266 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



tongues of antiquity. These languages were 

 therefore learned to be written and spoken, not to 

 be dozed over, dabbled in, and forgotten. They 

 were learned in the natural way, by concrete 

 examples, and by assiduous practice, not out of 

 grammars bristling with inexplicable abstrac- 

 tions. Homer and Virgil were read for their lit- 

 erary interest, not as the text for monotonous 

 parsing-lessons and useless disquisitions on syl- 

 labic quantity. 



The changes which classical education has since 

 undergone are narrated by Mr. Parker in the first 

 essay contained in the volume before us. We 

 have not space to rehearse the interesting details 

 which are there given, but must call attention to 

 the striking remarks of Mr. Farrar and Professor 

 Seeley upon the method of teaching the classics 

 now prevalent in the English universities. Mr. 

 Farrar's essay is devoted to exposing the worth- 

 lessness of Greek and Latin verse-making as a 

 means of culture. If there be in our day, says 

 Mr. Farrar, any kind of achievement which is at 

 once impossible to do and useless when done, it is 

 the writing of good Latin or Greek verses. Our 

 American universities, so far as we know, do not 

 require it to be done. Once in a. while they en- 

 courage students to attempt these nugce difficiles^ 



