You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts,
And prick my tender conscience to those thoughts
Which honour and allegiance cannot think.
Richard has himself set the example of disregard of others’ rights, and makes it possible for Bolingbroke to return in the name of justice and raise the country against the king.
Previous knowledge.The teacher of history in the older classes ought to be able to assume a correct knowledge of the most important facts and dates at least in English history. These are very easily learnt in childhood and most difficult to acquire by older girls. Those who have been trained on the historical chart are acquainted with the main characteristic of each century, and the principal events in it, and have no difficulty in grouping fresh knowledge round central well-known facts, just as the geographical student can fill in with increasing completeness a map from memory. Comparatively few are trained in any knowledge of foreign history, and I have known not a few grown-up girls find the greatest difficulty in mastering the leading names and events in French and other European history. In this respect other nations are beyond us. Foreign girls, both French and German, are trained to connect the history of their own country with the general course of events, and know the facts of European history as a whole. The absence of this knowledge in English girls makes the study of foreign policy unnecessarily difficult to them.
Continuity of history.In outline history, paint with a thick brush. “One can’t see the wood for the trees in it” might too often be the criticism of the pupil on a lesson. The conscientious teacher tries to omit nothing, the consequence in the pupil’s mind is blind confusion. The principle of selection rules here if anywhere. We must aim at avoiding the defect which Lord Acton denounces as “the want of an energetic understanding of the sequence and real significance of events, which ... is ruin to a student of history. It is playing at study (he continues) to see nothing but the unmeaning and unsuggestive surface as we generally do.” We want instead to trace in broad outline the continuity of history—for instance, look at the Wars of the Roses in this light. How do they stand in relation to constitutional development? While the nobles were at war, the commons were gaining victories, bloodless it is true, but more lasting than any gained on battlefields. It was a time of immense constitutional development. And yet these victories were practically worthless for the moment. What advantage was it to the victim of the “overmighty subject” that the Statute Book provided for his rights and liberties? The “Paston Letters” give a vivid picture of the impotence of the ordinary subject to get the law enforced. What the country needed was strong government, not political privileges. “Constitutional development had outrun administrative order,” had outrun, that is to say, the general point of development reached by the nation at large, and the Tudors came in, so to speak, on the programme of strong government. The Tudor rule represented the two great principles of orderly administration and even-handed government. It needed a dictatorship to accomplish the task. The task was completed at the Armada, and the country took back the trust at the accession of the Stuarts. That the Stuarts failed to recognise this, was the cause of the long constitutional struggle that culminated in the Civil War. Once more constitutional development proceeds, but now the nation is keeping pace with it.
Topical or sectional arrangement.The subject of sectional as opposed to chronological teaching seems to belong here, for upon it depends the very essence of clearness in teaching. If pupils have before them the time-map, or chronological chart, already referred to, the teacher can with greater freedom treat the subjects sectionally, for before the eye of the pupil are grouped all the parallel events in each square representing some definite space of time. To teach chronologically may seem more accurate perhaps, but really too often produces hopeless confusion in the mind of the pupil—the thread is lost in taking up many different subjects, e.g., in Elizabeth’s reign, I would take as separate sections her relations with Scotland, necessitating a review of Scotch affairs generally, and the series of plots for releasing Queen Mary; Elizabeth’s policy with regard to (a) the Anglican Church; (b) Roman Catholics; (c) Protestant Nonconformists; her Irish policy; her foreign policy illustrated by her “courtships”; the domestic history of the reign and so on. The different sections touch sometimes, but it only adds to the interest to illustrate the new section from one already known. So in the Seven Years’ War, I would not follow the course of events for each separate year on the Continent and in America and in India, but I would take the whole course of the war in Europe, explaining why it was not only justifiable but a stroke of genius in Pitt, to do what he had himself denounced in the “Hanover-troop minister,” and by utilising foreign troops for England’s war on the Continent, set her free to follow her true interests in the colonies, and I would trace as separate sections the laying of the foundations of her world-empire in India and in Canada.
Syllabus of lessons.This method of teaching presupposes that a scheme has been drawn out for the course. If possible the scheme should be given to the class in the form of a syllabus of the lessons. If printing is too expensive, it is worth while to cyclostyle copies oneself. The value the class attaches to them is sufficient reward for the trouble, and they become a model to the girls on which to arrange their own study of history in post-school days. Examples of such a syllabus for [English history] and [French history] lessons will be found at the end of the paper.
Illustrations: (a) Historical atlas.The historical map ought to be the inseparable accompaniment of the history lesson, and in this respect there is nearly everything to be wished for. Good wall maps with bold colouring in which the outlines of different territories can be seen from a distance, and in which the names are clearly printed in English, have yet to be found. To use a modern map in doing French outlines or other continental history is most misleading, and yet too often this is all the teacher has at hand. There is Sprüner of course, but even if the school can afford these expensive maps, they are not very satisfactory for the ordinary class; the colouring is not distinct, and the map is so overcrowded with names that it is difficult to find at a glance the places one wants. They are rather for private and minute study than for class work. The publisher’s explanation is that there is not a sufficient demand to make it worth while to bring out historical maps, an incidental illustration of how little attention is given in English schools to continental history, while a class map of the Roman Empire can be found everywhere. At present the teacher is forced to make her own maps. If she is happy enough to have old pupils with a talent for map-drawing, she can gradually make a collection of maps enlarged from those in good histories; the maps in Kitchin’s History of France are invaluable for this purpose, but Kitchin provides nothing for the periods of the Italian expeditions, and these have to be adapted from Sprüner.
Gardiner’s Student’s Atlas provides what is necessary for the pupil in the English history class; there is a small cheap German atlas for general history (Putzger, 2 marks), but it is not very satisfactory for the ordinary English schoolgirl, the difference in the names is puzzling. What is wanted is a student’s atlas for continental, especially French history, at a reasonable price.