THE LIBRARY

OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES

THE

TEACHING OF HISTORY

BY

CHARLES H. JARVIS, M.A., LL.D.

LECTURER IN EDUCATION AT THE CITY OF LEEDS TRAINING COLLEGE

OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO . MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY

HUMPHREY MILFORD 1917

A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By C. R. L. FLETCHER and RUDYARD KIPLING. In two editions.

Crown 8vo, pp. 250, with eleven coloured and twelve black- and-white illustrations by H. J. FORD, and seven maps. From Is. 8d. Quarto, with additional illustrations, 7s. 6d. net.

THE STORY OF ENGLAND. For Junior Forms. By M. 0. DAVIS. With sixteen maps. Crown Svo, 3s. Also in Parts : I, to Elizabeth ; II, to Victoria. Is. 9d. each.

A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By O. M. EDWARDS,

R. S. RAIT, H. W. C. DAVIS, G. N. RICHARDSON, A. J. CARLYLE,

and W. G. POOSON SMITH. Second edition. Two volumes,

crown Svo, 2s. each.

Vol. I. To the Death of Elizabeth. With seven genealogical

tables, four maps, and an index. Pp. 208. Vol. II. To the Death of Edward VII. With three genealogi- cal tables, four maps, and six plans. Pp. 206. Also in one vol., 8s. 6d.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO BRITISH HISTORY, 55 B.C.-1854 A.D., being extracts from contemporary documents and literature. Edited by J. TURRAL. Crown Svo, pp. 314, 2s. 6d. net.

LYRA HISTORICA. Poems of British History, A.D. 61-1910. Selected and edited, with introductions, notes and glossary, by M. E. WINDSOR and J. TURRAL. Crown Svo, 2s. Also separately: Part I (A.D. 61-1381), 8d. ; Part II (1388- 1641), 8d. ; Part III (1644-1910), Is.

THE RELATIONS OF GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. By

H. B. GEORGE. Fourth edition. With two maps. Crown Svo, 4s. 6d. net.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE. By H. B. GEORGE. With index of historical illustrations. Crown Svo, 3s. net.

AN HISTORICAL ATLAS OF MODERN EUROPE, from 1789- 1914. By C. GRANT ROBERTSON and J. B. BARTHOLOMEW. 3s. 6<1. net.

Education

T25 PREFACE

THIS little book is based upon lectures to students in training and to evening classes of teachers. It is hoped that in their present form the opinions and suggestions will be found useful to other young teachers, and even to some with riper experience.

My aim has been to deal simply and clearly with .the problems which often perplex those teachers who have had no definite historical training and do not specialize in History teaching. Why should we teach History in schools ? What parts shall we select for our scheme ? What books can we consult for the subject-matter ? What illustrations can we use ? What place should original sources have in our teaching ? Is dramatiza- tion of any value ? How can we connect History with Literature, Art, and Handwork? These are some of the questions which I am often asked and have here tried to answer. The advice I have given is practical, since it is the outcome not of theorizing, but of many years' experience as a teacher. *

C. H. J.

A 2

12G7259

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING . . 7

CHAPTER II

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME . . .31

CHAPTER III

THE FORM OF THE SCHEME . . .47

CHAPTER IV HISTORICAL STORIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN . 55

CHAPTER V THE WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR ... 64

CHAPTER VI THE WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR . . .78

CHAPTER VII THE WORK OF THE SIXTH YEAR ... 95

CHAPTER VIII THE WORK OF THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 109

CHAPTER IX

THE ORAL LESSON . ... 126

CHAPTER X

LEARNING BY DOING — YOUNGER PUPILS . .161

6 CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER XI LEARNING BY DOING — OLDER PUPILS . .173

CHAPTER XII ILLUSTRATIONS ...... 200

CHAPTER XIII CONCLUSION 222

APPENDIXES I. THE CULTURE-EPOCH THEORY . . . 229

II. SHORT LIST OF SOURCES FOR ENGLISH

HISTORY ...... 232

III. SHORT LIST OF GENERAL BOOKS . . 235

IV. SHORT LIST OF HISTORICAL FICTION 238

CHAPTER I THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING

' The advantages found in History seem to be of three kinds, as it amuses the fancy, as it improves the understanding, and rs it strengthens virtue.' — HUME.

' As nothing teaches, so nothing delights more than History. The first of these recommends it to the study of grown men : the latter makes -one think it the fittest for a young lad.' — LOCKE.

ALTHOUGH universally taught in schools, history is still considered one of the less important subjects of the curriculum. In elementary schools even in the upper classes less time is often devoted to it than to ' spellings ' or ' copy-books ' ; in secondary schools classics, mathematics, modern languages, and natural science hold more dignified places. This subordinate position is due partly to tradition, partly to the teacher not recognizing its educative value. The latter point was well illustrated recently by a head master who had included in the history scheme some lessons on the •history of China, to be taken in connexion with the geography of that country. When asked why he did not teach Chinese language and literature he was naturally puzzled by the futility of the question. Such subjects, of course, were of no use. ' But are lessons on the old kings of China of any use ? ' 'Ah, well, that is history and it does not matter a great deal what we teach.' This attitude is fairly common. Codes and Regulations require that children should have some knowledge of history, but many teachers

8 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

are not convinced of its value. They have no definite objective in their work, no enthusiasm, and little historical knowledge. History has accordingly been more neglected than any other subject of the curri- culum. If, then, there is to be any improvement, teachers must have faith in the subject, they must be convinced it is worth teaching. This is the problem of the present chapter.

But there are many who hold it to be impossible to teach history to children. ' It seems clear that if we start teaching any sort of formal history to a child under fourteen we shall be teaching what will be to the child unintelligible rubbish . ' 1 In the following chapters, then, the further task will be attempted of showing that history can be taught to children. Suggestions will be made regarding selection of matter and methods of work in order to demonstrate that even children under the age of fourteen can understand at least the main lines of national growth.

I. ^History as the Study of Social Development. At the outset of our inquiry concerning the value of history in the school, we must consider whether we are justified in including it in the curriculum at all. We must not merely show that history is of some value to the child. Time is short and the curriculum is crowded, and we must be convinced that history can do something for the child that no other subject can.

'Man', says Emerson, 'is explicable by nothing less than all his history ; ' not the history of individuals alone but also of human society. Our laws and^ystems of government, our manners and customs and modes

1 J. W. Allen, The Place of History in Education, pp. 188-9 ; and see Welton, Psychology of Education, p. 256.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 9

of living, our industrial and commercial life, our religious and social ideals ; all these can only be really under- stood in the light of their history. The thousand phases of that complex organism which we call ' national life ' have been gradually evolved from a primitive social state. And this process (^development is continuous and ever changing to meet the changing needs of man. ' In society, as in nature, the structure is continuous, and we can trace things back uninterruptedly until we dimly descry the Declaration of Independence in the forests of Germany.' 1 This continuity of growth, of development in human society is the great truth which history alone can teach. ' No one_can long

being haunted by the idea of

development, of progress.'2 Our pupils, especially the younger ones, will find it difficult to appreciate this view of history, since their minds are untrained to grasp long series of changes. But the teacher aims, not at tracing any phase of our national life step by step through all its changes, but at indicating the main stages of progress, and leading the child to make comparisons between one period and another. For example, any child in the upper classes can understand the great improvements in our central and local government, and in the administration of justice, although it would be folly to attempt a continuous history of government or the law.

But apart from any definite study of development at all, history can interpret much which comes within the horizon of our experience to-day. An ancient ruin or parish church, when studied in the light of its history,

1 Acton, Lecture on the Study of History.

2 Seeley, Expansion of England, p. 3.

10 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

speaks to us of the lives of the people and their religious ideals. The ringing of the curfew bell, which is con- tinued in some places, is only explicable if we know something of conditions of living in Norman times. The custom of carrying a hideous representation of a dragon through the streets of Norwich, which was continued on a certain day each year until recently, was childish folly to those who did not know the sig- nificance of the custom. The dragon, Old Snap, as it was familiarly named, was the last relic of the pageant of the ancient Gild of St. George in Norwich, which became united with the City Corporation in the fifteenth century. It was thus the symbol of civic government, and before the Municipal Corporation Act figured in the corporation procession. The list of such illustra- tions might be increased indefinitely. There is no village upon the present life of which history could not shed some light ; there is no tradition or custom or popular saying in the land for which history could not provide an explanation, were we only able to gain the evidence. ' Think what a rich world this is for those people to whom it is the visible result of the teeming activities of a thousand interesting personages whose bones were dust and whose tools were rust centuries ago ! And how poor to those who know it only as the little street in which they live and the persons about them from day to day ! ' *

This, then, is one good reason why we should teach a child to recognize the present as the outcome of the past. He gains a more lively and intelligent interest in the present, and his understanding of the world around is thereby increased. We want to know, as 1 P. A. Barnett, Common Sense in Education, p. 261.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 11

Lord Morley says, ' what men thought and did in the thirteenth century, not out of any dilettante or idle antiquarian curiosity, but because the thirteenth century is at the root of what men think and do in the nineteenth '. But the study of national development has further value. Even the young child is impressed with the immense progress of human society. There was a time when judges could be bribed or intimidated by the king ; when law cases were often unduly protracted ; when there was no Habeas Corpus Act ; when debtors were imprisoned indefinitely ; when men were executed for petty theft. There was a time when women and children were protected by no factory legislation ; when municipal government was corrupt ; when the streets of our towns were narrow, dark, and evil smelling ; when means of communication were bad in the extreme. Such comparisons make us realize the advantages of the present. ' The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage ; ' this sentiment history should implant even in the child. But the children of to-day are. the citizens of to-morrow. We cannot, then, be content if they only recognize their future rights as citizens and the countless blessings they inherit from the past ; we must, if possible, teach them that rights and duties are correlative. This truth can be taught without the aid of history, but history, in teaching us that development is continuous, should remind us of our responsibility towards the future. The strength and well-being of the nation in times to come is depen- dent to a great extent upon the citizens of to-day. In the history lessons with older children we shall often find opportunities for emphasizing this great principle.

12 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Can the study of national development do more than this for the child ? If our national life is the outcome of continuous evolution there are no questions of public interest to-day, whether they are political, social, economic, or religious, upon which history cannot shed some light. History does, indeed, help us in our attempt to comprehend the many problems in which every man and woman should take an intelli- gent interest ; it is ' an indispensable element in the training of a citizen '.* But we are teaching children, not men and women. And the historical knowledge that is so essential if we are to form a sound opinion upon a public question is often quite beyond the mental grasp of children. For example, most teachers will agree that it is both unnecessary and impossible that children ' should grasp the futility of attempting to deal with political questions as abstract proposi- tions'.2 It is not in the elementary schools alone that our future citizens will receive their training for the exer- cise of their powers. The home, political clubs, trade unions, municipal and general elections, and, above all, the popular press will have a profound influence on their opinions. It is only after school- days are over that these influences will be felt to any extent and opinions formed. These opinions may be, and indeed often are, crude and dogmatic. The study of history must therefore be continued so that the understanding may be enlightened on the problems of our national life. In school we can lay a foundation by teaching the children something of the origin and history of many features of this national life, but it is quite

1 Report of a Conference on the Teaching of History in London Elementary Schools, p. 8. 2 Ibid., p. 9.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 13

impossible to give children an historical background so clear and full that it will definitely influence their opinions when they possess the rights and duties of citizens.

II. History as the Study of Great Characters and of Types. So far we have considered history as the study ^ of communal development. But the young boy is incapable of appreciating development. He is inevit- ably a hero worshipper, and we must select stories which will rouse his feelings and stir his imagination. These stories must be personal and human, they must be alive with action if they are to interest him. When __ . the_emption^_and imagination have been aroused and the child becomes interested in the story of the past, a foundation has been laid for the later study of develop- ment. But even when teaching older pupils we must not -lose sight of the personal aspect of history, for not only does it make the subject more vivid and real, but it increases our knowledge of human nature.

This latter point is often doubted. And we must admit that the knowledge of our fellow men, which is so essential if we are to make the most of life, does undoubtedly come rather by taking our part in the world of human activity than by the study of books. A child profits immensely by being educated with other children. He gradually learns to know their ways and motives and aspirations ; he feels himself a member of a community, is able to hold his own with them and to live on amicable terms with them. When school-days are over, the boy will extend the circle of his acquaintances. If he is wise, he will enrich his experience by forming friendships outside the range of his business and by acquaintance with men whose

14 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

ideals and whose religious and political beliefs differ from his own.

Our opportunities are limited, however, for knowing others by personal relations. There are human types and leaders of men with whom we can never be per- sonally acquainted. It is here that history will come to our aid. Most of the great ones of the earth, great in heart and mind and achievement, can only be known by studying their aspirations and thoughts and deeds as recorded in history. The poorest child may make the acquaintance of the proudest and noblest of men in the pages of history. Horace Walpole in one of his letters says, in reference to the Paston Letters : ' The letters of Henry VI's reign, &c. are come out, and to me make all other letters not worth reading. I have gone through one volume and cannot bear to be writ- ing when I am so eager to be reading. . . . There are letters from all my acquaintance, Lord Rivers, Lord Hastings, the Earl of Warwick.' History as a subject of the curriculum is not alone in revealing human nature. The study of literature is possibly of equal value in this respect, although history portrays human nature as it really is, literature as it is interpreted by an author.

III. The Development of the Mind by the Study of .History. Many ..teachers consider that this subject provides mental training by developing the children's powers of reasoning, judgement, imagination, memory, and so on. These claims deserve a brief examination.

(a) First, as to the value of history in improving the ' reasoning ' and ' judgement '. The problems of history generally set to a class in order to develop the power of reasoning are essentially different from the

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 15

problems of natural science. The children are often asked what the effects of a certain action would be likely to be, e.g. was a certain speech of Elizabeth's likely to satisfy the Commons ? Or they are asked for the causes of certain events ; e. g. what were the circumstances which led to the Catholic reaction after 1539 ? Now such questions will undoubtedly stimulate the children to read more carefully and will suggest certain topics for investigation. The private study of the pupils, where private study is possible, will there- fore be more profitable and the children will be induced to consider more carefully the facts bearing upon the problem. But the generalizations are not the outcome of scientific reasoning ; they are rather expressions of opinion.

Men's lives are not governed by general laws. I know that if heat is applied to water under normal pressure until the temperature is raised to 100° C., it will boil. This is an established law. But I do not know that a man placed in certain circumstances will act in a particular way. We cannot predict with certainty a man's conduct as we can predict the manifestation of Nature's laws : neither can we solve historical problems by applying general truths to them, or establish general truths from the examination of a series of particular facts. But this we must be able to do if we are to reason scientifically. Philo- sophers do indeed tell us that the same causes always produce the same effects. This may be true even in history, but, unlike science, history often gives us no adequate opportunities of studying the causes of which we see the effects. The veil is drawn more closely across the face of history than across the face

16 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

of external nature and we cannot draw it aside, partly because the records of the past are defective, and partly because the infinite motives at the root of human conduct are hidden from us. The most casual student of history realizes that the apparently acci- dental plays too large a part in the course of events for history ever to be reduced to a science.1 ' If the nose of Cleopatra had been shorter the whole face of the earth would have been changed,' says Pascal.

It is true that many great events appear to us the result of general causes. Slavery is followed by econo- mic decay ; war by privation and economic unrest ; tyranny by rebellion ; corrupt government by ultimate loss of power. But such consequences are not inevitable. On the other hand, if Alexander the Great had died in infancy, if the attempt on Napoleon's life on Christ- mas Eve 1800 had been successful, if the storm which shattered the Armada had not arisen, if the Greeks had been defeated at Marathon, the Franks at Chalons, or the Normans at Hastings, how the history of the world might have been changed ! It is futile to con- sider these possibilities, except in so far as they help us to realize how the course of history appears to have been repeatedly governed by an event that no amount of study of other causes and results in history would have helped us to determine. ' Strictly logical argument is always abstract ; life is always concrete.' 2

We cannot frame general laws and apply them in history in order to discover causes and effects ; that

1 Teachers should read Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects, vol. i, The Science of History.

2 Wei ton, Psychology of Education, p. 394.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 17

is, we cannot reason scientifically because of the nature of the subject. But history must still remain to a great extent a study of causes and effects. In the upper part of the school we must emphasize the great truth that every event in history was the development of preceding events, for it is only in this way that the children will come to understand history as the study of development. Sometimes we can lead our older pupils to predict fairly accurately for themselves, through their knowledge of history* and of things in general, that a certain line of action or set of circum- stances would result in a certain way, or that a certain event had a certain cause or causes. They are, with guidance, discovering for themselves the relations between events. To take a simple example. In studying the history of the reforms of the nineteenth century, it is not sufficient for older children to know what were the chief reforms. They must know something about the conditions preceding these reforms, and should even know what brought about these conditions. Having learnt something about the introduction of machinery, the children should then be led to form the opinion that (1) it was almost inevitable that child labour would be employed to a greater extent than before ; (2) the conditions of work would often become degrading ; (3) some humane persons would revolt against such conditions and demand an inquiry; (4) the Government would side with the public unless influenced by private considerations, and legislation would be passed to remedy the evil ; and (5) the legisla- tion could only be effective if means of enforcing it were provided.

Any topic will provide opportunities for so-called

1977 -n

18 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

reasoning of this kind, although through the inter- vention of the accidental in history the children are usually not able to work out a chain of developments as in the above example. The teacher, then, should not invite an expression of opinion unless the children are likely to arrive at the correct conclusion. Where the consequences of an event or set of circumstances cannot possibly be predicted, or where, in the case of younger children, their lack of knowledge prevents them coming to a conclusion that would be apparent to maturer minds, a continuous narrative is necessary in which the connexions between events are demon- strated. Suppose, for example, the children are studying the Civil War in Yorkshire, and the teacher is giving them an account of the events connected with Leeds, Bradford, and other places. It is not sufficient to tell the children what took place. Emphasis must be laid on the reasons for the events taking place where and when they did. In describing the siege of Leeds the teacher must show how it came about that it was defended by Royalists and attacked by Fairfax ; how it happened that the Parliamentarians came from the west ; why Fairfax divided his forces ; and why the Royalists were defeated.

Let us now consider a somewhat different case. History often appears contradictory in its estimate of great men. From the available evidence we may portray Cromwell as the ruthless warrior or the saintly Puritan, Elizabeth as the weak woman or the hard- headed leader of her Council, Mary as the cruel perse- cutor or the deserted wife. In each of these cases neither picture is accurate although it contains much of truth. If we would form a true estimate of the

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 19

character of a person in history, we must have sufficient evidence and be able to use the evidence. History often fails us in our search for sufficient evidence ; but even if we suppose it at our disposal, we have still the task of weighing it, deciding what is relevant and what irrelevant, putting the facts in their right per- spective, and testing these facts about the actions of a person by some standard of value which we must already have formed.

Three conclusions follow :

1 . History often gives us an opportunity for weighing evidence and arriving at an opinion concerning some question. The conclusion at which we arrive, after weighing the probabilities, must be a reasonable one. Its truth can never be demonstrated in the same way as a conclusion in mathematics or natural science. Whether the conclusion is reasonable or not depends upon the selection we make of the evidence and the relative importance we give to the facts selected.

Such tasks are too difficult for children. They often require a grasp of a wide range of facts, power of select- ing facts, of estimating their relative importance and of forming general conclusions from them, such as we cannot expect to find in any but persons with more developed minds and greater knowledge. Generally in matters of opinion the class needs careful guidance. Suppose, for example, this problem is set to a class for solution : ' If Wolsey had been made Pope, would this have been a good thing for (a) the Church ; (6) England ; (c) Europe ? ' * Such a question is an excellent inducement to reading and thought. And

1 Keatinge and Frazer, Documents of British History, ivith Problems and Exercises, No. 186.

B 2

20 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

if the state of the Church, and Wolsey's character and aims have been fully explained by the teacher or the text-book, the boys may, no doubt, readily arrive at the conclusion that the Church would have benefited by Wolsey's election. But this will not be so much the opinion of the boys as that of the teacher or the book. Careful preparation has made such a conclusion almost inevitable.

2. In the second place, we have seen that history is concerned with the development of events, movements, and institutions, and is therefore to a very great extent the study of causes and effects ; that is, of the relations between particular groups of facts. These relations can sometimes be discovered by the children, but must often be pointed out by the teacher or the history book.

3. The third conclusion is, that history, rightly taught, will help the child to become critical and thoughtful. Throughout life, instead of accepting unhesitatingly the ready-made opinions of others or being guided by blind prejudice, he will have the tendency to investigate problems for himself and to form sound judgements. And instead of accepting facts merely as facts he will desire to discover their relations with other facts by tracing their causes and effects. Moreover, he will be gaining ability in handling knowledge. History demands the arrangement of knowledge, the careful consideration of its value, and the comparison of facts. This gives the child greater mental grasp, and greater capacity for using his knowledge. These results, no doubt, can be obtained in other ways ; yet history, whilst failing to give opportunities for scientific reasoning, is one of the most

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 21

fitting subjects for providing such mental training in older pupils.

(&) The imagination of the child is also considered to be developed by the study of history. But what do we mean by ' developing the imagination ' ? We have witnessed a terrible accident or a great fire, and some time afterwards we can close our eyes and see in imagination the whole scene ; we can feel again the horror which took possession of us at the time, and can hear again the cry of those in distress. This power to reproduce our own earlier experience is called Repro- ductive Imagination. Again, we are listening to a graphic description of the Great Pyramid, and as the traveller proceeds with his account we can shut our eyes and slowly the scene unfolds itself. We see the glistening sand, the cloudless sky, the mountain of stone, the Arabs and tourists on their donkeys. Or we may be reading a novel. The scenes and incidents are fictions of the author's brain ; yet we get intensely interested. We can readily form mental pictures of the scenes described, our emotions are easily aroused, and we may even become enamoured of the hero or heroine. Such imagination is termed Constructive. Or again, I am sitting quietly smoking and weave castles in the air. Such spontaneous imagination which does not seem to arise through any external agency is termed Creative.

It is at once seen that historical imagination can be only constructive or creative ; it is usually the former. When telling stories to children we do what we can to aid them in visualizing the scenes described. It is exceptional for a child to be unable to visualize the incidents of a story, for children usually have a riotous

22 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

imagination that requires little encouragement. It is equally exceptional for them to visualize at all accu- rately if the story is far removed from their own little world. As the child grows older the work in history becomes to some extent more abstract. He is no longer limited to picturesque stories but begins to study general movements, where the imagination has less scope. Moreover, his increasing experience of the world sobers his imagination ; the scenes of history are often more truly pictured in his mind and the pictures are less gaily coloured.

This constructive imagination which arises through the narrative of the teacher is dependent upon two conditions. The child must have formed the necessary ideas upon which the images are based. If he is without correct ideas then correct images are of course impos- sible. We should therefore introduce into the story no ideas that are strange to the child without making them clear. Further, the child must have the power to attend continuously to the story. As the narrative which he is hearing or reading proceeds, he must be able to control the mental images as they are formed and combine them in the development of the mental picture. He cannot do this unless he can concentrate his" attention, since memory will not come to his aid as in reproductive imagination.

But have children sufficient historical knowledge and power of attention to enable them to form a succes- sion of clear mental pictures such as a story of average length demands ? There will often be the danger of the child not knowing exactly what the teacher is talking about. Often he will be unable to concentrate his attention, especially when the story is tedious or

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 23

too difficult to comprehend, or the child is tired or there are strong counter-attractions.

What do we mean, then, when we speak of history developing the imagination of the child ? The tendency to visualize or to feel strong emotional excitement as the result of the visualization is probably more vigorous in a young child than in a grown man. The work of the teacher, then, is not to foster something which is feeble. It is to ensure that the child's images are approximately accurate and to enable him to develop from these images scenes which are in accordance with historical truth. If the teacher succeeds in doing this, he will have made the subject more real to his pupils, he will have given them a foundation of histori- cal truth which can be vividly recalled, and he will have trained the child to concentrate his attention and follow intelligently the words of another. The teacher's success in doing this will depend upon the wise use of illustrations and his ability in oral work.

But the historical imagination which we try to cultivate in our pupils should not be merely construc- tive. We hope to foster a certain tendency of mind that will enable the child throughout life to be attracted by historical associations and create for himself scenes of long ago. ' Happy is that boy who having so " grown up with " the story of his country, can people the fields and lanes of his home with the figures of the past ; can hear the clatter of Rupert's horsemen down his village street, and can picture the good monks catching baskets full of trout in the stream (there were more trout in it before the Reformation) wherein he is failing to get a rise.' 1 To view the cloister of an

1 C. R. L. Fletcher, Introductory History of England, Preface.

24 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

abbey and people it with monks of long ago ; to visit an old house and stand in a room where Queen Eliza- beth once dined, a room dusty and forlorn but in our imagination gay with the brightness of the sixteenth- century court ; to stand within a British encampment and conjure up the scene when the tribe was attacked by the oncoming Romans : such excursions among scenes so different from anything we may witness to-day give infinite pleasure and raise us above our everyday surroundings. Thomas Hardy, in describing one of his characters, says, ' He frequently walked the heath alone, when the past seized upon him with its shadowy hand, and held him there to listen to its tale. His imagination would then people the spot with the ancient inhabitants : forgotten Celtic tribes trod their tracks about him, and he could almost live among them, look in their faces, and see them standing beside the barrows which swelled around, untouched and perfect as at the time of their erection.' 1

The power to visualize is not, however, commensurate with historical knowledge. Many of us, as we grow older, find ourselves less inclined to free ourselves from the present and really imagine the scenes of history. Yet objects and places with historical associations retain to the full their charm for us. We may be intensely interested without being imaginative. What we should endeavour to implant in the children is therefore not only the power to visualize, and to have their emotions stirred, but also a deep abiding interest and reverence .in all things which are relics of a past age. If we invest with the charm of romance old ruins, old manuscripts, old remains of any kind, that are reminiscent of other 1 Tlie Return of the Native, Book VI, chap. i.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 25

times, our pupils will learn to regard them with a rever- ence demanded by their age alone even apart from associations. They have survived the vicissitudes of centuries and are entitled to respect, even though now they may be broken and unsightly.

(c) Little need be said concerning the value of history in training the memory. The old notion that we have a general faculty of memory which is capable of improvement in a diversity of ways has been laid to rest. We remember usually, if not always, by association, not by virtue of a mysterious general faculty of memory. ' The secret of a good memory is thus the secret of forming diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain.' l These associations can only be formed if the mind already has a stock of ideas of a similar kind with which the new fact can be associated. A further condition is that the attention must be directed to the new facts if they are to be recalled in the future. The attention may be deliberately concentrated upon the matter to be learnt, in which case the learning of historical facts does give training hi mental concentration and a power is being developed which is essential in all study. Or the attention may be naturally attracted by what is intrinsically interesting or novel or startling, in which case there is no such training.

Historical facts, then, are more readily recalled as the study of history proceeds, not because our 'memory' has been improved, but because our historical ideas have been increasing in number so that new facts can be more securely associated in the mind, whilst the power of concentrated attention has, at the same 1 James, Talks to Teachers, p. 123.

26 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

time, been developed, making it easier to form these associations.

IV. The Moral Value of History Teaching. The last important result of the study of history is the 'strengthening of virtue'. Among teachers we find much apparent divergence of opinion as to the moral value of this subject. On the one hand, there are those who consider history teaching should be ' a series of object-lessons in morals '-1 On the other hand, there are many who hold that ' the study of history would seem to serve for intellectual very much more than for moral progress '.2 On examination these views will be found to be not widely opposed. The important point is whether history is of value as a direct or only as an indirect teacher of morals.

Bolingbroke in his well-known aphorism remarks that ' History is philosophy teaching by examples how to conduct ourselves in all the situations of private and public life '. We may add that the examples are just such as we may choose, for ' you may justify anything by a pointed example in history '.3 Bishop Stubbs believed that one of the most important results to be obtained from the study of history is the attain- ment of a ' perception of the workings of the Almighty Ruler of the World ', the recognition of ' a hand of justice and mercy, a hand of progress and order, a kind and wise disposition ever leading the world on to the better '.4 Such perception may not be given to trained historians ; in schools, of course, we must take no

1 Catherine Dodd, Herbartian Principles of Teaching, p. 39.

2 Barnett, Common Sense in Education, p. 255.

3 Frederic Harrison, The Use of History, p. 7.

4 Stubbs, Lectures on Mediaeval and Modern History, p. 27.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 27

account of any such possible result of the study of history. We must beware of teaching that goodness always prevails, that wickedness must ultimately receive its deserts. To do this is to lead the children to measure goodness by success and to train them to love justice and goodness and truth not for themselves alone, but for the sake of the material benefits which are supposed to accrue. It would be far better if the children could believe that ' for every false word or unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for lust or vanity, the price has to be paid at last, not always by the chief offenders, but paid by some one '.* But we must not attempt to teach this truth directly.

It is a common plan for teachers to select the lives of a number of great men and centre their teaching round them. If such lessons are given to younger children we often elevate the persons into the position of heroes. This is well, for young children can only understand simple natures. A man is wholly good or wholly bad, and we shall fail in our teaching if we attempt to portray to young children the complex character of any one of the great men or women of history. John is the tyrant and the young child cannot understand that there is any good in his reign. Welling- ton is the hero of Waterloo and we shall create a blurred effect in the children's minds if we attempt to* blend with that an account of his shortcomings in his political career. Raleigh is a gallant gentleman and we must suppress his jealousy and love of royal approbation. But in keeping the character simple, in abstaining from portraying the whole man, let us clearly understand that what we teach is neither history nor biography. 1 Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects, vol. i, p. 27.

28 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

We are preparing the way by telling historical stories, in which we present the truth only in part.

In teaching young children, then, it is of little importance that we give a one-sided view of any topic. We do so, not that moral results may follow, but that our teaching may be more effective. On the other hand, our aim in upper classes is to teach the truth, and to do this we must introduce much that is evil into our story. If we suppress the evil, whether in an individual or a period, we give the child incorrect ideas about the past ; we distort history that our teaching may have a good moral effect. But the main aim of history teaching is to trace development, and ' unless the teacher lays stress upon the ugliness and the brutality of past ages it is difficult to bring home the fact that there has been a true progress '.* If our main aim is indeed a moral one, we can attain it far better by leaving history alone. Legends are preferable to history for the teaching of morals. By attempting to make our history teaching a series of moral tales we tamper with the subject and make it flabby. History will never be any preparation for life if we make the mistake of thinking that the subject-matter is restricted to the lives of all the world's greatest and noblest men and women.

This idea does, however, prevail. Teachers, especially in elementary schools, sometimes consider that the children should have examples put before them, for imita- tion or the reverse, of the great characters of history. This view presupposes that we can label great men as having good or evil influence. But can we do this ? It is true, the influence of some great personalities appears to have been wholly good, as Florence Nightin- 1 Keatinge, Studies in the Teaching of History, p. 106.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY TEACHING 29

gale and many social reformers, whilst the influence of some others seems to have been wholly bad, as some of the later Roman emperors ; but these are great exceptions. The greatest personalities have generally had no such unmixed influence. The character of most men is exceedingly complex. And if we ask whether the influence of Marcus Aurelius or of Wolsey was for good or evil, such a question is almost meaning- less. The question arises at once, ' His influence in what branch of life ? '

If we deliberately select great characters as examples ror imitation or the reverse there is a further difficulty. We are supposing that we can take pattern of them if good, or avoid their evil ways if wicked. But in the great majority of cases we cannot imitate. The actions of great men, if studied carefully, appear almost inevitable and it is puerile to consider whether their ' example ' should be copied or avoided. What example did Napoleon, Caesar, Pericles, Wellington, King John, or Henry VIII set in their actions which affected history that can be imitated or avoided ? It is true children may admire some of the virtues of great men, as the pluck of Columbus, the saintliness of St. Francis, the courage of the Black Prince, or the singleness of purpose of Wilberforce. But it is no more likely that they will consciously imitate the virtues of these men than that they will copy the duplicity of Elizabeth, the servility of Wolsey, the dishonesty of Marlborough, or the profligacy of George IV.

Enough has been said to show that the moral results, whilst they are very real and very important, must follow indirectly. If our main aim be to help the child towards understanding the world of human activity

30 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

in which he lives, then our teaching will assuredly have a good moral effect.

What are the moral results which we may fairly expect to follow from our teaching ?

In the first place, the child's mind will be broadened. ' To the vulgar person everything which cannot be stated in terms current and familiar is ridiculous, strange, and uncouth ; the historical atmosphere, then, must help our pupils to realize, pictorially in the first instance, other ages and other lands.' l Both history and geography in this respect may be compared with travel ; they teach the children the truth of the old say- ing that ' there are also people beyond the mountains '.

Then again, history, as we have seen, is to some extent a study of human nature, and who can live in close acquaintance with the great characters of the past without being inspired with feelings of sympathy and love, admiration and reverence, contempt and scorn ? And when the child's feelings are being roused in the right way, his character is, of a certainty, being developed.

Lastly, we have already seen that history, as the study of national development, will impress upon our older pupils their indebtedness towards the Past and their duties towards the Future. We should endeavour to foster in them the spirit of Robert Browning's line :

Here and here did England help me ; How can I help England ?

It is this desire to do something for our country that is at the root of all healthy patriotism.

1 Barnett, Common Sense in Education, p. 257.

CHAPTER II THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME

THE construction of a carefully thought-out scheme of work involves a twofold task. A selection must be made from the vast mass of, material at our disposal, which in extent will be in accordance with the time allotted to history teaching and in difficulty will be suited to the mental standard of our pupils. And this selected material must be arranged in such a way that the aspect of history as a study of development is emphasized throughout the history course of the school. Two questions, then, await solution — What topics shall we teach ? and, What shall be the form of the scheme embodying these topics ? The first of these will be considered in this chapter.

At the outset we must select some central idea upon which the whole scheme is to be based, a common thread which runs through all the work. In the last chapter we arrived at the conclusion that our main purpose in history teaching should be to help the child to comprehend in some degree the present world of human thought and activity. But how will this principle guide our selection of a theme ?

History in its widest sense should teach us how mankind has gradually developed from primaeval times to' the present day. Logically, then, we should begin with early mankind and trace the gradual development of the modern civilized nations. A great gulf separates the earliest human type from modern

32 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

man ; materially, socially, mentally, and spiritually we are immeasurably superior to our tree-dwelling ancestors. But can we reveal this progress to the child ? Can he survey the whole field of history and compre- hend the slow development of the race ? Of course not. He can, indeed, understand the improvement in man's material surroundings. The young child can readily realize that he is infinitely more secure and comfortable than the primitive savage, and is interested to learn how this has come about. Older children might also be able to understand the motives that have led men to group themselves into communities, and the events that gave birth to the chief nations of modern Europe ; but the intellectual and spiritual develop- ment of man, which is even more important than material and political progress, when contrasting modern man with his earliest ancestors, is a subject only for the mature mind. A further reason prevents us attempting to teach the general development of mankind. Each race has had its own cultural history. ' One cannot undertake to impart a world culture, for no one knows where it is to be found, but only to provide wholesome and digestible nourishment for the pupil's interest by introducing him to the development of the national life.' 1

Some educationists, as Rein, would have us make the development of national life the centre of the whole curriculum. This view is based upon two principles :

1. The principle of concentration. We are told that the child's life is a unity,2 and that on the other hand

1 Rein, Outlines of Pedagogics, p. 98.

2 See the essay on the Curriculum in Dewey's School and the Child.

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME 33

the work of the school is usually divided into clearly- marked ' subjects ', having little connexion with each other. It follows that the curriculum is not in harmony with the life of the child and must therefore be unified. An examination of this principle would be out of place here, as we are only concerned with its practical value in history teaching. Even if we determined that it was in theory admirable, yet in practice we should find it impossible to select any topic round which all the chief branches of instruction might be grouped. The most we can do, if we select the development of the nation as the central topic for history teaching, is to connect with it the Literature and Geography, and to some extent, the Art and Singing.

2. The principle of the historical stages of culture. A doctrine which has found many supporters and has much to commend it is that there is a close parallel between the eras of development in the race and the periods of development in the individual. Attempts have been made l to harmonize the chief stages in the development of the race and the child, and to select material for instruction in each period connected with that particular stage of race development. The attempts made are, however, unconvincing. It is true there is 'a gradual national development from super- stition, ignorance, and unruly will power, to enlighten- ment, understanding, and the joint will of a good government ' ; 2 and we find a similar development in the child. But is it seriously argued that since a child is superstitious, ignorant, and unruly, therefore the material of his education is most fittingly selected from

1 e. g. see Rein's Outlines of Pedagogics, pp. 1 17-27.

2 Rein, p. 121.

1977

34 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

the period in the history of the race when it had these characteristics ? 1

Since this theory cannot be established with any certainty it will not be taken into consideration in the following chapters. The scheme below is, nevertheless, based on the assumption that our main aim in history teaching should be to trace the development of the nation in order to give the child an understanding of our national life to-day.

This being the main theme, what periods and topics shall we select ?

I. The child must have a sound knowledge of the evolution of England as one of the great nations of the world. He must know how she became a great political power, how her trade and industries have grown. He must also be acquainted with the well- being of the people at different periods and the history of the Church, so far as it affected the lives of the people. These are topics of the first importance, and the scheme must make provision for them. But what principle shall guide us in selecting material from the political, economic, and social history of England ? Some would have us consider what are the chief features of English life to-day and trace their origin and growth. If we adhere to this rule rigidly we must include much that the child cannot comprehend, such as our legal system, party government, the relations between capital and labour, and the history of thought and morals. A safer guide is that ' as a general rule only those facts should be selected which will help the child to understand how the conditions under which he lives arose '.2 But then we should omit many

1 See Appendix I for further examination of this theory.

2 Report on the Teaching of History in London Schools, p. 38.

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME 35

picturesque incidents and heroic figures, which stir the feelings of the child and arouse his interest and yet cannot be justly included in a scheme on purely practical grounds. In fact, let us remember, in selecting material, that our aim is not only to interpret the present in the light of the past. We must also increase, in general, the child's knowledge of mankind and arouse interest and sympathy by means of the stories of men's thoughts and actions in the past. Such a topic as the Hundred Years' War is useful in this respect. The story of the struggle with France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries provides instructive contrasts between past and present, and will, moreover, present incidents which will stir a boy's feelings to their depths. This justifies its inclusion in the scheme.

Indeed, there is some danger at the present time of following Spencer too closely when he says, ' The only history that is of practical value is what may be called Descriptive Sociology '. Much time should be devoted to social and industrial history, yet whilst we recognize the importance of our pupils knowing something of the material progress of the race, we must not be blind to the necessity of them also knowing how England, as a state, has come to be what it is. In the reaction against the old dull type of history, the political side of our national story is in some schools being neglected. Let us remember that Spencer also wrote, ' We want all facts which help us to understand how a nation has grown and organized itself. In planning the details of a scheme of work on the development of Great Britain we must neglect neither the political nor the social side of the story, but endeavour to find a reason- able balance. The teaching of political history should

c 2

36 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

not be condemned because teachers have often made an unhappy selection of facts to be taught. Social history, indeed, in the hands of an incompetent teacher may be a monotonous record of material progress, as lifeless and dull as a record of changes of ministries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

It is not only within the last few years that the impor- tance of social history has been emphasized. Carlyle wrote in 1830 that we must not dwell 'with dispro- portionate fondness in Senate-houses, in battlefields, nay, even in kings' antechambers ; forgetting that far away from such scenes, the mighty tide of Thought and Action was still rolling on its wondrous course, in gloom and brightness ; and in its thousand remote valleys a whole world of existence, with or without an earthly sun of Happiness to warm it, with or without a heavenly sun of Holiness to purify and sanctify it, was blossoming and fading, whether the " famous victory " were won or lost '.

Some account of the history of the Church, so far as this country is concerned, should be included. It is better not to draw up a separate series of lessons, but to introduce the facts incidentally in the course of other work. The Church had great influence on our political and constitutional history, although the understanding of this will be beyond most children in school. In Anglo-Saxon times its councils were the forerunners of the councils of the whole English nation, and pointed the way towards political unity. In later times the Church repeatedly resisted attempts of the Crown to unify England, claiming exemption from royal justice and royal taxation. From the social ipoint of view the Church fostered education and

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME 37

encouraged .a higher type of civilization ; the clergy were the repositories of learning and the chief means by which the fuller civilization of the Continent was in the Middle Ages brought to this country. More than this, there is much to-day concerning the Church which can only be interpreted in the light of history. Without history the venerable parish churches, stately cathedrals and ruined abbeys in this land of ours are dull unmeaning piles of stones, with no message of the ritual or spiritual ideals of our forefathers. We cannot, however, do more in school than prepare the way for the children to have an understanding of these matters later in life.

II. Some time before the end of school life the pupils should amplify the latter part of the story of national development by means of a special course in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history. ' We must be cautious, lest, having begun to build, we are not able to finish ; and having begun to read history at the Norman Conquest, we find ourselves stranded at the Battle of Waterloo or earlier still.' J Many, however, consider that recent history is too difficult for immature minds. It is true we cannot lead children to solve the many political and social problems of the present age. But history will bring them to the threshold of the present and assist in a later study of these problems . Industrial, social, and imperial history can, indeed, interpret even for immature minds much in the life of to-day. The chief developments which followed the introduction of machinery, the problem of poverty in recent times, the rise of trade unions and co-operative enterprises, the social legislation for the benefit of the workers and

1 Stubbs, Lectures on Mediaeval and Modern History, p. 118.

38 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

the working classes in general, the growth of popular education, the growth of democracy, and the expansion of the Empire ; these subjects and others must be adequately treated in the upper part of the school.

III. The history of the Empire must also be included in the scheme. It provides many stirring episodes which will appeal to the young mind, but it is useless to give the children a bare summary of facts and dates concerning the history of British India, the conquest and settlement of Canada, or the colonization of Australia or South Africa. We must select topics and deal with them fully. The exploits of Clive, Wellesley, and papier in India ; the voyages of Captain Cook and the journeys of some of the early Australian explorers ; the conquest of Canada in the Seven Years' War and the attack on Canada during the War of Independence ; the wars with the natives in South Africa and the struggles between Boers and British : excellent lessons can be given on such subjects as these. Much of this work need not be relegated to a special scheme, but is best taught incidentally when dealing with wider sub- jects. The conquest of Canada is an essential part of the struggle with France. France, proud and ambitious, was anxious for expansion on the Continent and abroad, and one of the principal features of the eighteenth century was the struggle of England against the French and Spanish Bourbons. Again, St. Helena, first occu- pied in the seventeenth century, was on the trade route to the East, and its occupation was a sign of the expanding trade and maritime power of England. The expansion of England in this century is further illustrated by the settlements in West Africa and the West Indies. These topics would suffer if taken out

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME 39

of their historical setting and dealt with solely as part of the history of the Empire.

We cannot, however, attempt to survey the whole field of imperial history. Here, as in other branches of history, we must decide what we can leave out. The history of the administration of the Empire is not a suitable subject except for the upper forms in a secondary school. The children are not interested in learning how constitutional government was developed in Canada, Australia, or South Africa. Neither can they really understand the race problem in Canada, the native question in New Zealand, or the great unsolved problems which still confront the government of India. To take a simple example : In teaching the history of Canada it would be useless to describe Lord Durham's Report and tell the children it was very important, if they cannot appreciate its impor- tance. And this they cannot do unless they are acquainted not only with the state of affairs in Canada before and after the Report, but also with the general colonial policy of the British Government before 1838.

IV. Another question is how far we shall include constitutional history and civics in the scheme. In some schools the term ' Civics ' or ' Citizenship ' is applied to the study of the present form of our govern- ment, and the rights and duties of citizens. This, of course, is not history, and yet boys and girls should, on leaving school, have some knowledge of how they are governed, and what their rights and responsibilities in the State will be. Shall we, then, draw up a scheme for the separate teaching of civics, as distinct from his- tory, and make provision for it on the time-table ? Or shall we include the development of the constitution

40 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

in our history scheme ? In either case the subject is not one which naturally attracts the youthful mind. ' Bights ' and ' Duties ' , the complicated machine of government ; these subjects are lifeless to the child. If we make separate provision for the teaching of civics we add another subject to the already crowded curriculum. Further, by making our subject descrip- tive only of the present state of our government and of our rights and duties, we are apt to forget that govern- ment is ever changing and still in course of evolution.

A comprehensive study of constitutional history is only possible with students older than most pupils even in a secondary school. In some elementary schools attempts have been made to treat the subject system- atically by beginning with well-known institutions, as a police court, the central courts in London, a royal judge on assize, a general election, the municipal election, the local education authority, and tracing their development in a regular series of lessons. It is maintained that a child is interested in his environ- ment and demands explanations. But in reality it is distinctly uninteresting for children to begin with the commonplace present. The starting-point is wrong. Children are usually much more interested in a primi- tive state of society, far removed in time and condition from their own, than in the complicated society of the present. Let us, then, begin with the remote past, not with the present.

In most elementary schools there is not a separate course of any kind in constitutional history. Topics dealing with the growth of the national government are included in the general scheme. But if this general scheme is planned in periods of time we are met by

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME ' 41

a serious difficulty. An important constitutional event may occur in a period taken by young children who are unable to judge of its importance. For example, if we arrange that children of nine or ten years of age should study the period 1066 to 1485, or from pre- historic times to 1066, because there is much attractive material in these periods for a young child, then consti- tutional topics cannot be dealt with in proportion to their importance. We either ignore them or deal with them inadequately. It would be pure folly when teaching young children to attempt to show the importance of Magna Carta or to trace the early history of Parliament. But before he leaves school every boy should know that these were landmarks in the growth of our constitution. The solution of the difficulty seems to be a series of lessons in the upper part of the school. The children will then learn what are the main forces which have contributed to form the modern British constitution.

But knowledge of the development of government will not necessarily make our pupils good future citizens. No understanding of our present institutions and of how they come to be what they are will secure this result. The aphorism, ' Without History, Citizen- ship has no root; without Citizenship, History has no fruit ' is attractive but untrue. Moral training is more important here than intellectual understanding ; not the moral training given by drawing up a formal code of moral instruction for the school and calling it 'Citizenship', for it is to the discipline of the school and its various institutions, rather than to the direct lessons of the classroom, that we must look for such training. ' The teaching of patriotism and citizenship,

42 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 1

if it is to produce any effect, must be entirely informal and indirect.' l The recognition of authority in the school, the performance of school duties, the partici- pation in school societies and games will bear fruit in a sense of duty and responsibility to the school com- munity. This is the moral foundation of good citizen- ship. Some preparation can also be found in the school work itself, where such work is co-operative in char- acter or where it contributes to the betterment of the school community. For example, in History the pupils can join in the writing and production of plays ; in Handwork, to illustrate a history topic and in the preparation of topics from books.

Many schools at present do little towards providing such a training for citizenship, although the state of affairs in an up-to-date school is not so bad as Professor Dewey would have us believe when he says, ' Upon the ethical side, the tragic weakness of the present school is that it endeavours to prepare future members of the social order in a medium in which the conditions of the social spirit are eminently wanting '.2 In any case, however, the preparation for citizenship which we can give at school must be very imperfect. We cannot fully train boys and girls to take their places as men and women in society. If, therefore, the future men and women are to have a strong sense of their social and political responsibilities, the training begun in school must be continued by other educational agencies, such as the Church, social and political clubs, co-operative societies, continuation schools, and the Workers' Educational Association.

1 E. Holmes, What is and What might be, p. 293. 8 The School and Society, p. 28.

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME 43

V. History is a united whole. We cannot isolate the history of England, but must teach something of men and movements in other lands, and the relations between our country and other nations.

Some knowledge of general history is necessary, if only to aid us in comprehending the development of our own nation. England has not progressed by reason of indigenous forces alone. Her growth has been guided to a very great extent by influences from without. The early history of England is, indeed, largely the history of invasions. Each invasion has contributed something to the main stream of national life ; and we cannot ignore the sources whence these influences came. For example, to understand the effect of the introduction of Roman Christianity to England we must know something of its development before it reached these shores. Moreover, the teacher should constantly draw parallels between the history of England and of other countries. There are some movements more or less general, such as the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire, the settlement of the Northmen in various parts of Europe, and the monastic revival of the tenth and eleventh centuries. If England participated in these movements, they must be taught, not as merely national movements, but as national examples of general movements. In this way the children will be getting broader and more intelligent views of English history.

European history is of further value in interpreting current international affairs, with which we, as a nation, are concerned. The causes of the great war with jGrermany are only found in the history of the nineteenth century. The history of the alliances, the growth of

44 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Prussia, the development of German unity, the indus- trial and commercial expansion of 'Germany, the growth of a German colonial empire, the rise of German militarism, the growth of armaments ; these and many other topics must be studied if we are to understand the trend of events leading up to war.

But though the study of European history has great value, the difficulties of teaching it systematically appear insuperable. Time is short, and the scheme of work, even for English history alone, will be a long one. A year or two spent in giving the children a cursory knowledge of the outlines of general history will be of little value, since we should only be able to teach a summary of events. And summaries are useless, except for revision. It seems impossible, then, except in secondary schools, to devote time to a scheme of work in European history. We can still, however, do much while teaching the story of national development. The coming of the Romans will be an opportunity for a brief description of the imperial power of Rome, some idea of which will have been gained already through the stories of earlier years. The English Conquest will lead us to speak more generally of the overthrow of the Roman Empire. The Danish Conquest will be a fitting place for us to describe the extensive settle- ments of the Northmen. In speaking of Tudor mari- time enterprise we shall necessarily introduce Columbus and those who followed him to America. In these and many other topics we shall find opportunities of teach- ing much foreign history.

If this work is only incidental, the children will never gain sufficient knowledge to appreciate current inter-, national affairs. A very comprehensive scheme of

THE CONTENT OF THE SCHEME 45

European history is necessary if a schoolboy, even of sixteen or seventeen, is to understand the events lead- ing up to the war with Germany. In the elementary school it is quite impossible to attempt anything of this kind. But can we not arrange a simple course in elementary schools to introduce the children to the main characters of European history ? By all means, if we remember that the course is a collection of historical stories and nothing more, and that the history of Europe cannot be taught in the form of simple stories. In some schools, both elementary and secondary, an attempt is made to teach the general history of Europe more fully by spending less time on the history of the nation. This would, of course, be admirable, if the children could, by so doing, gain a view of the gradual development of modern Europe instead of limiting their attention to their own country. If history is a unity, why not attempt to survey the whole of it ? In practice, however, the attempt usually ends in failure. The field is so wide and so crowded with figures, the facts are so numerous and so bewildering in complexity, that little real history is learnt. Either the children lose themselves in a maze of unintelligible generalizations, or the teacher is content to tell a string of stories about leading characters and events. At the same time the children fail to gain a really intelligent view of the development of their own nation. Careful detailed work extending over several years is necessary for us to understand how modern England has come to be what it is, and few schools can afford the time to take a separate course in general European history.

VI. One other subject remains to be considered. We must decide what place, if any, local history shall

46 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

hold in the scheme. By ' local ' history we mean local events, remains, historic buildings, traditions, and customs, and mere names, personal and geographical ; in fact, anything in a locality which can throw light upon national developments or events. Local history, if used properly, brings general history within the limits of the child's experience, and so makes it more real. By uniting the locality with the nation, it shows the child that national history is not a mere abstraction.

Although the help so afforded to an. understanding of national history cannot be over-estimated, yet it is impossible, except in a few districts, as London and York, to devise a satisfactory course of lessons on local history alone. ' By itself it would be too thin, too limited in scope, too trivial. It would fail in one of the prime objects of historical instruction, which is to enlarge the horizon of the mind, to widen the sympathies, to raise the growing interest of the child above the barriers of his own restricted life. ... I would refuse to allow any separate hour to be assigned to it on the time-table, and would urge instead, that no hour in which history is taught should remain devoid of its presence and its influence.' *

Many attempts have been made to write school histories of various localities, but the records at the disposal of the writers are usually so sadly defective that the story becomes an account of national develop- ment, illustrated by the history of the locality, or it is a number of disconnected stories of local happenings which by themselves lack the educative value of the study of development.

1 Prof. F. J. C. Heamshaw, in The School World, Feb. 1912, and below, Chapter XII.

CHAPTER III THE FORM OF THE SCHEME

HAVING selected the material for the scheme, we must arrange it and consider what portions of the work can be taken in each succeeding year. A beginning is usually made with children six or seven years of age by telling them stories selected from the literature and folklore of various nations. This preliminary period generally lasts for two years. Then, because our work is centred round the development of the nation, the children in the third year restrict their attention more or less to their own country. No attempt is made in the third year to teach an outline of English history, the aims of the teacher being to arouse interest in some of the chief characters and events and to provide a foundation of facts which can be filled in as the study of history proceeds.

So far there is a fair amount of unanimity amongst teachers. But in the fourth year the work becomes more systematic and detailed, and we are confronted with a serious problem of arrangement . Shall the scheme for the upper part of the school be a periodic one, in which the whole of our national history is divided into three or four periods, one of which is studied in each year ? Or shall we take the children through the whole field during each year, selecting those topics which are suited to the mental development of the class ? It will probably be found that a scheme which

48 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

combines the advantages of both these methods of arrangement will give the best results.

The concentric plan, consistently adhered to, has serious drawbacks. In one year it is impossible to study profitably topics selected from the whole period from the landing of Julius Caesar to the death of Edward VII. There is a lack of concentration, a scattering of energy. The time is too short for the children either to get a vivid picture of the life of the nation at any one period or to trace the development of the nation during any one period or in any one direction. When a number of disconnected topics, differing greatly in character and ranging over the whole field of English history, are taught in one year, the children cannot get a real understanding of any of them. The settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers is an episode in the colonization of America and also in the struggle for religious liberty in England. It should therefore be taken in one or both of these relations. The conflict between Montcalm and Wolfe is the climax in the struggle between France and England in America, and without an understanding of the earlier events in that struggle the final scene on the Heights of Abraham loses its significance. Still more foolish is it to attempt to teach in isolated lessons such topics as Magna Carta or the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Single events can only be properly understood when viewed in relation with other events.

To remedy this defect of concentric schemes attempts are sometimes made to teach some particular phase of the development of England through the year. Thus in one year the social and industrial history is studied ; in another year, imperial history ; in a third,

THE FORM OF THE SCHEME 49

constitutional history. In some cases two years are spent on the social and industrial history. But this arrangement is hardly a remedy for the drawbacks of the usual concentric schemes, since it has, in practice, disadvantages as great. When such a scheme as this is adopted, the children do not get an adequate all- round knowledge of the development of England. If the work of the last three or four years is more or less limited to the social and industrial, imperial, and constitutional history of England, there will be no opportunity for the children to study as fully as they should some other phases of national history, e.g. the expansion of England as a world power, and the religious and intellectual development of the people.

This plan, however, does to some extent remedy what is perhaps the greatest weakness of many con- centric schemes, viz. failure to arouse the children's interest in the subject. The reasons for this failure are not far to seek. Usually there is little opportunity for the intensive study of a topic. There are so many topics to be studied during the year that it is impossible to teach any one of them in a leisurely way, using sufficient detail to make the subject really interesting. The lack of interest is also in part the outcome of the children so often knowing the most interesting facts about the people and events being studied. This is especially apparent when the children are taught in succeeding years by different teachers.

A strictly periodic scheme, on the other hand, has equal disadvantages; The children often leave school with little knowledge of the history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And there is no gradation in difficulty of the topics to be studied. Young children

1977

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50 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

may begin with an early period in which there are important topics now quite beyond their understanding. Yet such topics will never be studied unless the period is revised in an upper class.

This question of the suitability of the subjects taught is of great importance. If we are to be successful in our teaching we must choose those topics which are most fitting for the children's stage of mental develop- ment. For young children the teacher must select those incidents only which are picturesque and drama- tic. The plot must be simple, the characters single- minded. The boy of seven or eight delights to hear stories of Alexander, of Hannibal, of Alaric. He will, in imagination, fight for the Greeks against the on- coming Persians and take sides with the German tribes against the legions of Varus. But he cannot compare and contrast, trace causes and effects, or review a whole period to discover general tendencies. Neither is he able to comprehend abstract principles. The story of the Peasants' Revolt can be made vivid and picturesque for him, but he is not in the least concerned with the events leading up to it or with the socialistic principles of John Ball.

But even these young children are able to connect events. For example, after the relations between the facts have been brought out in teaching they are able to recognize that the Barbarian invasions of the Empire led to the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain ; that this led to more frequent attacks on Britain from the English on the" Continent ; that the English invasions led to the extinction of Roman civiliza- tion, the depression of the British, and the establish- ment of a number of small barbarian states in Britain.

THE FORM OF THE SCHEME 51

When the boy becomes nine or ten he still loves picturesque stories. But his range of historical vision is lengthening and he is better able to understand the interdependence of events. By means of simple com- parisons and generalizations made by himself under the teacher's guidance, he is beginning the study of general movements. History is revealing itself to him more and more as a process of development. But he cannot understand abstractions. The teacher of a class of children nine and ten years old who took as the text of his lesson on Magna Carta the quotation ' Justice must not be denied, delayed or sold ', failed entirely to appreciate the mental content of his pupils.

For older pupils, history should be further still a study of development. Boys and girls of thirteen and fourteen are capable of taking interest in the slow growth of national institutions. They are often able to trace causes and effects. They can. sometimes perceive the inner meaning of historical events. To them the voyage of Columbus in 1492 was not the isolated venture of an individual, but was representa- tive of a great world movement ; one of many signs that men were finding new paths and throwing off old shackles.

The scheme suggested below has been drawn up with these principles in mind. An attempt has been made to combine the advantages of the concentric and periodic methods. Because stories of early times and the age of Romance and Chivalry are attractive to children, the work of the fourth year is based upon certain features of the history of England from pre- historic times to the close of the Middle Ages. In the fifth year a selection is made of easier topics from

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52 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

modern English history, attention being devoted especially to the external expansion of England. In the sixth year the children study the more difficult parts of modern history, especially the intellectual, religious, and political development of England.

Finally, in the last two years the development of industrial England is studied in detail from the middle of the eighteenth century and some attention given to the growth of the Constitution and the Empire.

These suggestions in tabulated form are, then :

First and Second Historical stories, legends and

Years. myths. ,

Third Year. Stories from British History.

Fourth Year. History of England from early

times to 1485. Fifth Year. History of England from 1485.

Easier topics. Sixth Yea?. History of England from 1485.

Harder topics.

Seventh and Eighth Modern England and some con- Years, stitutional history.

Whatever the form of scheme, however, history work in schools is necessarily very limited in scope. The pupils, even in a secondary school, often leave at an age when the greater part of history is still quite beyond their understanding. We, therefore, can only make a beginning in this study. But we cannot do more than this in other subjects, as Literature, Geo- graphy, Mathematics, Science or Art. These are all, in a sense, subjects for adults, and an teaching them to children we aim in nowise at completeness. 'A com- plete survey of the main outlines of history ' is the

THE FORM OF THE SCHEME 53

ignis fatuus leading teachers astray from the path of common sense in history teaching. We must resist the baleful influence of the text -book, which touches upon a thousand topics in a hundred pages, as if a complete review of the whole of our national story were possible. We must omit much in order that we may teach a little effectively. Although the detailed schemes given in the following chapters may appear ambitious for elementary schools and even for many secondary schools, they are offered merely as sugges- tions. They illustrate the importance of having a few main ideas worked out in detail and of regarding history as a study of development. It is hoped also they may help teachers in drawing up their own schemes of work. It is not intended that all the work suggested for one year should be attempted. Much depends upon the attainments of the class and the time available for history.

We must beware, then, of attempting to cover as much ground as possible . 'I'he work should be restricted to certain topics, and even within these limits it should be intensive rather than extensive. For example, the value of the study of the Renaissance will not, of course, be in proportion to the number of events or men mentioned or the number of facts learnt. It will rather be in proportion to the understanding our pupils have of a great movement. The subject is naturally too difficult for boys of twelve or fourteen to understand thoroughly. But whether it is suitable or not depends to a great extent upon the material selected. One teacher can make the Renaissance a suitable subject for boys of twelve. In the hands of another it is unintelligible to boys of fourteen or

54 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

fifteen. If our pupils are to understand its real impor- tance, progress must be slow. We must give them a wealth of detail, which will bring home to them the fact which need, perhaps, never be stated in exact words, that men's intellectual horizon was widening. It will be a new subject and we must lead them through this unknown country at a leisurely pace. If we hurry them on at express rate, they will only gain passing glimpses of features which are probably unimportant. To be in a hurry is fatal for successful work in history.

CHAPTER IV HISTORICAL STORIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

IN the first three years the introductory work aims at giving the child a foundation of historical knowledge. The ideas which he gains from the stories told to the class are unorganized, since they have been acquired more or less incidentally. But this is precisely the manner in which we all, throughout life, extend our knowledge. The growth of knowledge in the child is accompanied by the expansion of his imagination. He is taken beyond the little ' square mile or so ' which constitutes his world and makes acquaintance with people in other times. If the child vividly imagines the scenes described we may be certain that he will not remain indifferent in feeling towards the characters of the story. The young boy is a hero-worshipper and inevitably has his emotions aroused by the deeds of the heroes which his imagination makes so real to him. In this way the story is aiding the formation of ideals of conduct and so is contributing to the development of the child's character and personality.

But the results of the story-telling do not stop here. The growth of knowledge, the stirring of the imagina- tion, and the appeal to the emotions are accompanied by the development of a permanent interest in historical tales. When teachers in the upper part of the school fail to arouse interest in history, it is due to the fact that they have not continued the story-telling methods of the lower classes, but have troubled the children with the vague incomprehensible ideas of the

56 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

text-book. It is necessary to teach some abstract ideas and generalizations in the upper classes, but we must, wherever possible, prefer vivid narrative and concrete detail to abstractions.

Historical stories told to young children can be conveniently divided into three classes :

1. Stories which are true in fact, e.g. Leonidas at Thermopylae, the battle of Marathon, Caesar's Invasion of Britain, the Adventures of Richard I of England.

2. Legends, e.g. Romulus and Remus, the Geese in the Capitol, stories from the Arthurian and Charle- magne cycles, Robin Hood, the Green Knight, and other stories of early England.

3. Myths, e. g. stories of the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome, stories from the Norse sagas.

It is not easy, however, to make a clear distinction between these classes. Whether a tale is considered to be a mere legend or a true story often depends upon the credibility of our evidence, and we are often left in doubt. The story of Alfred and the Cakes may still be accepted by many as an historical story, although our evidence for it is so doubtful, that it is wise to consider it a legend. Legends have often originated as histori- cal facts. These have been expanded, often by the addition of the miraculous, until they bear their true character upon their face.

Whilst legends have a germ of truth and are usually connected with an historical person or a particular place, myths have no historical foundation. They are often the attempts of primitive peoples to interpret the forces of nature and the spiritual growth of man. As legend is first cousin to history, so is mythology first cousin to religion.

HISTORICAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN 57

In the school the stories known to be historically true are of value in three ways :

1 . To teach historical facts which will form a founda- tion for later work.

2. To give the correct historical atmosphere for the period of the story.

3. To give a broad humanistic foundation for later work in History, Literature, and Geography.

Legends, though containing many facts known to be untrue, are of value for the two latter reasons. Myths, which have often no distinctive historical element, are useful only as other non-historical stories are useful.

In practice, however, legends are often as valuable as stories which are historically true. In a way they are as true as historical stories, since the truth of a story can be regarded from two points of view. It may be accurate in its facts, inasmuch as those facts are fully supported by evidence. That is, we can say that such and such events did actually happen. Accuracy of this kind matters little to the young child. On the other hand, a story may be inaccurate in many details ; we may even doubt whether the events recounted did actually happen at all. Yet in the hands of a good teacher it may give a true picture of the spirit of the times and form a background for later work. The story of a Danish raid on the coast of France in the ninth century may contain many little incidents which originated in the fertile brain of the teacher. The raid, as recounted, may indeed be quite imaginary. But the story to be useful must breathe the spirit of the Norsemen. It must smell of the sea ; it must impress the children with the ruthlessness, the coarseness, the

58 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

courage of the vikings. Such a story should make it easier for the children later on to understand the Danish conquest of England and the settlement of the Normans in France. Similarly, the story of the Venerable Bede is useful in giving a true picture of early monastic life. Historical stories, then, whether they be fact or legend, must be permeated by a truthfulness which is higher than mere accuracy of incidents. But a true atmosphere is hard to gain. In the historical story we must take some account of time and place if it is to preserve its historical character. Strip it of its setting, tell it without regard to time and circumstances : it may still be of value, but can no longer be ' historical '. But all teachers are aware that a child's comprehension of time and geographical position is limited. We are inclined to pass lightly by the period and exact locality of the exploits recounted. ' Once upon a time there live;! ' is often regarded as an adequate introduction. Besides, a child's ideas on most subjects are more limited than the teacher's. He interprets the story in the light of his smaller knowledge, which is usually connected with his own locality and his own time. We may read an account of the battle of Marathon, and can picture the plain, the Persian fleet, the opposing armies, and the victory of the Greeks. To us it is realistic because the words, as we read them, call up a host of ideas which we already possess. We may have heard or read other accounts of the battle. We may have seen pictures of the plain, the Greek warriors, and the Persian fleet. We may have also seen specimens of Greek arms and armour in museums. Hence our mental pictures of the events are much clearer than those of the child. We can ' localize ' the story and

HISTORICAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN 59

place it in its proper setting ; to us it is definitely Greek. But the child is deficient in ideas on this subject, and even a teacher who is at the same time a good story-teller and a student of Greek history finds it difficult to create the true atmosphere of the story. Almost inevitably it acquires a modern tinge.

It is only when a child has been told a number of stories about a certain period or topic that he develops some understanding of those times. We must present the same background repeatedly and vary the figures on the stage. The story of the Venerable Bede by itself will not enable a child to realize the piety or learning of the early monks. We must tell him stories of other monks. He must hear of St. Columba, St. Aidan, St. Cuthbert, St. Aldhelm, and Caedmon. The child will then realize the general truth, which he may not, however, be able to formulate, that the early monks were the teachers and preachers of their day. He will have a solid foundation for later work in the history of the Church ; he will understand something of the condition of England in early Anglo-Saxon days ; and in his heart there will be a faint echo of the spirit which guided those early saints. It is this understand- ing of certain general truths and this feeling of sym- pathy that constitute the historical setting so important for the children to acquire.

When possible, then, a story should not stand in isolation. It should be followed up by others dealing with the same topic. The effect of such teaching will be cumulative, each story adding something that fills out and strengthens ideas which the whole series is meant to emphasize. Let us take one further illustra- tion of this point. If we wish the children to know

60 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

something about the Danish invasions it is not sufficient to take one typical story such as Alfred and the Cakes. We can tell the story of the discovery of Greenland and America by the Norsemen, the viking attack on Paris, a typical Danish attack on the east coast of England, the battle of Ethandune, the battle of Brunan- burgh, and stories of the Danish conquest by Sweyn and Canute.

The work during these three years must be graduated in character. At first the stories deal only with simple situations and characters. Though simple, they transport the child to scenes of wonder and romance and provide him with much incidental knowledge. The work gradually develops in several ways.

1. The child is able to concentrate his attention for a longer period on a topic . The stories therefore increase in length and complexity.

2. In the third year the stories become narrower in scope. The class will now be told a series of tales which will provide a skeleton outline of the whole of English History. We need not limit the child altogether to his own land. He will still be told stories connected only indirectly, if at all, with England, yet which will help him to understand the development of England. These stories in the third year should, whenever possible, be illustrative of more or less general move- ments or features of a period. The story of a battle such as Hastings, or Agincourt, or Flodden may rouse the children's feelings, and interest them as an isolated event. But it is more than that. Such a battle is typical of similar battles of the same period and can be referred to in later teaching. St. Augustine's mission to Kent is typical of the manner in which the

HISTORICAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN 61

English were converted. The Peasants' Revolt illus- trates the social conditions of the lower classes at that time. Richard I is typical of a mediaeval hero, Drake of the Elizabethan seamen, Cromwell of the stern Puritans.

3. Further, if we are to emphasize the historical nature of the story and make it more and more a founda- tion for later work, we must modify our method of teaching. An attempt must be made to impress the events permanently on the child's mind. This can be done by recapitulation, more expression work than is usually done at present, the keeping of simple note- books, and the more systematic use of the blackboard for recording names and events to be remembered.

In some schools during part of this preliminary period the work is based upon life in primitive times and an attempt made to trace the development of early man. A beginning is sometimes made with some such homely topics as the house, clothing, food and fire. The children study the materials and sources of supply, and, working backwards, arrive at a time, very different from the present, when people were without shelter, tools, clothes, or regular supplies of food. The children then work out under the teacher's guidance various problems, e.g. how a tribe could cross a wide river, or how they could hunt the swift deer. This work naturally requires a suitable environ- ment. The problems presented to the children are therefore determined to some extent by the locality of the school.

Such a scheme has much to commend it.

1. The children are greatly interested in the work. Opinion is divided as to the source of this interest.

62 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Some, who believe in the culture-epoch theory, maintain that the child is naturally attracted towards the conditions of life in primitive times, because he himself is passing through stages of development corresponding to those passed through by the race in early times. Others, whilst rejecting the theory of historical stages, hold that life in early times, being simple, is more easily understood and hence more attractive to the child than the complex society of to-day. Others, again, consider that it is its remoteness which makes the story of early man so attractive to young children. It takes them far away from the present and gives scope for the play of their imagination. The true explanation of the child's interest is perhaps found in a combination of these opinions.

2. Another advantage is the many opportunities for expression work, such as handwork of various kinds and dramatization. The children make models of caves in which the Cave-men dwelt, stone implements, often of clay, pottery of a primitive type, and similar articles. In imitation of early man they also attempt to devise simple methods of spinning and weaving. All this is very useful as handwork, but we may ask ourselves whether we could not find equally valuable exercises connected with man in historical times.

3. Not only in the handwork but also in the discus- sions between teacher and class there will be many opportunities for the children to think out solutions of problems suggested to them . In this way the sub j ect calls for continual effort from the children. It is the class and not the teacher who will do most of the work.

4. Again, the children gain a more intelligent outlook upon some of the familiar features of modern life, e. g.

HISTORICAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN 63

our clothes, the home, methods of obtaining and cooking food, and means of communication. The children, even at this early stage, will understand that the world was not always as it is to-day ; that things gradually change. They will then be getting some idea of historical development.

5. Lastly, early man lived in intimate touch with nature. The surface features of the land, the climate, vegetation and animal life of a region were vital influenpes in his life. The study of primitive conditions will therefore provide much incidental work in nature- study and physical geography, and help to break down the artificial division of the work of lower classes into water-tight compartments or subjects.

These are points in favour of supplementing, but not supplanting, the usual historical stories by the study of primitive social conditions.

CHAPTER V THE WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR

IN this year the children will study the origins and early growth of our national life. The English invaders of this land found a race inhabiting it which had, for four centuries, been in contact with the civilization of Rome. We must therefore begin in the traditional way with the Britons and study the course and influence of the various invasions, Roman, English, Danish, and Norman. We must show how the various invaders were absorbed in the growing nation, and how from a number of petty kingdoms one strong united state was gradually formed.

The social and industrial condition of England in early times is also important. If the children are to understand the immense changes in these directions they must) in this and the following years, study the life of the people in different ages, and by comparisons mark the gradual evolution of modern conditions.

The syllabus below indicates some suitable topics for study. A list of books is given at the end of the chapter.

ENGLAND BEFORE THE CONQUEST OF 1066 I. Prehistoric Inhabitants of Britain

(a) The Cave-men ; a description of their mode of living as shown by remains.

(6) The Britons of the south at the time of the Roman invasions.

A lesson could be given on each of these points, and

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 65

in a third lesson a comparison between them would emphasize the great development in prehistoric times in various directions :

1. Improvements in conditions of living. Men had learnt how to build houses, make formidable weapons of bronze and iron, and weave cloth. Their existence was not so precarious, as they had also learnt to grow corn and collect wealth in the form of flocks and herds.

2. Social changes. Society had passed from the family to the tribal stage. British remains to-day give evidence of co-operation, e.g. camps, such as the great Maiden Castle in Dorset ; circles, such as Avebury and Stonehenge ; and roads. The great Roman roads are supposed in some cases to have been developments of older British roads.

II. Romans in Britain

(a) Great characters and events.

1. The wars between Rome and the barbarians,

invasion of Germany, and the defeat of Varus by Arminius, the German hero. The conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.

2. Invasions of Britain by Julius Caesar — 'Cassivel-

launus.

3. The conquest of the Britons — Caractacus.

4. Boadicea.

5. The work of Agricola — extracts from Tacitus.

6. Emperor Severus in Britain.

7. Constantius, Helena, and Constantine. (6) The work of the Romans in Britain.

1. Roads, towns, walls, camps, &c. Refer to remains, especially those in the vicinity of the school.

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66 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

2. Government. Details of the Roman system are

not necessary.

3. Civilization. Description of Roman life, with

reference to remains and contents of museums, e.g. the Roman museum at York or the British Museum.

4. Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire,

Diocletian's persecution. Roman Christianity in Britain, evidences — remains of Roman churches, the story of St. Alban, the visit of St. Germanus to suppress heresy, (c) Why the Romans left Britain.

The stories of Attila and the Huns and Alaric and the Goths can be told at this point to illustrate attacks on the Empire by the barbarians. Britain had been attacked for some time, but had to be abandoned in order that Rome might concentrate her strength.

III. The English Invasions

The sources for this period are by no means reliable, and even the main outlines of events cannot sometimes be definitely settled. For a critical account the teacher should read Oman's England before the Norman Con- quest, chap, xi, pp. 207 et seq., and Hodgkin, History of England to 1066, chap. vi.

It is impossible and unnecessary to give the children a connected account of the invasions. The following suggestions will, however, be useful in giving a general impression of the period.

1. The story of St. Germanus, who, with his friend, Lupus, came to Britain in 429 to combat heresy. At this time there was an invasion of Picts and Saxons, and the Britons sent for Germanus, who had been

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 67

a mighty man of war in Armorica. The Hallelujah Victory (Oman, p. 196 ; Bede, Book I, chap. xx).

2. The story of Vortigern and the invitation to Hengist and Horsa (Gildas and Nennius in Old English Chronicles). In this story, amongst much fiction, there may be a germ of truth. The introduction of the Saxons to aid the Britons led to them ravaging the greater part of Britain (see extract from Gildas in Oman, p. 199, which describes the rapid conquest).

3. The Saxon Conquest was checked under the British hero, Ambrosius. The story of King Arthur (Oman, pp. 210-12; Hodgkin, pp. 104-5). Battle of Mount Badon. The children will be interested to read about Vortigern, Ambrosius, Hengist, Merlin, Uther Pendragon, and Arthur in the History of Geoffrey of Monmouth ; but they must remember that these stories are only legends.

4. The foundation of the kingdoms. The teacher should read Oman, chap, xii, which will probably cor- rect many previous ideas. The details of the settlements should not be taught, the children only needing to know that during the sixth century a number of small king- doms were founded in South and East Britain.

5. The character of the Conquest (Hodgkin, pp. 108- 10 ; Green, Making of England, chap. iv).

IV. Everyday Life of the Early English

For the facts consult Green, Making of England, chap, iv, and Stopford Brooke, History of Early English Literature, vol. i, chap, ix, The Settlement in Poetry.

This is the first of a series of descriptions of social England at various periods. It is impossible for a teacher to give a continuous comprehensive account

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68 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

of English society from early times ; at intervals, therefore, a section of the syllabus is devoted to social history.

V. Conversion of the English 1

1. Conversion of the Irish by St. Patrick ; 2 Irish

missionaries in Scotland — lona and the work of St. Columba.

2. Roman missionaries — St. Augustine and the con-

version of Kent.

3. Paulinus and the conversion of Northumbria.

4. The work of Aidan and Cuthbert in Northumbria.

5. The Synod of Whitby.

6. Early monastic life. Stories of St. Hilda, Csedmon,

and Bede.

VI. The Rise of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex Many of the details usually found in text-books can be omitted and attention devoted to a few great persons and events, e.g. Edwin and Oswald of North- umbria, Offa of Mercia, Egbert of Wessex, Alcuin the Scholar.

VII. Conquest of England by the Danes

1. Exploits of the vikings abroad and in England up to 865 (Oman, chap. xx). The extent of their raids can be illustrated by reference to attacks on Ireland, Lisbon and Cadiz, Paris, Hamburg, Canterbury and London.

2. The struggle in England, 865-78. The conquest of England began with the attack on Kent, 865. Then, next year, the Great Army appeared in East Anglia. Its ravages can be narrated in connected form by

1 Flecker, British Church History to 1000 A.D. (Bell, Is. M.).

2 Bury, Life of St. Patrick.

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 69

tracing its progress from East Anglia, where they wintered, 866-7, to Northumbria, where York was plundered ; thence through Mercia back to East Anglia, where King Edmund met his death ; thence to the Thames, where they began the conquest of Wessex.

The details of the struggle in Wessex are confusing. The children's attention should therefore be concen- trated on a few outstanding events, as the battle of Ashdown, Alfred's retreat to Athelney (the story of Alfred and St. Cuthbert; see Freeman's Old English History), the battle of Ethandune, and the Peace of Wedmore. •

Meantime the Danes had made themselves masters of Mercia and Bernicia, where they sacked Lindisfarne. The story can be told at this point of the faithful monks who wandered for eight years with the body of St. Cuth- bert and the relics of Oswald and Aidan, which were ultimately deposited at Ghester-le-Street and a century later were transferred to Durham.

VIII. Alfred the Great

The teacher must aim at showing the class the permanent benefits that Alfred conferred on England e.g.:

1. The significance of his victory over the Danes.

2. To what extent did he develop the military or

naval forces of England ?

3. His encouragement of learning.

4. His laws.

IX. Life in England in the time of Alfred Suggestions for lessons on this subject are given at the end of Chapter IX.

70 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

X. Further wars with the Danes The teacher can only attempt to give accounts of typical events such as :

1. King Athelstan and the battle of Brunanburgh—

illustrates the English offensive against the Danes (translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem in Freeman, Old English History ; see also Tennyson's 'Battle of Brunanburh').

2. The fight of Earl Brihtnoth at Maldon (translation

of the Anglo-Saxon poem on this battle in Freeman. See also C. M. Yonge, A Book of Golden Deeds, xvi, The Battle of the Blackwater).

3. The massacre of St. Brice's Day.

4. The murder of Archbishop Alphege.

5. The story of the death of King Sweyn (Freeman).

6. The defeat and death of Edmund Ironside.

XI. Canute, King of England

1. His pilgrimage to Rome.

2. His conquest of Norway.

3. His wise rule in England (Kendall, p. 35 ; Colby,

p. 24).

The story of the King on the seashore is undoubtedly a legend, but gives a true indication of his character.

XII. The Coming of the Normans

1. The great earls of Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria,

and East Anglia. Under Edward the Con- fessor the kingdom appeared to be falling apart ; a strong man was needed to make England a united nation.

2. Events leading up to the Conquest. Emphasis

must be laid on the picturesque incidents,

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 71

e.g. the victory of the Normans over the House of Godwin, the visit of William of Normandy, the story of the death of Earl Godwin (Freeman), Harold at the court of Duke William.

3. Battle of Stamford Bridge.

4. Battle of Hastings.

XIII. The Normans rule in England

1. William's coronation.

2. Revolts of the English. Ravaging of the North.

Here ward the Wake.

3. How William rewarded his barons and kept them

in check.

4. Revolts of the barons. Death of Waltheof.

5. Domesday Survey.

FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE CLOSE OF THE

MIDDLE AGES

Some of the most prominent features of this period are :

1. The growth of a strong central government with

a highly organized executive and judicature.

2. The development and decline of the Feudal System.

3. The beginnings of representative government.

4. England's relations with France and Scotland.

5. The power of the Church.

6. The growth and organization of trade and industry.

Rise of towns.

7. The gradual decline of the manorial system.

8. It was the age of chivalry, when coarseness and the

rule of brute force were closely associated with ideals of conduct and religion. The Crusades were the outcome of this spirit. Much of this must, however, be omitted in this year.

72 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Constitutional development is studied later ; the Church in the Middle Ages can be studied in connexion with the Reformation ; the feudal system is mainly of antiquarian interest and can be either omitted or treated incidentally in speaking of William I. Eng- land's foreign relations can be studied in part without attempting to trace the relations between England, France, and Scotland throughout this period. The social and industrial history (6 and 7 above) in the hands of a good teacher will be suitable, whilst the spirit of chivalry can be understood even by young children when exemplified by the wars with France or the Crusades.

The following suggestions are based on the above principles.

I. A Series of Exploits

One or more of the following to be studied in detail :

1. The Crusades. Adventures by land and sea.

Descriptions of the armies and methods of warfare.

2. King John and the Barons.

3. The Wars of Edward I.

4. The Hundred Years' War.

5. The Wars of the Roses.

It will be worse than useless to teach the mere outlines of these struggles. The text-book must be discarded and fuller descriptions found in larger works and contemporary authorities. The familiar criticism that in history we should study the lives of the people and not the wars of kings, is specious, but unsound. The above topics are selected because

1. They are stories introducing movement and picturesque detail, if taught aright.

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 73

2. The Middle Ages was a period when physical strength was respected, when the weakling and the scholar were often objects of contempt. Quarrels, both national and private, were settled by the sword. Force has been one of the greatest influences moulding the course of history, and we ought, therefore, to recount such tales.

3. By means of these stories we can teach much incidental matter concerning the state of England, the dress and habits of the people, methods of warfare, &c. Development can often be traced in these respects if the topics selected extend over a long period, e.g. from the Crusades to the Wars of the Roses.

II. England in the, Middle Ages

In this subject the range of topics is so wide that each teacher must construct his own scheme. No systematic descriptions of the various phases of social and industrial life should be attempted, for children dislike long descriptions. Where possible the teacher should invent stories or adapt them from standard authors, as an attractive method of imparting the knowledge.1

The following are among the many interesting subjects which may be selected :

1. Life in a castle.

2. The education of a knight.

3. A knight-errant.

4. A tournament.

5. Life in a village. Changes since the time of Alfred.

6. Life in a town.

1 See Readings from Historical Romances (Harrap, 3 vols., Is. 3d. each).

74 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

7. Cloth trade in the Middle Ages.

8. The gilds.

9. The Black Death and Peasants' Revolt, studied as

social events.

10. Travelling in the Middle Ages. Life on the road.

11. Markets and fairs. A travelling merchant.

12. A friar.

13. The Canterbury Pilgrims.

14. Daily life in a monastery. The monastic revival

of the tenth and eleventh centuries and the rise of new orders could be mentioned here.

15. School life six hundred years ago.

16. Superstitions of the people. Witchcraft, astrology,

alchemy.

17. Pastimes of the people.

The teaching will be in the form of stories or simple descriptions. Full use can be made of local history by centring the story or description round some person, real or fictitious, or some place in the vicinity of the school. Occasionally a visit can be arranged to a place of historical interest in the neighbourhood.

BOOKS FOE THE TEACHEB

Besides the general works recommended in the Appendix, the following books dealing with this period will be found useful :

1. For prehistoric and Roman times there are local works of great value for almost all parts of the British Isles. These can usually be consulted in reference libraries. The Victoria County Histories may be especially mentioned for England. An outline sketch of pre- historic Britain will be found in Fletcher's Introductory History, vol. i (Murray, 5s.). Windle's Remains of the Prehistoric Age in Britain (Methuen, Is. 6d.) is excellent, and contains lists of local remains, which are, however, by no means complete. The same author's earlier book, Life in Early Britain (Nutt, 3s. 6d.), is also

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 75

useful. Elton's Origins of English History, a standard work of value, contains much information on the state of the British tribes at the time of the Roman invasion.

2. For the general history of the Anglo-Saxon period the best recent books are those by Oman (Methueris History) and Hodgkin

{Longmans' Political History). J. R. Green's two works, The Making of England (2 vols., Macmillan, 4s. each), and The Conquest of England (2 vols., 4s. each) are standard histories of the period. C. R. L. Fletcher's Introductory History of England, vol. i to 1485, has many good features. Freeman's Old English History for Children (Dent, Is.) contains much dull material, but is useful for its stories. These are republished in Legends of Early England (Horace Marshall, 9d).

3. Sources for Anglo-Saxon history. The chronicle of Gildas (sixth century), the earliest source, is contained in Old English Chronicles (Bell, 5s.). Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the best authority for the seventh and early eighth centuries, is also of some value for the fifth and sixth centuries, since he may have had recourse to authorities which have been since lost. There are many interesting passages useful in teaching, e. g. Book V, chap, xxiii, for Abbess Hilda, and chap, xxiv for the story of Csedmon. For the story of the death of Bede, as told by one of his pupils, see the introduction to the edition by A. M. Sellar (Bell, 5s.), pp. xl-xliii. The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, early times to 1154 (Bell, 5s.), is the best authority for the later Anglo-Saxon period. The chronicle of Nennius, a ninth- century edition of an earlier work by an unknown author, is useful to supplement Gildas and Bede for the period of the English inva- sions. The Rule of St. Benedict, useful in connexion with early monastic life, is translated in Henderson's Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (Bell, 5s.).

4. For the conquest of England by the Danes, general accounts are given in Oman, Green, and Hodgkin. For the vikings, the teacher should read Jewett, The Story of the Normans, chap, i (Stories of the Nations Series, 5s., Fisher Unwin) ; and Keary, The Vikings in Western Christendom, chap, v, Character of the Vikings ; chaps, iv and xii, Norse attacks on England before Wedmore. For the reign of Alfred, Asser's Life may be used (included in Old English Chronicles), but because of its unreliability and omissions must be supplemented by modern works such as the millenary volume edited by A. Bowker (out of print) and The Life and Times of Alfred the

76 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Great, by C. Plummer (Clarendon Press, 5s.). For short accounts of Alfred's work see Oman, chap, xxiii ; Hodgkin, chap, xvii ; and Green, Conquest of England, chap. iv.

5. For the Norman Conquest Freeman's great work should be consulted if possible, e. g. Harold at the Court of Duke William, vol. iii, chap, xii ; Stamford Bridge, vol. iii, chap, xiv ; Hastings, vol. iii, chap. xv. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives only a brief summary of the events of the year 1066. Colby's Extracts from the Sources of English History (Longmans, 65.), p. 29, gives extracts from the Heimskringla Saga on Stamford Bridge ; Oman, p. 640, may be consulted for a criticism of its value.

6. For the general history of the period 1066-1485 the volumes in Longmans' and Methuen's Histories should be consulted. Fletcher, vol. i, gives a shorter account. For mediaeval warfare the teacher should refer to Oman's History of the Art of War (Methuen, 10*. 6d.), which deals fully with Arms and Armour, Sieges and Fortifications. Illustrations are given from great battles and sieges.

7. For the social history of the Middle Ages, there are many excellent books besides the general social and industrial histories mentioned in the Appendix. Among the most useful are the following :

E. M. Tappan, In Feudal Times (Harrap, 5s.).

Mary Bateson, Mediaeval England (Fisher Unwin, 5s.).

F. W. Cornish, Chivalry (Allen, 4s. 6d.).

F. P. Barnard, Companion to English History (Clarendon Press, 8s. 6d.), contains chapters on Architecture, Art of War, Shipping, Costumes, Town Life and Country Life, Monasticism, Trade and Commerce.

Jusserand, English Wayfaring Life in the Fourteenth Century (Fisher Unwin, 2s. Qd.). A classic for one phase of mediaeval life. Contains much interesting material about travellers of all kinds.

E. L. Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages (Moring, (7s. 6d.), includes The Monks, Hermits and Recluses, Pilgrims, Secular Clergy, Minstrels, Knights, Merchants.

A. Abram, English Life and Manners in the Later Middle Ages (Routledge, 6s.).

A. Abram, Social Life in England in the Fifteenth Century (Rout- ledge, 3s. Qd.).

Mrs. J. R. Green, Town Life in the Fifteenth Century (2 vols.).

WORK OF THE FOURTH YEAR 77

Gasquet, English Monastic Life (Methuen, la. Qd.).

Gasquet, The Old English Bible and other Essays (Bell, 6s.), for the literary work of the monks.

A. Jessopp, The Coming of the Friars (Fisher Unwin, 3s. 6d.), especially the essays on the Friars, Village Life in Mediaeval England, and Daily Life in a Mediaeval Monastery.

Chronicle ofJocelyn ofBrakelond (translated in the King's Classics, Chatto & Windus, Is. 6d.), for a picture of monastic life.

Pauli, Pictures of Old England (Routledge, Is.). Chapters on a variety of topics, including Monks and Mendicant Friars, John Wycliff, London in the Middle Ages.

C. Oman, The Great Revolt of 1381 (Clarendon Press, 8s. 6d).

G. M. Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wydiffe.

Dean Stanley, Memorials of Canterbury (Murray, Is.) — St. Augus- tine, the Murder of Becket, and Becket's Shrine.

CHAPTER VI THE WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR

IN the fifth and sixth years two main lines of develop- ment will be studied in tracing the growth of modern England.

(a) External Expansion

Towards the end of the fifteenth century a change was gradually passing over the politics of Europe. The claims of the Empire and the Papacy to supremacy in Europe had never been established and were now disappearing before the rise of the great modern powers, France, Spain, and England. In each of these states a strong government and a strong sense of nationality were being developed through various causes.1 This resulted in growing rivalry between France and Spain, and a long struggle for supremacy. In this international competition for power, England played an important role and secured a decisive voice in the councils of Europe, which she has since main- tained. Territorial expansion on the Continent was out of the question, and England found another outlet for her energy by way of the sea. Two questions therefore arise :

1. How did England secure and on what grounds did she maintain her position as a great European power ?

2. What were the chief steps in the development of England's maritime power ?

These questions will be studied in the fifth year.

1 Seebohm, Era of the Protestant Revolution, Part I, chap, iii (Longmans, 2s. 6d.).

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR 79

(b) Intellectual, Religious, and Political Development

In the latter part of the fifteenth century Europe was throwing off the shackles of the Middle Ages : society was emerging from the age of Authority to the age of Freedom. For many centuries the mind of Europe had been comparatively unprogressive. Much mental activity had had very insignificant results, and men's intellectual horizon had remained narrow, until the Renaissance revealed new worlds to be explored. Man was then led to think and act as an individual, guided not by the dictates of tradition and authority but by his own mind and will. The Renaissance, then, was a great step forward towards intellectual liberty and power, and the way was prepared for the somewhat later revolt against the authority of the Church. In the Middle Ages the Church had been universal ; freedom of conscience had been unknown, and heresy had been severely repressed. The Reforma- tion was a tremendous upheaval against this uni- formity in religion. With growing individualism men claimed the right to hold whatever , religious beliefs they wished, and although religious freedom was not secured in the sixteenth century there has been since that time a steady movement in this direction.

With intellectual expansion and growing liberty of thought in religious matters it was only natural that the demand should arise for greater political liberty. In England the main lines of our modern constitutional government were settled before the end of the seven- teenth century, although in some countries of Europe this movement was deferred until much later.

80 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

The intellectual, religious and political development of England will be the subject for the sixth year. Detailed suggestions follow for the fifth year :

I. EXPANSION OF ENGLISH POWER, 1485-1689 A. Maritime, Commercial, and Colonial Expansion

1. Voyages of Discovery and Exploration.

(a) Development of the science of navigation. Prince

Henry the Navigator. (6) The voyages of Columbus and the Cabots.

(c) The great explorers of the sixteenth century,

Magellan, Drake, Frobisher, Gilbert, Raleigh, Davis, and Hudson. The voyages of these seamen should be told to the class in detail, e.g. several lessons can be given on Drake alone, in which his voyage to Central America, 1572-3, and his voyage round the world, 1577-80, will illustrate the adventurous spirit of the Eliza- bethan seamen, the motives for their voyages, and the many differences between these voyages in the sixteenth century and sea voyages to-day.

(d) Portuguese explorations in the East. Bartholo-

mew Diaz and Vasco da Gama, Portuguese settlements in Africa, India, and the East Indies. The voyages of discovery were followed by com- mercial and colonial expansion.

2. Commercial expansion.

(a) English commerce in the Middle Ages.

(6) Development of commerce in Tudor times. After the sack of Antwerp, 1576, London began to take its place as the emporium of Western Europe.

(c) Hawkins and the slave trade.

(d) Commerce in Stuart times. Further expansion — trade carried on by means of companies — the

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR 81

East India Company — commercial supremacy of the Dutch at the beginning of the seventeenth century — settlements of the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies — commercial rivalry between Dutch and English in the East — Navigation Laws of the seventeenth century— their purpose. English commercial expansion was in part the cause of wars with Holland and Spain. These will be studied later.

3. Colonial expansion. A contrast can be made between the colonial policy

of Spain, France, and England in America.

(a) Spain — motive, desire for wealth. Stories can

be selected from Prescott's Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru.

(b) France — motives, conversion of the heathen (by

Jesuits) and desire for power (under Louis XIV). The class must study the settlements of the French in North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries if they are to understand . the struggle with England in the eighteenth century. Extracts from the works of Fiske and Parkman will be useful.

(c) England — various motives. The colonizing ven-

tures of Gilbert and Raleigh, the settlement of New England and the southern colonies will be studied.

B. Development of Political Power

During this period, 1485-1689, England attained her position as a leading state in Europe chiefly by diplomacy and naval power. Her military campaigns on the Continent were usually of little importance.

1977

82 -THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Examples :

1. Henry V IPs relations with Europe. At the beginning

of his reign England was isolated, but at the end she had a place in the councils of Europe second to none and: was courted on every side (Stubbs, Lectures on Mediaeval and Modern History, Lecture XVI). This was achieved by diplomacy. England was too poor, and Henry too wise, to waste money in foreign wars. Henry's success in raising the prestige of England can be illustrated by his marriage alliances.

2. Foreign affairs under Henry VIII and Wolsey.

It is impossible to lead children through the maze of international diplomacy, but the following topics can be studied in class :

(a) The growth of the navy.

(b) War of 1512-13, which, though apparently

successful, accomplished no permanent results of benefit to England.

(c) Efforts of the Emperor Charles and King Francis

to obtain the support of England in their

rivalry for power.

May 1520. Charles visits Henry at Canterbury. June 1520. Francis and Henry at the Field of

the Cloth of Gold. July 1520. Charles and Henry at Gravelines.

Wolsey's aim was to make England the arbiter

of Europe.

(d) Henry's vain attempts to conquer France ; 1522,

Invasion of France by Earl of Surrey ; 1523, Invasion by Duke of Suffolk. Both invasions were quite futile.

3. Reign of Elizabeth.

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR 83

The Queen's diplomatic skill is shown throughout her reign in her relations with France, Scotland, the Netherlands, and Spain. Also, through her minister Burleigh, she continued her father's policy of encour- aging the growth of the navy. The following topics are suitable for study :

(a) Relations of Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots. It was in the interests of Elizabeth to encourage the nationalists in Scotland against the French party. Yet she had no desire for open war either with Mary's party in Scotland or with France. Her interference in Scottish affairs was therefore usually carried out secretly. Her diplomatic methods are well illustrated by such episodes as her reception of the Earl of Murray. After Mary's marriage with Darnley, Murray and other Protestant lords were in almost open rebellion. Elizabeth was privately sending money to Murray to encourage him ; but, avoiding battle, he proceeded to Elizabeth's court, where she roundly declared she would never help rebels against their lawful sovereign. Yet Murray had written to Cecil that he ' would never have enterprised the action but that he had been moved thereto by the Queen '. (6) Elizabeth's attitude towards the Netherlands. Elizabeth refrained from giving open help to the Protestants, but allowed her subjects to give active support against Spain. When an English expedition was sent under Leicester, it proved its incapacity to give effective assis- tance to the Nether landers. (The victory of Zutphen was barren of results.)

F2

84 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(c) Elizabeth's courtship of the Duke of Alerujon, who

became later Duke of Anjou. * The negotiations continued for ten years (1572-82), during which time the friendship of France was secured. Elizabeth's aims were shown in 1581, when Anjou came over a third time to press his suit. She demanded that Henry III should break with Philip, abandon Scotland, maintain war in the Netherlands against Spain at his own expense, and surrender Calais and Havre as guarantees that he would keep his word.

(d) Naval war with Spain. Refer to Drake's exploits

in America, and deal fully with the coming of the Armada and the causes of its defeat. 4. Stuart times.

(a) James and the Thirty Years' War. Frederick

and Elizabeth, the ' Winter King and Queen ' of Bohemia — their misfortunes — England's in- effective help — Mansf eld's expedition of 1624.

(b) The navy during the Commonwealth and Pro-

tectorate. Cromwell had foresight enough to see that England's destiny lay towards the ocean. Thus under him the navy was developed. The wars with Holland and Spain were naval wars waged to establish the maritime and commercial supremacy of England. The successes in these wars greatly raised our prestige in Europe.

Some of the most interesting topics are : Penn and Venables in the West Indies, Blake and the pirates of Algiers and Tunis, his attack on the Spanish treasure-ships off Cadiz and his attack on the galleons in the harbour of Santa Cruz.

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR . 85

(c) Foreign relations of Charles II and James II. The general feature of this period was a loss of prestige abroad. The chief events illustrating this were the Second Dutch War (capture of New Amsterdam, victory off Lowestoft, Dutch in the Medway), the secret Treaties of Dover, by which Charles made England subservient to the interests of France, and the Third Dutch War, into which England was led by Louis XIV for his own advantage. It was in this war that William III of Orange began his lifelong struggle with Louis by placing himself at the head of the Dutch and driving the French from his country.

II. THE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE, 1689-1763 In this period the chief features of England's foreign power are :

(a) A further development of naval power. (6) The establishment of British supremacy in America and India, due to a great extent to command of the sea.

(c) England takes a more active part in the conti- nental wars. The high diplomacy of the Tudors and the petty intrigues of the Stuarts abroad give place to the arbitrament of the sword. The struggle did not end in 1763, but was continued with intermissions for a half -century longer. ' The whole period stands out as an age of gigantic rivalry between England and France, a kind of second Hundred Years' War.' l The main causes of this struggle with France were twofold :

1. Determination of England to prevent France

1 Seeley, Expansion of England, p. 28.

86 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

becoming too powerful on the . Continent. England's intervention in continental affairs was usually the outcome of her desire to preserve the balance of power.

2. Rivalry in America and India. This long struggle with France was, from one point of view, a struggle for Empire. France and England were candidates for the possession of the New World and a dominating position in India.

The following phases of the struggle are suitable for study :

1. William IIPs war with France, (a) Reasons for the war.

(6) Episodes of the war, e.g. defeat of the French fleet off La Hogue ; loss of the Smyrna fleet ; failure of the British attack on Brest, owing to Marlborough's treachery ; William's campaign in the Netherlands, which served as the appren- ticeship of the English standing army.

The peace of 1697 was only temporary, and hostilities were renewed in a few years.

2. The War of the Spanish Succession.

(a) England's interest in the question. The aim of England was to check the overweening ambition of Louis XIV for supremacy on the Continent. This was the great lesson that William III taught the English people. The details of the Partition Treaties need not be studied, but the danger of the union of the crowns of France and Spain should be emphasized.

(6) Marlborough's campaigns. His victories estab- lished the reputation of England as a military power.

87

(c) The naval war. Capture of Gibraltar and Minorca.

3. War of Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. Hostility between France and England was only

one aspect of these wars, but for our purpose the most important one.

(a) Episodes from the wars on the Continent can be selected, e.g. Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Minden, without attempting a connected narrative of events.

(6) The naval war. Exploits of Anson, Rodney, Hawke, Boscawen, Howe, and other leaders.

It was to some extent because of our maritime supremacy that the French were defeated in India and America.

4. Struggle between French and English in India.

(a) First phase, 1741-8. Loss of English prestige owing to Dupleix's intrigues with the natives and the success of the French troops and fleet.

(6) Second phase, 1748-58. Interference of British and French in native politics. Exploits of Clive in the Carnatic.

(c) Third phase, 1758-61. Final defeat of the French.

5. Struggle in North America.

Growing jealousy between English and French in the seventeenth century developed in the eighteenth century into intermittent warfare. The following periods in this struggle are suitable for study: 1689- 1713, 1744-54, 1754-60. An interesting topic, and one which has important bearings on the struggle, is the story of French explorations and settlements in North America in the eighteenth century.

In all the above sections, 1-5, the teacher must

88 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

aim at selecting a number of important episodes and dealing with them fully.

6. The work of Pitt as a war minister and empire builder.

III. Loss OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES

1. Events and Conditions leading up to War.

(a) Revision of the growth of the British colonies

in America to 1763. The contrast between North and South (New England and Virginia).

(b) Colonial policy of Great Britain. Acts of various

dates imposed restrictions on the commerce and manufactures of the colonies ; purpose of these restrictions ; prevalence of smuggling.

(c) Question of taxation. Stamp Act, Declaration

Act, Revenue Act of 1767. Reasons why these acts were resisted, especially in New England.

(d) Attempts to overawe Massachusetts, the centre

of disaffection, led to greater resistance to England. Boston massacre ; incident of the Oaspee ; publication of Governor Hutchinson's letters ; Boston tea riot ; penal laws against Massachusetts ; Quebec Act ; Continental Con- gress (September 1774).

2. The War of Independence.

(a) Growth of unity between the colonies leading

up to Declaration of Independence.

(b) Strength and weakness of the colonies.

(c) The war on land. A summary of events is of

little value. It is far better for the children to study one or two campaigns in some detail, in order to appreciate the connexion between events and the relation between geographical

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR 89

features and military operations, e. g. the inva- sion of Canada ; Burgoyne's attempt to advance from Canada ; Cornwallis in the south.

(d) Influence of sea-power upon warfare on land.

This can be studied as a separate topic or incidentally in connexion with the campaigns.

(e) France and Spain join America. Reasons for

France and Spain joining the colonists ; impor- tance of this help in turning the course of the war ; the naval war, especially the exploits of Rodney.

The class cannot at this point get an understanding of the effects of the loss of the colonies. This can only come with the further study of history, e. g. the effect of the migration of the United Empire loyalists to Canada, and the continued hostility of the Americans to England, which was shown in the war of 1812, can be best considered in dealing with the history of Canada.

IV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE GREAT WAR

1. State of France immediately before the Revolution. It is impossible to give the children a full account

of the causes of the Revolution, but they can understand the downtrodden state of the lower orders, and the indifference of the Government. Such matters as the seignorial system, the heavy taxation, and the state of the court of Louis XVI can be taught successfully. When studying the social state of France compari- sons can be made with England in the Middle Ages.

2. Establishment of the Republic.

Many of the political details can be omitted and attention concentrated on a few great events, e.g.

90 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

the summoning of the Estates-General ; the fall of

the Bastille ; Versailles attacked by the Paris mob ;

the flight to Varennes ; the sack of the Tuileries ;

the September massacres ; the execution of the

king ; the Reign of Terror and supremacy of the

Jacobins.

3. The Great War.

Selected topics only can be studied, such as :

(a) The naval war. The great sea-fights against

France and Spain will provide material for several lessons.

(b) Napoleon's campaigns against Austria, Prussia,

and Russia (1805-7), which left England to continue the struggle against Napoleon alone. Every boy and girl should know what Europe owed to England at this time.

(c) The Peninsular War. Important events as

Corunna, Torres Vedras, Salamanca, and Vit- toria.

(d) Napoleon's invasion of Russia — contrasted with

German invasion of 1915.

(e) The campaign of Waterloo.

The end of the Napoleonic drama is a convenient point at which to bring the year's work to a close. In some periods, as the reign of Elizabeth, only a trained mature mind can comprehend the trend of affairs ; whilst in every period many important events must be ignored in order that those selected may be taught in detail. The work outlined for this year will be condemned by those who hold that political history is of little importance for purposes of teaching in schools. The selection of these topics will be vindicated if the teacher wisely selects his material and by interesting

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR 91

narratives makes clear the way by which England reached and has developed her position as a European power.

British expansion in the nineteenth century will be studied in the seventy and eighth years.

BOOKS FOB STUDY AND REFERENCE

1. General Books for the Period, 1485 to the Nineteenth Century Besides the later volumes in Longmans' and Methuen's Histories the following are standard works of reference : Froude, History of England, 1529-88.

Ranke, History of England, principally in the Seventeenth Century. Gardiner, History of England, 1603-58, continued to 1660 by

C. H. Firth. Macaulay, History of England from Accession of James II to death of

William III.

Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century. Spencer Walpole, History of England (1815-80). Justin McCarthy, Reign of Queen Anne, 1 vol. ; The Four Georges

and William IV, 2 vols. ; History of our Own Times, 4 vols.

(Chatto & Windus, 2s. each volume). Popular in style, mainly

political in character, but contain much interesting matter. For European History the Cambridge Modern History is the best large work of reference. Acton's Lectures on Modern History (Macmillan, 10*.) should be read by every teacher, especially the following : The Study of History ; The New World ; The Renais- sance ; Luther ; Philip II, Mary Stuart, and Elizabeth ; The Puritan Revolution ; The English Revolution.

2. Books on Special Topics

Eric Wood, Voyages of the Great Discoverers (Harrap, Is. 6d.) — excellent for the classroom library.

H. E. Egerton, Origin and Growth of English Colonies (Clarendon Press, 3s. 6d.), especially: chap, ii, The Age of Discovery; iii, Holland and France as Colonial Powers ; iv, The English Colonies in America ; v, Influence of Religious Dissent on the Foundation of Colonies ; vi, The Mercantile System.

92 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

W. H. Woodward, The Expansion of the British Empire (Cambridge,

45.).

A. W. Jose, The Growth of the Empire (Murray, 4s. 6d.).

D. Hannay, A Short History of the Royal Navy (Methuen, 2 vols.

la. 6d. each) ; vol. i, 1217-1688 ; vol. ii, 1689-1815. Sir W. L. Clowes (editor), History of the Navy, 1 vols. The most

up-to-date large history of the navy — fully illustrated. Deals

chiefly with the Royal Navy but contains chapters on voyages

and discoveries.

Washington Irving, Life of Columbus (Putnam's, 5s.). C. R. Beazley, Henry the Navigator (Putnam's, 5s.).

John and Sebastian Cabot (Fisher Unwin, 5s.).

The Story of Magellan, and The Story of Vasco da Gama (Dent, 6d. each).

J. A. Froude, English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century (Longmans, 3s. Gd.). Popular lectures. Note especially ii and iii, Haw- kins ; iv, Drake's voyage round the World ; vii, Drake's attack on Cadiz ; viii and ix, The Armada. For the Armada, see also Froude, History of England, vol. xii, chap. Ixxi.

Julian Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, 2 vols. Vol. ii contains a full account of the Armada. In vol. i, chap, xii, is an account of sea-power in the time of Elizabeth. This subject is also dealt with in Froude' s History, vol. viii, chap, xlvii.

Drake (Macmillan, English Men of Action Series, 2s. 6d.).

P. S. Allen (Editor), Selections from the Writings of James Anthony

Froude (Longmans, 3s. 6d.). A useful collection of short

extracts.

Sir R. Rodd, Raleigh (English Men of Action). Martin Hume, Life of Sir Walter Raleigh (Fisher Unwin, 2s. 6d). Sir S. Lee, Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century (Nelson, Is.).

More, Sidney, Raleigh, Spenser, Bacon, Shakespeare. L. W. Lyde, The Age of Drake (A. and C. Black, Is. 4d.). The Age of Blake (A. and C. Black, Is. 4d.). School Readers

compiled from original sources. W. Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry andCommerce, 3 vols.

Vols. i and ii for commerce in Tudor and Stuart times. H. de B. Gibbins, Industrial History of England (Methuen, 3s.).

Contains a useful summary of history of commerce. John Fiske, New France and New England.

WORK OF THE FIFTH YEAR 93

John Fiske, The War of Independence (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,

Boston, U.S.A.). Francis Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World. French

in America to 1635.

The Jesuits in North America.

Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV.

A Half-century of Conflict. England and France in North

America, 1700-46.

- Montcalm and Wolfe. The conclusion of the struggle, 1749-63. J. Gairdner, Henry VII (Twelve English Statesmen, Macmillan,

2s. Qd.). W. Stubbs, Lectures on Mediaeval and Modern History (Clarendon

Press, 8s. Qd.), especially for Henry VII and Henry VIII. A. F. Pollard, Henry VIII (Longmans, 4s. Qd.). M. Creighton, W olsey (Twelve English Statesmen).

Queen Elizabeth (Longmans, 5s.).

E. S. Beesly, Elizabeth (Twelve English Statesmen). J. L. Motley, History of the Dutch Republic.

History of the United Netherlands.

Sir J. R. Seeley, Growth of British Policy, from Elizabeth to William III (Cambridge, 2 vols., 12s.).

Expansion of England (Macmillan, 4s.). For the struggle

between France and England in the eighteenth century.

A. T. Mahan, Influence of Sea-power upon History (1660-1783) — exceedingly important for the teacher.

Influence of Sea-power on the French Revolution and Empire,

2 vols. Indispensable for a true understanding of the war with France.

J. S. Corbett, England in the Seven Years' War, 2 vols.

F. Harrison, Chatham (Twelve English Statesmen). D. Hannay, Rodney (English Men of Action).

J. H. Rose, The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era, 1789-1815 (Cambridge, 4s. Qd.).

Life of Napoleon (Bell, 6s.).

Lord Rosebery, Pitt (Twelve English Statesmen).

Arthur Young, Travels in France, 1787-1789 (Bell, Is.).

W. H. Fitchett. How England saved Europe, 4 vols., 3s. Qd. each. Vol. ii, Naval Affairs, including Trafalgar; vol. iii, The Peninsular War ; vol. iv, Campaign of Waterloo.

.94 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

W. H. Fitchett, Deeds that Won the Empire (Bell, 1*., Newnes, 6d.)

— famous fights on land and sea from the Battle on the Heights

of Abraham to Waterloo. - Fights for the Flag (Bell, Is., Newnes, 6d.). J. K. Laughton, Nelson (English Men of Action). Sir W. Napier, English Battles and Sieges in the Peninsula,

(Murray, 1*.). G. Hooper, Wellington (English Men of Action).

Waterloo (Bell, Is.). G. H. R. Callender, Sea Kings of Britain, 3 vols. (Longmans, 2*. 6d.

and 3*. Qd. each).

British Soldier Heroes, 2 vols. (Heinemann, Is. 6rf. each). British Sailor Heroes, 2 vols. (Heinemann, Is. 6d. each).

CHAPTER VII

THE SIXTH YEAR. INTERNAL DEVELOP- MENT OF ENGLAND

I. SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS

THE aim of this section is to continue the social history of the Fourth Year by giving the class an account of life in England in the reign of Elizabeth, the most eventful epoch before the nineteenth century, and in the eighteenth century on the eve of the In- dustrial Revolution. Then by means of contrasts the children will understand the social and economic pro- gress in the intervening period, and will be prepared to study in the next year the more rapid progress in the latter part of the eighteenth and in the nineteenth century. They will study the life of rich and poor in town and country, their work and amusements, the conditions of living and modes of travelling in each of these periods. The subject is very wide, and the mode of treatment depends largely upon the teacher's know- ledge and the accessibility of books. It is therefore impossible to draw up a detailed scheme of work, but the following suggestions may be useful : A. The time of Elizabeth.

1. A series of lessons can be given on life in a town, as London, York, Norwich, or Bristol. By studying the daily life of a typical inhabitant as a merchant or an artisan, facts can be introduced in an incidental way concerning the homes of the people, their mode of living, industries, trade, the government of the town.

96 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

the decline of the gilds, the maintenance of order, recreations of the people, &c. The published records and local histories of most of the ancient towns of England supply abundant material if used in conjunc- tion with more general sources of information.

2. Life in a village.

3. A journey from London to York.

4. Pauperism and the relief of the poor — a topic which, though apparently unattractive to children, can be made interesting.

B. The Eighteenth Century.

1. Life in London.

2. Life of a country squire and a yeoman farmer.

3. Agriculture at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

4. The domestic system of manufacture.

5. The relief of the poor.

6. Means of communication.

7. Foreign commerce, e. g. main lines of trade, types of vessels, articles of trade, dangers of sea-voyages. Such information can be imparted by means of stories of adventure.

8. Crime and punishments.

9. A local topic, e.g. Leeds in the eighteenth century. These lists can be greatly extended by a teacher

conversant with suitable books on the subject. Most of the work must be in the form of oral teaching, but occasionally, if books are available, individual children or a group may be set to study easy topics by them- selves, and publish the results of their work to the class in short papers.

When studying the social history of the eighteenth century the children must make constant comparisons

THE SIXTH YEAR 97

with the time of Elizabeth and the present time. These comparisons can usually be made by the children in the course of the lesson, but occasionally, as a revision exercise, the children can be required to answer such questions as the following :

1. Contrast the methods of relieving poverty in the eighteenth century with those existing in the time of Elizabeth.

2. Give a brief description of the growth of England's foreign trade between the reign of Elizabeth and 1750.

3. What were the principal changes in the manu- factures of England during the same period ?

4. In what directions was little or no improvement made in the life of the people in the same period ?

5. What are the chief improvements in means of communication since 1750 ?

6. Can you apply the phrase ' the good old times ' to life in England in the eighteenth century ?

II. INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

A. State of learning in the Middle Ages.

1. Schools — subjects of study.

2. Hindrances to the spread of learning — lack of books before introduction of printing ; difficulties of travel, preventing interchange of ideas — compare remote districts to-day ; low intellectual standard of the clergy and monks, who had a monopoly of book- learning ; supremacy of the strong arm — contempt for book-learning shown by the upper classes, whose educa- tion was mainly physical.

These ideas can only be understood by the children when presented to them through particular examples. Many of the facts will have been already learnt in

1977

98 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

studying the social state of England in the Middle Ages.

B. The Renaissance.

It is impossible to deal adequately with this subject, but even children can understand some of its most characteristic features, e.g. :

1. The renewed study of Greek and Latin classics.

2. The invention of printing.

3. The life of Erasmus the Scholar. Suggestions for lessons on these subjects are given in

Chapter IX.

C. Intellectual development since the Renaissance. This is an exceedingly wide subject. It is not the

achievements of its great thinkers, poets, dramatists, or scientists which indicate the intellectual progress of a nation. Surer guides are the growth of education, the decline of popular superstitions, and the develop- ment of true self-government.

1. The growth of education. Little real progress was made until the nineteenth century. Contrasts can be drawn between the schools of the eighteenth century and those of to-day.

2. The decline of superstitions. Something has already been learnt in the Fourth Year about the superstitions of the Middle Ages. Instances can now be given of superstitions in more recent times, e.g. an account of the trial of the Lancashire witches (1612),1 and ' A Discourse relating to a Strange and Monstrous Serpent or Dragon ' (1614).2 Sir W. Scott's Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft can also be consulted by the teacher for examples, especially Letters vii-x.

1 Colby, Selections from the Sources of English History, p. 177.

2 Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii, p. 227

THE SIXTH YEAR 99

Even at the present day superstitious beliefs continue to exist in backward parts of the country or did exist until the latter part of the nineteenth century. Local works on folklore will supply numerous examples, e.g. Rev. J. C. Atkinson, Forty Years in a Moorland Parish (Danby in Cleveland), and The Norfolk Garland and The Suffolk Garland.

3. The growth of self-government. This will be studied later.

III. GBOWTH OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

A. Contrast between Middle Ages and Modern Times.

1. Supremacy of Rome. Ever since the time of William I there had been resistance in England to the authority of Rome, e. g. William I's enactments con- cerning the Church, and the Statutes of Praemunire and Provisors.

2. Offences of the clergy were tried in special Church Courts. Benefit of clergy. The quarrel between Becket and Henry II.

3. Monasticism was universal, but from the thir- teenth to the sixteenth century the monasteries were steadily declining in power.

4. People were outwardly more religious than in modern times (see Gasquet, Eve of the Reformation, chap, x, Parish Life in Catholic England).

5. No liberty of conscience. Heresy of Wyclif and the Lollards. Huss.

These five general facts cannot be taught except by means of particular examples. First, the study of illustrative topics, then the consideration of the general idea : this is the order in which the work must proceed.

G2

100 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

B. The Reformation.

1. Condition of the Church before the Reformation.

2. Reformation in Germany. Luther.

3. Attempted reforms in England before the breach with Rome. The Oxford Reformers. Wolsey as a Reformer.

4. Breach between Henry VIII and the Pope. The Divorce Question. The work of the Reformation Par- liament, 1529-36.

5. Dissolution of the Monasteries.

6. Introduction of the English Bible and Prayer Book.

7. The desecration of shrines and images.

8. The Marian Persecution.

9. Elizabeth's Religious Settlement — a compromise. General Conclusion — The Reformation in England

did not bring religious liberty as an immediate effect.

C. The Rise of the Puritans.

1. Growth of Puritanism within the Church.

2. Formation of religious communities without the Church.

D. Religious Struggle in the Seventeenth Century.

1. Puritans and Catholics in the reign of James. Hampton Court Conference. Gunpowder Plot.

2. Attempt by Charles and Laud to establish High Church uniformity:

(a) In England — misuse of arbitrary courts.

(/3) In Scotland — attempt to introduce Episcopacy led to the National Covenant and the Bishops' Wars. The trouble with Scotland ultimately resulted in the calling of the Long Parliament.

3. The religious struggle, 1640-60. The details are tedious, but the class should know something of the attack on the Church of England by the intolerant

THE SIXTH YEAR 101

Parliament, and Cromwell's more tolerant attitude in religious matters during the Protectorate.

4. Attack on Puritanism in the reign of Charles II. Clarendon Code.

5. Attempt to establish Roman Catholicism in the reigns of Charles II and James II.

E. Removal of Religious Disabilities.

This was carried out by a long series of Acts, be- ginning in 1689 (Toleration Act) and ending in 1871 with the abolition of religious tests at Oxford and Cambridge.

F, Rise of the Methodists.

IV. GROWTH OF POLITICAL LIBERTY The teacher's aim in this section is not to attempt the impossible task of giving his pupils a clear con- ception of ' political liberty '. He will, indeed, avoid the phrase altogether, since it can have little meaning except to the oldest pupils who have already studied how those liberties have been evolved through the centuries of our history. His aim is rather to give some fundamental ideas which can be extended later, when studying the development of constitutional government. A. In the Middle Ages.

Here, as everywhere, general ideas should only be approached through particular facts. A beginning can be made by the teacher giving lessons on the following topics :

1. The Charter of Liberties, 1100. This will involve some account of the abuses of William II's reign.

2. The struggle between John and the barons. Magna Carta. The Civil War.

3. Simon de Montfort's Rebellion.

102 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

4. The fall of Richard II and the foundation of the Lancastrian dynasty.

5. The Wars of the Roses — studied as a revolt against inefficient government. The foundation of the Tudor dynasty.

By the study of these and similar events, several important facts can be illustrated :

1. In the Middle Ages the king was the real ruler of England and had a far greater share in the work of government than at present. His power, however, was limited by the rights of his subjects. All classes, barons, clergy, and commons, during the Middle Ages were gradually acquiring liberties which protected them against royal despotism.

The children will have become acquainted with the people's rights when studying Magna Carta, which was many times confirmed, and the revolts against in- efficient government, e.g. in the reigns of Henry III, Richard II, and Henry VI.

Amongst other things the people had a right to expect from the king:

(a) Efficient administration of justice. (6) Maintenance of internal peace. Security for person and property and protection for internal trade.

(c) Wise expenditure of revenue of the Crown. In quiet times the king was expected to ' live on his own '. A description of how he did this can be made interesting for children.

2. Disputes often arose between king and people when he failed to govern satisfactorily. Both barons and commons then considered they had a right to interfere. Their opposition could be shown :

THE SIXTH YEAR 103

(a) By open revolt. The king might hire mercenaries, but 'could not resist his barons. When the revolt was not led by the barons it usually came to naught, e.g. Peasants' Revolt. The reason for this is obvious.

(6) In Parliament, e.g. Mad Parliament, 1258; Good Parliament, 1376 ; and the Merciless Parliament, 1388. The strength of Parliament was not only found in it being a centre of organized resis- tance, and a means by which the king's govern- ment could be systematically criticized and restrained ; Parliament more than once elected the king (e. g. Henry IV and Henry VII), and in the fifteenth century gained control of the national revenue.

To sum up, in the Middle Ages the power of govern- ment was mainly, but not wholly, in the hands of the king and his nobles. Our aim now is to show how the people obtained the leading share in the government of England.

B. The Tudor Period.

This epoch is characterized by a strong personal government. It must not be supposed, however, that the people's traditional liberties were ignored. Even Henry VIII ' encouraged, fostered and developed Parliament ; he respected its privileges, he recognized its authority, he extended its sphere ; and he helped tb forge the weapon which was to overthrow the monarchy '.1

There was need for a strong Government in the case of :

1. Henry VII. Throne insecure.

1 Pollard, Factors in Modern History, p. 126.

104 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

2. Henry VIII. Struggle with the Church — a period of revolution.

3. Elizabeth. Struggle with Catholic Europe. But Elizabeth, and later, the Stuarts, wished to continue this form of government when all need for it had passed.

C. The struggle between King and Parliament, 1603-42. Some of the chief points at issue were :

1. Freedom of speech in Parliament. v

2. Responsibility of the king's ministers to Parlia- ment.

3. Freedom of members from arrest.

4. Exclusive right of Parliament to levy taxes.

5. The use of the arbitrary courts.

6. The dependence of the judges of the ordinary courts upon the king.

It is unnecessary for the teacher to attempt a com- plete survey of this period, since the above ideas can be taught through the detailed study of selected subjects such as the points at issue in James I's first Parliament, the attack on the Duke of Buckingham, the Petition of Right, the struggle over Ship Money, the prosecution of Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick in the Court of Star Chamber, and the work of the Long Parliament.

D. The Civil War and downfall of Charles.

Here, again, it will be wise to restrict the children's attention to a few events.

The outstanding battles of the war, such as Edgehill, Marston Moor, and Naseby, should be studied, not as isolated facts, however, but as the culminating points of military campaigns. If events in the war occurred in the neighbourhood of the school, these can be studied more fully without losing the sense of proportion

THE SIXTH YEAR 105

between events, e.g. in Yorkshire the war in the north of England, or, to take a more limited area, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, can be studied in detail.1 The Civil War becomes something more than a mere abstraction to a child in Leeds when he is given an account of the attack on that town by Sir T. Fairfax.

After Naseby we can centre the work round the fortunes of the defeated king. Without attempting to understand fully the intrigues and negotiations between the Scots, Charles, the Army, and the Parlia- ment, the children can study the movement which brought Charles to the scaffold.

E. The Republican Experiment.

The work on this topic will naturally centre round the person of Cromwell. Some of the points to be studied are : the suppression of the Royalists, especially in Scotland and Ireland ; the unsuccessful attempts to reconstruct the machinery of government ; the rise of Cromwell to absolute power through the need for a strong hand to save England from anarchy ; and the reasons for the failure of the attempt to form a republic, As to this last point, the children should know that the Commonwealth was established by a minority of the people of England, that the power of this minority rested, not upon the will of the people, but upon the victorious army, that it had little or no experience in the work of government, and, lastly, that having secured the power to rule, it was as absolute in its government as the late king. The death of Charles was not followed by any attempt to establish political and religious liberty. (Cf. the leaders of the French

1 Consult Clements Markham, Life of the Great Lord Fairfax.

106 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Revolution and also the Pilgrim Fathers). A revolution in the name of liberty became at once an instrument of tyranny in the hands of the successful minority.

F. Struggle between King and People, 1660-88.

In this period there was a revival of misrule which suggests the futility of the Great Rebellion. The work can centre round the development of absolutism by Charles and James.

1. Institution of a regular army at the Restoration. Declaration of the Parliament of 1661 that the king had sole control of the militia. (The struggle over the militia was one of the immediate causes of the Civil War.)

2. Independent attitude of Charles towards Parlia- ment— was receiving grants from Louis XIV. Rise of Whigs and Tories. Alteration of town charters to secure Tory representation from the boroughs and hence a permanent Tory majority in the House of Commons. Attempts by James II to interfere in the constitution of Parliament.

3. The King's control of the administration of justice. Appointment of judges and magistrates was in the hands of the Crown. The Habeas Corpus Act. Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assize.

G. The Revolution, 1688-9.

1 . Events leading up to the abdication of James and the appointment of William and Mary as King and Queen.

2. The Bill of Rights. The principles of political liberty were now definitely enunciated as a guarantee against royal despotism. These principles were not yet secured against violation by the sovereign, e.g. bribery and corruption in the eighteenth century often deprived

THE SIXTH YEAR 107

Parliament of its independence and brought it into subjection to the executive. But the great battle had been won by the people, whose privileges were never again seriously disputed.

BOOKS FOE STUDY AND REFERENCE

Apart from the general works mentioned in the Appendix and those on this period recommended at the end of Chapter VI, the following books will be found useful for the subjects of the present chapter :

Social and Industrial Conditions 1. Time of Elizabeth

Creighton, The Age of Elizabeth, Book VII, chap, i, for brief account

(Longmans, 2s. 6d.). Harrison, Description of England. Contemporary Account. (Edited

by Furnivall in the Scott Library.) H. T. Stephenson, The Elizabethan People (Bell, 8s. 6d.). A series

of chapters on such topics as Country Life and Character,

Domestic Life, Amusements, and Superstitions. Hubert Hall, Society in the Elizabethan Age. Gives many sidelights

on everyday matters.

2. Eighteenth Century

W. C. Sydney, England and the English in the Eighteenth Century. J. Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Anne.

Old Times. A picture of social life at the end of the century —

a wealth of material gleaned mainly from newspapers.

Lecky's History of the Eighteenth Century, vol. vii, chap, xxi contains, among other topics, an account of dress, manners, popular amusements, theatres, agriculture, manufactures, the penal code, and crime.

Religious and Political Development

Cardinal Gasquet, The Eve of the Reformation (Bell, 6*.).

Henry VIII and the English Monasteries (Bell, 8s. 6d.).

J. Brown, The English Puritans (Cambridge, Is.).

H. D. Traill, Strafford (English Men of Action Series, Macmillan,

108 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Carlyle, Historical Sketches, reigns of James I and Charles I. S. R. Gardiner, Cromwell (Longmans, 5s.).

CromwelVs Place, in History (Longmans, 3s. 6d.).

C. H. Firth, Life of Cromwell (Heroes of the Nations Series, Putnam's, 5*.).

Cromwell's Army (Methuen, 6s.).

J. Morley, Cromwell (Macmillan, 4s.).

F. Harrison, Oliver Cromwell (Twelve English Statesmen, Macmillan, 2s. 6rf..

CHAPTER VIII

THE WORK OF THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS

So far our pupils have been brought to the threshold of the present. They have studied the origin and growth of the nation, the steps by which England attained a predominant position in Europe, the intel- lectual, religious, and political development of the nation, and the social and industrial condition of the people in various epochs. It remains for us now to complete the survey of the evolution of modern England by studying the social and industrial develop- ment since the eighteenth century, the expansion of the Empire, the growth of our present constitutional form of government, and some of the more important events in the history of England's foreign relations.

I. INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Introduction.

To emphasize the great progress made since the middle of the eighteenth century, contrasts can be formed between that time and the present on the fol- lowing points : agriculture; textile manufactures,includ- ing very brief account of processes and localities ; iron and coal industries ; transportation of goods and means of communication ; commerce ; town life ; population.

2. Agricultural changes in eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries.

This will be a suitable point at which to begin the study of industrial and social development, since

110 THE TEACHING QF HISTORY

agriculture was the principal industry of England until after the Industrial Revolution. Lessons could be given on the following topics : Improvements in farming, including introduction of new crops, im- provements in stock-raising, new methods of treating the soil, and improvements in farming implements ; enclosures, with special reference to local examples ; the Corn Laws ; condition of the agricultural labourer in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 3. Industrial England before the Mechanical Revolution.

(a) The textile trades in the eighteenth century — woollen, cotton, linen, and silk ; the districts in which these manufactures were carried on before the intro- duction of machinery ; the processes of manufacture ; the sources of raw materials and the markets for the finished goods.

(6) The organization of industry. Independent cot- tage workers ; the use of capital in the textile trades and the rise of a wage-earning class ; the first factories.

The advantages of (1) the domestic system of inde- pendent workers, (2) the system of cottage workers employed by a capitalist, and (3) the factory system.

(c) The regulation of industry by Government.

(1) Direct regulations of the Tudors and Stuarts, affecting all branches of industry, were still in force in the eighteenth century, although in many cases they had become obsolete.

(2) Indirect control of industry through the imposi- tion of customs duties, especially in the latter part of the seventeenth century.1

(d) Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations (1776). A simple account of his doctrine of industrial and

1 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV.

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 111

commercial freedom, with some indication of its influence, will help to explain (1) the beginning of the Free Trade movement, and (2) the attitude of the Government towards the workers during the period of rapid industrial change which follows.

4. The Mechanical Changes.

(a) In the textile trades — preliminary processes, spinning, weaving, and finishing, including calico printing.

The improved machines were only slowly introduced.

(6) Application of power to these machines — (1) the use of water-power, (2) the introduction of the steam- engine.

(c) The iron and coal trades in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The mechanical changes and the application of steam to machinery made iron and coal indispensable in industry. The development of these industries can therefore be studied at this point.

(d) Improvements in transport — a necessary conse- quence of the increase in manufactures. The roads, which up to 1760 were the only means of transport, apart from navigable rivers, were quite inadequate. Hence the development of canals, and, later, of railways.

It is not necessary that our pupils should study the details of the actual mechanical changes ; but they must know the industrial effects of the improvements.

5. The Results of the Mechanical Changes.

The most important effects were the following : (a) The movement of industry. There was a concen- tration of labour in factories, and the rise of modern factory towns ; and there were also changes in

112 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

localities, e.g. decline of the cloth trade in East Anglia, and the growing importance of Yorkshire.

By means of a series of population maps for different periods the class can study the gradual change in the population of England with regard to (1) increase in population, (2) growth of industrial towns, (3) move- ment of the centre of gravity from the south to the midlands and north of England.

(6) The increased demand for raw materials and the increased output of goods, resulting in increased com- merce and national wealth.

(c) The growing importance of capital in industry, and the growing breach between employers and employed.

(d) Social effects, (1) great distress in some cases during the period of transition, (2) increased instability of employment — goods were now not merely manu- factured to meet the steady needs of the locality, but large orders were completed for distant markets, (3) the concentration of work in factories and in certain districts where power-water or coal was accessible, led to the decay of cottage industry and village life. Spinning by hand became unprofitable and much distress appeared, (4) modern social problems connected with town life and the factory system.

6. Commerce and Free Trade.

(a) Growth of British commerce and shipping in the eighteenth century to 1793.

(6) Commerce during the Great War, 1793-1815. The Continental System, the Berlin and Milan Decrees and the English Orders-in-Council.1 Interesting com- parisons can be made with the commercial and naval

1 Mahan, Influence of Sea-power upon the French Revolution and Empire, vol. ii

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 113

antagonism of Great Britain and Germany during the recent war.

(c) British commerce and shipping in the nineteenth century since 1815.1

(d) The Free Trade movement. The gradual removal of duties in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ; the present tariff ; comparisons with America and Germany ; the question of Imperial Preference.

7. Employers and Workers since the Industrial Revolution, (a) State intervention to protect the worker.

A. Improvements in conditions of work.

(1) History of the chief factory reforms.

(2) Reforms in mines.

(3) Work in shops — hours and conditions of

work.

(4) Recent legislation relating to employment

of children.

B. Regulation of wages — how far possible and

advisable.

C. The unemployed problem — labour exchanges. (6) Rise of trade unions. Trade disputes and their

settlement. Masters' combinations.

(c) Participation of the workers in the profits of manufacture or trade : (1) profit-sharing and co-part- nership, (2) the co-operative movement.

8. The Poor Law.2

(a) Causes of pauperism since 1750. To .what extent was it affected by the Industrial Revolution.3

1 Porter, Progress of the Nation, chaps, xxvi-xxviii.

2 T. W. Fowle, The Poor Law (Macmillan, 2s. 6d.) ; S. Lonsdale, The English Poor Laws (P. S. King, Is.).

3 Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, and Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce.

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ir

114 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(6) Methods of relief before 1834. The evils of the old Poor Law.1

(c) The Poor Law of 1834. Its effects.

(d) Pauperism and the Poor Law since 1834.2

9. Social Condition of the Working Classes.

(a) Wages and prices at yarious times from 1750 to the present.3 A study of these statistics will give some idea of the material well-being of the people.

(6) Health of the people.

(1) Unsanitary condition of houses and streets in

earlier times ; epidemics; mediaeval hospitals.

(2) Hospitals and infirmaries in modern times.

(3) Government supervision of public health 4 — the

Public Health Acts ; work of medical officers of health, treatment of infectious cases, inspection of school children, feeding of necessitous children.

(4) The history of sick benefit societies.

(c) Housing of the people.5 The work of local authori- ties in the improvement of slum areas and in town planning.

1 Above books, and Hammond, The Village Labourer.

2 Porter, Progress of the Nation, chap, iv, and S. & B. Webb, Problems of Modern Industry, chap, vii, in addition to Fowle and Lonsdale.

3 Porter, Progress of the Nation, chap. iv.

4 If possible, the teacher should consult such a book as T. H. Hine, Practical Guide to the Public Health Acts, which is also useful for the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, the Shop Hours Acts, Factory and Workshop Acts, and similar legislation which concerns the health of the people.

6 Kaufman, Housing of the Working Classes (Jack, Is.) ; Alden and Hayward, Housing (Social Service Handbooks, Headley, Is.) ; Porter, chap. v.

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 115

(d) National insurance and old age pensions.

(e) To sum up, there has been a gradual rise of humanitarianism, which is further shown in: (1) changes in the laws, e.g. capital punishment for minor offences and imprisonment for debt ; (2) prison reform. Teacher could give a lesson on the work of John Howard and Elizabeth Fry ; (3) abolition of slavery.

(/) Growth of popular education.

(1) Education at the beginning of the nineteenth

century — types of schools, subjects of study, harshness of the schools.

(2) Development of elementary education in nine-

teenth century — Government supervision of education ; establishment of compulsory free education ; evening schools ; the educa- tional ladder.

II. THE GROWTH OF THE EMPIRE

1. A Comparison.

The subject can be introduced to the class by making a comparison of the extent of the Empire at various dates between 1763 and to-day. This can best be done by a series of specially prepared maps, e.g. maps of the world showing the Empire in 1763, 1783, 1815, 1850, 1885, and the present time ; or series of maps of North America, Africa, India, and Australasia, to show the development of British power in these regions.

2. Expansion of British Power in North America. Some of the most interesting events and movements

in the history of Canada during the nineteenth century are:

(a) The war between Great Britain and the United States, 1812-14 — attack on Canada.

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116 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(6) The history of the Hudson Bay Company — the fur trade of the North.

(c) The founding of the Red River Settlement (Manitoba), 1811-21.

(d) The Rebellion of Papineau and Mackenzie, 1837-8.

(e) The development of farming in Canada ; the opening up of the western plains ; the Canadian Pacific Railway.

(/) The history of the mining industry in Canada ; gold discoveries in British Columbia and the Upper Yukon (Klondike). 3. Expansion of British Power in India since 1763.

It is impossible to do more than teach the broad outlines with details of a few outstanding events such as :

(a) The work of Clive in Bengal.

(6) War in the south with the French and Hyder Ali of Mysore, 1778-82.

(c) The impeachment of Warren Hastings.

(d) The work of Marquess Wellesley (Governor- General, 1798-1805). Last war against Mysore — Tipu Sahib at Seringapatam. The Mahratta War — Arthur Wellesley in the Deccan, General Lake in the north.

(e) The consolidation of British power during the governor-generalship of Lord Hastings (1813-23). Defeat of the Gurkhas of Nepal and the Mahrattas.

(/) First Afghan War, 1837-43.

(g) The Sikh Wars, 1845-9.

(h) The Mutiny. (1) Causes. (2) Events, especially the massacre at Cawnpore and the Siege of Lucknow. (3) Results.

(i) Troubles on the north-west frontiers. (1) Afghan

War, 1878-80 — the march to Kandahar. (2) Chitral, 1895. (k) What England has done for India.

4. Expansion of British Power in Australia. (a) Captain Cook's voyages.

(6) The convict settlement in New South Wales.

(c) Early explorers of New South Wales.

(d) The transcontinental journeys of (1) Stuart, and Burke and Wills (south to north). (2) Eyre, the Forrests, Warburton and Giles (east to west).

(e) The gold discoveries in New South Wales, Victoria, and West Australia — influence on the history of these colonies.

(/) Australia in the last generation. (1) Development of industries. (2) Colonial Federation.

5. Expansion of British Power in Africa.

The subject can be introduced by studying a political map showing the partition of Africa among the Euro- pean states. The class should particularly notice the possessions of France, Germany, and Great Britain before the Great War of 1914. A brief account of German aspirations with regard to Africa and the attempts to fulfil them during the last generation can be given at this point.

The class can then proceed to study the history of the various British possessions.

(a) South Africa.

(1) Early settlers at the Cape — Dutch and British.

(2) The Great Trek — its causes and consequences

—the foundation of Natal, Orange Free State, and the Transvaal.

(3) The relations between Boers and British from

the Sand River Convention to Majuba Hill.

118 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(4) The work of Cecil Rhodes as an empire builder

— the extension of British power northwards.

(5) The South African War, 1899-1902.

(6) The consolidation of South Africa.

(6) The West Coast Settlements. The historical details need not be remembered, but the class should know the nature of these possessions — that they originated as trading-posts and still retain this character. They are valuable from a commercial, but not from a colonizing point of view.

Any interesting topics, e.g. the explorations of Mungo Park, or the Ashanti Wars, can be profitably studied in detail.

(c) British East Africa. The most important points are:

(1) Our relations with Zanzibar, as an illustration

of one means by which the British Empire has expanded.

(2) Our relations with the Germans in East Africa

— the demarcation of boundaries — the East African campaign in the recent war.

(3) The development of Uganda.

(d) Egypt and the Eastern Soudan. A study of the following topics will enable the class to understand the present position of the British in the Nile valley :

(1) Mehemet Ali, the founder of modern Egypt.

(2) The work of Gordon in the Soudan.

(3) Egyptian bankruptcy — interference of Great

Britain and France — rebellion of Arabi Pasha.

(4) The loss of the Soudan — rise of the Mahdi —

massacre of Gordon and the garrison at Khartoum.

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 119

(5) The reconquest of the Soudan — Kitchener at

Omdurman.

(6) The work of Lord Cromer in Egypt.

6. The Empire as a Source of Strength and of Besponsi-

bilities.

An admirable subject for an essay by the class, since the knowledge required* is to a great extent incidental and comes through taking an interest in recent events. Should the subject be considered too wide for a single essay, such topics as the following can be dealt with separately :

(a) Commercial value of colonies and dependencies.

(6) What the mother country owes the Colonies.

(c) What the Colonies owe the mother country.

7. The Future of the Empire.1

Questions such as the following can be discussed with the class :

(a) Imperial Federation.

(6) Colonial Preference.

(c) The Defence of the Empire.

III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

The duties and privileges of English citizens are only intelligible to future citizens when viewed in the light of their history ; and the political opinions of the multitude can only be freed from dogmatism and prejudice when the multitude brings history to its aid in comprehending the questions of the moment. These, then, are the reasons for making our pupils

1 H. E. Egerton, Origin and Growth of English Colonies, chap, x ; Sir C. Dilke, Problems of Oreater Britain.

120 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

acquainted with the development of our system of government.

The task, however, is a difficult one. Scylla and Charybdis await to wreck the teacher's efforts and give his class a distaste for the subject. On the one hand is the antiquarian aspect of constitutional history, which must be carefully avoided ; on the other is the complex machine of modern government, which is never really intelligible except by first-hand acquaint- ance. The following suggestions may help the teacher to steer a middle course :

1. Character of Teutonic government in tribal times. We find here the germ of self-government.

2. Development of English local government.

(a) The local courts of the village, hundred, and shire in Anglo-Saxon times. A comprehensive account of their functions is unnecessary, but brief references should be made to their administrative and judicial work in order to illustrate their representative character.

These local institutions survived the Norman Con- quest and continued, though much decayed, until the close of the Middle Ages. That is, the idea of self- government always existed in England.

(6) Modern local government. If the school is situated in a town, the history of the government of that particular town can be studied in order to illus- trate some, at least, of the following points : Town government in the Middle Ages, charters of incor- poration, the Guildhall, need for reform in the early part of the nineteenth century, the Municipal Corpora- tion Act, 1835, the creation of new boroughs since 1835 county boroughs.

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 121

In rural schools the development of county govern- ment can be studied, e. g. government of the counties by the justices of the peace in Quarter Sessions from Tudor times until 1888 ; modern revival of local self- government by the institution of county councils, urban and rural district councils, and parish councils.

The foundation of county courts (1846) can be referred to here to avoid confusion with the shire courts of early times. 3. Development of Central Government.

(a) The Witenagemote of Saxon times contrasted with Parliament to-day.

(6) The Council of the Norman kings.

(c) The beginnings of Parliament in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

(1) Representation from the counties, 1213, 1254.

(2) Representation from the towns, 1265, 1295.

(3) Division into two houses.

(d) The powers and privileges of Parliament. Refer- ence should be made here to the growth of political liberty studied in the sixth year. The following points should be emphasized :

(1) Exclusive right of the Commons to control

money matters.

(2) Responsibility of the king's ministers to

Parliament.

(3) Freedom from interference by the king — free-

dom in elections, freedom in the expression of opinions, freedom from arrest.

(e) Growth of party government and the cabinet system.

(/) Parliamentary reform in the nineteenth century. (1) State of affairs before 1832 — composition of

122 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Parliament, the franchise, attitude of Parlia- ment towards the people, attempts at reform.

(2) Reform Bill of 1832. To what extent was it

a remedy ?

(3) The Chartist Movement.

(4) The Acts of 1867, 1884, and 1885. Ballot Act,

1872.

(5) The Future — need for further reform. 4. Changed position of the Sovereign.

The king's administrative, legislative, and judicial powers have gradually been delegated to ministers, assemblies, and courts. By way of revision contrasts may be made between the actual powers of such kings as Alfred, Henry II, Henry VIII, George III, and George V.

IV. ENGLAND'S FOREIGN RELATIONS

The aims of this section are :

1. To explain the international relations which led up to the Great War of 1914.

2. By descriptions of previous wars in the nineteenth century, to emphasize the magnitude of the recent war, and the tremendous developments in the organiza- tion of war and in methods of fighting.

3. To explain the position of Great Britain in Europe at the present time.

These aims can be best attained by restricting the attention of the class to a limited number of topics such as the following :

(a) The Crimean War.

(6) The Franco-Prussian War. Could England's neutrality be justified ?

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 123

(c) Events in the Balkans leading up to the Treaty of Berlin, 1878. England's part in these affairs.

(d) The main lines of German development since 1870.

(e) Events leading up to the Great War of 1914.

A bare political outline of these topics will be useless, since it is by a good supply of definite interesting facts, not by vague abstractions, that a boy acquires new ideas in history.

BOOKS FOR STUDY AND REFERENCE

I. Industrial and Social History

Besides the general books on this subject mentioned in the Appendix and those referred to in the foot-notes, the following are useful for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries :

Beard, The Industrial Revolution (Allen, Is.). An excellent intro- duction.

Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution (Longmans, 2s. 6d.). A classic.

Hammond, The Village Labourer, 1760-1832 (Longmans, 9s.).

Porter, Progress of the Nation (Methuen, 21s.). The new edition is a storehouse of valuable information for the social and industrial history of the nineteenth century.

Engels, The Condition of the Working Classes in 1844.

Ludlow and Lloyd Jones. Progress of the Working Classes, 1832-1867.

Webb, S. and B. History of Trade Unionism.

Holyoake, History of Co-operation.

Robinson, The Spirit of Association (Murray, 6s.). Includes chapters on Gilds, Friendly Societies, Co-operative Movement, Co- partnership, and Trade Unionism.

Thorold Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages.

For the development of education the teacher can consult : Sadler, Continuation Schools in England and elsewhere. Montmorency, The Progress of Education in England. Roberts (editor), Education in the Nineteenth Century (Camb. 4s.). Birchenough, History of Elementary Education in England and Wales from 1800 to the Present Day (Clive, 4s. 6d.).

124 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

II. History of the Empire

Among the best general outlines are : Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire (Camb., 4s.). Jose, Growth of the Empire (Murray, 4*. 6d.).

The last two chapters of Egerton, Origin and Growth of English .Colonies (Clarendon Press, 3s. Qd.), should also be read.

Books on the various parts of the Empire must also be consulted, to supply the details which are so essential in teaching. The following short list contains some of the most useful books of this kind :

CANADA. Sir J. G. Bourinat, Canada (Story of the Nations, Fisher Unwin, 5s.), and his Canada under British Rule (Camb., 6s.).

AFRICA. Sir H. H. Johnston, History of the Colonization of Africa

by Alien Races (Camb., 4*. 6d.).

Sir A. Colvin, The Making of Modern Egypt (Nelson, 1*.). E. S. Grogan, From the Cape to Cairo (Nelson, Is.). G. W. Steevens, With Kitchener to Khartum (Nelson, Is.). H. B. Worsfold, South Africa (Dent's Cyclopaedic Primers, Is.). G. M. Theal, South Africa (Fisher Unwin, 5s.).

INDIA. Sir Spencer Walpole, History of England, vol. vi, chaps.

xxv-xxvii. Sir A. Lyall, The Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion in

India (Murray, 5s.), and the following volumes in the English

Men of Action Series (Macmillan, 2s. 6d.) : Clive, by Sir C.

Wilson ; Hastings, by Sir A. Lyall ; Havelock, by A. Forbes ;

Colin Campbell, by A. Forbes ; Laurence, by Sir R. Temple ;

Sir C. Napier, by Sir W. Butler. W. H. Fitchett, The Tale of the Great Mutiny (Smith, Elder, 6s.).

AUSTRALIA. Captain Cook's Voyages (Dent, Is.).

Sir W. Besant, Captain Cook (English Men of Action, Macmillan,

2s. 6d.). W. H. Fitchett, The Romance of the Australian Map (2 vols., Smith,

Elder, 6s. each).

E. Jenks, The History of the Australian Colonies (Camb., 4s. 6d.). A. W. Jose, Australasia (Dent's Cyclopaedic Primers, Is.). G. Tregarthen, The Australian Commonwealth (Fisher Unwin, 5s.).

THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH YEARS 125

III. Constitutional History The best short accounts of the growth of our constitution are :

F. C. Montague, Elements of English Constitutional History (Long, mans, 3s. 6d!.).

Howard Masterman, History of the British Constitution (Macmillan,

3s. 6d.). A useful work of reference is :

D. J. Medley, Student's Manual of English Constitutional History (Oxford, Blackwell, 12s. 6d.).

Mrs. J. R. Green's Town Life in the Fifteenth Century is useful for the government of towns in the Middle Ages. The corruption of town government before 1835 can be illustrated from local records, e. g. Sharp's History of Hartlepool (1816) ; Report on the Borough of Leeds (Reports from Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in England and Wales,. 1835) ; The Records of the City of Norwich, edited by Hudson and Tingey, 2 vols.

IV. England's Foreign Relations

Besides the general works on European history, the teacher can study : Alison Phillips, Modern Europe (Rivington, 6s.). From 1815 to

1899.

The Cambridge Modern History, vols. x-xii. Fyffe, Modern Europe (Cassell, 10s. 6d.). J. A. Cramb, Germany and England (Murray, 2s. Qd.). The War and Democracy (Macmillan, 2s. Qd.). Prince von Billow, Imperial Germany (Cassell, 2s. 6d.).

CHAPTER IX THE ORAL LESSON

THE historical knowledge which we think it desirable for the children to have can be imparted in two ways : by the words of the teacher, or by books and original sources. Of these, the oral method is naturally the one more frequently used. Even when suitable books are available — and this is rarely the case — private study can only be attempted in upper classes, and then must be supervised by the teacher. The examination of sources, which is a form of private study, demands still more control by the teacher. Oral work must, in fact, remain the primary method of teaching through- out the school. Private study, however, provides valuable training in the use of books and a feeling of self-reliance which is absent from oral work. The oral work should therefore, whenever possible, be supplemented by book work as soon as the chil- dren are capable of using books under the teacher's guidance.

There are two essential characteristics of a good oral history lesson: a wise selection of facts, and ability to impart these facts in the most effective way.

I. Even in the upper classes the facts selected must be particular and definite rather than general and indefinite. Where the teacher aims at imparting some general idea it must be illustrated by particular facts. For example, reference to the water galas on the Thames

THE ORAL LESSON 127

by which means Henry VIII celebrated the imprison- ment of Anne Boleyn, and the mere mention of the fact that Henry was betrothed to Jane Seymour the day following Anne's execution, and married her ten days later, will make a far greater impression than endless generalities about Henry's character.

Details may be a burden in a lesson and mere mental lumber to the child even when learnt ; but wisely selected, they will illuminate and vivify the stories of the past. Take a simple example : The children have had a lesson on life in a mediaeval monastery, and this has been followed by a visit to a ruined abbey. Standing with his pupils in the church of the abbey, the teacher calls attention to the stairs leading from the monks' dormitory to the church, down which they came for the services during the night . But the children can form no true mental picture of the sleepy monks creeping down the stairs into the church. unless they know something about the appearance of the monks and of the church. The monks with their tonsured heads, flowing garments and sandalled feet, the dimly lit church, cold and still, the rood screen, the choir stalls, the altar : these are the details with which the child fills in his picture if the scene is to be real to him.

Or the class may be studying the American War of Independence. The teacher will find many opportuni- ties here of giving particular facts rather than general, vague ones. For example :

1. It is of little use merely to tell the class that Burke and Chatham were opposed to the attitude of the English Government towards the colonists. The teacher should supply the children with extracts from the speeches of these men to illustrate their attitude.

128 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(a) The following are from speeches made by Chatham in the House of Lords : l

' My Lords, I am an old man and would advise the noble lords in office to adopt a more gentle mode of governing America ; for the day is not far distant, when America may vie with these kingdoms, not only in arms, but in arts also.'

' This has always been my received and unalterable opinion, and I will carry it to my grave, that this country has no right under Heaven to tax America.' (Speech in 1774.)

In May 1777 he appeared in the House of Lords supported by crutches, and declared :

' You may ravage, you cannot conquer ; it is im- possible : you cannot conquer the Americans. I might as well talk of driving them before me with this crutch.'

Later in the same year he was speaking against the use of German mercenaries in the war, and said : ' If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms — never — never — never.'

(6) Burke in 1774 was urging the Government to repeal the tax on tea, and in the same speech was attacking the indecision of the Government in their attitude towards America. He declared, ' Let us, sir, embrace some system or other before we end this session. Do you mean to tax America, and to draw a productive revenue from thence ? If you do, speak out ; name, fix, ascertain, this revenue ; settle its quantity ; define its objects ; provide for its collection ; and then fight when you have something to fight for. If you murder — rob ; if you kill, take possession ; and

1 F. Harrison, Chatham (Twelve English Statesmen, Macmillan).

THE ORAL LESSON 129

do not appear in the character of madmen, as well as assassins, violent, vindictive, bloody, and tyrannical without an object. But may better counsels guide you ! 'Again, and again, revert to your old principles — seek peace and ensue it — leave America, if she has taxable matter in her, to tax herself.'

2. In speaking of the commercial restrictions imposed upon the colonists particulars can be given without making the lesson dull. If the children know that, amongst other restrictions, the colonists were com- pelled to export some of their most important products, as tobacco, cotton, and sugar, only to England ; that no foreign vessels might enter their harbours ; that, with certain exceptions, they could import no foreign goods except by way of England ; that many goods, as cloth and hardware, might not be manufactured in America ; they will then be better able to under- stand the growing breach between America and England.

3. The character of the English Government during this period, a vital factor in the relations with America, can be illustrated by definite facts on such points as the incompetence of ministers, the corruption of Parliament, and the King's position in the Government. Thus, Grafton and Buckingham were great racing men, North was weak and easily overruled by the King. Bribery of members of Parliament by the Crown was a common means of securing a majority for the Government. The King was determined to be the real head of his Government, and his stubbornness and short-sightedness in all matters relating to America contributed much to the unwise attitude of the Govern- ment towards the Colonies.

4. In speaking of the growing unrest in the Colonies

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130 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

examples should be given beyond the time-honoured story of the Boston Tea Party ; e. g. the burning of the Gaspee, the Boston Riot, and the outcry against Governor Hutchinson on the publication of his letters.

Enough has been said to demonstrate the importance of having plenty of interesting particular facts. They may not all be remembered ; but this is often of little consequence, since we are using them to teach larger, more general ideas. Often the details necessary to make a subject understood can be given by the creation of fictitious characters and events . If we create a parish priest and give him a name and a parish in order that our description of church life in the Middle Ages may be clearer and less vague than it would otherwise be, or if we create a typical manor to illustrate life in the country,1 then our ' story ' conveys a good deal of knowledge in pleasant form.

There is a further principle to be considered in selecting the facts to be taught. The lesson must be a gradual development of one or more central ideas, not a string of facts with little connexion between them. This lack of unity is often conspicuous in lessons dealing with great movements, as the Reformation, when facts of various kinds are massed together with little thought of the confusing influence they will have upon the children's minds. The Reformation was an exceedingly complex movement which our pupils can- not possibly understand unless we teach the various phases separately. The separation from Rome, the dissolution of the monasteries, the introduction of the

1 See the account of the fictitious manor of Tubney at various periods in C. B. L. Fletcher's Introductory History of England, e. g. vol. ii, chap, viii, An Elizabethan Squire.

THE ORAL LESSON 131

English Bible and service books, the attack on shrines, images, and relics : each of these aspects deserves a separate lesson.

Further examples are not necessary to illustrate the need for selecting a definite topic for each lesson. Sometimes coherence can be given to the subject- matter by grouping the facts round the life of some great character. But in treating a subject biographi- cally there is a tendency to connect facts unduly with the character selected. For example, there is no justification for dealing biographically with the great struggle between King and People in Stuart times by including under the general subject-heading of ' Oliver Cromwell ' all events of importance on the subject from 1603 or even from 1642. Cromwell after the war was the leading figure, but did not hold the centre of the stage in the Long Parliament during its momentous sittings before the war, and had little or no influence in the reign of James. The life of a great man can be of most use in history teaching when it is representative of a class of society or of a great movement. The Earl of Warwick, last of the barons, illustrates the great power of the barons in the fifteenth century ; Joan of Arc typifies the growing national feeling in France against the English ; Hampden is the repre- sentative Puritan resisting the high claims of the Stuart king ; Wyclif illustrates the religious unrest of the fourteenth century. History is not the biography of great men, for history is concerned with the life of the people as a whole. Much in the life of the people, however, can be illustrated by reference to the lives of great men ; much in the life of every great man is of no importance in history.

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132 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

II. The second feature of good oral teaching is effectiveness in the method of telling the story. Since history teaching is to a great extent story-telling, it fol- lows that the teacher must have the qualities of a good story-teller. Some of these qualities are the following :

1. A thorough command of the facts so that they can be recalled without effort or hesitation as the story proceeds. Unless the teacher's knowledge is full and sound there is a probability that the facts will not be arranged in the most suitable way. In narrative work the episodes of the story must follow one another naturally and unhesitatingly if we are to hold the attention and rouse the interest of the class. So often a story is marred by the teacher remembering an important incident too late and- attempting to insert it when he has proceeded too far.

When the oral work is descriptive the teacher aims at the creation of clear mental pictures which are the result of gradual development. We begin by giving a very brief outline, somewhat as a painter does who sketches in the outlines in charcoal. As we work at our description the details are gradually added by the child to the picture in his mind. Suppose, for example, a teacher wishes to describe the hall of a baron's castle and a scene there during a feast. He should not describe in detail the interior of the hall, with its open wooden roof, the deep, mullioned windows, the walls hung with tapestries, the floor covered with rushes, before any mention of the tables, the people, and the feast. The children require first a brief glance at the whole scene, and then such details as are necessary to make the picture clear and realistic. Along methodi- cal description without incident is tedious to children.

THE ORAL LESSON 133

2. It is equally important that the teacher should understand the mental capacity of the children he is teaching. We so often fail because we have insufficient knowledge of the mental content of the child. We do not realize his paucity of ideas or the narrowness of meaning which words have for him. ' Perhaps the greatest difficulty in teaching young children is that teacher and taught almost speak different languages, for though they use the same words, the meanings implied are far from being the same. One can never give good oral teaching until one has mastered with approximate accuracy the real speech of one's pupils, so that one knows what kinds of meanings one's words will call up in their minds.' *

3. A third characteristic of a good story-teller is a fluent command of language and ability to adapt voice and manner to suit the subject-matter. A teacher who cannot forget himself and become truly dramatic lacks one of the essential qualities for telling a good story. At first a young teacher is intensely self-conscious ; he is afraid to ' let himself go '. But if he will always prepare his lesson thoroughly, and rehearse it beforehand, not necessarily aloud, he will soon find the awkwardness disappearing. He will learn that some parts of a story can be lightly passed over, whilst other parts must be told impressively, that the voice must be regulated in tone and speed, that the manner must be natural, the actions being neither stiff nor exaggerated. With more experience he will learn that a well-told story is a work of art and the story-teller an artist of the highest degree.

But oral teaching in history is more than story-telling. 1 Welton, Psychology of Education, pp. 349-50.

134 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

The principal aim of story-telling as an art is to produce an aesthetic effect, but history teaching, except in the lowest classes, aims also at imparting knowledge. Indeed, in the upper part of the school this is our main purpose, and the aesthetic and moral effect of what we teach is quite subsidiary. It follows then, that we must adopt those methods of teaching by which we ensure that knowledge imparted has been really assimilated. Questioning by teacher and children, and the active co-operation of the class through the use of note-books and through exercises of various kinds, are the most usual means of guaranteeing that the work has been thoroughly understood by the children.

No good oral work is possible without some question- ing, but how far the teacher's exposition should be interrupted by questions, asked either by himself or by the children, is a matter to be decided partly by the character of the oral lesson, and partly by the age of the children. With older pupils the oral work often takes the form of a discussion which corrects and extends the knowledge they have already gained of a particular topic. The class begins with a foundation of knowledge, and questions by both teacher and class are an important feature of the work. The mental activity of such a class should not be limited to the imagination of scenes or the comprehension of facts, but should include efforts to reason out causes and effects, and to form sound opinions based on the facts. In a word, the children should be trained to develop a critical and not merely a receptive attitude of mind, and this is impossible without questions.

In another case a class of boys ten years old are having a lesson on the discovery of America by the

THE ORAL LESSON 135

Norsemen. Here the teacher must impart practically all the facts, but as the lesson proceeds many questions may be asked by teacher and pupils without inter- rupting the thread of the story. If the teacher tells the story without demanding more from the boys than passive listening, they will lapse into an apathetic state. But if they can be induced to co-operate with the teacher they will be alert and eager throughout the lesson.

Where, however, a story is being told to a young class by a good story-teller they will sit enthralled. Questions by the teacher are naturally resented, whilst questions by the children are not to be encouraged until the story is ended.

Almost equally important is the use of note-books. Note-taking, whilst it must not occupy too large a share of the time, is an important feature of most lessons in the middle and upper classes. At first the notes must be dictated by the teacher or copied from the blackboard. Later, the children will be able to make their own notes, either at intervals during the lesson when the teacher pauses to enable the class to do this, or at the end. Children even in the top classes will rarely, if ever, be able to make satisfactory notes during the progress of the lesson. The note-books, besides being used for notes of oral lessons, will contain simple date charts, sketches, maps, diagrams, original extracts, and illustrative poems. In the upper classes they should also contain lists of books for reference, when such books are available, and historical novels. Note-books developed on these lines will be of great use for purposes of reference and revision.

Oral work, in order to be successful, must usually be followed by some active exercise on the part of the

136 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

child which will enable him to revise and fix the know- ledge gained during the lesson. Rapid oral questioning is of little value for revision, as the children's attention is directed to isolated facts, whilst the connexions between the facts, which is so important a part of historical study, tend to become obscured. Ability to reproduce isolated facts is no criterion that the children understand the matter taught. Infinitely better are continuous oral or written answers, occasional debates in the upper classes, dramatization of scenes in lower classes, and exercises in art and handwork. The lesson can also be followed up by the study of literary extracts in prose and verse bearing upon the subject, the examination of sources, and the use of books. These methods will be discussed in subsequent chapters.

Another condition of successful work is the wise use ol illustrations. But this subject also is too important to be dealt with here in an incidental way and has been reserved for a later chapter.

A question which can, however, be conveniently considered at this point is the extent to which dates should be learnt. The central idea in history is develop- ment ; and in order to study development we must be able to put events and conditions in their right places chronologically, so that we can examine them by comparison and contrast with events occurring and conditions existing in other periods. That is, we must have some knowledge of the correct sequence of events and the periods of time elapsing between events which are in some way related. The opinion of Locke on this point is instructive. ' Without geography and chronology, I say, history will be very ill retained and

THE ORAL LESSON 137

very little useful ; but be only a jumble of matters of fact, confusedly heaped together without order or instruction. It is by these two that the actions of mankind are ranked into their proper places of times and countries ; under which circumstances they are not only much easier kept in the memory, but in that natural order are only capable to afford those observa- tions which make a man the better and the abler for reading them.' 1

Some attention, then, must be paid to the learning of dates. A beginning can be made by the children gradually constructing a skeleton of dates and prominent events, which will be of great use in locating events studied later on. Very early in the school course the stories told to the class might be arranged in chronologi- cal order and a time chart constructed by the children to illustrate them. Although exact dates need not always be given, such a chart would be the beginning of a system of dates which would be continually developed. There is no intrinsic objection, however, to a few exact dates being given. To some teachers it may appear useless to trouble a young child who has been hearing the story of the battle of Crecy with the exact date 1346, especially as he has no appreciation of the length of time since this event occurred. But is this an important objection? A long period of time which is naturally beyond the range of our experience can only be understood at all by comparison with shorter periods with which we are more or less acquainted. The fact that the battle of Crecy was fought in the year 1346 would therefore be learnt, not in order that the children might appreciate duration 1 Some Thoughts concerning Education, 1690.

138 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

of time, since this is impossible, but as a date which later on could be used for purposes of comparison.

For example, when other battles in other periods are studied, such as Agincourt, 1415, Flodden Field, 1513, Marston Moor, 1644, Blenheim, 1704, and Waterloo, 1815, we can trace the progress of the art of war, which would be impossible unless we could locate, at least approximately, the time when each of these battles was fought. Since, also, we remember facts by association, the date 1346 will be a landmark with which we can associate other events of the fourteenth century. The Black Death appeared in England three years later, the battle of Poictiers was won ten years later, the naval victory at Sluys occurred six years previously.

Chronology is at the root of all real historical study, even in schools, and if in upper classes the children's knowledge is to be worth anything, some dates, either exact or approximate, must be learnt in studying every event and movement. The absence of a so- called ' time-sense ', whatever this may mean, is no reason why dates should not be remembered. A child is quite unable to comprehend the duration of an epoch such as the nineteenth century, yet this does not, of course, imply that in studying the history of this period, dates can be neglected.

In order to illustrate the methods of oral teaching discussed in this chapter suggestions for lessons are given below.

I. ENGLAND IN THE TIME OF ALFRED

Three lessons. (Age of children, ten years.) Books for teacher's preparation : Dodd, Early English Social History (Bell, Is. 6d.).

THE ORAL LESSON 139

Caton, Old-time Stories, Part II (Macmillan, 6d.). Traill and Mann, Social England, vol. i, chap. i.

Also general books recommended in Appendix III for industrial history.

A central idea is found in an imaginary journey taken by King Alfred, with whom the children are already well acquainted. He is supposed to travel from his royal palace at Wedmore to his capital, Winchester.

First Lesson. The First Day's Journey

1. Alfred's companions on the journey — some of his nobles or thanes, and two or three bishops and abbots. Why should these men be with him ? (Illus- trations of costume.)

2. Means of travelling. On horseback or in a rough carriage. (Illustration of Anglo-Saxons on a journey.)

3. The Road. Grassy lanes, often old British or Roman trackways.

4. Appearance of the country. Forests, no level roads, small villages of wooden huts.

5. At the end of the first day the travellers stay at a manor belonging to one of the Bang's thanes. (Illus- tration of an Anglo-Saxon thane's residence.) Supper in the Hall. (Illustrations of supper- time in a Saxon Hall, and after the evening meal in the Hall of a Saxon thane ; sketches of furniture of the period.)

Second Lesson. An Anglo-Saxon Manor

1. The King stays at the manor for a few days. Manner of employing his time — hunting the wild boar, reading, writing, conferring with his nobles on matters of government.

2. The people of the manor, slaves, serfs, freemen.

3. The homes of the people.

140 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

4. Their work on the land. Open fields, land cultivated in strips, primitive ploughing, sowing, reaping, and threshing. Emphasize the co-operative character of this work. (For illustrations of the work on the land in early times see Horace Marshall's Historical Albums, Period 1272-1399, iv, price 3d., where there are excellent drawings from the Luttrell Psalter, 1320. Methods of agriculture made so little progress during the Middle Ages that these drawings are, no doubt, applicable to the later Anglo-Saxon period.)

5. The church and parish priest. (Sketches of Anglo- Saxon churches.)

Conclusion. Ask children whether they would like to live in an Anglo-Saxon village. By a discussion of this question the children will review the main points of the lesson and will also be led to make comparisons between social conditions a thousand years ago and to-day.

Third Lesson. The Completion of the Journey

1. People met with on the journey. Outlaws and robbers would keep out of the way, but an occasional chapman might be seen.

2. The travellers call at a monastery. Some account of Anglo-Saxon monastic life in this period when the monasteries were degenerating.

3. At this point an incident can be introduced to illus- trate Anglo-Saxon methods of dealing with criminals. The travellers meet a number of men who are pursuing a criminal. These men are not the police, but the man's own friends (Anglo-Saxon system of mutual responsi- bility for good behaviour). We may leave King Alfred for a time and follow the fugitive. He is caught, and

THE ORAL LESSON 141

after being kept in prison for a time is tried. Trial, not by jury as to-day, but by undergoing some ordeal, or by bringing twelve men who will say, on oath, that the accused is a man of good character (consult Low and Pulling's Dictionary of English History or a constitu- tional history, e.g. Medley, or Stubbs, for an account of the Ordeal and Compurgatiori).

His punishment, if guilty, differed from punishments to-day. Fines for every offence (read extracts from 'Alfred's Dooms', Kendall, Source Book of English History, p. 17). A criminal was outlawed if the fine was not paid.

4. We return to the travellers. Their arrival at Winchester — description of a town in Anglo-Saxon times (illustration, entrance to an Anglo-Saxon walled town).

Teaching Notes

1. Constant comparisons should be made with the present day, so that children can note great progress in various ways since time of Alfred.

2. The teacher must use his imagination and develop the subject-matter of these lessons into a vivid con- nected narrative. He must invent incidents and char- acters to make the story realistic.

3. Illustrations are an important feature of these lessons ; those mentioned above are found in Long- mans' Historical Illustrations, Portfolio I (2s. 6d.). They are too small for use in oral lessons, but both these and the illustrations in Marshall's Albums can be copied on blackboard or displayed upon the walls of the classroom before the lesson.

4. Simple notes can be dictated or made by the children themselves at the end of each lesson. If made

142 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

at intervals during the lessons they will mar the effect of the oral work.

5. The lessons can also be followed up by simple oral or written exercises, which can be taken in the English lesson, or, if time allows, immediately after the oral work.

6. Opportunities should also be found after each lesson for copying in note-books some of the simpler illustrations, e.g. sketches of costume and furniture.

II. THE RENAISSANCE

Five lessons. (Age of children, 12-13.)

Books for teacher's preparation :

J. B. Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, chap. xv. J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, vol. ii.

H. A. L. Fisher, History of England, 1485-1547, chap, vi (Longmans). J. A. Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus (Longmans, 3s. 6d.). F. Seebohm, The Oxford Reformers (Longmans, 4s. 6d).

The Era of the Protestant Revolution (Longmans, 2s. 6d.).

Moberley, The Early Tudors (Longmans, 2s. 6d.).

J. Burckhardt, The Renaissance in Italy (Allen, 10s. 6d.).

First Lesson. The Revival of Learning

1. Introduction, (a) Read to the class one of the stories from Kingsley's Heroes, (b) Tell them the story of Leonidas at Thermopylae (C. M. Yonge, A Book of Golden Deeds).

2. These and many other stories were not known in the Middle Ages as they came from Greek books. In the Middle Ages scholars could read Latin — this was the language of educated people for writing books and often for letters. But very few could read Greek. Also they had very few books written by the Greeks and Romans. These books were manuscripts, usually written on parchment. Many such books existed,

THE ORAL LESSON 143

which were far better than most of those read in the Middle Ages, but men in Western Europe were not aware of their existence.

3. In the fourteenth century a famous man called Petrarch was living in Italy at the time Wyclif was living in England. He was one of the first to collect ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts. A copy of the works of Homer was sent to him from Constantinople, and he sent copyists to all parts of Europe to obtain copies of manuscripts whilst he himself copied many. One of his greatest disappointments was that a friend to whom he had lent a manuscript, pawned it. He encouraged rich men to form public libraries because of the difficulty in obtaining copies of the classics.

4. Petrarch could read very little Greek, but before he died (1374) a few students in Italy were studying ^ this language. As time went on, more Latin and Greek books were collected and studied.

During this period the Turks were attacking Con- stantinople (class should refer to map of south-east Europe). In 1390 a Greek named Chrysoloras came to Italy to ask for help against the Turks. The Italians persuaded him to come again and make his home in Italy as a teacher of Greek when his business was finished.

In the next century the number of Greek and Latin books in Italy increased by copying manuscripts, by the discovery of new works, and by Greek scholars bringing their manuscripts from Constantinople (taken by Turks 1453). A son-in-law of Chrysoloras was sent to Constantinople in 1422 to collect manuscripts ; some of them were lost on the way to Italy in a shipwreck.

5. Scholars began to go to Italy from England and

144 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

other countries to learn Greek and study the classics. In Henry VII's reign it was being taught at Oxford and Cambridge ; Henry VIII learnt it when young, and all his children had a classical education.

Teaching Notes

1. In teaching this subject it is very important to give particular facts, which need not all be remembered, but which form the necessary foundation for more general ideas.

2. During the lesson notes can be made at intervals by the children.

3. After the lesson the class might be given an opportunity of reading extracts from translations of the classics, e.g. from North's translation of Plutarch, from Thucydides, or from the Iliad or Odyssey.

4. Written exercises such as a simple essay or answers to questions could be set in an English lesson, e.g. In what ways did Petrarch encourage the study of the classics ? The value of such a question is that it demands real thought and not mere reproduction of facts.

Second Lesson. Effects of the Revival of Learning Care must be taken in this lesson to avoid giving the children vague ideas about the abstract intellectual effects of the Revival. The first part of the lesson must deal with particular illustrations, after which a simple generalization might be developed.

1. The idea that the earth is round was found in the classics and influenced the opinions of Columbus, leading him ultimately to sail westwards (Adams, Civilization in the Middle Ages, pp. 388-9).

THE ORAL LESSON 145

2. Copernicus got his first ideas about the solar system from the ancients (Adams, p. 385).

3. The Greeks knew more about medical science than physicians in the fifteenth century. Hence Greek medical works were translated. Linacre, an English Greek scholar, who was physician to Henry VII and Henry VIII, founded the Royal College of Physicians.

4. There was much in the classics which made some men doubt the truth of the doctrines taught by the Church of Rome. Men began to think for themselves in matters of religion. The Renaissance in this way was one of the causes of the Reformation, which was a revolt against the authority of the Church. Teacher can refer to :

(a) St. Paul at Athens, and the Altar to the Unknown God, as an illustration of the religious activity of the Greeks. Part of Acts, Chapter 17, can be read to class.

(6) The worship of Plato by the scholars of Florence, who built a shrine in his honour and kept a lamp burning before his statue (see Symonds, pp.237-8) .

5. In England, however, the study of Greek turned men's attention to the Bible.

(a) Colet at Oxford ; his lectures on St. Paul.

(6) Colet as Dean of St. Paul's. In lectures and sermons he advocated a closer study of the Bible (see Seebohm, Oxford Reformers).

6. Influence on education in England. Teacher should first describe briefly the curriculum of a mediaeval school or university. He can then refer to the founding of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, the building of grammar schools, and especially the founding of St. Paul's School (Oxford Reformers, chap, v) .

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146

Dictate extract A below.

7. Conclusion. This will be arrived at by discussion with the class. The Revival of Learning resulted in men's ideas about many things being changed. It made them doubt many things which had been believed for centuries to be true and made them dissatisfied with their knowledge. This doubt and dissatisfaction was the beginning of modern progress.

Although the class will not, perhaps, be able to express these thoughts in these exact words, the ami of the teacher in this lesson is to give the children these ideas.

Dictate extract B below.

Teaching Notes

1. Notes of the lesson will be taken as before.

2. Note-books can also be used for extracts such as the following :

A. From the Statutes of St. Paul's School, quoted in Seebohm, Oxford Reformers, chap, v : ' My intent is by this school specially to increase knowledge and worshipping of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and good Christian life and manners in the children.'

B. From a letter of Erasmus (Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, p. 244) r ' The world is waking out of a long deep sleep. The old ignorance is still defended with tooth and claw, but we have kings and nobles now on our side. Time was when learning was only found in the religious orders. The religious orders nowadays care only for money and sensuality, while learning has passed to secular princes and peers and courtiers.'

In judging the truth of this extract we must make allowance for the fact that Erasmus was writing to one of Henry VIII's courtiers.

THE ORAL LESSON 147

3. As in all lessons of this kind, the oral work and note-making can be followed by written exercises, e. g. write an account of a boy's school life at St. Paul's School in the reign of Henry VIII.

Third Lesson. The Invention of Printing.

Any good encyclopaedia for the facts connected with the history of printing. A good summary is found in the Official Guide to the British Museum (2d.). Illustrations of manuscripts will be found in Traill and Mann, Social England, vol. ii, pp. 712-26 ; Brown, History of the English Bible (Cambridge Press, Is.); and in guides to museums, e. g. Guide to Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 6d.).

1. Introduction. Read to the class portions of Reade's Cloister and the Hearth, chap, i — Gerard, the young copyist.

2. Scarcity of books in mediaeval times ; work of monks as copyists ; great cost of books. Show a copy — a coloured one or a photograph if possible — of an ancient manuscript to illustrate the beauty of the illustrations and lettering.

3. The Revival of Learning caused a greater demand for books. At first the classics were copied by hand. * Scarcity of books was at first a chief impediment to the study of antiquity. Popes and princes and even great religious institutions possessed far fewer books than many farmers of the present age' (Symonds, p. 93).

The demand for more copies of the classics did not, however, lead to the invention of printing, although it was a great cause of its rapid development.

4. The introduction of printing. The details are not interesting to children and can be omitted. The following points, however, should be dealt with :

(a) Invention of movable type.

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148 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(6) Block printing — its advantages. Compare with

stereotype plates, (c) The reasons why the art developed rapidly

throughout Europe in latter part of fifte'enth

century.

Illustrations of early printing should, if possible, be shown to the class. Refer to some great collections of early books such as that at the British Museum. 5. First printing-presses in England, (a) Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde at Westminster. (6) Presses at Oxford and Cambridge. Show picture

of an early printing-press.

Teaching Notes

Importance must be attached to the .work done by the children after the lesson. The following exercises can be set :

1. In an art lesson the children could copy a portion of an ancient manuscript if the lettering is artistic and legible and if the children are provided with suitable pens. If an actual copy of a manuscript sufficiently clear to be copied cannot be supplied to the class, the teacher can let the children copy the lettering from the blackboard.

2. In a handwork lesson the children could make blocks and take prints from them. Either a soft wood, e. g. canary, or linoleum with no surface can be used.

3. Every school should have a hand printing-press, which will make this subject more interesting and give the children practice in actual printing, e. g. school notices, programmes, schemes of work, and also illus- trative extracts for the history lessons could be printed.

4. A written exercise could also be set, e.g.' Why was

THE ORAL LESSON 149

the invention of printing one of the greatest events of the fifteenth century ? '

Fourth and Fifth Lessons. Life of Erasmus The following features of this period are illustrated by the life of Erasmus :

1. The hardships of a poor scholar four hundred years ago. Contrast with the opportunities which a brilliant young man has to-day.

2. The influence of the Revival of Learning upon religious thought.

3. The degeneration of the Church on the eve of the Reformation.

4. The Revival of Learning in England.

Fourth Lesson. Erasmus, Early Life and Visits to England

1. Introduction. Refer to extract from Reade's Cloister and the Hearth which was read in the previous lesson. Gerard's son became the famous Erasmus.

2. His early lif e in a convent (Froude, Lecture 1 ). He was ever afterwards the bitter opponent of the monks. Read extracts from a letter written nearly thirty years later to the prior of this convent (Froude, pp. 176-8), and from a letter which illustrates his opinion of monastic orders in general (Froude, pp. 179-83).

3. Life in Paris (Froude, Lecture 2). His first experience of the world. Though a priest, he mixed in gay society and was continually in need of money. Studied Greek and taught it.

Read extract in which Erasmus describes a fight between his landlady and her maid. This will illustrate his humour (Froude, pp. 26-7).

4. First visit to England, 1497-9 (Froude, Lecture 3).

150

Was well received. A letter in which he speaks of the English girls being divinely pretty will reveal the lighter side of his nature and show that he was pleased with himself. ' Your friend Erasmus gets on well in England ' (Froude, p. 49). He made many friends, including Colet, More, and Archbishop Warham. ' When Colet speaks I might be listening to Plato. Linacre is as deep and acute a thinker as I ever met with, Grocyn is a mine of knowledge, and Nature never formed a sweeter and happier disposition than that of Thomas More. The number of young men who are studying ancient literature is astonishing ' (Froude, pp. 43-4).

His English friends provided him with funds to go to Italy. Visited the royal nursery, where he met the future Henry VIII.

He was deprived of his money by the customs officials on leaving England. Why ? Shortly after, he was again in Paris in great poverty.

5. The next few years were spent abroad, with the exception of two short visits to England. During these years he was usually in great poverty. Read extracts in illustration, e.g. Froude, pp. 62, 64-5, 68-9. In one letter he declares : ' No rock can be nakeder than I am at present ' ; and in another : 'I must remain where I am. I have no money and do not wish to borrow . ' But he was not averse to begging and grumbling about his patrons when they disappointed him.

On the whole, these were years of hard work, studying and translating Greek works (Froude, p. 63).

6. Erasmus in England. Henry VIII, after his accession, invited Erasmus to England. On arrival in London he stayed with More and wrote his Praise of Folly.

THE ORAL LESSON 151

Read extracts from this violent attack on the Church, e. g. his opinion of priests and friars (Froude, pp. 140-1) and of schoolmasters (Seebohm, chap. iv. 3).

Erasmus became Professor of Greek at Cambridge. Whilst there he visited the shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham in Norfolk (Seebohm, chap. vii. 4).

Fifth Lesson. Erasmus — his later years, 1514-36

1. Whilst in England Erasmus was invited to the court of Prince Charles of the Netherlands (the future Emperor Charles V), who offered him a pension and remained his patron until the end of his life.

Before leaving England he and Colet visited Becket's shrine at Canterbury. Read to the class extracts from an account of this visit and of an incident on the return journey (Seebohm, chap. viii. 3). The details of the visit show the contempt of Erasmus and Colet for relics, images, and shrines.

2. Publication of the Greek Testament with a new Latin translation. The importance of this was that it showed many faults in the Vulgate, the ' authorized ' version of the Church. Since the Church considered the Vulgate to be without fault or blemish, the new Greek Testament and translation was bitterly attacked by Churchmen.

3. The religious views of Erasmus.

(a) He was bitterly opposed to degeneration in the Church, but —

(6) He would not sever himself from it. In 1529 he wrote, ' Never will I be tempted or exasperated into deserting the true communion,' and he never did. Indeed, in the last year of his life he might have received a cardinal's hat.

152 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(c) He advocated freedom of opinion in religious matters. ' The sum of religion is peace, which can only be when definitions are as few as possible, and opinion is left free on many subjects ' (Froude, p. 304).

He therefore was opposed to Luther, who whilst attacking the doctrines of the Church was asserting new beliefs which might become as tyrannical as the old.

(d) During the latter part of his life he showed an earnest Christian character. In 1529 he writes : ' All grows wilder and wilder. Men talk of heresy and orthodoxy . . . but none speak of Christ. . . . We have had prisons, bulls and burnings ; and what has come of them ? Outcries enough ; but no crying to Christ ' (Froude, p. 371).

The children can form the above opinions, a-d, for themselves after extracts have been read to them.

4. The great learning of Erasmus was recognized in his lifetime, and fortune smiled upon him. Read extracts from letters written in 1530 (Froude, p. 387) and in 1535 (Froude, p. 429).

Teaching Notes

1. These two lessons can be concluded by a discussion with the class concerning the character and influence of Erasmus.

2. During the lessons the children's note-books will be used for short extracts and notes.

3. After the two lessons a short essay set to the class will encourage them to revise their notes and extracts. A few may even be able to refer to other books for material for the essay. Suitable subjects would be : .

(a) What Erasmus owed to England. (6) The character of Erasmus.

THE ORAL LESSON 153

4. If a copy of Froude is available for class use, some of the children could be asked to collect short extracts in their note-books to illustrate such points as :

(a) His hatred of the monks. (&) His poverty.

(c) His love of pleasure.

(d) His flattery of patrons.

(e) His satire and wit.

(/) His opinions on the Lutheran Reformation.

5. The following two books can be recommended for private reading : Reade, Cloister and the Hearth ; Manning, Household of Sir Thomas More.

III. THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT

TO 1295

(Age of children, 14-15)

Two lessons based upon the examination of sources. The class has already had lessons on :

1. Government in tribal times — with special refer- ence to Tacitus.

2. Local government in Saxon times ; the courts of the shire and hundred, their representative character.

Before these lessons begin, the class is supplied with copies of the following extracts :

A. From Alfred's Dooms

' I, then, Alfred, King, gathered these (laws) together, and commanded many of those to be written which our forefathers held, those which to me seemed good ; and many of those which seemed to me not good I rejected them, by the counsel of my " witan "... I, then, Alfred, King of the West Saxons, shewed

154 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

these to all my " witan ", and they then said that it seemed good to them all to be holden.' 1

B. From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

' 1085. At midwinter the King was at Gloucester with his witan ; and he held a court there five days . . . the King had a great consultation and spoke very deeply with his witan concerning the land, how it was held, and what were its tenantry.'

' 1087. He (the King) wore his crown three times every year when he was in England : at Easter he wore it at Winchester, at Pentecost at Westminster, and at Christmas at Gloucester. And at these times all the men of England were with him, archbishops, bishops, abbots, and earls, thanes and knights.' 2

C. From Magna Carta

Clause 14. ' And for holding a common counsel of our realm we will cause to be summoned the arch- bishops, bishops, earls and greater barons, personally, by our letters ; and besides, we will cause to be sum- moned generally by our sheriffs and bailiffs, all who hold of us in chief, for a certain day, which shall be at least forty days ahead, and to a certain place ; and in all the letters of summons, we will state the cause of the summons ; and on the appointed day the business shall proceed according to the advice of those who shall be present, although all who have been summoned may not have come.' 3

1 Sfcubbs, Select Charters, p. 70, translated in Kendall, p. 18. 8 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, translated by J. A. Giles (Bell). 3 Stubbs, Select Charters, p. 295, translated.

THE ORAL LESSON 155

D.

In 1254 King Henry III was in Gascony. The queen and Earl Richard, the king's young brother, who were regents of England in the king's absence, sent a letter to all the sheriffs, of which the following is an extract :

' The king to the sheriff of Bedfordshire and Bucking- hamshire, Greeting,

. . . We straitly command you, that you cause to come before our council at Westminster on the fifteenth day after Easter next, four lawful and discreet knights from the said counties whom the said counties shall have chosen for this purpose, that is, two from one county and two from the other, who together with the knights from the other counties whom we have had summoned for the same day, shall arrange what aid they are willing to pay us in our need. And you your- self carefully set forth to the knights and others of the said counties, our need and how urgent is our business, and effectually persuade them to pay us an aid sufficient for the time being.' 1

E. Extract from a writ for the summoning of

Parliament in 1295

' The King to the sheriff of Northamptonshire. Desiring to hold counsel and treat with the earls, barons and other nobles of our realm, as to provision against the perils which now threaten it, we have ordered them to meet us at Westminster, on the Sunday next follow- ing the Feast of St. Martin's in the coming winter, to discuss, ordain and do whatever may be necessary to guard against this danger. We therefore firmly

1 Reprinted by permission from Adams and Stephens, Select Documents of English Constitutional History, p. 55 (Macmillan).

156

enjoin you to have chosen without delay and sent to us at the said day and place two knights from the said county and two citizens from each city of the said county, and two burgesses from each borough, of those most discreet and powerful to achieve ; in such wise that the said knights, citizens and burgesses may severally have full and sufficient power, on behalf of themselves and the community of the county, cities and boroughs to do what may then be ordained by the common counsel.' l

Lesson I. The King's Council

(Extracts A, B, and C) Procedure :

1. Reference to King JAlf red's work in collecting the laws of England. Read extracts from his collection (Kendall, pp. 17-20).

2. Examination of Extract A. After extract has been read by class discuss :

(a) The people summoned to the witenagemote.

(b) Alfred's reason for consulting his ' witan ' before

publishing the laws.

(c) Other matters upon which the king would

consult them.

Note on composition and functions of the witenage- mote made in note-books.

3. Reference to : (a) the government after the Con- quest. William allowed the shire and hundred courts to continue ; (b) the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Like Alfred's Dooms, it was written in Anglo-Saxon.

4. Examination of Extract B. After both parts

1 Reprinted by permission from Colby; Selections from the Sources of English History, p. 89 (Longmans).

THE ORAL LESSON 157

have been carefully read, examine second part and discuss such questions as the following :

(a) The classes of people who met the king three times a year (of course all the men of England were not with him).

(b) The rank of these people. They were all tenants- in-chief. Teacher need not give an account of feudal tenure, but the children should know that all men who owed services directly to the king had .the right of meeting him in council on the three occasions in the year.

(c) Whether all the tenants-in-chief would be likely to go to Winchester , Westminster, and Gloucester each year. Who would be the men most likely to stay away ?

(d) Whether the king would consult his great men only on these three occasions. The truth probably is that he always had a number of tenants-in-chief and officials around him, forming a small permanent council.

Now examine the first part (date 1085) and discuss :

(a) The exact questions upon which King William ' spoke very deeply with his witan '.

(&) Why he should want full information about the landowners of England, their services, and to whom they owed these services (services can be explained as the equivalent of rent).

(c) The outcome of this meeting with his witan or great council. An inquiry was made throughout the country — Domesday Survey.

Notes made on above points.

5. Reference to Magna Carta and the circumstances under which it was extorted from the king.

6. Tell children that in the Charter there were certain things the king promised not to do, without the

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' common counsel ' of the realm. Now examine Extract C and discuss these points :

(a) Who had a right to receive a personal summons from the king (note phrase ' greater barons ' ; all tenants-in-chief were called 'barons').

(b) Why personal letters were not sent to all tenants- in-chief.

(c) Whether the lesser tenants-in-chief would be likely to go.

Note made by class on the composition of the king's council in 1215, emphasizing the distinction between the greater and the lesser barons.

Lesson II. The Beginning of Representation (Extracts D and E)

1. Discuss the following points or let the class study them from their books if text-books are available :

(a) Why King Henry III was at war with France in 1254.

(b) How the king raised money for the war.

(c) Why the war was unpopular with the people of England.

(d) Why the nobles, when asked for an aid, sug- gested that representatives of the people should be summoned.

2. Now read Extract D and discuss such points as :

(a) The reason for the Council being held at West- minster.

(b) Meaning of ' lawful and discreet '.

(c) Method of choosing the knights.

(d) Whether the king would be likely to get the money he wanted. (In 1253 Henry had ' confirmed ' the Charter, but had quickly ignored his promise. The

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only result of the summoning of the knights in 1254 was the presentation of a list of grievances.)

3. Discuss these points or let class study them from their books :

(a) What led up to Simon de Montfort's rebellion of 1264.

(6) Why Simon called the Parliament of 1265.

(c) How the people of England were represented in this Parliament.

(d) Whether de Montfort is entitled to be called the ' Founder of the English House of Commons '.

4. Refer to Edward I's difficulties in 1295.

(a) War with France. Class need not know exact events leading to this war.

(6) Trouble with Scotland.

(c) Revolts in Wales.

Hence need for a complete Parliament to support him at this time.

5. Now read Extract E. The class need not study the representation of the clergy, as this is of antiquarian interest alone and does not affect the composition of Parliament to-day.

Discuss the following points :

(a) Why Edward would be more likely than Henry III to get the money he wanted.

(6) In what way the people were more completely represented in this Parliament than in 1254 or 1265.

(c) Whether this representation, which lasted with little change until 1832, was quite satisfactory in 1295. Whether there were any classes not represented in 1295.

(d) In 1295 there was only one House of Parliament. The representatives of the people were summoned to join the nobles of the Council.

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Teaching Notes

1. Note-books must be frequently used for important facts.

2. The time taken for these two lessons, especially if some of the work is done in private study and each point suggested above is dealt with fully, will probably be considerably more than two lesson periods. The rate of progress will depend entirely upon the teacher.

3. The best form of revision is not oral questioning, but a series of written answers. If such questions as the following are set, the children must carefully revise their knowledge, using note-book and text-book. These questions are not merely reproductive, but in most cases demand the arrangement of knowledge in a systematic way.

(a) Compare the Saxon Witenagemote with the present House of Lords.

(6) Give a description of the Council in 1295 to which were added the representatives of the people.

(c) Our English form of government has grown in a natural way to meet real needs as they arise. Explain this by referring to Parliament in the thirteenth century ?

(d) Can you account for the fact that the House of Commons has control of the money matters 9f govern- ment ?

(e) In 1295 there was one House of Parliament. Can you explain why it later divided into two ?

CHAPTER X LEARNING BY DOING— YOUNGER PUPILS

IN the past we have erred in the teaching of history by denying to the child an active share in the work. We have too often forgotten that knowledge is best retained when it has been gained by effort ; that as a general rule it is not what the teacher does for the child, but what the child does for himself, which counts in education ; not the knowledge which is crammed into the child, but that gained through his activities, which has a permanent effect. We have also forgotten that the process of acquiring knowledge is not com- plete until the knowledge has been expressed in some active form. It follows that the children's work has two aims, the acquisition of ^nowledge, and the revision and fixing of knowledge previously acquired.

The means by which the children can gather the facts of history for themselves are the study of books and the examination of sources. But there are draw- backs to these methods. Such work is often too difficult for children ; suitable books are rarely found in the school in sufficient numbers to make private study possible ; and there are few sources, docu- mentary or otherwise, which will yield a reasonable amount of knowledge upon examination by the children. The class, then, must inevitably lose, to a great extent, the benefit which comes through acquiring knowledge by active effort. We must, after

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all, fall back upon the oral lesson as the chief means of imparting the facts of history.

Oral work, however, must be followed by active exercises for the purpose of revising and organizing this knowledge. In the upper classes we. must also precede or follow up the oral lesson, whenever possible, with the study of books and sources. Our aim is to combine oral work and children's activities, for each is supplementary of the other. Without sufficient oral work, the child's knowledge is narrow and frag- mentary ; without active exercises it is transitory and vague, unorganized, and ill-assimilated. Active work by the class in which the children use their knowledge has a further value, in being the only means by which the teacher is able to judge the success of his teaching. A rapid question-and-answer review at the end of the oral lesson is of little value in showing how far the children have really understood the facts taught.

In this chapter those exercises will be discussed which are most suitable for younger children. In the next we shall consider those forms of active work which are more fitting for the upper classes.

The exercises for young children which can follow an oral lesson include handwork, simple art work, dramatization, and simple oral and written work. These will be considered in turn.

I. HANDWORK AND ART

Historical subjects provide an unlimited range of exercises in both handwork and art. These vary considerably in their nature and value.

(a) Simple imitative exercises in art, e.g. copying sketches of (1) historical objects, as armour, costumes,

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or articles of furniture ; (2) scenes of everyday life, as an., attack on a mediaeval castle or farming in the Middle Ages (sketches from the Luttrell Psalter show- ing ploughing, sowing, reaping, and carting, are repro- duced in Marshall's Historical Albums, 1272-1399, iv) ; (3) illustrations of architecture, such as a Norman castle or an Elizabethan manor-house.

These exercises are useful in emphasizing the form of an object or the details of common events, since a more lasting impression is made on the mind than if the sketch were only observed by the children.

(6) Exercises in artinvolving more freedom and effort , e.g. sketching or modelling in clay historical objects which are before the class. Such exercises are suit- able for children of all ages, and need not be restricted to the lower classes. It is usually difficult to obtain historical objects as illustrations which can be sketched in the classroom. But in almost every locality there are historical remains which can be visited and sketched by the children. In some towns, indeed, as York, Norwich, and Exeter, these remains are so numerous that they will provide work for a considerable number of art lessons. For example, at York there are the minster and parish churches, the walls and bars, the Roman Tower, the remains of St. Mary's Abbey, and typical examples of domestic architecture, besides the museum with its rich store of relics. Whenever the children visit a museum or place of interest for the purpose of studying historical illustrations a few sketches should be made in note-books. As an aid to the study of history such art exercises are more valuable than merely copying a sketch, since they require a close examination of the object itself .

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(c) Making models in clay, cardboard, or wood from the actual object or a teaching model. These hajjtd- work exercises, like the copying of sketches, are essentially imitative, but vary considerably in the difficulties of construction involved. Even a very young child can make a clay model of a Greek helmet from a large size model which the teacher has made. In some other cases the exercises are only suitable for older children because of the skill required, e. g. copying a model of a hand-loom or a Tudor man-of-war.

(d) The exercises in art and handwork which require the greatest amount of originality and effort are the construction of models and the making of drawings from pictures, sketches, and verbal descriptions. Two examples may be given of this kind of exercise. I have told the story of the battle of Hastings to children seven years old, and at the end I ask the class to show me as much as they can of the battle by using their clay. Many will construct a reasonably good model. A hill is made, soldiers of the two armies are fixed up, some, who are dead, are lying down, whilst the greater number of the English lying down indicates the victory of the Normans. In such cases some of the main points of the story are plainly expressed. But shape- less lumps of clay represent the soldiers. The model is crude, it is symbolic. The child's lack of skill and the limitations of his material have impeded the work of expression, and the model is by no means a replica of his mental picture. But it is of some use. The child, in making it, has revised his knowledge, and his interest in the subject has been increased through his having been actively employed in making something.

On the other hand, a pastel drawing of an historical

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scene should rarely be required from the children, since it is more difficult to make and even less satis- factory than a clay model. We are, indeed, inclined to overrate the value of these so-called expression exercises, both in handwork and art. The lack of skill effectually hinders the expression of real historical ideas, and too often the result is the crudest imaginable travesty of the event itself.

The second example is taken from the workshop of a secondary school. The boys are going to make a model of a Norman abbey or a feudal castle, and not having seen a model of such a building will need guidance. They will read books on the architecture of abbeys and castles, will visit many ruins in the neighbourhood which will help them in making their models, and will get hints from their history master. All this helps them to have a fuller conception of an abbey or castle, but it does not enable them to imitate, except in part. They must, from the knowledge gained, mentally reconstruct the building, and then express their conception in wood and cardboard.

In these exercises, which require some originality of treatment, there is sometimes a tendency on the part of teachers to think that the value of such work is in proportion to the degree of freedom and originality which it displays. This is especially the case in teach- ing young children. But the result of unduly empha- sizing the importance of originality in treatment is that historical accuracy is in danger of being neglected. The teacher recognizes the evil of servile imitation, but forgets that imitation is essential for progress, and is the foundation of a great part of the work in school. There is, it is true, a natural tendency for imitation

166 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

to become thoughtless and mechanical. But the remedy for this is not to deprecate imitative exercises and place a premium upon ' original ' work, but to prevent imitation becoming mechanical.

The aim of all the above exercises is to make man's life in past ages more real to the child. Making a model or drawing of some historical object or scene does not, however, by itself necessarily help him. If his atten- tion is so concentrated upon the technique of the work that the historical nature of the exercise is lost to him, then it has no value as an aid to the understanding of history. In the child's mind the object must remain in its historical setting as it is being made or drawn. Professor Dewey thinks that * when a pupil learns by doing, he is re-living, both mentally and physically, some experience which has proved important to the human race ; he goes through the same mental pro- cesses as those who originally did these things '.* But this does not always happen.

On the other hand, the mistake can be made of concentrating the whole attention upon the historical ideas of the exercise, and neglecting the technique of the work. This is sometimes the case in the expression work of lower classes. In some lessons in handwork and art the teachers insist upon sound work, and in the freer expression lessons their labour is lost through inattention to the quality of the work. When the child fails, not through lack of care, but through lack of skill, to produce work that is even moderately sound, then there is a grave suspicion that the exercise is unsuitable.

1 John and Evelyn Dewey, Schools of To-morrow, p. 293.

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II. DRAMATIZATION

The acting of historical scenes may be either extem- poraneous or prepared.

(a) We have already seen that in handwork, and occasionally in art, we may give the class what have been called expression exercises, in which the children have considerable freedom in expressing their ideas. Such exercises test the children's knowledge and give the teacher an opportunity of correcting misconcep- tions. At the same time they are a means of revision, and often lead to greater definiteness of knowledge. Unprepared dramatization may be compared with such exercises. But it is far more difficult for the children to accomplish satisfactorily, since premedita- tion is hardly possible. The acting, to be natural, must proceed without hesitation ; the child cannot pause to arrange his ideas and determine the exact mode in which he can best express them. More mental activity, then, is evidently needed than in any other form of exercise. The young child — such dramatization is usually limited to lower classes — is required, in a novel position before an audience, to concentrate his thoughts, rapidly review the knowledge acquired during the oral lesson, make the necessary selection from the knowledge so reviewed, and express himself clearly and without hesitation in spoken words. It is no wonder that the child breaks down and all thought of acting is lost.

If a number of children are engaged in performing a scene, there is the further difficulty of each one being able to judge exactly when he must play his part. And even if the actors are able to express themselves

108 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

fluently and clearly and are able to take up their parts at the right time, there may be very little real acting. It is sometimes assumed that because children are ' born actors ' and have a ' dramatic instinct ', their attempts to dramatize stories must naturally be successful and have an educational value. But a child's dramatic instinct is essentially imitative. A very young child will often do something quite spontaneously in imitation of another's action. Later on, he will develop a tendency to go through a series of actions which he has seen another perform, such as when boys play at being soldiers and girls at keeping school. In every case the children have seen or heard of people acting in a particular way and are prompted to copy them by their instinct of imitation. The children cannot dramatize without a model of some kind. They need not always have actually seen similar actions performed, but the incidents which they are expected to dramatize must have been pre- sented to them in a dramatic form. The teacher, then, can do something to ensure real dramatic action on the part of the children. If his manner and voice during the story- telling have been dramatic, and the pictures illustrating the story are dramatic in character, then the children are helped considerably.

There are other ways, apart from making the presentation of the story dramatic, by which the teacher can do something to ensure the success of dramatic efforts. In the oral part of the lesson the children must have acquired sufficient knowledge to enable them to imagine clearly the incidents related, as children cannot act a scene of which they have only an inadequate conception. The incidents selected for

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dramatization must be simple and vigorous ; a battle scene can hardly be successful, since there is no oppor- tunity for dialogue and the movements in most cases were complicated, and extended over a considerable space of time. The battle of Hastings in the classroom, where the combatants can only give a few cuts and thrusts and settle the dispute in three minutes is, even for a child, probably robbed of all the reality of the scene itself. In such a case the story told by the teacher with the aid of good illustrations would be better without any attempt at dramatization.

When the children have been selected, the teacher must make them clearly understand their parts by rapidly reviewing the main points of the story. The actors will then be not altogether unprepared. There must, moreover, be ample space in the classroom and ample time for the acting. An attempt made during the last few minutes of a lesson is doomed to failure. Even with careful preparation there will be awkward pauses, and the teacher must not expect the acting to proceed smoothly without his constant assistance.

If the teacher is able to overcome the many diffi- culties, it is still a very crude representation of the real scene. Unsympathetic spectators would be inclined to ridicule it and be sceptical as to its value in teaching. But we must remember that to the children, both audience and actors, the acting is much more real than to us, who are older and more critical. The young child's rude model of the battlefield of Hastings may not be satisfactory, even to him. He may be dimly aware that it is imperfect. But he cannot discern with a clear eye its imperfections. It is to him much more a representation of the real scene than it can

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possibly be to us. So it is with the children's dramatic attempts. To the children themselves they are by no means crude ; the imperfections of action and speech are ignored, and the interest is concentrated, as we want it to be, on the movement.

Where a teacher is able to provide any stage proper- ties the interest is increased, as children take delight in dressing up. Costumes of other periods, arms and armour, are a great attraction, and as illustrations no doubt help towards the better realization of a scene. When such articles are not merely handled by the teacher as illustrations, but are used in the course of dramatic action, the child is helped still further to form a true picture of the event.

(6) After an historical incident has been enacted under the guidance of the teacher the children may like to repeat it, as they have become more acquainted with their parts. In some cases, through constant repetition, a little play is evolved from what was at first extemporaneous acting. In other cases the chil- dren can learn a short play which has been written by some members of the class, or by the teacher, or is published in one of the many collections of historical plays for children. In upper classes the children can sometimes learn with profit a scene from some historical play, as those of Shakespeare. In all these cases the dramatization can be compared with imitative exercises in handwork and art. The children follow a set form of words which they have learnt and perform a definite series of actions. Unlike the unprepared dramatic efforts which follow an oral lesson, these little plays and dramatic extracts are not expressive of the chil- dren's ideas on the topic, although they are not, on

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this account, without value. They are often an aid in making history more realistic by presenting a situation or the character of a person in a clearer light ; but they must, after all, be considered mainly recreative in character. Their performance may give great pleasure, both to actors and audience, but so much time must be spent in preparation that they cannot be of much value in history teaching.

III. ORAL AND WRITTEN WORK A variety of exercises of this nature are possible with younger children.

1 . Note-books can be used after a lesson for construct- ing simple lines of time, for copying brief notes of facts which will be of permanent value in the children's historical study, and for short original extracts and historical poems which illustrate the oral work.

2. The poems can sometimes be learnt by heart and recited in class.1

3. When a story or description has been given in an oral lesson, the teacher can require its reproduction, either orally by individual children, or as a written exercise by the whole class. The attempts are almost inevitably crude, but useful purposes are served. On the one hand, the children have practice in the use of the English language as a medium of expression ; whilst, on the other, the reproduction in a connected form of the main ideas of an historical narrative preserves the unity of the story when revising it. There is, however, a drawback to these exercises, which has already been noticed in connexion with handwork, art, and dramatization. Because of the

1 For suitable collections of poems see p. 192.

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great freedom which the children have in the selection and arrangement of ideas, they will often reproduce unimportant details and place the facts in their wrong perspective. Essentials will be omitted and incidental facts magnified in importance. It is, then, sometimes advisable to give the children a narrower field of work. For example, instead of asking them to give an account of Drake's voyage to America, 1572-3, they could answer the following questions :

(a) In what ways is a sea voyage safer and more comfortable to-day than in the time of Drake ?

(6) Do you think Drake would be satisfied with his exploits of 1572-3 ? Give reasons.

(c) Why do we consider Drake a very brave man ?

Such written answers, even if brief, are far better than the usual question-and-answer method of revision. They ensure that every child makes an attempt to recall his knowledge and use it. There is also more scope for individual effort than in oral questioning, where the children are continually stimulated by the questions dealing with single points and requiring answers in a few words.

Whenever possible, this work should be reserved for separate lessons. Even when the teacher's story or description ends a few minutes before the close of the lesson period, the children usually wish to ask ques- tions and make comments on the lesson. A formal reproduction by the children, either oral or written, would then be irksome and quite out of place.

CHAPTER XI LEARNING BY DOING— OLDER PUPILS

IN the past, the children have been given far too much help in their work. Especially in those lessons which involve the imparting of knowledge, the teacher has not spared himself in making the road to learning as easy as possible for his pupils. ' Children once used to learn a lesson and say it to the teacher, .whereas nowadays the teacher learns the lesson and says it to the children.' 1 To-day, however, he is realizing that in subjects which involve the acquisition of knowledge, the success of his teaching is judged, not by the number of facts the children can remember, but by the development of interest and understanding. In history, particularly, the ability to recall facts is of little value compared with the historical attitude of mind which we hope to cultivate in our pupils. In the upper classes we want to give them the power of going on by themselves when the help of the teacher is no longer available.

This change in view is leading to a change in- methods. The oral lesson must still remain the foundation of history teaching, but as far as possible the teacher becomes the guide of the children's active work, rather than the source of all knowledge. The children use their eyes and hands, rather than their ears, and are given something to do, rather than something to 1 P. A. Barnett, Common Sense in Teaching, p. 19.

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listen to. Much of this active work which is done by older pupils is concerned with the acquisition of historical knowledge. Books can be studied, where a library is available, and the general literature of a period can be read to illustrate the history of that period. Sources can be examined, even without the use of a library, although better use will be made of them if they can be interpreted with the aid of modern historical works. Lastly, written exercises can be set to test the pupils' knowledge. These points will be considered in detail.

I. PRIVATE STUDY

If the children have a general text-book, the teacher can set topics to be studied as a preparation for oral work, in which case interest will be created in the subject and preparation made for the oral lesson. Or, after a lesson, questions and topics can be set in order that the knowledge gained may be revised and extended. Where a library is available, either a small collection of history books in the classroom, or a school library of larger works, the children need not all study the same topic. They can have subjects allotted to them or can select them for themselves from a list supplied by the teacher. In this way certain children might be encouraged to develop into recognized class authorities on particular topics.

It is unnecessary to emphasize the importance of private study in upper classes. The children have a feeling of pride and self-reliance through having gained something by their own efforts ; they are being trained in gaining knowledge from books ; and the facts learnt are more deeply impressed upon their minds.

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But there are serious hindrances to successful work of this kind. Unless it is carefully supervised much time is inevitably wasted and energy misdirected. The teacher can be helpful by giving a list of the most useful books and a series of questions to be answered which will guide the children's reading and help them to organize the knowledge acquired. Notes can be made in note-books as the private reading proceeds, and these can afterwards be worked up into written answers and essays. But even when the teacher carefully indicates the books to be studied and the work to be done, there is often much time spent with little apparent result. Young students, even with the aid of suggested questions, are often unable to grasp rapidly the contents of a passage, judge of its impor- tance, and extract the relevant facts. These drawbacks reveal, not the futility of private study, but the neces- sity for careful supervision and for supplementing it with oral. work. Improvement will come through increased experience of private study together with careful criticism by the teacher of note-books and the written answers and essays.

The first essential for successful work of this kind is, however, a good supply of books. But a good working library is by no means a conspicuous feature of most schools, even at the present time. The historical literature of the elementary schools is too often limited to historical readers of varying quality ; whilst in many secondary schools the only books available are a deadly dull text-book and a collection of historical works too small and limited in scope to be extensively used by the pupils.

In elementary schools the historical reader in the

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lower classes is useful in supplementing the stories told by the teacher. In the upper classes the reading lessons are devoted to three purposes — to cultivate the much neglected art of reading aloud, to encourage a habit of reading good books, and to acquire informa- tion on a particular topic. The first aim can be pursued in special elocution lessons. The second can be the purpose of silent reading lessons, better termed literature lessons, in which the children read books of literary value, yet simple enough to be interesting. The third purpose, the acquisition of knowledge, especially in history and geography, is an important aim of reading lessons in upper classes. Such lessons, devoted to reading ' for information ', are better time-tabled as history or geography lessons ; and would be more useful if the time were spent in systematic private study. At present, however, the reader is usually the only book, apart from those lent by teachers or borrowed from outside sources, which can be used for study. It ought, therefore, to have a close connexion with the syllabus of work for the year. But history readers date from a time when history was not yet included in the curriculum of the elementary school. Without making it a school subject an attempt was made to give some historical information by introducing readers. These were too often confined to political history, told in the form of disconnected stories, a fault which to some extent they have retained. As the reader in very many schools has been made the basis of work, and the scheme drawn up in reference to it, the short- comings of the reader have been reflected in the oral work. Where, on the other hand, teachers have ignored the reader in making a scheme, the one class-

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book which could be used as a source for historical facts is rendered practically useless.

Our main conclusions are, therefore :

(1) Historical readers for upper classes should be used principally for private study ; (2) the subject- matter must be in agreement with the scheme of work for the year. Such books may be easy text-books on selected topics, which show clearly and vividly some of the lines of development studied during the year, or may be illustrative collections to amplify the oral work. In this latter case, if they contain numerous pictorial illustrations, typical extracts from original sources, great historians and historical novels, together with historical poems and occasional well-written chapters on subjects of importance, then they will be of great use for reference and private study. Such a book must be a carefully gathered collection of material bearing directly upon the year's work. Whatever the kind of book chosen, it should contain references to other suitable books. Lastly, it must contain nothing dull or commonplace, but by its freshness should in- crease the child's interest and his desire for further reading.

Suitable text-books on selected topics which are included in the scheme for the year are not easy to obtain ; and it is almost impossible to find a satisfactory compendium of illustrative material. Some teachers have therefore discarded altogether the text-book type of historical reader which can be used for private study and have, perhaps wisely, adopted books of a rather different nature; either (1) editions of histori- cal classics, as Captain Cook's voyages, extracts from Hakluyt or Prescott, the adventures of Captain John

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Smith, or Burke's speeches on America, or (2) historical tales such as those of Herbert Strang, or (3) collections of scenes from historical romances.

In secondary schools the general text-book of national history is useful in supplying many historical facts in handy form, but is of little value in giving boys an idea of historical development in any direction. It can be used as a summary for purposes of revision or as a source from which to get the skeleton facts of history ; but the young student who resorts to it in order to gain a preliminary view of a subject is harassed by its generalizations and confused by its disconnected method of treatment. As a summary for purposes of revision its value is lessened by its lack of continuity in dealing with any particular phase of national develop- ment. Its generalizations are often illuminating to one who has already mastered the main facts of history, but have no meaning for the raw schoolboy requiring a storehouse of particular facts and vivid details. Any general text-book is therefore inevitably defective, especially if confined to a single volume. The best general history for schools is one in several volumes, each volume being devoted to some period or phase of national development. Many important matters must be omitted, but those included should be treated adequately ; that is, the text-book should be some- thing more than a collection of summaries. It should be illustrated, since large historical illustrations are expensive and difficult to obtain ; and it should indicate a few of the most accessible sources and con- tain references to larger books. ' One type of a bad school-book is a book that explains everything.' 1 1 P. A. Barnett, Common Sense in Education, p. 190.

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Besides the class-books every school should have an historical library. It is to be hoped that the time will come when a good working library will be considered as essential a part of the equipment of any elementary or secondary school as desks, exercise books or scientific apparatus. Such a library should contain the standard histories of England ; books on special subjects, as the economic, social, military and naval history of England, the history of the United States, of Europe, of ancient Greece and Rome, besides the history of maritime expansion, of colonization, and of trade ; well-chosen classics and collections of sources ; and books of illustrations such as Lavisse and Parmentier's Album Historique and historical atlases. The value of such a library in the elementary school will perhaps be questioned, but we should remember that these books are essential to every enthusiastic teacher and that most teachers are unable to purchase many of them for themselves. The older pupils also by using books will receive a training in private study, and will find much to interest and profit them, even in some of the more difficult books, if their work is carefully supervised. In every secondary school a library is indispensable. Yet it is the exception to find a school authority so enlightened as to provide one of adequate size. The fact that in many cases pupils can borrow books from a public library does not, of course, remove the necessity for a school library. Each class should also be encouraged to form its own little collection of smaller books. This may not be of much direct value in teaching but will, nevertheless, be the source of much general historical knowledge, and will make the children accustomed to the use of books.

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II. THE USE OF SOURCES

The sources of history are the raw materials from which the historian reconstructs the Past. Most of these are in the form of writing and may therefore be termed documentary sources. Occasionally customs and traditions, place-names and common words, monuments, buildings and ruins are the source of important knowledge. For example, the antiquary learns much about life in a monastery by studying the ruined abbeys of England ; an Egyptian pyramid or a Norman cathedral speaks to us of the skill of its builders and their religious ideals ; the work of the Romans in Britain is revealed, in the absence of written accounts, by the remains of buildings, roads and camps, and in the names of places. The chief sources are, however, written records, and we shall at this place confine our attention to these.

Material remains, customs, and names will be con- sidered later as illustrations.

Written sources include official documents such as state papers, official correspondence, Acts of Parlia- ment, and local records ; legal documents such as charters ; private documents such as diaries and private correspondence ; together with contemporary memoirs and lives, chronicles, political pamphlets, and a whole mass of miscellaneous literature. To these can be added inscriptions which are of the first importance in ancient history. This is the range of material from which an energetic teacher is able to select his sources. The documents dealing with even a single period or event are, however, so varied in character and immense in extent, so contradictory in their evidence and often

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so difficult to the child mind, that when teaching, we are only able to use very few in comparison with those which are laid under contribution by an historian.

Sources are either contemporary or post-contempor- ary. Contemporary documents should, in the nature of things, be of more value. But later records, written when the event can be viewed in perspective with other events, and when evidence can be collected and sifted, often give a more accurate account. Contem- porary sources are often marred by prejudice, as in the case of Polydore Vergil's Historia Anglica. This work is the most important source for the reign of Henry VII, but ' the last book, devoted to the early years of the reign of Henry VIII, is vitiated by a violent detestation of Wolsey, who threw the author into prison '.*

Post-contemporary writings also vary much in value. Sometimes, as in the case of early history, they are the main source of our knowledge. Livy's History, in the absence of contemporary sources, is of the first importance for the early history of Rome. Gildas, Nennius, and Bede are our main sources for the facts of the English invasions. These, then, are original authorities, although not contemporary. On the other hand, some post-contemporary writings, such as Bacon's History of Henry VII, are only secondary authorities. ' In almost every case we can refer to the original authorities which formed the basis for Bacon's statements, and find that, with unimportant exceptions, we possess all these authorities themselves.'2

1 H. A. L. Fisher, Political History of England, 1485-1547, p. 486 (Longmans). 2 Ibid., p. 487.

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This, however, does not lessen the value of Bacon's Henry VII for use in school.

Sources may be resorted to before an oral lesson, and preliminary exercises set which will involve their examination ; they may be used during the lesson or may be studied afterwards in the light of the knowledge gained during the lessons.

(1) The study of sources before a lesson is valuable, as all preliminary private study is valuable, for creating an interest in a topic and giving a foundation of facts. Suppose, for example, the teacher intends to give a lesson on the introduction of the English Bible into the Church. The class, some time before the lesson, could be provided with the following two extracts :

(a) From a Royal Injunction of 1536 * ' Every person or proprietary of any parish church within this realm shall, on this side of the feast of St. Peter next coming, provide a book of the whole Bible both in Latin and also in English, and lay the same in the quire, for any man that will to read and look therein ; and shall discourage no man from the reading any part of the Bible, but rather comfort, exhort, and admonish every man to read the same, as the very word of God and the spiritual food of man's soul . . . ever gently and charitably exhorting them, that, using a sober and modest behaviour in the reading and inquisition of the true sense of the same, they do in nowise stiffly or eagerly contend or strive one with another about the same, but refer the declaration of those places that be in controversy to the judgment of them that be better learned.'

1 Kendall, Source Book of English History, p. 144.

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(6) From a Statute of 1542 1

* The Bible shall not be read in English in any church. No women or artificers, prentices, journey- men, servingmen of the degree of yeomen or under, husbandmen, or labourers, shall read the New Testa- ment in English. Nothing shall be taught or main- tained contrary to the King's instructions. And if any spiritual person preach, teach or maintain any- thing contrary to the King's instructions or determina- tions, made or to be made, and shall be thereof convict, he shall for his first offence recant, for his second abjure and bear a fagot, and for his third shall be adjudged an heretick, and be burned and lose all his goods and chattels.'

During a lesson period set apart for private study the class could examine these extracts and endeavour to answer such questions as the following :

1. In whose reign were these instructions given ?

2. By whose authority were they issued ?

3. What events took place in the interval between the issue of the two documents which helped to bring about the change of attitude ?

4. Were books placed in all churches in accordance with the instructions of Extract (a) ? If not, why not ?

5. Why was it necessary to go to church in order to read the Bible ?

6. Who would the ' better learned ' persons be likely to be? (End of Extract (a).)

7. Why should( women and working-class people be forbidden to read the New Testament in English ?

8. What is meant by a ' spiritual person ' ?

1 Ibid., p. 145.

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9. Do you know of any heretics who were burned for ' preaching, teaching or maintaining anything contrary to the King's instructions ' ?

If the examination of the extract is guided by such questions, and if a few books are available for reference, the exercise will prove an excellent preparation for enabling the class to take a more active part in the lesson than would otherwise be possible.

(2) During an oral lesson sources can be used as illustrations,1 or can be made the foundation of the whole lesson. Sometimes an important constitutional document such as the Petition of Bight, the Habeas Corpus Act, or the Bill of Bights, can be studied in a lesson or series of lessons ; or a series of extracts to illustrate some event or movement can be given to the class and the lesson based upon the examination of these.2

(3) After a lesson sources can be studied in order to revise and extend the facts learnt. For example : (a) during a lesson on the causes of the American War of Independence, it would be out of place to give a long account of the corruption and incompetence of the English Government. Yet in order to understand the growing breach between England and the colonies the class must know something about the state of the home Government. After the lesson, then, the class could study for themselves extracts from the Letters of Junius,3 and make a note on this subject or answer a question. In doing this the children need not limit themselves to the extracts, but should obtain material from all available sources. The purpose of the extracts

1 See p. 203 below. 2 p. 153 above.

3 Bell's English History Source Books, 1760-1801.

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is to supply pointed illustrations, not to be the sole source of the facts used. (6) A lesson on the conditions of children's work in the early part of the nineteenth century could be illustrated by numerous illustrative extracts from reports and speeches. But too many illustrations may burden a lesson and make it tedious. In these circumstances some of the extracts could be read during the lesson, e.g. the evidence of the child workers1 and the statement by the commissioner on the condition of children's work in mines. Then after the lesson the children could read for themselves an extract from a speech made in Parliament by Lord Ashley in 1842 giving further particulars about chil- dren's work in mines,2 and a short note could be made on the facts of the speech.

We are now in a position to examine the value of sources in relation to work done by the children themselves. We have seen that original extracts can be used by the class in the following ways :

1. Some can be read for the sake of the historical facts which they supply. In these cases the children derive the same benefit as from all other private study.3

2. Sometimes they provide problems for investiga- tion. These problems cannot usually be solved by the examination of the extracts alone, but require reference to other sources of information. In these cases, then, the extracts supply a motive for private study.

We must recognize, however, that original extracts, as distinct from modern sources of historical know- ledge, possess no peculiar value in themselves. Some teachers go so far as to consider that the study of

1 p. 204 below. 2 Kendall's Source Book, p. 401.

3 p. 174 above.

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sources helps the child to develop a critical attitude of mind, not only in matters of history, but also towards the problems of everyday life. But such a claim appears to be extravagant. The study of history in the upper classes should, of course, encourage the child to refrain from hasty generalizations and dogmatic assertions. But sources are not essential in attaining this aim. The facts of history, as recounted in modern works, will provide abundant opportunities for selecting and weighing facts and coming to reasonable conclu- sions, when the children become capable of. doing this ; whereas exercises of this nature based upon original authorities lose in value through the inherent difficulties attached to the use of sources. Tricky problems based on extracts and demanding an expression of opinion on the part of the child are often ingenious rather than useful. The facts supplied, even when several extracts from different sources are studied for a problem, are generally far too scanty to admit of generalizations. And so far from aiding the child to become truly critical they tempt him to come to rash conclusions and make worthless guesses at truth.

Sources can, nevertheless, suggest hypotheses ; and these can be accepted as established truths after they have been fully sanctioned by reference to other authorities and modern works. In investigating a problem in everyday life we go to all possible sources provided they are reliable, and in giving the children opportunities for selecting and weighing evidence and coming to sound conclusions we must not deprive them of any readily accessible sources of evidence. In attempting to answer questions such as those given above (p. 183), a boy meets with difficulties for which

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the extracts, however carefully they are studied, will not provide an answer. It is only reasonable that when this happens he should be allowed to turn to any books he can consult in order to find satisfactory answers. Often he will fail in his search, and will then come to the next oral lesson eager for further knowledge.

In training the children to acquire a critical attitude of mind we must emphasize the importance of having ample and credible evidence to support our opinion. The credibility of the evidence depends upon its source, and we must judge, before accepting it, whether the person from whom it is derived is likely to be both well-informed and unbiased. If any suspicion of unreliability attaches to the source we must naturally seek elsewhere for confirmation. This unreliability can, indeed, be occasionally of service to the teacher. The opinion of the court that Charles I was a * tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of this nation ', is useful in judging the attitude of the extreme Parliamentarians towards the king. But any child will recognize it is worthless in estimating his character, although it was an expression of opinion by men living at the time.

In teaching older children, then, we may meet with occasional opportunities of impressing them with the importance of examining the credibility and sufficiency of evidence, both in the little problems of history, with which we may confront them, and also in the affairs of everyday life. But children cannot in the least understand how the past has been reconstructed by historians. What appears in a text-book to be a simple fact is often the result of a lengthy examination of

188 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

numerous sources by an historian of great learning and experience. In these days when the children are left to do as much as possible for themselves there is danger of using the scientific method unduly in subjects where it ought to be only a subsidiary means of teaching. Exposition must remain the principal method, and should always either precede or follow the examination of sources and the study of topics from modern books.

An undoubted drawback to the use of sources is the slow progress made by the class, unless the exercises are given only occasionally. The study of extracts such as are quoted above involves careful examination and the investigation of little problems upon which considerable time must be expended. Although some good has undoubtedly been accom- plished by leaving a boy to puzzle out a point by him- self, yet this involves so much time that it is often wiser to present a problem and straightway supply the solution. Too much time devoted to the examina- tion of sources tends to make the work tedious. Chil- dren need movement and plenty of interesting details, which are rarely provided in original extracts.

A word may be added as to the form in which sources are supplied to the class. The many published collec- tions are valuable for the variety of their extracts, and for this reason a number of such volumes should be found in the classroom library. But the teacher will rarely find any one volume which is in sufficient agreement with his scheme of oral work to warrant a copy being supplied to every pupil. When the teacher is able to do so, it is a good plan to make cyclostyled copies of extracts, since the range of sources from which

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he can make a selection for any particular subject is much wider than those found in any single volume.

III. THE STUDY OF LITERATURE Contemporary literature, when it reflects the history of a period, is often to be preferred to original sources for purposes of illustration. Although it is not always possible to make a clear distinction between original sources and the contemporary literature of an age, yet there are usually well-defined characteristics in all work which is real literature. The great mass of authori- ties are by no means literary in form, whilst, on the other hand, contemporary literature is not a prominent source of facts for the historian. But in the schoolroom the literature of a period is valued not so much for the facts which it embodies as for the form in which these facts are presented to the children. By reason of £heir classical form, literary extracts often make an appeal to a boy's feelings and imagination when the words of a text-book or extracts from sources would leave him unmoved. * In books ', says Carlyle, ' lies the soul of the whole Past Time ; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.' l But the voice of the Past is only audible when a boy's attention is arrested and his interest aroused by the manner in which facts are presented to him. The quainfness of Chaucer's Prologue and the vivid character-sketches which are there portrayed will command our pupils' interest far more than a paragraph of their text-books which contains almost identical facts. Professor C. H. Firth, in reference to nineteenth-century literature,

1 Heroes and Hero-Worship. The Hero as a Man of Letters.

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remarks, ' It shows far better than the summaries of causes usually given in text-books, the feelings which inspired great movements and led to great events, and the effect which both produced on the minds of those who lived through them. To see what contem- poraries thought about things makes the things them- selves easier to understand.' *

Since contemporary literature varies greatly in its nature, it is not uniformly useful in history teaching. Many of the great works of contemporary writers are entirely free from the influence of passing events and existing conditions, e.g. Milton's Paradise Lost. But usually contemporary literature does reflect more or less the age in which it is written. Thus in eighteenth- century literature we find the social, economic and political conditions of the times portrayed in the novels of Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne ; in the works of Defoe, Swift, Goldsmith, Sheridan, and Burke ; in the Spectator and Tatler, and in the letters of Chesterfield, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Horace Walpole, and Madame D'Arblay. These are not all of equal value for history teaching. In some the historical atmosphere pervades the whole work in so subtle and intimate a manner that it can only be appreciated by reading the whole or a considerable part of the book. But in many there are direct references to events and conditions which are of interest to the historical student.

Modern works of an historical character often have an advantage over contemporary literature for teaching

1 C. H. Firth, English History in English Poetry from the French Revolution to the death of Victoria, Introduction, p. xiii (Horace Marshall, 2s. 6d.).

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purposes in being more clearly understood by children. The historical element has been deliberately introduced and is therefore more obvious than in contemporary works. For example, Macaulay's poem on the Battle of Naseby, in which he takes the Puritan standpoint of Obadiah Bind-their-kings-in-chains-and-their-nobles- with-links-of-iron, will be a clearer illustration of Puritan principles and prejudices than whole chapters from the memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson. But this is not always the case. When events and conditions are either described or directly referred to in contem- porary literature they usually make a great impression. Extracts from Fielding's Amelia* Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield,2 or Dickens' s Pickwick Papers 3 will give the class a more realistic account of the state of the prisons than they could get from a text-book, especially if the boys know that Goldsmith lived in fear of a debtor's prison, and Dickens had become acquainted with one through the imprisonment of his father for debt.

The literature of a period, whether contemporary or later, which is most useful in history teaching, can be classified in the following way :

1. Prose fiction.4 Tales and romances which have a distinct historical element are invaluable in acquiring a liking for history and for supplying the ' atmosphere ' of a period. Many of them are suitable for private reading, and should have a place in the school or class library. But many are unsuitable for boys and girls to read in extenso ; and even when we think a book quite suitable we discover, to our surprise, that it is not always attractive to the youthful mind. Stories like Ivanhoe

1 Book I, chap. iii. 2 Chap, xxvii.

3 Chap. xli. * See Appendix IV.

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and The Talisman are sometimes tedious, even to older people, whilst children often find the wordiness and lack of action in parts of the story insufferable. Histori- cal romances which for various reasons are unsuitable for complete reading can only be used by the teacher as a source of illustrations, unless a good abridged edition — and these are rare — can be obtained.

The historical element in contemporary fiction is usually incidental, e. g. the descriptions of social life in the novelists of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Such books have the atmosphere of the period in which they are written, but cannot in any way be described as historical in character. They do, never- theless, often provide admirable illustrations for history teaching. The novels of Fielding and Smollett, for example, are crowded with intimate touches which throw light on many phases of eighteenth-century life, such as the state of -the army and the navy, life in the town and the country, modes of travelling, &c.

2. Many works, both contemporary and later, which are essentially historical in subject-matter have qualities which entitle them to be considered as literature. Memoirs, biographies, letters, speeches and histories, have often a literary style which recommends them for study both from a literary as well as an histori- cal point of view.

3. Poems on historical subjects and historical plays are indispensable. Some of the best-known collections are the following :

English History in Contemporary Poetry. A series of volumes pub- lished for the Historical Association by Messrs. Bell at 1*. each. Thompson, Carmina Britanniae (H. Marshall, 2*.).

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A Book of Poetry illustrative of English History (Macmillan, 3 parts,

9d. each). Firth, English History in English Poetry, 1789-1901 (H. Marshall,

2s. 6d.).

Windsor and Turrall, Lyra Historian, (Clarendon Press, 2s.). A Book of Historical Poetry (Ed. Arnold, 8d.). Nicklin, Poems of English History, A.n. 61-1714 (A. and C. Black,

Is. 6d.).

George and Sidgwick, Poems of England (Macmillan, 2s. 6d.). Poems and Ballads on English History (Pitman, Is. 6d.). Pertwee, English History in Verse (Routledge, Is.).

The historical literature of a period can be used in various ways in upper classes.

1. Books and poems'canlbe recommended for private reading. It is a useful plan to publish at the beginning of each term a list of historical novels and general works of literature connected with the subjects to be studied during the term. But whether such 'a list is published or not, the teacher should refer in his lessons to the accessible books on the subjects taught which are suitable for further reading, and the boys should enter a list of these books in their note-books. The list will include references to standard works, sources, and general works of literature, especially historical novels and poetry. The standard works and sources can be read during private study, but there will be a tendency to neglect the general historical reading which the teacher expects the boys to do in their leisure time. Merely making entries in note-books is of no value unless the teacher ensures that books are being regularly read by all his pupils. This can be done if he (1) keeps a reading list in which is entered particulars of each boy's reading ; (2) requires each boy to enter in his note-book some of the historical

1977

194 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

facts which he has learnt in the course of his reading, together with occasional short extracts from the book or poem itself ; (3) discusses with individual boys the books they are reading — an important means of influ- encing their taste in literature ; (4) sets written tests, with a fair choice of questions, based upon a list of books which the whole class have had opportunity of reading.

2. Either before or after a lesson or course of lessons on a particular topic individual pupils could be asked to study books recommended to them and collect illustrative passages and facts. For example, they could collect facts from Scott's Kenilworih bearing upon court life in the time of Elizabeth, or could read portions of the Spectator and the works of Goldsmith, such as his Letters from a Citizen of the World, and collect illustrations of the social state of England in the eighteenth century. The material, when collected, might be worked up into an essay which the boy could read to the class.

3. Extracts of all kinds, in prose and verse, like extracts from sources, can be studied either before or after a subject has been dealt with by the teacher, and exercises based upon them. For instance, after the class have studied the work of Cromwell in the second civil war of 1648 and his military campaigns in Ireland and Scotland, copies of the following sonnet can be supplied with questions based upon it :

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud

Not of war only, but detractions rude,

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed,

And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud

Hast reared God's trophies, and His work pursued,

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While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester's laureate wreath. Yet much remains To conquer still ; peace hath her victories No less renowned than war : new foes arise, Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains : Help us to save free conscience from the paw Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.

QUESTIONS

1. Who was the author of this sonnet ? Fix an approximate date for its composition.

2. What were some of the ' detractions rude', apart from war, which Cromwell had had to encounter ?

3. Explain the allusions to Darwen, Dunbar, and Worcester.

4. ' Yet much remains to conquer still.' What tasks still remained for Cromwell to perform ?

5. Who were the ' new foes ' who threatened to use the secular power to suppress freedom of conscience ? To what extent was Cromwell in favour of religious freedom ?

When the class-books for the study of literature include a collection of historical poems or works of an historical nature, as Scott's Marmion, Shakespeare's Henry V, or one of Macaulay's Essays, many such exercises can be given.

It is only necessary to add that we cannot separate the form and the content of literature. Where, then, co-ordination of work is possible in Literature and History both subjects are benefited. It is only when our pupils are acquainted with the ideas expressed in any work that its literary qualities can be fully appreci- ated. If, therefore, books are selected for literature

N2

196 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

which contain subject-matter studied in the history lessons, the class can understand the content and be better able to appreciate the form. On the other hand, the historical facts will make a more lasting impression by being read in classical form. Some educationists, indeed, go so far as to hold that the study of history must be based upon classical literature. ' Periods that no master described, whose spirit no poet breathes, are of little value to education. Only classical presenta- tions invite the pupil to return to the treasures that never cease to reward him, and that fill him with interest and inspiration ? ' l Whilst this opinion recognizes the great value of literary masterpieces in history teaching, it ignores the importance of the oral lesson and limits unnecessarily the range of history work in schools.

IV. DEBATES

Occasional debates are a pleasant variation from the more usual methods of revision. The subject of the debate should be selected by the teacher in consulta- tion with the class and should be one about which differences of opinion can arise. The teacher should ask for offers to open the debate, and the boys or girls who undertake to do this should have an opportunity of writing short papers to be read to the class. Since children of thirteen and upwards are quite capable of managing a debate successfully, they should elect their own chairman to control the proceedings. It is in ways like this that children can get some training in responsibility and self-government. During the debate the teacher, although in the background, should note the arguments, i.e. the facts brought 1 Rein, Outlines of Pedagogics, p. 100.

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forward on which opinions are based, so that when the debate is over, he can discuss with the class the value of the evidence offered by the opposing sides. Much good work can be done in these little talks following debates, to help children towards those habits of careful weighing of evidence and of forming well-founded opinions which were discussed in the first chapter.

A few typical subjects which are suitable for dis- cussion are given below :

1. Was Henry VIII a true religious reformer ?

2. Was Mary of England more to be pitied than blamed for her foreign and religious policy ?

3. Was Charles I of England the victim of circum- stances ?

4. Was Clarendon justified in his description of Cromwell as a ' Brave, bad man ' ?

5. Is it true that England deserted Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War ?

6. Was the American War of Independence inevitable ?

7. Can England be considered to have been successful in warfare on land during the Napoleonic wars ?

8. Has Germany been justified in declaring that Great Britain has extended her empire far beyond her powers of developing the territories annexed ?

9. Has Great Britain been justified in retaining control of the government of Egypt ?

10. Is the government of England a democracy ?

V. WRITTEN EXERCISES

A considerable amount of written work should be set in the upper classes for several reasons :

1. It gives practice in the orderly arrangement and clear expression of ideas.

198 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

2. Written exercises are the best means of encourag- ing real thought as distinct from the mere reproduction of what has been remembered. In the upper classes the questions should, as far as possible, require the class to analyse their knowledge, make comparisons, and arrive at conclusions.1 Sometimes essays can be set such as those suggested above for class debates, which will necessitate the weighing of evidence and the expression of opinions.

3. The writing of answers or an essay is the most satisfactory way of bringing the study of a topic to a close. It leads to the revision of note-books and the use of knowledge which has been collected in various ways — in the oral lesson, by private study, the examina- tion of sources and the reading of literature. In preparing these answers or essays the boys will often discover the need for further knowledge ; they will then turn once more to books or the teacher in order to make good their deficiency.

4. Written work should occasionally be done in class as a test. Its value is not so much that it gives the teacher some idea of the success of his work, since he can judge this in other ways. It is rather from the pupil's point of view that these exercises are useful. They give him practice in answering questions by relying upon the memory alone, without the aid of note-books or other sources of information. Such work, therefore, demands greater mastery of the material if it is to be successful. It gives a feeling of self-confidence if well done, whilst a poor attempt reveals the need for further study. For these reasons written tests are important in preparation for examinations.

1 See Suggestions for Lessons at the end of Chapter IX.

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5. Lastly, in all written exercises a boy is learning through doing something by his own efforts, the result of which will depend upon himself and not upon the teacher. This is the ultimate value of all the work discussed in this chapter.

A word may be added concerning the correction of exercises. The best method is, perhaps, for the teacher to mark them when alone, indicating the important faults, and afterwards to deal with general faults in class, and give each boy privately a few hints on indivi- dual points. But when the class is large or the teacher is busy he often cannot do this. He must then content himself with correcting the principal faults and return- ing the papers with a mark attached to each as an estimate of its value. Although the boys lose the benefit of the teacher's criticism, they are helped a good deal by having the value of their work assessed. This should give them an ever-increasing standard to aim at ; and there is something radically wrong with a boy whose record of marks shows little or no progress. If, as must sometimes be the case, the teacher cannot mark all, or even some of the exercises, the work is still not fruitless, for, after all, the benefit from written work comes primarily through doing it, not through having it marked. The teacher need not be afraid to admit occasionally to his class that he has been unable to mark their exercises. When this happens he may find it useful to ask two or three boys to read their answers or essays to the class and spend a few minutes in discussing some of the points which arise.

CHAPTER XII

ILLUSTRATIONS

IN the course of oral work or private study the child will often meet with ideas which he can only understand in part, or scenes which are only dimly imaged in his mind. When this is likely to happen, the exposition of the teacher or the book must be supplemented by illus- trations. These, whilst differing widely in form, have one essential feature in common, without which they are useless — they illuminate the exposition of the teacher or the book. This purpose is accomplished in various ways.

1. There are those illustrations which are introduced to give a clearer conception of something which is in nature ' general ', as the character of a person, the policy of a statesman, or the characteristics of a people. Wolsey's policy concerning the Church and his genius for diplomacy ; Henry VII's parsimony and his encouragement of maritime enterprise ; William Ill's hostility to the French and his unpopularity in England, — these general topics can be illustrated and interpreted by particular examples. Such illustrations are generally verbal and are often in the form of stories or extracts from sources or literature. Where the teacher has a large stock of particular instances with which to illustrate a general idea, there may be a danger of over- illustrating, when the generalization is lost sight of in the particular cases.

2. Some illustrations assist the imagination. Children vary greatly in the power to visualize the scenes of

ILLUSTRATIONS 201

history which the teacher describes, i.e. they have not all an equally active historical imagination. But they are all deficient both in knowledge and in the power of attention, the foundations upon which the historical imagination is built. They must, therefore, all be aided by the use of pictures, diagrams, models, and relics, and by visits to places of historical interest.

3. Other illustrations are in the form of symbolical devices which help the children to understand the course of events and the relations between facts. Time-charts, maps, and genealogical tables belong to this class.

In the more detailed examination which follows, the classification is based upon differences in form.

A. VERBAL ILLUSTRATIONS

These are the most commonly used in history teaching :

1. Every particular fact is an illustration of some more general idea. The teacher, then, must have a good stock of stories and instances to illustrate the broad ideas of history. For example, in illustrating the superstitions of people in olden times reference could be made to the belief in witchcraft ; and in order to illustrate how widespread this belief was, and how harsh and unreasonable were the methods of proceed- ing against witches, the teacher could give the class the following particulars: In 1612 there were 12 persons executed at Lancaster for witchcraft ; in 1622, 6 at York ; in 1634, 17 in Lancashire ; in 1644, 16 at Yarmouth ; in 1645, 15 at Chelmsford ; and in 1645-6, 120 in Suffolk and Huntingdon. In this century the notorious witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins, undertook to clear any locality of witches for 20s., bringing them

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to confession and the stake in the following way. He stripped them naked, wrapped them in sheets, and dragged them through ponds or rivers. If they sank, it was held to be a sign of their innocence ; but if they floated, as they would usually do for a time, they were then considered guilty. He sometimes kept supposed witches fasting and awake for twenty-four hours as an inducement to confession. Moreover, if a witch could not shed tears at command, or if she hesitated at a single word in repeating the Lord's Prayer, she was held to be in league with the Evil One. The results of such tests were universally admitted as evidence by the judges or magistrates, who, acting upon them, condemned all who did not conform to the recognized tests of the witchfinders.

This example illustrates the general rule of history teaching, which has been already emphasized, that general ideas can only be approached by the child through particular instances. The teacher so often fails to make a clear, lasting impression on the child because he lacks this knowledge of interesting, detailed facts. The only remedy is continuous reading in order to collect this illustrative material.

2. The use of literature in supplying illustrations for history teaching has already been discussed. It need only be added at this point that the oral lesson is often strengthened by the introduction of literary extracts. For example, in giving a lesson on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 the teacher will find several extracts in Merriman's Barlasch of the Guard, which will be welcomed by the class, however excellent his own narration of the story may be. Or, during a lesson on the battle of Waterloo, the teacher could read from

ILLUSTRATIONS 203

Fitchett's Deeds that won the Empire the vivid descrip- tions of the French cavalry charges and the final repulse of the Old Guard.

Historical poetry is especially useful in this way. If a poem is vigorous and picturesque, it can be read by the teacher to supplement his description, e.g. Drayton's Agincourt, Scott's description of Flodden, Tennyson's Revenge, Praed's Sir Nicholas at Marston Moor, and Massey's Robert Blake. If, however, a poem lacks movement or is not readily understood by the class, the reading of it is worse than useless. It proves tedious or confusing to the children and naturally dissipates their interest in the subject which it is supposed to illustrate.

3. Similarly, extracts from sources can very fre- quently be used for purposes of illustration during a lesson. A teacher with a good range of suitable selections at his disposal can often make his teaching more realistic by quoting the testimony of contem- porary writers. For example, in speaking of the intolerance of the Puritans, the following extract from a letter written by a Puritan sergeant at Hereford in 1642 will be useful :

Sabbath Day, about the time of morning prayer, we went to the minster, where the pipes played, and the puppets sang so sweetly that some of our soldiers could not forbear dancing in the holy choir, whereat the Baalists were sore displeased. The anthem ended, they fell to prayer and prayed devoutly for the King, the bishops, etc. ; and one of our soldiers with a loud voice, said, ' What ! never a bit for the Parliament,' which offended them much more. Not satisfied with this human service, we went to Divine, and, passing by, found shops open and men at work, to whom we gave

204 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

some plain dehortations,and went to hear Mr. Sedgwick, who gave us two famous sermons, which much affected the poor inhabitants, who, wondering, said they never heard the like before. And I believe them.1

Extracts from the Reports of Commissioners ap- pointed in the early part of the nineteenth century to inquire into the conditions of work in the textile trades and in mines are also valuable for illustration. The following testimony needs no comment on the part of the teacher :

Am twelve years old. Have been in the mill twelve months. Begin at six o'clock and stop at half-past seven. Generally have about twelve hours and a half of it. Have worked over-hours for two or three weeks together. Worked breakfast time and tea time and did not go away till eight.

Another child :

Have worked here two years ; am now fourteen ; work sixteen hours and a half a day. I was badly and asked to stop at eight one night lately, and I was told if I went I must not come back.

And another :

We used to come at half-past eight at night and work all night till the rest of the girls came in the morning. They would come at seven. Sometimes we worked on till half -past eight the next night, after we had been working all the night before. We worked at meal hours except at dinner.2

The above are from the Reports of the Commissioners in 1833. The following, from the Reports of 1840, show the condition of children's work in mines :

1 Quoted by W. H. Button, History of the English Church, vol. vi, p. 123 (Macmillan).

2 Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, vol. iii, p. 785 note.

ILLUSTRATIONS

205

Amongst the children employed there are almost always some mere infants ; the practice of employing children only six or seven years of age is all but uni- versal, and there are no short hours for them. The children go down with the men, usually at 4 o'clock in the morning and remain in the pit between eleven and twelve hours.

The passages in the pit were separated by doors which regulated the ventilation. The Report proceeds :

The use of a child six years of age is to open and shut these doors when the trucks pass and repass. For this object the child is trained to sit by itself in a dark gallery for the number of hours I have described.1

In speaking of the corruption of local government before the Municipal Corporation Act, the following par- ticulars from the records of Hartlepool are interesting.2

In 1725, when the total receipts of the Corporation were £45 Is. 9d., the following items of expenditure

occur :

Mayor's dinner at Michaelmas

Mr. Recorder, his salary

Mayor's dinner

The Town Clerk, his salary

The Serjeant's salary

The Serjeant's Sunday dinner

In 1745 :

To expenses in drinking His Majesty's health . .160 To expenses in rejoicing at the victory over the rebels . 100

The value of an extract is not in proportion to its length. The following from the Parish Register of Hart (county of Durham) speaks for itself :

1652, John Pasmore departed this life on Sunday

and was buried on black Monday, 29th of March.

There was a star in the south east : ye sun 'eclipsed.3

1 Ibid., p. 805. 2 Sharp, History of Hartlepool.

3 Ibid., p. 164.

£

10

2

7 18

2 0

4 0

17

d.

0 0 0 0 0 4

206 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

An extract from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle shows the superstition with which the people at an earlier date regarded an eclipse :

A. 1135. This year, at Lammas, king Henry went over sea : and on the second day, as he lay asleep in the ship, the day was darkened universally, and the sun became as if it were a moon three nights old, with the stars shining round it at mid-day. Men greatly marvelled, and great fear fell on them, and they said that some great event should follow thereafter — and so it was, for the same year the king died in Normandy.

The above extracts can be used in oral lessons as illustrations of more general truths. The particular instance, if considered first, prepares the way for the generalization, and may be so used if we remember that the generalization has been, in reality, derived from a large number of particular instances. The extract is often better introduced after the general statement has been made, to elucidate and fix it in the children's minds. By doing this we remove the danger of generalizing from one or two examples.

Original extracts such as those which have been quoted, cannot fail to bring into clear relief ideas which the teacher wishes to impress upon his pupils. The simple words of a child worker suggest a vivid picture of labour conditions and appeal to our sympathy when more elaborate descriptions would fail, for the child's narrative is full of human interest. A final example of this human element in original sources may be taken from Whitelocke's Memorials. He tells us that Cromwell ' would sometimes be very cheerful, and laying aside his greatness would be exceedingly familiar, and by way of diversion would make verses with them, and every one must try his fancy. He

ILLUSTRATIONS 207

commonly called for tobacco, pipes and a candle, and would now and then take tobacco himself ; then he would fall again to his serious and great business.'1 Here is an intimate touch which reveals Cromwell as the genial companion when the robe of office was cast aside.

B. PICTURES, SKETCHES, AND MODELS

We have already seen that if history is to be made interesting for the lower classes, the proper materials for teaching are dramatic scenes and heroic characters. But young children are not alone in their love of the picturesque. All people love stories, and the pageant of history usually appeals to our oldest pupils far more than the study of abstract generalizations or causes and effects. This pleasure of hearing a dramatic story depends to a great extent upon the activity of the imagination. When a teacher is telling a story, the children, with very few exceptions, visualize the episodes. But the events narrated may be quite outside the range of the children's experience, in which case the mental pictures are either shadowy and indistinct or greatly distorted and bear little resemblance to the real scene.

This inability to visualize accurately arises from two causes : the children may not possess the elements of the picture, and they may be unable to develop the picture from these elements. That is, they may lack knowledge, or may lack experience in using this knowledge to form in imagination the scenes of history. The battle of Agincourt may be taken as an illustra- tion of this point. If the children are to be able to

1 Quoted in Morley's Life of Cromwell, p. 473.

208 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

imagine the scene on the battlefield, they must know, amongst other things, the appearance of an English archer, a man-at-arms and a knight, a French knight and a foot-soldier, and the nature of the place where the fight took place. Unless the children have these elements, they cannot form a picture of the scene which is at all accurate. But even if they can visualize the elements, they may still be unable to mass the soldiers on both sides and follow their movements, especially when the armies meet in conflict. For many children pictures of the fight will be necessary for a proper understanding of the story. There are, then, two kinds of illustrations for use in telling such stories, viz. pictures of historical scenes, and sketches, diagrams, models, &c.

An historical picture is a portrayal of a scene as imagined by the artist. ' There are, indeed, as many Fields of the Cloth of Gold as there are painters who have ventured to reproduce the scene.' l When such a picture is used in a lesson, the children accept that view of the scene, and their imagination becomes at once restricted. This may perhaps be a drawback, although some teachers are inclined to exaggerate the importance of giving as much freedom as possible to the imagination. Restrictions upon the imagination which are imposed in order to give clearness and accuracy are to be preferred to freedom which inevitably leads to confusion and inaccuracy. Moreover, this objection to pictures of historical scenes also applies to sketches of historical objects, and indeed to all illustrations which are used to typify something which is in nature more general. A single picture of a Tudor house will 1 Adams, Exposition and Ilhistration, p. 333.

ILLUSTRATIONS 209

incline the child to think all Tudor houses are similar to the one represented. A visit to a Roman camp, or a verbal description of a certain sea-fight, may lead him to think all camps or sea-fights are similar to the particular one used as an illustration. It would, perhaps, be better to show several pictures of the battle of Agincourt, or several sketches of Tudor houses, to visit several types of Roman camps, to give several descriptions of sea-fights. But this is often impossible. And, after all, there is a very real danger in using too many illustrations. We must beware, in our desire to illustrate a topic as fully as possible, lest the study of that topic degenerates more or less into a passive survey of the illustrations.

A single picture of a scene can usually be of great use. Although it may check activity of the imagination, it combines together many elements and often gives a vivid representation of a scene which it would be quite impossible for the child to imagine ; it conveys much historical information if it is correct ; and it is a mental stimulus in rousing the spectator's interest and often his emotions. For example, a picture of the last fight of the Revenge as viewed from the deck of Grenville's vessel, shows us the heroic figures of Sir Richard and his men, their costumes and weapons, the appearance of the ship and its guns, the crowd of Spanish vessels and the shimmering sea beyond. When a picture such as this is shown to a class they become at once more interested in the teacher's description of the fight, for the story has become more real ; and a feeling of admiration is aroused for the gallant Englishmen.

Besides the occasional use of pictures, the teacher

1977

210 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

must supplement his descriptive work with sketches, photographs, and portraits to illustrate costume, armour, architecture, and the things of everyday life. Photographs and sketches of buildings can be shown if they really assist the child in a better understanding of the teacher's description. Portraits, especially full- length ones which illustrate modes of dress, are useful in forming a fuller conception of the great characters of history. But too often illustrations are used in lessons and inserted in text-books which have little or no value. Sketches of the ordinary dress of gentle- men in 1675, of a cup presented in 1676 by Charles II to the Barber- Surgeons Company, and of the steeple of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, London, are out of place in a chapter on the political history of the years 1675-81.1 Inappropriate illustrations are worse than none at all.

Sketches usually do not give a full representation of an object or scene, but in a few clear lines emphasize the features which we wish to illustrate. Much is omitted so that the attention may be concentrated on important points. That is, every sketch is more or less abstract ; it has been robbed of some of its reality in order that it may prove a more effective illustra- tion. A few lines on the blackboard will show the general shape of a viking ship, if this is the point which the teacher wishes at the moment to illustrate, far better than a picture of a Danish raid on Paris, in which the children's attention may be distracted by many other features. The value of a sketch is not, therefore, in direct proportion to its degree of reality.

1 See S. R. Gardiner's Student's History of England.

ILLUSTRATIONS 211

Models are also occasionally useful ; but teachers are sometimes inclined to over-estimate their value as illustrations. They are, like diagrams, exceedingly abstract, and ' they have all the defects of the diagram, as well as its merits. They are, indeed, nothing more than three-dimensioned diagrams.' l Moreover, good teaching models are generally far more difficult to make than sketches.

There can be no fixed rule as to when these illustra- tions should be shown. If they are on view for several days before the lesson, the child, by examining them, will be better able to understand the lesson. When shown during the lesson they should be large enough to be displayed in front of the class. Incidental black- board sketches are often the best kind of illustration for use during the lesson. Historical pictures are often not shown until the lesson is over, so that the children may have an opportunity of forming their own mental pictures. An objection which is raised against doing this is that if the children have succeeded in visualizing the scene, they resent having a picture shown to them which does not agree with the one they have already formed. But in reality this objection has little force. If the teacher has been careful to give the class a broad outline of the scene, the children's images may be indefinite, but should not be inaccurate. The class will then welcome the picture as an aid to more definite visualization. A picture would not be shown at all unless the teacher considered the scene too difficult for the majority of the children to visualize clearly.

1 Adams, op. cit., p. 321. O 2

212 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

C. SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTBATIONS

Apart from sketches with a considerable degree of

abstractness, which are usually termed diagrams, and

have been referred to above, the principal symbolical

illustrations used in history teaching are the following :

1. Maps. These must be used in almost every lesson. In particular, they are indispensable when studying military and naval campaigns, voyages of discovery, the settlement of new lands, the disposition of territories by treaties, and the development of industry and trade. Each child should have an atlas in which the maps show clearly the physical features. Large-scale maps, such as are not usually found in atlases, will occasionally be necessary and can either be placed before the class during the lesson, or supplied to each pupil, e.g. a sketch of the Scottish Border to illustrate the battle of Flodden, of part of Belgium for the campaign of Waterloo, or of the West Riding of Yorkshire when studying the importance of water- power and coal during the Industrial Revolution. The children should also make sketch-maps of their own, or be supplied with outlines which can be rilled in as the work proceeds, e.g. in studying the Industrial Revolution maps could be made showing the growth of population, the expansion of industries, the rise of towns, and improvements in communications.

2. Time Charts. These are also essential. Some consist merely of a line of time, either vertical or horizontal, the facts to be learnt being placed in their proper position along this line. The children should make these simple charts in their note-books to illus- trate such topics as the settlements of the Northmen,

ILLUSTRATIONS 213

the Crusades, the voyages of discovery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Reformation, the Civil War in the reign of Charles I, the growth of the English colonies, or for the public career of a great man. A general line of time on which facts of various kinds are shown, has the same defect as a date-book ; the facts concerning various topics are intermingled and lose much of their significance. It has the disturbing feature of calling to mind irrelevant facts when we are using it to revise any particular subject. Moreover, when prominently displayed in the classroom, in the hope that the children may in odd moments learn some of the dates, it cannot fail to lessen the children's interest in history. The simple line of time can be developed by the addition of pictures. In some schools a continuous band of paper is fixed round the walls at a convenient height and divided into sections. Sketches with explanatory notes are then added in the correct position to illustrate topics studied during the year. Another form of time chart is the graph which indicates the approximate rate and extent of development in some particular direction, e.g. the growth of population or of trade, the growth of the British Empire, or the growth and decline of English power in France in the Middle Ages.

3. Genealogical Tables. These must also be occasion- ally used. Their purpose is not merely to show family relationships, but to explain further facts by referring to these relationships. For example, Elizabeth could not, if she would, marry Philip II, for if it were lawful by canon law for him to marry his deceased wife's sister, it would have been equally lawful for Katharine of Aragon to have married her deceased husband's

214 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

brother, which Elizabeth denied, thereby making herself the legitimate child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. This fact can only be clearly explained by means of a table. Other instances are Mary Queen of Scot's claim to the English throne, the adherence of the Nevilles to the Yorkist cause in the Wars of the Roses, the accession of James I, William III, and George I to the throne of England, and wars arising from disputed succession, such as the Fifteen and Forty- five rebellions. It is not, of course, necessary that every name on the table should have some significance for our pupils ; some will be mere connecting links. But in the case of persons whose actions are being studied, pictures, sketches, and short extracts can not be attached to the name. The children will, in this way, acquire by association some historical facts, and there will be less danger of the genealogical table representing nothing but a list of names.

D. MATERIAL REMAINS

As illustrations, objects and places with historical associations may be compared with pictures and sketches in helping us to reconstruct the past. Any- thing belonging to a former age, whether it be a flint arrowhead or a suit of armour, a druidical circle or a stately minster, brings the past nearer to the present and gives reality to the people of long ago. Such historical remains may be classified either as relics or as places of interest.

1. Relics. Articles which illustrate the everyday life of the people in a past age, armour and weapons, and objects associated with historic personages and events, could often make the history lesson far more

ILLUSTRATIONS 215

interesting, but such objects are usually accessible only in museums. If the school is within reasonable distance and the visit is carefully arranged, the teacher will often find in an historical collection some of the best illustrations for a particular subject. Primitive life is represented by flint implements and articles found in barrows ; Roman Britain by coins, tombstones, pavements, and altars, besides lamps and urns, and many other articles of domestic use ; whilst the succeeding centuries of our national history are repre- sented by arms and armour, articles of dress, and innumerable other objects illustrating the various phases of the life of the people. Other relics are connected with well-known events, such as a sword or helmet found on a battlefield, or with historic persons, such as an autograph letter or some article of personal use.

In planning the visit the teacher should make a pre- liminary survey of the contents of the museum in order to select a limited number of objects relating to a definite period or topic which the children are studying. But if he expects the visit to be really profitable, he must do more than this. The children will require guidance in their observation, else they will overlook much which is important and notice many things which have no connexion with the subjects they are studying. The teacher must therefore direct their attention to the things he wishes them to notice, often by getting them to make rough sketches of these objects on the spot. Unless the visit is carefully supervised, it will degenerate, as it usually does, into ' looking round ' the museum, which, as a help to history teaching, will be both dull and futile.

216 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

2. Places of Historical Interest. In every district there are places with historical associations and objects in their natural surroundings which can be visited by the children. The following places are readily accessible from many schools :

British Remains. Hill fortresses, found in all parts of England ; barrows, i. e. prehistoric graves ; stone circles, as Avebury and Stonehenge, and many smaller ones in all parts ; pit dwellings, e. g. those on Rum- bold' s Moor in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Here and there are other prehistoric remains, e.g. the cup and ring stones on Rumbold's Moor near Ilkley (boulders upon which mystic circles have been carved — their purpose is unknown), and the Peddar's Way, a pre-Roman road in West Norfolk.

Roman Remains. Camps, some of which still retain their stone vallum or rampart ; buildings and walls, as the Roman baths at Bath, lighthouse at Dover, tower at York, walls at York, London, and other places, and the great wall across the north of England ; roads, many of which are still our main roads, whilst others are grassy lanes away from beaten tracks.

Of later remains churches, monasteries, castles, and houses, like relics in museums, may be interesting, either because they illustrate the life of the people, or because they are associated with some well-known person or event.

Ancient Churches and Cathedrals, in all parts of the British Isles, are generally well worth visiting. Among points of interest are :

(1) The architecture. Besides illustrating styles of architecture, many churches have such points of interest as a leper's squint, a parvise or room over the porch

ILLUSTRATIONS 217

where the parish priest often lived and kept school, and a low-side window in the south side of the chancel, at which a light was perhaps placed in olden days in order to frighten spirits from the churchyard.

(2) The internal decoration. Some retain pre- Reformation paintings, and coloured decorations, e. g. on the wall of Fritton Church in Suffolk there is a, painting which probably commemorates the recovery of the inhabitants from the Black Death in 1350.

(3) The furniture. This often illustrates the Church before the Reformation, e.g. the rood screen, sanctus bell, stone altar with hole for relics, and holy water stoup. In many churches the font is very old, e.g. that in St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, is supposed to have been used when Ethelbert of Kent was baptized, and there is one in Burnsall Church, Yorks., which is evidently of Danish origin.

(4) Monuments. Tombs and wall monuments of well-known people are interesting because of their associations, e.g. those in Westminster Abbey. Tombs can also be studied for illustrations of dress and armour, e. g. those of crusaders found in some churches. Dress is also illustrated by ancient brasses.

Monasteries. In some cases little is left to mark the site, yet the place possesses the charm of histori- cal associations. For example, the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds is in utter decay, but retains interest for the historical student as the abode of Abbot Samson (Carlyle's Past and Present and Jocelyn of Brakelond), and it was at the high altar, the site of which is indi- cated, that Stephen Langton and the barons swore a solemn oath to bring King John to account. Some years before this, so Jocelyn tells us, John stayed at

218 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

the Abbey a fortnight, and in leaving gave thirteen pence for the monks to say a mass for him, and also pretended to bestow upon the Abbey a silk cloak, which was immediately borrowed by one of his retainers and never seen again.

Walsingham Priory in Norfolk, of which there are few traces left, has many associations. It was visited by Erasmus in 1511, and Henry VIII, barefoot, made a pilgrimage there from East Barsham Hall, five miles away, and brought with him, as an offering for the shrine of the Virgin, a chain of gold.

There are other monasteries, better preserved, which illustrate monastic life in the Middle Ages. Fountains and Kirkstall in Yorkshire are good examples, whilst Westminster Abbey and some cathedrals, as Durham and Norwich, retain features of their monastic origin.

Castles illustrate the domestic life of the nobles and the methods of warfare in the Middle Ages.

In some towns, as York, there are still walls and gates existing which illustrate the defence of towns. More- over, here and there throughout the country there are old buildings of various kinds with historical associa- tions, such as the Norman leper hospital at Norwich and the hospital at Bury St. Edmunds in which Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, met a mysterious death in 1447.

Sites of historic buildings and events, though now marked by no material remains, are often worth a visit, e.g. the battlefield of Towton, where the stream ran red with blood and was bridged by the bodies of the slain on that fateful Sunday in 1461 which saw the overthrow of the Lancastrian cause.

Apart from these more pretentious remains, there is hardly a village which does not provide some interesting

ILLUSTRATIONS 219

link with the past, e.g. the village green, in the Middle Ages the scene of the village sports and festivities ; the village cross ; the stocks and whipping-post ; and old houses and inns with interesting associations.

The importance of these material illustrations need not be emphasized. A clearer, more accurate historical imagination is developed in children by bringing them closer to the past ; a deeper interest is inspired in all that pertains to bygone ages. And, after all, our teaching must fail unless we can connect history with the world of to-day outside the school. ' It is faj: more important that pupils should leave school with their eyes trained to observe the historical remains which are to be found in almost every part of England, than that they should attempt to remember the whole of the political history, much of which they cannot understand.' *

Although there are historical remains in the neigh- bourhood of almost every school, yet those which can be visited by the children are usually very few in number. But even when remains cannot be visited, the teacher can still make the children's knowledge more definite by referring, in the course of his teaching, to particular illustrations, not only in the neighbour- hood, but also in other parts.

E. LOCAL HISTORY

The local history which may be used to illustrate general history is varied in character. In some districts we can learn much about the successive races of people who inhabited the neighbourhood, or at any rate can

1 Board of Education Circular on the Teaching of History in Secondary Schools.

220 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

refer to a British camp, a Roman road, a Saxon cross, or a Norman church, which will remind the children that these people lived in their own district. Local history also provides illustrations of industrial changes, e.g. the history of Leeds and district illustrates various phases of the Industrial Revolution, such as develop- ments in the woollen and iron trades, the change from the domestic to the factory system, and improvements in communications. The history of the Church can be illustrated in many ways, e.g. by reference to churches and monasteries, local saints, and settlements of friars. Similarly, the life of the people, the development of local government, and of parliamentary representation, and other phases of national history can be illustrated by examples from the neighbourhood of the school..

Many of these facts can be found in books on local history ; but both teachers and pupils should, as far as possible, study the sources of local history for themselves. The chief of such sources are :

(1) Material remains.

(2) Records of various kinds, e. g. municipal records, which are often published, will provide many sidelights on town life and government ; l reports of various Royal Commissions and of local enclosures of commons are other examples of local records which provide illustrations of national history.

(3) Local names. A mere name is often sufficient to recall an important fact, e.g. the defences of London no longer exist, but numerous names, such as Ludgate, Barbican, and Shoreditch, remind us of the time when the City was protected by walls and ditches. Eastcheap and Cheapside remind us of the chapmen or traders

1 See the extract quoted above from the records of Hartlepool.

ILLUSTRATIONS 221

who frequented these districts of London, and the church of St. Clement Danes most probably in its name preserves a reminiscence of a Danish raid or settlement. Equally good illustrations are found in almost every town and even in some villages. At Norwich there are Blackfriars Hall, Whitefriars Bridge, and the Lollards Pit. At Harewood, near Leeds, Bondgate reminds us of the unfree tenants of the lords of Harewood in the Middle Ages.

(4) Lastly, local stories, beliefs, and customs are often excellent illustrations of general history. The story of St. William, the boy-martyr, who is said to have been crucified by the Jews in Norwich, shows the antagonism between Christians and Jews before their expulsion from England in 1290. The belief in witches, which still lingers in a few backward districts, reminds us of the superstitious nature of the people in past ages. The custom of ringing the curfew bell, which has survived to the present day in a few places, is a connecting link between Norman times and to-day.

Little need be said concerning the value of local history. When the illustrations are selected from the locality of the school they bring the story of the nation within the limits of everyday experience. But local examples taken from other districts are often of great service in making the children's knowledge definite and particular, rather than vague and general. In all cases local illustrations lift national history beyond the realm of mere abstraction and make it, for many pupils at least, a vivid and fascinating reality.

CHAPTER XIII

CONCLUSION

THE aim of this book is to give practical help in the teaching of history. But to many teachers the schemes and methods of the foregoing chapters will no doubt appear to be far from practical. 'You forget', they will say, ' that history is only one of many subjects taught in school ; yet if we followed your suggestions several hours a week would be devoted to it.' And teachers in elementary schools will add that the necessary preparation would make heavy demands upon their scanty leisure.

A final question, therefore, requires examination. If the inclusion of history in the curriculum can only be justified on the grounds indicated in the first chapter, and if the aims there expressed can only be attained by a comprehensive scheme of work and the adoption of methods suggested in the following chapters, then how is it possible to carry out these suggestions in actual teaching ? The answer is that the teacher must have adequate opportunity for the preparation of his lessons and adequate time for teaching them.

I. In elementary schools both these conditions for successful work are usually wanting.

1. Preparation of lessons, which must be thorough and constant in subjects such as history, is only possible if teachers have access to a good supply of historical books and have time for reading them. Yet the

CONCLUSION 223

necessary books often cannot be obtained ; 1 and even when this difficulty is overcome, the teacher has little time or inclination to read them. The reason for this is not far to seek. At present elementary teachers are expected to be able to teach all the subjects of the curriculum, an arrangement having the sanction of tradition, but finding no justification in the schools of to-day. There was a time when the almost exclusive aim of the elementary schools was to give the children a mastery over the English language, written and spoken, and the elementary processes of arithmetic. Geography was usually added, but drawing, handwork, physical exercises, history, literature, and science found no place on the time-table. Now it is evident that arith- metic, reading, and writing, all of them mechanical arts, could be taught more or less successfully without special training. The study of books and a knowledge of sound teaching methods were by no means an essential part of the pedagogue's equipment. But since those primitive times the art of teaching has been revolutionized. The extension of the curriculum and the development in methods of teaching make the teacher's task an impossible one. He must inevitably be inefficient in some part of his work.

Any one experienced in the work of training teachers for elementary schools must have become painfully aware of the reality of this evil. The students who enter training colleges are allowed to specialize in a limited degree by selecting a group of subjects for study. At the same time an attempt is made to give them some training in teaching all subjects of the elementary school curriculum. Thus students who are not studying 1 See p. 179 on the school library.

224 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

history or geography or nature-study or mathematics are receiving practice in teaching these subjects. Anything less than this general training would be detrimental to their professional prospects, although the Board of Education, by making provision for some specialization in studies and allowing an advanced course to be taken in the teaching of a selected subject, seems to be pointing the way to some form of specializa- tion in schools.

It is in the schools themselves where any change in this direction is most vigorously opposed. We are reminded of difficulties of organization and told that without an additional teacher on the staff it would be impossible to construct a specialist time-table. Much, of course, depends upon the size of the school and the efficiency of the staffing. In small schools with very few classes specialization is out of the question ; but in larger schools the difficulties should not be insuperable. The best results are perhaps attained where a limited form of specialization has been introduced. A teacher is restricted, not to a subject, but to a group of subjects. The more mechanical work — arithmetic and language teaching, including reading, writing, and composition — is taken by all teachers with their own classes. The other subjects are taught by those who are already specialists or who become so by reason of more preparation and teaching. To be limited in one's preparation to litera- ture and history, or geography and science, or physical exercises and singing, or art and handwork, is a great relief to the hard-worked teacher. This arrange- ment, when tried, has increased the efficiency of the teaching by (1) giving those teachers who already

CONCLUSION 225

have a bias in a particular direction greater opportuni- ties for using their powers ; and (2) by increasing the interest which comes through the intensive study and teaching of particular subjects. If even small secondary schools, which are not always well staffed, can be organized on more or less specialist lines, this should not be impossible in a great many elementary schools.

A second objection to specialization which is some- times advanced is that it is unnecessary. The standard of learning required in the elementary school is so low that every teacher can reasonably be expected to teach every subject. Such an argument shows a lamentable ignorance of sound aims and methods. For example, to teach history successfully to young children, much more is required than a few facts gathered from the school-reader or a text-book. The teacher who has no further equipment than this for his lesson is doing far more harm than good. He would be far better employed if he merely read to the class a simple historical tale in the hope of fostering an interest in history. The successful teacher must have wide knowledge, both of the main events and move- ments in history, and of interesting details ; he must have an acquaintance with historical literature so that he may be able to acquire this knowledge ; and he must have an acquaintance with methods of teaching so that he may be able to use this knowledge to the best effect in the schoolroom. To give a really success- ful history lesson to children of 9 or 10 years of age is as difficult as to give one to pupils of 16 or 17. In some ways it is even more difficult, since the teacher must be careful to make his narrative simple enough

1977 p

226 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

to be understood, yet vivid and full enough to be interesting. He can only do this when he has a large reserve of historical knowledge which has been gradually acquired by consistent reading.

Specialization in teaching is supported by one further argument. We profess that one of our main aims in the elementary school is to engender in the children interests which will enable them to lead fuller, more useful, happier lives. But this is hardly possible when the teacher himself, through being compelled to teach a dozen subjects, is unable to develop a genuine interest in any one of them. It is only a teacher of wide historical knowledge and considerable experience in teaching the subject who can give his pupils a real permanent interest in history.

2. Specialization and an adequate supply of books will do little to improve the teaching of history in elementary schools until more time is given to this subject. Three or four hours a week throughout school life are often devoted to acquiring skill in the use of numbers. Even in the upper classes at least five or six are usually spent in learning to read and write the English language. But surely, after six or seven years of school life so much time is not needed for these subjects. In a school where children of twelve and thirteen spend between four and five hours a week doing arithmetic and mensuration and a single period of forty-five minutes studying history, all notion of the relative values of these subjects is lost. We must conclude that in such cases the single) lesson in history is a concession to meet the requirements of the Board of Education, and that the head master considers the working of innumerable examples in Practice and

CONCLUSION 227

Averages and the calculation of the surface of a cone or pyramid to be infinitely more important in equipping the children for their life in the world, than a knowledge of how the community in which they live came to be what it is.

II. In secondary schools the problem is somewhat different. Here the chief hindrances to efficient work are the influence of external examinations upon schemes of work and methods of teaching, and the subordinate place which tradition gives to history in the school.

1. The examination evil is too obvious to detain us. With the prospect of an examination ahead, the teacher must throw aside principles and convictions in order that his pupils may, at an appointed time, reproduce just the knowledge which the examiners require. This knowledge is often hurriedly acquired and badly assimilated ; the methods of teaching are often the worst imaginable ; and the scope of the work is often unduly limited to political history. Further, there is a tendency to concentrate attention for too long on a particular period to the neglect of all other periods, in order that a good examination result may be obtained. Under these circumstances the teacher can well be forgiven if he neglects the real educational aspect of his work and resorts to unworthy methods. In seeking to gain a long list of successes he is, after all, striving to add to the reputation of the school and to his chances of professional advancement. But these very facts are a sad commentary upon the effects of the present examination system.

2. A further reason for ineffective history teaching is that it has not yet succeeded in winning the confidence

P2-

228 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

of head masters. To many its appeal for more considera- tion is by no means convincing. Like literature, its market value is low ; it has no place in the preparation for a commercial or professional career ; it is not usually an avenue to a university career. But the school has more important aims than to give any sort of vocational training. Education is to a great extent a preparation for the right employment of leisure and the development of broad intellectual and social interests outside the scope of any business or profession. The training of the school should make for culture rather than for business acumen ; it should aim at giving an interest in books and in nature, a love of true knowledge, a recognition of social duties, an appreciation of national questions, rather than the qualities of material success. It is on these grounds that history and literature claim more dignified positions in secondary education than they hold to-day.

APPENDIX I

THE CULTURE-EPOCH THEORY

THIS doctrine, which is more popular in America and Germany than in England, cannot be lightly dismissed as an educational fad. Many great thinkers have believed in it, and many practical educationists have applied it to the school curriculum. Goethe expresses the theory in a few words when he says, ' Although the world in general advances, the youth must always start again from the beginning and, as an individual, traverse the epochs of the world's culture.' x According to this view, there are epochs in the history of the child comparable to epochs in the development of the race. Before this theory can be intro- duced into the curriculum there are, as Rein points out, three problems to be solved :

1. To discover the chief epochs in the development of

the race.

2. To discover similar epochs in the life of the individual.

3. To harmonize these two series of epochs.

The attempts made to mark out these parallel series of epochs appear to be far from satisfactory. We all can recognize that the child's mental and moral development is in many ways similar to that of the race. But can we go further than this ? The advocates of this doctrine should be able to distinguish epochs in race history ex- tending from prehistoric times to the present, each epoch having its characteristic features. He should also be able to determine corresponding epochs with similar character- istics in the history of the individual. Those who believe such a task not impossible claim that the material for 1 Quoted by Rein, Outlines of Pedagogics, p. 98.

230 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

instruction should be drawn from the corresponding epochs in the history of the race. National development, then, becomes the central theme of the whole curriculum.1

The difficulties involved in such a scheme are obvious and have led many teachers to adopt a modified form of the culture-epoch theory which is limited to prehistoric times and young children. They emphasize the points of comparison, mental and moral, between young children and primitive man, and infer from this that the whole of the work in the lower classes should be based on life in primitive times. But serious problems still remain. We all know that the young boy delights to subject himself to conditions more or less similar to those of primitive times. He loves to be a cave-man or a tent-dweller, but we need not go to the culture-epoch theory for an explanation . Tales of adventure appeal to a boy, as tales of romance appeal to people of all ages, not necessarily because the boy is passing through a period which has its corresponding epoch in the history of the race, but because we all delight to be trans- ported beyond the petty circle of our everyday experiences.

Since also children are imitative by nature, they often play such games as those introducing Indians and cowboys, of whose exploits they have been reading. Many children, especially girls, love to play at ' teaching ' if they can get a few younger children before them, or even when they must be content with imaginary pupils. Many boys love to bedeck themselves with paper helmets and march in ranks. These and many other instances of children's play are quite spontaneous, but, like the Red Indian game, are due to imitation and not to a repetition in the child of a characteristic of the race.

Even if parallel series of epochs could be marked out in the history of the individual and of the race, it would be doubtful how far the child ought to be brought into touch 1 See Rein, pp. 117-27.

APPENDIX I 231

with the race experiences of the corresponding stage of development. Are the problems of the race in its infancy the problems of the young child ? Is it true that the problems which children meet and ought to solve are similar to those solved in the early history of the race ? Some of the great problems of the race were the provision of fire, shelter, clothing, and tools, and the means of ex- pressing their thoughts in the form of writing. The child does not meet with these problems : he is the heir of all the ages, the inheritor of countless achievements. If, then, the child is to encounter the problems of primitive life, the teacher must create with elaborate care the atmosphere of early times and present these problems to the child. ' Certainly the simplicity of these modes of life corresponds to his child-bound limitations, but the problems which the teacher proposes to him when representing Ab the Cave- dweller or Robinson Crusoe are remote from the purposes and motives which he finds in his modern environment.' x

Suppose we believe in the reality of the comparison between primitive man and the young child, and in the advisability of making use of this comparison in the school. There is still the difficulty of making life in primitive times the centre of the curriculum. Hence some educationists suggest the homely occupations of everyday life, rather than primitive society, as the central topic for young children. In this way the child's little world is expanding gradually ; his new experiences are real and natural, like the experiences of the race in its infancy ; and he is gaining a better foundation for his life in the world than he would if a considerable portion of his school time for several years were devoted to the study of prehistoric man.

Quite apart from the culture-epoch theory we can select stories from life in primitive times in teaching young children.

1 University of Manchester Demonstration School Record, vol. ii, p. 30.

APPENDIX II

SHORT LIST OF SOURCES FOR ENGLISH HISTORY

I. COLLECTIONS or SOURCES

W. C. Colby, Extracts from the Sources of English History (Long- mans, 6s.).

E. K. Kendall, Source Book of English History (Macmillan, 3*. 6d.).

English History illustrated from Original Sources — a series of volumes on periods of English history by various editors (A. and C. Black, 25. 6d. each).

Bell's English History Source Books, a similar series (Bell, Is. each).

Documents of British History ivith Problems and Exercises, 6 vols. (A. and C. Black, Sd. each).

Marshall's Illustrative Histories, 4 vols. (H. Marshall, 2s. or 2s. 6d. each). Suitable for class reading.

The following collections are more advanced, but contain much useful material for teaching in schools :

G. C. Lee, Leading Documents of English History (Bell, Is. 6d.).

Adams and Stephens, Select Documents of English Constitutional History (Macmillan, 10*.).

G. W. Prothero, Select Statutes and other Constitutional Documents, 1558-1625 (Clarendon Press, 10$. 6dk).

S. R. Gardiner, Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1625-1660 (Clarendon Press, 10*. Qd.).

Gee and Hardy, Documents illustrative of English Church History (Macmillan, 10*. 6d.).

II. SOURCES BEFORE 1485

Old English Chronicles, including Gildas, Nennius, Asser's Life of Alfred, and Geoffrey of Monmouth (Bell, 5*.). Bede's Ecclesiastical History (Bell, 5s.). Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Bell, 5*.). Chronicles of the Crusades (Bell, 3*. 6d.). Memoirs of the Crusades (Dent, 1*.). Froissart's Chronicles, 1326-1400. Various modern abridged

APPENDIX II 233

editions have been published. Lord Berners' complete translation is published in Macmillan's Globe Library (3s. 6d.).

The Paston Letters, 1422-1509, domestic affairs mainly.

The following collection of sources, published by the University of Pennsylvania in their ' Translations and Reprints ', are useful for social history in the Middle Ages :

1. English Manorial Documents, price 20 cents.

2. England in the time of W ycliffe. 10 cents. Contains documents of the Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt.

3. English Towns and Gilds, 20 cents. For the laws and customs of cities and boroughs, charters of cities and boroughs, and mediaeval gilds.

III. SOURCES FOR THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

(a) Correspondence Paston Letters (various editions).

Letters of Elizabeth and James (Camden Society's Publications, vol. xlvi).

.In the King's Classics (Chatto & Windus, Is. 6d.) are two volumes of ' King's Letters ', the second of which includes Letters of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Dorothy Osborne's Letters to Sir W. Temple, 1652-4. Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, edited by Carlyle.

(6) Chronicles and Histories

Hall's Chronicle, Henry IV to Henry VIII inclusive. Holinshed's Chronicle, Early Times to Elizabeth. Clarendon's History of the Great Rebellion.

Burnet's History of my own Time (abridged in Dent's Everyman's Library, Is.).

(c) Biographies and Memoirs Bacon's Henry VII. Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. Roper's Life of Sir T. More. Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, by his wife. Life of the Duke of Newcastle, by his wife. Evelyn's Diary, 1640-1704. Pepys's Diary, 1660-1669.

234 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

(d) Miscellaneous

Harrison's Description of England, Tudor Period (edited by Furnivall in the Scott Library).

Harleian Miscellany, 12 vols., sixteenth to eighteenth century — reprints of many curious documents.

Arber's English Reprints. Vol. xxix contains Raleigh's ' Last Fight of the Revenge at Sea, 1591 '.

Latimer's Sermons.

More's Utopia.

James I's Works.

Hakluyt's Voyages. Complete Edition in Dent's Everyman's Library; selections edited: (1) by E. J. Payne, 2 vols., 5s. each (Clarendon Press) or abridged by C. R. Beazley, 1 vol., 4s. 6d., or Hawkins, Frobisher and Drake, 2s. 6rf. ; (2) by E. E. Speight, under the title of English Voyages (H. Marshall, 2s. 6d.).

The above sources are usually found in a well-equipped public library or can be purchased for the school library at small cost.

IV. SOURCES FOB THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES

No attempt is made here to compile a short list for this period. The volumes in Longmans' Political History of England and Methuen's History of England dealing with the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries contain full bibliographies. The actual sources are usually more or less inaccessible to the average teacher, but the collections of sources which have been already mentioned contain much material in handy form, whilst many illustrations, especially of social and industrial conditions, will be found in general contem- porary literature.

APPENDIX III

SHORT LIST OF GENERAL BOOKS

1. For the political history of England two of the best recent works are :

Longmans' Political History of England (12 vols., Is. 6d. each).

Methuen's History of England (7 vols., 10s. 6d. each).

Here and there in these volumes an experienced teacher may gather much material of value for purposes of teaching, and much more which, though not of direct use for his lessons, will give him a fuller conception and better understanding of the nation's develop- ment.

C. R. L. Fletcher's Introductory History of England (4 vols., 5s. each, Murray) is on a smaller scale. It is entertaining in style, and the first two volumes at least should be read from beginning to end.

2. For social and industrial history a number of excellent school reading books have been published. Among those most deserving of mention are :

Finnemore, Social Life in England (2 vols., 1*. 6d. e.ach, Black).

The Piers Plowman Histories (various prices, George Philip & Sons).

F. W. Tickner, Social and Industrial History of England (Arnold, 3*. 6eZ.).

Stanley Leathes, The People of England (3 vols., Heinemann).

G. Collar, Industrial and Social History (Pitman, 2*.). G. Guest, A Social History of England (Bell, Is. Qd.).

The teacher should also read an outline of industrial history such as :

Townsend Warner, Landmarks of English Industrial History (Blackie, 5s.).

H. de B. Gibbins, The Industrial History of England (Methuen, 3*.).

L. L. Price, English Commerce and Industry (Arnold, 3s. 6d.).

Cunningham and McArthur, Outlines of English Industrial History (Camb., 4s.).

236 THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

More advanced, but invaluable for reference, are the following :

W. Cunningham, Growth of English History and Commerce (3 vols., Cambridge).

Traill and Mann, Social England (6 vols., Cassell).

Chapters on a variety of topics, e. g. state of the people, travel, education, navy, army, art of war, &c. The last edition is well illustrated.

3. For church history one of the best short books is :

H. O. Wakeman, History of the Church of England (Is. 6d., Rivingtons).

Hunt and Stephens, History of the English Church (8 vols.) is the most up-to-date of the larger histories.

4. A good general history of Europe is indispensable. The fol- lowing are among the best short works :

G. B. Adams, European History (6s., Macmillan).

A. J. Grant, A History of Europe (Is. 6d., Longmans).

Thatcher and Schwill, A General History of Europe, A. D. 350-1900 (9s., Murray).

A larger work is Rivington's Periods of European History by various writers (8 vols., 6s. each).

6. The teacher must have some knowledge of the development of architecture in England.

T. D. Atkinson, English Architecture (Methuen, 3s. 6d.) will be sufficiently full.

A. H. Thompson, The Historical Growth of the English Parish Church (Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature, Is.) is another useful little book for the teacher.

6. An historical atlas is, of course, essential. The best small ones are :

Ramsay Muir, New School Atlas of Modern History (Philips, 3s.).

5. R. Gardiner, School Atlas of English History (Longmans, 5s.). Putzger, Historischer Schul-Atlas, 3s.

A collection of pictorial illustrations is necessary. Simple col- lections are published by Horace Marshall and Messrs. E. J. Arnold of Leeds. Messrs. Longmans publish a series of portfolios of illus- trations .(2s. 6d. each).

H. W. Donald, Pictorial History of England (Charles, 3s. 6d.) is one of the most useful collections in book form. Lavisse and Par- mentier's Album Historique (4 vols.) is a much larger work covering

APPENDIX III 237

the whole range of European history in mediaeval and modern times.

7. The following list of miscellaneous books will also be found useful :

Munro, Prehistoric Britain ;

Pollard, History of England ;

Belloc, Warfare in England ;

Spears, Master Mariners ;

and other volumes in the Home University Library (Williams & Norgate, Is. each).

Isaac Taylor, Words and Places (Dent, Everyman's Library, Is.) for the historical significance of place-names.

H. B. George, Historical Geography of the British Empire (Methuen, 3*. 6d.).

H. B. George, The Relations between History and Geography (Clarendon Press, 4*. Qd.).

H. B. George, Historical Evidence (Clarendon Press, 3s.).

J. E. Morris and H. Jordan, Local History and Antiquities (Rout- ledge, 4s. 6d.) contains much useful information concerning material remains in various parts of England for all periods from prehistoric times to the present.

APPENDIX IV

SHORT LIST OF HISTORICAL FICTION

Author. Henty.

Church. Lytton. Kingsley.

Strang. Hewlett.

Scott.

Strang. Edgar.

Strang. Henty. C!onan Doyle.

Michael Fairless.

Florence Converse.

C. M. Yonge.

Henty.

Stevenson.

Lytton.

Scott.

Reade.

Haggard.

Manning.

Henty.

Title.

Eerie the Briton. The Dragon and the Raven. Wulfthe Saxon. The Count of the Saxon Shore. Harold.

Hereward the Wake. In the New Forest (William I). Life and Death of Richard Yea and Nay

(Richard I). Talisman (1191). Ivanhoe (1194). Lion-Heart.

Runnymede and Lincoln Fair. Cressy and Poictiers. With the Black Prince.

St. George for England (Hundred Years' War). Sir Nigel (Hundred Years' War). White Company (Hundred Years' War). The Gathering of Brother Hilarius (Edward III,

Black Death).

Long Will (Peasants' Revolt). The Lances of Lynwood (Hundred Years' War). At Agincourt.

Black Arrow (Richard III). Last of the Barons (Edward IV). Quentin Durward (France, fifteenth century). Cloister and the Hearth. Montezumd's Daughter (Conquest of Mexico). Household of Sir Thomas More. By Pike and Dyke. } Netherlands in time of By England's Aid. j Elizabeth.

APPENDIX IV

239

Author. Weyman.

Scott.

Whyte-Melville.

Scott.

Kingaley.

Strang.

Scott.

Q.

Beatrice Marshall. Strang.

Whyte-Melville. Marryat. Edna Lyall.

J. H. Shorthouse.

Weyman.

Henty.

Scott.

Defoe.

Ainsworth.

Scott.

Edna Lyall.

Blackmore.

Conan Doyle.

Thackeray.

Scott.

Besant.

A. E. W. Mason.

Strang.

Scott.

Halliwell Sutcliffe.

Stevenson.

France in time of Elizabeth.

Henty.

Title.

The House of the Wolf.] Count Hannibal. Gentleman of France, j The Monastery (Scotland, 1550). The Abbot (Scotland, 1567). The Queen's Maries (Mary Queen of Scots). Kenilworth (Elizabeth's Court). Westward Ho !

A Mariner of England (time of Elizabeth). Fortunes of Nigel (James I). Splendid Spur (1642-3). The Siege of York (Civil War). One of Rupert's Horse (Civil War). Holmby House (1645-9). Children of the New Forest (1647). To Right the Wrong (Hampden). In Spite of All (Falkland, Laud). John Inglesant (Charles I). Under the Red Robe (France under Richelieu). Lion of the North (Gustavus Adolphus). Legend of Montrose (Scotland, 1645). Woodstock (about 1652). Journal of the Plague. Old St. Paul's (Plague and Fire). Peveril of the Peak (Charles II). In the Golden Days (Charles II). Lorna Doone (Monmouth). Micah Clarke (Monmouth). Esmond (William Ill-Anne). Rob Roy (Jacobites, 1715). Dorothy Forster (1715). Clementina (Jacobites, time of George I). With Marlborough to Malplaquet. Waverley (1745). Rycroft of Withens (1745). Master ofBallantrae (after 1745). Kidnapped and Catriona (1751). With Clive in India.

240

THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Author. Title.

Gilbert Parker. The Seats of the Mighty (Quebec, 1759).

Thackeray. The Virginians (America and England).

Dickens. Barnaby Rudge (George II and III).

Tale of Two Cities (French Revolution).

Stanley Weyman. The Red Cockade (French Revolution).

Seton Merriman. Bar lasch of the Guard (Moscow, 1812).

Conan Doyle. Brigadier Gerard (Napoleonic Wars).

Seton Merriman. Flotsam (Indian Mutiny).

The following Goldsmith. Frances Burney. Thackeray.

Jane Austen. George Eliot. C. Bronte.

George Eliot.

are mainly for social life :

Vicar of Wakefield (eighteenth century).

Evelina (end of eighteenth century).

Vanity Fair (English Society, early nineteenth

century).

Pride and Prejudice (early nineteenth century). Adam Bede (early nineteenth century). Shirley (Riots in Yorkshire, early nineteenth

century).

Felix Holt. 1 „ ,

the Reform Period.

Disraeli.

Gaskell. Dickens.

I Industrial conditions, early part nineteenth century.

Sybil (Chartists). North and South, j

Oliver Twist. ) „ T

/-> Tir * . TI • j r P°or Law. Our Mutual Fnend.

For further guidance consult : Jonathan Nield. Guide to the best Historical Novels and Tales

(Elkin Mathews, 4s.). Courthope Bowen. Descriptive Catalogue of Historical Novels and

Tales (Stanford, 2s.).

Printed in England at the Oxford University Press

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