September 8, 192 1] 



NATURE 



65 



set forth. This part of the Report is admirable 

 gXKxi sense, and approaches to eloquence as nearly 

 as a Report to a Prime Minister can do. In the 

 classics a man "obtains access to literature, both 

 in prose and poetry, which in the judgment of 

 many is absolutely the noblest in the world ; but 

 it that claim be not admitted, it is at least unique, 

 inimitable, and irreplaceable. We have here a 

 spiritual value not easily reckoned. ..." Not 

 merely are the works of antiquity " classic in 

 the sense that they belong to the highest class of 

 human achievement," but they have the peculiar 

 merit of introducing the student to a world 

 which is not our own, though presenting problems 

 closely akin to ours, thus promoting a certain 

 power of understanding and of judgment in funda- 

 mentals. The student has "attained this access 

 to beauty and this power of understanding- by 

 means of a peculiar course of training which re- 

 quires the exercise of many different powers of 

 the mind, and forms a remarkable combination of 

 ;memory-training, imagination, aesthetic apprecia- 

 tion, and scientific method. For better or worse, 

 'the study of the classics is quite a different thing 

 ifrom the learning of languages pure and simple." 

 'Even the merely verbal exercises start the "in- 

 valuable habit of thinking out the real meaning 

 .of words and phrases before attempting to trans- 

 ilate them." The exposure of the inadequacy of 

 translations is especially convincing. " Few people 

 would seriously maintain that we can get ' all we 

 want ' out of an English translation of Victor 

 Hugo or Goethe, or a French translation of 

 jShakespeare or Burke." 



i The attitude of the Committee towards 

 'grammar is symptomatic of a welcome change. 

 Hitherto the classical teacher has refused to put 

 grammar anywhere but first. He would surrender 

 nothing. By this pedantry thousands have been 

 repelled. No one doubts that grammatical exer- 

 cises are a fine educational instrument, but in com- 

 parison with the rest that classical education can 

 do, grammar is such a small, poor thing. Had 

 the scholastic world repented of this error when 

 the warning came, the classics might have sur- 

 vived as the staple of at least a complete educa- 

 jtion. The remarks of the present Committee on 

 imethods of teaching are all that could be wished, 

 lit is advised that "great stress should be laid on 

 ithe subject-matter and the historical background 

 iof the texts read, though not to the prejudice 

 of exact training in the language." Wd 

 may be thankful for this concession to common 

 sense. 



Probably it comes too late. Time was when 

 modern languages, and especially science, were 

 ladmitted grudgingly, and could be treated with 

 scant respect. There is a sadly humbled tone 

 ^ow, and the classical apologist comes delicately 

 Ibefore his judges. All he begs for is an equal 

 ' ance; for instance, that in the "first examina- 

 n " the requirements in other subjects should 

 not be so exacting as to discourage the candi- 

 dates from offering at least Latin as well as one 

 NO. 2706, VOL. 108] 



modern foreign language, and that natural science 

 should not be made compulsory. 



It is true that the classics offer an access to 

 beauty and give a power of understanding which 

 nothing supplies so readily and so well, but the 

 members of the Committee are sanguine men if 

 they expect their recommendations to be adopted. 

 The mind of the country is set on other things. 

 "The civilisation of the modern Western world is 

 grounded upon the ancient civilisation of the 

 Mediterranean coast," as they rightly say in their 

 exordium. The understanding of those who know 

 nothing of these origins is hopelessly imperfect 

 and starved. To this theme the Committee often 

 recurs. The members have had the good fortune 

 to meet with much evidence indicating a growing 

 appreciation of the value of the classics, which is 

 epitomised in striking;- passages of the Report. 

 Mr. Mansbridge is quoted to the effect that a 

 widespread demand for classical teaching may be 

 expected amongst working people, who are greatly 

 interested in the civilisation of Greece, "in spite," 

 as he adds, "of deep-rooted prejudice against a 

 nation which had such a sharp division of the 

 classes " — a naive and significant illustration of 

 the instructive value of classical experience. The 

 social reformer may learn something bv contem- 

 plating the peculiar and, as he holds, reprehensible 

 system of Athens, a spectacle from which he 

 naturally shrinks, as the feminist might from in- 

 specting the dreadful example of the termite 

 queens, or the hen hornbill plastered into the nest 

 by her husband. 



The Committee is under the impression that the 

 scientific world especially concurs in its opinion. 

 It is very doubtful whether the representatives of 

 labour or of science who testified before them are 

 truly representative of the mass with whom 

 authority now rests. As the Committee remarks 

 in another place, discussing the policy of the local 

 education authorities, "it is unlikely that any 

 body of ratepayers would consent to special 

 financial provision for the encouragement of 

 classics." It is : most unlikely. Let them raise 

 the question in any place of common resort, or 

 even, say, at a laboratory tea, and they will carry 

 away no illusions about growing appreciation of 

 the classics. They will find themselves- in a world 

 which cares not a jot that "all our modern forms 

 of poetry, history, and philosophy " originated 

 with the Greeks, and has only a scant curiositv as 

 to whether W'estern civilisation is grounded on 

 that of the Mediterranean or of some otlier coast. 

 So complete is the break already that the younger 

 students scarcely know that classical education 

 can be seriously defended, and regard any tender- 

 ness for it as mere perversity and affectation. We 

 are probably witnessing that rare and portentous 

 event, a break in the continuity of civilisation. In 

 the Press, in the arts, and, most singular of all, 

 in learning of various kinds, the same pheno- 

 menon appears.. The modern room of a picture 

 gallery- tells the same story as the pages of a 

 scientific periodical. The new generation means 



