PLACE OF ENGLISH IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 89 



merry in England before the nexo learning came up ; yea^ Ixoould all 

 things were as hath been in times past."* Who could laugh at these 

 words of a strangely troubled spirit? Rather one might weep over 

 them ; there is a certain pathos in the helpless embarrassment and de- 

 spair they reflect; but one can see they were not wise, provident 

 words ; one cannot regret that the ' new learning came up.' But not 

 altogether unlike is the sentiment sometimes lieard in these days of 

 like unsettlement and transition." 



The old Duke of Norfolk is the prototype of many living men ; from 

 an undefined dread of the New, they cling to the Old, in helpless, 

 despairing bewilderment. As the world spins swiftly down the grooves 

 of change, they become dizzy and sigh for rest. They smile at the 

 narrow-mindedness of conservatives in other ages, but fail to see the 

 same weakness in themselves. 



" Surely the wise course now is," says Mr. Hales, " not to set our 

 faces against the incoming studies, but to do our best to regulate and 

 order their admission. Let us give these strangers a judicious wel- 

 come. Let us frankly and generously examine what recommendations 

 they have to advance for themselves. Let us banish utterly and for- 

 ever from our minds the notion of finality in education. Let us recog- 

 nize that all our efforts are but tentative, and that we are yet an im- 

 measurable distance, not only from absolute perfection, but from that 

 degree of perfection which is attainable. May it not be, indeed, that 

 we are at present in an extremely rudimentary stage of advancement 

 in this momentous respect ? — that the question of education is yet in its 

 veriest infancy ? Perhaps we are yet at the very foot of the mountain, 

 and have not really commenced the ascent. Not odder, it may be, in 

 our eyes is the educational system of the middle ages than our present 

 system will be according to the decisions of posterity. These pos- 

 sibilities should surely make us, not reckless revolutionists, but thought- 

 ful, considerate reformers. The changes that are now making will in 

 their turn perhaps be modified or superseded. There is no such thing 

 as an educational canon which closes and is complete." 



Our King Arthur, the spirit of the age, commands us " to fling far 

 into the middle mere " the brand Excalibur, the marvelously- wrought 

 Greek tongue. Let us not, like the bold Sir Bedivere, clouded with 

 our own conceits, betray our king ; but, while remembering the won- 

 ders of the brand and admiring its haft twinkling 



" . . . . with diamond studs, 

 Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work 

 Of subtlest jewellery," 



" . . . . strongly wheel and throw it." 



•' ' The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 

 And God fulfils himself in many ways, 

 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.' " 



