Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/394

in matters of education was remarkable. Up to 1865, the general level of girls' education was for the most part deplorable. They were sent to boarding schools, where they learnt ladylike manners and deportment, and such accomplishments as their parents thought fit, in order that they might be admired in society, for this was the chief raison d!être of a woman's education throughout the past "Everything," says Miss Cobbe, "was taught in the inverse ratio of its true importance. At the bottom of the scale were morals and religion, and at the top were music and dancing." One of the best known girls' schools was kept by Miss Mangnall, the famous author of "Mangnall's Questions," a school-book much used in those days together with Keith's "Use of the Globes," Mrs. Trimmer's English History, and Pinnock's Catechisms. Here the girls learnt some literature, which consisted of Scott's longer poems and "The Vicar of Wakefield," read aloud by Miss Mangnall herself, geography, spelling, the catechism, and a little pencil drawing. For bad spelling the young ladies were invariably sent to bed. Deportment was strictly attended to: tortures innumerable were invented to improve the figure