mischief,--but if I must determine which of the two courses
was the more successful in training, moulding, and enlarging
the mind, which sent out men the more fitted for their
secular duties, which produced better public men, men of the
world, men whose names would descend to posterity, I have no
hesitation in giving the preference to that university which
did nothing, over that which exacted an acquaintance with
every science under the sun. And, paradox as this may seem,
still if results be the test of systems, the influence of
the public schools and colleges of England, in the course of
the last century, at least will bear out one side of the
contrast as I have drawn it. What could come, on the other
hand, of the ideal systems of education which have
fascinated the imagination of this age, could they ever take
effect, and whether they would not produce a generation
frivolous, narrow-minded, and resourceless, intellectually
considered, is a fair subject for debate; but so far is
certain, that the universities and scholastic
establishments, to which I refer, and which did little more
than bring together first boys and then youths in large
numbers, these institutions, with miserable deformities on
the side of morals, with a hollow profession of
Christianity, and a heathen code of ethics,--I say, at
least, they can boast of a succession of heroes and
statesmen, of literary men and philosophers, of men
conspicuous for great natural virtues, for habits of
business, for knowledge of life, for practical judgment, for
cultivated tastes, for accomplishments, who have made
England what it is,--able to subdue the earth, _able to
domineer over Catholics._"[45]

Use of Climax.

From what has been said, it is evident that the parts of a sentence,
as far as may be, should be arranged in a climax. The climax should be
in the thought, with a corresponding increase in the weight of the
phrases. If the thoughts increase in importance, the words that
express them should increase in number. The number of words in the
treatment bears a pretty constant ratio to the importance of the
subject treated. The paragraph quoted from Newman is an excellent
illustration of the use of climax,--until it comes to that last
phrase. Note in the first sentence the repetition of the condition,
three tim