, in fact, addressed, by way of remonstrance, to the writer's
own friends, the classical teachers. He reproaches them for their
inefficiency, for their not being Arnolds. It is not my business to
interfere between him and them in this matter. So much stress does he
lay upon the teacher's part in the work, that I almost expected the
admission--that a good teacher in English, German, natural history,
political economy, might even be preferable to a bad teacher of Latin
and Greek.

* * * * *

[CANON LIDDON'S ARGUMENT.]

The recent Oxford contest has brought out the eminent oratorical powers
of Canon Liddon; and we have some curiosity in noting his contributions
to the classical side. I refer to his letters in the _Times_. The gist
of his advocacy of Greek is contained in the following allegations.
First, the present system enables a man to recur with profit and
advantage to Greek literature. To this, it has been often replied, that
by far the greater number are too little familiarized with the classical
languages, and especially Greek, to make the literature easy reading.
But farther, the recurring to the study of ancient authors by busy
professional men in the present day, is an event of such extreme rarity
that it cannot be taken into account in any question of public policy.
The second remark is, that the half-knowledge of the ordinary graduate
is a link between the total blank of the outer world, and the thorough
knowledge of the accomplished classic. I am not much struck by the force
of this argument. I think that the classical scholar, might, by
expositions, commentaries, and translations, address the outer world
equally well, without the intervening mass of imperfect scholars.
Lastly, the Canon puts in a claim for his own cloth. The knowledge of
Greek paves the way for serious men to enter the ministry in middle
life. Argument would be thrown away upon any one that could for a moment
entertain this as a sufficient reason for compelling every graduate in
Arts to study Greek. The observation that I would make upon it has a
wider bearing. Middle life is not too late for learning any language
that we suddenly discover to be a want; the stimulus of necessity or of
strong interest, and the wider compass of general knowledge, compensate
for the diminution of verbal memory.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, August, 1879. A few months previously,
there were printed, in the Re