Final Word

This week's Final Word comes from an 18th-century work that is part novel, part educational treatise:

"My master, congratulate your son; he hopes soon to have the honour of being a father. What a responsibility will be ours, how much we shall need you! Yet God forbid that I should let you educate the son as you educated the father. God forbid that so sweet and holy a task should be fulfilled by any but myself, even though I should make as good a choice for my child as was made for me! But continue to be the teacher of the young teachers. Advise and control us; we shall be easily led; as long as I live I shall need you. I need you more than ever now that I am taking up the duties of manhood. You have done your own duty; teach me to follow your example, while you enjoy your well-earned leisure."

The winner of last week's competition, who correctly identified Choderlos De Laclos's Les Liaisons Dangereuses , was Yvonne Russell of Ryde, the Isle of Wight.