THE CLASSICAL CONTROVERSY. 635 



Irish University Bill. Had that bill succeeded, the Irish would have 

 been for ten years in the enjoyment of a full option for both the lan- 

 guages.* From a careful perusal of the debates, I could not discover 

 that the opposition ever fastened upon this bold surrender of the clas- 

 sical exclusiveness. 



The proposal was facilitated by the existence of professors of 

 French. and German in the Queen's colleges. In the English and 

 Scotch colleges endowments are not as yet provided for these lan- 

 guages ; although it would be easy enough to make provision for them 

 in Oxford and Cambridge. 



In favor of this alternative, it is urged that the classics, if entered 

 on at all, should be entered on thoroughly and* entirely. The two lan- 

 guages and literatures form a coherent whole, an homogeneous disci- 

 pline ; and those that do not mean to follow this out should not begin 

 it. Some of the upholders of classics take this view. 



4. More thorough-going still is the scheme of complete bifurcation 

 of the classical and the modern sides. In our great schools there has 

 been instituted what is called the modern side, made up of sciences 

 and modern languages, together with Latin. The understanding 

 hitherto has been that the votaries of the ancient and classical side 

 should alone proceed to the universities ; the modern side being the 

 introduction to commercial life, and to professions that dispense with 

 a university degree. Here, as far as the schools are concerned, a fair 

 scope is given to modern studies. 



As was to be expected, the modern side is now demanding admis- 

 sion to the universities on its own terms ; that is, to continue the same 

 line of studies there, and to be crowned with the same distinctions as 

 the classical side. This attempt to render school and college homo- 

 geneous throughout, to treat ancient studies and modern studies as 

 of equal value in the eye of the law, will of course be resisted to the 

 utmost. Yet it seems the only solution that can bring about a settle- 

 ment that will last. 



The defenders of the classical system in its extreme exclusiveness 

 are fond of adducing examples of very illustrious men who at college 

 showed an utter incapacity for science in its simplest elements. They 

 say that by classics alone these men are what they are ; and, if their 

 way had been stopped by serious scientific requirements, they would 

 have never come before the world at all. The allegation is somewhat 

 strongly put ; yet we shall assume it to be correct, on condition of 

 being allowed to draw an inference. If some minds are so constituted 

 for languages, and for classics in particular, may not there be other 



* No doubt the classical languages would have been required, to some extent, in 

 matriculating to enter college. This arrangement, however, as regarded the students 

 that chose the modern languages, would have been found too burdensome by our Irish 

 friends, and, on their expressing themselves to that effect, would have been soon dis- 

 pensed with. 



