A born
statesman, he extended this ingratiating demeanour even to those minor
sovereigns from whom, to all appearance, she had nothing to fear,
supplying them likewise with periodical consignments of pretty maidens
and well-flavoured crayfish, only of somewhat inferior quality--the
crustaceans often too young, the damsels occasionally over-ripe.
His high aspirations made him the precursor of many modern ideas. In
educational and military matters, more especially, he ranks as a
pioneer. He was a pedagogue by natural instinct. He took a sincere
delight in the school-children, limited their weekly half-holidays to
five, designed becoming dresses for boys and girls, decreed that lute
playing and deportment should become obligatory subjects in the
curriculum, and otherwise reformed the scholastic calendar which,
before his day, had drifted into sad confusion and laxity. Sometimes he
honoured the ceremony of prize-giving with his presence. On the other
hand it must be admitted that, judged by modern standards, certain of
his methods for punishing disobedience smacks of downright pedantry.
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