Yesterday I mentioned the old (1903, I think) classic school algebra textbook by Hall & Knight.

A reader has alerted me to this poem by E.V. Rieu, who I assume is the same E.V. Rieu as the one who did all those translations for Penguin Classics.

Perhaps it’s just me (cries of “No! Surely not!” from the gallery), but I detect a whiff of homoeroticism in this poem. Could it be that Mr. Hall and Mr. Knight were… No, no, unthinkable.