THE SENIOR MISTRESS OF BLYTH
[“Blyth Secondary School.—The Governors of the above School invite applications for the post of Senior Mistress. Candidates must be Graduates in Honours of a British University and must be well qualified in Mathematics, Latin, and English. Ability to teach Art will be a recommendation.”—Advertisement inThe Spectator.]
It is told of the painter Da Vinci,Being once unemployed for a span,At the menace of poverty’s pinch heSought work at the Court of Milan.Having shown himself willing and ableTo perform on the curious lyre,He presented the Duke with a tableOf the talents he proffered for hire.“I can raze you a fortress,” it ran on,“Quell castles, drain ditches and moats,Make shapely and competent cannon,Build aqueducts, bridges and boats;In peace I can mould for your Courts aFew models in marble or clayAnd paint the illustrious SforzaWith anyone living to-day.”Leonardo is dead, they asseverate,He has left no successor behind,For the days of the specialist never rateAt its value the versatile mind.Is Lord Brougham, then, our latest example?No, Time, the old churl with his scythe,Shall spare us a notable sampleIn the Senior Mistress of Blyth.She shall guide Standard Three through Progressions,Study Statics and Surds with the Fourth,She shall dwell on De Quincey’s Confessions,Donne, Caedmon and Christopher North;And no class-room shall boast of a quicker rowWhen her classical pupils rehearseTheir prose, which is modelled on Cicero,And their more than Horatian verse.She shall lead them to love Cimabue,To distinguish with scholarship ripe’Twixt the texture of Clausen and Clouet,And the values of Collier and Cuyp.Nay, all Blyth shall reflect her abilityAs its brushes acquire by her aidOr South Kensington’s pretty facilityOr the terrible strength of the Slade.Yes, her duties are diverse, and this’llSuggest to each candidate whyThey should read Leonardo’s epistleBefore they sit down to apply;For his style is itself a credentialThough truly he has not a titheOf the qualifications essentialTo the Senior Mistress of Blyth.
It is told of the painter Da Vinci,Being once unemployed for a span,At the menace of poverty’s pinch heSought work at the Court of Milan.Having shown himself willing and ableTo perform on the curious lyre,He presented the Duke with a tableOf the talents he proffered for hire.“I can raze you a fortress,” it ran on,“Quell castles, drain ditches and moats,Make shapely and competent cannon,Build aqueducts, bridges and boats;In peace I can mould for your Courts aFew models in marble or clayAnd paint the illustrious SforzaWith anyone living to-day.”Leonardo is dead, they asseverate,He has left no successor behind,For the days of the specialist never rateAt its value the versatile mind.Is Lord Brougham, then, our latest example?No, Time, the old churl with his scythe,Shall spare us a notable sampleIn the Senior Mistress of Blyth.She shall guide Standard Three through Progressions,Study Statics and Surds with the Fourth,She shall dwell on De Quincey’s Confessions,Donne, Caedmon and Christopher North;And no class-room shall boast of a quicker rowWhen her classical pupils rehearseTheir prose, which is modelled on Cicero,And their more than Horatian verse.She shall lead them to love Cimabue,To distinguish with scholarship ripe’Twixt the texture of Clausen and Clouet,And the values of Collier and Cuyp.Nay, all Blyth shall reflect her abilityAs its brushes acquire by her aidOr South Kensington’s pretty facilityOr the terrible strength of the Slade.Yes, her duties are diverse, and this’llSuggest to each candidate whyThey should read Leonardo’s epistleBefore they sit down to apply;For his style is itself a credentialThough truly he has not a titheOf the qualifications essentialTo the Senior Mistress of Blyth.
It is told of the painter Da Vinci,Being once unemployed for a span,At the menace of poverty’s pinch heSought work at the Court of Milan.Having shown himself willing and ableTo perform on the curious lyre,He presented the Duke with a tableOf the talents he proffered for hire.
“I can raze you a fortress,” it ran on,“Quell castles, drain ditches and moats,Make shapely and competent cannon,Build aqueducts, bridges and boats;In peace I can mould for your Courts aFew models in marble or clayAnd paint the illustrious SforzaWith anyone living to-day.”
Leonardo is dead, they asseverate,He has left no successor behind,For the days of the specialist never rateAt its value the versatile mind.Is Lord Brougham, then, our latest example?No, Time, the old churl with his scythe,Shall spare us a notable sampleIn the Senior Mistress of Blyth.
She shall guide Standard Three through Progressions,Study Statics and Surds with the Fourth,She shall dwell on De Quincey’s Confessions,Donne, Caedmon and Christopher North;And no class-room shall boast of a quicker rowWhen her classical pupils rehearseTheir prose, which is modelled on Cicero,And their more than Horatian verse.
She shall lead them to love Cimabue,To distinguish with scholarship ripe’Twixt the texture of Clausen and Clouet,And the values of Collier and Cuyp.Nay, all Blyth shall reflect her abilityAs its brushes acquire by her aidOr South Kensington’s pretty facilityOr the terrible strength of the Slade.
Yes, her duties are diverse, and this’llSuggest to each candidate whyThey should read Leonardo’s epistleBefore they sit down to apply;For his style is itself a credentialThough truly he has not a titheOf the qualifications essentialTo the Senior Mistress of Blyth.