9S A LIBERAL EDUCATION; iv 



interest in the labours of a Niebulir, a Gibbon, or 

 a Grote? Classical history is a great section of 

 the palaeontology of man; and I have the same 

 double respect for it as for other kinds of palaeon- 

 tology — that is to say, a respect for the facts which 

 it establishes as for all facts, and a still greater 

 respect for it as a preparation for the discovery of 

 a law of progress. 



But if the classics were taught as they might 

 be taught — if boys and girls were instructed in 

 Greek and Latin, not merely as languages, but as 

 illustrations of philological science; if a vivid pic- 

 ture of life on the shores of the Mediterranean two 

 thousand years ago were imprinted on the minds 

 of scholars; if ancient history were taught, not as 

 a weary series of feuds and fights, but traced to its 

 causes in such men placed under such conditions; 

 if, lastl}^ the study of the classical books were 

 followed in such a manner as to impress boys with 

 their beauties, and with the grand simplicity of 

 their statement of the everlasting problems ol 

 human life, instead of with their verbal and gram- 

 matical peculiarities; I still think it as little proper 

 that they should form the basis of a liberal edu- 

 cation for our contemporaries, as I should think 

 it fitting to make that sort of palaeontology with 

 which I am familiar the back-bone of modern edu- 

 cation. 



It is wonderful how close a parallel to classical 

 training could be made out of that palaeontology 



