In a poem called “The most Pleasant Song of Lady Bessy,” by Humphrey Brereton, are the following lines which illustrate the education of noble ladies. “Lady Bessy” is Elizabeth of York, and she thus speaks:—
“Good father Stanley, hearken unto me,
What my father King Edward, that King royal
Did for my sister, my Lady Wells, and me.
He sent for a scrivener to lusty London,
He was the best in that City,
He taught us both to write and read full soon
If it please you full soon you shall see.
Lauded be God! I had such speed
That I can write as well as he,