Mens Conscia. Artist: Charles Keene. Source: Our People, p. 1. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Inspector who notices lackwardness [sic] in History.— “Who signed Magna Carta?” No answer.
Inspector more urgently.— “Who signed Magna Carta?” No answer.
Inspector angrily.— “Who signed Magna Carta?”
Scapegrace (thinking matters are beginning to look serious).— “Please, Sir. ’Twasnt me!”
Was this school inspector’s discovery of how little English children know of the Magna Carta a typical experience of Matthew Arnold, who turned down a colonial governorship to remain a school inspector and improve pubic education?
Image capture, caption, and formatting by George P. Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust and the New York Public Library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.it
Bibliography
Keene, Charles. Our People: Sketches by Charles Keene from the Collection of “Mr. Punch”. Boston: James Osgood & Sons, 1881. Hathi Trust Digital Library of a version in the University of California Library. Web. 16 April 2014
Created 18 April 2014
Last modified 8 May 2020