KING EDWARD VII. AND BOOKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15056, 27 July 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

KING EDWARD VII. AND BOOKS

And -what is true of Kings may be true of lesser men. Among the many uses to which the J.eo biography will be put is that of supporting the contention that "book" education is relatively unimportant. It may even strengthen the demand for the reform of our public schools and universities. That would be a mistake, for there is no proof that King Edward's intelligent grasp of public affairs would have been Jess remarkable had he been more proficent in study. Rather there is reason to believe that his native quickness suffered from want of solid food, and that his tendency to take so personal a view of political events was duo to the limited range in which his knowledge of the world's history was confined.

Commenting on Sir Sidney Lee's Life of King Edward VII., a writer in the Lady remarks :—

The King, it appears, was the victim of "system" to an appalling extent. The reading imposed on him was so dull and I pedantic that he acquired a hatred of booklearning, and was never able to get rid of it, in later life. Ho never acquired the habit of reading. Most of us know Charles Lamb's story of the young gentleman who " left off reading, to the great improvement of his originality," and may be inclined to wonder whether, after all. King Edward was any the worse for his inability to study from books. Had he been more of a scholar, more of a philosopher, more of an intellectual thinker, perhaps ho might have lacked some of the qualities which commanded success when he came to the throne. Intellectual eminence is: not, it may be argued, nearly as essential to the modem. Sovereign as good taste, tact, punctuality, and alertness of perception. ' ."■ " . .