52 SELECTIONS FROM HUXLEY 



of the varieties of man. It is the peg upon which the greatest 

 quantity of useful and entertaining scientific information 

 can be suspended. 



Literature is not upon the College program ; but I hope 

 5 some day to see it there. For literature is the greatest of 

 all sources of refined pleasure, and one of the great uses of 

 a liberal education is to enable us to enjoy that pleasure. 

 There is scope enough for the purposes of liberal education in 

 the study of the rich treasures of our own language alone. 



10 All that is needed is direction, and the cultivation of a re- 

 fined taste by attention to sound criticism. But there is 

 no reason why French and German should not be mastered 

 sufficiently to read what is worth reading in those languages, 

 with pleasure and with profit. 



15 And finally, by and by, we must have History ; treated not 

 as a succession of battles and dynasties ; not as a series of bi- 

 ographies ; not as evidence that Providence has always been 

 on the side of either Whigs or Tories ; but as the develop- 

 ment of man in times past, and in other conditions than our 



20 own. 



But, as it is one of the principles of our College to be 

 self-supporting, the public must lead, and we must follow, in 

 these matters. If my hearers take to heart what I have said 

 about liberal education, they will desire these things, and I 



25 doubt not we shall be able to supply them. But we must wait 

 till the demand is made. 



