Note 233 — Chapter IX

A more recent instance of killing a man before he is dead, and raising his spirit to talk at a séance, was that of Mr Sherman, the American statesman. His ghost expatiated eloquently on the beauties and delights of Heaven—with which region, as he was still in the land of the living, he could hardly have made acquaintance—and altogether uttered much unedifying nonsense. The following veracious anecdotes show what hazy views on history, postal or otherwise, some children, and even their elders, entertain. A school mistress who had recently passed with honours through one of our “Seminaries of Useless Knowledge,” was asked by a small pupil if Rowland Hill had not invented the penny post. “No, my dear,” answered the learned instructress. “The penny post has been established in this country for hundreds of years. All that Rowland Hill did was to put the Queen's head on to a penny stamp.” The other story is of a recent viva voce examination in English history at one of our large public schools. “Who was Rowland Hill?” was the question. “Rowland Hill,” came without hesitation the reply, though not from the grand-nephew who was present and is responsible for the tale, “was a man who was burned for heresy.” Could the boy have been thinking of Rowland Taylor, a Marian martyr? The fact that my father was not exactly orthodox, lends piquancy to the story.