ROGER ASCHAM

1515-1568



To Lady Jane Grey

_A most accomplished maiden_


Augsberg, 18 _Jan_. 1551.

Most Illustrious Lady,

In this long travel of mine, I have passed over wide tracts of
country, and seen the largest cities, I have studied the customs,
institutes, laws, and religion of many men and diverse nations, with
as much diligence as I was able: but in all this variety of subjects,
nothing has caused in me so much wonder as my having fallen upon you
last summer, a maiden of noble birth, and that too in the absence of
your tutor, in the hall of your most noble family, and at a time
when others, both men and women, give themselves up to hunting and
pleasures, you, a divine maiden, reading carefully in Greek the
_Phaedo_ of the divine Plato; and happier in being so occupied than
because you derive your birth, both on your father's side, and on your