A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gambara, Veronica

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GAMBARA, VERONICA,

An Italian lady, born at Brescia in 1485. She married the Lord of Correggio, and after his death devoted herself to literature and the education of her two sons. She died in 1550, aged sixty-five. The best edition of her poems and letters is that of Brescia, in 1759. This lady belonged to one of the most distinguished Italian families; she very early manifested a particular love for poetry, and her parents took pleasure in cultivating her literary taste. Her marriage with the Lord Correggio was one of strong mutual attachment. Her husband, who was devoted to her, delighted in the homage everywhere paid to her talents and charms. In 1515, she accompanied him to Bologna, where a court was held by the Pope, Leo the Tenth, to do honour to Francis the First of France. That gallant monarch was frequently heard to repeat that he had never known a lady so accomplished as Veronica. Her domestic happiness was of short duration; death snatched away Correggio from the enjoyment of all that this world could afford. The grief of Veronica was excessive. She had her whole house hung with black; and though very young at the time of her widowhood, never wore anything but black during the remainder of her life. On the door of her palace she caused to be inscribed the following lines from Virgil:—

Ille meos primus qui me sibi junxit amores
Abstulit: ille habeat secum, servet que sepulchre.

All this has an air of ostentation which seldom accompanies real sensibility; but the subsequent conduct of the lady was entirely consistent with her first demonstrations. She turned a deaf ear to many suitors who sought her hand, and devoted herself to the education of her two sons, and the administration of their property. Her labours were crowned with remarkable success; the one becoming a distinguished general, highly valued by his sovereign; the other a cardinal, eminent for piety and learning. Her leisure, in the meantime, was employed in the study, not only of elegant literature, but of theology and philosophy. Her brother Uberto, being made governor of Bologna, in 1528, by Clement the Seventh, she removed her residence to that city, where she frequently entertained at her house the eminent literati of the day. She enjoyed the highest esteem among her contemporaries; and appears to have been as remarkable for her virtues as for her knowledge. Her works consist of a collection of elegant letters, and many poems, some of which are on religious subjects.