I love the imperial disdain of this village schoolmaster for those who come to the classroom thinking knowledge is a commodity to be bought by the sixpence worth, like snuff and stuff.

‘But I’ll not throw away good knowledge on people who think they can get it by the sixpenn’orth, and carry it away with ‘em as they would an ounce of snuff.’

For more of schoolmasterly snipes, see ‘Gutter thinking’ and other gems.

Source: George Eliot, Adam Bede (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985 (1859)), p. 282

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