e
consideration as their more venerable sister. It is unnecessary to
point out that such great names as Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio,
Alfieri, Leopardi, Carducci, Cervantes, Calderon, Lope de Vega,
Benavente, _e tutti quanti_, are abundant evidence of the value of
Italian and Spanish culture. They unquestionably are. Where the
emphasis is cultural, it would certainly be unwise to neglect Italian,
since the Renaissance is Italian and underlies modern European culture
in general. On the other hand, Spanish is, so to speak, at our very
doors because of our island possessions: it is the _one_ foreign
language which calls for no argument to make the undergraduate willing
to learn to speak, and Spanish literature, especially in the drama,
has the same romantic freedom as English literature and is thus
readily accessible to the American type of mind. Pedagogically, thus,
the question is far from simple. But while it is impossible to lay
down any fixed precept, it seems worth while to remember: that the
French genius is preeminently the vehicle of definite and clear ideas,
that in a very real sense France has been and is the intellectual
clearinghouse of the world, and that potentially, at least, her
civilization is of the greatest value to our intellectually dull and
undiscriminating youth. From French, better than from Italian and
Spanish, he can learn the discipline of accurate expression, of clear
articulation, and the enlightenment that springs from contact with
"general ideas." Moreover, we must not forget that the undergraduate's
time is limited and that under the "group system" some discrimination
must necessarily be made. Granted, then, that, all things considered,
the first place will doubtless be left to French, the question remains
whether the attention given to Spanish and Italian is at least
adequate. And do the colleges extract from them the values they
should?

As a general proposition, we may take it for granted that the college
should offer at least _four_ units in each of these subjects. For
Spanish, certainly, the tendency will be to make the proportion
larger. But two units devoted to learning the language and two devoted
to the literature may be regarded as essential, and are as a matter of
fact the common practice. Several illustrations will make this clear.
_Johns Hopkins_ offers: in Italian, 1. Grammar, Short Stories, etc.,
2. Grammar, Written Exercises, Selections from classic authors,
Lectures on Ital