LORD LYITELTON'S JOKE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.'] SIB,—It was not "some silly, narrow, and doctrinaire educational authorities" who said what you quote about Lord Granville, but one person only, to whom, no doubt, all the above adjectives apply, but not the substantive.
I said something in the House of Lords, but not exactly as you have described it. It was not about education generally, but about infant-schools ; and what I said was, that neither Lord Granville, nor either of his next lieutenants, Mr. Lowe and Mr. Lingers, as it happened, had ever had infants of their own, and therefore had no practical experience on that subject. It was meant as a joke, but about jokes the Spectator knows nothing.—I am, Sir, &c., [Our impression as to the origin of the criticism on Lord Granville was, we believe, solely an inference from Lord Gran- ville's reply, which did not disclose the jocular character of the attack. We bow, of course, to Lord Lyttelton's authority as to our own incapacity for understanding jokes.—En. Spectator.]
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