that Grindal was summoned to court to assist Cheke: Ascham wrote in postscript, "I commend him to you as a man of mark, and promise that you shall find him diligent and respectful, zealous in learning and love of you, silent, faithful, temperate, and honest, and in every way devoted and well fitted for your service." Grindal was called by Cheke to instruct Princess Elizabeth in Greek letters. (At much the same time Giovanni Battista Castiglione was appointed her Italian tutor.) Ascham wrote to tell Grindal of the college upheavals, and in February wrote a longer letter of farewell, saying how his presence was missed: saying that he must write with discretion, and date his letters, to avoid any intrigue; he had read avidly Cheke's new translation from St John Chrysostom, with Grindal's prefatory Epistle; he urged Grindal to write often to Cheke, and to mention his name often to their master. Some time later Ascham also wrote to Elizabeth to compliment her on the excellent progress that she was making under the instruction of Lady Champernowne and William Grindal. Katherine Champernowne, who married Sir John Astley in 1545, developed Elizabeth's knowledge of the French, Italian and Spanish languages. In both Greek and Latin, "the first foundations of these two languages were most felicitously laid by the hard work and diligence of Grindal... so that I might have doubted whether to admire more the wit of her that learned, or the diligence of him that taught," wrote Ascham to Sturmius long after Grindal's death of plague in January 1548. He compared the loss of his friend to the loss of his own parents. To Cheke he wrote, "It cannot be believed, most accomplished sir, to what a knowledge of the Latin and Greek tongues she will arrive, if she goes on as she has begun under Grindal." Death Ascham wrote to Elizabeth on 22 January to condole with her over Grindal's death, and to place himself at her command in case she should not follow the guidance of Lord Admiral Seymour and Queen Katherine, who proposed to replace Grindal with Francis Goldsmith (sometime scholar of Christ's College and Fellow of Peterhouse), then a servant in the Queen's household. At that moment Seymour was attempting to manipulate John Cheke to influence the young king in his favour, and his flirtations with Elizabeth grew dangerous. Ascham was called to become her tutor