TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 89 



and nothing now can prevent it from continuing to distil 

 upwards and permeate English society, until, in the 

 remote future, there shall be no member of the legis- 

 lature who does not know as much of science as an 

 elementary school-boy ; and even the heads of houses in 

 our venerable seats of learning shall acknowledge that 

 natural science is not merely a sort of University back- 

 door through which inferior men may get at their de- 

 grees. Perhaps this apocalyptic vision is a little wild ; 

 and I feel I ought to ask pardon for an outbreak of 

 enthusiasm, which, I assure you, is not my commonest 

 failing. 



I have said that the Government is already doing 

 a great deal in aid of that kind of technical education for 

 handicraftsmen which, to my mind, is alone worth seek- 

 ing. Perhaps it is doing as much as it ought to do, even 

 in this direction. Certainly there is another kind of help 

 of the most important character, for which we may look 

 elsewhere than to the Government. The great mass of 

 mankind have neither the liking, nor the aptitude, for 

 either literary, or scientific, or artistic pursuits; nor, 

 indeed, for excellence of any sort. Their ambition is to 

 go through life with moderate exertion and a fair share 

 of ease, doing common things in a common way. And a 

 great blessing and comfort it is that the majority of men 

 are of this mind ; for the majority of things to be done 

 are common things, and are quite well enough done 

 when commonly done. The great end of life is not 

 knowledge but action. "What men need is, as much 



