though there was but about two years difference in age. She spoke and wrote her own language with peculiar accuracy; and, it is said, that the French, Italian, Latin, and Greek languages, were as familiar to her as the English; for she not only understood them perfectly, but wrote them with the utmost freedom, not only in the opinion of superficial judges, but of Mr. Ascham and Dr. Aylmer, men who, in point of veracity, were as much above suspicion, as in point of abilities they were incapable of being deceived. Lady Jane became also versed in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic, played well on instrumental music, wrote a fine hand, and was excellent at her needle, and of mild, humble, and modest spirit. She had early imbibed the principles of the Protestant religion, which she embraced, as Dr. Heylin, in his History of the Reformation, observes, not out of any outward compliance with the times, but because her own judgment was fully satisfied of its truth and purity, which appeared from her constant adherence to it, when neither the hope of grandeur nor the fear of death could reconcile her to the Romish church.
Her very strong affection for learning is shewn by this remarkable testimony of Mr. Ascham. "Before I went into Germany, I came to Broadgate, in Leicestershire, to take my leave of that noble lady Jane Grey, to whom I was exceeding much beholding. Her parents, the duke and the duchess, with all the household, gentlemen and gentlewomen, were hunting in the park. I found her in her chamber, reading Phœdon Platonis, Greek, and that with as much delight as some gentlemen would read a merry tale in Boccace. After salutation, and duty done, with some other talk, I asked her, why she should lose so much pastime in the park?
