Labbe', Louisa

, surnamed the Beautiful Ropemaker, was born about 1526, at Lyons. Her father’s | name was Charly, called Labbe. She married Ennemond Perrin, a rope-maker, who lived at Lyons, in the street which still retains the name of Belle Cordiere; and dying 1565, without children, left her all he had, only entailing it on his nephews, James and Peter Perrin, which put a stop to the disadvantageous reports which had been circulated respecting her chastity. She died in 1566. She was the wonder of all the learned of her time, a mechanic’s wife, who understood Latin, Italian, and Spanish, and wrote verses in those three languages, being considered as an extraordinary phenomenon. Her poems were printed at Lyons, 1556, and at Rouen, 1610; but these have been eclipsed in every thing but price, by the edition of Lyons, 1762, 8vi. ¹