Thou hast most traitorously
corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a
grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers
had no other books but the score and the tally, thou
hast caused printing to be used, and, contrary to
the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a
paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou
hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and
a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian
ear can endure to hear.
—Jack Cade to his prisoner, Henry VI, Part 2
One of the major problems from which our students suffer, even at the higher levels, has to do with reading: reading with diligence, understanding, and, ideally, with the pleasure that attends discovery. True, many students have long been hermeneutical-readers-of-a-sort, going back, to take a famous example,
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