Aberdeen. 1877: with additions relevant to Lord Salisbury's
Scheme.]

* * * * *

IV.

THE CLASSICAL CONTROVERSY.

ITS PRESENT ASPECT.[7]

In the present state of the controversy on classical studies, the
publication of George Combe's contributions to Education is highly
opportune. Combe took the lead in the attack on these studies fifty
years ago, and Mr. Jolly, the editor of the volume, gives a connected
view of the struggle that followed. The results were, on the whole, not
very great. A small portion of natural science was introduced into the
secondary schools; but as the classical teaching was kept up as before,
the pupils were simply subjected to a greater crush of subjects; they
could derive very little benefit from science introduced on such terms.
The effect on the Universities was _nil_; they were true to Dugald
Stewart's celebrated deliverance on their conservatism.[8] The general
public, however, were not unmoved; during a number of years there was
a most material reduction in the numbers attending all the Scotch
Universities, and the anti-classical agitation was reputed to be the
cause.

The reasonings of Combe will still repay perusal. He puts with great
felicity and clearness the standing objections to the classical system;
while he is exceedingly liberal in his concessions, and moderate in his
demands. "I do not denounce the ancient languages and classical
literature on their own account, or desire to see them cast into utter
oblivion. I admit them to be refined studies, and think that there are
individuals who, having a natural turn for them, learn them easily and
enjoy them much. They ought, therefore, to be cultivated by all such
persons. My objection is solely to the practice of rendering them the
main substance of the education bestowed on young men who have no taste
or talent for them, and whose pursuits in life will not render them a
valuable acquisition."

Before alluding to the more recent utterances in defence of classical
teaching, I wish to lay out as distinctly as I can the various
alternatives that are apparently now before us as respects the higher
education--that is to say, the education begun in the secondary or
grammar schools, and completed and stamped in the Universities.

[THE EXISTING CLASSICAL TEACHING.]

1. The existing system of requiring proficiency in both classical
languages. Except in the University of London, this requirement