his family as chaplain and tutor to his children. Aylmer afterward
became a distinguished man, was made Bishop of London, and held many
high offices of state under Queen Elizabeth, when she came to reign. He
became very much attached to Queen Elizabeth in the middle and latter
part of his life, as he had been to Lady Jane in the early part of it. A
curious incident occurred during the time that he was in the service of
Elizabeth, which illustrates the character of the man. The queen was
suffering from the toothache, and it was necessary that the tooth should
be extracted. The surgeon was ready with his instruments, and several
ladies and gentlemen of the royal household were in the queen's room
commiserating her sufferings; but the queen dreaded the operation so
excessively that she could not summon fortitude enough to submit to it.
Aylmer, after trying some time in vain to encourage her, took his seat
in the chair instead of her, and said to the surgeon, "I am an old man,
and have but few teeth to lose; but come, draw this one, and let her
majesty see how light a matter it is." One would not have supposed that
Elizabeth would have allowed this to be done; but she did, and, finding
that Aylmer made so light of the operation, she submitted to have it
performed upon herself.

But to return to Lady Jane. She was very strongly attached to her
teacher, and made great progress in the studies which he arranged for
her. Ladies of high rank, in those days, were accustomed to devote great
attention to the ancient and modern languages. There was, in fact, a
great necessity then, as indeed there is now, for a European princess to
be acquainted with the principal languages of Europe; for the various
royal families were continually intermarrying with each other, which led
to a great many visits, and other intercourse between the different
courts. There was also a great deal of intercourse with the pope, in
which the _Latin_ language was the medium of communication. Lady Jane
devoted a great deal of time to all these studies, and made rapid
proficiency in them all.

The Princess Elizabeth was also an excellent scholar. Her teacher was a
very learned and celebrated man, named Roger Ascham. She spoke French
and Italian as fluently as she did English. She also wrote and spoke
Latin with correctness and readiness. She made considerable progress in
Greek too. She could write the Greek character very beautifully, and
could express herself