By Dorothea Beale.

The practice of representing to the eye by means of diagrams the facts of science, physical and social, is becoming more common: we have jagged lines indicating fluctuations in the winds or in the stocks. In an American record which has been sent to me, there are coloured squares representing the thousands of children who are regular in their attendance at school, black squares standing for the defaulting thousands. By such means we can see at a glance what the mind finds it difficult otherwise to realise; it furnishes a framework into which we can fit anything we wish to locate.

It is hardly necessary to say that for any orderly study of history it is necessary to have some scheme into which we may fit the subjects of study. As well might we expect by learning latitude and longitude to understand the position of places on the earth’s surface, as by learning dates to get a clear idea of the relative position of events in time. We want some form of map which will represent the events to the eye. Historical Charts.Many excellent charts have been drawn up giving us parallel histories, but the great difficulty is their prodigious size. Time is one-dimensional, and if we give a small linear space to a century, and try to represent a few thousand years, the mind fails to grasp the picture; if the scale of the different periods varies, the proportion is wrong. For this reason rivers and trees of time, etc., have been more or less failures; they are useful and interesting, but the objection is, that they are either too large and detailed to be carried in the memory, or that the landmarks are too slight. The Méthode Mnémonique Polonaise, which is much used in France, was introduced to my notice, and first used by me at Queen’s College: it has the great advantage of compactness—it is in form like a geographical map. It can be adapted to various purposes, but I shall dwell now on its applications as a record of time, and show the different ways in which it can be used by little children, though it is equally well adapted for Tom Brown at Oxford (who seems to have used it) and for the mature student of history. It may be made for little ones into a system of object-lessons, or hieroglyphics, if you will, which appeal to the child’s imagination and help him to realise something of the proportion of things, and whilst looking at the world, as each of us must, from our own “pin-point,” yet see life in relation to the lives of others. It is compact; it shows at a glance the relations of events. We can have a world-map and give only the great landmarks, or we may by a map of large proportions work out to any degree of detail a short period. The plan is to make a square of ten represent a century, and each horizontal line a decade. Thus:—

0123456789
10111213141516171819
20212223242526272829
30313233343536373839
40414243444546474849
50515253545556575859
60616263646566676869
70717273747576777879
80818283848586878889
90919293949596979899

It will at once be seen that all the numbers in the first line of a century are units, in the second tens, in the third twenties, and so on; whilst, if we look down the vertical line, all the numbers in the first row end with nought, in the second with one, and so on. The thick line is intended to help the eye; we have forty and fifty on each side of the horizontal thick line, four and five on each side of the vertical. A few minutes’ practice will generally enable the pupil to read off numbers rapidly from a blank square. He will then have to learn the position of the marks in any century, as he would learn the geography of a country, or the shape of a constellation. Take, for example, the English history of the fourteenth century. We mark Edward II., in 1307; Edward III., in 1327; Richard II., 1377; Henry IV., 1399. The dates need not be learned; we have the picture of the century in our mind and can read off the square.

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Some children take much pleasure in making and painting illustrated charts. I have one on a large scale of the sixteenth century, giving the accession of Queen Mary—1553, and a picture of the Tower, to which Northumberland and others were sent. A block in 1554 tells of the executions consequent on Wyatt’s rebellion, and a dove with an olive branch of Philip’s intercession for Elizabeth—1555; there is a picture of a martyr at the stake, and a hand in the flames for Cranmer—1557; a scroll stands for the first Covenant in Scotland, and a sword for the war with France—1558; there is a heart with Calais written on it.

Here is a specimen of a chart with a key of the sixteenth century.[19] It will be seen from this how events in contemporary history can be introduced. Thus the first year, 1500, reminds us of the discovery of America, and of the great jubilee, the precursor of the Papal downfall; the fleur de lys standing for the French kings and the cross for the German Emperors, tell of the accession of Francis I. and Charles V. Portraits are given of English sovereigns. We have later the massacre of St. Bartholomew with daggers, a ship for the Armada, etc., etc.

[19] It may be well to add that I am not ignorant of the discussions respecting the proper beginning of a century. Is the year 1800 the last year of the eighteenth or the first year of the nineteenth century? Our dates have been translated from the Latin ordinals, and we ought to say the eighteen-hundredth year, instead of the year eighteen-hundred. I have deliberately preferred to conform the chart to the vulgar tongue. If I did not, the numbers in the first line would contain nine units and one ten, instead of all units; the second line of tens would contain one twenty, and so on. If we are content to use the inaccurate language of daily life, bearing in mind that it requires correction, and making such corrections when we are engaged in important historical or astronomical calculations, we may well be content to do the same with the chart. I shall, therefore, consider the life of a century as that of a centenarian. We say of a child that he is in his 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., year, when he is 0, 1, 2, etc., years old; so, also, a person is in his 100th year when he is 99 years old; and he has lived a century at the close of this year, for the cardinal marks the number of completed years, the ordinal the number of the year in progress. So 1799 is regarded as the closing year of the last century, 1800, 1801, as the first and second of this. For a learned and elaborate discussion on the subject, and a list of authorities for the view adopted, see An Examination of the Century Question, George Bell, Fleet Street, 1850.