182 SCIENCE AND ART AND EDUCATION vii 



education the study of the literatures of either 

 ancient or modern nations but especially those of 

 antiquity, and especially that of ancient Greece ; 

 if this literature is studied, not merely from the 

 point of view of philological science, and its 

 practical application to the interpretation of texts, 

 but as an exemplification of and commentary 

 upon the principles of art ; if you look upon the 

 literature of a people as a chapter in the develop- 

 ment of the human mind, if you work out this in 

 a broad spirit, and with such collateral references 

 to morals and politics, and physical geography, 

 and the like as are needful to make you compre- 

 hend what the meaning of ancient literature and 

 civilisation is, then, assuredly, it affords a 

 splendid and noble education. But I still think 

 it is susceptible of improvement, and that no man 

 will ever comprehend the real secret of the differ- 

 ence between the ancient world and our present 

 time, unless he has learned to see the difference 

 which the late development of physical science 

 has made between the thought of this day and the 

 thought of that, and he will never see that 

 difference, unless he has some practical insight 

 into some branches of physical science ; and you 

 must remember that a literary education such as 

 that which I have just referred to, is out of the 

 reach of those whose school life is cut short at 

 sixteen or seventeen. 



But, you will say, all this is fault-finding ; let 





