Britons

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The following rhymes have been in daily use in our school for nearly twenty years. Any child able to learn The House That Jack Built, on which immortal master-piece they have been modelled, is old enough to begin to learn The Britons. They make an admirable memory exercise. The jingle Of the doggerel catches the ear of children, and thus they take in readily, and long retain, a body of, history which, in later life, becomes of value. It would be right to give honour where honour is due, if the authorship could now be ascertained. More than forty years ago a faithful governess taught a rhymed English history, orally, to a small pupil. When, in the course of human events, it be came her lot to teach the young idea how to shoot, these stanzas were written out, chiefly from mem~ ory, and no doubt with many imperfections. Since then, here and there a line has been altered or added, sometimes by the teacher, quite as Often by the pupils of successive classes. These emenda tions are then our joint workmanship.