catherineofbraganza:“Sir John Harrington later wrote of her [Arbella Stuart] ’virtuous d
![catherineofbraganza:“Sir John Harrington later wrote of her [Arbella Stuart] ’virtuous d](https://64.media.tumblr.com/2d231b05e41059737a75c37e11e3ece1/0cbea090cd29aba6-08/s540x810/dbfcd7c200965ac346def001f2928e57a1e694bb.png "catherineofbraganza:“Sir John Harrington later wrote of her [Arbella Stuart] ’virtuous d")
![catherineofbraganza:“Sir John Harrington later wrote of her [Arbella Stuart] ’virtuous d](https://64.media.tumblr.com/05da12b4b7d751b7a73551fefe2ea05f/0cbea090cd29aba6-43/s540x810/db1d1f56e4f18abb0edf6f2a3e4c462c505306d6.png "catherineofbraganza:“Sir John Harrington later wrote of her [Arbella Stuart] ’virtuous d")
catherineofbraganza:“Sir John Harrington later wrote of her [Arbella Stuart] ’virtuous disposition, her choice education, her rare skill in languages, her good judgement and sight in music, and a mind to all these free from pride, vanity and affectation, and the greatest sobriety in her fashion of apparel and behaviour as may be, of all of which I have been myself an eyewitness.’ Arbella’s cousin, the composer Michael Cavendish, dedicating a book of songs and madrigals to her, wrote of her ’rare perfections in so many knowledges’. Poets were later to dedicate volumes to Arbella. ’Great learned lady’ was how Amelia Layner would hail her in the dedication to Salve Deux Rex Judaeorum: ‘Rare Phoenix, whose fair feathers are your own, / With which you fly and are so much admired.’ Though the extravagant nature of the compliments may be put down to contemporary court politeness, it is still noteworthy that the compliments tend the same way.” — Sarah Gristwood, Arbella: England’s Lost Queen -- source link
#noblewomen#reblogs#16th century#17th century