CXXXIII. Germany, in whose frozen region, Apollo has more power to
inspire the mind, than to thaw the limbs, presents us with a spark from
the sun, in the person of a woman of that country.
CXXXIV. This was the famous _Anna Maria Surman_, the glory of both
Upper and Lower Germany; for although she was born at Cologne, her
parents and ancestors were from the Low Countries. There never had
appeared, till her time, a person of either sex, of more universal
capacity. All the arts, and all the sciences, recognized, and submitted
with equal obedience to the empire of her genius, and none of them
ever made the least resistance, when this heroine undertook their
conquest. At six years of age, she, without any instruction, cut,
with scissars in paper, estimable and delicate figures. At eight,
she learned in a few days to paint flowers, and did actually, at the
end of that time, paint some, which were much prized. At ten, it did
not cost her more than three hours labour, to acquire the art of
embroidering with elegance, but her talents for more exalted exercises
continued hid, till at twelve years of age, they were discovered in
the following manner. She had two brothers, who studied at home, and
it was remarked, that at various times, upon their repeating their
lessons, when the memory of the boys failed them, the girl would set
them right, which she was able to do without any studying, having
retained the lessons, from only casually hearing her brothers repeat
the words of them, while they were getting them by heart. This mark,
joined to the others she had shewn, of being endowed with a capacity
that was quite extraordinary, determined her father to permit his
daughter to pursue her career in study, which was so correspondent
with the bent of her inclination; but the swift motion, with which
she passed over the extensive plains of sacred and profane erudition,
ought more properly to be called a flight, than a career; and the
short time in which she possessed herself of almost all the human
sciences, together with sacred theology, and a great knowledge of the
scripture, is as astonishing. She understood perfectly, the German,
Dutch, English, French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee,
and Arabic languages. She was also endued with the gift of poetry, and
composed many very sensible works in verse. In the liberal arts, she
acquired applause equal to that which she had obtained in sciences
and languages. She understood music scientifically, and played many
instruments with dexterity. As a painter, and a statuary, she was
excellent; as likewise in the art of engraving. It is related of her,
that, having made her own effigy in wax, some artificial pearls, which
she had introduced as ornaments to the figure, appeared so natural,
that nobody would believe they were wax, till after having made the
experiment of pricking them with a pin. Her letters were esteemed,
and sought after, not only for the beauty of the stile, but for the
elegance of the hand-writing also, insomuch, that all who saw them
thought they were inimitable; hence, almost every trace of her pen, was
industriously collected, as furniture worthy to adorn a cabinet. There
was scarce a great man of her time, who did not give her testimonies
of his esteem, and who did not solicit a literary correspondence with
her. The illustrious queen of Poland, Louisa Maria Gonzaga, after being
married at Paris by proxy to king Stanislaus, in her passage to that
kingdom through Germany, condescended to visit Surman at her own house.
She would never marry, although a matrimonial connection with her, was
arduously solicited by many men of rank and fortune; particularly by
Mons. Catec, pensionary of Holland, and a famous poet, who had made
some verses in her eulogium, when Anna Maria was but fourteen years
old. At length, this woman, who was worthy of being immortal, died in
1678, at seventy-one years of age.