nest- 
ling its luxuriant blossoms beneath the friendly 
shelter of some lordly villa of more prosperous 
days, and flinging back beauty and splendour 
in return. Decay may be busy at the founda- 
tion of the princely pile ; the rude blast about to 
overwhelm at once, the protector and the pro- 
tected, may be, even now, on the wing; but the 
passing traveller sees only the blended image of 
the magnificence of art, and the perennial love- 
liness of nature. 



146 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Cheered as she was by the smiles of a court, 
and the object of an intoxicating adulation, 
which her rare modesty induced her, in after- 
life, to ascribe, less to her uncommon eminence 
in literature, than to her position as a royal fa- 
vourite Olympia enjoyed, in addition, what, to 
one of her disposition, must have appeared 
doubly valuable ; viz. the maternal kindness of 
the Duchess, and the tenderest friendship with 
her accomplished daughter Anne. How truly 
sisterly was this union, we may gather from her 
touching allusion to it in her celebrated letter 
to that princess ; when time and distance had 
interrupted, though they could never eradi- 
cate from so affectionate a heart, the early inti- 
macy. 

" For you know how familiarly (although you 
were my princess and mistress,) we spent so 
many years together; and how those studies 
which ought to encrease more and more our 
mutual good-will, were in common between us." 

And here we may, perhaps, with peculiar ap- 
propriateness introduce the account given us by 
the biographer of Olympia, and corroborated by 
all contemporary authorities of this charming 
princess ; the fond wishes for whom, of her early 



HER LIFE. 147 

playmate, met their most welcome accomplish- 
ment in her uniform protection of the oppressed 
of the reformed communion, and strenuous en- 
deavours to mitigate, in a bigoted and ferocious 
court, the fury of persecution. 

Anne of Este was born in the year 1531, and 
was, consequently, five years younger than her 
companion, Olympia Morata. This inequality of 
age, while it seems to have no way affected the 
intimacy of their friendship, perhaps, served to 
justify or authorize the tone of gentle admoni- 
tion adopted by the elder of the two friends in 
the celebrated letter already quoted ; which, 
though written at a subsequent period, and on 
the verge of that early grave which its pious 
writer already speaks of as the wished-for haven, 
we shall subjoin to the present sketch. 

In literary pursuits the princess Anne was no 
unworthy rival to her talented friend. She was 
well versed in Latin, and her translation into 
that language of some Italian fables, is thus 
quaintly eulogized by Calcagnini, in an epistle 
of which, as a specimen of the solemn hyperbole 
of the age, we cannot resist extracting a sen- 
tence. The little personage, thus pompously 
L 2 



148 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

addressed, must have been at the time, exactly 
ten years old. 

" Those Milesian fables which you have sent 
me, O princess ! blessed alike with the gifts of 
fortune and of genius ! exhibit so many graces, 
that by your means they have become free of 
the Roman city, and you have invested them in 
so fine a robe, that they deserve to appear on 
the patrician bench, and be received in the list 
of senators ! ! ! " 

" Nor did the Princess Anne," says the bio- 
grapher, of her friend, " neglect Greek, which she 
learned from Aonio Paleario. From such emi- 
nent masters, which she had, in common with 
Olympia, she made wonderful progress in the 
arts and sciences taught at Ferrara ; and all con- 
temporary authorities, as Thuanus,Teissius, Bran- 
tome and Marot, unite in extolling in the highest 
degree, the virtues, piety, wit, and learning of 
the princess."* 

She married, in 1548, (shortly before the very 
different nuptials of her humbler friend,) Francis 
of Lorraine, Duke of Guise; whom, notwith- 

* Noltenii Vita Olympian 



HER LIFE. 149 

standing many errors, and some alleged infi- 
delities, she tenderly loved ; and whose assassi- 
nation by Poltrot, during the siege of Orleans in 
1566, she long sincerely deplored. An old au- 
thor has preserved a touching farewell, addressed 
by the murdered prince on his death-bed, to his 
faithful partner, sufficiently indicative of the 
depth and sincerity of his regard for so worthy 
a consort. 

It was during the continuance of this union, 
that Anne was so urgently exhorted by Olympia 
to avail herself of her influence with her husband, 
and of her unbounded credit at court, to miti- 
gate the sufferings of the persecuted protestants 
of France. And the biographer of the latter 
assures us, that when " Catherine de Medici, 
who governed the kingdom during her son's mi- 
nority, with the assistance of the Duke of Guise, 
persecuted, first by snares, and then by open 
violence, the pious servants of the church of 
Christ Anne d'Este, following the footsteps of 
her mother, always favoured them." 

Thuanus relates, that when, on occasion of the 
massacre of St. Barthelemi, the whole female 
court were standing at the windows to behold 
the spectacle, Anne alone, the wife of Guise, 



150 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

melted into tears ; and earnestly entreated Ca- 
therine that, if she wished well to the king and 
the kingdom, she should command them to de- 
sist from the murder of the innocent. She pre- 
served many of the intended victims, particu- 
larly the daughter of the Chancellor Michael 
de 1'Hopital, from the rage of the assassins, on 
which occasion, 1'Hopital returned her thanks in 
a celebrated poem, in which he highly extols her 
virtue and piety. That Anne was enlightened 
by the gospel, Thuanus clearly insinuates; for in 
his twenty-fourth book, for the year 1560, he 
thus writes, " Anne was brought up from her 
earliest days at Ferrara, under her mother Renee, 
and instructed in the doctrines which were there 
promulgated ; for which purpose she was asso- 
ciated with Olympia Morata, a most excellent 
and learned lady."* 

Is it not delightful, as well as encouraging to 
female piety, in the less elevated ranks of life, 
to be able to trace so decidedly, on the authority 
of the most eminent historians to the early com- 
panionship and admirable counsels of Anne 
d'Este's humbler friend, that course of con- 

* Nolten. 



HER LIFE. 151 

sistent and (considering the times) heroic inter- 
position, in behalf of oppressed innocence, which 
has merited for the wife of the bigotted Duke of 
Guise, the admiration and gratitude of protest- 
antism ? And is it not delightful also, to be able 
to produce, in corroboration of so pleasing a 
fact, and for the admiration of all who are 
qualified to appreciate either the gentler or 
higher virtues of the female character, the fol- 
lowing letter, the most sweetly persuasive which, 
perhaps, was ever dictated by a friendship, " not 
of this world !" 

" Olympia Fulvia Morata, wishes health 
through Jesus Christ, to Anna d'Este, Duchess 
of Guise. 

" Most illustrious Princess Anna ! Al- 
though we are now so widely separated from 
each other, believe me, I have never forgotten 
you. Hitherto, diffidence has prevented my 
writing to you ; but an opportunity having pre- 
sented itself, by the visit of a learned and pious 
man from Lorraine, I first eagerly embraced it 
to enquire of him what you were doing ; and, 
when he promised to see a letter from roe for- 
warded to you, I felt persuaded that you, who 



152 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

were educated along with me from your in- 
fancy, would not be so hard-hearted as to re- 
fuse to read it.* For you know how familiarly 
(although you were my princess and mistress) 
we spent so many years together, and how com- 
pletely those studies, which ought deservedly 
to encrease more and more our mutual good- 
will, were in common between us. Indeed, il- 
lustrious princess, I call God to witness, I wish 
you well from my heart, and, if I can be in any 
way of service to you (not that I desire to live 
again in a court, for that, were I so inclined, 
I might do heref), either in the way of conso- 
lation or in any other matter, be assured that I 
will do it willingly and earnestly. 

" But my most fervent wish is, that you 
should apply yourself seriously to the study of 
the sacred Scriptures, which alone can unite 
you to God, and console amid all the miseries 
of this life. / have no other consolation, no 
other delight. For, since (by God's goodness 
to me) I have escaped the idolatry of Italy, and 

* This, it must be remembered, alludes to the supposed 
disgrace of Olympia at the court of Ferrara. 

t In Germany, where many splendid offers were at her 
disposal. 



HER LIFE. 153 

accompanied my husband to Germany, it is in- 
credible what a change He has been pleased to 
work upon my mind ; so that I, who formerly 
felt such an aversion to divine things, can now 
find pleasure in them alone. My mind, my in- 
clination, and my delight, are all placed in 
them ; and I despise riches, honours and plea- 
sures, which I was formerly wont to admire. 
Oh ! that you also, dearest princess, would take 
these things into your serious consideration ! 
There is nothing lasting here, believe me all 
things are subject to change ; as the poet says, 
' we must one day all tread the dark paths of 
death,' and time passes swiftly along. Nei- 
ther are riches, nor honours, nor the favour of 
kings, of any avail ; but that faith, with which 
we embrace Christ, can alone rescue us from 
eternal death and condemnation ; which faith, 
as it is the ' gift of God,' you ought to seek by 
frequent prayer. 

" It is not sufficient that you know the his- 
tory of Christ of this Satan himself is not 
ignorant but you are required to have that 
faith which works by love, which makes you 
able to confess Christ among his enemies ; for 
he saith, ' Whoever is ashamed of me, of him 



154 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

will I be ashamed before my Father ;' nor would 
there ever have been any martyrs had it been 
permitted us to conceal our faith. 

" Wherefore, my excellent princess, since 
God has so favoured you as make you see the 
truth, and since you well know that all those 
persons who are now consigned to the stake, 
are innocent, and submit to such tortures for 
the Gospel of Christ, duty enjoins you to ma- 
nifest your sentiments, either by using your 
influence with the king in their favour, or, if 
that shall fail, in praying for them. For if, 
without remonstrance or open displeasure, you 
permit them to be martyred and slain, you will 
appear by your silence not only to connive at, 
but conspire for their murder, and to league 
with the enemies of Christ. 

" Methinks I hear you say, ' If I should do 
this, I shall irritate the king 'or my husband 
against me, and raise myself a host of enemies.' 
Believe me, it is a light thing to be hated by 
men, when compared with the displeasure of 
that God, who not only can ' kill the body,' 
but can consign the soul so unquenchable fires. 
If you have Him, in whose hands are all things, 
for your friend, no one can harm you but by 



HER LIFE. 155 

his permission. Revolve, I pray you, these 
things in your mind, and give me the great sa- 
tisfaction of knowing that you seriously cultivate 
piety, and live in the fear of God. 

" Be diligent, I beseech you, in your study 
of Holy Scripture and in prayer. ' Whatever,' 
says Christ, ' you ask from the Father in my 
name, He will give you.' Remember that you 
are born to immortality, and oh ! do not listen 
to those who thus argue, ' Life is very short, 
therefore let us gratify our desires, and enjoy 
the pleasures of this world !' Hear rather what 
the Apostle Paul says, ' If ye live according to 
the flesh (that is, if you give yourselves up to 
sensual pleasures) ye shall die,' viz. be deli- 
vered up unto everlasting death. 

" I will write further on these matters, if I 
may hope that my letters will be agreeable to 
you ; and will gladly provide you with books 
on Christianity, trusting that your desire is, 
truly to ' learn Christ.' The great love I bear 
to you has dictated this letter, and, when God 
shall call me to His celestial mansions, my 
warmest wish will be that you should be a par- 
taker of the same eternal rewards; and, should 
it be so, (as in Him I trust !) great will be the 



156 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

happiness I shall derive from it, and my grati- 
tude for it to God. 

" Heidelberg, 1st June, 1554." 

The heroism which in the spirit of the above 
admirable exhortations, Anne of Este was en- 
abled, during the trying circumstances attending 
the first marriage, to display, found its earthly 
reward in a happy subsequent union, with James 
of Savoy, Duke de Nemours, general of the 
French armies in Italy; who, dying in 1581, 
she remained a widow, but surrounded with an 
illustrious progeny. " Leaving worldly affairs," 
says an old chronicler, " she passed into heaven 
at Paris, on the 17th of May, 1607, in the 
seventy-sixth year of her age." Thus fulfilling 
(if the quaint but touching words were realized) 
the ardent aspirations of her long-since glori- 
fied, but to the last, affectionate friend. Various 
funeral elegies bear testimony to her universally 
acknowledged virtues. 

A panegyrist of a different class, the enthu- 
siastic votary of female loveliness, Brant6me, not 
content with simply designating her as the most 
beautiful woman in Christendom, has left us 
curious particulars of the first meeting between 



HER LIFE. 157 

her and another royal personage, celebrated 
alike for her pride and her charms, the haughty 
Christina of Denmark, niece to the Emperor 
Charles the Fifth, and widow of the Duke of 
Lorrame. What gave its peculiarity to the in- 
terview was, that the latter princess, scorning 
to ally herself to a cadet of the same family, to 
whose head she had once been united had in- 
dignantly rejected the hand of the Duke de 
Guise ; but on hearing his subsequent good for- 
tune in obtaining that of Anne d'Este, grand- 
daughter of Louis the Twelfth, she felt an ex- 
treme curiosity to see the rival, with whose fame 
for beauty and accomplishments all Europe 
rang. 

The feeling was apparently mutual, and 
Brantome describes with his usual naivete, the 
earnest and protracted gaze fixed on each other 
by two princesses, between whom the palm of 
beauty (notwithstanding the superior youth of 
Anne of Guise) was still almost equally divided. 
" But, adds the honest chronicler," Anne, satis- 
fied with her advantage in that respect, was con- 
tent to yield to her proud rival in haughtiness 
and vain glory. For she was the gentlest, hum- 
blest, and most affable princess I ever knew ; 



158 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

and though her noble features, fine figure, and 
majestic deportment, might inspire a momentary 
awe, yet, when accosted, all was sweetness, can- 
dour, and condescension ; which, indeed, she 
took of her excellent mother, and of Louis the 
Twelfth, the father of his people." 

Such was the royal companion, with whom, 
for ten long happy years, Olympia lived, under 
one roof in the fondest intimacy ; for whom she 
cherished, as we have already seen, a deathless 
affection, and with whom she had shared, for 
the greater part of that period, the inestimable 
benefits of a truly Christian education. For it 
was unquestionably during these bright years, 
so rich in worldly consideration and enjoyments, 
than the seeds of a purer faith were sown by the 
careful hands of the Duchess Renee (with such 
able coadjutors as Sinapius and Morata, Ochino 
arid Curio,) in the tender mind of her protegee. 
But Olympia, in various parts of her subsequent 
correspondence, too forcibly paints her own oc- 
casional disinclination to, and disregard of vital 
religion, while yet the inmate of a palace, and 
the " observed of all observers," to permit the 
most thoughtless to question the expediency of 
that reverse of fortune, by which talents and 



HER LIFE. 159 

affections designed for heaven, were forcibly 
uprooted from earth, and the fleeting smiles of 
a court exchanged for the everlasting sunshine 
of the favour of God. 

In a supposed dialogue between herself and 
another of her illustrious companions, (Lavinia 
della Rovere, afterwards Princess Orsini,) Olyrri- 
pia appeals to her early friend's recollection of 
her distaste for Scriptural reading and divine 
things, and superior fondness, not only for se- 
cular studies, but even for the female vanities 
common to her sex ; as a strong proof of the 
wisdom and goodness of Him, who had, by his 
celestial teaching, so completely turned the cur- 
rent of her thoughts and affections to higher and 
holier pursuits. . 

In all probability, therefore, no discipline less 
mercifully severe, than that which He saw fit to 
adopt, would have extricated this glorious crea- 
ture from what she in another place herself calls 
" being entangled in the mire of vanity and 
folly, in which she would have remained, had 
not God of his mercy drawn her out of it." And 
hence, perhaps, was added in her case, to the 
storm of general persecution which ravaged Fer- 
rara the more bitter trial of unkindness and 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 

alienation where she had been most courted and 
beloved. 

" Nothing," remarks her biographer, 4< is firm 
and stable in human affairs ; for no sooner had 
Olympia experienced the highest patronage and 
countenance of the princes and learned men of 
Ferrara, than suddenly she encountered the bit- 
terest change of fortune. A severe persecution 
was instituted against those who professed Lu- 
theranism at the Court of Ferrara in the year 
1547 ; on which account it became necessary 
for Olympia to leave the court. Misfortune did 
not come single. Her father, Fulvio, was at- 
tacked with a fatal disease ; and that she might 
attend upon him, she returned to his house. 
Her pious father dying in 1548, she was imme- 
diately deserted with the grossest indignity by 
those from whom she had the least deserved it, 
even by Renee herself; and for the instructions 
in science and literature which she had bestowed 
on Anna d'Este, she received only hatred and 
disrespect. In these times, Popes Paul the 
Third and Julius the Third, sent priests into 
Italy, who sought out those professing Luther- 
anism, and tortured them, if obstinate, with the 
severest corporal sufferings. These spies ac- 



HER LIFE. 161 

cused Olympia, (then publicly professing the 
gospel,) to Duke Hercules; by whose authority 
by the malevolence of the spies and the misre- 
presentations of other wicked persons, they so 
accomplished their wish, that even Renee was 
entirely alienated from her. She was almost 
declared a heretic, and hence, in her disgust at 
the pleasures of a court, God fired her mind with 
the desire of privately prosecuting those for- 
bidden sacred studies, of which at that time, she 
thus wrote : " Now no one is permitted to learn 
divine wisdom, or even to read the books of 
either Testament !"* 

But the storm destined ultimately to break on 
the head of the innocent Olympia, had descended, 
even some years earlier, on the crowned brow of 
her royal mistress. As early as 1545 a brief had 
been addressed by the Pope to the ecclesiastical 
authorities of Ferrara (which was regarded by 
the papal See as the great nursery or hot-bed of 
heresy in Italy), authorizing them to investigate, 
even by means of torture, into the religious sen- 
timents of all suspected persons, and transmit 
the result to Rome. This rigorous sentence, 

* Noltenii Vita Olympiae. 
M 



162 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

aimed in a great measure at her own household 
and dependants, proved, of course, very dis- 
pleasing and distressing to Renee ; but as it 
failed in shaking her attachment to the reformed 
opinions, means were taken to enlist in the cause 
of bigotry and persecution her nephew, Henry 
the Second, King of France. He sent his own 
inquisitor to Ferrara, to admonish the Duchess, 
first with gentleness, and as the beloved aunt of 
his sovereign, against the detestable and con- 
demned opinions in which she had entangled her- 
self; and if that proved unavailing, to have 
recourse, in conjunction with the Duke her hus- 
band, to rigour and severity. 

Should remonstrance be unsuccessful, the 
harsh measure was to be ultimately adopted, of 
separating her from her children ; and not allow- 
ing any of her family, accused, or even suspected 
of heretical sentiments, to approach her. These 
last, indeed, were to be brought to trial, and 
exemplary punishment inflicted. 

" The daughter of Louis the Twelfth," (says 
Dr. M'Crie) " whose spirit was equal to her 
piety, spurned these conditions ; and refusing to 
violate her conscience, her children were taken 
from under her management her confidential 



HER LIFE. 163 

servants proceeded against as heretics and she 
herself detained as a prisoner in the palace." 

It was at this stage, probably, of her unworthy 
treatment by a husband, whose blind devotion 
the Church of Rome rewarded (as has been al- 
ready noticed) by the alienation, in the person of 
his grandson, of the Duchy of Ferrara that 
the separation or estrangement, (which latter, 
between spirits so congenial, we can scarcely be- 
lieve it to have been) of Renee and Olympia, 
was finally effected ; it having been represented 
as taking place immediately on the death of her 
father in 1548, when his illness, and her subse- 
quent pious offices to her mother, naturally re- 
moved her for a while from the court. 

There are two particulars deserving of remark 
in the above melancholy, though, as we have 
before said, perhaps salutary reverse of fortune. 
First, the probable share which attendance on 
the death-bed of a father, himself one of the 
most pious and enlightened of Christians,* may 
providentially have had in confirming the faith 

* Nolten says, " Olympia herself is so profuse in her 
praises of the piety and doctrine of her father, who not only la- 
boured so hard in her education, but it appears had also guided 
her opinions in religion that we need scarcely any other 
M 2 



164 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

of his daughter ; and inducing that very public 
profession of religion, in one hitherto lukewarm 
and indifferent, by which her dismissal from 
court was necessitated and justified. If so, how 
blessed was the exchange thus mercifully accom- 
plished, of an earthly for a heavenly parent, and 
of courtly splendour for an unfading crown ! 
When we find that, at a later period, even the 
dignified, spirited Renee herself, made conces- 
sions, at the suggestion of maternal affection, to 
see her children, who can predict to what 
lengths of criminal conformity a timid girl, im- 
perfectly grounded in the faith, might have been 
carried, if left in that polluted atmosphere, where 
Scripture was prohibited, true religion branded 
as heresy, and where the price of compliance 
might have been the continued favour and friend- 
ship of all whom she had been accustomed to 
reverence or to love. 

But if even, as is rendered improbable, both 
by Olympia's silence on the subject, and the 
character of the princess herself, the affections 
of Renee were really alienated by a firmness of 

testimony to his eminence." A more decisive one still will 
be found in a letter from himself to his ' Father in Christ,' 
Celio Secundo Curio, in the latter part cf the present volume. 



HER LIFE. 165 

adherence to religion, of which her own heroic 
life subsequently afforded such decisive evidence, 
the loss was in the mean time amply compen- 
sated. Olympia returned to the bosom of an 
affectionate and pious mother ; and to the re- 
sumption of the most delightful domestic duties, 
in a sphere far more salutary, as well as conge- 
nial to her sex, than that of abstruse studies, and 
classical acquirements ; yet where these were 
turned to their legitimate account, and con- 
verted, from means of ostentatious display, into 
sources of tranquil and homefelt enjoyment. 
This short, but fruitful period of her life is thus 
characterized by her biographer. 

" As a young woman, she now lived piously in 
private life. After her father's death, her mo- 
ther's health having also declined, she, as the 
eldest, took upon her the management of the 
family, and began to educate in a suitable man- 
ner her brother and sisters. She instructed the 
latter, of whom she had three, in all the studies, 
literary and sacred, usually confined to the other 
sex ; and made one of them, Victoria, so excel- 
lent a scholar in Latin and polite literature, that 
in a short time she surpassed most of the illus- 
trious females of Italy. At this time her pri- 



166 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

vate studies were exclusively directed to divine 
things, to which she entirely devoted herself ; oc- 
casionally composing Greek poems, and filling; 
up her leisure hours with her elegant epistles. 

" But, even in her retired home, she was not 
safe. The persecution against the disciples of 
Calvin and Luther still continued ; and Julius 
the Third moved heaven and hell that he might 
extirpate totally those pious men who were im- 
pugning his authority in divine affairs. Those 
he had formerly attempted to get into his power 
by the wiles of the fox, he now attacked with 
the ferocity of the lion. All who were sus- 
pected of Lutheranism were seized, and sum- 
moned to abjure their religion. Many preferred 
the flesh-pots of Egypt to the heavenly manna, 
and, abjuring the truth, came under the yoke of 
the Roman see : others, professing the truth, 
but fearing the persecution, left their country, 
and, crossing the Alps, sought refuge in Ger- 
many, France, and Switzerland ; of whom were 
Isabella Manricha di Bresegna, a woman to 
whose merits justice cannot be done, and Olym- 
pia Morata herself : others, suddenly taken, 
boldly defending the truth, confirmed it by their 



HER LIFE. 167 

death. Of this number was Fannio, of whom it 
is now proper to speak." * 

Faventino Fannio, of Faenza usually said 
(though not correctly) to have been the first who 
suffered martyrdom in Italy for the cause of 
protestantism, which he had embraced, from 
reading the Bible, and other religious books, in 
his native language was two years a prisoner 
for the truth in Ferrara. He had once pur- 
chased his liberty by recantation, on the per- 
suasion of his friends, but gave, during his sub- 
sequent imprisonment, the most edifying ex- 
ample of firmness and resignation. To the 
lamentations of his wife and sister, who came to 
see him in prison, he answered, " Let it suffice, 
that, for your sakes, I once denied the Saviour. 
Had I then had the knowledge which, by the 
grace of God I have acquired since my fall, I 
would not have yielded to your entreaties. Go 
home in peace." f 

It may easily be imagined what striking be- 
nefit the infant cause of the true faith at Ferrara 
received from the instructions and example of 
this excellent sufferer, whose unwearied efforts 

* Noltenii Vita Olympias. 

t M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy. 



168 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

in converting and instructing his fellow-prison- 
ers (some of them men of high rank, confined 
for state crimes) caused them subsequently to 
declare that they had never known true happi- 
ness till they found it within the walls of a 
prison. 

But our chief present interest in the impri- 
sonment and fate of Fannio arises from the fre- 
quent visits paid him during its continuance by 
Olympia Morata, and her illustrious friend, La- 
vinia della Rovere ; to whom, after the latter 
had removed to Rome, Olympia, in several let- 
ters, commends the cause of their persecuted 
instructor in Christ. In one she says " I am 
thankful that you have promised to do all in 
your power in assisting Fannio the more so as 
I know that your authority goes a great way at 
Rome. I trust, that even when you leave that 
city, he may not be left defenceless; and it 
strikes me that you might obtain the promise of 
the Duke to interfere, as a favour to yourself, in 
behalf of one who, you know well, is without 
fault." In another, she thus gently enforces the 
same suit : " You will act in this matter ac- 
cording to your own discretion : only, being 
yourself not unacquainted with suffering, I trust 



HER LIFE. 169 

that will dispose you to bring help to the 
wretched especially to those who have become 
so, not on their own account, but for the sake 
of Christ since you are well aware, that what- 
ever kindness you shew to these, Christ will 
esteem it as done to himself." 

There is something very affecting and edifying 
in the spectacle afforded by two young women 
the one of princely birth, the other educated in 
a court, and, at that time, participating in all its 
delusive smiles passing, voluntarily, a portion 
of their time in the dungeon of a persecuted 
servant of God. And to his example and pre- 
cept there is little doubt the one owed much of 
the firmness of principle which enabled her to 
persevere in a similar course of Christian cha- 
rity, and " bear witness to the truth at Rome 
also ;" and the other, those lessons of meekness 
and magnanimity for which her own subsequent 
life afforded but too much exercise. Beside the 
lowly pallet and fettered limbs of the first Fer- 
rarese martyr, Olympia must have learned much 
of that knowledge (not of this world) by which 
her mind, as she herself declares, was, to her 
own astonishment, weaned from earthly vanities 
and earthly distinctions, and fixed on pleasures 



170 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

and possessions, which the court and dungeon 
were alike incapable of giving, or of taking 
away. Fannio, after two years' imprisonment, 
suffered martyrdom in 1550.* 

The situation of Olympia at this perhaps most 
painful period of a hitherto prosperous life, is 
represented by her biographer in the most 
gloomy colours. " Distracted," he says, " with 
the cares attendant on a large and slenderly 
provided family, seeing no end to her distresses, 
and having before her eyes the spectacle of the 
above-mentioned persecutions, by which she was 
filled with but too well founded personal appre- 
hensions, she suddenly and unexpectedly re- 
ceived assistance and comfort as if from heaven. 
A young man, well instructed in the Greek and 
Latin languages, admiring the great learning 
and irreproachable morals of Olympia, paid his 
addresses to her, and married her, without any 

* It forms a striking feature of identity between the spirit 
of persecution at this time in Italy and in England, -as well 
as of the public sympathy for its victims in both, that while 
Fannio's execution took place, by order of the pope, at a very 
earlyhour, ("to avoid concourse,") the letter of Queen Mary, 
positively prohibiting that Hooper should be allowed to ad- 
dress the people at the stake, has been preserved by Burnet. 



HER LIFE. 171 

other dowry than her understanding. Of his 
own he gave proof, as well as of his goodness of 
heart, when neither the enmity of the princes of 
Ferrara, nor her desolate condition, could deter 
him from marrying and carrying her to his own 
country. And thus was Italy as if she had 
made herself unworthy of so great an honour 
robbed of this distinguished female ; whom 
Germany, as a kind mother, gladly received 
into her bosom." 

Grundler, the fortunate person destined to 
deprive Italy of one of its fairest ornaments, and 
the happy husband of one who never gave him 
a moment's pain, save that he has touchingly 
expressed on the dissolution of their union, 
which he but a short time survived was a young 
man of good family and competent fortune in 
Franconia. According to the laudable custom 
of those times, he had travelled into Italy, to 
improve himself at once in those medical and 
classical studies, which, (if we may judge by 
the innumerable biographies left us by Melchior 
Adam, of German physicians, distinguished in 
both), went then almost invariably hand in 
hand. 

With Grundler this was peculiarly the case ; 



172 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

and his familiar correspondence with the cele- 
brated men of his time the congeniality of his 
pursuits to those of the accomplished Olympia 
the invitation given him to return thither by 
the magistrates of his native city and his 
flattering appointment by the Elector Pala- 
tine to the professorship of medicine in the fa- 
mous university of Heidelberg, sufficiently attest 
the happy combination of liberal studies, with 
no ordinary skill in his own honourable voca- 
tion. His personal worth may be best estimated 
by the extreme affection with which he was able 
to inspire one so gifted and so accustomed to 
the most intellectual and polished society, by 
the melancholy blank she represents herself as 
experiencing during his temporary absence in 
Germany, and by her intense solicitude for his 
life and liberty during the perils they mutually 
encountered. But above all, the natural pathos 
of the letter, in which, on her early decease, he 
has vented his feelings to their mutually be- 
loved Curio, bespeaks the most amiable mind, 
and the possession of qualities fitted to render 
him a suitable companion to the wife whom he 
so touchingly deplores ; and whom he soon fol- 
lowed to a tomb, on which the grief of surviving 



HER LIFE. 173 

friends combined, in one heartfelt memorial of 
enduring esteem, the virtues of a pair " lovely 
in their lives, and in their deaths not long di- 
vided."* 

Fearful lest by dwelling too much on talents 
and acquirements so far above the ordinary fe- 
male standard, we may have weakened those 
tender and exclusively womanly sympathies, 
which no gentle being of the sex ever better de- 
served to inspire ; we cannot resist quoting, al- 
most entire, the letter, full of genuine and inno- 
cent out-pourings of affection and anxiety, in 
which, during their first separation, Olympia 
expresses her feelings on the absence of her com- 
panion and protector. 

" How grieved I am to think, my dear hus- 

* One of the innumerable epitaphs dictated by the regard 
of their associates in literature and friendship runs thus : 

Of her bereft, who shar'd thy studious hours, 
Of her who strew 'd thy wedded couch with flowers, 
Of her who, snatched in deathless bowers to dwell, 
The Muses' gifted band hath gone to swell 
Her soul to heaven in pious faith resign'd, 
Her dust to earth in trembling hope consigned ; 
For thee what task remained ? what ties could stay 
Thy widow'd spirit from the realms of day 1 



174 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

band, that you should have left me, and 
that you will be so long absent ! Indeed 
nothing could well have occurred more vex- 
atious or distressing to me. For though de- 
prived, alas ! of the pleasure of your company, 
my thoughts are never so busy about you as 
during your absence. I am in continual appre- 
hension of your meeting with some accident; 
and when did the evils of imagination not far 
out-do those of reality ? You know the poet's 
remark, 

' Love and care go ever hand in hand.' 

Do, if you would free me from the solicitudes 
that torment me during your absence, omit no 
opportunity of letting me know how you are, 
and what you are about, for, as you well know, 
you cannot give me tidings of aught more plea- 
sant or more dear to me ; indeed were it other- 
wise I should deserve to be hated. Would I 
were only with you ! and then I might have it 
in my power to express far better than in words 
(which indeed I despair of doing) the affection I 
bear you. There is nothing, however painful or 
difficult, which I would not eagerly perform to 



HER LIFE. 175 

gratify you ; and thence you may form some 
idea of the irksomeness of our present separation. 
I think I could bear any other trial on your ac- 
count more easily than this ; therefore, I beseech 
you, do all in your power that we may meet 
in your country this summer, as you pro- 
mised. If you love me as well as I do you, 
I know you will accomplish it ; so I will say 
no more, and spare you further importunities. 
Indeed, it is not from any doubt of your pru- 
dence, or readiness to do what is best; far 
less from a chiding disposition, that I have so 
far ventured to remind you of my anxieties and 
wishes." 

The rest of the letter relates to private and 
domestic affairs. Enough has been quoted to 
show, from the guileless and almost infantine 
tenor of this truly wife-like epistle how far 
from a pedant, or a precieuse, this idol of courts 
and academies was in the hallowed relations of 
private life. Had it been otherwise indeed, she 
might have been admired, courted, and panegy- 
rized, but never would have been loved ; nor 
would the memory of her gentle and feminine 
virtues have become entwined, as we find to 



176 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

have been the case, with the very heart-strings 
of all with whom she had ever lived.* 

The opportune manner in which this con- 
genial connexion came, to rescue one so gentle 
and unoffending, from the avowed displeasure of 
the Duke, the slightly chilled, or at least sus- 
pended friendship of the Duchess, and the pain- 
ful spectacle of the discountenance, molestation, 
and at length direct severity to which her most 
beloved friends were subjected must have greatly 
enhanced in Olympia the feeling of affection 
towards one who bore her away from the storm 
of domestic calamities ; though only, alas ! to 
exchange them for bitter sufferings in a distant, 
and comparatively barbarous country. The ne- 
cessity for leaving behind, especially in such 
trying times, a mother whose widowed grief she 
had cheerfully quitted the court to alleviate, 
and a family of sisters, over whose education she 
had begun so successfully to preside, was a 
great alloy to her wedded happiness. But the 

* The superscriptions of the letters of her friends, in which 
the epithets of "dulcissima" and " dilectissima " Olympia, 
occur as frequently as those of " doctissimae," and.." clarissi- 
mae," and " modestissimee," in those addressed to her by 
strangers, sufficiently attest the warmth of affection which it 
was universally her lot to inspire. 



HER LIFE. 177 

former feeling of regret seems to have found its 
best alleviation in the tidings she received of her 
excellent parent's unshaken steadiness (amid 
surrounding defection) in the profession of their 
mutual faith ; while her anxieties for her sisters 
were much diminished, by their reception into 
the family of her dearest friends. One of them, 
Victoria, was taken under the fostering care of 
her favourite correspondent, the illustrious prin- 
cess Lavinia della Rovere (of whom Olympia 
herself thus writes "I know not a more 
learned, or what is still higher praise, a more 
pious woman in Italy,") and -another placed 
under the equally eligible protection of Ma- 
donna Helena Rangone, of a noble family in 
Modena, long distinguished for the cultivation 
and patronage of learning* ; while her young 
brother, Emilius, whose tender age had deter- 
mined her on making his education her own pe- 
culiar care, accompanied her and her husband 
to Germany. For the beloved relations, thus 
scattered throughout Italy, the interruption of 
j[ intercourse, occasioned by the ravages of war, 

* The third, who remained with her mother, was, as we 
learn from a letter to Celio Curio, honourably and happily 
married to a young man of good fortune and family at Milan. 
N 



178 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

caused her often to suffer extreme anxiety, 
which, amid her own engrossing perils and suf- 
ferings, preyed ever on her mind, and which she 
frequently entreats those of her correspondents, 
at all connected with Italy, to assist her, if 
possible, in removing. 

There are few things, indeed, more affecting 
than the hold, which, amid new ties and the 
most distracting cares, her beautiful though ab- 
jured native land seems to have retained on her 
affections. Love and duty, interest and safety, 
honor and " troops of friends," alike anchored 
her to Germany ; while disgrace and unkind- 
ness, with the still more distressing tidings of 
persecution and consequent apostacy among 
those once most dear to her, united to banish 
all hope, or indeed wish, of ever revisiting Italy. 
Yet did she, like every daughter of that fa- 
voured soil, to which, in one, and one only of 
her letters, she gives (with the illustrious con- 
queror of Carthage) the hard-wrung epithet of 
" Ingrata patria," carry even to her early 
grave, that 

" Dolce memoria delle paterae sponde !" 
which the land of the vine and the olive, amid 



HER LIFE. 179 

all its moral and physical degradation, must 
ever irresistibly inspire. 

The betrothment of Olympia having taken 
place about the end of the year 1548, her nup- 
tials appear to have been celebrated in the 
middle of the year 1549. And now did her 
disinterested sacrifices of credit and court fa- 
vour for conscience sake, begin to receive, even 
in this world, their approrpiate reward ; in the 
kindness and consideration they procured her 
among the professors of the pure faith to which 
she had so nobly adhered. 

John Sinapius, her preceptor, and the friend 
and countryman of her husband, having about 
this time resigned, on religious grounds, his pro- 
fessorship at Ferrara, was appointed chief phy- 
sician to the Bishop of Wurtzburg, and went to 
reside at Augsburgh. Here he recommended 
Grundler in the strongest terms to Ferdinand 
King of the Romans (brother to the Emperor 
Charles the Fifth, by whom we have already 
seen that he was personally esteemed), to his 
counsellor and favourite George Hermann, and 
also to the illustrious and munificent family of 
Count Fugger recommendations which were 
N 2 



180 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

so effectual, that the king kindly promised all 
possible patronage to its objects.* 

On the strength of these flattering invitations 
Grundler appears to have made a preliminary 
visit to Germany, during which, in that unpro- 
tected situation which the perilous state of the 
times rendered doubly distressing, was written 
the simply affectionate epistle from his wife, 
which we have already given at length. We 
cannot resist corroborating its gentle tone of 
conjugal entreaty by the following extract from 
a letter to his friend Sinapius : 

" I entreat you again and again, that you 
will not retain him who is dearer to me than 
life, longer than one month, but that you will 
send him back to me as soon as possible, that I 
may not die of despair. For he, who bore with 

* This recommendation to King Ferdinand, we find from 
a letter of her friend the Princess Lavinia, had been warmly 
seconded by her illustrious family, by whom Olympia and 
her husband were, in the meantime, invited in the most cor- 
dial manner to Parma. As a proof of the great modesty 
which uniformly characterized her, in one of her letters to Si- 
napius at this time, she says, " You will think I am always 
harping on the old string. But I do beg that you will not say 
any more in my praise, or present my poems to Count 
Fugger." 



HER LIFE. 181 

great impatience my absence for two days at 
Terentia's, has now been near two months away 
from me, which you may believe has made me 
very miserable ; so if you wish to free me from 
many cares, you will send him to me with all 
possible expedition." 

Her wifely prayers must have been soon ful- 
filled, for her biographer tells us, that " gladly 
complying with King Ferdinand's invitation, 
and it being highly dangerous for them to re- 
main longer in Italy, Grundler and his partner 
repaired in 1550 to Germany ; taking along 
with them Emilius, the brother of Olympia, a 
boy eight' years of age. 

Near Augsburgh they resided for some months, 
under the hospitable roof of George Hermann, 
who benefited by the medical skill of Grundler, 
and ever after expressed his grateful acknow- 
ledgements by every species of good offices. 
Olympia writes at this time to the famous Lilio 
Giraldo : 

" We have arrived safely in Germany, where 
we have been kindly received by Hermann, 
counsellor to the King of the Romans, with 
whom we have spent some time, and my hus- 
band has cured him of an illness. I am very 



182 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

happy, my husband is much esteemed, and our 
affairs are prosperous." 

Augsburgh, to which they soon after removed 
their residence, was at this time one of the most 
flourishing cities in Europe. In riches, its citi- 
zens rivalled or exceeded the celebrated Vene- 
tian or Genoese nobility. Those in particular 
of the Fugger family (above alluded to as spe- 
cial patrons of Olympia) were so prodigious, 
that its head, a few years before, during the 
famous Diet of Augsburgh, not only entertained 
without inconvenience, for a whole year, under 
his roof, the Emperor Charles the Fifth and his 
retinue but gave him, on that occasion, the os- 
tentatious proof of munificence (ascribed in his- 
torical fictions to so many wealthy citizens), viz. 
burning in his presence, at a fire of cinnamon, 
that monarch's bond for half a million of crowns. 
He was able, notwithstanding, to leave at his 
death six millions of gold crowns, in cash (much 
of it coined by himself, by special privilege, from 
bullion of his own), besides jewels, ships, and 
properties in all countries of Europe and both 
the Indies. 

It was of him that the same emperor who, on 
first seeing the town itself of Paris, had con- 



HER LIFE. 183 

temptuously exclaimed, (in allusion to the supe- 
rior size and splendour of Ghent,) " Je mettrais 
tout Paris dans noon Gand," said, on being 
shewn the treasury of the former city, " I have 
a burgher of Augsburgh who could buy it all 
with his own gold." And truly he might well 
say so of one, by whom his own mighty empire, 
colossal as it was, had often in times of financial 
distress, been propped and sustained ! 

But it was not in bolstering monarchies only 
that the generous spirit of these burghers of Augs- 
burgh manifested itself. To found hospitals 
and schools on the most liberal scale was a com- 
mon thing with them ; and about the time of 
which we are writing, three brothers of the family 
purchased a suburb of Augsburgh, and rebuilt 
it with small commodious houses, to be let to 
indigent industrious citizens for a trifling rent. 
And this well known, far famed " Fuggerei" still 
exists, with its own walls and gate, the noblest 
and most unique of monuments. This truly ho- 
nourable family, (the founder of which in the 
fourteenth century, actually plied the shuttle 
in a village near Augsburgh,) had in 1619, 
so branched out, that there were forty- seven 
Counts and Countesses belonging to it, and four 



184 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

stout stems of the rank of Princes subsisted at a 
still later period.* 

The style of hospitality consequent on this 
enormous wealth, and of which the connexion 
of Olympia and her husband with the household 
of the brother of Charles the Fifth, must no 
doubt have made them partakers was so 
princely, that it may be curious to dwell for a 
moment on an almost contemporary account of 
a marriage entertainment at Augsburg. 

" Truly I must confess, that in all my life I 
never looked on fairer ladies than these, of whom 
there were seventy in all ; each dressed in white 
damask to please the bride, and covered all over 
with chains and jewels, f And the hall large 



* Spiegel der Ehren. 

t Misson, who happened to witness at Augsburg, about 
a century later, a magnificent marriage ceremony, proves 
that in wealth at least, its citizens had not degenerated. 
" The bride," says he, "was loaded with gold, a chain (like 
that of some order), hung from her neck another, equally 
massive, formed her girdle ; every seam of her gown was 
bordered, and its bottom fringed with the same metal ; and 
her very head fantastically attired (in a manner hardly to be 
described), with a sort of wig of gold wire, at every intersec- 



HER LIFE. 185 

and handsome, sparkling with gold and silver, 
so that one might take it for a paradise. In the 
evening, I attended a rich maiden home, whose 
father's fortune, it was said, exceeded two tons 
of gold. I was received by him as if I had been 
a prince, and nobly treated. Then as is the 
custom in the place, he conveyed me home to 
my lodging in a coach, attended with torches. 
I wished such a life might last many years." 

In such scenes of festivity the far higher views 
and pursuits of Olympia, (for at this very time 
she writes that, " she spends her time with the 
muses, and in her yet dearer sacred studies,") 
as well as the painful circumstances under which 
she quitted Italy, must, no doubt, have indis- 
posed her for partaking. Yet one cannot help 
here remarking, how gentle her prolonged resi- 

tion of which dangled a drop of polished gold, which sparkled 
with every movement she made." 

It affords a curious instance of a hereditary love for pecu- 
liar styles of display, that, in Augsburgh, at the present day, 
not only does the head-dress of the peasantry exhibit, as in 
many parts of Holland, plates of solid gold, but even the 
modish modern costume of its burgher females, is blended 
with a crown-like appendage of the same costly material. 



186 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

dence in so polished a city as Augsburgh, must 
have rendered the transition from the luxury and 
comparative refinement of Italian domestic life, 
to the then rude and barbarous tone of manners 
prevailing throughout Germany. From the mi- 
nute picture left us in the autobiography of a 
knight who flourished even subsequently to 
Olympia's sojourn in Germany, and at a period 
when the additional turbulence of civil and re- 
ligious wars had nearly subsided ; we may infer 
that not only did excessive drinking, and deep 
gambling, and their consequent broils, with 
other vices common to a semi-barbarous state 
of society, almost universally prevail ; but that 
they specially characterized the courts of the 
petty sovereigns of that period. How beneficial 
was the change which the Reformation in some 
instances introduced, Olympia has recorded in 
her picture of the little hospitable courts of 
Rhineck and Erbach ; but that it was far from 
general, the testimony of the jolly chamberlain 
of the swindling, dissipated Duke Henry of 
Lignitz, too decidedly proves. At the same time 
other contemporary documents shew, that along 
with the gorgeous magnificence we have de- 
scribed, in such cities as Augsburgh there yet 



HER LIFE. 187 

existed, in the ordinary accommodations of life, 
throughout Germany, a primitiveness and want 
of comfort, by which the absence of the " beau 
ciel d'italie" must have been tenfold enhanced. 
And few things could more effectually prove 
how completely higher interests, and the enjoy- 
ment of religious liberty, had superseded in the 
mind of Olympia, all minor considerations, than 
the total want of all allusion in her preserved 
correspondence, to a change, which to many of 
her sex, would have been so painful and annoy- 
ing.* 

But she and her husband were ere long to 
evince in a far more decisive manner, their de- 
liberate preference of that " better part which 



* Once only, and that without a word of complaint, does she 
unconsciously confirm the above statement ; by desiring Sina- 
pius, (whose daughter was about to become her guest at Hei- 
delberg,) to send her bed along uith her, as such articles of 
furniture were excessively dear, indeed not to be purchased 
at the time in the place ! A still more curious corroboratioifc 
of their scarcity is to be found in Misson, who says, that 
when travelling, more than a hundred years later, with a 
young English nobleman, the son of the Duke of Ormond, 
" all the way from Heidelberg to Nurernburg, they could sel- 
dom get any thing better than rtraw to sleep on ! ! ! " 



188 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

could not be taken from them," over the most 
tempting worldly advantages. Through the in- 
fluence of their steady friend, George Hermann, 
Grundler received the offer of what his biographer 
calls " the splendid appointment at the Court of 
Austria, of chief physician to Ferdinand King of 
the Romans ; which they refused because they 
foresaw that there it would not be permitted 
them to profess Christ openly."* 

There is something abundantly honourable to 
the firm and consistent piety of Olympia and her 
husband, in the above simple record of so no- 
table a sacrifice of worldly interest and advan- 
tage, at the shrine of religion. But the human 
and natural wish to accept (if compatible with 
their Christian profession) a situation of such 
credit and emolument, evinced by the letter of 
Olympia herself on the subject reflects ad- 
ditional interest as well as honor, on the un- 
hesitating triumph accorded by the conscientious 
pair to the cause of their Master's service and 
their own immortal welfare. And it would be 
doing them great injustice to withhold a docu- 
ment worthy of the best and purest ages of 

* Noltenii Vita Olympiae. 



HER LFIE. 189 

Christianity; one which, instead of a young 
court favourite of three and twenty, Paul him- 
self, who " counted all things but loss for the 
sake of Christ," need not have been ashamed to 
pen. 

" OlympiaMorata to Antony Hermann, junior. 

" Your father has most kindly written to an- 
nounce bis having obtained for us so excellent 
an appointment, that you may believe we would 
most willingly accept it. But there is one diffi- 
culty, I should rather say impediment, to our 
acceptance of it, or which, as it may possibly be 
in your power to remove it, I have thought 
proper to consult you, and request your friendly 
assistance. 

" You are well aware that we are soldiers of 
Christ, and have taken our solemn oath to his 
service ; so that if we desert it, we shall be 
liable to everlasting punishment. And such is 
the greatness and omnipotence of our heavenly 
Captain, that not only has he over his soldiers the 
power of life and death, but can even consign 
them to eternal condemnation ; nor will he suf- 
fer them for a single instant to be off their duty. 
Wherefore we ought to be especially careful, 
lest from fear of worldly enemies we forfeit his 



190 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

protection ; or from love of worldly advantages, 
rush into dangerous situations, in which we may 
be tempted to commit crimes against his laws. 

" I most earnestly entreat, therefore, that by 
your own letters, or those of your friends who 
reside at Lintz, you will inform us if (as we have 
heard) Antichrist is exerting his cruelty in that 
place ; and if they punish severely all who do 
not attend mass, and who cultivate the true re- 
ligion. For our deliberate opinion is that we 
are not at liberty to conform to the outward 
worship of a perverted and impious faith, and at 
the same time profess to be Christians. If, 
therefore, as in other places, the inquisitors of 
Antichrist would there take observation of us, 
and wish to force us into their style of worship, 
we cannot go thither ; for by so doing, (as I said 
before,) we should sin against God. I beseech 
and intreat that you will assist us in this matter 
with your information and advice. Farewell." 

Truly might Olympia (alluding no doubt to 
this magnanimously rejected preferment) say in 
her letter to Anne of Guise, " Not that I wish to 
live again in a court, for that, if I chose, I 
might do here ; " and truly did she prove by the 
refusal how much the well-known perils and 



HER LIFE. 191 

temptations of such a residence outweighed in 
her mind its temporal advantages. Circum- 
stances unknown to us, but no doubt over-ruled 
by Providence, also induced her and her hus- 
band to decline at this period an invitation from 
the inhabitants of Heidelberg ; the acceptance 
of which, would, humanly speaking, have 
averted from them much of misery and privation, 
but have deprived the world of the example of 
piety and resignation afforded by Olympia during 
the memorable fourteen months' siege of her 
husband's native city, Schweinfurt in Franco- 
nia. 

Thither they now repaired at the call of duty, 
and at the summons of its magistrates ; who, on 
a large Spanish army being sent by the emperor 
into winter quarters there, strongly urged their 
townsman, Grundler, to come, and, by fixing his 
residence among them, to afford this large body 
of foreign mercenaries the benefit of his medical 
skill. On their way, however, to Schweinfurt, 
they visited their kind friend, John Sinapius, at 
Wurtzburgh, where a great shock awaited them. 
Emilius, Olympia's little brother, fell from a 
very high window on some rocky ground, but, 
strange to say, did not suffer more than if he 



192 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

had fallen on soft earth, and being wonderfully 
preserved by a kind Providenoe, escaped unhurt. 
Here Olympia gave herself up, in her usual 
manner, to literature, and, " knowing (says her 
biographer) no greater content, often continued 
reading the whole day." 

How agreeably to both parties these peaceful 
and refreshing studies must have been conducted 
under the hospitable roof of her early preceptor, 
it is not difficult to imagine ; as their whole cor- 
-ffespondence fully attests the great friendship 
and community of feeling which subsisted be- 
tween them.* Sinapius, like herself, was an 

* Melchior Adam, in his life of Sinapius, represents him 
as -a truly amiable person, and one who, even in his old age, 
was remarkable for the sweetness of his disposition and man- 
ners. He relates the following interesting anecdote of his 
sojourn at the court of Wurtzburg. " The bishop of that 
see was shot by an assassin, and Sinapius, who was present, 
performed the last offices of religion to the dying prince ; 
spread his own cloak on the ground for him, consoled him 
by recounting the merits of Christ, and exhorted him to for- 
giveness of his murderers. The prince, with eyes upturned 
to heaven assented, and immediately expired, in the open 
air, exposed to the sun, among some shrubs." Is there not, 
in the circumstance of the last moments of a proud catholic 
prelate, thus edified and consoled by the genuine Christianity 



HER LIFE. 193 

elegant poet, and an eminent Greek scholar : 
and it was, perhaps, to a revision of her studies, 
with his friendly co-operation, that the " golden 
works" in that language, which she produced 
shortly after, owed their existence and per- 
fection. 

Among these, her biographer specially notices 
a Greek version of many of the Psalms " of 
which a few," says he, " only remain, and from 
which it is evident that she almost always imi- 
tated Homer. She generally used the heroic 
measure ; but there is extant in her works the 
forty-sixth Psalm, in Sapphic verse, which was 
greatly admired by the most exquisite judges." 

The curiosity excited by the foregoing eulo- 
gium, in the writer of these pages, to see for 
once the simple dignity of Holy Writ clothed in 
the heroic garb of Greece, having been gratified 
by an eminent scholar, it is presumed the fol- 

ot his protestant physician, without " bell, book, or candle," 
on the very spot of his assassination, something pleasing and 
honourable to the pure faith thus inculcated ? Few things 
are more striking in the general history of the Reformation, 
than the promotion of its professors to places of trust and 
emolument (even under .those of a different persuasion,) for 
their superior learning, ability, and conduct." 
O 



194 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

lowing perfectly literal version from the Greek 
of Olympia will be equally acceptable to other 
female readers ; to whom it will probably convey 
(with enhanced respect for the yet superior sub- 
limity of unadorned Scripture) a high idea of 
the hitherto unknown majesty of Homer. Its 
connexion with the text has assigned it a place 
here. 

PSALM XLVI. 

{Literally from the Greek of Olympia Morata.) 

1. My God is a helper of disconsolate mortals, their im- 
pregnable bulwark in danger, and their only soother when 
broken down by many toils. 

2. Therefore, my heart, wilt thou fear no ill, though before 
mine eyes thou shouldst see at once the whole earth, and 
dark-shaded mountains, thrust into the briny flood. 

3. For should the deep, with impetuous surge, overwhelm 
the lofty summits of the mountains, covered with dark foliage, 
and move the wide earth itself, 

4. Yet is there a sacred fountain belonging to the city 
where God manifests his might, pouring forth a pellucid 
stream that shall gladden the golden mansions of the Eternal. 

5. For He that is the King of men, and the Leader of 
the Hosts above, reigneth in His might in this city, and no 
distress or woe can reach it. 

6. Many tribes indeed of powerful people, many kings 
come against us, with the thunder of whose tread the resound- 
ing earth is shaken. 



HER LIFE. 195 

7. But He that is more of might, the strong in battle, the 
Leader whom all hosts obey, hath manifested himself as the 
helper and guardian of us and ours. 

8. Ye people of every land, learn how glorious and admi- 
rable are all His works, both in the earth, and in the man- 
sions of the starry heaven. 

9. He hath parted the armies engaged in fierce battle, He 
hath broken the crooked bow, He hath shattered the spear 
and consumed the bucklers with fire. 

10. Look to me, saith He that guides the embattled host, 
see what might and what armour are mine, 1 alone bear sway 
among men, and among the inhabitants of heaven. 

11. He that is superior in might, the strong in battle, the 
glorious Leader, whom all hosts obey, hath manifested him- 
self as the helper and guardian of us and ours. 

Having left their kind friend, Sinapius, in 
1551, Grundler and his wife finally settled at 
Schweinfurt, for the sake, says her biographer, 
of being permitted openly to profess Christ. 
Here, in the enjoyment of peace, he adds, did 
she compose her " golden works," comprising 
(besides the sacred poems already alluded to) 
her Latin dialogues, two of which, where she 
supposes a conversation between herself and 
Lavinia della Rovere, are still extant, and the 
most interesting of which will be found trans- 
lated, in the collection (a scanty and fragment- 
o2 



196 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

ary one, alas !) of her writings at the end of the 
volume. While on the subject of these dia- 
logues, it may be well to remark, that though 
the amusement, instruction, and solace in trying 
circumstances of the Princess Ursini were, as 
Olympia herself declares, the special design of 
the composition, and though they distinctly 
point at the domestic vexations of that illus- 
trious lady it would be doing gross injustice to 
one, whom their writer styles the " most pious 
woman in Italy," to ascribe to her (without the 
due modifications of fictitious dialogue) senti- 
ments of idle vanity and criminal discontent, 
which are evidently only put into the mouth of 
one of the speakers, to-be refuted and con- 
demned by the other. At the same time, their 
truth to human and female nature, render the 
admirable admonitions they draw forth, ap- 
plicable to any age and country of the world. 

In these elegant and laudable pursuits, the 
days of Olympia for a while glided gently and 
happily away. " She found at Schweinfurt," 
says her biographer, " a great many patrons, 
friends, and favorers, and began to pass her life 
sweetly and comfortably." 

And gladly do we pause to enjoy with her 



HER LIFE. 197 

the short breathing time of refreshing sere- 
nity, graciously afforded to recruit the frame, 
and invigorate the spirits of Olympia, for a pe- 
riod of unparalleled suffering. How eloquently 
does she, during its continuance, expatiate, in a 
letter to her paternal friend, Curio, on the con- 
trast between her peaceful existence in her hus- 
band's country, and among his friends, to the 
latter part of her stay at court; during which, 
she says, she was much estranged from the pur- 
suit of heavenly wisdom, and even (probably 
after the persecution of the Duchess had put an 
end to such profitable exercises in her family) 
from the perusal of the Scriptures to the en- 
dangering, she remarks, of her eternal interests. 
It is probably to her deep sense of the perils 
of this season of sloth and negligence, that we 
owe the frequent and earnest recommendations 
to the female friends she left behind in the ener- 
vating atmosphere of the court, never to relax 
for a moment in the duties of self-examination 
and devotion ; and to encroach, if necessary for 
the reading of the Holy Scriptures, even on their 
natural rest. " If you have little leisure," writes 
she to her favourite sister, Victoria, then at- 
tached to the suite of her friend, the Princess 



198 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Ursini, " after your duties to your mistress rise 
a little earlier, and go to bed later ; and having 
shut yourself up in your chamber, go over those 
things that relate to salvation, for God commands 
us to seek, above all things, his kingdom and 
righteousness. Having done this, commit your- 
self to Him with that mind and faith, that reve- 
rence and honour, that become a Christian and 
a noble lady." 

Nor was it the younger sister alone, whom her 
fostering cares and bright example had formed 
into no unworthy pupil, that (at the early age of 
twenty-four) Olympia was qualified and prompted 
by Christian charity, in the " very spirit of love 
and meekness," to admonish. Not content with 
an affectionate message, conveyed in the above- 
quoted letter to her sister's princely patroness, 
that she should " seek relief, in all her cares 
and sorrows, from Christian philosophy," or with 
urging her, in another to herself, to " pay her 
whole attention (through God's blessing) to 
these studies, and implore Him to be her teacher 
in true religion" solicitude for her beloved 
friend's uneasiness under the absence and im- 
plied harshness of her husband, induced her to 
abstract from her own avocations sufficient lei- 



HER LIFE. 199 

sure to write for her admonition the dialogues 
already alluded to ; in which the folly as well 
as sinfulness of earthly repining, and the im- 
measurable superiority of the joys of Eternity 
over the " light afflictions" of Time, are set 
forth with all the eloquence of the heart, and 
with a maturity of judgment, which experience 
in trials could alone, at so early an age, have 
produced. 

Alas ! it was destined to be ere long more fully 
ripened by perils and vicissitudes ; compared to 
which, the evils of court disgrace, or even expa- 
triation itself, must have seemed trivial. " Short," 
to use the words of her biographer, " was the pe- 
riod of felicity, and the most dreadful storm suc- 
ceeded to those halcyon days." Germany was 
at this time a prey to the most violent intestine 
divisions, of which religion was either the occa- 
sion or the pretext ; and the restless spirit of 
Albert, Marquis of Brandenburgh, had long ren- 
dered him the scourge of whole districts, which 
it seemed his congenial occupation and native 
element to ravage and lay waste.* Of these 

Voltaire, in his annals, gives him the name of Alcibia- 
des probably in allusion to the mischiefs he brought upon 
his unhappy country ; and Sleidan, in his history of the 



200 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

spoliations Franconia was now become the scene ; 
and having, on account of its advantageous po- 
sition, thrown a large portion of his army of out- 
laws and marauders into the imperial city of 
Schweinfurt, he was closely besieged there by the 
Bishops of Bamberg and Wurtzburgh, the Elec- 
tor of Saxony, and the Duke of Brunswick. 

This siege lasted fourteen months, and in ad- 
dition to the already sufficient evil of harbouring 
within its walls, for so great a length of time, a 
lawless and mutinous soldiery, and to the perpe- 
tual bombardment to which it was exposed from 
a superior besieging force the unhappy city 
had to sustain the depopulating ravages of pes- 
tilence, the severities of famine, and was finally 
given up to the flames by its professed deliverers ; 
who entered and set fire to it at the moment when 
the retreat of Albert and his garrison had inspired 
the wretched inhabitants with delusive hopes of 
respite from their protracted miseries. 

Reformation, perpetually represents him as burning towns 
and villages, levying contributions, &c. The exasperation 
against him of the bishops is not surprising, since he had 
exacted of the Bishop of Bamberg " twenty towns and lord- 
ships," and of the Bishop of Wurtzburgh, more than " five 
hundred thousand florins." 



HER LIFE. 201 

These may be best estimated from the natural 
and affecting details given in Olympia's own 
letters, several of which minutely describe their 
hardships and sufferings, as well as the uniform 
resignation and trust in God with which they 
were surmounted. It is delightful to be able 
to trace these to their only true and efficient 
fountain, by the aid of a letter, which (in 
the ninth month of the siege, and before the oc- 
currence of its crowning disasters of pestilence, 
plunder, and fire,) Olympia addressed to her 
friend Lavinia della Rovere ; and where, after 
enumerating a variety of evils, among which 
residence in a cellar, on account of the constant 
cannonade, was by no means the worst she 
thus expresses herself : 

" In all our evils we have been sustained by 
the solace of the Word of God, on account of 
which we have never looked back on the ' flesh 
pots of Egypt,' but chose rather to hazard our 
lives, when we might have been living luxuriously 
elsewhere; and although still exposed to these ca- 
lamities, yet, because we have a God always pre- 
sent with us, we trust that in his own good time 
he will set us free. Join your prayers to our's 
that we may be delivered, for we have been now 



202 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

nine months besieged. That all these things 
have happened to us for our neglect of the Word 
of God, I cannot doubt ; for which cause it is 
certain that Jerusalem was overwhelmed to its 
foundations. Wherefore, apply with your whole 
heart to the Scriptures, which alone will unite 
you to God. Make but them your way-faring 
companions, and all other things, even the dear- 
est, may be left behind. Farewell, my beloved 
Lavinia, you are always in my mind, and can 
never be absent from it while life remains. 
" Schweinfurt, 4th Feb. 1552." 

The heavenly aid thus appreciated and im- 
plored was not invoked in vain. The first dread- 
ful calamity in which the devoted city (already 
grievously impoverished by the exactions of an 
ill-paid and lawless soldiery) was involved, was 
famine ; in the midst of which, as Olympia grate- 
fully expresses it, " by the kind providence of 
God, they had still the necessaries of life, and 
were even enabled in a slight measure to assist 
others." But to famine succeeded its natural 
ally and follower pestilence; and from the 
frightful epidemic which carried off one half of 
the population of Schweinfurt, the medical skill 



HER LIFE. 203 

of Grundler was insufficient to preserve him. 
By this disease,* which in some of its symptoms 
wore a singular resemblance to that with which 
Europe has of late been visited, Grundler was 
brought to the gates of death ; from whence none, 
says his afflicted wife, save He in whose hands 
are the keys of the grave, could have brought 
him again. " But God," she adds, " taking pity 
on my grief, restored him without the use of me- 
dicines, for indeed there were none remaining in 
the place." 

Scarcely had her husband become convales- 
cent, when the increased violence of the siege 
and reinforcement of the besiegers, compelled 
them to take up their permanent abode in the 
wine-cellar, where they had formerly found a 
temporary retreat. " At this time," writes 
Olympia, " they threw fire night and day into 
the city ; so that at night you would have 
thought it was all in flames;" and this appear- 
ance was but too prophetic of the fate which 
shortly befel it ; for immediately on that with- 
drawal of Marquis Albert and his troops, to 

* In addition to its rapid and mortal nature, she particu- 
larly states that it "occasioned to many the loss of reason, 
from the violence of the pain." 



204 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

which the harassed inhabitants had looked 
forward as to the end of their troubles, his ex- 
asperated enemies, having (apparently in viola- 
tion of some agreement) entered the city, gave 
it up to pillage, and set it on fire. 

Plundered of everything, unable to carry 
along with them from the wreck of their pro- 
perty, even the " smallest piece of coin," or to 
rescue, what to her would have been a thousand 
times more precious, Olympia's valuable books 
and writings, all of which perished in the flames 
the destitute pair were seeking safety for their 
lives in a church, which they naturally sup- 
posed would afford them the securest asylum ; 
when a truly providential warning, given them 
by an enemy's soldier, dissuaded them from 
their purpose. And gratefully does Olympia 
commemorate an interposition which alone saved 
them from perishing by suffocation, along with 
all the unhappy fugitives who had taken refuge 
in the church. 

While hastening, in compliance with the 
friendly soldier's advice, to escape from the 
burning city, they were stripped in the streets 
by some of his rude comrades, who left Olympia 
with only a single garment to cover her. But 



HER LIFE. 205 

this was a minor evil, compared to the arrest 
and detention of her husband. " This," says 
she to her sister, " was the most dreadful mis- 
fortune that had ever befallen me ; for methinks 
if he had been longer detained, or if God had 
withdrawn his aid (for He restored him at my 
entreaty) I must have died of grief. I could 
easily have borne the loss of all our other 
effects, but in no measure that of my dearest 
husband." 

Rescued at length, as if by miracle, from the 
hands of a ferocious soldiery, and permitted to 
depart they knew not whither, the fugitives, after 
some hesitation, took the road to Hamelburg, a 
small village, three German (or nine English) 
miles from Schweinfurt, which Olympia reached, 
she says, " with extreme difficulty, without 
shoes, her hair dishevelled, her borrowed gar- 
ments torn, her bare feet bleeding in short," 
she adds (with the cheerfulness which never 
deserts her) " looking for all the world like the 
Queen of the beggars." 

When we consider the fatigue and exertion of 
this dreadful journey, in the sultry month of 
July, in fear of her life, and destitute of the 
most ordinary accommodations, to one accus- 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 

tomed from infancy to the " gilded coaches" in 
which she somewhere says the " women of Fer- 
rara love to ride," or to the luxurious litters, 
one of which, on some temporary absence from 
court, her maternal friend the Duchess was in 
the habit of sending for her we shall not be 
surprised at the fever which ensued, and which 
not only continued through all her further wan- 
derings, but probably paved the way for her 
early decease ; especially as the terrified in- 
habitants of Hamelburg denied them the rites of 
hospitality, and compelled her, in four days, to 
resume her weary pilgrimage. 

Once more, during its course, was the life of 
her husband, and, as a necessary consequence, 
she says, her own also, in jeopardy ; by their 
detention in one of the episcopal towns, whose 
governor had strict orders from his " most mer- 
ciful master, the bishop, to put to death all 
refugees from Schweinfurt." " Our heavenly 
Father," she adds, " once more heard my 
groans ;" and after awaiting in agonies of sus- 
pense, the result of a reference to the bishop, 
the harassed exiles were, by his permission, 
finally set at liberty. 

From this time forth, as Olympia gratefully 



HEB, LIFE. 207 

commemorates, " God began to look favourably 
on those whom he had long seen meet (though 
still ' in the midst of judgment remembering 
mercy') so variously and severely to try." The 
most friendly and unexpected protection was 
extended to the fugitives by several protestant 
princes ; and while yet on their journey, the 
tidings of their misfortunes induced benevolent 
individuals entirely unkown to them, even by 
name, to send them large supplies of clothes and 
money. 

Their first shelter was the hospitable court of 
the Count of Rhineck, who had married Eliza- 
beth, sister to the Elector Palatine, which illus- 
trious lady (of whose own long life of sufferings, 
and resignation under them Olympia gives a 
most affecting account,) watched over her poor 
sick guest with the tenderness of a mother, 
clothed her from her own wardrobe " waited 
upon her" as she expresses it, " with her own 
hands, and was ever ready at her bedside, to 
afford her assistance and consolation." 

At Furstenburgh, the seat of those excellent 
princes, they remained a considerable time, and 
then seem to have been handed over to the en- 
joyment of similar hospitality at the little Court 



208 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

of Erbach ; where, amid all the refreshing purity 
of morals and strictness of religious observance 
which genuine piety could inspire, was laid the 
foundation of a friendship which seems to have 
flourished throughout the remainder of Olympia's 
short life. For, when opening soon after, with 
maternal tenderness, her arms to the motherless 
daughter of her friend Sinapius, she enumerates 
among the chief advantages of domestication in 
her family, the familiar intercourse she would 
thereby enjoy with the beautiful and well-edu- 
cated daughters of the noble house of Erbach. 

Here Olympia and her husband remained in 
peace and comfort, till summoned thence by the 
gratifying appointment of Grundler, by the 
Elector Palatine, to the Professorship of Medi- 
cine in the University of Heidelberg. 

This city, where the harassed and persecuted 
pair were at length permitted, under circum- 
stances so honourable and consolatory, to take 
up their short-lived residence was then, as now, 
the seat of one of the most considerable univer- 
sities of Germany ; though from Olympia's letters 
it appears, that by the violence of civil war the 
students had been pretty generally dispersed. 
" At this calamitous and turbulent period," she 



HER LIFE. 209 

writes from thence to her sister " the study of 
arms has completely superseded that of letters." 

But though the dispersion of many learned 
inmates may have robbed the place of its chief 
charm in the eyes of so ardent a votary of liter- 
ature, and though the seeds of disease had 
already been sown by hardships and exposure 
in her delicate constitution, yet. the wearied 
frame and harassed spirit of Olympia must have 
been, for a time at least, invigorated, by the 
pure air and smiling environs of a city, perhaps 
unrivalled in Germany for beauty of situation 
and surrounding fertility. 

It is true that at this period the Elector Pala- 
tine, the friend and patron of Olympia, was him- 
self too deeply involved in the exhausting civil 
conflicts of Germany to indulge in a magnificence, 
of which the ruins of the princely palace, built 
by his descendants on the eminence overhanging 
the town, abundantly attest the extent. But of 
this mighty pile, the older and by far the most 
picturesque portion was then in existence ; and 
the knoll on which the massy tower ascribed to 
the Romans, and rent for centuries to its very 
base, is arrested midway on its passage down the 
precipice, by a living wall of ivy, must then, as 
p 



210 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

now, have afforded to the thoughtful lover of 
nature, one of the sweetest of walks, and moat 
magnificent of panoramas. 

It is true that the tangled and tasteful shrub- 
beries by which it has been covered at a subse- 
quent and more peaceful period, could not then 
have existed. Nor were its precincts associated 
with and haunted (as to the mind's eye of the 
English traveller especially they have now be- 
come) by the ennobling though painful memory 
of another protestant sufferer the dauntless and 
devoted daughter of James the First, and worthy 
namesake of a former Elizabeth of England 
whom, without forfeiting one gentle or feminine 
grace which could add interest to misfortune, 
she equalled in heroic fortitude, and excelled in 
enlightened devotion to protestantism. 

Those who have felt how completely, on visit- 
ting Heidelberg, every feature of its mouldering 
palace, and thicket of its silent deserted gardens, 
is interwoven with the memory of the short-lived 
bridal festivities, unparalleled reverses, andhouse- 
less wanderings, of an English princess, with 
whose misfortunes and excellences all Europe 
once rung will not wonder that the coincidence 
which terminated on the same spot the similar 



HER LIFE. 21 ?' 

perils of a kindred, though far humbler sufferer 
for the truth, should have blended them for a 
moment in one brief vision before the mind's 
gaze. On the same lovely windings of the here 
uniting Maine and Neckar on the same ex- 
panse of smiling meadows, bordered by vine- 
clad hills, terminating in the blue frame-work 
of the romantic Bergstrasse, the eyes of both 
must often have rested. But while those of the 
stranger pilgrim closed in peace beneath the 
friendly shadow of the palace of the Palatines, 
it was at a distance alike from her beloved Eng- 
land, and from the Heidelberg, endeared to her 
by a display almost unrivalled of conjugal 
affection and munificence, that its princely 
mistress laid down in the grave a head, which 
two crowns of earth had mocked for a brief mo- 
ment, but to fit it more conspicuously for an 
unfading one on high.* 

The description given by Olympia to her sister, 
of that Palatine Princess, whose personal kind- 
ness she had experienced, and whose trials had 

* Misson saw, in 1687, near Arnheim, in the territory of 
Holland, (with the respect due to the asylum of fallen great- 
ness,) the modest mansion erected for himself and his family 
by the Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia. 
p2 



212 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

excited her warmest sympathy, is so applicable 
to the character and fate of Elizabeth of Eng- 
land, that with it we shall close the digression 
it probably at first suggested. 

" Now this most illustrious lady, of whom I 
have spoken above, carries her cross, and one 
which is not light ; and yet she is of royal 
lineage, from whence kings and emperors have 
sprung. But although thus highly descended, 
she is content with a more humble lot, and both 
she and her husband have often been called on 
to hazard their lives and fortunes. During nine- 
teen years she has seldom been a single day free 
from affliction, and now she is dangerously ill 
and her life despaired of. But being eminently 
religious, she always speaks of God and a future 
life with great desire and eagerness." 

The fortune which so relentlessly persecuted to 
the last the dethroned sovereigns of Heidelberg, 
had yet in store a calamity, by which to embitter 
the residence there of the unoffending Olympia 
and her husband. During the first year of their 
sojourn, the plague, which had previously raged 
so fiercely at Spires, as to occasion the removal 
from that city of the Germanic Diet, broke out 
at Heidelberg, and all whose circumstances per- 



HER LIFE. 213 

milled, or to whom life was dear, precipitately 
fled. 

Olympia and her husband, anchored by no 
ties, and whose " occupation" (by the dispersion 
of the students) was " gone" might easily have 
followed the example. But weary of wandering, 
uncertain whither lo belake ihemselves, and 
above all, (says iheir biographer,) " Irusling 
ihemselves enlirely lo God, remained, and were 
preserved safe from ihe peslilence." Our recenl 
experience of ihe consternation created among 
ourselves by an epidemic, which, formidable as 
it is, must yet yield in general mortality as well 
as in posilive conlagion, lo lhal " plague" from 
whose scourge Europe seems now happily deli- 
vered may enable us lo eslimale ihe chrislian 
courage requisite for braving its horrors, and 
encountering, wilh harassed spirilS and enfeebled 
conslilulions, an enemy so terrible and un- 
sparing. 

But the mind of Olympia was fast ripening in 
the furnace of affliction, for immortality ; and 
even thus long before her early death, she spoke 
and wrote of its gloomy precincts, as of not only 
an approaching, but a " wished -for haven." 
There is in a long course of vicissitudes and ca- 



214 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

lamities, (especially when embittered as it was 
now to Olympia, by the most distressing ac- 
counts of the persecution and defections at Fer- 
rara, and the spectacle, so painful to a truly 
Christian mind, of the religious dissensions in 
Germany,) something which not only reconciles 
the gentler and purer spirits of the world to a 
departure out of its troubled sphere but gives 
rise to that sense of longing aspiration after a 
quieter haven, of which the worldling, content 
to tread his thorny yet congenial path, thinks 
only as of the poetic dream of some fantastic 
visionary. 

That this feeling was at the time shared by 
some of Olympia's gifted correspondents, ap- 
pears in a letter addressed to her by the cele- 
brated German divine, Rupert Wolfgang, which 
bears this at once primitive and complimentary 
superscription : "Wolfgang, Pastor of the Church 
of God collected at Ehrenfriedsdorff, to Olympia 
Morata, distinguished for her piety and virtue." 
After suggesting the more usual topics of conso- 
lation on the death of an eminent and learned 
friend and relation of Olympia's, this truly good 
man thus proceeds : 

" But there are other causes which do not 



. HER LIFE. 215 

only alleviate our grief, but blunt it, viz. the 
aspect of our present calamities ; the decay of 
our common church, and contentions among its 
chiefs, which encrease every day. When I think 
on these, I am kindled with such indignation, 
that I even desire to depart from this life ; were 
it not that we must pray to God to preserve to 
his church some ministers of sound doctrine. But 
when he calls them away, and snatches the pious 
from impending danger, we may truly consider 
it to be well with them; and say with Isaiah, 
' The just is taken from the sight of evil he hath 
departed in peace, and rests on his couch.' " 

This letter derives a prophetic interest from its 
having reached the fast-declining Olympia only 
four months previous to the release of her own 
emancipated spirit from the woes of earth. 

But before accompanying through the details 
of a closing scene, worthy of the life it termi- 
nated, the heart-broken husband of Olympia, we 
must dwell for a while on the less painful sub- 
ject of the varied and interesting correspondence 
which, during this last year especially, of her 
valuable existence, she addressed both to en- 
deared personal friends, and to strangers of emi- 
nence. And it is impossible, even at the hazard 



216 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

of another digression, to forbear remarking, how 
very delightful it must have been to live at a 
period, when ties, not of mere congeniality of 
pursuits, but of positive good-will and affection, 
seem to have united in one common bond, the 
members of what might really then with propriety 
(as constituting a distinct community) have been 
styled the " literary world." Kindred studies 
the power of drinking at the same classic foun- 
tains, not then generally accessible to the mass 
of mankind zeal for the advancement of that 
" republic of letters" for which each felt a real, 
not fictitious filial devotion, seem to have been 
held sufficient grounds for commencing and con- 
tinuing a friendly correspondence between those, 
who had never met, save on that common field 
of intellect ; while at the same time, opportuni- 
ties for personal intercourse between the culti- 
vated of all nations were greatly facilitated by 
the universal custom which prevailed, of travelling 
in quest of fresh information, from one seat of 
learning to another. 

By this migratory system, rendered compul- 
sory, alas ! in many cases, among the reformed, 
by the fury of persecution, it could not be but 
that much of the rust of prejudice and nar- 



HER LITE. 217 

rowness of mind, ascribed (whether justly or 
not) to men of mere erudition, must have been 
necessarily rubbed off and dispelled. If all 
travels, even the least profitable, are said to 
open the mind, surely those undertaken by men 
of liberal pursuits, with the noblest views, and 
introducing them to the most congenial so- 
ciety, could not fail to make them, in the best 
sense, " citizens of the world." And if the friend- 
ships thus contracted to the tenderness and 
constancy of which the letters of hundreds of 
gifted individuals bear ample witness were 
cemented, as in the case of the learned men of 
the Reformation, by the yet holier bond of a 
common faith, a community of perils on earth 
and of hopes for eternity, fancy can scarcely 
picture to herself a livelier or more painful con- 
trast than they afford with the forced courtesies, 
the secret rivalries, and hollow companionships 
of our existing literary coteries. It is not that 
human nature is different, or that mankind 
have, on the whole, degenerated, but that lite- 
rature has sustained a perhaps inevitable degra- 
dation by becoming, with the progress of civi- 
lization instead of the cherished idol and 
household treasure of a chosen few a desecrated 



218 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

object of traffic, deriving, from the bidding of 
the many, both its complexion and its value. 

In proof of a remark, to corroborate which 
might be quoted nearly the whole volume con- 
taining the correspondence of Olympia and her 
celebrated contemporaries, we cannot resist ex- 
tracting from it (though unconnected with her) 
a short letter from the mild, amiable Melancthon 
to her friend Curio ; as perhaps the strongest 
instance, not of good will merely, but warm re- 
gard, founded (by the writer's express acknow- 
ledgment) solely on merit on the one side, and 
appreciation of it on the other. And here it 
may also be remarked that the mild polished 
character of its writer was peculiarly fitted to 
harmonize with that of the Italian Reformers ; 
our whole acquaintance with whom proves their 
vast superiority in refinement and Christian 
gentleness over those ruder and bolder spirits 
of Germany and Scotland, whose very stern 
qualities rendered them perhaps fitter instru- 
ments for the overthrow of error amid a com- 
paratively rude and barbarous people. 

" Philip Melancthon wishes health to the 
illustrious Celius Curio. 



HER LIFE. 219 

" Language being truly the image of the cha- 
racter and mind, I had no sooner read certain 
of your writings, and become acquainted with 
their noble eloquence, than I loved you before 
I even knew the place of your abode. And this 
regard was much increased on hearing from 
Lelius, not only of your great learning, but also 
of your piety, and constancy of mind and faith 
in suffering the afflictions consequent on a con- 
scientious avowal of the truth. My object in 
the present letter is to let you know that you 
are truly loved and esteemed by me, and that I 
am very desirous of your friendship. The affairs 
of the church do not look so ill, since there are 
a few learned men united in sentiment and true 
benevolence. Wherefore let us maintain our 
union and cherish mutual good will. I shall 
do all in my power to manifest mine for you and 
yours, and thus prove the sincerity of my re- 
gard. Farewell." 

A pleasing corroboration, and one more nearly 
connected with Olympia of the general sym- 
pathy among literary persons, on which we have 
been tempted to dwell, occurs in the circum- 
stance, that on hearing of the destruction of her 



220 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

private library in the conflagration at Schwein- 
furt, a whole host of eminent men eagerly con- 
tributed to the formation of a new one. Nor 
was the pious office confined to sympathizing 
men of letters alone, but voluntarily shared with 
them by the chief booksellers of Frankfort and 
Basle. Numerous passages in her correspond- 
ence attest the pleasure which she was for a 
short time enabled to derive from the warmly 
hailed return of these long lost companions 
of her studies, and her gratitude to their dis- 
tinguished donors. 

But neither secular studies, however conge- 
nial, nor even the higher and daily dearer 
pursuits of preparation for eternity, ever es- 
tranged for a moment the attention of Olympia 
from the active discharge of the allotted duties 
of domestic life, or the most active exertions for 
the welfare of all with whom she was connected. 
On her arrival at Heidelberg, we find her en- 
grossed, with true matronly solicitude, in the 
arrangement of her new abode ; and no sooner 
was she settled in it, than, not content with the 
charge she had already assumed of her little 
brother's education, she gave to Theodora, the 
daughter of Sinapius (the loss of whose previous 



HER LIFE. 221 

advantages from her society at Wurtzburgh her 
father bitterly deplores, in a pathetic letter, 
thus dated " exactly one year from the funeral 
of my beloved wife,") that maternal welcome 
before alluded to, and thus touchingly ex- 
pressed : 

" I most readily accede to your wishes respect- 
ing your daughter. She will be most dear to me, 
and her company will alleviate my hours of ill 
health in this distant and to me strange country ; 
and I shall have, besides, the satisfaction of think- 
ing that it would have been gratifying to your 
wife, who is no more. No kindness on my part 
shall be wanting ; and now that she is deprived 
of her mother, I shall embrace her with yet more 
than my former tenderness."* 

The same spirit of Christian and considerate 
kindness displayed in the foregoing extract, was 
yet more strongly manifested by the intended 

* It may be mentioned, (as a similar gratification to the 
)>erhap$ conscious spirit of her by whom the maternal office 
was so conscientiously discharged,) that the young creature 
thus fondly spoken of, was most honourably married to one 
of the counsellors of the Emperor Charles V. ; a connection 
on which Camerarius congratulated her father, as equally ad- 
vantageous in itself, and likely to conduce to her happiness. 



222 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

selection (at considerable personal inconvenience) 
in the formation of her household at Heidelberg, 
of those whom she truly calls the " wretched and 
poverty-struck" sufferers from the disasters at 
Schweinfurt. And nowhere can we gather a more 
appalling picture of the extent of these, than from 
the answer of her correspondent ; in which he 
declares that the universality of disease, or its 
consequent debility, in his native place, had ren- 
dered it utterly impossible for him to procure 
there two females sufficiently strong and healthy 
to undertake the journey, or engage in her ser- 
vice. The united miseries of " war, pestilence, 
and famine," words which we, in happy igno- 
rance of their meaning, are wont to pronounce 
so lightly, may be in some degree appreciated 
from the following extract : 

" You must accept of one reply to the two 
letters you sent me, in August, from Heidelberg, 
desiring me to procure you women servants from 
hence, but in which I have been unsuccessful. 
The reason is, that all of both sexes have hitherto 
"been so sickly, that an immense number have 
died, and not a few are still dying daily. I never 
go out into the streets without meeting the sick, 
and those who are scarcely able to drag their 



HER LIFE. 223 

languid limbs along, and seem likely shortly to 
expire. Within these few days Leonard Zeul 
has fallen asleep in Christ ; with whom I was the 
day before, admonishing him that he should take 
comfort from the kind and sweet words of our 
Redeemer and High Priest, Jesus Christ, who 
invites all to come to Him, who would enjoy 
eternal life. 1 trust he was enabled to obey me 
but why do I say me? even Christ himself, 
whose words these are. Lawrence Rosa and 
Louis Scheffer have also died, as your husband 
predicted. The latter was buried on the 12th of 
August, after having lain two days speechless. 
Sinapius exerted all his skill in his behalf, but in 
vain. What shall I say more ? Alas ! great 
part of our citizens not being yet sufficiently 
chastened by the extent of the divine wrath, God 
alone knows what will be its end. 

" The money which you sent shall be distri- 
buted according to your desire. The poor peo- 
ple in the hospital, about whom you enquire, are 
all dead, or dispersed by flight, and I know not 
whither they have gone. My wife and I have 
determined to remain during the winter, if God 
(to whom I give, and ever will give, thanks that 
I am yet alive) shall see fit to spare us." 

" Schweinfurt, 1554." 



224 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

The writer of this truly Christian letter did not 
himself long survive this narrative of the disasters 
of his country ; and the pious sentiments con- 
tained in it, while they must have mitigated, 
fully justified the natural grief for the loss of so 
worthy a relative, which it was the object of the 
before quoted epistle from Wolfgang to alle- 
viate. 

But it was not to the relief of individual dis- 
tress alone, or the indulgence of private friend- 
ship, that the last exertions of the vigorous in- 
tellect and intense Christian charity of Olympia 
were directed. Besides the beautiful and never- 
to-be-forgotten appeal to her royal fellow-pupil, 
Anne of Guise, dictated at this period by the 
joint suggestions of pity for the persecuted pro- 
testants of France, and solicitude for the immor- 
tal welfare of her early friend numerous let- 
ters to her sisters to her scarcely less dear La- 
vinia and to that other member of the Or- 
sini family, of whom she writes to the Princess, 
" that the best human alleviation of her sorrows 
will be found in the society of that excellent wo- 
man, Cherubina," attest the fervour of her desire 
that all should share the ineffable consolations 
by which her own gradual and stedfastly fore- 
seen approach to the grave, was, even amid much 



HER LIFE. 225 

of bodily suffering and mental anxiety so mer- 
cifully smoothed and cheered. 

To Victoria, her favourite and beloved sister, 
she, under these impressions, thus writes : " Oh, 
my sister, pray with the Psalmist, ' Lord, so teach 
me to number my days,' (and to have their few- 
ness ever before me) ' as to apply my heart unto 
wisdom.' Seek God while he may be found, 
call upon him constantly when you eat, thank 
him commend yourself wholly to his love 
shun the way of sin keep yourself pure and 
chaste, so that you may at length, as a con- 
queror, carry off the palm. Farewell, and over- 
come, my dearest Victoria. 

" Heidelberg, August, 1554." 

To Lavinia, her language, strong in faith, 
sound in doctrine, and fervent in Christian love, 
is to the same import. 

" Here every thing is in a state of warfare ; 
and every where the saints are pressed down by 
many cares. But all these things should be to 
us matter of joy ; for they portend that the pro- 
pitious and happy day is at hand when we shall 
together commence our everlasting life. In the 
mean time, let us devote ourselves to divine 
Q 



226 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

studies ; let the word of God direct you to live 
righteously and piously ; take it for ' a lamp to 
your feet ;' and by this means only shall you 
avoid shipwreck, if you give all diligence to 
have greater fear of that God, who is the Go- 
vernor of all things, and can cast both soul and 
body into hell, than of feeble mortals, whose 
life is, in Scripture, compared to a shadow, to 
grass, to a flame, or a vapour. I recommend to 
you my sister, with the most eager solicitude 
not that through your means she may attain 
riches and worldly honours, but that she may 
be thoroughly instructed in the knowledge of 
Christ. The fashion of this world will soon pass 
away. Farewell, in Christ ! 
" Heidelberg, August, 1554." 

We have said, that with rapidly encreasing 
bodily sufferings, were blended distressing men- 
tal anxieties. Pious and well regulated as must 
have been the mind which, in sacrificing at the 
joint call of duty and affection, a beloved coun- 
try, could use (and in sincerity) such expressions 
as the following " We have neither expectation 
nor desire of again living in Italy, where Anti- 
christ reigns," "Since I escaped, by God's 



HER LITE. 227 

g^ace, from the idolatry of Italy," "I have 
begged my mother and sisters to come to us out 
of that Babylon," and (alluding to her ever- 
beloved husband) " When God joined me to 
him who is dearer to me than life, whom I fol- 
lowed over the summits of the Alps, and whom I 
would follow gladly to the inhospitable Cau- 
casus," yet thoughts of home and kindred 
would often fondly and painfully intrude. And 
they found vent in a touching language, which, 
when compared, not contrasted, with that above 
quoted, cannot fail to impart to the dictates of 
principle a dignity and interest, of which a total 
absence of all feeling on the subject would only 
have divested them. 

To Lavinia, after a more than usual silence on 
her part, she thus writes : 

" By the strength of our long and affectionate 
intimacy, I again implore and entreat you, in 
the most earnest manner, that you will relieve 
me by a letter from the anxiety in which I have 
now lived for nearly three years about you ; 
which, I trust, you will now the more easily 
accomplish, since we are, at length, in a perma- 
nent abode, and in a place of more importance 
than formerly." 

Q2 



228 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

In another letter to the same, she says : 

" I would write daily also, if I could, to my 
mother, about whom I am very anxious. I 
sometimes fear that I am forgotten by you, and 
so my anxiety is increased every day. And 
truly, if I had not that consolation which is 
found in Germany, where we are permitted to 
have books on theology, which would be denied 
us with you I could not bear up against my 
longing desires and solicitude for my friends, 
especially for you, who are ever in my heart, 
and of whom I never fail to make mention in my 
prayers." 

These natural and praiseworthy solicitudes 
about her absent family having been aggravated 
by a long cessation of intercourse occasioned by 
the war, (which she perpetually alludes to as 
interrupting even the limited communication of 
those days, when, alas ! for friendship, posts 
were not, and journies were the affair not of 
days but of months,) she thus writes to a lite- 
rary man connected with Italy, who had contri- 
buted to the re-establishment of her library : 

" One thing I entreat you to do as soon as 
possible, viz., to write about the affairs of Italy, 
and especially of my ungrateful country, Fer- 



HER LIFE. 229 

rara. It is now fourteen months since I heard 
of my mother ; and although I have constantly 
written to her and my other friends, who are 
near her, yet no one writes again to me. I 
entreat you, therefore, to forward the accom- 
panying letters, and to endeavour to discover 
the reason of this harassing silence. This will 
be doing me the greatest of favours, and one 
which, I implore you, in the name of filial piety, 
to perform. Farewell." 

But, as we before remarked, the Christian 
charity of Olympia was too fervent and exten- 
sive to be bounded even by the circle of her 
numerous and dearly cherished friends. The 
interests of Christianity at large, and of its ex- 
tension especially in her own partially illumi- 
nated country, engrossed, even on a " bed of 
languishing," a large portion of her thoughts. 
One of the last exertions of her pen was that 
beautiful letter to Vergerio, the late Bishop of 
Justinopolis, which, while it corroborates what 
has been observed, both of the community of 
feeling then subsisting between the votaries of 
religion and letters, and our more recent re- 
marks on the truly Christian spirit of its writer 
will be read with greater interest, if ushered in 



230 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

by a brief account of the eminent convert to 
protestantism, to whom it was addressed. 

Vergerio had been equally distinguished early 
in life for polite literature and diplomatic talent ; 
and was employed by the Pope as legate to the 
German princes and Court of France, and even 
in the more delicate task of communicating with 
and privately sounding Luther. He was a most 
able and eloquent man, and atoned for some 
tardiness in manifesting his sentiments (excusable 
perhaps in one of his high station in the Church 
of Rome, where a cardinal's hat was about to 
be bestowed on him) by ultimate devotion to the 
cause of Christ. This devotion was much 
strengthened by his having been one of the many 
witnesses of the awful death-bed scene of the 
apostate from protestantism, Francis Spira; 
whose unalterable belief in his own utter repro- 
bation, and the passive calmness with which he 
reasoned on its certainty, are even more ap- 
palling to the reader than the horrors of that 
despair to which such " fearful looking-for of 
judgment" naturally gave rise.* 

* This unfortunate man, an able and distinguished law- 
yer of Padua, having moved by worldly considerations 
voluntarily recanted his profession of the protestant faith, 



HER LIFE. 231 

It is singular that Vergerio, whose conviction 
was begun by a course of studies undertaken for 
the purpose of confuting Luther owed, like many 
whom we have already named, his first thorough 
appreciation of the pure doctrines of protest- 
antism to the acquaintance cf the Queen of 
Navarre ; of whose " fervour and zeal in Christ, 
and ardent charity," he says, (in a letter to the 
Marchioness of Pescara) the most flattering ac- 
counts he had received from the most eminent 
judges, had failed to give him any adequate 
idea. 

It was shortly after writing this letter, (nearly 
the whole of which turns on the new views of 
religion which he had derived from the great 
knowledge of that princess) that, " having 
weighed " (as he says) " these words of Christ 
' What shall it profit a man if he should gain 

either was, or imagined himself so completely " given up to 
a reprobate mind," as to be incapable of repentance, and be- 
yond the pale of forgiveness ; in which appalling conviction, 
(surrounded by the learned and sympathizing of all profes- 
sions, to whom his agonies read an enduring lesson,) he died. 
His life, with a valuable preface by Calvin, has been recently 
translated into English, and is worthy the perusal of every 
Christian. 



232 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

the whole world, and lose his own soul ?' against 
all the brilliant prospects which fortune and 
papal favour held out to him he found the 
scale incline to the side of the gospel. " " Where- 
fore," adds he, " it will be better for me to ap- 
ply myself to the cultivation of those few vines 
which I have on the confines of Italy,* to encom- 
pass them with a good hedge and defend them, 
that I may gather some fruit to offer to God, 
than to stand without, idle, and wait till others 
resolve to undertake the care of the whole 
vineyard." 

This pious resolution he forthwith executed, 
by repairing, with his brother the Bishop of 
Capo d'Istria, (whose conversion by means of 
their mutual studies and enquiries, took palce 
about the same time) to their respective dioceses. 
But while the latter excellent man was soon cut 
off it was surmised by poison the conscientious 
discharge of pastoral duties by P. P. Vergerio, 
soon drew upon him first the suspicion, and then 
the accusation of Lutheranism ; and, deprived 
of his bishoprick, he narrowly escaped with his 



* His native country and diocese were near Capo D'Istria, 
of which his brother was bishop. 



HER LIFE. 233 

life. Leaving cheerfully behind him, in the true 
spirit of the choice he had so magnanimously 
made, the most eminent rank in the Church of 
Rome, and even that cardinal's hat to which 
(as a possible step to the triple crown) the 
souls and consciences of many were in that age 
esteemed a cheap sacrifice he became first an 
humble protestant pastor in the Orisons, and 
was afterwards invited to Tubingen by the Duke 
of Wirtemburg. It will be seen from the above 
sketch, that it was to one not unused to "count 
all things but loss " for the cause of the Church 
of Christ, that Olympia addressed the following 
pathetic appeal. 

" I should long ere this have written to you, 
most excellent Vergerio, had not severe illness, 
from which I am now somewhat recovered, pre- 
vented me. But even had it continued, I could 
not have longer restrained my ardent desire of 
addressing you, having perceived from the pe- 
rusal of your writings, that your heart is ready 
and willing to assist the church. I have little 
doubt, therefore, that for her service, you will 
perform what I am about to request. Diffidence 
long kept me silent on the subject, as I feared 
to draw upon myself the suspicion of ostentation 



234 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

had I come forward earlier. But I gladly hail 
the opportunity you have kindly offered me of 
addressing you. 

" Let me then, in the first place, offer my most 
cordial thanks for the books you were good 
enough to send me ; a kindness which leads me 
to hope you will accede to the request which I 
could not sooner summon courage to make. 

" It is to entreat that you will devote your 
well-known energies to the extension of the 
Church, by giving it an Italian version of that 
work of Luther's, called the Greater Catechism, 
already translated from German into Latin by 
Vincentius Opsopoeus. You must be aware of 
what great benefit it will prove to our Italian 
countrymen, to the young especially, if diligently 
perused. Therefore I entreat, I conjure you, 
in the name of Christ, that for the sake of those 
brethren for whom we ought to brave death 
itself, you will apply yourself to this task. Be- 
sides, being, alas ! not ignorant of the unfor- 
tunate contentions which exist at present among 
Christians respecting the sacrament, (which 
would be easily put an end to if men would only 
have in view, not their own, but the glory of 
Christ, and the safety of the Church,) I am the 



HER I.IFI . 235 

more disposed to reiterate my request, for I 
think the work will be of the greatest possible 
service to our countrymen, provided you will 
give your able assistance in its translation ; 
which, with the greatest imaginable earnestness, 
I entreat you to do. 

" Concerning the affairs of Ferrara, of which 
you write in the month of December, I have 
learned much from the letters of another pious 
friend. Nor can it surprise us, who have had 
so much experience in temptations, that many 
should, under them, have gone astray from 
Christ. That my mother has remained constant 
amid these trials, I give thanks to God, and 
ascribe to Him the whole glory. I have implored 
her to come to us, along with my sisters, out of 
that Babylon. My husband is grateful for your 
continued remembrance ; his mind is exactly 
what it should be. Let us both have a place in 
your prayers. Farewell !" 

That it was not solely when weaned by mis- 
fortunes from the world, or in the prospect 
of approaching dissolution, that the heart of 
Olympia found room for the above Christian 
solicitudes for the religious improvement of her 
still dear countrymen, will appear from the fol- 



236 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

lowing similar epistle, which, written long pre- 
viously, amid the distracting cares and anxieties 
of her residence at Schweinfurt, breathes a 
kindred spirit of enlightened and affectionate 
zeal for their immortal welfare. 

" Olympia Morata, to the pious and learned 
Matth. Flaccus Illyricus. 

" I have often considered, most excellent 
man, by what means I might be able to enrich 
my friends and others in Italy, with those good 
things which we enjoy in Germany ; and this, it 
has occurred to me, might be easily done, if I 
could engage learned men in the cause. You 
had no sooner become known to me by your 
writings, than the thought suggested itself of 
applying to you, as likely to be of the greatest 
service to my poor Italians ; poor in heavenly 
knowledge, and carried away by many errors. 
If, therefore, you could translate into Italian a 
small book, written in German by^Luther, in 
which he exposes those errors (which I would 
have undertaken myself, but for scanty know- 
ledge of the German language,) or if you would 
compose a little work from it in Italian, which you 
are much better qualified to do than I am, seeing 



HER LIFE. 237 

you have perused that sacred volume, which 
I have scarcely tasted, from its original fountain 
I am certain that you would thus save many 
pious persons from the errors into which they 
are at present unconsciously led. If we are 
bound even to lay down our lives for the church, 
you will not refuse a work by which you will 
confer such an everlasting obligation on that of 
Italy, which is denied access to the original by 
ignorance of the language. I therefore entreat 
and implore you to undertake it, for the sake of 
Christ, who will consider it a benefit done 
unto himself; and who, though / cannot give 
you adequate thanks, will repay it with interest. 
I have only further to request, that if you should 
be offended by this application, you will attri- 
bute it not to my importunity, but to your own 
piety ; trusting to which, I have now written. 
Farewell. 

" Schweinfurt, 25th May, 1553." 

The attacks of indisposition (from one of 
which Olympia, in the first of the two above- 
quoted letters, represents herself as partially re- 
covered,) became, as is uniformly the case in 
that insidious disease, to which youth and beauty 



238 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

so frequently fall an early and rapid prey, more 
frequent and severe; and the few lingering 
words of Christian kindness which we shall 
find yet hovering on lips soon to be closed 
in death, seem to have been extorted, by un- 
dying love, from an exhausted spirit and a 
sinking frame. To Infantio Barrensi, a literary 
man, and contributor to her restored library, 
she thus painfully, though patiently, expresses 
herself. 

" When in your character of Philotheus, you 
greeted me with considerate kindness, it was im- 
possible forme to reply, as I was labouring under 
very severe illness. Your books and letters were 
very gratifying to me ; pray accept my thanks, 
which would have been conveyed sooner had 
not ill health prevented it. Your letters were 
delivered to me in bed, from which I have not 
yet risen. I know not what will be the event 
but I resign and commit myself wholly to God ; 
and my desire is to ' depart and be with 
Christ.' The fever which consumes me forbids 
my writing more, and my time on earth is short. 
Farewell ; pray to God for me ; salute those 
Italian friends whose good wishes were conveyed 
in your letter." 



HER LIFE. 239 

To her friend Cherubina she thus affectingly 
concludes one of those long and extremely edi- 
fying letters, which will be found in a subse- 
quent part of the volume. 

" May God, for the sake of Christ, grant that 
1 have not written in vain. The pain in my 
breast has been considerably encreased by the 
exertion ; but I sincerely wish I were able, by 
my death, to be of service to you and others, 
in the things that pertain to salvation. 

Your OLYMPIA." 

The pen which traced these Christian and 
benevolent lines was, perhaps, the last which 
the trembling hand of the writer was ever able 
to wield. In the closing, and for this reason, 
most affecting letter of her whole earthly cor- 
respondence, she was obliged to employ that of 
her distressed husband ;* and, ere the following 
beautiful farewell could be even dispatched to 
its destination, the warmly affectionate heart 
which dictated it was cold in the grave-: 



* It was the perusal of this letter and the one above- quoted, 
translated in the appendix to the work of Dr. M'Crie, which 
suggested the publication of the present Life and Correspon- 
dence. 



240 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

" Olympia Morata to Celio Secundo Curio. 

" My dearest Father Celio. You may con- 
ceive how tenderly those who are united by 
true, that is, Christian friendship, feel for one 
another, when I tell you that the perusal of your 
letter drew tears from my eyes ; for, on learn- 
ing that you had been rescued from the jaws of 
the grave, I wept for joy. May God long pre- 
serve you to be a blessing to his church ! It 
grieves me much to hear of the indisposition of 
your daughter ; but I comfort myself with the 
hopes you entertain of her recovery. 

" As to myself, my dear Celio, I must inform 
you that there are no hopes of my surviving 
long. No medicine gives me any relief; every 
day, indeed every hour, my friends look for my 
dissolution. It is probable that this may be the 
last letter you will receive from me. My body 
and strength are wasted ; my appetite is gone ; 
night and day the cough threatens to suffocate 
me. The fever is strong and unremitting ; and 
the pains which I feel over the whole of my 
body, deprive me of sleep. Nothing, therefore, 
remains but that I breathe out my spirit. But 
so long as life continues, I will remember my 



HER LIFE. 241 

friends, and the benefits I have received from 
them. 

" I return the warmest thanks to you for the 
books you sent me, and to those worthy men 
who have bestowed upon me such valuable pre- 
sents. Had I been spared I wculd have shewn 
my gratitude. But it is my opinion that my 
departure is at hand. I commend the church 
to your care. Oh ! let all you do be directed 
to its advantage ! 

" Farewell ! excellent Celio, and do not dis- 
tress yourself when you hear of my death ; for 
I know that I shall be victorious at the last, and 
am desirous to depart and be with Christ. Sa- 
lute your family in my name. I send you such 
of the poems as I have been able to write out 
from memory since the destruction at Schwein- 
furt all my other writings have perished. I 
request that you will be my Aristarchus and 
polish them. Again, farewell ! 

" Heidelberg, Oct. 1555." 

This touching letter was transmitted to his 
beloved Curio by the same post with the tidings 
of her early and lamented death ; the particu- 
R 



242 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

lars of which it would be sacrilege to give in 
any other words than those of him by whom 
she was as justly appreciated, as fondly de- 
plored. 

" Andrew Grundler to his Celio Secundo 
Curio. 

" It hath pleased the Lord, my most accom- 
plished friend, to fill up the measure of my 
former afflictions from the ruin of my country, 
the plunder of my goods, and the loss of nearly 
all my friends and relations by at length de- 
priving me of my beloved wife. While she was 
yet left to me, the loss of all other things ap- 
peared comparatively light ; but this calamity, 
like the huge tenth wave following all the others, 
has so entirely overwhelmed me, that I can find 
no possible alleviation to my grief. 

" She, indeed, departed with great eagerness, 
and, if I may so speak, with a certain pleasure 
in dying, arising from her firm persuasion that 
she was called away from daily affliction, and 
from a world of suffering, to eternal happiness. 
But alas ! I cannot yet derive consolation even 
from the remembrance of the pleasing and 
happy life we passed together. We had been 



HER LIFE. 243 

united not quite five years ; but never have I 
known a soul so bright and pure, or a disposi- 
tion so amiable and upright. Shall I also men- 
tion her singular piety and learning? To you, 
who knew her so well, it were indeed super- 
fluous to praise her ; and, as it would ill be- 
come me to extol what was in truth a part of 
myself, I leave to others, and especially to men 
of cultivation and learning, like yourself, the 
pleasing task ; nor do I doubt that some con- 
genial spirit will grace her obsequies with an 
appropriate tribute.* 

" To this I will add my tears, when grief will 
allow me ; for there is a kind of sorrow, like 
mine, (and it is the greatest of any,) in which 
tears cannot even be shed ; but when the mind, 



* It is impossible to resist proving how completely mutual 
were these feelings and sentiments, by a short extract from 
his lamented partner's letter to his friend Curio, informing him 
of her marriage and situation. "Of the excellence of my 
husband's character, and of his knowledge, I should wish 
you to learn from otheri rather than from me. This only 1 
can say with truth, that were I in the highest favour with 
my prince, and he most desirous to eniich me, I could not be 
placed in a happier situation than that in which (when de- 
spoiled and forsaken) I have now been placed by God." 
R 2 



244 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

wearied and spent by an accumulation of disas- 
trous circumstances, is so struck down by some 
final blow, as to be absolutely stupified. In this 
state I at present am, unable for any exertion. 
Yet, since I am sure it will afford you satisfac- 
tion, I will try (though in truth I am scarcely 
able) to tell you briefly how she died. 

" A short time before her death, on awaking 
from a tranquil sleep into which she had fallen, 
I observed her smiling very sweetly ; and I went 
near, and asked her whence that heavenly smile 
proceeded. ' I beheld,' said she, ' just now, 
while lying quiet, a place filled with the clearest 
and brightest light.' Weakness prevented her 
saying more. ' Come,' said I, ' be of good cheer, 
my dearest wife ; you are about to dwell in that 
beautiful light.' She again smiled and nodded to 
me, and in a little while said, ' I am all gladness : " 
nor did she again speak till, her eyes becoming 
dim, she said, ' I can scarcely know you, but all 
places appear to me to be full of the fairest 
flowers.' Not long after, as if fallen into a sweet 
slumber, she expired." 

This heart-rending epistle, of which the re- 
mainder (containing a multitude of interesting 
particulars) will be found in another part of the 



HER LIFE. 245 

volume, thus touchingly concludes : " Farewell, 
dear Celius you, who are happier than myself, 
in a beloved wife and sweet children." And it 
will deepen perhaps, if aught can, the sympathy 
with which this genuine effusion of human be- 
reavement must be perused by the most callous, 
to learn, that the same tomb which prematurely 
closed (in her 29th year) on its lamented object, 
was opened, within the year, to reunite beneath 
its friendly shelter the two fondest objects of her 
earthly affection ; the husband, who seems not 
to have been able to survive her, and the orphan 
brother, who must so sadly have missed her fos- 
tering care. 

Thus died, as she had lived, Olympia Morata 
with the patience of a saint, and the fortitude of 
a martyr; not with readiness merely "to depart," 
but with longing aspirations after that " better 
country," where the " wicked cease from 
troubling, and the weary are at rest." Yet, 
without allowing its bright realities to withdraw, 
while life remained, one legitimate affection 
from its place in a heart, capacious enough to 
nourish, even amid the " poverty of time," ties 
worthy of being transplanted to their native soil 
on high. Having " loved" in the spirit of the 



246 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

gracious Master whom she served, " her own," 
through life it was her's (like him) to "love 
them to the end ;" and the absence of all reluc- 
tance on her part to quit earth, could only be 
equalled by her anxiety to mitigate the regrets of 
those whom she left behind. " Do not distress 
yourself when you hear of my death ; for I feel 
sure I shall overcome at the last," are her part- 
ing words to her father Celio ; " I am all glad- 
ness," her dying whisper to the husband, whose 
features had but grown dim to her sight on earth, 
to be recognized in brighter lineaments where 
separations are unknown. 

If heartfelt posthumous tributes powerless 
as they are to the " dull cold ear of death " 
can (as seems fondly hinted by her justly proud 
husband) soothe and gratify the feelings of sur- 
vivors his must, for the short period during 
which grief allowed him to linger behind, have 
found ample gratification. Never was maiden 
bier strown more profusely with spring flowers 
by the hand of weeping playmates, than Olym- 
pia's by that band of tuneful sisters, among 
whose choir her name was, in trite but well- 
turned eulogies, perpetually incorporated. And 
truly, if ever a " tenth muse" (she of the " sa- 



HER LIFE. 247 

cred shell" invoked by Tasso and by Milton) 
deserved or rather we should say, would deign 
to join the number of the fabled Nine, scarcely 
could she have found among the daughters of 
earth a meeter representative. 

Of the innumerable poetical tributes to her 
virtues and talents, poured forth by the various 
poets and literati of the day, we shall select two 
for translation ; both on the strength of their su- 
perior merit and felicity, and of the superior 
claims on attention possessed by their authors ; by 
the one, Micyllus,* as the most elegant Latin poet 
of the age by Curio, the other, as the paternal 
friend of her whom, almost from the cradle, he 
had loved and appreciated. It is needless to 
premise, that in these translations, as in those 
from the Latin writings of Olympia herself, the 
whole charm (said by those familiar with the 

* Mycillus, born at Strasburgh, 6th of April, 1500, held 
a most eminent rank among the learned of his day. He 
early taught Greek and Latin in the University of Frankfort, 
which he finally left for the Professorship of Greek at Heidel- 
berg, where he remained till his death in 1558. His tribute 
to the memory of Olympia derives value from his being 
styled by all historians, one of the best Latin poets of Ger- 
many. 



248 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

originals, to be inexpressible) arising from felicity 
of classical expression, is necessarily lost or im- 
paired. 

The Elegy of Micylljis is in the form of an 
epitaph, and runs thus : 

Within this hallow'd mound the ashes rest 

Of Her, (bright leader of th' Aonian band) 

Olympia ! once Italia's fairest, best ! 

Led thence by Love and Duty's summons bland, 

Franconia's vine-clad hills her footsteps prest, 

Ling'ring awhile by crystal Maine, and Saava's golden 

sand. 

There, while vex'd cities felt War's flaming brand 
And thrones and altars hostile bands molest, 
Twice spoiled, twice captive, by th' Almighty's hand 
From death preserv'd His powlr her lips confest, 
Which gave repose at length on Neckar's peaceful strand. 

Alike by Nature and by genius blest, 
Born on sublimest heights of lore to stand ; 
Twining tho' at a simple maid's behest 
The Muse of Greece and Rome in roseate band 
Herself a Muse and by the graces drest ; 
Nor fame nor genius could the Fates withstand. 
Nor grace ward off the arrow from her breast 
Stranger ! yet these may well thy tears demand ! 
Invoke, through death's long night, her weary spirit's rest ! 



HER LIFE. 249 

Such, elegant in its narrative simplicity, even 
in our, alas ! sadly inadequate version, is the 
tribute paid to Olympia by the famous Micyllus. 
In the following, by Celio Secundo Curio, with 
some mixture of the concetti, from which few 
compositions of the time were entirely free, will 
be found sprinkled a number of highly poetical 
ideas, to which but feeble justice can be done in 
a translation. 



EPITAPH BY CELIO SECUNDO CURIO ON 
OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Do'st marvel, traveller! as thy footsteps tread 
This hallow'd ground, with purple violets spread 
Breathing Arabian odours 1 Hid beneath, 
Lie flow'rs of heav'n that holier perfumes breathe. 
If skill'd in ancient lore oft didst thou hear 
Of that bright female band to Phoebus dear, 
Muses and Graces twin'd in wreath divine 
Beauty's bright handmaids, with the tuneful Nine, 
Whose soft ethereal breath each strain inspires 
That art embellishes, or genius fires. 
Behold this lowly tomb ! the resting place 
Of one whose soul partook of Muse and Grace ; 



250 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

OLYMPIA nam'd by right of birth divine! 
FULVIA because ne'er came from Indian mine 
Gold brighter, purer, than (by griefs refined) 
'Mid tempests shone the treasures of her mind 
Or else, perchance, because on early wing 
Like golden birds that 'mid th' immortals sing. 
She left earth's sluggish atmosphere, to fly 
In quest of kindred bliss, beyond the sky. 
MORATA, too, her name to mortals known 
As one that all her sisterhood outshone 
In genius, learning, and that brighter fame, 
Pure spotless life, and true Religion claim ! 
For this, the Lord who gave the earth to view 
For a brief space her virtues heav'nward drew 
First each pure thought, and then a soul so bright, 
With Him to dwell, in realms of endless light. 
There, rest and bliss are her's. Traveller, adieu ! 
Be thine such paths and blessings to pursue ! 

" To the long standing friendship of Fulvio 
Morata, her father, and Lucretia, her mother, and 
to the divine genius, learning, and true piety of 
Olympia, and to the grief of her sorrowing hus- 
band, these lines are inscribed. 

" She lived not quite 29 years ; and dying, de- 
parted to Christ, at Heidelberg, on the 26th 
October, in the year of the Christian era, 1555." 



HER LIFE. 251 

With this one, among the multitude of prose 
inscriptions, perhaps more in consonance with the 
simpler and purer taste of modern monumental 
tributes, we shall close this brief memorial ; 
whose most impressive, and (if the intentions of 
its compiler have at all been appreciated) most 
appropriate valedictory words, will be found 
like the motives and groundwork of the charac- 
ter it commemorates in the pages of Scripture, 
" Go and do thou likewise." 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 



PART III. 

HER WRITINGS. 



Extract from the original Dedication of the 
Works of Olympia Morata in 1562, by 
their learned editor, Celio Secundo Curio, to 
Queen Elizabeth, of England. 

MOST Excellent Queen Elizabeth, patroness of 
the true church of Christ by whose labours 
God hath not only given peace and brought 
safety to your England, but hath also restored 
the celestial light of the gospel to the neigh- 
bouring nations ; of whom posterity will speak 
as of the most chaste and learned virgin, the 
bravest of women, and wisest of queens; in- 
duced by your greatness, I publish, under your 



254 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

happy auspices, and commit to your trust and 
guardianship, these works of Olympia Morata 
a woman distinguished for her piety and learn- 
ing which, when on her death-bed, she, as 
relics of her genius, bequeathed and commended 
to me. For to whom could they, with greater 
propriety, be inscribed, than to Queen Eliza- 
beth, the most learned and religious of sove- 
reigns ? or under whose auspices could they 
more happily be published, and come into 
men's hands ? 

Accept, therefore, this gift, which, though 
inadequate to such eminence and greatness, is 
yet worthy of being elevated by the joint influ- 
ence of your rank and learning ; and from which 
your Majesty will easily judge of the rare eru- 
dition, ardent desire after true religion, patience 
under affliction, and heroic constancy, of the 
author, whose many other works of genius and 
piety unfortunately perished in the ruins of the 
country of her husband. 

From those which remain, however, we may 
derive a specimen of the rest, and form a judg- 
ment of them, as hunters are said to do of the 
size and strength of the unseen lion, from the 
foot- prints he leaves behind in the sand. To 



HER WRITINGS. 255 

corroborate this judgment, I have added the 
writings of others, either addressed to, or relat- 
ing to Olympia ; that the opinions of the most 
eminent on her virtues and learning might con- 
firm, while they eclipsed mine, and lest I should 
be suspected, from national partiality, of over- 
rating the merits of an Italian female. 

I have further added to the volume some 
writings of my own, which, if they shall, as I 
hope, satisfy your most accurate judgment, I 
have no doubt will find acceptance with the rest 
of the world. Farewell, luminary of our age, 
and extraordinary example of ruling well and 
piously. 

Basle, 1st September, 1562. 



Preface, by the Latin Biographer of Olympia 
Morata, Georye Louis Nolten. 

I AM about to write the life of Olympia not 
Maldachina, who raised Innocent the Tenth to 
the pontificate, and, by means of him, governed 
the Romish church but of Morata, a pious, 
learned, chaste, and truly Christian lady ; who, 
regardless of the papal power, dedicated herself 
wholly to Christ, and became deserving of the 



256 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

chief place among those women who united eru- 
dition with true religion. While at the Royal 
Academy of Berlin, my venerated father, for the 
purpose of improving my style, and knowledge 
of the Latin language, put into my hands the 
works of this Olympia, that they might excite 
me to more zealous study, by the example of 
that most accomplished young woman. 

When I had read and re-read these works, it 
occurred to me that I might with advantage 
publish a new edition of them, and thus hand 
down to posterity the memory of such a heroine. 
The scarcity of the volume seemed to demand 
this ; for since the last edition, which was pub- 
lished at Basle in 1580, no one had again 
printed her most valuable writings. Colomesius 
complains of the rarity of the book, even in his 
time ; for this eminent bookseller had only seen 
two editions of the works of Olympia, viz., the 
second, dated 1562, (which he supposed the 
first,) and the fourth, dated 1580, (which he 
considered the second). Irenseus Bibliophilus,* 
collecting diligently the editions of Olympia's 
works, confesses that he had only seen three. 

* The assumed name of Fred. Jac. Beyschlag. 



HER WRITINGS. 257 

I have been more fortunate, for I have seen 
and read four editions, of which I think a parti- 
cular account will be acceptable to the reader. 
Celius Secundus Curio was the editor of the two 
first; and all have been printed at Basle by 
Peter Perna. The first of all the editions was 
published in 1558. I suspected that this edition 
was in existence, from the letter addressed by 
And. Campanus to Celius S. Curio, (published 
in Olympia's works, p. 209.) dated 15th March, 
1559; I learned from the celebrated and learned 
Monsieur V. de la Croze, that it was to be found 
in the Bodleian Library ; and afterwards, the 
illustrious L. B. de Kamecke had the kindness 
to show me this very rare edition. In it there 
are many letters deficient, which must have been 
subsequently transmitted by friends, to Celius S. 
Curio, and inserted in the second and third 
editions. It has, however, this advantage 
that the Greek poems of Olympia are much 
more correct than in the following editions ; so 
that many typographical errors which were ad- 
mitted in the latter might be corrected from it. 

It is however, principally recommended by 
the dedication by Curio, to the famous Isabella 
Manricha di Bresegna ; which preface will be 
s 



258 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

published entire in the new edition which we 
contemplate ; although the name of Queen Eli- 
zabeth prefixed to the subsequent editions, has 
rather obscured that of Isabella Manricha.* 

The second edition, which was much enlarged, 
was published in 1562; it is elegantly printed, 
and is preserved in the Royal Library at- Berlin ; 
but it has many errors, especially in the Greek 
poems. The third edition was published in 1570, 
after the death of Curio ; and is still fuller than 
the preceding. There are added to it eight 
Latin epistles of Olympia, two Italian, and two 
epitaphs ; besides many letters and orations by 
Celius Curio himself. Monsieur Maturin Veys- 
siere de la Croze, has shown me this edition, and 
has strongly encouraged me to the publication 
of mine. 

The fourth and last, of all others the most 

* Simler thus writes of Isabella Manricha. " There was 
at that time (when Peter Martyr lived at Naples) in its vi- 
cinity, a church dignified with very pious, noble, and learned 
men, and also many women of great] virtue, among whom, 
though I may be allowed to pass over other illustrious hero- 
ines, I cannot omit mentioning that most noble of them all, 
Isabella Manricha, who is now in exile for the cause of 
Christ." 



HER WRITINGS. 259 

full and perfect, I am possessed of.* It is pub- 
lished in 1580, and distinctly modelled on the 
third, with which it coincides in the number of 
pages, &c. There are added to the former, only 
some fables by M. An. Paganuti, and some from 
Boccacio. To all these editions is added an 
epistle of Hippolita Taurella of Mantua, to her 
husband, Balthazar Castiglione, orator to the 
Roman See, under Leo the Tenth ; written in 
the most elegant elegiac verse, and most worthy 
of perusal. It is supposed to have been written 
by Olympia, though some have ascribed it to the 
husband of Hippolita. 

But before proceeding to the life and conver- 
sation of Olympia, it appears to me proper that 
I should give an account of the church, as reno- 
vated under Rente in Italy ; which the efforts of 

* this is the edition from which all the materials for the 
present volume have been translated and arranged, and its 
venerable air of antiquity, as well as its well-worn aspect 
from frequent reading, inspire involuntary respect. Whether 
the comparatively modern editions contemplated by the Ger- 
man biographer ever saw the light, the writer has no means 
'of ascertaining. 

S'2 



260 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

the Pontificate were not spared to extinguish.* 
And on this undertaking, I earnestly entreat the 
pious and kind reader to look with a favourable 
eye. 

LETTER I.f 

" Fulvio Peregrino Morata to Celio Secundo 
Curio. 

" IF human bodies were capable, as they are not, 
of retaining any sense, after the liberation from 
them of the souls, by which they were animated, 
I would thence borrow a simile, and say, that 
surely no mortal body was ever so distressed by 
the departure of its soul, and suffered so much 
pain in consequence, as I now suffer from your 
absence, and from being deprived of my divine 

* It is singular that without having observed (till her own 
work was completed) the order of arrangement here suggesting 
itself as ' ' proper" to Olympia's original biographer the 
writer should, from the same views of eligibility, have adopt- 
ed it. 

t This letter has been inserted here to prove, on its own 
delightful authority, the depth and stability of the hereditary 
friendship, to which, in the succeeding correspondence, Olym- 
pia so frequently alludes. 



HER WRITINGS. 261 

teacher, sent to me by God, for my instruction 
and conversion. Nor do I believe that Ananias, 
the master of Paul, taught him with more holy 
admonition and Christian discipline, when he ini- 
tiated him into Christ, than you have bestowed 
on me. 

" It somewhat alleviates my distress to believe 
that I am indeed united to Christ, and that I am 
not abandoned by Him ; since, at that critical 
period, when I was forsaken on all sides, and in 
danger of sinking into a coldness worse than ice 
itself lo ! you were sent from God to take shel- 
ter under my roof ; passing by many greater per- 
sons who were ambitious of having you as their 
guest. It is true, that even in former times, I was 
wont, when at leisure (which was rarely) from my 
avocations, to snatch, in spite of bodily infirmity, 
and with age stealing upon me, an occasional mo- 
ment, and pick up by reading, somewhat of good 
from Paul and John, and the other sacred writers. 
But it was your living eloquence and mighty spirit, 
which, all sparkling and luminous, in a lively and 
efficient manner moved, affected, excited, and 
warmed me ; so that I have now lost my darkness, 
and at length am alive, and not I, but Christ in 
me, and I in Christ. From famine you have 



262 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

raised me to profusion, and from cold itself trans- 
formed me into a living fire. Now, I not only feel 
that I myself am flourishing, and vigorous, and 
fervent but even that I am enabled to make 
others partakers in the opulence with which you 
have filled me. It remains that we pray assidu- 
ously to God, that He would preserve by his bless- 
ing the luxuriance of the good seed in our fields, 
without misfortune, to a joyful harvest ; and 
crown us with glorious fruits, to the praise of our 
faithful leader ; in whose grace may you, and all 
our brethren, live and prosper. Farewell." 

LETTER II. 

" Olympia Morata to Celio Secundo Curio 
Health. 

" AFTER being tossed about by many tempestuous 
waves, I am now settled in Germany, as in a port 
of safety; and as I have just learned where you 
are, from George Thracius, an excellent man of 
Pavia, I think I 'cannot too soon write to you, 
who are so much interested about us, and let you 
know every thing connected with our affairs. 
Your intimacy with and kindness to my dear fa- 



HER WRITINGS. 263 

ther, while he yet lived, lead me to hope you will 
extend the same friendship to myself; and that I 
shall succeed to that inheritance, even as a son or 
daughter succeed to a paternal estate. 

" I must inform you that it is now upwards of 
two years since my father, after much suffering, 
with pious hope in God, departed from the tumult 
and confusion of this world. Immediately after 
his death (which was indeed a calamity), I was 
deserted by all from whom I had reason to expect 
very different conduct, and treated with much in- 
dignity ; nor did I alone suffer, but my sisters 
and friends met with the same unkindness, and 
saw, like myself, their labours and services re- 
quited with hatred alone. No one espoused our 
cause, and we appeared to be surrounded by in- 
surmountable difficulties. But He, who is to his 
children the best of fathers, did not allow me to 
remain more than two years in this desolate con- 
dition ; for, influenced by Him, Andrew Grundler, 
a German greatly skilled in medicine and philo- 
sophy, fell in love with me, and in spite of my 
forlorn estate, and the unmerited displeasure of 
the prince, made me his wife. He then brought 
me into Germany, where we resided for some time 



264 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

at Augsburgh, with a counsellor of the king, 
George Hermann, whom my husband was enabled 
to restore from a severe illness. Thence, after a 
short stay, we removed to my husband's native 
country of Franconia, and remained some months 
with our relations and friends. 

" Of the excellence of my husband's character, 
and his acquaintance with the Greek and Latin 
languages, I should prefer your being informed by 
others. This only I wish you to learn from my- 
self, viz. that were I in the highest possible favour 
with my sovereign, and were it his pleasure to 
crown me with benefits, I could not be placed in 
a more desirable situation than that in which (even 
when most despoiled and miserable) I have now 
been placed by God. My husband is a learned 
man, well born, and was left by his father a com- 
petent patrimony ; and he loves me with the most 
sincere affection. I can only pray that God will 
be equally kind to my sisters, of whom I have left 
three (all marriageable) at Ferrara, with my mo- 
ther. My little brother, who is eight years old, I 
have brought with me, and shall endeavour, as 
far as it is in my power, to impart to him the be- 
nefit of a classical and Christian education. 



HER WRITINGS. 265 

" All these particulars I have mentioned to you, 
not as matter of anxiety about us, but rather of 
rejoicing. 

" God has not only been favourable to us in 
our utmost distresses, but I even rejoice that all 
these things have befallen me ; as, had I remained 
longer at court, my salvation might have been 
endangered. For, while I was there, I was too 
much estranged from the study of things elevated 
and divine nay, even from the reading of the 
Holy Scriptures. But when by the malice and 
misrepresentations of wicked persons I became 
alienated from her who ought to have been my 
protectress, then things fleeting, frail, and 
temporal, lost all their attractions ; and God fired 
my mind with the desire of attaining that heavenly 
habitation, in which it is more delightful to dwell 
for one day, than to live a thousand years in the 
courts of princes. I then resumed my divine 
studies ; in proof of which I send you some poems 
which I wrote last year. These will prove to you 
how early God imparted to one, oppressed by so 
many calamities, the pleasing refuge of literature; 
embraced the more readily, that He had given me 
in marriage to a man delighting in literary pur- 



266 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

suits. Let me beg, that in return, you will write 
to me most fully and familiarly all that concerns 
yourself, your wife, and family. Farewell. 
" Augsburgh, 7th October, 1550."* 



LETTER III. 

" Olympia Morata to the Princess Lavinia 
Orsini Health. 

" I HAVE received great pleasure from your letter, 
because, as I had long wished, it has put me in 
possession of where you are, and what you are 
doing, and because, before you went to Rome, I 
was indeed anxious lest I might not learn where 
to direct my letters. Since you have now relieved 
me from that anxiety, I give you thanks, my most 
grateful thanks, that you have promised me your 
assistance and exertions in behalf of Fannio.f It 
is indeed, 1 assure you, gratifying nay, most de- 

* The reply of Curio to the above interesting letter will 
be found in the early part of the " Life" of its accomplished 
writer. 

t Faventino Fannio, the distinguished sufferer and sub- 
sequent martyr for the truth, of whose imprisonment at Fer- 
rara, and consolations under it by the visits of these amiable 
correspondents, an account has been given in a former part. 



HER WRITINGS. 267 

lightful to learn that you have gone to Rome ; as 
the influence I well know you possess there, affords 
me some hope. Besides I feel persuaded that 
even your departure from Ferrara may ultimately 
be of service to him, since I have no doubt, that 
on this occasion, the duke will be ready to promise 
any thing you desire ; and you can truly say that 
if he wishes to gratify you, he has only to pardon, 
at your intercession (which might even procure 
the remission of real crime), one who is entirely 
blameless. In this affair you will consult your 
own prudence and discretion, only being yourself 
not ignorant of suffering, I trust it will dispose 
you to assist the wretched ; those especially who 
are unfortunate, not from their own fault, but for 
the sake of Christ. For you are well aware that 
whatever benefit or good offices you may do to them, 
will be considered as having been done unto Him. 
I do not write much on this subject, feeling as- 
sured that you are as much interested as myself 
in the safety of the oppressed. I only exhort 
you that you do not permit the magnanimity of 
your mind to be swayed, by the most malevolent 
assertions, from those things which pertain to the 
true religion of Christ. 

" With regard to our own affairs, I have nothing 



268 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

new to communicate. We are still living with 
Hermann, in a small town, one day's journey from 
Augsburgh, where I endeavour to mitigate the 
grief occasioned by the death of my cousin, and 
to relieve your anxiety respecting letters from me. 
It affords me true pleasure to write to you, in the 
leisure hours, when not occupied with my religious 
studies ; in which I take more delight every day. 
I congratulate you that you are going to Rome, 
and I do not doubt that the presence of your 
friends will alleviate those cares which at present 
distress you ; especially if you take with you 
that excellent woman, Cherubina,* whom I strong- 
ly recommend to your esteem, as well as to my 
own dear mother and sisters. Farewell." 

LETTER IV. 

" Olympia Morata to the Princess Lavinia Delia 
Rovere Orsini. 

"I WAS much distressed, that, at the time I received 
your letter, I could not reply to it ; for you are 

* Madonna Cherubina degli Orsini sister to Prince 
Camillo Orsini, husband to Lavinia, and a favorite friend 
and correspondent of Olympia. 



HER WRITINGS. 269 

not ignorant how difficult it is in winter to find a 
person to whom we can entrust our letters. To 
this difficulty we have to add, that we are now 
much farther separated than we were last summer. 
For when you went to Rome, we went to Schwein- 
furt, my husband's native city, whither the senate 
had requested him to repair, to afford his medical 
aid to the Spanish troops sent into winter quarters 
there by the emperor. 

" From these causes I was not able to answer as 
I wished your dear letter, which excited in me 
mingled emotions of grief and joy. For, of 
course, I was at first deeply afflicted by the news 
of the death of Fannio, a man endowed with 
such admirable piety ; though my grief was after- 
wards alleviated by the thought of his matchless 
constancy. I was delighted to learn that you 
had taken with you and extended your protection 
to my dear sister ;* a pleasure which was the 
greater from being unsolicited and unexpected. 
Indeed I cannot on the whole say with certainty 
whether I have experienced more pain from the 
injuries inflicted on me, or pleasure from the pro- 
tection of God ; which, even when in the greatest 

* Victoria Morata, her favourite and most accomplished 
sister and correspondent. 



270 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

need of counsel from above, was afforded to us, 
and relieved us from many difficulties by which 
we were surrounded, not only in Italy, but also 
frequently in Germany also. You know that 
Satan is every where besetting us with snares ; 
from which, were God to withdraw his protection, 
we could not escape even for a single day. 
Wherefore I give eternal thanks to Him who hath 
thus regarded us ; and feel my affection for you 
increased from your having, unsolicited, nay, un- 
thought of, not only wished to render us service, 
but actually performed the kindest offices. Again 
and again I offer my most grateful and affection- 
ate acknowledgments. Farewell. 
" Schweinfurt, 1551." 

LETTER V. 

" Olympia Morata to the Princess Lavinia 
Delia Rovere Orsini Health. 

"I AM ignorant whether you have received a long 
letter I sent you this summer, to which I added 
a dialogue and some works of learned and pious 
writers, for letters are very rarely delivered in 
these most turbulent times, which seem to be en- 
tirely occupied wkh warlike affairs Besides, we 



HER WRITINGS. 271 

are now separated by a much greater distance 
than formerly. Therefore, my Lavinia, if I shall 
appear negligent in replying to your welcome let- 
ters, do not, I beseech you, ascribe it to forgetful- 
ness of you, to whom I never omit writing by 
every possible opportunity. I would also write 
daily, if I could find any one to whom I might 
entrust my letters, to my dear mother, about 
whom I am very anxious ; and I sometimes think 
that I am forgotten by you, and so my anxiety 
increases every day. And truly, if I had not that 
consolation which is enjoyed in Germany, where 
we are permitted to have books on theology which 
would be denied us with you, I could not bear up 
against my longing for my friends ; and especially 
for you, who art ever in my heart, and of whom 
I never fail to make mention in my prayers. I 
am anxious about your health, and afraid that you 
exert yourself day and night, as you were wont, 
and wear yourself out with care. It is on this 
account that, though much encumbered with 
many occupations, I have composed the above 
dialogue; that at least during its perusal, your 
mind may be abstracted from your own vexations. 
For I suspect that while the war is raging in 
France, your husband will have left you, and that 



272 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

you will be distressed in your usual manner ; so 
I have interspersed in the dialogue (as you will 
see) several, if not all, of the circumstances which 
are likely to have occurred to you. I send you 
also some writings of the learned Martinus, which 
afforded me great pleasure, and which may inte- 
rest and comfort you also. Devote your whole 
attention (by God's blessing) to these studies. 
Implore him to guide your mind to true religion, 
and you will not meet with disappointment. Do 
you believe that God can lie? And wherefore 
should he make so many promises to all who 
implore his assistance, if he did not design to aid 
them ? He invites, nay allures all who are 
wretched to come to him, and makes no exception. 
Therefore lay aside that ancient error which we 
have heretofore held, when we thought that before 
praying to God we should first ascertain whether 
He had elected us to everlasting life. But, on 
the contrary, let us, as He himself hath com- 
manded, implore his mercy, and when we have 
been enabled to do this, we may certainly judge 
that we are of the number of the elect. Hitherto 
you have been inactive, but now awake from your 
slumbers ; and, oh ! consider not who the person 



HER WRITINGS. 273 

is that thus exhorts you, but whose are the words 
of the exhortation itself. Again, farewell. 
" Schweinfurt, 1552." 

LETTER VI. 

" Olympia Morata wishes health to her beloved 
sister Victoria Morata. 

" BY God's love towards us, we are still safe and 
sound, notwithstanding the great disasters that 
have lately befallen the native country of my 
husband ; for which circumstance you, my Vic- 
toria, ought to give thanks to the greatest and 
best of Beings, who preserved us from the flames 
and the sword, and snatched us almost from the 
jaws of death. Were I to tell you the dangers and 
perils of war which we have endured, instead of a 
letter, they would fill a large volume. During no 
less than fourteen months we suffered the greatest 
possible hardships on account of the siege,* and 
were constantly exposed to the cannon balls. It 
would appear almost incredible if 1 were to men- 
tion the number of these fired in one day against 

* Of her husband's native city of Schweinfurt, in Fran- 
conia, in which Albert, Marquis of Brandenburgh, was 
closely besieged by a superior force. 
T 






274 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

the town ; and yet it pleased God that it should 
thus long hold out, to afford the inhabitants an 
opportunity of reforming their lives; and, not- 
withstanding the length of the siege, and the 
small size and slender strength of the place, owing 
to the same gracious protection, very few among 
us lost their lives. 

" But, alas ! when (the garrison having retired) 
we flattered ourselves with returning to a state of 
tranquillity, the enemy made a sudden and trea- 
cherous inroad into the city, and having, amid a 
horrible scene of confusion, plundered it, they set 
it on fire. Such are the fatal miseries inflicted on 
once happy Germany by the feuds of her own 
unnatural rulers ! 

" In the midst of this terror and alarm, my hus- 
band and I were just about taking shelter, with 
many others, in a church, as a secure asylum, 
when one of the enemy's soldiers advised us to 
quit the town immediately, else we should be 
buried in its ashes. Indeed, if we had been in 
the church the smoke would have suffocated us, 
as it did all who fled thither. We, therefore, 
providentially took his advice ; but while endea- 
vouring to effect our escape, we fell in with a 
differently disposed party of soldiers, who not 



HER WRITINGS. 275 

enly plundered us, but took my husband prisoner. 
This was the most dreadful misfortune that had 
ever befallen me ; for, methinks, if he had been 
longer detained, or if God (who restored him at 
my entreaty) had withdrawn his aid, I must have 
died of grief. I could easily have borne the loss 
of all our other effects, (though I had nothing 
wherewith to cover me except a shift) but in no 
measure that of my dearest husband. 

" Our Heavenly Father, however, heard my 
groans, both at that time and afterwards. For 
under His guidance we were led to experience 
protection from various Counts, governors of forts, 
and cities, who received us honorably, and fur- 
nished us with clothes and other necessaries. 
Among these, one is married to the illustrious 
daughter of the Elector Palatine ; and this noble 
lady treated me in my distress with such Christian 
charity and kindness, that she herself ministered 
to me when sick, with her own hands, and pre- 
sented me with a very valuable dress. Another of 
these benevolent nobles, not even known to us by 
name, sent us, while we were on our journey, a 
large sum of money, as a supply. By the kind- 
ness of these individuals, we were enabled to sur- 
mount our difficulties; till my husband was' 
T 2 



276 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

appointed by the Prince Palatine, one of the 
commissioners of the empire, professor of me- 
dicine, at his university of Heidelberg, where we 
now reside. 

" This is one of the principal seminaries of Ger- 
many, though, alas! in these calamitous and 
turbulent times, the study of arms is far more 
attended to than that of literature. The bishops 
have still a large army on foot, and the adverse 
party one little inferior. Between them, they 
destroy, plunder, and burn up every thing. 

" In England, I hear that the pious are also much 
afflicted and that Bernardo Ochino, of Sienna, 
a true Christian, as I know, has been obliged to 
fly from that country to Geneva ; so that whoever 
wishes to be a Christian must bear his cross with 
him in all places. Indeed, I would rather endure 
any evils in the cause of Christ, than possess the 
whole world without him. Nor do I desire any- 
thing more than him though I am not ignorant 
that the hardships we have already endured are 
far from being the last, and that if our lives are 
prolonged, we must undergo many more; nay, 
even at present, we are by no means exempt from 
evils. One thing I implore that God may 
bestow on me faith and constancy, even to the 



HER WRITINGS. 

end ; which I trust He will do ; for has He not 
promised to hear my prayers ? I constantly pour 
out my soul to Him, nor is it in vain ; for I feel 
myself so strengthened and supported that I would 
not yield even a hair-breadth in the cause of 
religion, to its adversaries, who are in possession 
of every earthly advantage. Nor can I at all 
acquiesce in the opinion of those Epicureans, who 
make the name of the blessed Gospel a cloak for 
their sinful desires. 

" You see then, my dear sister, that these three 
enemies (as they are called in Scripture), the 
world, the devil, and the flesh, are never long at 
rest. But is it not much better in this short 
existence of our's, to suffer persecution with the 
Church of God, than share the eternal torments 
of the adversaries, where darkness for ever reigns ? 
Wherefore my sister, I again and again beseech 
you to have regard to your salvation ; and to be 
more afraid of that Being, who by one word 
created the universe who made and preserved 
you, and loaded you with so many benefits 
than of powerless creatures of clay, or the aspect 
of this world, whether threatening, or smiling 
and flattering. For what are all the things that 
surround us but vapour and smoke that vanisheth 



278 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

or stubble and hay, quickly consumed by the 
flames ? 

" But if even you believe yourself already on the 
right path to heaven, beware of availing yourself 
of your weakness as an excuse ; for this is ingra- 
titude to God, and a disease is always aggravated 
by indulgence. On this account, David, in the 
141st Psalm, prays that God would not permit 
his mind to wander in quest of any excuse for his 
sins. Where then lies your remedy? Trust your 
disease to the Lord, the true physician. Ask 
Him to give you medicine and strength, and to 
make you love and fear him more than you do 
man. Why is God so often called in the Psalms, 
the God of our strength, but that He can 
strengthen us, and make us bold, and alone 
enable us to acknowledge Him. He desires to 
be constantly prayed to, that He may be prevailed 
upon. Be assured that He hears your prayers, 
and will do what you ask, and more than you 
ask ; for He is bountiful and kind to those who 
seek him from the heart. 

" But beware my sister of despising the Gospel, 
and saying, " If indeed, I be one of the elect, 
and chosen to salvation, I cannot perish ;" as 
this would be to tempt God, who commands us to 



HER WRITINGS. 279 

" work out our salvation" by obedience to the 
Gospel, and frequent prayer. For though 
election is certain, and the salvation of the 
chosen (which those that are Christ's feel in the 
inner man) is freely admitted yet is salvation 
not obtained without Christ, and those things 
that adorn the Christian profession. " Faith," 
says Paul, " is from hearing, and hearing from 
the word of God." He writes the same in his 
epistle to the Galatians ; and in the Acts, the 
same thing is pointed out that those receive 
the Holy Spirit who listen to the voice of the 
Gospel. Never forget what Paul and James 
say, "That the faith approved by our Lord is no 
inoperative and languid one, but that which by 
charity, is active and lively." 

" But if you are denied the opportunity of 
hearing, let no day pass without reading the 
scriptures, and prayer, that God may open your 
mind to perceive and imbibe those things which 
tend to make us live well and happily. Even if 
you have little time remaining after your duties 
to your mistress,* rise somewhat earlier, and go 
to bed later and having shut yourself in your 

The Princess Laviuia Orsini. 



280 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

chamber, go over those things that belong to 
salvation for God commands us to seek above 
all things his kingdom and righteousness. Having 
done this, commit yourself to God, with that 
mind and faith, that reverence and honour, which 
become a Christian and noble lady. 

" Tell your mistress, Lavinia, to seek alleviation 
for her sorrows and troubles, and a respite from 
care, from the Christian philosophy. In a short 
time we shall arrive at the wished-for haven. 
Time flies, both in prosperity and adversity; and 
although our affliction should even be long and 
severe, let us remember that we suffer with the 
members of Christ, nay, with Christ himself. 
For instance, that most illustrious lady of whom 
I have spoken above, carries her cross, and one 
which is not light ; and yet she is of a royal 
lineage, from which even emperors have sprung. 
Although she is thus highly descended, she is con- 
tent with a more humble lot. During nineteen 
years, she has scarcely been a single day free from 
sickness but now she has been for several days 
so dangerously ill that her life is despaired of. 
Being however, a truly religious lady, she always 
speaks of God and a future life with great desire 
and eagerness; and she and her husband have 



HER WRITINGS. 281 

often been called on to hazard their lives and 
fortunes. 

"Oh, my sister! pray with Moses in Psalm 90th, 
' Teach me, O Lord, so to number my days, and 
to have their fewness always before me; that 
despising this vain life, I may apply my heart to 
wisdom.' Seek God, while he may be found 
call upon him constantly ; when you partake of 
his bounty, thank him. Deliver yourself wholly 
to his love shun the path of sinners keep 
yourself pure and chaste, so that you may at 
length, as a conqueror, carry off the palm. 

" Salute in my name, my female friends, both 
young and old. I will write myself to Cherubina. 
Write me a long letter, and tell me about your 
own affairs. I am very desirous to hear from 
your mistress, Lavinia, (to whom present my 
respects,) she is exceedingly dear to me, for her 
sweetness and piety have never left my mind. 
I have sent her several tracts, and especially those 
of our dear Ccelius, and am anxious to know 
whether she has received them, and whether they 
are acceptable. My husband, and brother Emi- 
lius, salute you. Farewell, and overcome, my 
dearest Victoria. 

" Heidelberg, 7th August, 1554." 



282 OLYMPIA MORATA. 



LETTER VII. 

" Olympia Morata to Madonna Cherubina 
Orsini. 

"My dearest lady Cherubina. You will, I know, 
rejoice with me, that God of his infinite mercy, 
has delivered us from innumerable perils, to which 
we have been exposed for upwards of fourteen 
months. In the extremity of famine, the Lord 
so nourished us, that we had wherewithal to 
impart to others. He delivered my husband from 
a pestilential fever which prevailed in the city, 
and of which he was for several weeks, so ill, 
that had I not been enabled to look with the eye 
of faith beyond present appearances, I must have 
despaired ; seeing that the most fatal symptoms 
had manifested themselves upon him. But the 
Lord, with whom all things are possible, and who 
oft-times works contrary to Nature, was pleased 
to cure him, and that without medicine what- 
soever, of which the long siege had entirely 
exhausted the supply. 

" It pleased God to look with pity on my in- 
supportable distress; and often and often have 
I experienced what is said by the Psalmist, that 



HER WRITINGS. 283 

' He executeth the desire of them that fear him, 
and heareth all their prayers.' 

" You are not ignorant, my dearest Cherubina, 
that by the ' fire ' in Scripture, is signified the 
furnace of affection ; as is clearly shown in that 
passage of Isaiah, when our Lord bids Israel 
' fear nought, for that He will be with them when 
passing through the fire.' And thus indeed was 
He with us, who have literally (not figuratively) 
passed through it. The Bishops and their ad- 
herents, having besieged Schweinfurt, threw fire 
into it night and day, from every quarter ; such 
was the unintermitting fury of their cannonade, 
that the garrison declared they had not witnessed 
the like of it in any former siege. Yet was God 
pleased during its continuance, so to invite the 
people to penitence by his clemency, that not 
one of the inhabitants was killed. Long did he 
manifest his power and goodness in defending us ; 
till at length, after having promised, at the com- 
mand of the Emperor and other princes, to dis- 
perse, the besiegers treacherously and unexpect- 
edly entered, and having plundered every thing 
the town contained, set it on fire. 

" But God delivered us from the flames also, 
and that by the counsel of one of the enemy. My 



284 OLYMPIA MO RAT A. 

husband was twice made prisoner, and you may 
believe that if ever I knew sorrow, or if ever 1 
prayed heartily in my life, it was then ! From 
the bottom of my anguished heart, I cried with 
groans unutterable, ' Help Lord ! help me, for 
the sake of Christ !' nor did I cease till it pleased 
God to hear me, and deliver my husband. Oh ! 
that you had seen me dishevelled, and covered 
with rags, (for they took from us our very gar- 
ments) and in the haste of the flight I had lost 
my shoes by the way, so that how I got over the 
sharp stones and flints God alone can tell ! Often 
did I say ' I can proceed no further, now 
must I lie down and die.' Often did I cry to 
God in my despair, ' Lord if thou wouldst have 
me live, bid thine angels carry me, for I myself 
can do no more.' It is still matter of astonish- 
ment to me, how I made out in one day those 
ten miles weak as I was, emaciated and ex- 
hausted, having been ill even before ; and now 
from fatigue I was attacked with intermittent 
fever, which hung about me during my whole 
wanderings. 

" But God did not forsake us, though despoiled 
of every thing, even our very apparel sending 
us by the hands of an unknown nobleman fifteen 



HER WRITINGS. 285 

gold crowns ; and conducting us to other princes, 
who honorably clothed and entertained us. Now 
thanks be to Him ! we are settled at Heidelberg, 
(where my husband is a public lecturer on medi- 
cine) and we are almost as well supplied with 
household furniture as before our misfortune. 

" These things I have written to you that you 
may thank God with us, and observe that he 
never abandons in their miseries those that are 
his ; and thus be confirmed in your faith that he 
never will forsake you, should you be called on 
to suffer for the truth. For we must all be, (as 
Paul says,) ' conformed to the image of Christ,' 
we must suffer with him, if we would reign with 
him, and he only that overcometh can have the 
crown. 

" If you feel yourself weak, my dearest lady, as 
indeed I am myself (but the Lord makes me 
strong when I call on, and pray to him,) go to 
Christ, who, (says Isaiah) * will not break the 
bruised reed,' that is, a fearful and timid con- 
science, but rather encourage and console it, 
for does he not call to him all who are ' weary 
and heavy laden' with their sins ? Nor will he 
' quench the smoking flax,' that is, a weak im- 
perfect faith, but on the contrary confirms and 



286 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

strengthens it. Know you not that Isaiah calls 
him the strong and mighty one, not solely be- 
cause he once conquered sin, death and hell, 
but because he vanquishes them continually in 
all his members, and makes them strong also ? 
Why does the Scripture invite us so often to 
pray, and promise that we shall be heard, were it 
not that in all our evils and infirmities, we should 
betake ourselves to our heavenly physician ? Why 
does David call Him the God of his strength, 
but because he had made him strong, as he will 
you also. But He wills that you pray to Him, 
and study his word, which is the food of the 
soul ; for if the body loses its strength when de- 
prived of food, how must that soul languish which 
is not nourished and sustained by the word of 
God? 

" Therefore my beloved Cherubina, pray without 
ceasing, and read the Holy Scriptures both alone, 
and with our Lavinia and Victoria, exhorting 
each other to piety. Pray together, and you 
will find that God will so strengthen you as to 
enable you to overcome the world ; and never, 
from timidity to do any thing against your con- 
science. Pray also for us, (as I do even for the 
Christians who are in Italy) that the Lord would 



HER WRITINGS. 287 

confirm and establish us, and enable us to confess 
him in the midst of a perverse generation. 

" Here there is great contempt for the word of 
God, and few there be indeed who care for it. 
We are yet like Samaria, which had the worship 
of God, and idolatry subsisting side by side. 
Gladly would I have had with me my beloved 
mother, but, alas ! war rages every where, and 
I must console myself with the joyful hope of 
meeting her in a better world. Here, as else- 
where, the pious must bear their cross ; may God 
grant us all faith and constancy to overcome the 
world. 

" I must tell you (to His praise) what a miracle 
I witnessed during the course of our persecution, 
when at the courts of various German princes, 
who had hazarded their lives and fortunes for 
the Gospel. Truly they lived such a holy life 
that I was filled with astonishment. One prince 
in particular, not content with maintaining 
preachers in his city, and being himself the most 
regular in attendance on them, every morning 
before breakfast, assembled all his family without 
allowing one to be absent, and after having read 
to them a chapter of the Gospel or of the Epistles 
of St. Paul, knelt down with all his Court, and 



288 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

offered up prayers to God. Besides which, all his 
subjects are duly catechised from house to house, 
with their children and servants, so that they 
may give a reason for the faith that is in them, 
and that it may be seen if they make progress in 
Religion, for, says their good prince, were he to 
act otherwise, he should be accountable for the 
souls of the meanest of his subjects. Would 
that all kings and princes only resembled him !* 

" May the Lord grant you increase of faith and 
knowledge, for which increase we ought, you 
know, constantly to pray ; and on account of 



* This testimony to the piety and merits of these exem- 
plary princes, is thus corroborated by Campano, in a letter 
to the Editor of Olympia's works. " Nor can I pass over in 
silence the honorable mention made in them of the generous 
Counts of Erbach, because I know all that is said of them to 
be strictly true. They were not less endowed with erudition 
than with singular piety and constancy ; and" (while con- 
versing with him on the affairs of the Reformation) " I have, 
never in my life met with more accuracy of investigation, or 
more acute judgment than in these princes. One of their 
chaplains assured me he had learned more from his lord, 
than in six years at Wittemberg. They also lived in the 
utmost fraternal concord and unity, which is truly said in 
Scripture, to be a ' good and pleasant thing.' " 



HER WRITINGS. 289 

which advance religion is called the * way of the 
Lord.' in which we are not to stand still, as if 
we were already perfect, but ever walk steadily 
forward, and aim at further perfection. Above all, 
diligently study the Scriptures. 

" Emilius, thanks be to God, is well and hearty. 
I trust he will fear God, for he listens most 
willingly to instruction, and delights in reading 
the Bible. My constant prayer for him, and for 
all my house, is that they may fear the Lord ! 
My husband, my brother and myself, salute you 
from the heart. The Lady Lavinia, if inclined to 
write to me, may now easily find opportunity ; as 
this city is celebrated both for its Court and its 
University. Farewell. 

Tour OLT MPIA. 

Heidelberg, 8th August, 1554." 

LETTER VIII. 

"Olympia Morata wishes health in Jesus Christ 
to Ccelius Secundus Curio. 

" I think it unnecessary to apologise for not hav- 
ing answered the letters you kindly sent me, since 
this war by which we have been for fourteen months 



290 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

so harassed, though we happily escaped uninjured, 
will be a sufficient excuse. No sooner had Albert, 
Marquis of Brandenburgh stationed his army at 
Schweinfurt, on account of its advantageous situ- 
ation, than his enemies, who were superior in force, 
laid siege to the city, and attempted to take it by 
storm. They continued night and day to batter 
the walls with their engines, while on the other 
hand, we within them were exposed to many in- 
juries from the soldiers of the Marquis; so that 
no one was safe in his own house. 

" The troops not being paid their arrears, threat- 
ened to indemnify themselves by plundering the 
citizens, as if they had had any share in their pre- 
sent extremities ; and the resources of the city 
being completely exhausted in supporting so large 
a garrison, a very grievous disease broke out in 
consequence ; which attacked almost all the inha- 
bitants, occasioning to many the loss of reason 
from the pain, and carrying off one half of the po- 
pulation. My beloved husband was among the 
sufferers, so that his life was despaired of ; but 
God taking pity upon my grief, restored him with- 
out the use of medicines, for indeed there were 
none remaining in the town. 

" But one evil is often but the beginning of an- 



HEE WRITINGS. 291 

other, for after his recovery, we were besieged by a 
still more numerous army, who threw fire, night and 
day into the city, so that at night you would have 
thought it was all in flames ; and we were com- 
pelled to take up our abode in a wine cellar. And 
when at length the departure of the Marquis and 
his forces by night had given us hopes of a happy 
termination of the war no sooner had he with- 
drawn, than the very next day, the troops of the 
bishops and of Nuremburg entered the city, and 
having pillaged, set it on fire. 

" God, however, delivered us from the midst of 
the flames, by means of one of the enemy's soldiers, 
who advised us to quit the city before it should be 
entirely consumed. We took his advice and de- 
parted, plundered of every thing, and in such des- 
titution, that we could not carry with us the 
smallest piece of money; nay our clothes were 
forcibly torn from us in the middle of the street, nor 
had I any thing left to cover me but a linen shift. 

" No sooner had we escaped from the city, than 
my husband was taken prisoner, nor could I by 
any means procure his ransom. I could only, as 
I saw him taken from before me, pray to God, with 
tears and groans unutterable, who was pleased to 
restore him to me. On quitting Schweinfurt, we 



292 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

knew not whither to go at length we directed 
our steps to Hamelburg, which I reached with 
great difficulty, this little town being three 
leagues distant from Schweinfurt ; its citizens re- 
ceived us very reluctantly, being prohibited from 
extending to us the least hospitality. 

" When I entered this place barefooted, with my 
hair in disorder, and my gown, which was not even 
my own, but lent me by a woman, torn, I looked 
like the queen of the beggars. From the fatigue 
of the journey, I was seized with a fever, which 
hung about me during all my further wanderings ; 
for the people of Hamelburg being too apprehen- 
sive for themselves to render our longer stay pos- 
sible, four days after, I was obliged, ill as I was, 
to resume my journey. 

" Being compelled, in the course of it, to pass 
through one of the episcopal towns, my husband 
was once more made prisoner by the bishop's 
lieutenant, who told us he had strict orders from 
his most merciful master, to put to death all who 
should fly thither from Schweinfurt. You may 
think, therefore, in what agitation between hope 
and fear we remained prisoners, until the bishop 
sent an order to dismiss us ; and then at length 
God was pleased to begin to favour us. 



HER WRITINGS. 293 

" He first conducted us to the protection of the 
noble Count of Rhineck, and afterwards to that of 
the illustrious Count of Erbach, both of whom 
(who had often hazarded their own fortunes and 
lives for Christianity) received us frankly, and 
loaded us with many presents. We remained 
some time with them until my health was recruited, 
and my husband admitted to the University of 
Heidelberg, where he had been appointed Professor 
of Medicine. 

" I have now given you an epitome of our 
troubles ; further particulars of which you shall 
have another time. Many thanks for the books 
you sent me, which were most acceptable ; but 
alas ! they perished in the flames along with our 
other effects. Present my compliments to your 
wife and children. 

" Heidelberg, 25th August." 

LETTER IX. 

" Olympia Morata to Celio Secundo Curio. 
"SoME days ago I wrote you a long letter, in 
which I gave you an account of our sufferings 
from the calamities of war, so I shall now be very 
laconic. I have only to entreat you earnestly 



294 OLYMPIA MOBATA. 

that along with the other books which we are de- 
sirous to have sent to us, you will confer on us a 
great favour by adding " Commentaries on the 
Lamentations of Jeremiah, by a very learned man 
of the present age. Farewell." 

LETTER X. 

" Celio Secundo Curio to Olympia Morata. 

" You have too just an excuse, my dearest Olym- 
pia, for not having answered my letters, and such 
as (if I may so speak without impropriety) I truly 
wish had been wanting. But what do I say ? 
we indeed are ignorant, as he himself saith, of the 
motives for the decrees of God, but to Him they 
are not unknown ; and therefore do we submit 
ourselves unhesitatingly to his divine judgment, 
and adore his counsels as just, though they tran- 
scend our knowledge. 

" Your letter affords, indeed, two remarkable 
examples of the joint severity and clemency of 
God. Severity in your banishment from your 
country ; and clemency and benevolence in your 
being saved from the flames, and from such im- 
minent dangers. I have no doubt that some time 
hence, nay, even at the present moment, from the 



HER WRITINGS. 296 

power of faith which so strongly influences your 
pious mind, you will become sensible how great is 
that Divine Providence which is ever present to 
those who labour and are in distress. Especially 
since God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and our Father, had compassion on you when most 
severely afflicted, and restored from an apparently 
fatal disease (and that without the means of em- 
ploying any human remedy) your dear and ex- 
cellent husband ; and also since the same God 
twice delivered him from captivity in compliance 
with your earnest prayers and unspeakable la- 
mentations ; when by him you were conducted to 
those excellent and pious great men by whom your 
calamity was somewhat alleviated ; and in fine, 
when being summoned by that wise prince, the 
Elector Palatine, your harassed husband was 
chosen by the University of Heidelburg to teach 
in that celebrated school, the science of medicine. 

" And although spoiled and deprived of all your 
worldly goods, you with difficulty escaped from 
the flames, have you not retained (along with your 
inestimable husband) all that, in the words of 
Bias* the Priennian, deserves to be accounted 

* One of the seven wise men of Greece. 



296 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

valuable your genius, your learning, your wis- 
dom, your innocence, your piety, your faith, and 
the rest of your real treasures ? Truly you have 
left behind the goods of fortune, your playthings, 
which are not worthy to be considered as posses- 
sions these, indeed, have been seized by the 
enemy, which, had they been really and intrin- 
sically yours, could never have happened. But 
as affairs now stand, your personal safety being 
insured, I am far from being disposed to grieve 
on your account, and I feel persuaded that you 
will think as I do, and give thanks to God, your 
preserver ; and that your piety and gratitude will 
be proportioned to your past sufferings, calamities, 
and dangers. 

" I have given directions to our booksellers that 
on my account you may receive whatever you 
require. Homer and several other books have 
been sent for you to Frankfort as presents. If to 
be found in that city, I have taken care that you 
shall have the Commentaries on the Lamentations 
of Jeremiah, that with him you may lament over 
your husband's country. Remember that we 
have sent to you whatever remains of Sophocles, 
as a laurel which you have well deserved. 

"The person who delivers you this letter is named 



HER WRITINGS. 297 

John Herold. He is extremely desirous to see 
you, and has requested that I would, by my letter, 
open the door of friendship, that he might be 
allowed to worship at the sacred shrine. I pray you 
to receive him in the light of a friend, so that he 
may learn that he owes his reception not merely 
to your hospitality, but in some measure to my 
recommendation. Inform me, I pray you, what 
has become of your brother Emilius, and what 
accounts you have of your mother and sisters. 
My wife and children, whom you desire me to 
salute in your name, salute you in return, and 
from the heart wish you all good and honourable 
things. Farewell, my Olympia, live the ornament 
of our Italy ! 
" Basle, September, 1554." 

LETTER X. 

" Olympia Fulvia Morata to the Most Illus- 
trious Lavinia della Rovere, wishes health 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

"I CANNOT sufficiently express my surprise, 
most illustrious Lavinia, that you have never sent 
me any letters except one, since you left Ferrara, 
unless, indeed, this destructive war with which we 



298 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

are so annoyed may be considered an excuse. 
For I cannot suspect any change in your kind 
friendship towards me, which, I trust, is equally 
mutual and sincere. I, on the contrary, have 
frequently written to you, and sent you a dialogue 
composed by me, and also the works of some very 
learned men, but hitherto I have never been able 
to elicit a letter from you, though I have learnt 
from those friends to whom I wrote to enquire 
about you, that you were still in existence. There- 
fore, on account of our very great intimacy, I 
again beg and entreat you, in the most earnest 
manner, that you will relieve me by a letter, from 
the anxiety which I have suffered for nearly three 
years respecting you ; which I believe will now be 
the more easily accomplished that we are in a 
place of more importance than formerly, whither 
we should not have come had we not been com- 
pelled by the calamities which we sustained from 
the war, the extent of which, and our severe pres- 
sure of suffering, you will learn from the letters 
I have written to Celio Secundo Curio. For I 
did not consider it necessary to write the same 
things to you. since you might obtain every infor- 
mation from him, and at the same time perceive 
that you had many companions in misery. 



HER WRITINGS. 299 

" Believe me, there is no one, especially if he 
desires to live piously in Christ, who does not 
suffer the severest misfortunes and calamities. 
We are often forced to become wanderers, but yet 
we never can fly from the devil and the world ; 
nay, what does the poet say ? 

Vain to fly care, the golden galley's speed 
Or rapid bounding of the proudest steed : 

even so do we carry along with us at all times our 
old Adam and our sin. Wherefore we ought, at 
all times, to pray to God lest we be overcome by 
such powerful evils. If, on the other hand, we 
give ourselves up to languor and sloth, when we 
ought to be fighting, we shall easily sink under 
our perils, and perish to all eternity. This is what 
you must be on your guard against, and you ought 
to attend with great diligence to the Scriptures, 
and pray often to God that you may not follow 
the example of the multitude of impious persons 
of whom the world is full ; but let the word of God 
direct you to live righteously and piously, and let 
it be a lamp to your feet. For by this means 
only you will escape shipwreck that you give 
all diligence to have greater fear of that God, who 
is the governor of all things, and who can cast 



300 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

both soul and body iqto hell than of feeble 
mortals, whose life is in Scripture compared to a 
shadow, to grass, to a flower, and to a vapour. 
See that you do this with a firm and a great mind. 
All things, however severe, ought to be tolerable, 
if of short duration. 

" Here everything is in a state of warfare, and 
every where the saints are pressed down by many 
cares many have even fled to England, so much 
is the devil raging. But all these things ought to 
afford us much joy ; for we know that they por- 
tend that the happy and propitious day is at hand, 
when we shall together commence our ever blessed 
life. In the meantime we will devote ourselves 
to sacred studies. 

" I recommend to you my sister, with the most 
eager solicitude not that through you she may 
attain riches or worldly honours but that she 
may be thoroughly instructed in the knowledge 
of Christ. The form of this world will soon pass 
away. My husband and little brother desire to 
be remembered to you. Farewell in Christ. 

" Heidelberg, 30th August, 1554." 



HER WRITINGS. 



LETTER XII. 

" Olympia Morata to her Husband. 

" BLESSINGS on my dear husband. I desire of 
all things to know that you are well, what you are 
about, and what is doing with regard to our aftairs. 
I am extremely solicitous likewise to know what 
you have decided respecting your return, or send- 
ing for us to join you. On all these matters I 
entreat that you will write to me quickly and 
fully ; and that you will tell me the real truth, 
and not conceal anything with a view to my con- 
solation. For my desire is that if there should be 
any danger, (which God forbid,) I may instantly 
be with you ; and if you act otherwise, I shall 
consider you as doing me the greatest injury. But 
if you have nothing painful to communicate, (which 
I trust in God is the case,) see that you complete 
our business as speedily as time will permit. 

" But chiefly, my dear husband, amid these 
evils, I wish you to remember that we can have 
no firmer safeguard than God. Unite in prayer 
to Him, with other pious men. Nothing is so 
powerful as the prayer of the righteous. We have 
the example of Elias, who was ' a man of like 



302 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

passions with ourselves ;' and, as James says, ' the 
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avail- 
eth much.' Commend yourself therefore, and 
all of us, to God, and God will be present with 
you. Truly do I, who am thus consoling others, 
myself need consolation, for I am afflicted with 
much pain ; nor do I find any relief, save when I 
implore assistance from God ; and I exhort you 
all sedulously to do the same. Write I pray you 
when I may hope to see you, and take care that 
you do not attempt the journey unless the roads 
should be pronounced safe. 
" 10th February."* 

LETTER XIII. 

" Olympia Morata to her Husband. 

" I HAVE received your two letters, and it was 
very agreeable to me that you should think me at 
liberty to withdraw from hence ; which, that I 
may do without delay, I write this very day. For 
it seems certain that the prince will ere long re- 
turn, and renew hostilities with those who, trusting 



* The year in which this was written, and the cause of 
the ahsence to which it alludes, are unknown. 



HER WRITINGS. 303 

in their supposed strength, prefer a continuance 
of the contest, to purchasing peace by a slight 
pecuniary sacrifice. 

" At all events, my dear husband, I entreat you 
again and again, that you will not leave me here. 
To some, it may appear a place of safety, but not 
so to me ; for I am satisfied that God is not on 
their side. Wherefore, as soon as possible, pre- 
pare for my returning with you, for it is idle to 
encounter what may lawfully be avoided ; and I 
would rather chuse to suffer the greatest priva- 
tions with the church of God, than lead this life, 
and abound in all things. Do not, I pray you, 
forget us ; and I beseech you by all means, re- 
move me from hence. Give thanks to God, whose 
bounty has hitherto protected us. Salute all. 
Our hosts send their good wishes." * 

LETTER XIV. 

" Olympia Morata to Michael Vebero 
a Student. 

" As we dearly love your mother, it is impossible 
for us not to rejoice in her gladness. We have 

The date and occasion of this letter are also uncertain. 



304 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

therefore had great joy and delight from your let- 
ters addressed to my husband ; not only because 
they gave us proofs of your piety, but also from 
the testimony they bore to your proficiency in 
literature. Truly do we congratulate your mother 
that you are applying your mind to liberal pur- 
suits ; and not, as is too customary with young 
men, preferring youthful diversions to the cultiva- 
tion of philosophy. Believe me, it is a great gift 
conferred on you by God, if in this immoral age 
you are permitted to reap a rich harvest ; for, as 
He himself saith, those who are accepted of God, 
he will not suffer to be corrupted, even though 
they walk in the public way. Wherefore I once 
more rejoice with and congratulate you, and I 
earnestly hope that the good opinion which I have 
of you may daily be confirmed ; by which you 
will crown with joy the head of your mother, and 
render us, who are the most friendly of your 
friends, truly happy. And above all, I trust you 
will shew that you are not ungrateful to that God, 
who has endowed you with such happy natural 
dispositions. 

" I confess we feel no small solicitude lest these 
disastrous times should interrupt your auspicious 
career ; and nothing would more sincerely grieve 



HER WRITINGS. 305 

and distress us. For it is at your age equally 
desirable to make farther progress, and to preserve 
steadily what you have already acquired. But 
even though deprived of your preceptors, you can 
always study, and command books; nor, indeed, 
should all things be inculcated solely by teachers, 
who are chiefly useful to point out what ought to 
be acquired. If you will be guided by my advice, 
you will read diligently whatever book you may 
think likely to be of use to you (for I am not 
aware of the precise nature of your studies) ; and 
when you have so done, turn it over again, and 
labour to make yourself master of it ; for it is 
better to know one thing well, than to know many 
superficially as Pliny the younger truly says. 

" By thus acting, you will relieve your mother 
from much solicitude respecting your secular stu- 
dies. But lest you should think I confine my en- 
couragement to common-place motives, let me, 
above all things, strongly exhort you to apply 
yourself with the whole force of your mind and 
soul to Holy Scripture ; which alone will teach 
you what is beautiful and disgraceful, what is 
useful and what frivolous will render you better, 
and sustain you by its intrinsic consolations under 
the greatest misfortunes. 



JJ06 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

" Be of good cheer. God will never desert 
even when suffering the most imminent perils 
those whom He is wont to defend and preserve ; 
for He saith, ' I will reign even in the midst 
of their enemies/ From the sacred fountain of 
Holy Writ, you may indeed imbibe many precious 
truths, in which you shall ever have our best as- 
sistance. My husband wishes you health and all 
good things ; and when at leisure, will himself 
answer you an office which I have for the pre- 
sent gladly taken on myself. Farewell." 

LETTER XV.* 

" Hieronymus Angenosius to the sweetest 
Olympia Morata. 

" MOST true, Olympia, is the old saying, that we 
are never fully aware of the value of anything, un- 
til we are deprived of it. Thus do I begin, now 
when absent, to appreciate the pleasure and enjoy- 
ment I had in your presence ; and the benefit I 

* This letter (the original of which is in Greek) from a 
French student, who seems to have been indebted to the clas- 
sical aids of Olympia is here introduced as a. pleasing proof 
of the gratitude excited by her interest in the improvement of 
youth. 



HER WRITINGS. 307 

received from your conversation. The necessity 
which hurried me to France, has deprived me of 
your society, which I had hoped for some time 
longer to enjoy. I am recalled against my will 
into my native country, and am forced to leave 
that land in which I had so much enjoyment, and 
to which I had become so partial. But I feel 
especially bereaved, because my unexpected de- 
parture has deprived me of the advantage of your 
conversation ; for I was daily making progress in 
the Greek language, in which I could more easily 
converse with you, and I feel now much at a loss 
when I no longer have you to speak to on all 
manner of subjects. Should I have appeared 
faulty in having profited so seldom by these op- 
portunities, you must attribute it to diffidence; 
and though, now much dissatisfied with myself 
on account of it, it is a consolation, that in pro- 
portion to the distress I suffer from your absence, 
so much sweeter will be the recollection of you, 
and so much oftener shall I recall Morata to my* 
mind. Farewell. May you ever be happy, and 
bear to me the same affection with which I regard 
you." 



x 2 



308 OLYMPIA MORATA. 



LETTER XVI. 

" Andreas Rosario to Olympia Morata, most 
famous for her piety and learning. 

" I BEG you will relieve me of my anxiety by writ- 
ing ; and as I now seldom mix in society, assist me 
in my studies by sending some of your literary 
works. Especially some of those Psalms, trans- 
lated into Greek verse, which work you had begun 
at Schweinfurt, and on-which, I hear with plea- 
sure, you are still employed. And I beg you will 
farther inform me whether your dear husband, 
and my valued friend, has set them to music."* 

* That this was probably the case, we may infer from an 
anecdote (occurring in a letter from Campano to Curio), so 
pleasing in itself, and honorable alike to the kindly feelings 
and musical talents of Olympia, that we gladly embrace the 
opportunity of quoting it here afforded. 

On the arrival of Olympia and her husband, after the dis- 
asters of Schweinfurt, at Furstenau, the residence of the 
Counts of Erbach, they were, by desire of their princely 
host, conducted by his officers to view the city. While visit- 
ing the boys' hospital, the master was engaged in giving them 
a lesson in music (probably psalmody), and the young no- 
vices, " not being perfect, sang out of tune." No sooner did 
Olympia discover their blushes and confusion, than she im- 



HER WRITINGS. 30d 



LETTER XVII. 

" John Sinapius to Otympia Morata. 

" After the destruction of our common country, 
we hoped that you would have come to us, and 
so that my Theodora would have had once more 
the advantage of your assistance, the absence of 
which has proved, during the whole period of the 
siege, an incalculable loss to her studies. But 
from what I have learned from my brother Conrad, 
Count Rhineck, illustrious no less for his piety than 
his rank, has afforded you timely aid, and the 
means of travelling ; and you have found at length 
a home at Heidelberg, whither you had been 
formerly invited. Who could have anticipated 
the rapid and fatal overthrow of our afflicted city ? 
Oh, unhappy fate of our country! Oh ! mise- 
rable exiles and expatriated citizens ! 

mediately stepped forward to the boys' assistance, sportively 
asking, in reply to their expressions of admiring surprise 
' What, is it so wouderful that a woman should cheerfully join 
you in singing extempore V On being afterwards invited by 
the master, a man well- versed in literature, to his house ; he 
was there shewn some songs composed by Grundler, which tx- 
eited general admiration both of him and Olympia." 



310 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

" But we will solace ourselves with the hope of 
another and truer country. For we know that 
this world to us is not a permanent residence, but 
as it were a temporary lodging-place; and that 
God will repay all these calamities with his richer 
blessings. From Italy I have received very recent 
letters, and some in which you are deeply con- 
cerned ; and I am ignorant whether you have 
heard lately of the state of the Court. They write 
that all there is full of perils and evils, and that 
God everywhere proves who are His, by the trial 
of the Cross. Considering the misfortune's of 
these his tried servants, we ought to bear ours 
meekly. All good things to you and your faith- 
ful husband, and give me information that your 
affairs are prospering, that I may congratulate you. 

" Wurtzburgh, 28th June, 1554."* 

* On which day one year is completed from 
the funeral of my beloved wife. Again farewell. 

This was the letter (already referred to) which induced 
Olympia to open her maternal arms to the daughter of her 
early friend and preceptor. 



11 ER WRITINGS. 311 



LETTER XVIII." 

" Olympia Morata to a certain German 
preacher, greeting. 

" I have very often greatly desired to have au 
opportunity of conversing with you, but this having 
been hitherto unattainable, I must resolve to per- 
form by letter what, had it been in my power, I 
should have preferred doing in person. But I must 
not longer delay executing the command of Christ, 
whom we are bound to be subject to and obey. 

" Having been informed, on too good author- 
ity, of your frequent transgressions, I have felt it 
my imperative duty to admonish you, as I wish to 
prove myself a true disciple of Christ. I therefore, 
hope, that (on due reflection) you will, on this ac- 
count, bear with me, if I remind you that when, 
regardless of the very great dignity of your minis- 
terial office, and unmindful of your grey hairs, you 



* This epistle, almost apostolic in its gravity and dignity 
df rebuke, though coming from a writer of five and twenty, 
seems to have been penned at the request of the delinquent's 
Hock, or family, and may serve to enhance our opinion, both 
of the influence and character of its author. 



312 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

thus gratify your appetites, like another Epicurus, 
you fall into an error considered disgraceful by 
every man of education, and from which, many, 
not possessing the advantage of instruction in the 
Christian religion, preserve themselves guiltless. 

" But if such conduct is doubly reprehensible in 
a Christian, whose life ought to he holy, and his 
actions unimpeachable, and who is bound to al- 
lure others to the service of God, and to support 
true religion ; is it not most disgraceful in a 
preacher, not to walk himself in the path which he 
points out to others ? If it is shameful in a mere 
philosopher to fail in exhibiting in his own conduct 
the virtue he professes to recommend, can we 
style that pastor less than infamous, who, incul- 
cating purity on others, himself lives in shameless 
profligacy? Is it a slight offence in such to be 
perpetually drinking to become intoxicated to 
abuse the excellent gift of God which was given 
us to be used with grateful thanks, not turned into 
an occasion of licentiousness ? What evils does 
not drunkenness lead to ? profanation of the holy 
name of God (which they who take in vain we 
know will not be held guiltless) and pollution and 
debasement of those bodies which are the temples 
of the living God. They who indulge in such 
excesses, grieve the Holy Spirit, spurn and expel 



HER WRITINGS. 313 

him from their breasts, deprive themselves of the 
benefit of his intercessions and if those who 
defiled the temple of Jerusalem were visited by God 
with such severe censures, what shall be their pu- 
nishment who pollute the templesof the Holy Ghost? 

" But not to dwell on those further aggravations 
by which the dignity of your ministerial office has 
been lessened, and Christ and his church disgraced, 
I cannot forbear remarking that thus to propagate 
immorality, instead of sound doctrine, is a species 
of theft in one, who having received a salary for 
communicating instruction, instead of setting 
before his disciples an example of modesty, so- 
briety, and temperance, plunges them by that 
very example in the depths of profligacy. For- 
get not, I beseech you, the saying of Christ ' Ye 
are the salt of the earth but if the salt hath lost 
its savour wherewith shall it be salted ? it is hence- 
forth good for nothing, but to be cast out and 
trodden under foot of men.' Think also upon 
the words of St. Paul ' But I command my 
own body, and keep it in subjection, lest, when 
I have preached to others, I myself should be a 
cast-away." 

" With what face could you desire your disciples 
to imitate you, as St. Paul commands his to take 
Him for their example ? Would you exhort them 



314 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

to imitate you in drinking and in eating? In 
vain would you plead in excuse of this vice, the 
infirmity of the flesh. We all know that man is 
fallible, nor can any one be found who is guilt- 
less before God ; but those whose faith is genuine 
deny the passions and lusts of the flesh. The 
weakest are sometimes so strengthened as to ob- 
tain the mastery over their sins ; and truly drunk- 
enness is so disgraceful a vice, that even those 
who are ignorant of Christ can abstain from it. 
Shall we say that a Christian, notwithstanding the 
innumerable benefits conferred on him, cannot be 
a sober man, while the Turk, though perhaps a 
lost creature, and a profligate Mahometan, lives 
sparingly, soberly, and temperately not even 
tasting wine ? And if St. Paul thought it better 
that his flesh should suffer continual mortification, 
than that he should give pain to his brother, will 
you not even refrain from excess, which is so de- 
grading a crime ? and that, not lest one brother 
only should be afflicted or offended, but, lest a 
great multitude of your hearers should perish ? 

Far be it from us to extenuate this vice, for God 
will not judge it by our estimate of it, but by his 
own sentence ; and he places it in the number of 
the most flagitious crimes, which those who in- 
dulge in, ' cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.' 



HER WRITINGS. 315 

Wherefore I again and again, beg, entreat, and 
for the sake of Christ, beseech you, that you lay 
aside these habits, not only on account of your 
ministerial functions, but for your own safety, 
lest you should be of the number of those to whom 
it will be said in the last day, ' Depart from me, 
all ye that work iniquity.' God hath hitherto 
winked at you, and by his lenity, incited you to 
repentance. You are now on the verge of the 
grave repent I beseech you, that God may 
give you glory and honour on account of your 
reformation, in proportion as he formerly attached 
ignominy and disgrace to your profligate tenor of 
life. Think well, I pray you, of these things, and 
renounce them with your whole soul, lest God 
send you into punishment and you be lost for 
ever; for you know well that a profligate life 
argues the want of faith in Christ, without which 
you must altogether perish. 

" Wherefore I admonish and exhort you, before 
death seizes upon you, that you seek pardon from 
God that pardon which giveth repentance, and 
taketh away the sting of death. Believe me, that 
a sense of duty has dictated this remonstrance, 
which, if (as I hope) a Christian, you will take 
in good part, receive, and cheerfully improve. 

" Farewell in Christ." 



316 OLYMPIA MORATA. 



LETTER XIX. 

" Olympia Morata to Madonna Cherubina 
Orsini. 

11 MY dearest lady Cherubina. 

" To the letter I have already written you, 
I wish to add a few lines, for the purpose of ex- 
horting you to pray to God, that he would give 
you strength, lest, through fear of those that 
can kill the body only, you offend that gracious 
Redeemer who has suffered for our sakes ; and 
that He would enable you gratefully to confess 
him, according to his will, before this perverse 
generation, and ever to keep in remembrance 
the words of David, ' I hate the congregation 
of sinners, and will not sit in the company of the 
wicked.' 

" ' I am weak,' you will be apt to say, ' and 
cannot do this.' Oh ! do you imagine that so 
many saints and prophets, that so many martyrs, 
even in our day, have remained firm in their own 
unaided virtue, and that it was not God who gave 
them strength ? Then consider, that those whose 
weakness is mentioned in the Scriptures, did not 
continue always infirm ; St. Peter's denial of his 



HER WRITINGS. 317 

master, is not recorded as an example for our 
imitation, but in order to display the great mercy 
of Christ, and to shew us our own frailty not 
to excuse it. He soon recovered from his weak- 
ness, and obtained such a degree of strength, 
that he afterwards rejoiced to suffer for the cause 
of Christ. 

" From these considerations, we should be 
induced when we are sensible of our infirmity, to 
apply by prayer, to the physician, and request he 
would make us strong. Provided we pray to 
Him, he will not fail to perform his promise ; 
only he does not wish us to be idle and unem- 
ployed, but to be continually exercising ourselves 
with that armour of which St. Paul speaks in the 
b'th Chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians. We 
have a powerful enemy who is never at rest ; and 
Christ, by his example, has shewed us that he is 
to be overcome by prayer, and the word of God. 
For the love of Christ, then, who has redeemed 
you with his precious blood ! I entreat you to 
study diligently the Holy Scriptures, praying that 
the Lord would enable you to understand them. 
Mark how frequently, and with what ardour, the 
great prophet David prays, ' Lord, enlighten me, 
teach me thy ways, renew in me a clean heart;' 



318 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

while we, as if we were already perfect, neither 
study nor read. Paul, that illustrious apostle, 
tells the Philippians, that he did not yet under- 
stand, but was still engaged in learning. We 
ought to he advancing from day to day, in the 
knowledge of the Lord, and praying all the time 
with the apostle, that our faith may be increased, 
and with David say, ' Hold up my steps in thy 
ways.' We have ourselves to blame for our weak- 
ness for we are continually excusing it, and 
neglecting the remedies which Christ has pre- 
scribed, viz. prayer and his word. Do you think 
that after having done and suffered so much from 
love to you, he will not fulfil the gracious pro- 
mise he has made, by granting your petitions for 
strength? Had he not intended to bestow it, he 
would not have invited you by so many pro- 
mises, to ask it ; and, lest you should entertain 
any doubts on this point, he has sworn that all 
you request of the Father, in his name, shall be 
given you. Nor does he say that he will give 
this or that thing, but every thing you solicit ; 
and St. John declares that he will bestow what- 
soever we ask, according to the will of God. 
Now is it not agreeable to his will that we desire 
of him faith and fortitude sufficient to enable us 



HER WRITINGS. 319 

to confess him ? Ah ! how backward are we, 
and how ready to excuse ourselves ! 

" We must acquaint the physician with our 
disease, in order that he may cure us. Oh ! is it 
not the proper office of Christ to save us from 
our iniquities, and to overcome sin ? Knock, 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Never 
forget that he is omnipotent, and that before 
your hour is arrived, no one shall be able to 
touch a hair of your head ; for greater is he that 
is in us, than he that is in the world. Be not 
influenced by what the majority do, but by what 
the godly have done, and still do to this day. 
May the word of God be a lamp to your feet, 
for if you do not read and listen to it, you will 
fall before many stumbling blocks in this world. 

" I beg you to read this letter to Victoria, ex- 
horting her by precept and by example, to honour 
and confess God : and also along with Him the 
Holy Scriptures. Entreat my dear lady Laviqia 
to peruse frequently a portion of them ; and so 
she will experience the efficacy of the word of 
God. The Lord knows that I have written these 
exhortations with sincere concern for your salva- 
tion, and T beg of you to read them with the same 
feeling. I pray God that you may be enlightened 



320 OLYMPIA MO R ATA. 

and fortified in Christ, so as to overcome Satan, 
the world, and the flesh, and to obtain that 
crown which is given to those only who over- 
come. I have no doubt that in following my 
advice, you will find the Lord strengthening you. 
Do not consider that it is a woman only who is 
giving you advice ; but rest assured that God, 
speaking by my mouth, kindly invites you to 
come to Him. 

" All false opinions, all errors, all disputes 
arise solely from not studying the Scriptures with 
sufficient care. David says, ' Thou hast made 
me wiser than all mine enemies, by thy law.' Do 
not listen to those who, despising the command- 
ments of God, and the means appointed for their 
salvation, say, ' If we be predestinated, we shall 
be saved, although we neither pray, nor study 
the Bible.' He who is called of God will not 
utter such blasphemy, but will strive to obey 
Him, and avoid tempting Him. The Lord has 
done us the honor and the benefit to speak to 
us to instruct and console us by his word, and 
should we despise such a valuable treasure ? He 
invites us to draw near to him in prayer; but 
we, neglecting the opportunity, and remaining 
inactive, are busied with disputes concerning the 



HER WRITINGS. 321 

high counsels of God, and the things which are 
to come to pass. 

" Let us use the remedies He has prescribed, 
and thus prove ourselves to be obedient and 
predestinated children. Read and observe how 
highly God would have his word prized. ' Faith,' 
says Paul, ' comes by hearing, and hearing by 
the Word of God.' Charity and faith, I assure 
you, would soon become cold were you to re- 
main idle. And it is not enough (as Christ him- 
self remarks) to have begun, we must persevere 
unto the end. ' Let him that standeth,' says 
Paul, ' take heed lest he fall.' I entreat you, for 
the love of Christ, not to confine yourself to the 
maxims of men, but to conduct yourself accord- 
ing to the word of God ; let it be a lamp to your 
feet, otherwise Satan will be able to deceive you 
in a variety of ways. Deliver these admonitions 
to my sister also. Never consider who the person 
may be that speaks to you but examine whether 
she speaks the word of God, or her own words ; 
and provided the Scriptures and not the authority 
of man be your guide, you will not fail to dis- 
cover the path of duty. Ask, seek, knock, and 
it will be opened unto you. Draw near to your 
heavenly Bridegroom, contemplating Him in the 



322 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Bible, that true and bright mirror, in which 
shines all the knowledge that is necessary for 
us. May God, for the sake of Christ, grant that 
I have not written in vain. The pain in my 
breast has been considerably encreased by the 
exertion, but I sincerely wish I were able, by 
my death, to assist you and others in the things 
which pertain to salvation. Do me the favor to 
send me a single line to acquaint me with the 
state of your health. 

1555. " Your OLYMPIA." 



LETTER XX. 

" Celio Secundo Curio to Olympia Morata. 

" I HAVE received from you, my dearest adopted 
daughter, two letters, written and sent at dif- 
ferent times. What you desire me to do in the 
former, viz. that I should thank our booksellers 
for their liberality to you, I have taken care to 
perform in the best manner I could; and they 
have seen in the letters themselves, the spirit 
with which they are imbued, and the elegance 
and force with which you expressed your 
sentiments. 



HER WRITINGS. 323 

" Your severe illness, was indeed to me matter 
of grievous lamentation. And as I myself was 
ill at the same time, and continued so for several 
days, it doubled my sufferings to know that your 
health was so indifferent. Nor was it sufficient 
that I had two evils to endure, for a third one 
has been added, which well nigh destroyed and 
overwhelmed me, weakened as I was by the 
pressure of the two first. My daughter Violanthe, 
who has been living with her husband at Stras- 
bourg, has been so dangerously ill, that for 
seven months her life was despaired of. But 
within these few days she appears to be some- 
what relieved ; and I trust, through the mercy 
of God, she may recover, even as I have re- 
gained my health. And if you also, the light 
of my soul, as well as the ornament of the age, 
are restored to me, I shall indeed have cause to 
rejoice ; the more so as by the letters which I 
received from you in July, by that good man 
Gallus, I learned, with exceeding sorrow, that 
the fever had not yet left you. 

" But all these things are a trial of our faith 

and piety, and, (as St. Paul says,) ' if we are 

here chastened of the Lord, it is lest we should 

be condemned with the world.' Let us strive then, 

v 2 



324 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 



and endure whatever befals us; certain that 
nothing can happen to us casually or by chance, 
but by Divine authority and that all things will 
work together for our good. I have saluted in 
your name, my wife and children, who love you 
dearly also Bernardo Ochino, that most learned 
and holy old man, and Herold, and many others ; 
especially that excellent man and lawyer Boniface 
Amerbach, to whom I much wish you would write. 
He is one of the many who have interested them- 
selves much in your favour : a man highly cele- 
brated for his humanity, his piety, his learning, 
and every virtue. Write to him therefore, for he 
admires and is delighted with your letters, all of 
which I communicate to him. 

" From the Frankfort fair you will receive 
some of my own little works, of which (should 
your illness allow you to read over attentively 
the fruit of my painful vigils,) I beg you will 
write me your opinion ; and request that your 
husband, whom I dearly love for his learning and 
piety, will do the same. Let me hear, I pray 
you, about your brother, if he is attentive to his 
studies, and is desirous of emulating his father, 
and yourself. Farewell, my dearest Olympia. 
Be careful of your health, that you may be 



HER WRITINGS. 325 

longer spared as the ornament of our age. We 
are, indeed, envious of the city that possesses 
you. Send me whatever you have lately written, 
that we may enjoy the perusal, especially your 
poems. Again, farewell. May you live in our 
Lord Jesus Christ, to whose service you are 
dedicated. 

" Basle, Sept. 1555." 



LETTER XXI*. 

" Olympia Morata to Celio Secundo Curio. 

"Mr dearest Father Celio. 
" You may conceive how tenderly those who 
are united by true, that is, Christian friendship 
feel for one another, when I tell you that the 
perusal of your letter drew tears from my eyes ; 
for on learning that you had been rescued from 

* Curio received this letter by the same post which brought 
him intelligence of the death of the amiable writer. On look- 
ing over it, she perceived some mistakes, and insisted on tran- 
scribing it, but was obliged to desist, and said to her hus- 
band, with a smile which almost overcame him, "I see it 
will not do." 

N . B. This letter, and the preceding one to Cherubina, 
has been translated and published by Dr. M'Crie. 



326 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

the jaws of the grave, I wept for joy. May God 
long preserve you to be a blessing to his Church ! 
It grieves me much to hear of the indisposition of 
your daughter; but I comfort myself with the 
hopes you entertain of her recovery. 

" As to myself, my dear Celio, I must inform 
you that there are now no hopes of my surviving 
long. No medicine gives me any relief. Every 
day, indeed every hour, my friends look for my 
dissolution. It is probable that this may be the 
last letter you will receive from me. My body 
and strength are wasted, my appetite is gone 
night and day, the cough threatens to suffocate 
me. The fever is strong and unremitting ; and 
the pains which I feel over the whole of my body, 
deprive me of sleep. Nothing therefore remains 
but that I breathe out my spirit. But so long 
as life continues, I will remember my friends, 
and the benefits I have received from them. 

" I return the warmest thanks to you for the 
books you have sent me, and to those worthy 
men who have bestowed upon me such valuable 
presents. Had I been spared, I would have 
shewn my gratitude. It is my opinion, that my 
departure is at hand. I commend the Church to 



HER WRITINGS. 327 

your care; oh! let all you do be directed to its 
advantage ! 

" Farewell, excellent Celio. and do not distress 
yourself when you hear of my death ; for I know 
that I shall be victorious at the last, and am de- 
sirous to depart and be with Christ. My brother, 
about whom you enquire, is making proficiency 
in his studies ; though he needs the spur rather 
than the curb. Heidelberg seems deserted, on 
account of the numbers who have died of the 
plague, or fled for fear of it. My husband sends 
his compliments. Salute your family in my name. 
I send you such of the poems as I have been able 
to write out from memory, since the destruction of 
Schweinfurt. All my other writings have perished. 
I request that you will be my Aristarchus, and 
polish them. Again, farewell. 

Heidelberg, Oct. 1555." 



LETTER XXII. 

" Andrew Grundler wishes health to his Ccelius 
Secundus Curio. 

" IT hath pleased the Lord, my most accomplished 
friend, to fill up the measure of my former afflic- 



328 OLYMPIA MOKATA. 

tions, from the ruin of my country, the plunder of 
my goods, and the loss of nearly all my friends and 
relatives, by at length depriving me of my beloved 
wife. While she was yet left to me, the loss of 
all other things appeared comparatively light ; but 
this calamity, like the huge tenth wave following 
all the others, has so entirely overwhelmed me, 
that I can find no possible alleviation to my grief. 

" She indeed departed with great eagerness, 
and if I may so speak, with a certain pleasure in 
dying, arising from her firm persuasion that she 
was called away from daily affliction, and from a 
world of suffering, to eternal happiness. But alas ! 
I cannot yet derive consolation even from the re- 
membrance of the pleasing and happy life we 
passed together. We were united not quite five 
years ; but never hSve I known a soul so bright 
and pure, or a disposition so amiable and up- 
right. 

" Shall I also mention her singular piety and 
learning ? To you who knew her so well, it were 
indeed superfluous to praise her, and as it would 
ill become me to extol what was in truth a part of 
myself, I leave to others (and especially to men of 
learning and cultivation like yourself) the pleasing 
task ; nor do I doubt that some congenial spirit 



HER WRITINGS. 329 

will grace her obsequies with an appropriate 
tribute. To this I will also add ray tears, when 
grief will allow me ; for there is a kind of sorrow 
like mine, (and it is the greatest of any) in which 
tears cannot even be shed ; but when the mind, 
wearied and spent by an accumulation of disastrous 
circumstances, is so struck down by some final 
blow, as to be absolutely stupified. In this state 
I at present am, unable for any exertion. Yet 
since I am sure it will afford you satisfaction, I 
will try (though in truth I am scarcely able) to tell 
you briefly how she died. 

" A short time before her death, on awaking 
from a tranquil sleep into which she had fallen, I 
observed her smiling very sweetly ; and I went 
near and asked her whence that heavenly smile 
proceeded. ' I beheld,' said she, ' just now while 
lying quiet, a place filled with the clearest and 
brightest light.' Weakness prevented her saying 
more. 'Come,' said I, 'be of good cheer, my 
dearest wife, you are about to dwell in that beau- 
tiful light.' She again smiled and nodded to me, 
and in a little while said ' I am all gladness,' nor 
did she again speak, till her eyes becoming dim, 
she said, ' I can scarcely know you, but all places 
appear to me to be full of the fairest flowers.' 



330 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Not long after, as if fallen into a sweet slumber, 
she expired. 

" She had often for several days before, affirmed 
with great assurance that there was nothing she 
so greatly desired as to die and be with Christ, 
whose very great benefits towards her she, as often 
as her disease permitted, never ceased to proclaim ; 
because he had enlightened her with a knowledge 
of his word, and had alienated her mind from all 
the pleasures of this world, and had kindled in her 
a desire of eternal life ; nor did she hesitate to call 
herself a daughter of God. It afforded her little 
satisfaction when any one with a view to her con- 
solation, expressed a hope that she might recover 
from her illness ; ' for God/ she said, ' had set 
bounds to the short course of her life, a course 
which was full of labour and sorrow, and she was 
far from wishing to be brought back from the end 
of her race to its beginning.' Being asked by a 
pious man whether her mind was oppressed by 
any doubts or anxieties, she replied, ' that indeed 
for seven years previous, Satan had never ceased 
his efforts to draw her from the faith, but now, 
as if he had lost his weapons^ he never made his 
appearance ; nor,' added she, ' do I now ex- 
perience any other sensation than the greatest tran- 



HER WRITINGS. 331 

quillity and peace with . Christ.' But it would be 
endless were I to enumerate all the things that ex- 
cited the admiration of us who heard her, and the 
piety, holiness, and fortitude with which she spoke. 
She died on the 25th of October, at four o'clock 
in the afternoon, not having yet reached her 29th 
year. 

" She had received a letter from you at the last 
Frankfort fair, which, although then a sad suf- 
ferer, she wished to have answered with her own 
hand. But being unable, from sickness, to com- 
plete it, she consigned the task to me. I there- 
fore transmit you this sad token of impending 
dissolution, along with some psalms and a few 
other poems. On my reminding her of Amer- 
bachius, another valued correspondent, she said, 
' I have nothing to say, and even if I had, I am 
unable to communicate it. But do you, when 
you write to our Ccelius, order him in my name, 
to be well.' 

" Her brother is still with me, though I fear 
that from my necessary absence from him, he is 
making little proficiency ; especially as, our 
schools being at present deserted, there are no 
other scholars to excite him to emulation. If you 
thought he could derive more benefit with you, I 



332 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

would willingly assist in this to the extent of my 
power ; being very desirous that he should emu- 
late the renown of the sister who educated him 
thus far herself. In this matter I shall anxiously 
expect your advice. 

"lam much perplexed as to the manner in 
which I should convey this intelligence to my 
mother-in-law ; as I know that the excellent lady, 
who has had so large a share of other afflictions, 
will be much distressed by it. The only plan that 
suggests itself, is to entreat you, with that piety 
and eloquence for which you are so distinguished, 
to prepare the way for my letter, and strengthen 
her mind before-hand for this dreadful blow. It 
is with reluctance that I lay the burden upon you, 
but I know not what I should do, and have no 
other friend to whom I can apply. If ever it is 
in my power, in any way, to repay the obligation, 
believe me, and I speak _in all sincerity, I will 
cheerfully and cordially do so. I have not yet 
read your books, as I have never been able, during 
the period of my dearest wife's illness, to direct 
my attention to any other object. But as soon as 
I am in a state to do any thing, I will read them 
carefully, especially those on the Kingdom of God ; 
since I may hope to derive from them a remedy 



HER WRITINGS. 



to ray disease. In the mean time, farewell, dear 
Coelius, you who are happier than myself in a be- 
loved wife and sweet children. 
" Heidelberg, Nov. 23d, 1555." 



LETTER XXIII. 

" Coelio Secundo Curio to Lucretia Morata, 
greeting. 

" Although, Lucretia dear to me as a sister 
I have not often written to you, it has not pro- 
ceeded from any forgetfulness on my part of your 
kindness towards me, but from the unfavourableness 
of the times ; for I well recollect how attentive you 
were to me when, during the life of your husband 
Fulvio, I was under your roof. Indeed, on account of 
this your friendship, I heard, though absent, with 
great joy of your prosperity ; and have been much 
grieved to learn your subsequent misfortunes. 
When, after the death of my beloved Fulvio, I heard 
of the marriage of your Oly mpia with a very learned 
young physician it gave me the greatest pleasure 
to find that a most excellent and accomplished 
young lady had, by divine providence, met with a 
suitable partner. And when after having been 



334 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

carried into Germany by her husband, she who 
had always shared the faithful friendship felt for 
me by her father Fulvio, requested me by letter to 
renew it with her, I gladly acceded, thinking 
those friendships neither true nor firm which do 
not descend to one's heirs, and thus become eter- 
nal. So that we both persevered in the same sen- 
timents, since she wrote to me as to her father, 
and I to her as to my dear daughter, as our letters 
on both sides testify. 

" But on the disasters which befel their flourish- 
ing city of Schweinfurt, having come to my know- 
ledge, I felt greatly apprehensive lest she and your 
son Emilius should have fallen victims to the 
disease which prevailed in the country of her hus- 
band. For although whoever has witnessed dis- 
solution in any shape, must ever feel that death 
is death, yet does the mind particularly recoil 
from those forms of it which violently snap the 
chord of life by the instrumentality of some ex- 
ternal force, except in that one instance when it 
happens to us to die for the sake of our holiest 
religion and virtue. This kind of death I esteem 
the most happy, save when any one quietly and 
peacefully departs from this life surrounded by 
friends ; for I think this (the actual pang excepted) 



HER WRITINGS. 33 

not a death, but a sweet departure, and a most 
safe entrance to another life. 

" I can easily imagine that when Olympia, with 
her little brother and husband, took leave of you 
to undertake a long and difficult journey, and 
reside in a far distant land her departure, when 
you could scarce hope to see her again in this life, 
was viewed by you almost in the light of her death ; 
nor do I doubt that upon learning the cruel and 
miserable ruin of your son-in-law and his country, 
you must have long-lamented them as dead. And 
thence I can easily comprehend that should one 
of them indeed be called from a life full of miseries 
and calamities to that better life above, you could 
not experience greater griefs than you have un- 
dergone for their sakes. Let us speak the truth, 
my sister Lucretia what is there stedfast and 
firm in this wilderness world, and what is chiefly 
to be regarded by a Christian mind ? For none 
of those things which are chiefly admired among 
men, move me wealth, dignities, or pleasures; 
but I desire to depart and be with Christ my pre- 
server in that eternal and blessed life. And such 
I assure you was the desire of your Olympia, as 
she has often told me, and as her husband's letters 
to me testify. 



336 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

" At length God has granted her wish, and she 
has peacefully departed to heaven, not only from 
your arms as a ripened fruit plucked from the tree, 
but also from the arms of her beloved husband, 
and from the bonds of the flesh, to enjoy those 
true blessings which always formed the chief sub- 
ject of her hopes and desires. I will confess that 
if we regard only ourselves, she is much to be 
lamented ; but if we consider her advantages and 
felicity, and the miseries of this life, we may con- 
sole ourselves, and rejoice for her ; and it is the 
part of an egotist, not of a friend, to be heavily 
grieved for what only inconveniences himself. 

" Let us consider the thing a little more deeply. 
Olympia is not dead, but she lives with Christ, 
blessed and immortal ; and after many griefs and 
toils she is received into sweet and wished-for rest. 
I say Olympia lives ! she lives even in this world, 
and will live while there are men on the globe, in 
the immortal memory of her works, those divine 
monuments, and in the remembrance of all ex- 
cellent minds. For that which is confined to 
body and sensation is not the only life ; there is 
a brighter existence which shall flourish through 
all ages, which posterity shall augment, and which 
eternity itself shall not diminish. 



HER WRITINGS. 337 

" Since these things are so, you, ray Lucretia, 
who are gifted with prudence, faith, and piety, 
ought to submit your will to that of God, who 
has imposed upon all the payment of the debt of 
nature, and to the just and holy desire of Olympia 
herself, through whose means you and all your 
friends and our dear Italy will ever be famed. 
The applause of all shall celebrate her learning, 
piety, faith, and charity. 

" Think and reflect on these things ; and so 
shall you be enabled to place such a just limit to 
your grief, that even a daughter's memory may 
not claim more tears than a pious and religious 
spirit authorises. Farewell. 

" Basle, 1st January, 1556." 

LETTER XXIV. 

" Celio Secundo Curio to Andrew Grundler. 

" IT is impossible for me to express in words, or 
in any other manner, how much I am grieved at 
the intelligence contained in your letter. You 
have communicated to me the death of one whom, 
not only on account of the memory of her excel- 
lent and learned father, I dearly loved, but whom 
I also highly valued for her eminent piety towards 



OLYMPIA MORATA. 



God, and superior learning. And although I 
know well how fondly you were attached to her, 
and even to her memory, and how deeply you 
suffer from her death yet at least you will allow 
me to say that in love of a different kind I am not 
inferior to you. You mourn for our dearest 
Olympia as a wife, I as a daughter; and that 
not merely on account of the excellence of her 
disposition, but because of her admirable profi- 
ciency in piety and Christian charity. 

" Notwithstanding the cheerfulness of mind 
and confidence in God with which she departed 
this life, yet so greatly was it to our loss and sor- 
row, that it is natural, nay fitting, for us to lament 
her. But let one so gentle be lamented rather 
with tenderness than with selfish sorrow ; so that 
as often as we recall the memory of her Christian 
virtues, we may manifest our affection for her and 
not ourselves. And in deploring the loss of her 
society an evil exclusively our own let us 
avoid by our moderation the imputation of mere 
selfish regret for her rare domestic qualities. If 
we, who according to our Christian profession, 
know how little they are sufferers, who, like her, 
quit this life in the faith of Christ, and in cheer- 
fulness of mind grieve as if something cala- 



HER WRITINGS. 339 

mitous had happened to her we certainly do 
not estimate with sufficiently grateful hearts the 
extent of her present happiness. I have found 
no medicine more efficacious than this, in allevi- 
ating my own deep distress ; nor do I doubt that 
even that of a husband may be mitigated by such 
salutary considerations. I have written, as you 
desired, to your mother-in-law, and have given 
her all the consolation I could, with what pro- 
priety you will judge, as I herewith transmit you 
the letter, translated from Italian into Latin for 
your perusal. 

" I have determined to publish, as soon as pos- 
sible, such works of our Olympia as are in my 
possession, along with the opinions and praises of 
her, written by so many learned men. I have 
myself composed, not an epitaph, but an apothe- 
osis of her in a few verses ; and I will add to her 
own letters, mine, and those written by you con- 
cerning her death, which will jointly, on the best 
authorities, supply the record of her life. I there- 
fore entreat you to send me, as soon as possible, 
whatever writings of hers you already possess, or 
can recover from others, that they may be added 
to the rest. 

" I have thought much of what you wrote to 
z 2 



340 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

me concerning Emilius, your wife's brother; and 
it occurs to me that your University, if not already 
restored and renovated, will, in all probability, soon 
be so especially as you have a new prince who 
is much devoted to literature. But if this has 
not taken place, or does not promise shortly to do 
so, I entreat, nay, I insist, that you will send him 
to me, to remain till he is grown up. Do not fail, 
therefore, to write to me, and inform me what are 
your hopes and prospects ; and it will be a satis- 
faction to me to learn, in your next letter, that 
you do not disapprove what I have written con- 
cerning our Olympia. Whether we may ever 
meet on earth, I know not, but ardently do I de- 
sire it ; for in seeing you face to face, I should 
not see yourself only, but also my dearest Olym- 
pia. My wife salutes you, and my little Fulvius 
Emilius. Farewell. 

" Basle, March, 1556." 

LETTER XXV. 

" Chilian Sinapius to Cello Secundo Curio. 

" ALTHOUGH your letter, which I received some 
months ago, most learned man, was very gratify- 
ing to my feelings, yet I have not hitherto replied 



HER WRITINGS. 341 

to it, because I could not comply with your just 
request so satisfactorily as I wished. For the 
writings of Olympia Morata, though left with me, 
had been dispersed, and partly lent to friends, 
and I was prevented from collecting and trans- 
mitting them to you sooner by my constant avo- 
cations and the serious indisposition of my wife. 
But I trust that my excuses have already been 
amply and truly laid before you by that learned 
and elegant young man, Basil, son of Boniface 
Amerbachius, who, on your recommendation, was 
much in our house. Be assured that your recol- 
lection of me after so long a period was most gra- 
tifying and pleasant to me, seeing that it is full 
twenty years since we met at the court of Ferrara. 
" With regard to Olympia, that admirable and 
accomplished woman of whom you have written 
to me, my testimony may be comprised in a few 
words. For however highly I ventured to prog- 
nosticate concerning her, has she not far more 
than confirmed my expectations by her piety, her 
erudition, and her sweetness of manners ? while 
the high excellence she had attained in languages, 
and in the knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, 
her writings, as well as the letters which you have 
published, sufficiently point out and prove. I 



342 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

envy you and Italy such an ornament ; and wish 
that this honour to the female sex throughout the 
world, had been born in Germany where she died. 
But I am aware that you do not conceal her 
having been educated as much by German teach- 
ers as by those of her own country ; and, indeed, 
so much was she indebted to mute teachers, viz : 
books, that she might be almost considered self- 
taught. I send you some trifling lines of my 
composition, more for the purpose of expressing 
my heartfelt regard for her than that I think 
them worthy of their subject being rude and 
unpolished. But you well know that employ- 
ment in the courts of law for upwards of ten 
years is not favourable to the cultivation of poetry, 
therefore let my good intentions compensate for 
the defects in the execution. Farewell. 
" Spires, August, 1560." 

LETTER XXVI. 

" Celio Secundo Curio to Chilian Sinapius. 
" A TARDY answer, when occasioned by no neg- 
ligence or contempt, but merely by necessary 
avocations, can never deserve reprehension. -And 
well aware as I am of your great press of business 



HER WRITINGS. 343 

regarding the Empire, you need not have feared 
that I, who am not unacquainted with such 
affairs, should have hesitated to accept the apo- 
logy; especially from you, whom I have ever 
known to be the most courteous as well as diligent 
of men. The excuse was duly made long since 
by that accomplished young man Basil, who, in 
his letters, faithfully reported your weighty avoca- 
tions ; and therefore not only is the most polite 
Chilian perfectly absolved in my eyes, but I myself 
am rather to be blamed, who have troubled a man, 
vexed with such multifarious and important con- 
cerns, with comparatively trifling affairs. 

" This, however, you will attribute to my love 
for that extraordinary woman, your testimony 
regarding whom is, though late, so agreeable and 
acceptable ; and to my anxiety for her fame, with 
which I am greatly excited, and which you also 
say in your letter you envy us, lest some part of 
her praises should not redound to the credit of her 
German teachers, by whom, and not by Italians 
alone, she was instructed. Truly we acknowledge, 
most learned Chilian, that when she was at the 
court of the Duke of Ferrara, she, along with the 
princess, was under the tuition of yourself and 
your brother. But previously, however, her father 



344 OLYMPIA MOBATA. 

Fulvius had brought her to the princess, highly 
instructed for her time of life ; and you are not 
ignorant that he continued along with yourself to 
instruct and exercise her. In one respect, how- 
ever, the Germans must ever have the advantage 
over the Italians, because not only did they engross 
her latest thoughts, but also amongst them this 
most accomplished woman deposited her chaste 
body while from that country also she soared 
to heaven, and rendered to God, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, that spirit which she first drew in 
Italy. It is on these grounds that I have requested 
from you her latest works ; and have also troubled 
you with a letter for your brother, which I entreat 
you to forward as soon as possible. The relics 
you have already sent me are most valuable and 
pleasing. If you can recover any more, I ear- 
nestly entreat you so to do ; and I also beg of 
you that whatever I have done, or may do, you 
will, on no account, allow your recollection of me 
to be interrupted or obliterated. Farewell. 
" Basle, September, 1560." 



HER WRITINGS. 345 

LETTER XXVII. 

" Celio Secundo Curio to John Sinapius. 

" SINCE we have published all the remains which 
we could collect of our Olympia, and as they have 
been received by all with open arms, like sacred 
shields fallen down from heaven it occurs to 
me, most excellent and friendly Sinapius, that it 
would be to the increase of her fame, to publish a 
a new and more elegant edition of her works. 
Towards effecting this, I have written to Spires, 
to your honoured brother, that whatever he might 
possess might be inserted in the edition. He has 
sent me all he could collect, along with some 
Epitaphs upon Olympia, and has advised me to 
write to you, who without doubt have many frag- 
ments, and those very valuable. I entreat you, 
therefore, by the manes of Olympia, and by our 
friendship, confirmed by so many years' stand- 
ing, that you hasten to send to me as soon as 
possible, whatever relics you possess, by which 
the fame and praise of your pupil may be farther 
illustrated. In so doing you will not only pro- 
pitiate by posthumous kindness, the spirit of that 
divine woman, but will perform a most gratify- 



346 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

ing and delightful service to the many learned 
scholars, who admire her writings. Farewell, 
excellent friend. 

" Basle, Sept. 1560." 



LETTER XXVIII. 

" Chilian Sinapius to Celio Secundo Curio, 

" I DO not doubt, most excellent and learned 
Curio, that my long protracted silence must 
have produced in your mind a suspicion that I 
have been hitherto but little mindful either of our 
Olympia, or of your friendship. On both these 
points I could amply justify myself, as you have 
already been informed by our mutual friend 
Basil of my numerous avocations and constant 
employment. 

" It would be now almost superfluous to refer 
to the death of my dearest brother, did I not 
wish you to know that in addition to the bitter 
grief it occasioned, there devolved upon me the 
guardianship of his only daughter, and the chief 
management of his affairs ; of which, indeed, 
I am now in a great measure relieved, by her late 
marriage with Don Christopher Elephantus, one 
of the emperor's privy council. 



HER WRITINGS. 347 

" I have at no time however, neglected, on any 
favourable opportunity, to enquire diligently in the 
library of my brother, if there were any of Olym- 
pia's writings left there. Of those which have 
been found and transmitted to me from Wirtem- 
burg, I have made copies, and now send them 
by the bearer, to compensate for my delay by 
diligence and abundance. I have been, informed 
that the inhabitants of Heidelberg have also been 
busily employed in seeking after the remains of 
Olympia, for the same purpose ; but not with 
the same right or ability as yourself. 

" Spires, May, 1562." 



348 OLYMPIA MORATA. 



DIALOGUE BY OLYMPIA MORATA, 

INSCRIBED TO 

THE PRINCESS LAVINIA ORSINI.* 
Theophila and Philotima converse together. 



THE. Human life is so constantly exposed to 
the various shafts of the evil one, that with what- 
ever subject our thoughts are occupied, it gene- 
rally proves fertile in vexation, especially to the 
pious ; who suffer not only from their own dis- 
tresses, but from participation in those of others. 
As for myself, though, alas ! sufficiently weighed 
down by my own miseries, I experience additional 
suffering from those of the dear friend, whom 
duty and affection alike urge me to endeavour to 
console. 

PHI. I think I hear the voice of our The- 

* This Dialogue is alluded to in the correspondence, as 
having been written to reconcile the mind of the princess 
to certain domestic sources of irritation. 



HER WRITINGS. 349 

ophila ! If so, you have indeed come at a mor 
ment when you were much wished for ; since I 
am almost beside myself with a vexation which 
your presence and conversation may perhaps as- 
suage. Let us sit down, that we may be able to 
converse more conveniently. 

It were needless for me, I am sure, to impart 
to you the cause of my uneasiness, as in every 
emergency I have always reposed more confidence 
in you, than in any other female friend, and 
have never had any secrets from you. But, alas ! 
it is well-known to many besides yourself, how 
much I have been annoyed by the repeated ab- 
sences of my husband, under which I am again a 
sufferer. Once more has he gone away, and de- 
serted me without a cause ; and while he is en- 
joying himself, I am left a prey to unhappiness 
from this and other causes. 

There was nothing which, when a girl, I more 
earnestly desired than to meet with a husband of 
congenial disposition and manners, whose society 
I might always enjoy ; nor could this life, I be- 
lieved, afford greater felicity than such an attach- 
ment to such an object. But, alas ! how dif- 
ferent has the event proved, and how cruelly does 
the disappointment enhance my unhappiness ! 



350 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

THEO. If, as I am persuaded, to admonish, 
and to receive admonition, are essential branches 
of a true and Christian friendship the former 
freely and without asperity, and the latter pati- 
ently and in the spirit of meekness I shall but 
prove how dear you are to me by the boldness of 
my affectionate reproof. 

PHI. Pray speak frankly and unreservedly ; 
for I am aware that we ought to admonish each 
other, and that whatever you say will be just and 
impartial. Never for a moment suppose I can 
take it amiss. 

THEO. First then, my dear friend, if, as is the 
duty of us all, you had diligently studied the books 
of the Old and New Testament you would have 
derived from these sources a new light on human 
affairs, and would have learned that all things are 
ordained very differently from our ideas ; for it is 
there said, " A man's heart deviseth his way, but 
it is God that directeth his steps." You would 
have learned to repose trust in God, and confide 
all things to Him. The example of the saints 
would have taught you that the worst of evils may 
be overcome. You would have ceased to imagine 
that marriage would exempt you from every vex- 
ation ; for you would have read of many evils 



HER WRITINGS. 351 

which had assailed holy women who had married, 
not with your selfish views of personal enjoyment, 
but that they might serve God in that state of life ; 
conducting themselves towards their husband and 
towards their children, as those whom God had 
committed to their charge educating them in 
piety and holiness, and instructing them in the 
religion of Christ and divine knowledge. There- 
fore it is not wonderful that all things have not 
turned out prosperously for you, more especially, 
as God was not the end you proposed to yourself 
to whom belong all things, and for whom all 
things were made. In fine, if you had duly re- 
flected upon this matter, you would have con- 
sidered how great (even in those most pre-eminent 
for goodness) has ever been the preponderance of 
their sins and their ingratitude ; and that to these, 
the utmost trials to which we can be subjected in 
this life, bear no greater proportion than a slight 
chastisement inflicted by a father, on a profligate 
son, guilty of innumerable crimes. With what 
right can you complain so bitterly of the anxieties 
arising from the untoward features of your lot, 
when, during the long course of your preceding 
life, you have despised God and his Holy Word, 
preferring every thing else to Him ? When you 



352 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

have neglected your own salvation, and that of 
those committed to your charge, when you have 
leaned on your own strength, and gloried in your 
own riches, and placed greater dependence on the 
power of your friends, than on God ? Nor have 
you ever given him adequate thanks for the many 
and great benefits he has bestowed on you. And 
what need I say more ? Read the Decalogue, with 
the annexed explanation, and you will see, as in 
a glass, how deeply you are involved in a variety 
of sins. 

PHI. As regards God, I cannot deny that my 
punishment, so far from exceeding my transgres- 
sions, seems as nothing when compared to them ; 
but then I see many others in happier circum- 
stances than myself, who certainly are not fault- 
less, nay, who live more blameably than I do. 

THEO. I perceive you think those women 
happy, who indulge in a greater liberty and licen- 
tiousness of life ; who pass their time in idleness, 
indulge in splendid attire, ride about in gilded 
carriages (as is the custom in Ferrara, and other 
cities of Italy, where they dress, not to please 
their husbands, but to please others), which women, 
if they do not repent, God will punish as they de- 
serve. Do you think these happy, or do you 
wish to imitate them ? 



HER WRITINGS. 353 

PHI. Truly I should be very sorry to imitate 
them, in as far as they seek, by adorning themselves, 
to be admired by other men ; for as you well know, 
it has always been my highest ambition to be 
beloved by my husband, and by him alone. But 
I own it vexes me that such women should enjoy 
in abundance things which are denied to me, and 
in which I, descended from so illustrious a family, 
ought to abound. Far be it from me to desire to 
enjoy any improper degree of liberty, but I should 
sometimes wish to go abroad for the pleasure of 
meeting acquaintances, to have carriages and 
horses suited to my rank, to have elegantly orna- 
mented furniture and rich tapestry, and a deli- 
cately served table to be permitted to invite 
my female friends to an occasional enter- 
tainment, and above all, to have abundance 
of ready money to enable me to give largely to 
others. 

THE. While you have been making this 
enumeration, I have been thinking of my own 
follies ; for I also was once entangled in the same 
mire, and must still have so remained, had not 
God of his great mercy extricated me. What, 
let me ask, should you say of the folly and ab- 
surdity of a woman, drest in fine garments 

A A 



354 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

and glittering with gold and jewels, while her face 
at the same time was covered with dirt ? 

PHI. I should say it did not indicate folly 
merely, but madness ! 

THE. And deservedly ! because the part thus 
neglected, was the one which ought to have com- 
manded her chief attention. Are we then less 
insane, when we permit the soul, which is the most 
precious and divine gift of God, to be defiled with 
all sorts of crimes, far more offensive in his sight 
than bodily defilement in ours ? when we are 
studiously careful to adorn that body which is the 
soul's poison, while we neglect the immortal in- 
mate? when we earnestly desire to traverse lux- 
uriously in chariots the petty circle of human life, 
yet have no stedfast confidence in that chariot by 
whose aid we must perform the more arduous 
journey to heaven ? when we wish to live in spa- 
cious and splendid palaces, but have no longing 
anticipation for those eternal habitations which 
transcend them far in splendour and magnificence, 
and which God has designed for our perma- 
nent residence, while the others are only lent for 
our temporary lodging ? when we pine after lux- 
uriously furnished tables, but have no relish for 
that word of God which alone yields the sweetest 



HER WRITINGS. 355 

food ? Truly the perversity of human nature is in- 
credible, since you cannot pronounce at once on 
the felicity of those who place their happiness in 
such things, and say whether it exceeds your own ! 
PHI. Nay, I am persuaded it is as you say 
of these women, provided they are destitute of 
heavenly gifts ; but there have been females who 
were holy and religious, and at the same time 
enjoyed temporal advantages who possessed 
beauty and riches, and were called by God to the 
highest degree of worldly honour. For instance, 
did not a great King take Esther in marriage? 
and was not Abigail united to King David ? Yet 
both cultivated piety, while they flourished in 
wealth and honour. 

THE. God bestows special gifts on some, 
and imposes special burdens on others; and it 
does not belong to us to reflect upon his arrange- 
ments ; but we know that he does nothing unad- 
visedly, and that all things are designed for our 
advantage. Were it for our benefit, you may rest 
satisfied that He who has already given himself, 
that greatest and best gift, would bestow largely 
and abundantly those earthly distinctions you 
covet. Unless, therefore, you are fully persuaded 
that those things, however little injurious to others, 



356 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

would prove so to you, you will be always han- 
kering after them, and undervaluing those admi- 
rably suited to your character, which God has seen 
fit to impart. For my part, the very anxiety you 
testify to possess these luxuries, convinces me that 
you would be apt to enjoy them at the expence of 
your immortal interests, nay, perhaps end by 
giving them the decided preference. 

Now, with regard to Queen Esther, the case 
appears to have been quite different, since she 
appeals in her prayer to Him before whom we 
must not lie, that she had not sought the honours 
of royalty, but on the contrary, was averse to that 
eminent station ; as indeed the whole course of 
her life testified since neither riches, nor honours, 
nor the love of the King, could alienate her from 
God ; nay, it is certain that she exposed herself 
to the danger of death for the sake of her people 
and their welfare. By her means, the very day 
which the King, at the suggestion of the wicked 
Haman, had appointed for the destruction of the 
Jews, became, from the most melancholy, one of 
the most brilliant in their annals. Mordecai, 
anxious for his own safety and that of his people, 
came to the Queen, earnestly imploring her to save 
them. Now this could only be done by soothing 



HER WRITINGS. 357 

with entreaties that monarch, into whose presence 
to come uncalled, was certain death; and this 
danger did the Queen brave for her people, by 
going to the King. And can we doubt that the 
possession of these kindly and generous sentiments 
contributed materially to her happiness, especially 
when living at a court, in the midst of the irre- 
ligious and estranged from the people of God ? 
By persons of this unambitious frame of mind, 
riches and distinctions may be possessed without 
proving injurious, while they prove the destruction 
of others, whose hearts are set on them. For in- 
stance, Queen Vashti, whom good fortune had so 
intoxicated, that she insolently refused to obey 
her husband, the great King Ahasuerus. Thus 
prosperity invigorates the minds of the wise, while 
those of the impious are idly puffed up by it. God 
either entirely withholds external advantages from 
his people lest they should perish, or if he sees fit 
to give them, they are tempered with the alloy of 
much grief. Had Esther's not been balanced by 
such severe anxieties, it is probable they would 
have affected her as perniciously as they do many 
others, and in all probability they would have 
caused her to forget her God ; for she was flesh, 
and as we read concerning the people of 



358 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Israel * my beloved hath waxed fat, and hath 
kicked/ 

With regard to Abigail, if David was reduced 
to great privations when she assisted him, we must 
consider her as having also much to endure. You 
forget, when looking at the outward splendour of 
her lot, to consider the painful anxiety in which 
her life had been spent, in short, as often as you 
think of your own distresses, you place before your 
eyes only those persons, who, in reality or in ap- 
pearance at least, have been fortunate. This you 
ought not to do, but rather to keep in view those 
who in this life have been miserable, afflicted, and 
wretched, of whom there are so great a number, 
not to mention Christ the true Son of Almighty 
God, who suffered greater and more severe afflic- 
tions than any other person in the memory of 
man. Read too the histories of the saints, and 
consider if they have not been exposed to far 
greater calamities than we, notwithstanding their 
infinite superiority above us. 

I might also bring before you many living ex- 
amples, but I will content myself with one a 
lady of the most elevated rank, and her celebrated 
husband the Elector of Saxony. What do you 
think must have been the extent of their distress, 



HER WRITINGS. 359 

when they were separated from each other ? Their 
love equalled yours ; and he was not, like your 
husband, in the enjoyment of the highest offi- 
ces ; but he was absent, a captive deprived of 
every comfort stripped of all his distinctions, 
from his high estate despised in the fallen 
power of his enemies ; yet such was his piety and 
goodness, that (at least among princes,) I know 
not if the world could furnish a similar example ; 
and such was his fortitude, that no word of 
despair ever passed his lips, as a Spaniard, a 
favorite of the emperor's, particularly mentions in 
his letters. 

The calamity of these illustrious persons (if 
calamity it can be called, for I prefer their prison 
and their ignominy, to all the victories and tri- 
umphs of others,) may well rebuke yours : for 
can there be greater misery than to hear of those 
whom we love and hold dear, suffering distress; 
especially those who were once princes and 
favorites of fortune, enjoying honors, wealth, 
respect, and above all, friends, and now cast 
down and abandoned? 

And what shall I say of others, who are daily, 
as you know, for the sake of Christ, suffering 
injuries, ignominy and exile, and are slain and 



360 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

burned ? Reflect on these things, and you will 
be convinced that you are not so miserable as you 
think ; nay, that you are a very happy person, 
in so far that you are treated by God as a 
daughter : for " whom he loveth he chasteneth." 
And what greater felicity can there be than to 
be a child of God, to enjoy eternal blessedness 
with Christ, and to be a partaker of his king- 
dom ? 

PHI. You preach admirably ! but I am so weak- 
minded that my burden still appears grievous, 
and I feel some remaining desire for the indul- 
gences I have already mentioned. From this 
I am really desirous if possible, to be relieved, 
but cannot see how it is to be accomplished. 

THE. Nor will your suffering be diminished 
till you are able to correct what is its real cause. 
I can give you no better advice than that, if you 
are unable of yourself patiently to bear adversity, 
you should apply to Him who calls to all that are 
" weary and heavy laden," to " come to him" and 
be born anew. He cannot lie ; he Himself will 
establish you, and will give you the Holy Spirit, 
as he promised, by whom you will be enabled to 
taste all those celestial benefits, which will not 
only mitigate, but finally quench your earthly 



HER WRITINGS. 361 

desires, for whosoever drinks of these, shall 
" never thirst again." Thus, supported by the 
hope of the good things which, though you cannot 
see them, are eternal, and far more certain than 
the frail and fleeting visible things of earth you 
will easily alleviate the trifling inconveniences of 
this life by weighing them with the advantages of 
another. 

PHI. These may seem trifling to you but 
were you in my situation, you would think 
otherwise. 

THE. I have abstained from speaking of 
myself, though I might appeal to our mutual 
acquaintance whether I have not had my full 
share of trials. But I may refer you to any pious 
person, whether in these times, if any one seriously 
wishes to seek and promote the service of God 
the devil will allow him to lead a quiet and peace- 
able life ; nay, whether he does not do every 
thing in his power to destroy him entirely and 
forever? If he does not succeed in one way, 
he assails in another now affecting with dis- 
ease, or with ignominy now reducing to poverty 
again inducing hatred even from those who 
are most dear to us and at another time sowing 
dissension between those who ought to be most 



362 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

attached to each other often producing (as I 
can well testify) such distress and torment of 
mind as is far more grievous than the tortures of 
the executioner. In short, who cannot enumerate 
the evils, the sufferings, and dangers, which the 
pious have to undergo ? There is no one whose 
sole object is to live piously in Christ, who does 
not endure the bitterest pains, and miseries, and 
daily bear his cross, while you only brood upon 
your own little distresses. 

PHI. It is natural for us to feel much more 
acutely the vicissitudes of our own lot than we can 
possibly do those of others, and consequently 
the same things viewed from a distance, appear 
very differently. My burden still presses heavily 
on me, and I should be glad that if possible it 
could be removed ; but if this cannot be accom- 
plished, I would certainly rather chuse to suffer 
the miseries of this life, and to possess the king- 
dom of Christ, than to suffer eternal punishment 
in the life that is to come. 

THE. In this you judge wisely! For even 
great sufferings ought to be supportable if they 
are of short duration, and what is shorter than 
this life ? How many princes and eminent men 
have perished in our time, whose very names have 



HER WRITINGS. 363 

been buried in the same tomb which covers their 
bodies, so that they are as if they had never 
existed ! so true is that hackneyed saying " Man 
is a bubble ;" and Peter says that the shortness 
of this life is " like unto a vapour." Should not 
then the long period of Time make a far deeper 
impression on us than one so brief ? and should 
we not be now thinking of the life that lasts for 
ever, and not of that which is but for a moment? 
Never :an you find true happiness on earth 
none of the things you so much desire will yield 
you any enjoyment, except in God. Death is 
inevitable and daily threatens from the short- 
ness of life it cannot be far distant ; all things 
are flowing and passing away, nor do they ever 
remain stationary for any length of time. 

PHI. You speak truly, and I feel inclined 
to take your advice. I desire to seek God, from 
whom all good things flow, as my chiefest good 
and supreme happiness. But I feel apprehensive, 
lest my approach to him should be prevented by 
the greatness of my sins, for just now you said 
sin was highly offensive to Him. 

THE. Lay aside your fears; for as you 
have known the most disagreeable odour to be 
thoroughly dispelled and overcome by the pre- 



364 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

sence of a sufficient quantity of perfumes so 
there is no effluvia, however corrupt and offen- 
sive, arising from sin, which cannot be conquered 
and dissipated by the " sweet-smelling savour" 
which flows from the death of Christ, and which 
is the only incense acceptable to God. Seek 
therefore after Christ, and doubt not you will 
find him in the books of the Old and New Testa- 
ment, for he cannot be found elsewhere. Pray 
to him, and your labour will not be in vain 
" He that calleth on the name of the Lord, 
shall be saved." Where would be the benefit 
of such great and overflowing promises in the 
sacred Scriptures, unless God designed to keep 
them ? and so general has He made them, that 
no one can possibly be in doubt whether the 
promise is addressed to himself. Nay, if you 
only desire to have the knowledge of the faith, 
you will be certain to acquire it by this very 
act ; for this power cannot be found in our own 
most depraved nature, but it is the work of the 
Holy Spirit who cannot receive a refusal from 
God. Wherefore I am inclined to hope that God 
hath given you your present impulse, which if 
you follow, as above-mentioned, you will hence- 
forth enjoy tranquillity of mind. 



HER WRITINGS. 365 

PHI. Why do you think of going away? 
remain yet a little while. 

THE. My affairs require my presence at 
home ; for when the mistress of a family is 
absent, those she leaves behind more commonly 
do wrong than right. I will visit you again in a 
few days. 

PHI. You will give me great pleasure. 



366 OLYMPIA MORATA. 



Poetical Epistle from Hippolita Taurella, oj 
Mantua, to her husband Balthazar Castig- 
lione, Public Orator to Pope Leo the Tenth* 



FROM her, who, nobly born, would pleas'd aspire 

To win the nobler honours of the lyre, 

But, ah ! in vain ! this rude, unskilful lay 

To thee, my Castiglione, wends its way ! 

In Rome, thy dear lov'd Rome, so often named 

Delight of Gods and men (now doubly famed 

Beneath Great Leo's mild pacific reign) 

Thee troops of friends, and countless joys detain. 

There may the ever-ravished eye behold 

The treasured wonders of the days of old, 

And from their sculptured trophies proudly trace 

The giant fame of Rome's heroic race ; 

Thence range entranced o'er many a marble fane, 

Whose gilded roofs proud porticoes sustain, 

* It having been matter of regret that the beauties of the 
few remaining Greek and Latin poems of Olympia Morata 
depend too much on their classic felicity of diction to bear 
translation, an exception has gladly been made of the follow- 
ing lines, generally ascribed by contemporaries to her elegant 
pen, and in which the reader will easily recognize the same 
beautiful touches of conjugal affection, so conspicuous in her 
own correspondence, though here identified with the situation 
and circumstances of another. 



HER WRITINGS. 367 

Rising a newer, brighter age to grace. 
Thence turn refresh'd to Nature's changeless face, 
Fresh founts, green fields, and all the garden's pride, 
Whose beauties deck old Tiber's verdant side. 

'Mid these, how blest to join the festal throng 

(Forgetting cares of state; with harp and song, 

And sportive tale to while the summer's day, 

And laugh the sultry noontide heats away ! 

Far other life, alas ! is mine ! and yet 

Farther be still each selfish cold regret 

That joy with thee should dwell ! Love will but say 

Light's self is hateful when thou art away. 

Vainly with gems my careless tresses twine, 

Or with Arabian perfumes softly shine ; 

Heedless I gaze upon the festive sports, 

When thronging myriads fill the glittering courts, 

Nor glows my bosom ev'n when full-arm'd knight 

Rushes to meet proud rivals in the fight ! 

No ! one delight, one treasur'd joy alone, 

' Mid pangs of absence, is at least mine own ; 

Thy image traced by Raphael's master hand ;" 

Before it oft in short-liv'd joy I stand ; 

With thy mute self in mimic talk beguile 

The weary hours half think I see thee smile 

Read kindly meanings in the moveless eye 

See the dear lips half parted to reply ; 

And, all my cares forgetting, seem to trace 

Each lov'd expression in the unalter'd face. 



368 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

One joy there is more sacred still to hear 

Our prattling babe pronounce that name, so dear, 

Of Father ! which so oft he loves to pour 

To one who, as she listens, loves him more. 

Thus cheer'd, days glide in thy deserted home, 

But still when comes some happier guest from Rome, 

How do I ask (while yet reply I fear) 

If all indeed be well with one so dear 1 

How do I tremble, as I hear him tell 

Of lawless crowds still ready to rebel ; 

Of blood that stains the Forum oft by day, 

Of frequent murders on the midnight way ; 

Of hostile cries, when rival factions meet, 

And with their quarrels vex the troubled street ! 

Oh ! from these perils fain I'd woo thee home, 

And, deadlier far to love from maids of Rome, 

Treach'rous as fair, and skill'd with many a wile, 

The short-liv'd pangs of absence to beguile. 

Time was when on thy lips th' unbidden vow 

Fondly arose (to mem'ry precious now). 

Thy heart should still be mine ! Then bliss be thine, 

My Castiglione ! nor let Love repine 

E'en at thy loss. Yet why, oh why thus chang'd ? 

Love will enquire why thus from her estrang'd, 

Thy earliest, fondest choice 1 What horrid spell 

Hangs o'er the form of her once lov'd so well ? 

Are holiest vows abjur'd, and ties that bind 

Indissolubly scatter'd to the wind ? 

And must I live in bitterness to learn 

That from Hippolita's loath'd name you turn 1 



HER WRITINGS. 369 

By Fate and Heav'n, for ever join'd in heart, 
Fate's self is powerless now to bid us part ! 
Dost think to mock by flight her stem decree, 
And from thy country fly, to fly from me ? 
Heedless of filial ties by duty wove, 
Regardless of a parent's mightier love 1 

But hence ! presumptuous idle chidings, cease ! 

Ev'n now, blest halcyon messengers of peace, 

Thy precious lines, with truth's own language fraught, 

Rebuke to silence each injurious thought ; 

Thou too, with hope deferred, hast learned to pine, 

And pleas'd, for home would 'st gold and fame resign, 

Would but the mighty Pontiff grant release 

And send thee to thy household gods in peace ! 

Blest words ! reviving to my lonely bower, 

As to a drooping plant the summer shower ! 

Should even a doubt intrude, I'd bid it fly, 
And glory in my fond credulity ! 
I'll trust thy words, because each welcome sound 
Its faithful echo in my breast hath found ; 
Were they ev'n false, my stedfast truth shall shame 
All who would dare my confidence to blame. 
Not iron thy heart, nor was thy childhood's food 
From savage bears deriv'd in Alpine wood. 
Not thine the fault 'tis duty bids thee stay 
With him whom princes rev'rently obey. 
Yet clement is he called as great and prone 
To make a suppliant's sorrows all his own : 
B B 



370 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

Seek then his presence, at his footstool bend, 
With thine own pray'r a wife's and infant's blend : 
Nor rise, till licens'd Mantua's walls to see, 
Or joyful to Rome's precincts summon me ! 
Tell him, that far from thee, like hapless boat, 
Her pilot gone, on stormy seas I float 
Of husband, father, all, in thee bereft, 
With nought, alas ! to cheer existence, left ; 
For life is life alone, when thou art nigh, 
And at thy side methinks 'twere joy to die. 
Go, be a suppliant thus the Pontiff mild 
Will, pleased, restore thee to thy wife and child. 
Then quickly speed, despising dull delay, 
Mounted on swiftest steeds, devour the way. 
Be mine with festal garlands decked, to wait 
Its welcome master at that mansion's gate, 
Whose self shall smile to see its threshhold prest, 
While vows to heaven my gratitude attest ! 



HER WRITINGS. 371 



A Sermon by Bernardino Ochino* translated 
from Italian into Latin by Celius Secundus 
Curio. 

What it is to be justified by Christ, and what is the method 
of Justification. 



SINCE justification, which comes to us by Christ, 
is chiefly necessary for a Christian, and is the 
fountain of all gifts, virtues, and benefits ; so it 
ought to hold the chief place in our discourse. 
First, then, it is to be examined what that is which 
we call being "justified," or made just by Christ 
that we may be able to give thanks to God the 
Father, and to his Son Christ our Lord, for so 
great a gift. Now God does not justify or absolve 
a sinner, or pronounce him a just person (for that 
is the meaning of the term to justify) as a tyrant 
does, who, on hearing an accusation against a 
very wicked person, may (should he be under his 

* This sermon, admirable in itself, and, considering the 
time when it was written, almost inspired, may derive addi- 
tional interest to the reader, from the writer having been from 
1547 to 1554 an eminent preacher in London. 
B B 2 



372 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

protection, or the head of a powerful faction) de- 
fend or excuse, or even declare him innocent, 
although one of the worst of men. This sort of 
justification is quite fallacious, and equally im- 
pious and tyrannical. But this is not the way 
that God justifies the ungodly; for, as David 
says, " God is just and his judgment is righteous." 
Wherefore he doth not, like the tyrant, regard us 
with favour when we sin, nor consider us as just 
while we continue in our sins, far less (like him) 
applaud and protect sinners. 

But neither does God even justify any one after 
the manner of a good earthly monarch ; for it is 
the duty of such a prince, when an innocent per- 
son is brought to trial, to vindicate him from 
calumny, to defend his innocence, to pronounce 
him just, and absolve him openly, if he deserves 
it. Now we cannot be justified and absolved in 
this way, because we are not innocent, but sinners 
by nature. Nevertheless there are some, who, 
ignorant of the extent of their offences, claim a 
remission of punishment solely on the ground of 
apparent penitence for them ; while others neither 
desire nor expect pardon from God, but boldly 
assert their title to exemption from chastisement, 
and hold themselves as already just. 



HER WRITINGS. 373 

This, however, is not the way in which God 
justifies a sinner; not, indeed, because any thing 
is impossible with Him, but because it hath ap- 
peared unto Him that no one could be pardoned 
without an atonement, as will be seen in a farther 
part of the discourse. Now for this method of 
justification we can be indebted to no man, for 
there is nothing in any man that can give satis- 
faction to God for even the smallest transgression 
against Him. Nay, no one can deserve even the 
most trifling mark of the mercy of God, as Jacob 
says to Him in Genesis "I am not worthy of 
the least of thy mercies." And, as St. Ambrose 
says, the redemption by the blood of Christ would 
be of no value, and the prerogative of the mercy 
of God would be less than the works of men, if 
justification, which is of grace, were to be awarded 
to preceding merit ; so that it should not be the 
gift of the giver, but the reward of him who has 
laboured. And thus St. Paul exclaims "If 
righteousness come by the law, then hath Christ 
died in vain !" 

Nor can it be urged that we are justified partly 
by our own and partly by the satisfaction of 
Christ ; for thus we might glory in ourselv es 
which is decidedly contrary to the doctrine of 



374 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

St. Paul, who says, " If any one will glory, let 
him glory in the Lord ;" and in many places of 
the Scripture we are taught that all glory and 
honour are to be ascribed to God alone. 

By faith only, then, can men be justified, and 
not by their own merits ; their works are to be 
accounted of no consideration. For I say dis- 
tinctly, that if, even in the smallest degree, justifi- 
cation depended on ourselves, the promises of God 
and his Gospel would not be firm and sure, as 
Paul witnesses writing to the Romans 4th and 9th. 
For as both the prophet Haggai and Apostle Paul 
have written, all things are impure which the 
impure contrive or perform ; and as all are impure 
who are not justified by God, no work of theirs 
can please or satisfy Him. It is to set this in a 
proper light that Isaiah compares all our righte- 
ousness to " filthy rags," and St. Augustine con- 
firms that the merits of all men perished in Adam's 
first sin, by which we are all dead and void of 
righteousness ; for in " Adam all died, but in 
Christ alone shall all be made alive." 

Now, then, let us consider how it is possible 
that a man by his own exertions can make atone- 
ment for this great sinfulness. Is it not as if a 
dead man should attempt to resuscitate himself. 



HER WRITINGS. 375 

and call himself back into life ? Wherefore Christ 
by no means said to the chief of the Synagogue, 
" Do thou perform thy part of the atonement, and 
I will fill up what is wanting," but he said unto 
him " Only believe." St. Paul, in his epistles 
to the Romans and Galatians, proves that no man 
can be justified either by the law, or by moral virtues, 
or J>y any human righteousness ; but rather that 
human righteousness, through the Jews, crucified 
Christ, through Pilate condemned him, and 
through Paul himself variously afflicted and dis- 
tressed Christ, in his members ; and how can we 
ascribe to this righteousness the power of justify- 
ing and blessing mankind ? For, first, in the 
opinion of St. Paul, law increases sin, and does 
not take it away ; it condemns, and does not par- 
don ; it kills, and does not revive. Secondly, the 
Pharisee boasted that he was justified, not by 
himself alone, but partly by his own exertions 
and partly through divine favour ; since to that 
effect he gave God thanks. But because he gave 
not distinctly to God the whole praise, nor con- 
fessed his own ignominy, as the publican did, he 
was not justified. Remember the parable of the 
shepherd in the Gospel, who, having left the 
ninety and nine sheep, (which signify those who 



376 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

wish to justify themselves) sought out and pre- 
served the one who had strayed ; by which is 
meant, those who, acknowledging their sins, 
trust for justification and preservation only to the 
Divine goodness. 

There is a law, or rather custom, in certain 
cities and districts, that in the last week of Lent, 
which they call the great or Holy Week, a certain 
number of malefactors and prisoners are liberated, 
without any punishment, fine, or restitution on 
their own part, but solely from the mercy of their 
sovereign. Now though, in mentioning this cus- 
tom, while 1 praise the clemency I blame the 
superstition which has given rise to it; yet it very 
appropriately represents to us the goodness of 
God. For even as these criminals are freed with- 
out any exertion, or attempt on their part, and 
not only undeserving of the kindness, but worthy 
of severe punishment ; so we are preserved by the 
mercy of God, through the mediation of Christ. 

Do you wish to know how this is brought about ? 
Look to the thief who was affixed to the accursed 
tree along with Christ ; and tell me, I pray you, 
what good did he ever do, that he should hear 
from Christ these words, "This day shall thou be 
with me in paradise !" You say, perhaps, " he 



HER WRITING. 377 



suffered stripes, tortures, and the cross." I an- 
swer, " he deserved all these on account of his 
crimes, and not these only, but greater, even 
eternal death." For though by these sufferings he 
might atone the breach of human laws, were he to 
die a thousand times he could not give satisfaction 
to divine justice. And if you should say that the 
thief was saved by a miracle, or by some singular 
privilege ; I will tell you that it is by an equal mi- 
racle, and by the singular mercy of God, that any 
will be saved ; and if they are saved, as all men 
are of the same nature , it must be through grace. 
For by nature we are all equally liable to eternal 
damnation, and, as Paul says, " to the wrath of 
the Son." 

But God, who is rich in mercy, " before the cre- 
ation of the world, elected whom he chose to be 
isaved in Christ; and those whom he elected, he 
also called, and whom he called he also justified 
and glorified." These words are not mine, but 
those of the Apostle Paul, the teacher of the 
Gentiles. So our justification, salvation, and 
blessedness have their sole foundation in Christ 
not partly in Christ, and partly in ourselves. 
Whence Paul teaches the Corinthians, that " no 
man can lay other foundation than that which is 



378 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

laid viz. Christ Jesus ;" and those who ground 
their salvation on any other thing, are foolish, and 
ignorant of divine truths, and resemble those who 
build not their house upon a solid rock but upon 
the quick-sands, which the force of the winds and 
waves will destroy as wisdom and divine truth 
teacheth us. 

The Galatians, deceived by false teachers, as- 
serted their justification, partly by the works of 
the law, and partly through Christ which opi- 
nion Paul could not endure ; he reproves it as a 
most dangerous doctrine, because it takes away 
from the glory of Christ. For by whatever is 
ascribed to the works of men, even the most holy, 
in the work of justification, so much is taken away 
from the Divine mercy, and so much is detracted 
from the merits of Christ, and given to the merits 
of men . Wherefore no man can say that he is 
thus justified or that he can, either in whole or 
in part, give satisfaction to God. 

Others adopt this erroneous opinion, viz. that 
the works which precede justification, even though 
they may not be good in themselves, yet please 
God, through Christ, and are accounted by Him as 
meritorious ; from whence they infer that they are 
justified through Christ, without whom these 



HER WHITINGS. 379 

works would be vain and of no effect. To these, 
I answer, that these works are decidedly sinful. 
Why so? First, because a bad tree cannot bring 
forth good fruits, and secondly, " without faith, 
(or an apprehension of the divine goodness through 
Christ), no man can please God ;" for Paul, in 
the third chapter of Philippians, counted all the 
most important works of legal righteousness as 
" loss" or " dung" that he " might win Christ ;" 
and, writing to Timothy (2nd epistle, 1st chap- 
ter), he teaches that we are saved and called, " not 
according to our own works, but according to his 
own purpose and grace, which is given unto us in 
Christ before the world began;" which sentence 
is held as being sharp and keen by St. Augustine, 
in his celebrated works. 

Who therefore will say that sin shall please a 
most just God, and that these will be accounted 
through Christ as being meritorious ; thus making 
sin the atonement of sin ? Christ died for our 
sins, not that he should approve of them, but con- 
demn them, and teach us that nothing could give 
him greater displeasure. And though " all things," 
it is said, " work for good to those who diligently 
seek God," how do they seek who have not known 
God, and who are not born in the faith, and begot- 



380 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

ten anew ; who are not yet enlightened, and who 
havenot yet been translated from the power of dark- 
ness into the kingdom of the beloved and gracious 
Son of God ? Besides, that passage of St. Paul is 
to be understood as referring not to works, but to 
afflictions and the cross, as is shewn by the se- 
quence and order of the discourse. That were in- 
deed a wonderful justice of God, which should not 
only forbear to condemn sins, but even count 
them as virtues, and bestow on them rewards ! 
But far be such impious and absurd opinions from 
the mind and from the mouths of Christians. 

Lastly Some may imagine that we are thus 
justified by Christ, as if by an advocate, a pleader, 
a defender, or an intercessor ; because he requests 
for us from God the Father, the remission of our 
sins. This truly we will not deny ; but those 
who thus speak, though they say all, yet say no- 
thing for they omit the most important, the 
most divine and most necessary things which have 
been given to us through Christ. For, first, 
Christ transferred our sins to himself, and desired 
them to be ascribed to Him, from his great kind- 
ness, and with the consent and by the command of 
his Father; which Isaiah, the beloved prophet of 
God, long ago predicted. Secondly, he not only 



HER WRITINGS. 381 

accepted them, as if he himself had committed 
all these sins (who was free from the shadow of 
blame) but desired to suffer the most agonizing 
death, by which he might satisfy divine justice. 
Nor was he content with the sacrifice. He gave 
to us his innocence, his justice, his holiness, his 
wisdom and what was greater than all his 
spirit, his soul, his breath; by which means, 
animated not by our own, but by the ' Spirit of 
Christ,' the Son of God, and as if it were born 
anew aye, truly, born again ! we are entitled 
to call God our Father ; before whom we may 
stand boldly, as if we were uncontaminated by 
even the shadow of sin. For, " He who spared 
not his own Son, but gave him for us all, 
will he not with him also freely give us all 
things?" 

Now, therefore, we are just and innocent, 
not from our own justice and innocence, but we 
are free from sins because Christ has made them 
his own, and delivered us by his death ; and also 
it is by the justice of Christ, and the purity which 
he hath given and transferred to us so freely, 
that we are able to appear rich and lovely before 
God. But these gifts, these virtues, these immor- 



382 OLYMPIA MORATA. 

tal and heavenly treasures, depend upon one faith, 
and one certain persuasion (which is only to be 
received from God); and, in proportion to the 
extent of our faith, all these will be given to us. 
For this faith is the measure of all the rest of 
the gifts. 

This, then, is that righteousness of a Christian, 
or justification ; this is what we said it was, 
to be justified by Christ. Of which, whosoever 
attains it (and all who trust truly in Christ will at- 
tain it) may say with St. Paul, " I am crucified 
with Christ, yet I live ; but it is not I that live, 
but Christ that liveth in me." And why should 
I detain you longer ? Whoever is justified in this 
manner, may stand at the tribunal of divine jus- 
tice with that boldness, and that security with 
which Christ himself could stand ; for the state 
and condition of the head and the members are 
the same. Who will dare to accuse or condemn 
the Elect of God? God himself justifying, and 
Christ being the intercessor ? for we are clothed 
with Christ, and with his ornaments. Wherefore, 
as Jacob was received by his father instead of 
Esau, from wearing the garments of his brother, 
so our Father will acknowledge us as sons through 



HER WRITINGS. 383 

the righteousness and holiness of Christ, and give 
us an inheritance in his everlasting kingdom. To 
God, and his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, be 
all glory and honour for ever. Amen. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 

ANCIENT PSALMS, PUBLISHED IN 1543. 

x 

THE 135th PSALM. 
Pseaume d' 'Actions de Graces. 



- ^ ^ - Q . g g 




a 


*>^ S S 3 R 3 e^- 

Chan - tez de Dieu le re 


nom, 


/-\ .-i ,. i 


^^ 


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APPENDIX. 



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Auprcs de Lui ne sont rien ; 
Qai fait en terre ct en cieux, 
Voire us goufl'res de la mcr 
Ce qu'il lin pl.<(t consommcr. 



APPENDIX. 

THE 118th PSALM. 
Pseaume d' Action de Graces, et de Prophitie. 



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F in 1 





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