LANGUAGE AND THE ENGLISH CIVIL SERVICE. 155 



Well, then, suppose the extreme case of a foreign language that 

 is entirely and avowedly superseded as regards communication and 

 interpretation of thoughts, but still furnishing so many valuable aids 

 to mental improvement that we keep it up for the sake of these. As 

 we are not to see, speak, or read the language, we do not need abso- 

 lutely to know the meaning of every word ; we may, perhaps, dis- 

 pense with much of the technicality of its grammar. The vocables 

 and the grammar would be kept up exactly so far as to serve the 

 other purposes, and no further. The teacher would have in view the 

 secondary uses alone. Supposing the language related to our own by 

 derivation of words, and that this was what we put stress upon, then 

 the derivation would always be uppermost in the teacher's thoughts. 

 If it were to illustrate universal grammar and philology, this would 

 be brought out to the neglect of translation. 



I have made an imaginary supposition to prepare the way for the 

 real case. The classical, or language, teacher is assumed to be fully 

 conscious of the fact that the primary use of the languages is as good 

 as defunct; and that he is continued in office because of certain 

 clearly-assigned secondary uses, but for which he would be suspended 

 entirely. Some of the secondary uses present to his mind, at all 

 events one of those that are put forward in argument, is that a for- 

 eign language, and especially Latin, conduces to good composition in 

 our own language. And as we do compose in our own language, and 

 never compose in Latin, the teacher is bound to think mainly of the 

 English part of the task: to see that the pupils succeed in the English 

 translation, whether they succeed in the other or not. They may be 

 left in a state of considerable ignorance of good Latin forms igno- 

 rance will never expose them but any defects in their English ex- 

 pression will be sure to be disclosed. Again, it is said that universal 

 grammar or philology is taught upon the basis of a foreign language. 

 Is this object, in point of fact, present to the mind of every teacher, 

 and brought forward, even to the sacrifice of the power of reading 

 and writing, which, by the supposition, is never to be wanted ? Fur- 

 ther, the Latin grammar is said to be a logical discipline. Is this, 

 too, kept in view as a predominating end ? Once more, it is declared 

 that through the classics we attain the highest cultivation of taste, 

 by seeing models of unparalleled literary form. Be it so ; is this 

 habitually attended to in the teaching of these languages ? 



I believe I am safe in saying that, while these various secondary 

 advantages are put forward in the polemic as to the value of lan- 

 guages, the teaching practice is not in full consistency therewith. 

 Even when in word the supporters of classics put forward the sec- 

 ondary uses, in deed they belie themselves. Excellence in teaching 

 is held by them to consist, in the first instance, in the power of accu- 

 rate interpretation, as if that obsolete use were still the use. If a 

 teacher does this well, he is reckoned a good teacher, although he 



