ENGLISH AGAINST THE CLASSICS. 713 



with English usage, this sixth of the translating process becomes an 

 exercise in the amendment of unidiornatic English. But the result is 

 little more profitable than in the other case, for two reasons : One is, 

 that the preliminary mustering of the main English words, and the 

 puzzling over the constructions, absorb so much of the pupil's atten- 

 tion that the finished English rendering is little thought of. The other 

 and principal reason is, that the English version, where attended to 

 as it must be in a good translation is remembered only in connection 

 with the Latin, and is not readily remembered when a natural object 

 has to be described. A good translator has no facility in original com- 

 position, unless he has practised the art of composition by itself: the 

 words used in translation do not occur as symbols for natural things, 

 but only as equivalents for the Latin expressions. It was quite to be 

 expected that Mr. Dasent would find good Latin scholars " utterly in- 

 capable of expressing themselves in their own language." The won- 

 der would be if they found time to learn how to lay out felicitously 

 their own thoughts and sentiments, while they acquired the art of 

 felicitously translating the more or less skilful expression of the 

 thoughts and sentiments of others. 



Does the classical scholar acquire an abundance of words or skill 

 in selecting; the right words? In translating, he must cast about over 

 various words of cognate meaning for the word that will suit the passage. 

 Does he thereby learn a wide command of synonymes, and a dexterity 

 in seizing the aptest word to convey his meaning ? He learns a com- 

 mand of synonymes, undoubtedly. But where does he get them ? Not 

 in Latin ; but in his own remembered store, and in the pages of the 

 English lexicographer, his starting-point being some English equiva- 

 lent of a Latin word. As a learner of synonymes, he does no more, and 

 can make no more progress, than the non-classical pupil that ransacks 

 his memory and his dictionary with a similar object. He does not 

 learn to seize the aptest words to convey his meaning. What he 

 learns is, to seize the aptest words to represent particular Latin words 

 in particular contexts an entirely different thing. Mr. Dasent's evi- 

 dence on this matter is very pointed. It is his express complaint of 

 good Latin scholars, that " they have no choice of words " in English. 



Does classical composition train in English composition ? In trans- 

 lating English into Latin or Greek, the pupil must acquire a certain 

 familiarity with a certain number of English words. If the English be 

 good, so much the better for the pupil. If he is taught to twist and 

 turn it about, so as to make idiomatic Latin out of idiomatic English, 

 so much the better for him. But the advantage is no greater than he 

 would have by keeping passages of good English some time in his 

 memory for any purpose whatsoever. 



Let us now consider what can be made of English as an instrument 

 of education. 



