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or less discussed, and very sensibly, by Dr. Barnard. But, in the book as a whole, there is a want of balance, a one-sided view of education. Too narrow ground is taken. The superior question of linguistic and literary culture is subordinated to debating the issue, whether the classics shall be studied, or how much time shall be devoted to them. It is well enough to declaim against the exclusive devotion that has in the past been paid to Greek and Latin; against the wretchedly barren results of most of the time spent on them; against the pitiable ignorance of the laws and phenomena of the marvellous universe in which we live, which have accompanied, and come out of, such misdirected labor. But would not the opponents of the arrogant claims urged for the protracted study of Greek and Latin make a far more telling presentation of the case, did they emphasize the fact, that, in the mastery of the three most prominent modern languages, - English, French, and German; languages acquired in half the time that must be spent on the classics, and with the added advantage, that the exigencies of reading and study in all departments keep them in constant use and freshness, the mind is introduced to a literature outweighing by far that of Greece and Rome; at any rate, as one in a thousand comes to appreciate the latter. The Greek and Latin of almost all college men are written on the sand, and obliterated by the first rising tide of pressing practical life. But it is not so with their French and German. They need these, in the study of their professions, for the ideas embodied in them, and retain and enhance their facility in using them through the very exigencies of actual life that divert them from the classics. In the acquisition of these modern languages, there is opportunity enough offered to secure any requisite amount of grammatical training, and knowledge of the laws of language: while the comparative ease with which they are mastered and retained leaves far more time, and above all inclination, for the enjoyment of the varied charms of the poetry, fiction, essays, dramas, histories, treatises, they give access to. Had the volume before us embraced two or three articles, from competent hands, setting forth the just claims of linguistic

and literary studies, showing how thorough and serious they need to be, and pointing out what vastly superior results would come, in most cases, of conducting them through the modern languages, or even one's vernacular alone, it would have proved much more rounded and satisfactory, as an exhibition of the full culture demanded by modern life. Had Dr. Latham, for example, developed and illustrated at length his words quoted on page eight,-"A man's mother tongue is the best medium for the elements of scientific philology, simply because it is the one he knows best in practice," it would have done more to correct the fanaticism and traditionalism connected with the arrogant claims of the Greek and Latin, as the sole true media of grammatical training, than any amount of declamation against the abuses connected with classical studies.

Half the ardent defenders of the classics, in their controversy with the scientists, are battling, not so much for Greek and Latin,—though they think they are, as for the study of language; for literary culture; for the inspiring influence of the ever young, ever original thoughts and music of the men of genius, whom no progress of scientific discovery ever out-dates. Science, in all its departments, confirms, and never overthrows, a Homer or a Shakespeare. And so it does with all the great sons of inspiration. The best that science can do, with all its researches into the influences exerted on man by climate, position, food, temperament, disease, institutions, leaves the marvel and the mystery as great as ever. The Italian sun that ripens the beauty and passion of a Juliet, the physiological sequences that culminate in the sublime madness of a Lear, are interesting, are vitally important facts; but our chief interest ever has lain, and ever must lie, in the wonderful life itself. And he who can lead us through the moonlight under Juliet's balcony, or through the wild tempest to listen to the wilder imprecations of the raving king, does for us what no science, no mere analysis of physical connections, can pretend to do. The influence, too, exerted on man by the grand characters of history; by the men of heroic will, and sublime motives, and

lofty consecration, nothing in education tells more than this. It is in behalf of the heroic men of Greece and Rome who have ennobled his own life, who must not be suffered to become forgotten, that many a defender of classical studies is battling. And yet, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, these very champions have learned more of Socrates and Plato from Grote, more of Epictetus from Higginson, more of Scipio from Arnold, than from all original sources put together. Greece and Rome are one thing, Greek and Latin another.

If the issue were put somewhat in this way, we believe it would receive, and deserve to receive, a fairer hearing than it now does in many quarters. Literary culture every educated man must have. If he can find time to add to his familiarity with Shakespeare, Goethe, and Pascal, a like familiarity with Homer, Eschylus, and Virgil, it is, of course, so much clear gain; but practically, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, if the real end be to come, soul to soul, in contact with great men and a great literature, it can be done far more effectively through the modern than the ancient languages: and this for the simple reason, that they are so much more easily mastered and heartily enjoyed, and that one of them is our home-bred mother tongue. This whole question of classical studies is largely one of time and capa city. The day has gone by when men can rationally congratulate themselves on proficiency in them, gained at the cost of ignorance of modern thought. But with improved methods of teaching, with the disposition now manifest to extend the time devoted to preparatory education, with the clearer conceptions that are gaining ground of the right periods of life for entering upon the various branches of study, we are fully persuaded that room will still be found, by a select class, for such attention to Greek and Latin as shall secure competency to enjoy the masterpieces of form and thought they embody. Greece and Rome have done some things in literature, that, in certain aspects, have never been equalled, that set up an eternal and imperishable standard. This decides the question whether they shall be studied. The true student

will have the best the world contains, will press through all obstacles after it, will live in the first intellectual society. It will always be a pain to a superior mind not to know Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, Tacitus, and Cicero.

It would be doing manifest injustice, however, to the spirit of Dr. Youmans' volume to seem even to imply that a narrow utilitarian stand-point is assumed in it. It is so full of a sense of the infinite resources of mental invigoration and intellectual satisfaction inviting us in the vast and halfexplored book of nature, that it is easy to pardon an apparent oversight of certain other fields of culture. It is full, too, of cheerful, and sometimes exuberant, faith and hope in a nobler future for man, growing out of his awakening consciousness of the marvellous and splendid forces now for the first time placed at his disposal through the revelations of modern science. The bearings of science on the amelioration of the condition of society receive ample discussion. Several of the essays those of Dr. Hodgson on the study of Economic Science, and of Mr. Herbert Spencer on Political Education, especially point out, and open up, vast fields for intelligent, benevolent, and confident thought and action in the promotion of human welfare; while, at the same time, they faithfully paint the confusion and misery that have come, not of ignorance alone, but of ignorance conjoined with the best intentions and the most disinterested spirit. The list of subjects indicated is large enough to furnish centuries of work for the best heads and the best hearts. Of work, however! And herein lies the great merit of these essays. They unfold and seriously impress the great conception of the absolute and invariable reign of law over all the affairs of men. They insist on knowledge of the established conditions of success. They battle with the foolish limitations of the sphere of science to stones and stars and plants and animal functions. They demand as rigorous an application of scientific methods to the study of health and intelligence and virtue, of trade and politics and pauperism and insanity, as to the department of optics or mechanics. They bring the studies of the school and the college into intimate alliance

with the serious work of after-life. And they do all this so strongly and eloquently that, wherever the volume goes, it will stimulate thought and shed light.

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The Human Element in the Inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures. By T. F. CURTIS, D.D., late Professor of Theology in the University at Lewisburg, Penn. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1867. THE question of the inspiration of the Bible is evidently receiving increased attention and inviting a new discussion at the present time. The labors of Coleridge and Dr. Arnold in this field, a generation ago, accomplished hardly any thing more than to break ground, and open the inquiry. The fearless head-master of Rugby School, in a letter on Coleridge's "Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit," speaks of Inspiration as "that momentous question which involves in it so great a shock to existing notions, the greatest, probably, that has ever been given since the discovery of the falsehood of the Pope's infallibility." Since Dr. Arnold's day, the fortress of the then "existing notions" of Scripture infallibility has been beleaguered by hosts of powerful assailants. Criticism has captured the outworks; philosophy undermined the foundations; and the methods of modern science made wholly ineffectual the old means of defence. Yet it may fairly be doubted, whether the predicted "great shock" has ever yet been felt by the multitudes who are within the walls, and whose battle-cry is still only a paraphrase of the famous decla ration of Chillingworth, "The Bible, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." The approved orthodoxy of Arnold and Coleridge on other points has not made them safe and trusty guides in this. Plenary Inspiration and Verbal Infallibility may be regarded, by liberal thinkers, as "exploded" notions; but they are thought to be good enginery of defence by thousands of Christian preachers, and tens of thou

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