tolerated. Other cities of Italy, having the same trouble to contend
with, sent deputations to Florence asking for a copy of these
regulations; this attempt on the part of the cities to control the
habits of their citizens in these matters seems to have been quite
general.

In matters of education more attention was paid to the boys than to the
girls at this time, as the women were generally expected to let the men
attend to the chief affairs of life, while they busied themselves with
domestic duties. Still, it is on record that in the year 1338 there were
from eight to ten thousand boys and girls in school in the city of
Florence, learning to read. Among the people of the wealthy class and of
the nobility, women were undoubtedly given greater educational
advantages in many instances; and then again, in strictly academic
circles, the daughters of a professor sometimes distinguished themselves
for great learning and scholarship. It was at the University of Bologna
in particular that women seem to have been most conspicuous in
educational affairs, and here it was that a number of them were actually
allowed to wear the robe of a professor and lecture to the students.
Among the number famed for their learning may be mentioned Giovanna
Bianchetti and Maddalena Buonsignori, who gave instruction in law. The
latter was the author of a small Latin treatise of some reputation,
entitled _De legibus connubialis_, and the character of this legal work
reveals the fact that she must have been much interested in the women of
her time, for she has made here in some detail a study of their legal
status from certain points of view. No list of this kind would be
complete without mention of Novella d'Andrea, who was perhaps the best
known of all these learned women, for to her erudition was added a most
marvellous beauty which alone would have been sufficient, perhaps, to
hand her name down to posterity. Her father was a professor of canonical
law at the University of Bologna, and there it was that she became his
assistant, and on several occasions delivered lectures in his stead. At
such times it was her custom, if the tradition be true, to speak from
behind a high screen, as she had found out from experience that the
students were so bewildered by her grace and charm, when she stood
openly before them, that they were in no mood for serious study, but
gazed at her the while in undisguised admiration.

However pleasurable it may prove to r