THE DEVOTED DAUGHTER. beginning of the sixteenth century. They settled in a small house in Bucklersbury, which is a narrow street running out of the Poultry ; but in a few years, their circumstances improving, they removed to Chelsea, at that time a country village, fresh and green. The year following their marriage-in 1508 - Margaret had been born ; and her father determined to make her as learned and accomplished as the lessons of the best masters could render her. Two other girls, Elizabeth and Cecilia, being born, Mrs. More very much desired a boy, and when at last a son was born, who, the biographers unflatteringly say, " proved little better than an idiot," her husband, who dearly loved a jest, told her, " she had prayed so long for a boy, that she had now one who would be a boy as long as he lived." Sir Thomas, knowing the value of learning, and possessing a large share of it himself, was an ardent admirer of learned ladies ; and in an elegantly worded Latin poem, addressed to a friend who was seeking a wife, he expresses his opinions warmly on the subject, advising him to overlook want of beauty or wealth, if he could meet a woman with an accom- plished mind. In the training of his three daughters, and of his young relative Margaret, who was exactly the age of Margaret More, he took the most assiduous interest ; nor did he neglect that of his son John, who was so little likely to profit byhis care. It was a fashion of the day to make the acquirement of the 7
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