On more than one occasion schoolmasters have made a similar remark with reference to the value of the figures and exhibits in Madame Tussaud’s as a means of impressing the minds of their boys with the episodes of history. Teachers often bring their pupils, and I am constantly receiving appreciative letters after a visit.
Schoolboys themselves, I have always noticed, take the keenest possible interest in all they see, and I frequently overhear them eagerly challenging one another concerning the identity and lives of historical personages as they confront their models.
The Exhibition has been frequently consulted as an authority upon innumerable historical subjects, especially with regard to matters dealing with portraiture, biography, and costume, and many of the questions submitted might well have puzzled even the compiler of an encyclopædia. Queries are almost always coupled with an urgent request for immediate reply.
Peculiarities of well-known people are fruitful topics for inquiry. The following are a few of the questions put:
“On which side of Cromwell’s face did his warts grow?”
“Which was the arm that Nelson lost, and which was his blind eye?”
“Was Byron’s club-foot the right or the left?”
“Did Mary, Queen of Scots, have brown eyes or blue?”
Again: “What was the height of Napoleon?”—the most frequent question of all.
Other popular problems relate to costume: