,,cambridge ,,university ,,press        
,,london3  ,,bentley ,,house ,,new      
,,york4 ,,toronto1 ,,bombay ,,calcutta4 
,,madras3  ,,macmillan ,,tokyo3         
,,maruzen ,,company ,,ltd  ,all rights  
reserved  ,copyrighted in the ,united   
,states of ,america by ,g4 ,p4 ,putnam's
 ,sons  ,all rights reserved   ,on ,the 
,art of ,reading  ,by  ,sir ,arthur     
,quiller-,couch  ,,cambridge  ,,at ,,the
 ,,university ,,press  #aici    ,,to ,h4
 ,f4 ,s4 and ,h4 ,m4 ,c4  ,first edition
 #aibj reprinted #aibj1aiba ,pocket     
edition #aibd reprinted #aibe1 #aibh1   
#aicc1 #aici     ,,preface  ,the        
following twelve lectures have this much
 in common with a previous twelve       
published in #aiaf under the title ,on  
the ,art of ,writing--they form no      
compact treatise but present their      
central idea as ,i was compelled at the 
time to enforce it1 amid the dust of    
skirmishing with opponents and with     
practical difficulties4  ,they          
cover--and to some extent1 by           

reflection1 chronicle--a period during  
which a few friends1 who had an idea and
 believed in it1 were fighting to       
establish the present ,english ,tripos  
at ,cambridge4 ,in the end we carried   
our proposals without a vote3 but the   
opposition was stiff for a while2 and ,i
 feared1 on starting to read over these 
pages for press1 that they might be too 
occasional and disputatious4 ,i am happy
 to think that1 on the whole1 they are  
not2 and that the reader1 though he may 
wonder at its discursiveness1 will find 
the argument pretty free from polemic4  
,any one who has inherited a library of 
#agth century theology will agree with  
me that1 of all dust1 the ashes of dead 
controversies afford the driest4  ,and  
after all1 and though it be well worth  
while to strive that the study of       
,english 7of our own literature1 and of 
the art of using our own language1 in   
speech or in writing1 to the best       
purpose7 shall take an honourable place 
among the ,schools of a great           

,university1 that the other fair sisters
 of learning shall       ,ope for thee  
their queenly circle 444  it is not in  
our ,universities that the general      
redemption of ,english will be won2 nor 
need a mistake here or there1 at ,oxford
 or ,cambridge or ,london1 prove fatal4 
,we make our discoveries through our    
mistakes3 we watch one another's        
success3 and where there is freedom to  
experiment there is hope to improve4 ,a 
youth who can command means to enter a  
,university can usually command some    
range in choosing which ,university it  
shall be4 ,if ,cambridge cannot supply  
what he wants1 or if our standard of    
training be low in comparison with that 
of ,oxford1 or of ,london or of         
,manchester1 the pressure of neglect    
will soon recall us to our senses4  ,the
 real battle for ,english lies in our   
,elementary ,schools1 and in the        
training of our ,elementary ,teachers4  
,it is there that the foundations of a  
sound national teaching in ,english will

 have to be laid1 as it is there that a 
wrong trend will lead to incurable      
issues4 ,for the poor child has no      
choice of ,schools1 and the elementary  
teacher1 whatever his individual gifts1 
will work under a yoke imposed upon him 
by ,whitehall4 ,i devoutly trust that   
,whitehall will make the yoke easy and  
adaptable while insisting that the      
chariot must be drawn4  ,i foresee1     
then1 these lectures condemned as the   
utterances of a man who1 occupying a    
,chair1 has contrived to fall betwixt   
two stools4 ,my thoughts have too often 
strayed from my audience in a           
,university theatre away to remote rural
 class-rooms where the hungry sheep look
 up and are not fed2 to piteous groups  
of urchins standing at attention and    
chanting ,the ,wreck of the ,hesperus in
 unison4 ,yet to these1 being tied to   
the place and the occasion1 ,i have     
brought no real help4  ,a man has to    
perform his task as it comes4 ,but ,i   
must say this in conclusion4 ,could ,i  

wipe these lectures out and re-write    
them in hope to benefit my countrymen in
 general1 ,i should begin and end upon  
the text to be found in the twelfth and 
last--that a liberal education is not an
 appendage to be purchased by a few3    
that ,humanism is1 rather1 a quality    
which can1 and should1 condition all our
 teaching2 which can1 and should1 be    
impressed as a character upon it all1   
from a poor child's first lesson in     
reading up to a tutor's last word to his
 pupil on the eve of a ,tripos4         
,,arthur ,,quiller-,,couch ,july #g1    
#aibj4     ,,contents  ,,lecture  ,i    
,,introductory ,,ii       ,,apprehension
 ,,versus ,,comprehension ,,iii         
,,children',s ,,reading   7,i7 ,,iv     
7,,ii7 ,v        ,,on ,,reading ,,for   
,,examinations ,,vi       ,,on ,a       
,,school ,,of ,,english ,,vii      ,,the
 ,,value ,,of ,,greek ,,and ,,latin ,,in
 ,,english ,,literature ,,viii     ,,on 
,,reading ,,the ,,bible   7,i7 ,,ix     
7,,ii7 ,x                               

7,,iii7 ,,xi       ,,of ,,selection ,,xi
       ,,on ,,the ,,use ,,of            
,,masterpieces  ,,index     ,,lecture ,i
  ,,introductory  ,,wednesday1 ,,october
 #be1 #aiaf   ,i  ,in the third book of 
the ,ethics1 and in the second chapter1 
,aristotle1 dealing with certain actions
 which1 though bad in themselves1 admit 
of pity and forgiveness because they    
were committed involuntarily1 through   
ignorance1 instances 'the man who did   
not know a subject was forbidden1 like  
,aeschylus with the ,mysteries1' and    
'the man who only meant to show how it  
worked1 like the fellow who let off the 
catapult' 7,greek3 e deixai ,boulemos   
apheinai1 os o ton katapelten74  ,i feel
 comfortably sure1 ,gentlemen1 that in a
 previous course of lectures ,on the    
,art of ,writing1 unlike ,aeschylus1 ,i 
divulged no mysteries3 but ,i am        
troubled with speculations over that man
 and the catapult1 because ,i really was
 trying to tell you how the thing       
worked2 and ,aristotle1 with a reticence

 which 7as ,horace afterwards noted7 may
 lend itself to obscurity1 tells us     
neither what happened to that exponent  
of ballistics1 nor to the engine itself1
 nor to the other person4 ,my discharge1
 such as it was1 at any rate provoked   
another ,professor 7emeritus1 learned1  
sagacious1 venerable7 to retort that the
 true business of a ,chair such as this 
is to instruct young men how to read    
rather than how to write4 ,well1 be it  
so4 ,i accept the challenge4  ,i propose
 in this and some ensuing lectures to   
talk of the ,art and ,practice of       
,reading1 particularly as applied to    
,english ,literature3 to discuss on what
 ground and through what faculties an   
,author and his ,reader meet3 to enquire
 if1 or to what extent1 ,reading of the 
best ,literature can be taught2 and     
supposing it to be taught1 if or to what
 extent it can be examined upon2 with   
maybe an interlude or two1 to beguile   
the way4  ,,ii  ,the first thing1 then1 
to be noted about the reading of        

,english 7with which alone ,i am        
concerned7 is that for ,englishmen it   
has been made1 by ,act of ,parliament1  
compulsory4  ,the next thing to be noted
 is that in our schools and ,colleges   
and ,universities it has been made1 by  
,statute or in practice1 all but        
impossible4  ,the third step is         
obvious--to reconcile what we cannot do 
with what we must3 and to that aim ,i   
shall1 under your patience1 direct this 
and the following lecture4 ,i shall be  
relieved at all events1 and from the    
outset1 of the doubt by which many a    
,professor1 here and elsewhere1 has been
 haunted3 ,i mean the doubt whether     
there really is such a subject as that  
of which he proposes to treat4 ,anything
 that requires so much human ingenuity  
as reading ,english in an ,english      
,university must be an art4  ,,iii  ,but
 ,i shall be met1 of course1 by the     
question ',how is the reading of        
,english made impossible at ,cambridge8'
 and ,i pause here1 on the edge of my   

subject1 to clear away that doubt4  ,it 
is no fault of the ,university4  ,the   
late ,philip ,gilbert ,hamerton1 whom   
some remember as an etcher1 wrote a book
 which he entitled 7as ,i think1 too    
magniloquently7 ,the ,intellectual      
,life4 ,he cast it in the form of       
letters--',to an ,author who kept very  
,irregular ,hours1' ',to a ,young       
,etonian who thought of becoming a      
,cotton-spinner1' ',to a ,young         
,gentleman who had firmly resolved never
 to wear anything but a ,grey ,coat'    
7but ,mr ,hamerton couldn't quite have  
meant that74 ',to a ,lady of ,high      
,culture who found it difficult to      
associate with persons of her ,own      
,sex1' ',to a ,young ,gentleman of      
,intellectual ,tastes1 who1 without     
having as yet any ,particular ,lady in  
,view1 had expressed1 in a ,general     
,way1 his ,determination to get         
,married3 ,the volume is well worth     
reading4 ,in the first letter of all1   
addressed ',to a ,young ,man of ,letters

 who worked ,excessively1' ,mr ,hamerton
 fishes up from his memory1 for         
admonishment1 this salutary instance3   
,a tradesman1 whose business affords an 
excellent outlet for   energetic bodily 
activity1 told me that having attempted1
 in   addition to his ordinary work1 to 
acquire a foreign language   which      
seemed likely to be useful to him1 he   
had been obliged to   abandon it on     
account of alarming cerebral symptoms4  
,this man   has immense vigour and      
energy1 but the digestive functions1 in 
this instance1 are sluggish4 ,however1  
when he abandoned study1   the cerebral 
inconveniences disappeared1 and have    
never   returned since4  ,,iv  ,now we  
all know1 and understand1 and like that 
man3 for the simple reason that he is   
every one of us4  ,you or ,i 7say7 have 
to take the ,modern ,languages ,tripos1 
,section ,a 7,english71 in #aiaga4      
,first of all 7and rightly7 it is       
demanded of us that we show an          
acquaintance1 and something more than a 

bowing acquaintance1 with ,shakespeare4 
,very well2 but next we have to write a 
paper and answer questions on the       
outlines of ,english ,literature from   
#acej to #ahcb--;almost #ejj years--1   
and next to write a paper and show      
particular knowledge of ,english        
,literature between #agjj and           
#aghe--;eighty-five years4 ,next comes a
 paper on passages from selected        
,english verse and prose writings --the 
,statute discreetly avoids calling them 
literature--between #abjj and #aejj1    
exclusive of ,chaucer2 with questions on
 language1 metre1 literary history and  
literary criticism3 then a paper on     
,chaucer with questions on language1    
metre1 literary history and literary    
criticism3 lastly a paper on writing in 
the ,wessex dialect of ,old ,english1   
with questions on the cornet1 flute1    
harp1 sackbut1 language1 metre and      
literary history4  ,now if you were to  
qualify yourself for all this as a      
scholar should1 and in two years1 you   

would certainly deserve to be addressed 
by ,mr ,hamerton as ',a ,young ,man of  
,letters who worked ,excessively'2 and  
to work excessively is not good for     
anyone4 ,yet1 on the other hand1 you are
 precluded from using1 for your         
'cerebral inconveniences1' the heroic   
remedy exhibited by ,mr ,hamerton's     
enterprising tradesman1 since on that   
method you would not attain to the main 
object of your laudable ambition1 a     
,cambridge degree4  ,but the matter is  
very much worse than your ,statute makes
 it out4 ,take one of the papers in     
which some actual acquaintance with     
,literature is required the ,special    
,period from #agjj to #aghe2 then turn  
to your ,cambridge ,history of ,english 
,literature1 and you will find that the 
mere bibliography of those eighty-five  
years occupies something like five or   
six hundred pages--five or six hundred  
pages of titles and authors in simple   
enumeration6 ,the brain reels2 it       
already suffers 'cerebral               

inconveniences4' ,but stretch the list  
back to ,chaucer1 back through ,chaucer 
to those alleged prose writings in the  
,wessex dialect1 then forward from #aghe
 to ,wordsworth1 to ,byron1 to ,dickens1
 ,carlyle1 ,tennyson1 ,browning1        
,meredith1 even to this year in which   
literature still lives and engenders2   
and the brain1 if not too giddy indeed1 
stands as ,satan stood on the brink of  
,chaos--       ,pondering his voyage2   
for no narrow frith      ,he had to     
cross--  and sees itself1 with him1 now 
plumbing a vast vacuity1 and anon       
nigh-foundered1 'treading the crude     
consistence4'  ,the whole business of   
reading ,english ,literature in two     
years1 to know it in any reputable sense
 of the word--let alone your learning to
 write ,english--is1 in short1          
impossible4 ,and the framers of the     
,statute1 recognising this1 have very   
sensibly compromised by setting you to  
work on such things as 'the ,outlines of
 ,english ,literature'2 which are not   

,literature at all but are only what    
some fellow has to say about it1 hastily
 summarising his estimates of many      
works1 of which on a generous           
computation he has probably read        
one-fifth2 and by examining you on 7what
 was it all87 'language1 metre1 literary
 history and literary criticism1' which 
again are not ,literature1 or at least  
7as a ,greek would say in his idiom7    
escape their own notice being           
,literature4 ,for ,english ,literature1 
as ,i take it1 is that which sundry men 
and women have written memorably in     
,english about ,life4 ,and so ,i come to
 my subject--the art of reading that1   
which is ,literature4  ,v  ,i shall take
 leave to leap into it over another     
man's back1 or1 rather over two men's   
backs4 ,no doubt it has happened to many
 of you to pick up in a happy moment    
some book or pamphlet or copy of verse  
which just says the word you have       
unconsciously been listening for1 almost
 craving to speak for yourself1 and so  

sends you off hot-foot on the trail4    
,and if you have had that experience1 it
 may also have happened to you that1    
after ranging1 you returned on the track
 'like faithful hound returning1' in    
gratitude1 or to refresh the scent2 and 
that1 picking up the book again1 you    
found it no such wonderful book after   
all1 or that some of the magic had faded
 by process of the change in yourself   
which itself had originated4 ,but the   
word was spoken4  ,such a book--pamphlet
 ,i may call it1 so small it was--fell  
into my hands some ten years ago2 ,the  
,aims of ,literary ,study--no very      
attractive title--by ,dr ,corson1 a     
distinguished ,american ,professor 7and 
let me say that1 for something more than
 ten--say for twenty--years much of the 
most thoughtful as well as the most     
thorough work upon ,english comes to us 
from ,america74 ,i find1 as ,i handle   
again the small duodecimo volume1 that  
my own thoughts have taken me a little  
wide1 perhaps a little astray1 from its 

suggestions4 ,but for loyalty's sake ,i 
shall start just where ,dr ,corson      
started1 with a passage from            
,browning's1 ,a ,death in the ,desert1  
supposed 7you will remember7--          
,supposed of ,pamphylax the ,antiochene 
narrating the death of ,st ,john the    
,evangelist1 ,john of ,patmos2 the      
narrative interrupted by this gloss3    
,this is the doctrine he was wont to    
teach1   ,how divers persons witness in 
each man1   ,three souls which make up  
one soul3 first1 to wit1   ,a soul of   
each and all the bodily parts1   ,seated
 therein1 which works1 and is ,what     
,does1   ,and has the use of earth1 and 
ends the man   ,downward3 but1 tending  
upward for advice1   ,grows into1 and   
again is grown into   ,by the next soul1
 which1 seated in the brain1   ,useth   
the first with its collected use1   ,and
 feeleth1 thinketh1 willeth1--is ,what  
,knows3   ,which1 duly tending upward in
 its turn1   ,grows into1 and again is  
grown into   ,by the last soul1 that    

uses both the first1   ,subsisting      
whether they assist or no1   ,and1      
constituting man's self1 is ,what ,is-- 
,and leans upon the former  7,mark the  
word1 ,gentlemen2 'leans upon the       
former'--leaning back1 as it were felt  
by him1 on this very man who had leaned 
on ,christ's bosom1 being loved7    ,and
 leans upon the former1 makes it play1  
,as that played off the first3 and1     
tending up1   ,holds1 is upheld by1     
,god1 and ends the man   ,upward in that
 dread point of intercourse1   ,nor     
needs a place1 for it returns to ,him4  
,what ,does1 ,what ,knows1 ,what ,is2   
three souls1 one man4   ,i give the     
glossa of ,theotypas4  ,what ,does1     
,what ,knows1 ,what ,is--there is no    
mistaking what ,browning means1 nor in  
what degrees of hierarchy he places     
this1 that1 and the other4444 ,does it  
not strike you how curiously men to-day1
 with their minds perverted by hate1 are
 inverting that order8--all the highest 
value set on ,what ,does--,what ,knows  

suddenly seen to be of importance1 but  
only as important in feeding the guns1  
perfecting explosives1 collaring        
trade--all in the service of ,what      
,does1 of ',get on or ,get ,out1' of    
',efficiency'2 no one stopping to think 
that ',efficiency' is--must be--a       
relative term6 ,efficient for what8--for
 ,what ,does1 ,what ,knows or perchance1
 after all1 for ,what ,is8 ,no6 banish  
the humanities and throw everybody into 
practical science3 not into that study  
of natural science1 which can never     
conflict with the 'humanities' since it 
seeks discovery for the pure sake of    
truth1 or charitably to alleviate man's 
lot--       ,sweetly1 rather1 to ease1  
loose and bind      ,as need requires1  
this frail fallen humankind 444  --but  
to invent what will be commercially     
serviceable in besting your neighbour1  
or in gassing him1 or in slaughtering   
him neatly and wholesale4 ,but still the
 whisper 7not ridiculous in its day7    
will assert itself1 that ,what ,is comes

 first1 holding and upheld by ,god2     
still through the market clamour for a  
',business ,government' will persist the
 voice of ,plato murmuring that1 after  
all1 the best form of government is     
government by good men3 and the voice of
 some small man faintly protesting ',but
 ,i don't want to be governed by        
business men2 because ,i know them and1 
without asking much of life1 ,i have a  
hankering to die with a shirt on my     
back4'  ,,vi  ,but let us postpone ,what
 ,is for a moment1 and deal with ,what  
,does and ,what ,knows4 ,they too1 of   
course1 have had their oppositions1 and 
the very meaning of a ,university such  
as ,cambridge--its fons1 its origo1 its 
,greek3 to ti en einai-- was to assert  
,what ,knows against ,what ,does in a   
medieval world pranced over by          
men-at-arms1 ,normans1 ,english1        
,burgundians1 ,scots4 ,ancillary to     
,theology1 which then had a meaning     
vastly different from its meaning       
to-day1 the ,university tended as       

portress of the gate of knowledge--of   
such knowledge as the ,church required1 
encouraged1 or permitted--and kept the  
flag of intellectual life1 as ,i may put
 it1 flying above that gate and over the
 passing throngs of 'doers' and         
mailed-fisters4 ,the ,university was a  
,seat of ,learning3 the ,colleges1 as   
they sprang up1 were ,houses of         
,learning4  ,but note this1 which in    
their origin and still in the frame of  
their constitution differentiates       
,oxford and ,cambridge from all their   
ancient sisters and rivals4 ,these two  
7and no third1 ,i believe1 in ,europe7  
were corporations of ,teachers1 existing
 for ,teachers1 governed by ,teachers4  
,in a ,scottish ,university the students
 by vote choose their ,rector3 but here 
or at ,oxford no undergraduate1 no      
,bachelor1 counts at all in the         
government1 both remaining alike in     
statu pupillari until qualified as      
,masters-- ,magistri4 ,mark the word1   
and mark also the title of one who      

obtained what in those days would be the
 highest of degrees 7but yet gave him no
 voting strength above a ,master74 ,he  
was a ,professor-',sanctae ,theologiae  
,professor4' ,to this day every country 
clergyman who comes up to ,cambridge to 
record his non-placet1 does so by virtue
 of his capacity to teach what he       
learned here--in theory1 that is4       
,scholars were included in ,college     
foundations on a sort of                
pupil-teacher-supply system3 living in  
rooms with the lordly masters1 and      
valeting them for the privilege of      
'reading with' them4 ,we keep to this   
day the pleasant old form of words4 ,now
 for various reasons--one of which1     
because it is closely germane to my     
subject1 ,i shall particularly          
examine--,oxford and ,cambridge1 while  
conserving almost intact their medieval 
frame of government1 with a hundred     
other survivals which ,time but makes1  
through endurance1 more endearing1 have1
 insensibly as it were1 and across 7it  

must be confessed7 intervals of sloth   
and gross dereliction of duty1 added a  
new function to the cultivation of      
learning--that of furnishing out of     
youth a succession of men capable of    
fulfilling high offices in ,church and  
,state4  ,some may regret this4 ,i think
 many of us must regret that a deeper   
tincture of learning is not required of 
the average pass-man1 or injected into  
him perforce4 ,but speaking roughly     
about fact1 ,i should say that while we 
elders up here are required-- nay1      
presumed to know certain things1 we aim 
that our young men shall be of a certain
 kind2 and ,i see no cause to disown a  
sentence in the very first lecture ,i   
had the honour of reading before        
you--',the man we are proud to send     
forth from our ,schools will be         
remarkable less for something he can    
take out of his wallet and exhibit for  
knowledge1 than for being something1 and
 that something recognisable for a man  
of unmistakable intellectual breeding1  

whose trained judgment we can trust to  
choose the better and reject the worse4'
  ,the reasons which have led our older 
,universities to deflect their functions
 7whether for good or ill7 so far from  
their first purpose are complicated if  
not many4 ,once admit young men in large
 numbers1 and youth 7,i call any ,dean  
or ,tutor to witness7 must be           
compromised with2 will construe the laws
 of its seniors in its own way1 now and 
then breaking them2 and will inevitably 
end1 by getting something of its own    
way44 ,the growth of gymnastic1 the     
insensible gravitation of the elderly   
towards ,fenner's--there to snatch a    
fearful joy and explain that the walk   
was good for them2 the ,union and other 
debating societies2 ,college rivalries2 
the festivities of ,may ,week2 the      
invasion of women students3 all these   
may have helped4 ,but ,i must dwell     
discreetly on one compelling and obvious
 cause--the increased and increasing    
unwieldiness of ,knowledge4 ,and that is

 the main trouble1 as ,i guess4  ,,vii  
,let us look it fair in the face3       
because it is the main practical        
difficulty with which ,i propose that1  
in succeeding lectures1 we grapple4     
,against ,knowledge ,i have1 as the     
light cynic observed of a certain lady's
 past1 only one serious objection--that 
there is so much of it4 ,there is indeed
 so much of it that if with the best    
will in the world you devoted yourself  
to it as a mere scholar1 you could not  
possibly digest its accumulated and     
still accumulating stores4 ,as ,sir     
,thomas ,elyot wrote in the #afth       
century 7using1 you will observe1 the   
very word of ,mr ,hamerton's energetic  
but fed-up tradesman71 ',inconveniences 
always doe happen by ingurgitation and  
excessive feedings4' ,an old            
schoolmaster and a poet--,mr ,james     
,rhoades1 late of ,sherborne-- comments 
in words which ,i will quote1 being     
unable to better them3    ,this is no   
less true of the mind than of the body4 

,i do not   know that a well-informed   
man1 as such1 is more worthy of   regard
 than a well-fed one4 ,the brain1       
indeed1 is a nobler   organ than the    
stomach1 but on that very account is the
 less   to be excused for indulging in  
repletion4 ,the temptation1 ,i          
confess1 is greater1 because for the    
brain the banquet stands   ever spread  
before our eyes1 and is1 unhappily1 as  
indestructible as the widow's meal and  
oil4    ,only think what would become of
 us if the physical food1   by which our
 bodies subsist1 instead of being       
consumed by   the eater1 was passed on  
intact by every generation to the       
next1 with the superadded hoards of all 
the ages1 the earth's   productive power
 meanwhile increasing year by year      
beneath the unflagging hand of ,science1
 till1 as ,comus   says1 she      would 
be quite surcharged with her own weight 
,and strangled with her waste fertility4
    ,should we rather not pull down our 
barns1 and build   smaller1 and make    

bonfires of what they would not hold8   
,and yet1 with regard to ,knowledge1 the
 very opposite of   this is what we do4 
,we store the whole religiously1 and    
that   though not twice alone1 as with  
the bees in ,virgil1 but   scores of    
times in every year1 is the teeming     
produce   gathered in4 ,and then we put 
a fearful pressure on   ourselves and   
others to gorge of it as much as ever we
 can   hold4  ,facit indignatio versus4 
,my author1 gathering heat1 puts it     
somewhat dithyrambically3 but there you 
have it1 ,gentlemen4  ,if you crave for 
,knowledge1 the banquet of ,knowledge   
grows and groans on the board until the 
finer appetite sickens4 ,if1 still      
putting all your trust in ,knowledge1   
you try to dodge the difficulty by      
specialising1 you produce a brain       
bulging out inordinately on one side1 on
 the other cut flat down and mostly     
paralytic at that3 and in short so long 
as ,i hold that the ,creator has an     
idea1 of a man1 so long shall ,i be sure

 that no uneven specialist realises it4 
,the real tragedy of the ,library at    
,alexandria was not that the            
incendiaries burned immensely1 but that 
they had neither the leisure nor the    
taste to discriminate4  ,,viii  ,the old
 schoolmaster whom ,i quoted just now   
goes on3    ,i believe1 if the truth    
were known1 men would be   astonished at
 the small amount of learning with which
 a   high degree of culture is          
compatible4 ,in a moment of enthusiasm  
,i ventured once to tell my ',english   
set' that if they could   really master 
the ninth book of ,paradise ,lost1 so as
 to rise   to the height of its great   
argument and incorporate all its        
beauties in themselves1 they would at   
one blow1 by virtue   of that alone1    
become highly cultivated men4444 ,more  
and   more various learning might raise 
them to the same height   by different  
paths1 but could hardly raise them      
higher4  ,here let me interpose and     
quote the last three lines of that      

,book--three lines only2 simple1        
unornamented1 but for every man and     
every woman who have dwelt together     
since our first parents1 in mere        
statement how wise6       ,thus they in 
mutual accusation spent      ,the       
fruitless hours1 but neither            
self-condemning2      ,and of their vain
 contest appear'd no end4  ,a parent    
afterwards told me 7my schoolmaster     
adds7 that his son went home and so     
buried himself in the book that food and
 sleep that day had no attraction for   
him4 ,next morning1 ,i need hardly say1 
the difference in his appearance was    
remarkable3 he had outgrown all his     
intellectual clothes4  ,the end of this 
story strikes me1 ,i confess1 as rapid1 
and may be compared with that of the    
growth of ,delian ,apollo in the        
,homeric hymn2 but we may agree that1 in
 reading1 it is not quantity so much    
that tells1 as quality and thoroughness 
of digestion4  ,,ix  ,what ,does--,what 
,knows--,what ,is4444  ,i am not likely 

to depreciate to you the value of ,what 
,does1 after spending my first twelve   
lectures up here1 on the art and        
practice of ,writing1 encouraging you to
 do this thing which ,i daily delight in
 trying to do3 as ,god forbid that      
anyone should hint a slightening word of
 what our sons and brothers are doing   
just now1 and doing for us6 ,but ,peace 
being the normal condition of man's     
activity1 ,i look around me for a       
vindication of what is noblest in ,what 
,does and am content with a passage from
 ,george ,eliot's poem ,stradivarius1   
the gist of which is that ,god himself  
might conceivably make better fiddles   
than ,stradivari's1 but by no means     
certainly2 since1 as a fact1 ,god orders
 his best fiddles of ,stradivari4 ,says 
the great workman1       ',god be       
praised1   ,antonio ,stradivari has an  
eye   ,that winces at false work and    
loves the true1   ,with hand and arm    
that play upon the tool   ,as willingly 
as any singing bird   ,sets him to sing 

his morning roundelay1   ,because he    
likes to sing and likes the song4'      
,then ,naldo3 '',tis a pretty kind of   
fame   ,at best1 that comes of making   
violins2   ,and saves no masses1 either4
 ,thou wilt go   ,to purgatory none the 
less4'      ,but he3   '',twere         
purgatory here to make them ill2   ,and 
for my fame--when any master holds      
',twixt chin and hand a violin of mine1 
,he will be glad that ,stradivari lived1
   ,made violins1 and made them of the  
best4   ,the masters only know whose    
work is good3   ,they will choose mine1 
and while ,god gives them skill   ,i    
give them instruments to play upon1     
,god choosing me to help ,him4'         
',what6 ,were ,god   ,at fault for      
violins1 thou absent8'      ',yes2   ,he
 were at fault for ,stradivari's work4' 
',why1 many hold ,giuseppe's   violins  
,as good as thine4'      ',may be3 they 
are different4   ,his quality declines3 
he spoils his hand   ,with              
over-drinking4 ,but were his the best1  

,he could not work for two4 ,my work is 
mine1   ,and heresy or not1 if my hand  
slacked   ,i should rob ,god--since ,he 
is fullest good--   ,leaving a blank    
instead of violins4   ,i say1 not ,god  
,himself can make man's best   ,without 
best men to help him4444      ',tis ,god
 gives skill1   ,but not without men's  
hands3 ,he could not make   ,antonio    
,stradivari's violins   ,without        
,antonio4 ,get thee to thy easel4'  ,so 
much then for ,what ,does3 ,i do not    
depreciate it4  ,x  ,neither do ,i      
depreciate--in ,cambridge1 save the     
mark6--,what ,knows4 ,all knowledge is  
venerable2 and ,i suppose you will find 
the last vindication of the scholar's   
life at its baldest in ,browning's ,a   
,grammarian's ,funeral3    ,others      
mistrust and say1 ',but time escapes3   
,live now or never6'   ,he said1        
',what's time8 ,leave ,now for dog and  
apes6      ,man has ,forever4'   ,back  
to his book then2 deeper drooped his    
head3      ,calculus racked him3        

,leaden before1 his eyes grew dross of  
lead3      ,tussis attacked him4444     
,so1 with the throttling hands of death 
at strife1      ,ground he at grammar2  
,still1 thro' the rattle1 parts of      
speech were rife3      ,while he could  
stammer   ,he settled ,hoti's           
business--let it be6--      ,properly   
based ,oun--   ,gave us the doctrine of 
the enclitic ,de1      ,dead from the   
waist down4   ,well1 here's the         
platform1 here's the proper place3      
,hail to your purlieus1   ,all ye       
highfliers of the feathered race1       
,swallows and curlews6   ,here's the    
top-peak2 the multitude below           
,live1 for they can1 there3   ,this man 
decided not to ,live but ,know--        
,bury this man there4  ,nevertheless    
,knowledge is not1 cannot be1           
everything2 and indeed1 as a matter of  
experience1 cannot even be counted upon 
to educate4 ,some of us have known men  
of extreme learning who yet are1 some of
 them1 uncouth in conduct1 others       

violent and overbearing in converse1    
others unfair in controversy1 others    
even unscrupulous in action--men of whom
 the sophist ,thrasymachus in ,plato's  
,republic may stand for the general     
type4 ,nay1 some of us will subscribe   
with the old schoolmaster whom ,i will  
quote again1 when he writes3    ,to     
myself personally1 as an exception to   
the rule that   opposites attract1 a    
very well-informed person is an object  
of   terror4 ,his mind seems to be so   
full of facts that you cannot1   as it  
were1 see the wood for the trees2 there 
is no room for   perspective1 no lawns  
and glades for pleasure and repose1 no  
vistas through which to view some       
towering hill or elevated   temple2     
everything in that crowded space seems  
of the same   value3 he speaks with no  
more awe of ,king ,lear than of the     
last ,cobden prize essay2 he has        
swallowed them both with the   same     
ease1 and got the facts safe in his     
pouch2 but he has no   time to ruminate 

because he must still be swallowing2 nor
 does   he seem to know what even       
,macbeth1 with ,banquo's murderers      
then at work1 found leisure to          
remember--that good digestion   must    
wait on appetite1 if health is to follow
 both3  ,now that may be put a trifle   
too vivaciously1 but the moral is true4 
,bacon tells us that reading maketh a   
full man4 ,yes1 and too much of it makes
 him too full4 ,the two words of the    
,greek upon knowledge remain true1 that 
the last triumph of ,knowledge is ,know 
,thyself4 ,so ,don ,quixote repeats it  
to ,sancho ,panza1 counselling him how  
to govern his ,island3    ,first1 ,o    
son1 thou hast to fear ,god1 for in     
fearing ,him is   wisdom1 and being wise
 thou canst not err4    ,but secondly   
thou hast to set thine eyes on what thou
 art1   endeavouring to know            
thyself--which is the most difficult    
knowledge that can be conceived4  ,but  
to know oneself is to know that which   
alone can know ,what ,is4 ,so the       

hierarchy runs up4  ,,xi  ,what ,does1  
,what ,knows1 ,what ,is4444 ,i have     
happily left myself no time to-day to   
speak of ,what ,is3 happily1 because ,i 
would not have you even approach it     
towards the end of an hour when your    
attention must be languishing4 ,but ,i  
leave you with two promises1 and with   
two sayings from which as this lecture  
took its start its successors will      
proceed4  ,the first promise is1 that   
,what ,is1 being the spiritual element  
in man1 is the highest object of his    
study4  ,the second promise is that1    
nine-tenths of what is worthy to be     
called ,literature being concerned with 
this spiritual element1 for that it     
should be studied1 from firstly up to   
ninthly1 before anything else4  ,and my 
two quotations are for you to ponder3   
7#a7 ,this1 first3    ,that all spirit  
is mutually attractive1 as all matter is
   mutually attractive1 is an ultimate  
fact beyond which we cannot   go4444    
,spirit to spirit--as in water face     

answereth to face1 so   the heart of man
 to man4  7#b7 ,and this other1 from the
 writings of an obscure ,welsh clergyman
 of the #agth century3    ,you will     
never enjoy the world aright till the   
sea itself   floweth in your veins1 till
 you are clothed with the heavens   and 
crowned with the stars4    ,footnote #a3
 ,the reader will kindly turn back to   
p4#a1 and observe the date at the head  
of this lecture4 ,at that time ,i was   
engaged against a system of ,english    
teaching which ,i believed to be        
thoroughly bad4 ,that system has since  
given place to another1 which ,i am     
prepared to defend as a better4         
,,lecture ,,ii  ,,apprehension ,,versus 
,,comprehension  ,,wednesday1 ,,november
 #ae1 #aiaf   ,i  ,let us attempt       
to-day1 ,gentlemen1 picking up the scent
 where we left at the conclusion of my  
first lecture1 to hunt the ,art of      
,reading 7as ,i shall call it71 a little
 further on the line of common-sense2   
then to cast back and chase on a line   

somewhat more philosophical4 ,if these  
lines run wide and refuse to unite1 we  
shall have made a false cast3 if they   
converge and meet1 we shall have caught 
our hare and may proceed1 in subsequent 
lectures1 to cook him4  ,well1 the line 
of common-sense has brought us to this  
point-- that1 man and this planet being 
such as they are1 for a man to read all 
the books existent on it is impossible2 
and1 if possible1 would be in the       
highest degree undesirable4 ,let us1 for
 example1 go back quite beyond the      
invention of printing and try to imagine
 a man who had read all the rolls       
destroyed in the ,library of ,alexandria
 by successive burnings4 7,some reckon  
the number of these ,,mss at #gjj1jjj47 
,suppose1 further1 this man to be gifted
 with a memory retentive as ,lord       
,macaulay's4 ,suppose lastly that we go 
to such a man and beg him to repeat to  
us some chosen one of the fifty or      
seventy lost1 or partially lost1 plays  
of ,euripides4 ,it is incredible that he

 could gratify us4  ,there was1 as ,i   
have said1 a great burning at           
,alexandria in #dg ,b4,c41 when ,caesar 
set the fleet in the harbour on fire to 
prevent its falling into the hands of   
the ,egyptians4 ,the flames spread1 and 
the great library stood but #djj yards  
from the quayside1 with warehouses full 
of books yet closer4 ,the last great    
burning was perpetrated in ,a4,d4 #fdb4 
,gibbon quotes the famous sentence of   
,omar1 the great ,mohammedan who gave   
the order3 ',if these writings of the   
,greeks agree with the book of ,god1    
they are useless and need not be        
preserved2 if they disagree1 they are   
pernicious and ought to be destroyed1'  
and goes on3    ,the sentence was       
executed with blind obedience2 the      
volumes of paper or parchment were      
distributed to the four   thousand baths
 of the city2 and such was their        
incredible   multitude that six months  
were barely sufficient for the          
consumption of this precious fuel4444   

,the tale has been   repeatedly         
transcribed2 and every scholar1 with    
pious   indignation1 has deplored the   
irreparable shipwreck of the   learning1
 the arts1 and the genius1 of antiquity4
 ,for my own   part1 ,i am strongly     
tempted to deny both the fact and the   
consequences4  ,of the consequence he   
writes3    ,perhaps the church and seat 
of the patriarchs might be   enriched   
with a repository of books3 but1 if the 
ponderous   mass of ,arian and          
,monophysite controversy were indeed    
consumed in the public baths1 a         
philosopher may allow1 with   a smile1  
that it was ultimately devoted to the   
benefit of   mankind4 ,i sincerely      
regret the more valuable libraries1     
which have been involved in the ruin of 
the ,roman empire2   but1 when ,i       
seriously compute the lapse of ages1 the
 waste of   ignorance1 and the          
calamities of war1 our treasures1 rather
   than our losses1 are the object of my
 surprise4 ,many curious   and          

interesting facts are buried in         
oblivion3 the three great   historians  
of ,rome have been transmitted to our   
hands in a   mutilated state1 and we are
 deprived of many pleasing              
compositions of the lyric1 iambic1 and  
dramatic poetry of the   ,greeks4 ,yet  
we should gratefully remember that the  
mischances of time and accident have    
spared the classic   works to which the 
suffrage of antiquity had adjudged the  
first place of genius and glory2 the    
teachers of ancient   knowledge1 who are
 still extant1 had perused and compared 
the writings of their predecessors2 nor 
can it fairly be   presumed that any    
important truth1 any useful discovery in
   art or nature1 has been snatched away
 from the curiosity of   modern ages4   
,i certainly do not ask you to subscribe
 to all that4 ,in fact when ,gibbon asks
 us to remember gratefully 'that the    
mischances of time and accident have    
spared the classic works to which the   
suffrage of antiquity had adjudged the  

first place of genius and glory1' ,i    
submit with all respect that he talks   
nonsense4 ,like the stranger in the     
temple of the sea-god1 invited to admire
 the many votive garments of those      
preserved out of shipwreck1 ,i ask 'at  
ubi sunt vestimenta eorum qui post vota 
nuncupata perierunt8'-- or in other     
words ',where are the trousers of the   
drowned8' ',what about the ,sthenoboea  
of ,euripides1 the ,revellers of        
,ameipsias-- to which1 as a matter of   
simple fact1 what you call the suffrage 
of antiquity did adjudge the first      
prize1 above ,aristophanes' best8'  ,but
 of course he is equally right to this  
extent1 that the fire consumed a vast   
deal of rubbish3 solid tons more than   
any man could swallow1--let be1         
digest--'read1 mark1 learn and inwardly 
digest4' ,and that was in ,a4,d4 #fdb1  
whereas we have arrived at #aiaf4 ,where
 would our voracious ,alexandrian be    
to-day1 with all the literature of the  
,middle ,ages added to his feast and on 

top of that all the printed books of    
#dej years8 ',reading1' says ,bacon1    
'maketh a ,full ,man4' ,yes1 indeed6    
,now ,i am glad that sentence of ,bacon 
falls pat here1 because it gives me1    
turning to his famous ,essay ,of        
,studies1 the reinforcement of his great
 name for the very argument which ,i am 
directing against the fallacy of those  
teachers who would have you use         
'manuals' as anything else than guides  
to your own reading or perspectives in  
which the authors are set out in the    
comparative eminence by which they claim
 priority of study or indicate the      
proportions of a literary period4 ,some 
of these manuals are written by men of  
knowledge so encyclopaedic that 7if it  
go with critical judgment7 for these    
purposes they may be trusted4 ,but to   
require you1 at your stage of reading1  
to have even the minor names by heart is
 a perversity of folly4 ,for later      
studies it seems to me a more pardonable
 mistake1 but yet a mistake1 to hope    

that by the employ of separate          
specialists you can get even in #ae or  
#bj volumes a perspective1 a            
proportionate description1 of what      
,english ,literature really is4 ,but    
worst of all is that ,examiner1         
who--aware that you must please him1 to 
get a good degree1 and being just as    
straight and industrious as anyone      
else--assumes that in two years you have
 become expert in knowledge that beats a
 lifetime1 and1 brought up against the  
practical impossibility of this         
assumption1 questions you--not on a     
little selected first-hand              
knowledge--but on massed information    
which at the best can be but derivative 
and second-hand4  ,now hear ,bacon4     
,studies serve for ,delight--  7,mark   
it1--he puts delight first7    ,studies 
serve for ,delight1 for ,ornament1 and  
for ,ability4   ,their ,chiefe use for  
,delight1 is in ,privatenesse and       
,retiring#a2 for ,ornament1 is in       
,discourse2 and for ,ability1   is in   

the ,judgement and ,disposition of      
,businesse4444 ,to spend   too much     
,time in ,studies is ,sloth2 to use them
 too much for   ,ornament is            
,affectation2 to make judgement wholly  
by their   ,rules is the ,humour of a   
,scholler4 ,they perfect ,nature1 and   
are perfected by ,experience3 for       
,naturall ,abilities are like           
,naturall ,plants1 they need ,proyning  
by ,study4 ,and ,studies   themselves   
doe give forth ,directions too much at  
,large1   unless they be bounded in by  
experience4  ,again1 he says3    ,some  
,bookes are to be ,tasted1 ,others to be
 ,swallowed1   and ,some ,few to be     
,chewed and ,digested3 that is1 some    
,bookes are to be read onely in ,parts2 
,others to be read but   not ,curiously2
 and some ,few are to be read wholly1   
and with   ,diligence and ,attention4   
,some ,bookes also may be read by       
,deputy1 and ,extracts made of them by  
,others4 ,but that   would be onely in  
the lesse important ,arguments1 and the 

,meaner ,sort of ,bookes3 else distilled
 ,bookes are like   ,common distilled   
,waters1 ,flashy ,things4  ,so you see1 
,gentlemen1 while pleading before you   
that ,reading is an ,art--that its best 
purpose is not to accumulate ,knowledge 
but to produce1 to educate1             
such-and-such a man--that 'tis a folly  
to bite off more than you can           
assimilate--and that with it1 as with   
every other art1 the difficulty and the 
discipline lie in selecting out of vast 
material1 what is fit1 fine1            
applicable--,i have the great ,francis  
,bacon himself towering behind my       
shoulder for patron4  ,some would push  
the argument further than--here and now1
 at any rate--,i choose to do1 or       
perhaps would at all care to do4 ,for   
example1 ,philip ,gilbert ,hamerton1    
whom ,i quoted to you three weeks ago1  
instances in his book ,the ,intellectual
 ,life an accomplished ,french cook who1
 in discussing his art1 comprised the   
whole secret of it under two heads--the 

knowledge of the mutual influences of   
ingredients1 and the judicious          
management of heat3    ,amongst the     
dishes for which my friend had a        
deserved   reputation was a certain     
gteau de foie which had a very          
exquisite flavour4 ,the principal       
ingredient1 not in quantity   but in    
power1 was the liver of a fowl2 but     
there were several   other ingredients  
also1 and amongst these a leaf or two of
   parsley4 ,he told me that the        
influence of the parsley was a   good   
illustration of his theory about his    
art4 ,if the parsley   were omitted1 the
 flavour he aimed at was not produced at
 all2   but1 on the other hand1 if the  
quantity of the parsley was in   the    
least excessive1 then the gteau instead 
of being a   delicacy for gourmets      
became an uneatable mess4 ,perceiving   
that   ,i was really interested in the  
subject1 he kindly promised a           
practical evidence of his doctrine1 and 
the next day   intentionally spoiled the

 dish by a trifling addition of         
parsley4 ,he had not exaggerated the    
consequences2 the delicate   flavour    
entirely departed1 and left a nauseous  
bitterness in   its place1 like the     
remembrance of an ill-spent youth4  ,i  
trust that none of you are in a position
 to appreciate the full force of this   
last simile2 and1 for myself1 ,i should 
have taken the chef's word for it1      
without experiment4 ,mr ,hamerton       
proceeds to draw his moral3    ,there is
 a sort of intellectual chemistry which 
is quite as   marvellous as material    
chemistry and a thousand times more     
difficult to observe4 ,one general truth
 may1 however1 be   relied upon4444 ,it 
is true that everything we learn affects
 the   whole character of the mind4     
,consider how incalculably important    
becomes the   question of proportion in 
our knowledge1 and how that which   we  
are is dependent as much upon our       
ignorance as our   science4 ,what we    
call ignorance is only a smaller        

proportion--   what we call science only
 a larger4  ,here the argument begins to
 become delicious3    ,the larger       
quantity is recommended as an           
unquestionable   good1 but the goodness 
of it is entirely dependent on the      
mental product that we want4            
,aristocracies have always              
instinctively felt this1 and have       
decided that a gentleman   ought not to 
know too much of certain arts and       
sciences4 ,the   character which they   
had accepted as their ideal would have  
been destroyed by indiscriminate        
additions to those   ingredients of     
which long experience had fixed the     
exact   proportions4444    ,the last    
generation of the ,english country      
aristocracy   was particularly rich in  
characters whose unity and charm   was  
dependent upon the limitations of their 
culture1 and   which would have been    
entirely altered1 perhaps not for the   
better1 by simply knowing a science or a
 literature that was   dosed to them4   

,if anything could be funnier than that1
 it is that it is1 very possibly1 true4 
,let us end our quest-by-commonsense1   
for the moment1 on this2 that to read   
all the books that have been            
written---in short to keep pace with    
those that are being written--is starkly
 impossible1 and 7as ,aristotle would   
say7 about what is impossible one does  
not argue4 ,we must select4 ,selection  
implies skilful practice4 ,skilful      
practice is only another term for ,art4 
,so far plain common-sense leads us4 ,on
 this point1 then1 let us set up a rest 
and hark back4  ,,ii  ,let us cast back 
to the three terms of my first          
lecture--,what does1 ,what knows1 ,what 
is4  ,i shall here take leave to        
recapitulate a brief argument much      
sneered at a few years ago when it was  
still fashionable to consider ,hegel a  
greater philosopher than ,plato4        
,abbreviating it ,i repeat it1 because  
,i believe in it yet to-day1 when ,hegel
 7for causes unconnected with pure right

 and wrong7 has gone somewhat out of    
fashion for a while4  ,as the tale1     
then1 is told by ,plato1 in the tenth   
book of ,the ,republic1 one ,er the son 
of ,armenius1 a ,pamphylian1 was slain  
in battle2 and ten days afterwards1 when
 they collected the dead for burial1 his
 body alone showed no taint of          
corruption4 ,his relatives1 however1    
bore it off to the funeral pyre2 and on 
the twelfth day1 lying there1 he        
returned to life1 and he told them what 
he had seen in the other world4 ,many   
wonders he related concerning the dead1 
for example1 with their rewards and     
punishments3 but what had impressed him 
as most wonderful of all was the great  
spindle of ,necessity1 reaching up to   
,heaven1 with the planets revolving     
around it in graduated whorls of width  
and spread3 yet all concentric and so   
timed that all complete the full circle 
punctually together--',the ,spindle     
turns on the knees of ,necessity2 and on
 the rim of each whorl sits perched a   

,siren who goes round with it1 hymning a
 single note2 the eight notes together  
forming one harmony4'  ,now as--we have 
the divine word for it--upon two great  
commandments hang all the law and the   
prophets1 so all religions1 all         
philosophies1 hang upon two steadfast   
and faithful beliefs2 the first of which
 ,plato would show by the above parable4
  ,it is1 of course1 that the stability 
of the ,universe rests upon ordered     
motion--that the 'firmament' above1     
around1 beneath1 stands firm1 continues 
firm1 on a balance of active and        
tremendous forces somehow harmoniously  
composed4 ,theology asks 'by ,what8' or 
'by ,whom8' ,philosophy inclines rather 
to ask ',how8' ,natural ,science1       
allowing that for the present these     
questions are probably unanswerable1    
contents itself with mapping and        
measuring what it can of the various    
forces4 ,but all agree about the        
harmony2 and when a ,galileo or a       
,newton discovers a single rule of it   

for us1 he but makes our assurance      
surer4 ,for uncounted centuries before  
ever hearing of ,gravitation men knew of
 the sun that he rose and set1 of the   
moon that she waxed and waned1 of the   
tides that they flowed and ebbed1 all   
regularly1 at times to be predicted2 of 
the stars that they swung as by         
clockwork around the pole4 ,says the son
 of ,sirach3       ,at the word of the  
,holy ,one they will stand in due order1
      ,and they will not faint in their 
watches4  ,so evident is this calculated
 harmony that men1 seeking to interpret 
it by what was most harmonious in       
themselves or in their human experience1
 supposed an actual ,music of the       
,spheres inaudible to mortals3 ,plato as
 we see 7who learned of ,pythagoras7    
inventing his ,octave of ,sirens1       
perched on the whorls of the great      
spindle and intoning as they spin4      
,dante 7,chaucer copying him in ,the    
,parlement of ,fowls7 makes the spheres 
nine3 and so does ,milton3       then   

listen ,i   ,to the celestial ,sirens   
harmony1   ,that sit upon the nine      
infolded ,sphears1   ,and sing to those 
that hold the vital shears1   ,and turn 
the ,adamantine spindle round   ,on     
which the fate of gods and men is wound4
   ,such sweet compulsion doth in musick
 lie   ,to lull the daughters of        
,necessity1   ,and keep unsteady ,nature
 to her law1   ,and the low world in    
measur'd motion draw   ,after the       
heavenly tune4444  ,if the sceptical    
mind object to the word law as begging  
the question and postulating a governing
 intelligence with a governing will--if 
it tell me that when revolted ,lucifer  
uprose in starlight--       and at the  
stars1   ,which are the brain of heaven1
 he look'd1 and sank4   ,around the     
ancient track march'd1 rank on rank1    
,the army of unalterable law--  he was  
merely witnessing a series of           
predictable or invariable recurrences1  
,i answer that he may be right1 it      
suffices for my argument that they are  

recurrent1 are invariable1 can be       
predicted4 ,anyhow the ,universe is not 
,chaos 7if it were1 by the way1 we      
should be unable to reason about it at  
all74 ,it stands and is renewed upon a  
harmony3 and what ,plato called         
',necessity' is the ,duty--compulsory or
 free as you or ,i can conceive it--the 
,duty of all created things to obey that
 harmony1 the ,duty of which ,wordsworth
 tells in his noble ,ode4    ,thou dost 
preserve the stars from wrong3   ,and   
the most ancient heavens1 through ,thee1
 are fresh and      strong4  ,,iii  ,now
 the other and second great belief is1  
that the ,universe1 the macrocosm1      
cannot be apprehended at all except as  
its rays converge upon the eye1 brain1  
soul of ,man1 the microcosm3 on you1 on 
me1 on the tiny percipient centre upon  
which the immense cosmic circle focuses 
itself as the sun upon a                
burning-glass--and he is not shrivelled 
up6 ,other creatures1 he notes1 share in
 his sensations2 but1 so far as he can  

discover1 not in his percipience --or   
not in any degree worth measuring4 ,so  
far as he can discover1 he is not only a
 bewildered actor in the great pageant  
but 'the ring enclosing all1' the sole  
intelligent spectator4 ,wonder of       
wonders1 it is all meant for him6  ,i   
doubt if1 among men of our nation1 this 
truth was ever more clearly grasped than
 by the ,cambridge ,platonists who      
taught your forerunners of the #agth    
century4 ,but ,i will quote you here two
 short passages from the work of a sort 
of poor relation of theirs1 a humble    
,welsh parson of that time1 ,thomas     
,traherne-- unknown until the day before
 yesterday--from whom ,i gave you one   
sentence in my first lecture4 ,he is    
speaking of the fields and streets that 
were the scene of his childhood3        
,those pure and virgin apprehensions ,i 
had from the   womb1 and that divine    
light wherewith ,i was born are the     
best unto this day1 wherein ,i can see  
the ,universe4444 ,the   corn was orient

 and immortal wheat1 which never should 
be   reaped1 nor was ever sown4 ,i      
thought it had stood from   everlasting 
to everlasting4 ,the dust and stones of 
the street   were as precious as gold3  
the gates were at first the end of   the
 world4 ,the green trees when ,i saw    
them first through one   of the gates   
transported and ravished me4444 ,boys   
and girls   tumbling in the street1 and 
playing1 were moving jewels4 ,i   knew  
not that they were born or should       
die4444    ,the streets were mine1 the  
temple was mine1 the people   were mine1
 their clothes and gold and silver were 
mine1 as   much as their sparkling eyes1
 fair skins and ruddy faces4   ,the     
skies were mine1 and so were the sun and
 moon and stars2   and all the ,world   
was mine2 and ,i the only spectator and 
enjoyer of it4  ,then3    ,news from a  
foreign country came1   ,as if my       
treasure and my wealth lay there2   ,so 
much it did my heart inflame1   ',twas  
wont to call my ,soul into mine ear2    

,which thither went to meet   ,the      
approaching sweet1   ,and on the        
threshold stood   ,to entertain the     
unknown ,good4444    ,what sacred       
instinct did inspire   ,my ,soul in     
childhood with a hope to strong8   ,what
 secret force moved my desire   ,to     
expect new joys beyond the seas1 so     
young8   ,felicity ,i knew   ,was out of
 view1    ,and being here alone1   ,i   
saw that happiness was gone   ,from me6 
,for this   ,i thirsted absent bliss1   
,and thought that sure beyond the seas1 
,or else in something near at hand--    
,i knew not yet 7since naught did please
   ,i knew7 my ,bliss did stand4    ,but
 little did the infant dream   ,that all
 the treasures of the world were by3    
,and that himself was so the cream      
,and crown of all which round about did 
lie4   ,yet thus it was3 the ,gem1      
,the ,diadem1   ,the ,ring enclosing all
   ,that stood upon this earthly ball1  
,the ,heavenly ,eye1   ,much wider than 
the sky1   ,wherein they all included   

were1   ,the glorious ,soul1 that was   
the ,king   ,made to possess them1 did  
appear   ,a small and little thing6     
,and then comes the noble sentence of   
which ,i promised you that it should    
fall into its place3    ,you never enjoy
 the world aright till the sea itself   
floweth   in your veins1 till you are   
clothed with the heavens and   crowned  
with the stars4  ,man in short--you1 ,i1
 any one of us--the heir of it all6     
,tot circa unum caput tumultuantes deos6
  ,our best privilege to sing our short 
lives out in tune with the heavenly     
concert--and if to sing afterwards1 then
 afterwards6  ,,iv  ,but how shall ,man 
ever attain to understand and find his  
proper place in this ,universe1 this    
great sweeping harmonious circle of     
which nevertheless he feels himself to  
be the diminutive focus8 ,his senses are
 absurdly imperfect4 ,his ear cannot    
catch any music the spheres make2 and   
moreover there are probably neither     
spheres nor music4 ,his eye is so dull  

an instrument that 7as ,blanco ,white's 
famous sonnet reminds us7 he can neither
 see this world in the dark1 nor glimpse
 any of the scores of others until it   
falls dark3       ,if ,light can thus   
deceive1 wherefore not ,life8  ,yet the 
,universal ,harmony is meaningless and  
nothing to man save in so far as he     
apprehends it3 and lacking him 7so far  
as he knows7 it utterly lacks the       
compliment of an audience4 ,is all the  
great orchestra designed for nothing but
 to please its ,conductor8 ,yes1 if you 
choose3 but no1 as ,i think4 ,and here  
my other quotation3    ,that all spirit 
is mutually attractive1 as all matter is
   mutually attractive1 is an ultimate  
fact4444 ,spirit to spirit--   as in    
water face answereth to face1 so the    
heart of man to man4  ,yes and1 all     
spirit being mutually attractive1 far   
more than this6 ,i preach to you that1  
through help of eyes that are dim1 of   
ears that are dull1 by instinct of      
something yet undefined--call it        

soul--it wants no less a name--,man has 
a native impulse and attraction and     
yearning to merge himself in that       
harmony and be one with it3 a spirit of 
adoption 7as ,st ,paul says7 whereby we 
cry ,abba1 ,father6  ,and because ye are
 ,sons1 ,god hath sent forth the ,spirit
 of ,his ,son into your hearts1 crying  
,abba1 ,father4  ,that is to say1 we    
know we have something within us        
correspondent to the harmony1 and 7,i   
make bold to say7 unless we have        
deadened it with low desires1 worthy to 
join in it4 ,even in his common daily   
life ,man is for ever seeking after     
harmony1 in avoidance of chaos3 he      
cultivates habits by the clock1 he forms
 committees1 governments1 hierarchies1  
laws1 constitutions1 by which 7as he    
hopes7 a system of society will work in 
tune4 ,but these are childish           
imitations1 underplay on the great      
motive3       ,the ,kingdom of ,god is  
within you4  ,quid aliud est anima quam 
,deus in corpore humano hospitans8  ,v  

,gentlemen1 you may be thinking that ,i 
have brought you a long way round1 that 
the hour is wearing late1 and that we   
are yet far from the prey we first      
hunted on the line of common-sense4 ,but
 be patient for a minute or two1 for    
almost we have our hand on the animal4  
,if the ,kingdom of ,god1 or anything   
correspondent to it1 be within us1 even 
in such specks of dust as we separately 
are1 why that1 and that only1 can be the
 light by which you or ,i may hope to   
read the ,universal3 that1 and that     
only1 deserves the name of ',what ,is4' 
,nay1 ,i can convince you in a moment4  
,let me recall a passage of ,emerson    
quoted by me on the morning ,i first had
 the honour to address an audience in   
,cambridge3    ,it is remarkable 7says  
he7 that involuntarily we always read   
as superior beings4 ,universal history1 
the poets1 the   romancers1 do not in   
their stateliest pictures 444 anywhere  
make us feel that we intrude1 that this 
is for better men2 but   rather is it   

true that in their grandest strokes we  
feel most   at home4 ,all that          
,shakespeare says of the king1 yonder   
slip of   a boy that reads in the corner
 feels to be true of himself4  ,it is   
remarkable1 as ,emerson says2 and yet1  
as we now see1 quite simple4 ,a learned 
man may patronise a less learned one3   
but the ,kingdom of ,god cannot         
patronise the ,kingdom of ,god1 the     
larger the smaller4 ,there are large and
 small4 ,between these two mysteries of 
a harmonious universe and the inward    
soul are granted to live among us       
certain men whose minds and souls throw 
out filaments more delicate than ours1  
vibrating to far messages which they    
bring home1 to report them to us2 and   
these men we call prophets1 poets1      
masters1 great artists1 and when they   
write it1 we call their report          
literature4 ,but it is by the spark in  
us that we read it3 and not all the fire
 of ,god that was in ,shakespeare can   
dare to patronise the little spark in   

me4 ,if it did1 ,i can see--with        
,blake--the angelic host       throw    
down their spears      ,and water heaven
 with their tears4  ,,vi  ,to nurse that
 spark1 common to the king1 the sage1   
the poorest child--to fan1 to draw up to
 a flame1 to 'educate' ,what ,is--to    
recognise that it is divine1 yet frail1 
tender1 sometimes easily tired1 easily  
quenched under piles of                 
book-learning--to let it run at play    
very often1 even more often to let it   
rest in what ,wordsworth calls       a  
wise passiveness  passive--to use a     
simile of ,coventry ,patmore--as a      
photographic plate which finds stars    
that no telescope can discover1 simply  
by waiting with its face turned         
upward--to mother it1 in short1 as wise 
mothers do their children--this is what 
,i mean by the ,art of ,reading4  ,for  
all great ,literature1 ,i would lastly  
observe1 is gentle towards that spirit  
which learns of it4 ,it teaches by      
apprehension not by comprehension--which

 is what many philosophers try to do1   
and1 in trying1 break their jugs and    
spill the contents4 ,literature         
understands man and of what he is       
capable4 ,philosophy1 on the other hand1
 may not be 'harsh and crabbed1 as dull 
fools suppose1' but the trouble with    
most of its practitioners is that they  
try to comprehend the ,universe4 ,now   
the man who could comprehend the        
,universe would ipso facto comprehend   
,god1 and be ipso facto a ,super-,god1  
able to dethrone him1 and in the        
arrogance of his intellectual conceit   
full ready to make the attempt4         
,footnote #a3  ,do you remember1 by the 
by1 ,samuel ,rogers's lines on ,lady    
,jane ,grey8 ,they have always seemed to
 me very beautiful3    ,like her most   
gentle1 most unfortunate1   ,crown'd but
 to die--who in her chamber sate        
,musing with ,plato1 though the horn was
 blown1   ,and every ear and every heart
 was won1   ,and all in green array were
 chasing down the sun6     ,,lecture    

,,iii  ,,children',s ,,reading 7,i7     
,,wednesday1 ,,january #bd1 #aiag   ,i  
have often wished1 ,gentlemen1 that some
 more winning name could be found for   
the thing we call ,education2 and ,i    
have sometimes thought wistfully that1  
had we made a better thing of it1 we    
should long ago have found a more       
amiable1 a blither1 name4  ,for after   
all it concerns the child2 and is it    
quite an accident that1 weaning him away
 from lovely things that so lovelily    
call themselves 'love1' 'home1'         
'mother1' we can find no more alluring  
titles for the streets into which we    
entrap him than ',educational           
,facilities1' ',local ,examinations1'   
',preceptors1' ',pedagogues1'           
',professors1' ',matriculations1'       
',certificates1' ',diplomas1'           
',seminaries1' ,elementary or ,primary1 
and ,secondary ,codes1' ',continuation  
,classes1' ',reformatories1'            
',inspectors1' ',local ,authorities1'   
',provided' and ',non-,provided1'       

',denominational' and                   
',undenominational1' and ',d4,litt4' and
 ',mus4 ,bac4'8 ,expressive terms1 no   
doubt6--but ,i ask with the poet        
,who can track      ,a ,grace's naked   
foot amid them all8  ,take even such    
words as should be perennially beautiful
 by connotation-words such as           
',academy1' ',museum4' ,does the one    
7,o1 ,ode on a ,distant ,prospect of    
,clapham ,academy67 call up visions of  
that green lawn by ,cephissus1 of its   
olives and plane trees and the mirrored 
statues among which ,plato walked and   
held discourse with his few8 ,does the  
other as a rule invite to haunts 7,o    
,god6 ,o ,montreal67 where you can be   
secure of communion with ,apollo and the
 ,nine8 ,answer if the word ,academy    
does not first call up to the mind some 
place where small boys are crammed1 the 
word ,museum some place where bigger    
game are stuffed8  ,and yet 'academy1'  
'museum1' even 'education' are sound    
words if only we would make the things  

correspond with their meanings4 ,the    
meaning of 'education' is a leading out1
 a drawing-forth2 not an imposition of  
something on somebody--a catechism or an
 uncle-- upon the child2 but an         
eliciting of what is within him4 ,now1  
if you followed my last lecture1 we find
 that which is within him to be no less1
 potentially1 than the ,kingdom of ,god4
  ,i grant that this potentiality is1   
between the ages of four and sixteen1   
not always1 perhaps not often1 evident4 
,the boy--in ,bagehot's phrase 'the     
small apple-eating urchin whom we       
know'-- has this in common with the     
fruit for which he congenitally sins1   
that his very virtues in immaturity are 
apt1 setting the teeth on edge1 to be   
mistaken for vices4 ,a writer1 to whom  
,i shall recur1 has said3    ,if an     
,englishman who had never before tasted 
an apple   were to eat one in ,july1 he 
would probably come to the   conclusion 
that it was a hard1 sour1 indigestible  
fruit1   conceived in sin and shapen in 

iniquity1' fit only to be   consigned to
 perdition 7on a dust heap or           
elsewhere74 ,but if   the same man were 
to wait till ,october and then eat an   
apple   from the same tree1 he would    
find that the sourness had   ripened    
into wholesome and refreshing acidity2  
the hardness   into firmness of fibre   
which1 besides being pleasant to the    
palate1 makes the apple 'keep' better   
than any other fruit2   the             
indigestibility into certain valuable   
dietetic qualities1   and so on4444  ,in
 other words--trench1 manure1 hoe and   
water around your young tree1 and       
patiently allow the young fruit to      
develop of its own juice from the root2 
your own task being1 as the fruit forms1
 but to bring in all you can of air and 
sunshine upon it4 ,it must1 as every    
mother and nurse knows1 be coaxed to    
realise itself1 to develop1 to grow from
 its individual root4 ,it may be coaxed 
and trained4 ,but the main secret lies  
in encouraging it to grow1 and1 to that 

end1 in pouring sunshine upon it and    
hoeing after each visitation of tears   
parentally induced4  ,every child wants 
to grow4 ,every child wants to learn4   
,during his first year or so of life he 
fights for bodily nutriment1 almost     
ferociously4 ,from the age of two or    
thereabouts he valiantly essays the     
conquest of articulate speech1 using it 
first to identify his father or his     
mother amid the common herd of          
,gentiles2 next1 to demand a more       
liberal and varied dietary2 anon1 as    
handmaid of his imperious will to learn4
 ,this desire1 still in the nursery1    
climbs--like dissolution in             
,wordsworth's sonnet--from low to high3 
from a craving to discover              
experimentally what the stomach will    
assimilate and what reject1 up to a     
kingly debonair interest in teleology4  
,our young gentleman is perfectly at    
ease in ,sion4 ,he wants to know why    
soldiers are 7or were7 red1 and if they 
were born so2 whence bread and milk is  

derived1 and would it be good manners to
 thank the neat cow for both2 why mamma 
married papa1 and--that having been     
explained and thoughtfully accepted as  
the best possible arrangement--still    
thoughtfully1 not in the least          
censoriously1 'why the ,all-,father has 
not married yet8' ,he falls asleep      
weighing the eligibility of various     
spinsters1 church-workers1 in the       
parish4  ,his brain teeming with        
questions1 he asks them of impulse and  
makes his discoveries with joy4 ,he     
passes to a school1 which is supposed to
 exist for the purpose of answering     
these or cognate questions even before  
he asks them3 and behold1 he is not     
happy6 ,or1 he is happy enough at play1 
or at doing in class the things that    
should not be done in class3 his master 
writes home that he suffers in his      
school work 'from having always more    
animal spirits than are required for his
 immediate purposes4' ,what is the      
trouble8 ,you cannot explain it by      

home-sickness3 for it attacks day boys  
alike with boarders4 ,you cannot explain
 it by saying that all true learning    
involves 'drudgery1' unless you make    
that miserable word a mendicant and     
force it to beg the question4           
',drudgery' is what you feel to be      
drudgery--       ,who sweeps a room1 as 
for thy laws1      ,makes that and th'  
action fine4  --and1 anyhow1 this child 
learned one language--,english1 a most  
difficult one--eagerly4 ,of the nursery 
through which ,i passed only one sister 
wept while learning to read1 and that   
was over a scholastic work entitled     
,reading ,without ,tears4  ,do you know 
a chapter in ,mr ,william ,canton's book
 ,the ,invisible ,playmate in which1 as 
,carlyle dealt in ,sartor ,resartus with
 an imaginary treatise by an imaginary  
,herr ,teufelsdrckh1 as ,matthew ,arnold
 in ,friendship's ,garland with the     
imaginary letters of an imaginary       
,arminius 7,germany in long-past happier
 days lent the world these playful      

philosophical spirits71 so the later    
author invents an old village grandpapa1
 with the grandpapa-name of ,altegans   
and a prose-poem printed in scarecrow   
duodecimo on paper-bag pages and        
entitled ,erster ,schulgang1 'first     
school-going1' or 'first day at school'8
  ,the poem opens with a wonderful      
vision of children2 delightful as it is 
unexpected2 as romantic in presentment  
as it is commonplace in fact4 ,all over 
the world--and all under it too1 when   
their time comes--the children are      
trooping to school4 ,the great globe    
swings round out of the dark into the   
sun2 there is always morning somewhere2 
and for ever in this shifting region of 
the morning-light the good ,altegans    
sees the little ones afoot--- shining   
companies and groups1 couples and bright
 solitary figures2 for they all seem to 
have a soft heavenly light about them4  
,he sees them in country lanes and      
rustic villages2 on lonely moorlands 444
 he sees them on the hillsides 444 in   

the woods1 on the stepping-stones that  
cross the brook in the glen1 along the  
seacliffs and on the water-ribbed sands2
 trespassing on the railway lines1      
making short cuts through the corn1     
sitting in the ferry-boats2 he sees them
 in the crowded streets of smoky cities1
 in small rocky islands1 in places far  
inland where the sea is known only as a 
strange tradition4  ,the morning-side of
 the planet is alive with them3 one     
hears their pattering footsteps         
everywhere4 ,and as the vast continents 
sweep eastering out of the high shadow  
which reaches beyond the moon' 444 and  
as new nations with their cities and    
villages1 their fields1 woods1 mountains
 and sea-shores1 rise up into the       
morning-side1 lo6 fresh troops1 and     
still fresh troops1 and yet again fresh 
troops of these school-going children of
 the dawn4  ,what are weather and season
 to this incessant panorama of          
childhood8 ,the pigmy people trudge     
through the snow on moor and hill-side2 

wade down flooded roads2 are not to be  
daunted by wind or rain1 frost or the   
white smother of 'millers and bakers at 
fisticuffs4' ,most beautiful picture of 
all1 he sees them travelling schoolward 
by the late moonlight which now and     
again in the winter months precedes the 
tardy dawn4  ,that vision strikes me as 
being poetically true as well as        
delightful3 by which ,i mean that it is 
not sentimental3 we know that it ought  
to be true1 that in a world well-ordered
 according to our best wishes for it1 it
 would be naturally true4 ,it expresses 
the natural love of ,age1 brooding on   
the natural eager joy of children4 ,but 
that natural eager joy is just what our 
schools1 in the matter of reading1      
conscientiously kill4  ,in this matter  
of reading-of children's reading--we    
stand1 just now1 or halt just now1      
between two ways4 ,the parent1 ,i       
believe1 has decisively won back to the 
right one which good mothers never quite
 forsook4 ,there was an interval1       

lasting from the early years of the last
 century until midway in ,queen         
,victoria's reign and a little beyond1  
when children were mainly brought up on 
the assumption of natural vice4 ,they   
might adore father and mother1 and yearn
 to be better friends with papa3 but    
there was the old ,adam1 a quickening   
evil spirit2 there were his imps always 
in the way1 confound them6 ,i myself    
lived1 with excellent grandparents1 for 
several years on pretty close terms with
 ,hell and an all-seeing ,eye2 until ,i 
grew so utterly weary of both that ,i   
have never since had the smallest use   
for either4 ,some of you may have read1 
as a curious book1 the agreeable history
 called ,the ,fairchild ,family1 in     
which ,mr ,fairchild leads his naughty  
children afield to a gallows by a       
cross-road and seating them under the   
swinging corpse of a malefactor1 deduces
 how easily they may come to this if    
they go on as they have been going4 ,the
 authors of such monitory or cautionary 

tales understood but one form of        
development1 the development of         
,original ,sin4 ,you stole a pin and    
proceeded1 by fatal steps1 to the       
penitentiary2 you threw a stick at a    
pheasant1 turned poacher1 shot a        
gamekeeper and ended on the gallows4    
,you were always ,eric and it was always
 ,little by ,little with you4444 ,stay6 
memory preserves one gem from a ,sunday 
school dialogue1 one sharp-cut intaglio 
of childhood springing fully armed from 
the head of ,satan3    ,q4 ,where hast  
thou been this ,sabbath morning8   ,a4  
,i have been coursing of the squirrel4  
,q4 ,art not afraid so to desecrate the 
,lord's ,day with idle   sport8   ,a4   
,by no means3 for ,i should tell you    
that ,i am an ,atheist4  ,i forget what 
happened to that boy3 but doubtless it  
was1 as it should have been1 something  
drastic4  ,the spell of prohibition1 of 
repression1 lies so strong upon these   
authors that when they try to break away
 from it1 to appeal to something better 

than fear in the child1 and essay to    
amuse1 they become merely silly4 ,for an
 example in verse3    ,if ,human ,beings
 only knew   ,what sorrows little birds 
go through1      ,i think that even boys
   ,would never think it sport or fun   
,to stand and fire a frightful gun      
,for nothing but the noise4  ,for       
another 7instructional and quite a good 
memoria technica so far as it goes73    
,william and ,mary came next to the     
throne3      ,when ,mary died1 there was
 ,william alone4  ,now for a story of   
incident4--,it comes from the book      
,reading ,without ,tears1 that made my  
small sister weep4 ,she did not weep    
over the story1 because she did not     
claim to be an angel4  ,did you ever    
hear of the donkey that went into the   
sea with the little cart8444 ,a lady    
drove the cart down to the beach4 ,she  
had six children with her4 ,three little
 ones sat in the cart by her side4      
,three bigger girls ran before the cart4
 ,when they came to the beach the lady  

and the children got out4  ,very good so
 far4 ,it opens like the story of       
,nausicaa ,odyssey1 ,book vi1 lines     
#ha-hf4  ,the lady wished the donkey to 
bathe its legs in the sea1 to make it   
strong and clean4 ,but the donkey did   
not like to go near the sea4 ,so the    
lady bound a brown shawl over its eyes1 
and she bade the big girls lead it close
 to the waves4 ,suddenly a big wave     
rushed to the land4 ,the girls started  
back to avoid the wave1 and they let go 
the donkey's rein4  ,the donkey was     
alarmed by the noise the girls made1 and
 it went into the sea1 not knowing where
 it was going because it was not able to
 see4 ,the girls ran screaming to the   
lady1 crying out1 ',the donkey is in the
 sea6'  ,there it was1 going further and
 further into the sea1 till the cart was
 hidden by the billows4 ,the donkey sank
 lower and lower every moment1 till no  
part of it was seen but the ears2 for   
the brown shawl was over its nose and   
mouth4 ,now the children began to bawl  

and to bellow6 ,but no one halloed so   
loud as the little boy of four4 ,his    
name was ,merty4 ,he feared that the    
donkey was drowned4444  ,two fishermen  
were in a boat far away4 ,they said ',we
 hear howls and shrieks on the shore4   
,perhaps a boy or girl is drowning4 ,let
 us go and save him3 ,so they rowed     
hard1 and they soon came to the poor    
donkey1 and saw its ears peeping out of 
the sea4 ,the donkey was just going to  
sink when they lifted it up by the jaws1
 and seized the bridle and dragged it   
along4 ,the children on the shore       
shouted aloud for joy4 ,the donkey with 
the cart came safe to land4 ,the poor   
creature was weak and dripping wet4 ,the
 fishermen unbound its eyes1 and said to
 the lady1 ',we cannot think how this   
thing came to be over its eyes4' ,the   
lady said she wished she had not bound  
up its eyes1 and she gave the shillings 
in her purse to the fishermen who had   
saved her donkey4  ,now every child     
knows that a donkey may change into a   

,fairy ,prince3 that is a truth of      
imagination4 ,but to be polite and say  
nothing of the lady1 every child knows  
that so donkey would be ass enough to   
behave as in this narrative4 ,and the   
good parents who1 throughout the later  
#ahth century and the #aith1 inflicted  
this stuff upon children1 were sinning  
against the light4 ,perrault's ,fairy   
,tales1 and ,madame ,d',aulnoy's were to
 their hand in translations2 ,le        
,cabinet des ,fes1 which includes these 
and ,m4 ,galland's ,arabian ,nights and 
many another collection of delectable   
stories1 extends on my shelves to #da   
volumes 7the last volume appeared during
 the fury of the ,french ,revolution674 
,the brothers ,grimm published the first
 volume of their immortal tales in      
#ahab1 the second in #ahad4 ,a capital  
selection from them1 charmingly         
rendered1 was edited by our ,edgar      
,taylor in #ahbc2 and drew from ,sir    
,walter ,scott a letter of which some   
sentences are worth our pondering4  ,he 

writes3    ,there is also a sort of wild
 fairy interest in these tales   which  
makes me think them fully better adapted
 to awaken   the imagination and soften 
the heart of childhood than the         
good-boy stories which have been in     
later years composed   for them4 ,in the
 latter case their minds are1 as it     
were1 put   into the stocks 444 and the 
moral always consists in good   moral   
conduct being crowned with temporal     
success4 ,truth   is1 ,i would not give 
one tear shed over ,little ,red ,riding 
,hood for all the benefit to be derived 
from a hundred   histories of ,jemmy    
,goodchild4  ,few nowadays1 ,i doubt1   
remember ,gammer ,grethel4 ,she has been
 ousted by completer1 maybe far better1 
translations of the ,grimms' ,household 
,tales4 ,but turning back1 the other    
day1 to the old volume for the old      
sake's sake 7as we say in the ,west7 ,i 
came on the ,preface--no child troubles 
with a ,preface--and on these wise      
words3    ,much might be urged against  

that too rigid and philosophic 7we      
might rather say1 unphilosophic7        
exclusion of works of fancy   and       
fiction from the libraries of children  
which is advocated   by some4 ,our      
imagination is surely as susceptible of 
improvement by exercise as our judgment 
or our memory4  ,and that admirable     
sentence1 ,gentlemen1 is the real text  
of my discourse to-day4 ,i lay no       
sentimental stress upon ,wordsworth's   
,ode and its doctrine that ',heaven lies
 about us in our infancy4' ,it was1 as  
you know1 a favourite doctrine with our 
,platonists of the #agth century3 and   
critics who trace back the ,ode         
,intimations of ,immortality to ,henry  
,vaughan's       ,happy those early     
days1 when ,i      ,shined in my        
,angel-infancy4  might connect it with a
 dozen passages from authors of that    
century4 ,here is one from ,centuries of
 ,meditations by that poor ,welsh       
parson1 ,thomas ,traherne1 whom ,i      
quoted to you the other day3    ,those  

pure and virgin apprehensions ,i had    
from the   womb1 and that divine light  
wherewith ,i was born are the   best    
unto this day1 wherein ,i can see the   
,universe4 ,by the   ,gift of ,god they 
attended me into the world1 and by ,his 
special favour ,i remember them till    
now4444 ,certainly ,adam   in ,paradise 
had not more sweet and curious          
apprehensions   of the world1 than ,i   
when ,i was a child4  ,and here is      
another from ,john ,earle's ,character  
of ',a ,child' in his ,microcosmography3
    ,his father hath writ him as his own
 little story1 wherein   he reads those 
days of his life that he cannot         
remember2 and   sighs to see what       
innocence he has out-liv'd4 ,he is the  
,christian's example1 and the old man's 
relapse3 the one   imitates his         
pureness1 and the other falls into his  
simplicity4 ,could he put off his body  
with his little coat1   he had got      
,eternity without a burthen1 and        
exchang'd but one   ,heaven for another4

  ,bethinking me again of 'the small    
apple-eating urchin whom we know1' ,i   
suspect an amiable fallacy in all this3 
,i doubt if when he scales an           
apple-bearing tree which is neither his 
own nor his papa's he does so under     
impulse of any conscious yearning back  
to ,hierusalem1 his happy home1         
,where trees for evermore bear fruit4   
,at any rate1 ,i have an orchard1 and he
 has put up many excuses1 but never yet 
that he was recollecting ,sion4  ,still 
the doctrine holds affinity with the    
belief which ,i firmly hold and tried to
 explain to you with persuasion last    
term3 that1 boy or man1 you and ,i1 the 
microcosms1 do--sensibly1 half-sensibly1
 or insensibly--yearn1 through what we  
feel to be best in us1 to 'join up' with
 the greater harmony2 that by poetry or 
religion or whatnot we have that within 
us which craves to be drawn out1        
'e-ducated1' and linked up4  ,now the   
rule of the nursery in the last century 
rested on ,original ,sin1 and           

consequently and quite logically tended 
not to educate1 but to repress4 ,there  
are no new fairy-tales of the days when 
your grandmothers wore crinolines--,i   
know1 for ,i have searched4 ,mothers and
 nurses taught the old ones2 the ,three 
,bears still found1 one after another1  
that 'somebody has been sleeping in my  
bed'2 ,fatima continued to call ',sister
 ,anne1 do you see anyone coming8' the  
,wolf to show her teeth under her       
nightcap and snarl out 7,o1 great       
moment67 ',all the better to eat you    
with1 my dear4' ,but the ,evangelicals  
held field4 ,those of our grandfathers  
and grandmothers who understood joy and 
must have had fairies for               
ministers--those of our grandmothers who
 played croquet through hoop with a bell
 and practised ,cupid's own sport       
archery--those of our grandfathers who  
wore jolly peg-top trousers and         
,dundreary whiskers1 and built the      
,crystal ,palace and drove to the ,derby
 in green-veiled top-hats with ,dutch   

dolls stuck about the brim--tot circa   
unum caput tumultuantes deos--and those 
splendid uncles who used to descend on  
the old school in a shower of gold--    
half-a-sovereign at the very least--all 
these should have trailed fairies with  
them in a cloud4 ,but in practice the   
evangelical parent held the majority1   
put away all toys but ,noah's ,ark on   
,sundays1 and voted the fairies down4   
,i know not who converted the parents4  
,it may have been that benefactor of    
,europe1 ,hans ,christian ,andersen1    
born at ,odensee in ,denmark in ,april  
#ahje4 ,he died1 near ,copenhagen1 in   
#ahge1 having by a few months outlived  
his #gjth birthday4 ,i like to think    
that his genius1 a continuing influence 
over a long generation1 did more than   
anything else to convert the parents4   
,the schools1 always more royalist than 
the ,king1 professionally bleak1        
professionally dull1 professionally     
repressive rather than educative1 held  
on to a tradition which1 though it had  

to be on the sly1 every intelligent     
mother and nurse had done her best to   
evade4 ,the schools made a boy's life   
penitential on a system4 ,they          
discovered athletics1 as a safety-valve 
for high spirits they could not cope    
with1 and promptly made that            
safety-valve compulsory6 ,they went on  
to make athletics a religion4 ,now      
athletics are not properly a religious  
exercise1 and their meaning evaporates  
as soon as you enlist them in the       
service of repression4 ,they are being  
used to do the exact opposite of that   
for which ,god meant them4 ,things are  
better now3 but in those times how many 
a boy1 having long looked forward to it1
 rejoiced in his last day at school8  ,i
 know surely enough what must be in your
 minds at this point3 ,i am running up  
my head hard against the doctrine of    
,original ,sin1 against the doctrine    
that in dealing with a child you are    
dealing with a 'fallen nature1' with a  
human soul 'conceived in sin1'          

unregenerate except by repression2 and  
therefore that repression and more      
repression must be the only logical way 
with your ,original ,sinners4  ,well1   
then1 ,i am4 ,i have loved children all 
my life2 studied them in the nursery1   
studied them for years--ten or twelve   
years intimately--in elementary schools4
 ,i know for a surety1 if ,i have       
acquired any knowledge1 that the child  
is a 'child of ,god' rather than a      
',child of wrath'2 and here before you  
,i proclaim that to connect in any      
child's mind the ,book of ,joshua with  
the ,gospels1 to make its ,jehovah      
identical in that young mind with the   
,father of ,mercy of whom ,jesus was the
 ,son1 to confuse1 as we do in any      
school in this land between #i4e and    
#i4de a4m41 that bloodthirsty tribal    
deity whom the ,hohenzollern family     
invokes with the true ,god the ,father1 
is a blasphemous usage1 and a curse4    
,but let me get away to milder heresies4
 ,if you will concede for a moment that 

the better way with a child is to draw  
out1 to educate1 rather than to repress1
 what is in him1 let us observe what he 
instinctively wants4 ,now first1 of     
course1 he wants to eat and drink1 and  
to run about4 ,when he passes beyond    
these merely animal desires to what we  
may call the instinct of growth in his  
soul1 how does he proceed8 ,i think ,mr 
,holmes1 whom ,i have already quoted1   
very fairly sets out these desires as   
any grown-up person can perceive them4  
,the child desires    7#a7 to talk and  
to listen2   7#b7 to act 7in the        
dramatic sense of the word72   7#c7 to  
draw1 paint and model2   7#d7 to dance  
and sing2   7#e7 to know the why of     
things   7#f7 to construct things4  ,now
 ,i shall have something to say by and  
by on the amazing preponderance in this 
list of those instincts which ,aristotle
 would have called mimetic4 ,this       
morning ,i take only the least imitative
 of all1 the desire to know the why of  
things4  ,surely you know1 taking only  

this1 that the master-key admitting a   
child to all1 or almost all1 palaces of 
knowledge is his ability to read4 ,when 
he has grasped that key of his          
mother-tongue he can with perseverance  
unlock all doors to all the avenues of  
knowledge4 ,more--he has the passport to
 heavens unguessed4  ,you will perceive 
at once that what ,i mean here by       
'reading' is the capacity for silent    
reading1 taking a book apart and        
mastering it2 and you will bear in mind 
the wonder that ,i preached to you in a 
previous lecture--that great literature 
never condescends1 that what yonder boy 
in a corner reads of a king is happening
 to him4 ,do you suppose that in an     
elementary school one child in ten reads
 thus8 ,listen to a wise ex-inspector1  
whose words ,i can corroborate of       
experience3    ,the first thing that    
strikes the visitor who enters an       
ordinary elementary school while a      
reading lesson is in   progress is that 
the children are not reading at all1 in 

the   accepted sense of the word4 ,they 
are not reading to   themselves1 not    
studying1 not mastering the contents of 
the   book1 not assimilating the mental 
and spiritual nutriment that   it may be
 supposed to contain4 ,they are standing
 up one by   one and reading aloud to   
their teacher4  ,ah6 but ,i have seen   
far worse than that4 ,i have visited and
 condemned rural schools where the      
practice was to stand a class up--- say 
a class of thirty children--and make    
them read in unison3 which meant1 of    
course1 that the front row chanted out  
the lesson while the back rows made     
inarticulate noises4 ,i well remember   
one such exhibition1 in a remote country
 school on the ,cornish hills1 and      
having my attention arrested midway by  
the face of a girl in the third row4    
,she was a strikingly beautiful child1  
with that combination of bright auburn1 
almost flaming1 hair with dark eyebrows1
 dark eyelashes1 dark eyes1 which of    
itself arrests your gaze1 being so rare2

 and those eyes seemed to challenge me  
half scornfully and ask1 ',are you      
really taken in by all this8' ,well1 ,i 
soon stopped the performance and        
required each child to read separately3 
whereupon it turned out that1 in the    
upper standards of this school of #gj or
 #hj children1 one only-- this          
disdainful girl--could get through half 
a dozen easy sentences with credit4 ,she
 read well and intelligently1 being     
accustomed to read to herself1 at home4 
,i daresay that this bad old method of  
block-reading is dead by this time4     
,reading aloud and separately is        
excellent for several purposes4 ,it     
tests capacity3 it teaches correct      
pronunciation by practice1 as well as   
the mastery of difficult words3 it      
provides a good teacher with frequent   
opportunities of helping the child to   
understand what he reads4  ,but as his  
schooling proceeds he should be         
accustomed more and more to read to     
himself3 for that1 ,i repeat1 is the    

master-key4     ,,lecture ,,iv          
,,children',s ,,reading 7,,ii7          
,,wednesday1 ,,february #ba1 #aiag   ,i 
,in our talk1 ,gentlemen1 about         
,children's ,reading we left off upon a 
list1 drawn up by ,mr ,holmes in his    
book ',what ,is1 and ,what ,might ,be1' 
of the things that1 apart from physical 
nourishment and exercise1 a child       
instinctively desires4  ,he desires     
7#a7 to talk and to listen2   7#b7 to   
act 7in the dramatic sense of the word72
   7#c7 to draw1 paint and model2   7#d7
 to dance and sing2   7#e7 to know the  
why of things2   7#f7 to construct      
things4  ,let us scan through this      
catalogue briefly1 in its order4  ,no4  
7#a74 ,to talk and to listen--,mr       
,holmes calls this the communicative    
instinct4 ,every child wants to talk    
with those about him1 or at any rate    
with his chosen ones--his parents1      
brothers1 sisters1 nurse1 governess1    
gardener1 boot-boy 7if he possess these 
last7--with other children1 even if his 

dear papa is poor3 to tell them what he 
has been doing1 seeing1 feeling3 and to 
listen to what they have to tell him4   
,nos4 7#b71 7#c71 7#d74 ,to act--our    
author calls this the 'dramatic         
instinct'3 to draw1 paint and           
model--this the 'artistic instinct'--to 
dance and sing--this the 'musical       
instinct4' ,but obviously all these are 
what ,aristotle would call 'mimetic'    
instincts3 'imitative' 7in a sense ,i   
shall presently explain72 even as ,no4  
7#b7--;acting--like ,no4 7#a7--talking  
and listening--comes of craving for     
sympathy4 ,in fact1 as we go on1 you    
will see that these instincts overlap   
and are not strictly separable1 though  
we separate them just now for           
convenience4  ,no4 7#e74 ,to know the   
why of things--the 'inquisitive         
instinct4' ,this1 being the one which   
gives most trouble to parents1 parsons1 
governesses1 conventional               
schoolmasters--to all grown-up persons  
who pretend to know what they don't and 

are ashamed to tell what they do--is of 
course the most ruthlessly repressed4   
',the time is come1' the ,infant said1  
',to talk of many things3   ,of babies1 
storks and cabbages   ,and--  --having  
studied the ,evangelists' ,window facing
 the family pew--    ,and whether cows  
have wings4'  ,the answer1 in my        
experience1 is invariably stern1 and 'in
 the negative'3 in tolerant moments     
compromising on ',wait1 like a good boy1
 and see4'  ,but we singled out this    
instinct and discussed it in our last   
lecture4  ,no4 7#f74 ,to construct      
things--the 'constructive instinct4' ,i 
quote ,mr ,holmes here3    ,after       
analysis comes synthesis4 ,the child    
pulls his toys   to pieces in order that
 he may1 if possible1 reconstruct       
them4 ,the ends that he sets before     
himself are those which   ,comte ,set   
before the human race--savoir pour      
prvoir1 afin   de pouvoir3 induire pour 
dduire1 afin de construire4 ,the        
desire to make things1 to build things  

up1 to control ways   and means1 to     
master the resources of nature1 to put  
his   knowledge of her laws and facts to
 practical use1 is strong in   his soul4
 ,give him a box of bricks1 and he will 
spend hours   in building and rebuilding
 houses1 churches4444 ,set him on a     
sandy shore with a spade and a pail1 and
 he will spend hours   in constructing  
fortified castles with deep encircling  
moats4  ,again obviously this           
constructive instinct overlaps with the 
imitative ones4 ,construction1 for      
example1 enters into the art of making  
mud-pies and has also been applied in   
the past to great poetry4 ,if you don't 
keep a sharp eye in directing this      
instinct1 it may conceivably end in an  
,othello or in a ,divina ,commedia4     
,,ii  ,without preaching on any of the  
others1 however1 ,i take three of the   
six instincts scheduled by ,mr          
,holmes--the three which you will allow 
to be almost purely imitative4  ,they   
are3    ,acting1   ,drawing1 painting1  

modelling1   ,dancing and singing4  ,now
 let us turn to the very first page of  
,aristotle's ,poetics1 and what do we   
read8    ,epic poetry and ,tragedy1     
,comedy also and dithyrambic poetry1    
and the greater part of the music of the
 flute and of the   lyre1 are all1 in   
general1 modes of imitation4444    ,for 
as their are persons who represent a    
number of things   by colours and       
drawings1 and others vocally1 so it is  
with   the arts above mentioned4 ,they  
all imitate by rhythm1   language1      
harmony1 singly or combined4  ,even     
dancing 7he goes on7    imitates        
character1 emotion and action1 by       
rhythmical   movement4  ,now1 having    
touched on mud-pies1 let me say a few   
words upon these aesthetic imitative    
instincts of acting1 dancing1 singing   
before ,i follow ,aristotle into his    
explanation of the origin of ,poetry1   
which ,i think we may agree to be the   
highest subject of our ,art of ,reading 
and to hold promise of its highest      

reward4  ,every wise mother sings or    
croons to her child and dances him on   
her knee4 ,she does so by sure instinct1
 long before the small body can respond 
or his eyes--always blue at first and   
unfathomably aged--return her any       
answer4 ,it lulls him into the long     
spells of sleep so necessary for his    
first growth4 ,by and by1 when he has   
found his legs1 he begins to skip1 and  
even before he has found articulate     
speech1 to croon for himself4 ,pass a   
stage1 and you find him importing       
speech1 drama1 dance1 incantation1 into 
his games with his playmates4 ,watch a  
cluster of children as they enact ,here 
we go gathering nuts in ,may-- eloquent 
line3 it is just what they are          
doing6--or ,here come three ,dukes      
a-riding1 or ,fetch a pail of water1 or 
,sally1 ,sally ,waters3    ,sally1      
,sally ,waters1   ,sitting in the sand1 
,rise1 ,sally--rise1 ,sally1   ,for a   
young man4  ,suitor presented1 accepted 
,i have noted1 by the way1 that this    

game is more popular with girls than    
with boys2 wedding ceremony hastily     
performed--so hastily1 it were more     
descriptive to say 'taken for           
granted'--within the circle2 the        
dancers1 who join hands and resume the  
measure1 chanting    ,now you are       
married1 we wish you joy--   ,first a   
girl and then a boy  --the order1 ,i    
suspect1 dictated by exigencies of rhyme
 rather than of ,eugenics1 as ,dryden   
confessed that a rhyme had often helped 
him to a thought4 ,and yet ,i don't     
know2 for the incantation goes on to    
redress the balance in a way that looks 
scientific3    ,ten years after1 son and
 daughter1   ,and now--  ,practically6  
,and now1 ,miss ,sally1 come out of the 
water4  ,the players end by supplying   
the applause which1 in these days of    
division of labour1 is commonly left to 
the audience4  ,,iii  ,well1 there you  
have it all3 acting1 singing1 dancing1  
choral movement--enlisted ancillary to  
the domestic drama3 and1 when you start 

collecting evidence of these imitative  
instincts blent in childhood the mass   
will soon amaze you and leave you no    
room to be surprised that many learned  
scholars1 on the supposition that       
uncivilised man is a child more or      
less--and at least so much of child that
 one can argue through children's       
practice to his--have found the         
historical origin of ,poetry itself in  
these primitive performances3 'communal 
poetry' as they call it4 ,i propose to  
discuss with you 7may be neat term7 in a
 lecture not belonging to this 'course' 
the likelihood that what we call        
specifically 'the ,ballad1' or ',ballad 
,poetry1' originated thus4 ,here is a   
wider question4 ,did all ,poetry develop
 out of this1 historically1 as a process
 in time and in fact8 ,these scholars   
7among whom ,i will instance one of the 
most learned--,dr ,gummere7 hold that it
 did3 and ,i may take a passage from ,dr
 ,gummere's ,beginnings of ,poetry 7p4  
#ie7 to show you how they call in the   

practice of savage races to support     
their theory4 ,the ,botocudos of ,south 
,america are-- according to ,dr ,paul   
,ehrenreich who has observed them#a--;an
 ungentlemanly tribe1 'very low in the  
social scale4'    ,the ,botocudos are   
little better than a leaderless horde1  
and   pay scant respect to their        
chieftain2 they live only for their     
immediate bodily needs1 and take small  
thought for the   morrow1 still less for
 the past4 ,no traditions1 no legends1  
are   abroad to tell them of their      
forbears4 ,they still use gestures   to 
express feeling and ideas2 while the    
number of words which   imitate a given 
sound is extraordinarily great' ,an     
action or   an object is named by       
imitating the sound peculiar to it2 and 
sounds are doubled to express greater   
intensity4444 ,to speak is   a2 to speak
 loudly or to sing1 is a-a4 ,and now for
 their   aesthetic life1 their song1    
dance1 poetry1 as described by this     
accurate observer4 ',on festal occasions

 the whole horde meets   by night round 
the camp fire for a dance4 ,men and     
women   alternating 444 form a circle2  
each dancer lays his arms about   the   
necks of his two neighbours1 and the    
entire ring begins to   turn to the     
right or to the left1 while all the     
dancers stamp   strongly and in rhythm  
the foot that is advanced1 and drag     
after it the other foot4 ,now with      
drooping heads they press   closer and  
closer together2 now they widen the     
circle4   ,throughout the dance resounds
 a monotonous song to which   they stamp
 their feet4 ,often one can hear nothing
 but a   continually repeated kalan     
aha6444,again1 however1 short           
improvised songs1 in which we are told  
the doings of the day1   the reasons for
 rejoicing1 what not1 as ,good hunting1 
or ,now   we have something to eat1 or  
,brandy is good4'  ',as to the aesthetic
 value' of these ,south ,american       
utterances1 ,dr ,gummere asks in a      
footnote1 'how far is it inferior to the

 sonorous commonplaces of our own       
verse--say ,the ,psalm of ,life8' ,i    
really cannot answer that question4     
,which do you prefer1                   
,gentlemen8--',life is real1 life is    
earnest1' or ',now we have something to 
eat'8 ,i must leave you to settle it    
with the ,food ,controller4  ,the       
,professor goes on3    ',now and then1  
too1 an individual begins a song1 and is
   answered by the rest in chorus4444   
,they never sing without   dancing1     
never dance without singing1 and have   
but one word   to express both song and 
dance4'    ,as the unprejudiced reader  
sees ,dr ,gummere proceeds   this clear 
and admirable account confirms the      
doctrine of   early days revived with   
fresh ethnological evidence in the      
writings of ,dr ,brown and of ,adam     
,smith1 that dance1 poetry   and song   
were once a single and inseparable      
function1 and is   in itself fatal to   
the idea of rhythmic prose1 of solitary 
recitation1 as foundations of poetry4444

 ,all poetry is   communal1 holding fast
 to the rhythm of consent as to the     
one sure fact4  ,,iv  ,now ,i should    
tell you1 ,gentlemen1 that ,i hold such 
utterances as this last--whatever you   
may think of the utterances of the      
,botocudos--to be exorbitant3 that ,i   
distrust all attempts to build up 7say7 
,paradise ,lost historically from the   
yells and capers of recondite savages4  
',life is real1 life is earnest' may be 
no better aesthetically 7,i myself think
 it a little better7 than ',now we have 
something to eat' ',brandy is good' may 
rival ,pindar's ,greek3 ,arioton men    
udor1 and indeed puts what it contains  
of truth with more of finality1 less of 
provocation 7though ,pindar at once     
follows up ,greek3 ,arioton men udor    
with exquisite poetry73 but you         
cannot--truly you cannot--exhibit the   
steps which lead up from ',brandy is    
good' to such lines as       ,thus with 
the year   ,seasons return2 but not to  
me returns   ,day1 or the sweet approach

 of even or morn1   ,or sight of vernal 
bloom1 or summer's rose1   ,or flocks1  
or herds1 or human face divine4  ,i bend
 over the learned page pensively1 and ,i
 seem to see a ,botocudo                
,professor--though not high 'in the     
social scale1' they may have such       
things--visiting ,cambridge on the last 
night of the ,lent races and reporting  
of its inhabitants as follows3    ,they 
pay scant heed to their chiefs3 they    
live only for their   immediate bodily  
needs1 and take small thought for the   
morrow4 ,on festal occasions the whole  
horde meets by night   round the camp   
fire for a dance4 ,each dancer lays his 
arms   about the necks of his two       
neighbours1 stamping strongly   with one
 foot and dragging the other after it4  
,now with   drooping heads they press   
closer and closer together2 now   they  
widen the circle4 ,often one can hear   
nothing but a   continually repeated    
kalan aha1 or again one hears short     
improvised songs in which we are told   

the doings of the day1   the reasons for
 rejoicing1 what not1 as ',good         
hunting1' ',good   old--'naming a tribal
 ,god1 or in former times ',now we shall
   be but a short while1' or ',woemma6' 
,now and then1 too1 an   individual     
begins a song and is answered by the    
rest in   chorus--such as       ,for he 
is an estimable person      ,beyond     
possibility of gainsaying4    ,the      
chorus twice repeats this and           
asseverates that they   are following a 
custom common to the flotilla1 the      
expeditionary force1 and even their rude
 seats of learning4  ,and ,dr ,gummere1 
or somebody else1 comments3 ',as the    
unprejudiced reader will see1 this clear
 and admirable account confirms our     
hypothesis that in communal celebration 
we have at once the origin and model of 
three poems1 ,the ,faerie ,queene1      
,paradise ,lost and ,in ,memoriam1      
recorded as having been composed by     
members of this very tribe4'  ,although 
we have been talking of instincts1 we   

are not concerned here with the steps by
 which the child1 or the savage1        
following an instinct attains to write  
poetry2 but1 more modestly1 with the    
instinct by which the child likes it1   
and the way in which he can be best     
encouraged to read and improve this     
natural liking4 ,nor are we even        
concerned here to define ,poetry4 ,it   
suffices our present purpose to consider
 ,poetry as the sort of thing the poets 
write4  ,but obviously if we find a     
philosopher discussing poetry without   
any reference to children1 and          
independently basing it upon the very   
same imitative instincts which we have  
noted in children1 we have some promise 
of being on the right track4  ,v  ,so ,i
 return to ,aristotle4 ,aristotle 7,i   
shall in fairness say7 does not         
anticipate ,dr ,gummere1 to contradict  
or refute him2 he may even be held to   
support him incidentally4 ,but he sticks
 to business1 and this is what he says  
7,poetics1 ,c4 ,,iv73    ,poetry in     

general seems to have sprung from two   
causes1 and   these natural causes4     
,first the instinct to imitate is       
implanted in man from his childhood1 and
 in this he differs   from other        
animals1 being the most imitative of    
them all4 ,man   gets his first learning
 through imitation1 and all men delight 
in seeing things imitated4 ,this is     
clearly shown by   experience4444    ,to
 imitate1 then1 being instinctive in our
 nature1 so too   we have an instinct   
for harmony and rhythm1 metre being     
manifestly a species of rhythm3 and man1
 being born to these   instincts and    
little by little improving them1 out of 
his early   improvisations created      
,poetry4  ,combining these two          
instincts1 with him1 we arrive at       
harmonious imitation4 ,well and good4   
,but what is it we imitate in poetry8-- 
noble things or mean things8 ,after     
considering this1 putting mean things   
aside as unworthy1 and voting for the   
nobler--which must at the same time be  

true1 since without truth there can be  
no real nobility--,aristotle has to ask 
,in what way true8 ,true to ordinary    
life1 with its observed defeats of the  
right by the wrong8 or true1 as again   
instinct tells good men it should be1   
universally8' ,so he arrives at his     
conclusion that a true thing is not     
necessarily truth of fact in a world    
where truth in fact is so often belied  
or made meaningless--not the record that
 ,alcibiades went somewhere and suffered
 something--but truth to the ,universal1
 the superior demand of our conscience4 
,in such a way only we know that ,the   
,tempest or ,paradise ,lost or ,the     
,ancient ,mariner or ,prometheus        
,unbound can be truer than any police   
report4 ,yet we know that they are truer
 in essence1 and in significance1 since 
they appeal to eternal verities--since  
they imitate the ,universal--whereas the
 police report chronicles 7faithfully1  
as in duty bound1 even usefully in its  
way7 events which may1 nay must1 be     

significant somehow but cannot at best  
be better to us than phenomena1 broken  
ends and shards4  ,,vi  ,i return to the
 child4 ,clearly in obeying the instinct
 which ,i have tried to illustrate1 he  
is searching to realise himself2 and1 as
 educators1 we ought to help this       
effort--or1 at least1 not to hinder it4 
,further1 if we agree with ,aristotle1  
in this searching to realise himself    
through imitation1 what will the child  
most nobly and naturally imitate8 ,he   
will imitate what ,aristotle calls 'the 
,universal1' the superior demand4 ,and  
does not this bring us back to consent  
with what ,i have been preaching from   
the start in this course--that to       
realise ourselves in ,what ,is not only 
in degree transcends mere knowledge and 
activity1 ,what ,knows and ,what ,does1 
but transcends it in kind8 ,it is not   
only what the child unconsciously longs 
for3 it is that for which 7in ,st       
,paul's words7 'the whole creation      
groaneth and travaileth in pain together

 until now'2 craving for this 7,i make  
you the admission7 as emotionally1 as   
the heart may be thrilled1 the breast   
surge1 the eyes swell with tears1 at a  
note drawn from the violin3 feeling that
 somewhere1 beyond reach1 we have a lost
 sister1 and she speaks to our soul4    
,,vii  ,who1 that has been a child1 has 
not felt this surprise of beauty1 the   
revelation1 the call of it8       ,the  
sounding cataract      ,haunted me like 
a passion 444  --yes1 or a rainbow on   
the spray against a cliff2 or a vista of
 lawns between descending woods2 or a   
vision of fish moving in a pool under   
the hazel's shadow8 ,who has not felt   
the small surcharged heart labouring    
with desire to express it8  ,i preach to
 you that the base of all ,literature1  
of all ,poetry1 of all ,theology1 is    
one1 and stands on one rock3 the very   
highest ,universal ,truth is something  
so simple that a child may understand   
it4 ,this1 surely1 was in ,jesus' mind  
when he said ,i thank thee1 ,o ,father1 

,lord of heaven and earth1 because thou 
hast hid these things from the wise and 
prudent1 and hast revealed them unto    
babes4'  ,for as the ,universe is one1  
so the individual human souls1 that     
apprehend it1 have no varying values    
intrinsically1 but one equal value4     
,they vary but in power to apprehend1   
and this may be more easily hindered    
than helped by the conceit begotten of  
finite knowledge4 ,i shall even dare to 
quote of this ,universal ,truth1 the    
words ,i once hardily put into the mouth
 of ,john ,wesley concerning divine     
,love3 ',i see now that if ,god's love  
reach up to every star and down to every
 poor soul on earth1 it must be vastly  
simple2 so simple that all dwellers on  
,earth may be assured of it--as all who 
have eyes may be assured of the planet  
shining yonder at the end of the        
street--and so vast that all bargaining 
is below it1 and they may inherit it    
without considering their deserts4' ,i  
believe this to be strictly and equally 

true of the appeal which ,poetry makes  
to each of us1 child or man1 in his     
degree4 ,as ,johnson said of ,gray's    
,elegy1 it 'abounds with images which   
find a mirror in every mind1 and with   
sentiments to which every bosom returns 
an echo4' ,it exalts us through the best
 of us1 by telling us something new yet 
not strange1 something that we          
recognise1 something that we too have   
known1 or surmised1 but had never the   
delivering speech to tell4 ',there is a 
pleasure in poetic pains1' says         
,wordsworth3 but1 ,gentlemen1 if you    
have never felt the travail1 yet you    
have still to understand the bliss of   
deliverance4  ,,viii  ,if1 then1 you    
consent with me thus far in theory1 let 
us now drive at practice4 ,you have 7we 
will say7 a class of thirty or forty in 
front of you4 ,we will assume that they 
know a-b1 ab1 can at least spell out    
their words4 ,you will choose a passage 
for them1 and you will not 7if you are  
wise7 choose a passage from ,paradise   

,lost3 your knowledge telling you that  
,paradise ,lost was written1 late in his
 life1 by a great virtuoso1 and older   
men 7of whom ,i1 sad to say1 am one7    
assuring you that to taste the ,milton  
of ,paradise ,lost a man must have      
passed his thirtieth year4 ,you take the
 early ,milton3 you read out this1 for  
instance1 from ,l',allegro3    ,haste   
thee1 ,nymph1 and bring with thee       
,jest and youthful ,jollity1   ,quips1  
and ,cranks1 and wanton wiles1   ,nods  
and ,becks1 and wreathed ,smiles   ,such
 as hang on ,hebe's cheek1   ,and love  
to live in dimple sleek2   ,sport that  
wrinkled ,care derides1   ,and ,laughter
 holding both his sides4444  ,go on3    
just read it to them4 ,they won't know  
who ,hebe was1 but you can tell them    
later4 ,the metre is taking hold of them
 7in my experience the metre of         
,l',allegro can be relied upon to grip  
children7 and anyway they can see       
,laughter holding both his sides'3 they 
recognise it as if they saw the picture4

 ,go on steadily3    ,come1 and trip it 
as ye go1   ,on the light fantastick    
toe2   ,and in thy right hand lead with 
thee   ,the ,mountain ,nymph1 sweet     
,liberty2   ,and1 if ,i give thee honour
 due1   ,mirth1 admit me of thy crew--  
,do not pause and explain what a ,nymph 
is1 or why ,liberty is the ',mountain   
,nymph'6 ,go on reading3 the ,prince has
 always to break through briers to kiss 
the ,sleeping ,beauty awake4 ,go on with
 the incantation1 calling him1          
persuading him1 that he is the ,prince  
and she is worth it4 ,go on reading--   
,mirth1 admit me of thy crew1   ,to live
 with her1 and live with thee1   ,in    
unreprovd pleasures free2   ,to hear the
 lark begin his flight1   ,and singing  
startle the dull night1   ,from his     
watch-towre in the skies1   ,till the   
dappled dawn doth rise4  ,at this       
point--still as you read without        
stopping to explain1 the child certainly
 feels that he is being led to          
something4 ,he knows the lark3 but the  

lark's 'watch-towre'--he had never      
thought of that3 and 'the dappled       
dawn'-yes that's just it1 now he comes  
to think3    ,then to come1 in spite of 
sorrow1   ,and at my window bid         
good-morrow1   ,through the sweet-briar 
or the vine   ,or the twisted eglantine2
   ,while the cock with lively din      
,scatters the rear of ,darkness thin2   
,and to the stack1 or the barn door1    
,stoutly struts his dames before3   ,oft
 listening how the hounds and horn      
,cheerily rouse the slumbering ,morn1   
,from the side of some hoar hill1       
,through the high wood echoing shrill3  
,sometime walking1 not unseen1   ,by    
hedgerow elms on hillocks green1        
,right against the eastern gate1        
,where the great sun begins his state1  
,robed in flames and amber light1   ,the
 clouds in thousand liveries dight2     
,while the ploughman1 near at hand1     
,whistles o'er the furrow'd land1   ,and
 the milkmaid singeth blithe1   ,and the
 mower whets his sithe1   ,and every    

shepherd tells his tale   ,under the    
hawthorn in the dale4  ,don't stop 7,i  
say7 to explain that ,hebe was 7for     
once7 the legitimate daughter of ,zeus  
and1 as such1 had the privilege to draw 
wine for the gods4 ,don't even stop1    
just yet1 to explain who the gods were4 
,don't discourse on amber1 otherwise    
ambergris2 don't explain that 'gris' in 
this connexion doesn't mean 'grease'2   
don't trace it through the ,arabic into 
,noah's ,ark2 don't prove its electrical
 properties by tearing up paper into    
little bits and attracting them with the
 mouth-piece of your pipe rubbed on your
 sleeve4 ,don't insist philologically   
that when every shepherd 'tells his     
tale' he is not relating an anecdote but
 simply keeping tally of his flock4     
,just go on reading1 as well as you can2
 and be sure that when the children get 
the thrill of it1 for which you wait1   
they will be asking more questions1 and 
pertinent ones1 than you are able to    
answer4  ,,ix  ,this advice1 to be sure1

 presupposes of the teacher himself some
 capacity of reading aloud1 and reading 
aloud is not taught in our schools4 ,in 
our ,elementary ,schools1 in which few  
of the pupils contemplate being called  
to ,holy ,orders or to the ,bar1 it is  
practised1 indeed1 but seldom taught as 
an art4 ,in our ,secondary and ,public  
,schools it is neither taught nor       
practised3 as ,i know to my cost--and   
you1 to yours1 ,gentlemen1 on whom ,i   
have had to practise4  ,but let the     
teacher take courage4 ,first let him    
read a passage 'at the long breath'--as 
the ,french say--aloud1 and persuasively
 as he can4 ,now and then he may pause  
to indicate some particular beauty1     
repeating the line before he proceeds4  
,but he should be sparing of these      
interruptions4 ,when ,laughter1 for     
example1 is already 'holding both his   
sides' it cannot be less than officious1
 a work of supererogation1 to stop and  
hold them for him2 and he who obeys the 
counsel of perfection will read straight

 to the end and then recur to particular
 beauties4 ,next let him put up a child 
to continue with the tale1 and another  
and another1 just as in a construing    
class4 ,while the boy is reading1 the   
teacher should never interrupt3 he      
should wait1 and return afterwards upon 
a line that has been slurred or wrongly 
emphasised4 ,when the children have done
 reading he should invite questions on  
any point they have found puzzling3 it  
is with the operation of poetry on their
 minds that his main business lies4     
,lastly1 he may run back over           
significant points they have missed4    
',and is that all the method8'-,yes1    
that is all the method4 ',so simple as  
that8'-,yes1 even so simple as that1 and
 7,i claim7 even so wise1 seeing that it
 just lets the author--,chaucer or      
,shakespeare or ,milton or              
,coleridge--have his own way with the   
young plant--just lets them drop 'like  
the gentle rain from heaven1' and soak  
in4    ,the moving ,moon went up the    

sky1   ,and no where did abide3         
,softly she was going up1   ,and a star 
or two beside4  ,do you really want to  
chat about that8 ,cannot you trust it8  
,the stars were dim1 and thick the      
night1   ,the steersman's face by his   
lamp gleamed white2   ,from the sails   
the dew did drip--   ,till clomb above  
the eastern bar   ,the hornd ,moon1 with
 one bright star   ,within the nether   
tip4  ,must you tell them that for the  
,moon to hold a star anywhere within her
 circumference is an astronomical       
impossibility8 ,very well1 then2 tell   
it4 ,but tell it afterwards1 and put it 
away quietly4 ,for the quality of       
,poetry is not strained4 ,let the rain  
soak2 then use your hoe1 and gently2 and
 still trust ,nature2 by which1 ,i again
 repeat to you1 all spirit attracts all 
spirit as inevitably as all matter      
attracts all matter4  ',strained4' ,i am
 glad that memory flew just here to the 
word of ,portia's3 for it carries me on 
to a wise page of ,dr ,corson's1 and a  

passage in which1 protesting against the
 philologers who cram our children's    
handbooks with irrelevant information   
that but obscures what ,chaucer or      
,shakespeare mean1 he breaks out in     
,chaucer's own words3       ,thise      
cookes1 how they stampe1 and streyne1   
and grynde1      ,and turnen substaunce 
into accident6  7,yes1 and make the     
accident the substance67--as he insists 
that the true subject of literary study 
is the author's meaning2 and the true   
method a surrender of the mind to that  
meaning1 with what ,wordsworth calls 'a 
wise passiveness'3    ,the eye--it      
cannot choose but see2   ,we cannot bid 
the ear be still2   ,our bodies feel1   
where'er they be1   ,against or with our
 will4    ,nor less ,i deem that there  
are ,powers   ,which of themselves our  
minds impress2   ,that we can feed this 
mind of ours   ,in a wise passiveness4  
,think you1 'mid all this mighty sum    
,of things for ever speaking1   ,that   
nothing of itself will come1   ,but we  

must still be seeking8  ,x  ,i have been
 talking to-day about children2 and find
 that most of the while ,i have been    
thinking1 if but subconsciously1 of poor
 children4 ,now1 at the end1 you may ask
 ',why1 lecturing here at ,cambridge1 is
 he preoccupied with poor children who  
leave school at fourteen and under1 and 
thereafter read no poetry8'444,oh1 yes6 
,i know all about these children and the
 hopeless1 wicked waste2 these with a   
common living-room to read in1 a father 
tired after his day's work1 and 7for    
parental encouragement7 just the two    
words ',get out6' ,a ,scots domine      
writes in his log3    ,i have discovered
 a girl with a sense of humour4 ,i asked
 my   qualifying class to draw a graph  
of the attendance at a village   kirk4  
',and you must explain away any rise or 
fall1' ,i said4    ,margaret ,steel had 
a huge drop one ,sunday1 and her        
explanation   was ',special ,collection 
for ,missions4' ,next ,sunday the       
,congregation was abnormally large3     

,margaret wrote ',change of             
,minister4'444 ,poor ,margaret6 ,when   
she is fourteen1 she will go   out into 
the fields1 and in three years she will 
be an ignorant   country bumpkin4  ,and 
again3    ,robert ,campbell 7a favourite
 pupil7 left the school to-day4 ,he     
had reached the age-limit4444 ,truly it 
is like death3 ,i stand   by a new made 
grave1 and ,i have no hope of a         
resurrection4   ,robert is dead4        
,precisely because ,i have lived on     
close terms with this1 and the wicked   
waste of it1 ,i appeal to you who are so
 much more fortunate than this ,robert  
or this ,margaret and will have far more
 to say in the world1 to think of       
them--how many they are4 ,i am not      
sentimentalising4 ,when an ,elementary  
,schoolmaster spreads himself and tells 
me he looks upon every child entering   
his school as a potential ,lord         
,chancellor1 ,i answer that1 as ,i      
expect1 so ,i should hope1 to die before
 seeing the world a ,woolsack4 ,jack    

cannot ordinarily be as good as his     
master2 if he were1 he would be a great 
deal better4 ,you have given ,robert a  
vote1 however1 and soon you will have to
 give it to ,margaret4 ,can you not give
 them also1 in their short years at     
school1 something to sustain their souls
 in the long ,valley of ,humiliation8   
,do you remember this passage in ,the   
,pilgrim's ,progress--as the pilgrims   
passed down that valley8    ,now as they
 were going along and talking1 they     
espied a   ,boy feeding his ,father's   
,sheep4 ,the ,boy was in very mean      
,cloaths1 but of a very fresh and       
well-favoured   ,countenance1 and as he 
sate by himself he ,sung4 ,hark1 said   
,mr ,greatheart1 to what the ,shepherd's
 ,boy saith4  ,well1 it was a very      
pretty song1 about ,contentment4        
,he that is down need fear no fall      
,he that is low1 no ,pride3      ,he    
that is humble ever shall      ,have    
,god to be his ,guide4  ,but ,i care    
less for its subject than for the song4 

,though life condemn him to live it     
through in the ,valley of ,humiliation1 
,i want to hear the ,shepherd ,boy      
singing4    ,footnote #a3 ,the reference
 given is ,zeitschr4 f4 ,ethnologie1    
,,xix4 #cj ff4     ,,lecture ,v  ,,on   
,,reading ,,for ,,examinations          
,,wednesday1 ,,may #i1 #aiag   ,i  ,you1
 ,gentlemen1 who so far have followed   
with patience this course of lectures1  
advertised1 maybe too ambitiously1 as   
',on the ,art of ,reading1' will recall 
to your memory1 when ,i challenge it    
across the intervals of ,vacation1 that 
three propositions have been pretty     
steadily held before you4  ,the first3  
7bear me out7 that1 man's life being of 
the length it is1 and his activities    
multifarious as they are1 out of the    
mass of printed matter already loaded   
and still being shot upon this planet1  
he must make selection4 ,there is no    
other way4  ,the second3 that--the time 
and opportunity being so brief1 the mass
 so enormous1 and the selection         

therefore so difficult--he should select
 the books that are best for him1 and   
take them absolutely1 not frittering his
 time upon books written about and      
around the best3 that--in their order1  
of course--the primary masterpieces     
shall come first1 and the secondary     
second1 and so on2 and mere chat about  
any of them last of all4  ,my third     
proposition 7perhaps more discutable7   
has been that1 the human soul's         
activities being separated1 so far as we
 can separate them1 into ,what ,does1   
,what ,knows1 ,what ,is--to be          
such-and-such a man ranks higher than   
either knowing or doing this1 that1 or  
the other3 that it transcends all man's 
activity upon phenomena1 even a         
,napoleon's3 all his housed store of    
knowledge1 though it be a ,casaubon's or
 a ,mark ,pattison's3 that only by      
learning to be can we understand or     
reach1 as we have an instinct to reach1 
to our right place in the scheme of     
things3 and that1 any way1 all the      

greatest literature commands this       
instinct4 ,to be ,hamlet--to feel       
yourself ,hamlet--is more important than
 killing a king or even knowing all     
there is to be known about a text4 ,now 
most of us have been ,hamlet1 more or   
less3 while few of us1 ,i trust1 have   
ever murdered a monarch3 and still      
fewer1 perhaps1 can hope to know all    
that is to be known of the text of the  
play4 ,but for value1 ,gentlemen1 let us
 not rank these three achievements by   
order of their rarity4 ,shakespeare     
means us to feel--to be--,hamlet4 ,that 
is all3 and from the play it is the best
 we can get4  ,,ii  ,now in talking to  
you1 last term1 about children ,i had   
perforce to lay stress on the point     
that1 with all this glut of literature1 
the mass of children in our commonwealth
 who leave school at fourteen go forth  
starving4  ,but you are happier4 ,you   
are happier1 not in having your         
selection of reading in ,english done   
for you at school 7for you have in the  

,public ,schools scarce any such help73 
but happier 7#a7 because the time of    
learning is so largely prolonged1 and   
7#b7 because this most difficult office 
of sorting out from the mass what you   
should read as most profitable has been 
tentatively performed for you by us     
older men for your relief4 ,for example1
 those of you-'if any1' as the          
,regulations say--who will1 a week or   
two hence1 be sitting for ,section ,a of
 the ,medieval and ,modern ,languages   
,tripos1 have been spared1 all along1   
the laborious business of choosing what 
you should read or read with particular 
attention for the good of your souls4   
,is ,chaucer your author8 ,then you will
 have read 7or ought to have read7 ,the 
,parlement of ,fowls1 the ,prologue to  
,the ,canterbury ,tales1 ,the ,knight's 
,tale1 ,the ,man of ,law's ,tale1 ,the  
,nun ,priest's ,tale1 ,the ,doctor's    
,tale1 ,the ,pardoner's ,tale with its  
,prologue1 ,the ,friar's ,tale4 ,you    
were not dissuaded from reading         

,troilus2 you were not forbidden to read
 all the ,canterbury ,tales1 even the   
naughtiest2 but the works that ,i have  
mentioned have been 'prescribed' for    
you4 ,so1 of ,shakespeare1 we do not    
discourage you 7at all events1          
intentionally7 from reading ,macbeth1   
,othello1 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,the      
,tempest1 any play you wish4 ,in other  
years we 'set' each of these in its     
turn4 ,but for this ,year of ,grace we  
insist upon ,king ,john1 ,the ,merchant 
of ,venice1 ,king ,henry ,,iv1 ,part ,i1
 ,much ,ado about ,nothing1 ,hamlet1    
,king ,lear1 'certain specified         
works'--and so on1 with other courses of
 study4 ,why is this done8 ,be fair to  
us1 ,gentlemen4 ,we do it not only to   
accommodate the burden to your backs1 to
 avoid overtaxing one-and-a-half or two 
years of study2 not merely to guide you 
that you do not dissipate your reading1 
that you shall --with us1 at any        
rate--know where you are4 ,we do it     
chiefly1 and honestly--you likewise     

being honest--to give you each year1 in 
each prescribed course1 a sound nucleus 
of knowledge1 out of which1 later1 your 
minds can reach to more4 ,we are not1 in
 the last instance1 praiseworthy or     
blameworthy for your range4 ,i think1   
perhaps1 too little of a man's range in 
his short while here between 7say7      
nineteen and twenty-two4 ,for anything  
,i care1 the kernel may be as small as  
you please4 ,to plant it wholesome1 for 
a while to tend it wholesome1 then to   
show it the sky and that it is wide--not
 a hot-house1 nor a brassy cupola over a
 man1 but an atmosphere shining up      
league on league2 to reach the moment of
 saying ',all this now is yours1 if you 
have the perseverance as ,i have taught 
you the power1 coelum nactus es1 hoc    
exorna'3 this1 even in our present      
,tripos1 we endeavour to do4  ,,iii     
,all very well4 ,but1 as ,elizabeth     
,barrett ,browning asked1       ,do ye  
hear the children weeping1 ,o my        
brothers8  ',yes1' ,i hear you          

ingeminate2 'but what about             
,examinations8 ,we thank you1 sirs1 for 
thus relieving and guiding us3 we       
acknowledge your excellent intentions4  
,but in practice you hang up a          
bachelor's gown and hood on a pole1 and 
right under and just in front of it you 
set the examination-barrier4 ,for this  
in practice we run during three years or
 so1 and to this all the time you are   
exhorting1 directing us--whether you    
mean it or not1 though we suspect that  
you cannot help yourselves4' ,yes2 and1 
as labouring swimmers will turn their   
eyes even to a little boat in the       
offing1 ,i hear you pant ',this man at  
all events--always so insistent that    
good literature teaches ,what ,is rather
 than ,what ,knows--will bring word that
 we may float on our backs1 bathe1 enjoy
 these waters and be refreshed1 instead 
of striving through them competitive for
 a goal4 ,he must condemn literary      
examinations1 nine-tenths of which treat
 ,literature as matter of ,knowledge    

merely4'  ,,iv  ,i am sorry1 ,gentlemen3
 ,i cannot bring you so much of comfort 
as all that4 ,i have a love of the past 
which1 because it goes down to the      
roots1 has sometimes been called        
,radicalism3 ,i could never consent with
 ,bacon's gibe at antiquity as pessimum 
augurium1 and ,examinations have a very 
respectable antiquity4 ,indeed no       
,university to my knowledge has ever    
been able in the long run to do without 
them3 and although certain              
,colleges--,king's ,college here1 and   
,new ,college at ,oxford--for long      
persevered in the attempt1 the result   
was not altogether happy1 and in the end
 they have consigned with custom4  ,of  
course ,universities have experimented  
with the process4 ,let me give you two  
or three ancient examples1 which may    
help you to see 7to vary ,wordsworth7   
that though 'the ,form decays1 the      
function never dies4'  7#a7 ,i begin    
with most ancient ,bologna1 famous for  
,civil ,law4 ,at ,bologna the process of

 graduation--of admission to the jus    
docendi1 'right to teach'--consisted of 
two parts1 the ,private ,examination and
 the ,public 7conventus73    ,the       
private ,examination was the real test  
of   competence1 the so-called public   
,examination being in   practice a mere 
ceremony4 ,before admission to each of  
these   tests the candidate was         
presented by the ,consiliarius of his   
,nation to the ,rector for permission to
 enter it1 and swore   that he had      
complied with all the statutable        
conditions1 that   he would give no more
 than the statutable fees or            
entertainments to the ,rector himself1  
the ,doctor1 or his   fellow-students1  
and that he would obey the ,rector4     
,within a   period of eight days before 
the ,examination the candidate   was    
presented by 'his own' ,doctor or by    
some other ,doctor   or by two ,doctors 
to the ,archdeacon1 the presenting      
,doctor   being required to have        
satisfied himself by private            

examination of his presentee's fitness4 
,early on the morning   of the          
,examination1 after attending a ,mass of
 the ,holy   ,ghost1 the candidate      
appeared before the assembled ,college  
and was assigned by one of the ,doctors 
present two passages   7puncta7 in the  
,civil or ,canon ,law as the case might 
be4 ,he   then retired to his house to  
study the passages1 in doing which   it 
would appear that he had the assistance 
of the presenting   ,doctor4 ,later in  
the day the ,doctors were summoned to   
the   ,cathedral1 or some other public  
building1 by the ,archdeacon1   who     
presided over but took no active part in
 the ensuing   examination4 ,the        
candidate was then introduced to the    
,archdeacon and ,doctors by the         
presenting ,doctor or ,promotor   as he 
was styled4 ,the ,prior of the ,college 
then administered a   number of oaths in
 which the candidate promised respect to
   that body and solemnly renounced all 
the rights of which the   ,college had  

succeeded in robbing all ,doctors of    
other ,colleges   not included in its   
ranks4 ,the candidate then gave a       
lecture or   exposition of the two      
prepared passages3 after which he was   
examined upon them by two of the        
,doctors appointed by the   ,college4   
,other ,doctors might ask supplementary 
questions of   ,law 7which they were    
required to swear that they had not     
previously communicated to the          
candidate7 arising more   indirectly out
 of the passages selected1 or might     
suggest   objections to the answers4    
,with a tender regard for the   feelings
 of their comrades at this 'rigorous and
 tremendous   ,examination' 7as they    
style it7 the ,statutes required the    
,examiner to treat the examinee as his  
own son4  ,but1 knowing what we do of   
parental discipline in the ,middle      
,ages1 we need not take this to enjoin a
 weak excess of leniency4    ,the       
,examination concluded1 the votes of the
 ,doctors present   were taken by ballot

 and the candidate's fate determined by 
the   majority1 the decision being      
announced by the ,archdeacon4  7#b7 ,let
 us pass to the great and famous        
,university of ,paris4 ,at ,paris    ,in
 #abge1 if not earlier1 a preliminary   
test 7or ',responsions'7   was          
instituted to ascertain the fitness of  
those who wanted to   take part in the  
public performance4 ,at these           
',responsions'   which took place in the
 ,december before the ,lent in which the
   candidate was to determine1 he had to
 dispute in ,grammar and   ,logic with a
 ,master4 ,if this test was passed in a 
satisfactory   manner1 the candidate was
 admitted to the ,examen                
,baccalariandorum1 ,examination for the 
,baccalaureate1 which   was conducted by
 a board of ,examiners appointed by each
 ,nation   for its own candidates4 ,the 
duty of the ,examiners was twofold1     
firstly to ascertain by inspecting the  
schedules given by   his ,masters that  
the candidate had completed the         

necessary   residence and attended      
,lectures in the prescribed subjects1   
and   secondly to examine him in the    
contents of his books4 ,if he   passed  
this ,examination1 he was admitted to   
determine4    ,determination was a great
 day in the student's ,university       
life4 ,it retained much of its primitive
 character of a   student's festivity4  
,it was not1 it would seem1 till the    
middle   of the fifteenth century that  
the student's ,master was required   to 
be officially present at it4 ,the       
,speech-day of a ,public   ,school if   
combined with considerably more than the
 license of   the ,oxford ,encaenia or  
degree day here in ,may week would      
perhaps be the nearest modern equivalent
 of these medieval   exhibitions of     
rising talent4 ,every effort was made to
 attract   to the ,schools as large an  
audience as possible1 not merely of     
,masters or fellow-students1 but if     
possible of ecclesiastical   dignitaries
 and other distinguished persons4 ,the  

friends of a   ,determiner who was not  
successful in drawing a more            
distinguished audience1 would run out   
into the streets and   forcibly drag    
chance passers-by into the ,school4     
,wine was   provided at the             
,determiner's expense in the ,schools3  
and the   day ended in a feast given in 
imitation of the ,master's              
,inception-banquets1 even if dancing or 
torch-light processions   were forborne 
in deference to authority4  ,i may add  
here in parenthesis that the            
thirstiness1 always so remarkable in the
 medieval man whether it make him       
strange to you or help to ingratiate him
 as a human brother1 seems to have      
followed him even into the ,tripos4 ',it
 was not only after a ,university       
exercise1' says the historian           
7,rashdall1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #fhg71 'but  
during its progress that the need of    
refreshment was apt to be felt4444 ,many
 ,statutes allude--some by way of       
prohibition1 but not always--to the     

custom of providing wine for the        
,examiners or ,temptator good word      
before1 during1 or after the            
,examination4 ,at ,heidelberg the ,dean 
of the ,faculty might order in drinks1  
the candidate not4 ,at ,leipsic the     
candidate is forbidden to treat facere  
propinam the ,examiners before the      
,examination3 which seems sound4 ,at    
,vienna 7medical school7 he is required 
to spend a florin pro confectionibus4'  
,v  ,now when we come to ,england--that 
is1 to ,oxford and ,cambridge1 which    
ever had queer ways of their own--we    
find1 strange to say1 for centuries no  
evidence at all of any kind of          
examination4 ,as for competitive        
examinations like the defunct           
,mathematical and ,classical ,triposes  
here--with ,senior ,wranglers1 ,wooden  
,spoons and what lay between--of all    
,european ,universities1 ,louvain alone 
used the system and may have invented   
it4 ,at ,louvain the candidates for the 
,mastership were placed in three        

classes1 in each of which the names were
 arranged in order of merit4 ,the first 
class were styled ,rigorosi             
7,honour-men71 the second ,transibiles  
7,pass-men71 the third ,gratiosi        
7,charity-passes72 while a fourth class1
 not publicly announced1 contained the  
names of those who could not be passed  
on any terms4 ',si autem 7quod absit671'
 says the ,statute1 'aliqui inveniantur 
refutabiles1 erant de quarto ordine4'   
',these competitive examinations'--,i   
proceed in the historian's              
words--'contributed largely to raise    
,louvain to the high position as a place
 of learning and education which it     
retained before the ,universities were  
roused from their #aeth century torpor  
by the revival of ,learning4' ,pope     
,adrian ,,vi was one of its famous      
,primuses1 and ,jansen another4 ,the    
,college which produced a ,primus       
enjoyed three days' holiday1 during     
which its bell was rung continuously day
 and night4  ,at ,oxford and ,cambridge 

7,i repeat7 we find in their early days 
no trace of any examination at all4 ,to 
be sure--and as perhaps you know--the   
first archives of this ,university were 
burned in the ',town and ,gown' riots of
 #acha by the ,townsmen1 whose          
descendants ,erasmus describes genially 
as 'combining the utmost rusticity with 
the utmost malevolence4' ,but no student
 will doubt that ,cambridge used pretty 
much the same system as ,oxford1 and the
 system was this3--,when a candidate    
presented himself before the ,chancellor
 for a ,license in ,arts1 he had to     
swear that he had heard certain books#a1
 and nine ,regent ,masters 7besides his 
own ,master1 who presented him7 were    
required to depose to their knowledge   
7de scientia7 of his sufficiency3 and   
five others to their credence 7de       
credulitate71 says the ,statute4 ,only  
in the ,school of ,theology was no room 
allowed to credulity3 there all the     
,masters had to depose 'of their        
knowledge1' and one black ball excluded4

  ,,vi  ,well1 you may urge that this   
method has a good deal to be said for   
it4 ,i will go some way to meet you too3
 but first you must pay me the          
compliment of supposing me a just man4  
,being a just man1 and there also being 
presumed in me some acquaintance with   
,english ,literature--not indeed        
much--not necessarily much--but enough  
to distinguish good writing from bad or1
 at any rate1 real writing from sham1   
and at least to have an inkling of what 
these poets and prose-writers were      
trying to do--why then ,i declare to you
 that1 after two years' reading with a  
man and talk with him about literature1 
,i should have a far better sense of his
 industry1 of his capacity1 of his      
performance and 7better7 of his promise1
 than any examination is likely to yield
 me4 ,in short ,i could sign him up for 
a first1 second or third class1 or as   
refutabilis1 with more accuracy and     
confidence than ,i could derive from    
taking him as a stranger and pondering  

his three or four days' performance in a
 ,tripos4 ,for some of the best men     
mature slowly3 and some1 if not most1 of
 the best writers write slowly because  
they have a conscience2 and the most    
original minds are just those for whom1 
in a literary examination1 it is hardest
 to set a paper4  ,but the process 7you 
will admit7 might be invidious1 might   
lend itself to misunderstanding1 might  
conceivably even lead to re-imposition  
of an oath forbidding the use of a knife
 or other sharp implement4 ,and among   
,colleges rivalry is not altogether     
unknown2 and dons1 if unlike other men  
in outward aspect1 sometimes resemble   
them in frailty2 and in short ,i am     
afraid we shall have to stick to the old
 system for a while longer4 ,i am sorry1
 ,gentlemen3 but you see how it works4  
,,vii  ,yet--and ,i admit it--the main  
objection abides3 that1 while           
,literature deals with ,what ,is rather 
than with ,what ,knows1 ,examinations by
 their very nature test mere ,knowledge 

rather than anything else3 that in the  
hands of a second-rate examiner they    
tend to test knowledge alone1 or what   
passes for knowledge3 and that in the   
very run of this world most examiners   
will be second-rate men3 which1 if we   
remind ourselves that they receive the  
pay of fifth-rate ones is1 after all1   
considerably better than we have a right
 to expect4  ,we are dealing1 mind you1 
with ,english ,literature--our own      
literature4 ,in examining upon a foreign
 literature we can artfully lay our     
stress upon ,knowledge and yet neither  
raise nor risk raising the fatal        
questions ',what is it all about8'      
',what is it1 and why is it it8'-since  
merely to translate literally a chorus  
of the ,agamemnon1 or an ode of         
,pindar's1 or a passage from ,dante or  
,molire is a creditable performance2 to 
translate either well is a considerable 
feat2 and to translate either perfectly 
is what you can't do1 and the examiner  
knows you can't do1 and you know the    

examiner can't do1 and the examiner     
knows you know he can't do4 ,but when we
 come to a fine thing in our own        
language--to a stanza from ,shelley's   
,adonais for instance3    ,he has       
outsoared the shadow of our night2      
,envy and calumny and hate and pain1    
,and that unrest which men miscall      
delight1   ,can touch him not and       
torture not again2   ,from the contagion
 of the world's slow stain   ,he is     
secure1 and now can never mourn   ,a    
heart grown cold1 a head grown gray in  
vain2   ,nor1 when the spirit's self has
 ceased to burn1   ,with sparkless ashes
 load an unlamented urn4  what can you  
do with that8 ,how can you examine on   
that8 ,well1 yes1 you can request the   
candidate1 to ',write a short note on   
the word calumny above1' or ask ',from  
what is it derived8' ',what does he know
 of ,blackwood's ,magazine8' ',can he   
quote any parallel allusion in ,byron8' 
,you can ask all that3 but you are not  
getting within measurable distance of   

it4 ,your mind is not even moving on the
 right plane4 ,or let me turn back to   
some light and artless ,elizabethan     
thing--say to the ,oenone duet in       
,peele's ,arraignment of ,paris3        
,oenone4    ,fair and fair and twice so 
fair1                       ,as fair as 
any may be3                     ,the    
fairest shepherd on our green1          
,a love for any lady4        ,paris     
,fair and fair and twice so fair1       
,as fair as any may be3                 
,thy love is fair for thee alone1       
,and for no other lady4        ,oenone4 
,my love is fair1 my love is gay1       
,as fresh as bin the flowers in ,may1   
,and of my love my roundelay1           
,my merry merry merry roundelay         
,concludes with ,cupid's curse3         
,they that do change old love for new1  
,pray gods they change for worse4444    
,my love can pipe1 my love can sing1    
,my love can many a pretty thing1       
,and of his lovely praises ring         
,my merry merry merry roundelays        

',amen' to ,cupid's curse3              
,they that do change old love for new   
,pray gods they change for worse4       
,ambo4      ,fair and fair and twice so 
fair1                       ,as fair as 
any may be3                     ,the    
fairest shepherd on our green1          
,a love for any lady4444  ,how can      
anyone examine on that8 ,how can anyone 
solemnly explain1 in a hurry1 answering 
one of five or six questions selected   
from a three hours' paper1 just why and 
how that hits him8 ,and yet1 if it hit  
him not1 he is lost4 ,if even so simple 
a thing as that--a thing of silly       
sooth--do not hit him1 he is all unfit  
to traffic with literature4  ,,viii     
,you see how delicate a business it is4 
,examination in ,literature1 being by   
its very nature so closely tied down to 
be a test of ,knowledge1 can hardly1    
save when used by genius1 with care1 be 
any final test of that which is better  
than ,knowledge1 of that which is the   
crown of all scholarship1 of            

understanding4  ,but do not therefore   
lose heart1 even in your reading for    
strict purposes of examination4 ,our    
talk is of reading4 ,let me fetch you   
some comfort from the sister and        
correlative1 but harder1 art of writing4
  ,i most potently believe that the very
 best writing1 in verse or in prose1 can
 only be produced in moments of high    
excitement1 or rather 7as ,i should put 
it7 in those moments of still and solemn
 awe into which a noble excitement lifts
 a man4 ,let me speak only of prose1 of 
which you may more cautiously allow this
 than of verse4 ,i think of ,st ,paul's 
glorious passage1 as rendered in the    
,authorised ,version1 concluding the    
#aeth chapter of his ,first ,epistle to 
the ,corinthians4 ,first1 as you know1  
comes the long1 swaying1 scholastic1    
somewhat sophisticated argument about   
the evidence of resurrection2 about the 
corn1 'that which thou sowest1' the     
vivification1 the change in             
vivification1 and the rest4 ,all this1  

almost purely argumentative1 should be  
read quietly1 with none of the bravura  
which your prize reader lavishes on it4 
,the argument works up quietly--at once 
tensely and sinuously1 but very         
quietly--to conviction4 ,then comes the 
hush2 and then the authoritative voice  
speaking out of it1 awful and slow1     
',behold1 ,i shew you a mystery' 444 and
 then1 all the latent emotion of faith  
taking hold and lifting the man on its  
surge1 ',for the trumpet shall sound1   
and the dead shall be raised            
incorruptible' 444 and so1 incorruption 
tolling down corruption1 the trumpet    
smashes death underfoot in victory3     
until out of the midst of tumult1 sounds
 the recall2 sober1 measured1 claiming  
the purified heart back to discipline4  
',therefore1 my beloved brethren1 be ye 
stedfast1 unmoveable1 always abounding  
in the work of the ,lord1 forasmuch as  
ye know that your labour is not in vain 
in the ,lord4'  ,i think of that        
triumphant passage4 ,i think of the     

sentences with which ,isaak ,walton ends
 his life of ,donne4 ,i think of the    
last pages of ,motley's ,dutch          
,republic1 with its eulogy on ,william  
the ,silent so exquisitely closing3     
,as long as he lived1 he was the        
guiding-star of a whole brave   nation1 
and when he died the little children    
cried in the   streets4  ,i think of two
 great prose passages in ,thackeray's   
,esmond2 of ,landor's ,dream of         
,boccaccio 444 and so on3 and ,i am sure
 that1 in prose or in verse1 the best   
that man can utter flows from him either
 in moments of high mental excitement or
 in the hush of that ,altitudo to which 
high excitement lifts him4  ,but1 first 
now1 observe how all these passages--and
 they are the first ,i call to          
mind--rise like crests on a large bulk  
of a wave --,st ,paul's on a labouring  
argument about immortality2 ,motley's at
 the conclusion of a heavy task4 ,long  
campaigning brings the reward of ,harry 
,esmond's return to ,castlewood1 long   

intrigue of the author's mind with his  
characters closes that febrile chapter  
in which ,harry walks home to break the 
news of the death of the ,duke of       
,hamilton--in the early morning through 
,kensington1 where the newsboys are     
already shouting it3    ,the world was  
going to its business again1 although   
dukes   lay dead and ladies mourned for 
them4444 ,so day and night pass   away1 
and to-morrow comes1 and our place knows
 us not4   ,esmond thought of the       
courier now galloping on the north      
road to inform him1 who was ,earl of    
,arran yesterday1 that he   was ,duke of
 ,hamilton to-day1 and of a thousand    
great   schemes1 hopes1 ambitions1 that 
were alive in the gallant   heart1      
beating but a few hours since1 and now  
in a little dust   quiescent4  ,and on  
top of this let me assure you that in   
writing1 or learning to write1 solid    
daily practice is the prescription and  
'waiting upon inspiration' a lure4      
,these crests only rise on the back of  

constant labour4 ,nine days1 according  
to ,homer1 ,leto travailed with ,apollo3
 but he was ,apollo1 lord of ,song4 ,i  
know this to be true of ordinary talent3
 but1 supposing you all to be geniuses1 
,i am almost as sure that it holds of   
genius4 ,listen to this3    ,napoleon ,i
 used to say that battles were won by   
the sudden   flashing of an idea through
 the brain of a commander at a   certain
 critical instant4 ,the capacity for    
generating this   sudden electric spark 
was military genius4444 ,napoleon seems 
always to have counted upon it1 always  
to have believed that   when the        
critical moment arrived the wild        
confusion of the   battlefield would be 
illuminated for him by that burst of    
sudden flame4 ,but if ,napoleon had been
 ignorant of the   prosaic business of  
his profession1 to which he attended    
more   closely than any other commander1
 would these moments of   supreme       
clearness have availed him1 or would    
they have come   to him at all8  ,my    

author thinks not3 and ,i am sure he is 
right4 ,so1 in writing1 only out of long
 preparation can come the truly         
triumphant flash3 and ,i ask you to push
 this analogy further1 into the business
 of reading1 even of reading for        
examination4 ,you learn to discipline   
yourselves1 you acquire the art of      
marshalling1 of concentrating1 driving  
your knowledge upon a point3 and--for   
you are young--that point is by no means
 the final point4 ,say that it is only  
an examination1 and silly at that4      
,still you have been learning the art1  
you have been training yourself to be1  
for a better purpose1 effective4  ,,ix  
,yet1 and when this has been granted1   
the crucial question abides and ,i must 
not shirk it 'you say that the highest  
literature deals with ,what ,is rather  
than with ,what ,knows4 ,it is all very 
fine to assure us that testing our      
knowledge about ,literature and around  
,literature1 and on this side or that   
side of ,literature1 is healthy for us  

in some oblique way3 but can you        
examiners examine1 or can you not1 on   
,literature in what you call its own and
 proper category of ,what ,is8'  ,so ,i 
hear the question--the question which   
beats and has beaten1 over and over     
again1 good men trying to construct     
,schools of ,english in our             
,universities4  ,with all sense of a    
responsibility1 of a difficulty1 that   
has lain on my mind for these five      
years1 ,i answer1 ,gentlemen1 ',yes1 we 
ought3 yes1 we can3 and yes1 we will4'  
,but1 for the achievement1 we teachers  
must first know how to teach4 ,when that
 is learned1 ,examination will come as a
 consequent1 easy1 almost trivial       
matter4 ,i will1 for example-- having   
already allowed how hard it is to       
examine on literature --take the        
difficulty at its very extreme4 ,i will 
select a piece of poetry1 and the poet  
shall be ,keats--on whom1 if on any one1
 is felt the temptation to write gush   
and loose aesthetic chatter4 ,a pupil   

comes to read with me1 and ,i open at   
the famous ,ode to a ,grecian ,urn4     
7#a7 ,we read it through together1      
perhaps twice2 at the second attempt    
getting the emphasis right1 and some1 at
 any rate1 of the modulations of voice4 
,so we reach a working idea of the ,ode 
and what ,keats meant it to be4  7#b7   
,we then compare it with his other      
,odes1 and observe that it is 7a7       
regular in stanza form1 7b7 in spite of 
its outburst in the #crd stanza--',more 
happy love6 more happy1 happy love'     
etc4-- much severer in tone than1 e4g41 
the ,ode to a ,nightingale or the ,ode  
to ,psyche1 7c7 that the emotion is not 
luscious1 but simple1 7d7 that this     
simplicity is ,hellenic1 so far as      
,keats can compass it1 and 7e7 eminently
 well-suited to its subject1 which is a 
carven urn1 gracious but severe of      
outline2 a moment of joy caught by the  
sculptor and arrested1 for time to      
perpetuate2 yet --and this is the point 
of the ,ode--conveying a sense that     

innocent gaiety is not only its own     
excuse1 but of human things one of the  
few eternal--and eternal just because it
 is joyous and fleeting4  7#c7 ,then we 
go back and compare this kind of quiet  
immortal beauty with the passionate     
immortality hymned in the ,nightingale  
,ode       ,thou wast not born for      
death1 immortal ,bird6      ,no hungry  
generations tread thee down444  with all
 the rest of that supreme stanza3 from  
which 7with some passages my reading    
supplies to illustrate the difference7  
we fall to contrasting the vibrating    
thrill of the ,nightingale with the     
happy grace of the ,grecian ,urn and1   
allowing each to be appropriate1 dispute
 for a while1 perhaps1 over the merits  
of classical calm and romantic thrill4  
7#d7 ,from this we proceed to examine   
the ,ode in detail line by line3 which  
examination brings up a whole crowd of  
questions1 such as  7a7 ,we have a      
thought enounced in the first stanza4   
,does the ,ode go on to develop and     

amplify it1 as an ,ode should8 ,or does 
,pegasus come down again and again on   
the prints from which he took off8 ,if  
he do this1 and the action of the ,ode  
be dead and unprogressive1 is the defect
 covered by beauty of language8 ,can    
such defect ever be so covered8  7b7    
,lines #ae and #af anticipate lines     
#ba-bd1 which are saying the same thing 
and getting no forwarder4  7c7 ,we come 
to the lines       ,what little town by 
river or sea shore1        ,or          
mountain-built with peaceful citadel1   
,is emptied of this folk1 this pious    
morn8  with the answering lines         
,and1 little town1 thy streets for      
evermore        ,will silent be2 and not
 a soul to tell      ,why thou art      
desolate1 can e'er return4  and we note 
,sir ,sidney ,colvin's suggestion that  
this breaks in upon an arrest of art as 
though it were an arrest on reality3 and
 remember that he raised a somewhat     
similar question over ,the ,nightingale2
 and comparing them1 discuss truth of   

emotion against truth of reality4  ,we  
come to the last stanza and lament ',o  
,attic shape6 ,fair attitude' for its   
jingle3 but note how the poet recovers  
himself and brings the whole to a grand 
close4  ,i have1 even yet1 mentioned but
 a few of the points4 ,for one1 ,i have 
omitted its most beautiful vowel-play1  
on which teacher and pupil can dwell and
 learn together4 ,and heaven forbid that
 as a teacher ,i should insist even on  
half of those ,i have indicated4 ,a     
teacher1 as ,i hold1 should watch for   
what his pupil divines of his own       
accord2 but if1 trafficking with works  
of inspiration1 he have no gift to catch
 that inspiration nor power to pass it  
on1 then ,i say ',heaven help him6 but  
he has no valid right on earth to be in 
the business4'  ,and if a teacher have  
all these chances of teaching--mind you1
 of accurate teaching--supplied him by a
 single ,ode of ,keats1 do you suppose  
we cannot set in an ,examination paper  
one intelligent question upon it1 in its

 own lawful category8  ,gentlemen1 with 
the most scrupulous tenderness for aged 
and even decrepit interests1 we have    
been trying to liberate you from certain
 old bad superstitions and silently     
laying the stones of a new ,school of   
,english1 which we believe to be worthy 
even of ,cambridge4  ,our proposals are 
before the ,university4 ,should they be 
passed1 still everything will depend on 
the loyalty of its teachers to the idea2
 and on that enthusiasm which ,i suppose
 to be the nurse of all studies and know
 to be the authentic cherishing nurse of
 ours4 ,we may even have conceded too   
much to the letter1 but we have built   
and built our trust on the spirit 'which
 maketh alive4'   ,footnote #a3 ,why had
 he to swear this under pain of         
excommunication1 when the lecturer could
 so easily keep a roll-call8 ,but the   
amount of oathtaking in a medieval      
,university was prodigious4 ,even       
,college servants were put on oath for  
their duties3 ,gyps invited their own   

damnation1 bed-makers kissed the book4  
,abroad1 where examinations were held1  
the ,examiner swore not to take a bribe1
 the ,candidate neither to give one1    
nor1 if unsuccessful1 to take his       
vengeance on the ,examiner with a knife 
or other sharp instrument4 ,at ,new     
,college1 ,oxford1 the matriculating    
undergraduate was required to swear in  
particular not to dance in the ,college 
,chapel4     ,,lecture ,,vi  ,,on ,a    
,,school ,,of ,,english  ,,wednesday1   
,,october #ag1 #aiag   ,i  ,it is now1  
,gentlemen1 five years less a term      
since1 feeling 7as they say of other    
offenders7 my position acutely1 ,i had  
the honour of reading an ,inaugural     
before this ,university and the         
impudence to loose1 in the course of it1
 a light shaft against a phrase in the  
very ,ordinance defining the duties of  
this ,chair4  ',it shall be the duty of 
the ,professor1' says the ,ordinance1   
'to deliver courses of lectures on      
,english ,literature from the age of    

,chaucer onwards1 and otherwise to      
promote1 so far as may be in his power1 
the study in the ,university of the     
subject of ,english ,literature4'  ,that
 was the phrase at which ,i             
glanced--'the subject of ,english       
,literature'2 and ,i propose that we    
start to-day1 for reasons that will     
appear1 by subjecting this subject to   
some examination4  ,,ii  ',the ,subject 
of ,english ,literature4' ,surely--for a
 start--there is no such thing2 or      
rather1 may we not say that everything  
is1 has been or can be1 a subject of    
,english ,literature8 ,man's loss of    
,paradise has been a subject of ,english
 ,literature1 and so has been a ,copper 
,coinage in ,ireland1 and so has been   
,roast ,sucking-pig1 and so has been    
,holy ,dying1 and so has been ,mr       
,pepys's somewhat unholy living1 and so 
have been ,ecclesiastical ,polity1 ,the 
,grail1 ,angling for ,chub1 ,the ,wealth
 of ,nations1 ,the ,sublime and the     
,beautiful1 ,the ,decline and ,fall of  

the ,roman ,empire1 ,prize-,fights1     
,grecian ,urns1 ,modern ,painters1      
,intimations of ,immortality in early   
,childhood1 ,travels with a ,donkey1    
,rural ,rides and ,rejected             
,addresses--all these have been subjects
 of ,english ,literature3 as have been  
human complots and intrigues as wide    
asunder as ,othello and ,the ,school for
 ,scandal2 persons as different as      
,prometheus and ,dr ,johnson1 ,imogen   
and ,moll ,flanders1 ,piers the ,plowman
 and ,mr ,pickwick2 places as different 
as ,utopia and ,cranford1 ,laputa and   
,reading ,gaol4 ,epipsychidion is       
literature3 but so is ,a ,tale of a     
,tub4  ,listen1 for this is literature3 
,if some king of the earth have so large
 an extent of   dominion1 in north1 and 
south1 so that he hath winter and       
summer together in his dominions1 so    
large an extent east and   west as that 
he hath day and night together in his   
dominions1   much more hath ,god mercy  
and judgement together3 ,he   brought   

light out of darkness1 not out of a     
lesser light2 he   can bring thy summer 
out of winter1 though thou have no      
spring2   though in the ways of fortune1
 or understanding1 or   conscience1 thou
 have been benighted till now1 wintered 
and   frozen1 clouded and eclipsed1     
damped and benumbed1   smothered and    
stupefied till now1 now ,god comes to   
thee1   not as in the dawning of the    
day1 not as in the bud of the   spring1 
but as the sun at noon to illustrate all
 shadows1 as   the sheaves in harvest1  
to fill all penuries1 all occasions     
invite his mercies1 and all times are   
his seasons#a4  ,but listen again1 for  
this also is literature3    ,a sweet    
disorder in the dress   ,kindles in     
clothes a wantonness3   ,a lawn about   
the shoulders thrown   ,into a fine     
distraction3   ,an erring lace1 which   
here and there   ,enthrals the crimson  
stomacher3   ,a cuff neglectful1 and    
thereby   ,ribbons to flow confusedly3  
,a winning wave1 deserving note1   ,in  

the tempestuous petticoat3   ,a careless
 shoe-string1 in whose tie   ,i see a   
wild civility3   ,do more bewitch me    
than when art   ,is too precise in every
 part4  ,here again is literature3      
,when ,i was a child1 at seven years    
old1 my friends on a   holiday filled my
 pockets with coppers4 ,i went directly 
to a   shop where they sold toys for    
children2 and being charmed with   the  
sound of a whistle that ,i met by the   
way in the hands of   another boy1 ,i   
voluntarily offered him all my money for
 one4   ,i then came home and went      
whistling all over the house1 much      
pleased with my whistle but disturbing  
all the family4 ,my   brothers and      
sisters and cousins1 understanding the  
bargain ,i   had made1 told me ,i had   
given four times as much for it as it   
was worth 444 ,the reflection gave me   
more chagrin than the   whistle gave me 
pleasure4  ,,benjamin ,,franklin4  ,of a
 bridal1 this is literature3       ,open
 the temple gates unto my love1         

,open them wide that she may enter in6  
,but so also is ,suckling's account of a
 wedding that begins       ,i tell thee1
 ,dick1 where ,i have been4  ,this is   
literature3    ,and a man shall be as an
 hiding place from the wind1 and     a  
covert from the tempest2   ,as rivers of
 water in a dry place1   ,as the shadow 
of a great rock in a weary land4  ,but  
so is this literature3    ,one circle   
cannot touch another circle on the      
outside at   more points than one4      
,for1 if it be possible1 let the circle 
,,ack touch the circle   ,,abc at the   
points ,a1 ,c4 ,join ,,ac4   ,then      
because the two points ,a1 ,c are in the
   circumference of the circle ,,ack the
 line which joins them   falls within   
that circle4   ,but the circle ,,ack is 
without the circle ,,abc4 ,therefore    
the straight line ,,ac is without the   
circle ,,abc4   ,but because the two    
points ,a1 ,c are in the circumference  
of   ,,abc therefore the straight line  
,,ac falls within that circle4   ,which 

is absurd4   ,therefore one circle      
cannot touch another on the outside at  
more points than one4  ,all thoughts1 as
 well as all passions1 all delights     
votum1 timor1 ira1 voluptas--           
whatsoever1 in short1 engages man's     
activity of soul or body1 may be deemed 
the subject of literature and is        
transformed into literature by process  
of recording it in memorable speech4 ,it
 is so1 it has been so1 and ,god forbid 
it should ever not be so6  ,,iii  ,now  
this1 put so1 is 7you will say7 so      
extremely1 obvious that it must needs   
hide a fallacy or at best a quibble on a
 word4 ,i shall try to show that it does
 not3 that it directly opposes plain    
truth to a convention accepted by the   
,ordinance1 and that the fallacy lies in
 that convention4  ,a convention may be 
defined as something which a number of  
men have agreed to accept in lieu of the
 truth and to pass off for the truth    
upon others3 ,i was about to add1       
preferably when they can catch them     

young3 but some recent travel in railway
 trains and listening to the kind of    
stuff men of mature years deliver       
straight out of newspapers for the      
products of their own digested thought  
have persuaded me that the ordinary man 
is as susceptible at fifty1 sixty1 or   
even seventy as at any earlier period of
 growth1 and that the process of        
incubation is scarcely less rapid4  ,i  
am not1 to be sure1 concerned to deny   
that there may be conventions useful    
enough to society1 serving it to        
maintain government1 order1 public and  
private decency1 or the commerce on     
which it must needs rest to be a        
civilised society at all-- commerce of  
food1 commerce of clothing1 and so on1  
up to commerce in knowledge and ideas4  
,government itself--any form of it--is a
 convention2 marriage is a convention2  
money of course is a convention1 and the
 alphabet itself ,i suppose to contain  
as many conventions as all the old      
,courts of ,love and ,laws of ,chivalry 

put together1 and our ,english alphabet 
one tremendous fallacy1 that twenty-six 
letters1 separately or in combination   
are capable of symbolising all the      
sounds produced by an ,englishman's     
organs of speech1 let alone the sounds  
he hears from foreigners1 dogs1 guns1   
steam-engines1 motor-horns and other    
friends and enemies to whom we deny the 
franchise4 ,also of course it ignores   
the whole system of musical             
notes--another convention--which yet    
with many of the older bards could      
hardly be separated from the words they 
used1 though now only the words survive 
and as literature4  ,,iv  ,but every    
convention has a fallacy somewhere at   
the root2 whether it be useful and      
operative1 as many a legal fiction is   
operative1 for good2 or senile1 past    
service yet tyrannous by custom1 and so 
pernicious2 or merely foolish1 as       
certain artistic conventions are        
traceable1 when a ,ruskin comes to      
judgment1 back to nothing better than   

folly3 and it becomes men of honest     
mind1 in dealing with anything          
recognisable as a convention1 to examine
 its accepted fallacy1 whether it be    
well understood or ill understood2      
beneficent or pernicious or merely      
foolish or both foolish and pernicious3 
and this is often most handily done by  
tracing its history4  ,now ,i shall     
assume that the framers of the          
,ordinance regulating the duties of this
 ,chair knew well enough1 of their own  
reading1 that ,english ,literature deals
 with a vast variety of subjects3 and   
that1 if any piece of writing miss to   
deal with its particular subject1 so    
closely that theme and treatment can    
scarcely be separated1 by so much will  
it be faulty as literature4 ,milton is  
fairly possessed with the story of      
,man's fall1 ,boswell possessed with    
,johnson1 ,shelley with hatred of       
tyranny in all its manifestations1 ,mill
 again with the idea of ,liberty3 and it
 is only because we had knowledge       

presented to us at an age when we       
thought more attentively of apples1 that
 we still fail to recognise in ,euclid  
and ,dr ,todhunter two writers who are  
excellent because possessed with a      
passion for ,geometry4  ,i infer1 then1 
that the framers of the ,ordinance1 when
 they employed this phrase 'the study of
 the subject of ,english ,literature1'  
knew well enough that no such thing     
existed in nature1 but adopted the      
convention that ,english ,literature    
could be separated somehow from its     
content and treated as a subject all by 
itself1 for teaching purposes3 and1 for 
purposes of examination1 could be yoked 
up with another subject called ,english 
,language1 as other ,universities had   
yoked it4  ,v  ,i believe the following 
to be a fair account of how these       
examinations in ,english ,language and  
,literature came to pass1 and how a     
certain kind of student came to pass    
these ,examinations4 ,at any rate since 
the small revolution has happened in my 

life-time and most of it since ,i was   
able to observe1 the account here is    
drawn from my own observation and may be
 checked and corrected by yours4        
,thirty-five or forty years ago--say in 
the late seventies or early             
eighties--some preparatory schools1 and 
others that taught older boys but ranked
 below the great ,public ,schools in    
repute1 taught so much of ,english      
,literature as might be comprised1 at a 
rough calculation1 in two or three plays
 of ,shakespeare1 edited by ,clark and  
,aldis ,wright2 a few of ,bacon's       
,essays1 ,milton's early poems1         
,stopford ,brooke's little primer1 a    
book of extracts for committal to       
memory1 with perhaps ,chaucer's         
,prologue and a ,speech of ,burke4 ,in  
the great ,public ,schools no ,english  
,literature was studied1 save in those  
which had invented ',modern ,sides1' to 
prepare boys specially for ,woolwich or 
,sandhurst or the ,indian ,civil        
,service2 for entrance to which         

examinations were held on certain       
prescribed ,english ,classics1 and marks
 mainly given for acquaintance with the 
editors' notes4  ,in the ,universities1 
the study of ,english ,classics was not 
officially recognised at all4  ,let us  
not hastily suppose that this neglect of
 ,english rested wholly on unreason1 or 
had nothing to say for itself4 ,teachers
 and tutors of the old ,classical       
,education 7as it was called7 could     
plead as follows3    ',in the first     
place1' they would say1 ',english       
,literature is   too easy a study4 ,our 
youth1 at ,school or ,university1 starts
   on his native classics with a        
liability which in any foreign          
language he has painfully to acquire4   
,the voices that   murmured around his  
cradle1 the voice of his nurse1 of his  
governess1 of the parson on ,sundays2   
the voices of village   boys1 stablemen1
 gamekeepers and farmers--friendly or   
unfriendly--of callers1 acquaintances1  
of the children he met   at ,children's 

,parties2 the voices that at the        
dinner-table   poured politics or local 
gossip into the little pitcher with     
long ears--all these were ,english      
voices speaking in ,english3   and all  
these were all the while insensibly     
leading him up the   slope from the     
summit of which he can survey the       
promised   land spread at his feet as a 
wide park2 and he holds the key of   the
 gates1 to enter and take possession4   
,whereas1' the old   instructors would  
continue1 'with the classics of any     
foreign   language we take him at the   
foot of the steep ascent1 spread a      
table before him 7mensa1 mensa1 mensam  
4447 and coax or drive   him up with    
variations upon amo1 ,i love or ,greek3 
tupto1   ,i beat1 until he1 too1 reaches
 the summit and beholds the   landscape3
       ,but ,o1 what labour6      ,o    
,prince1 what pain6'  ,now so much of   
truth1 ,gentlemen1 as this plea contains
 was admitted last term by your ,senate1
 in separating the ,english ,tripos1 in 

which a certain linguistic familiarity  
may be not rashly presumed of the       
student1 from the ,foreign ,language    
,triposes1 divided into two parts1 of   
which the first will more suspiciously  
test his capacity to construe the books 
he professes to have studied4 ,i may    
return to this and to the alleged       
easiness of studies in a ,school of     
,english4 ,let us proceed just now with 
the reasoned plea for neglect4  ,these  
admirable old schoolmasters and dons    
would have hesitated1 maybe1 to say     
flatly with ,dogberry that 'to write and
 read comes by nature 444 and for your  
writing and reading1 let that appear    
when there is no need of such vanity4'  
,but in practice their system so worked1
 and in some of the ,public ,schools so 
works to this day4 ,let me tell you that
 just before the war an undergraduate   
came to me from the ,sixth ,form of one 
of the best reputed among these great   
schools4 ,he wished to learn to write4  
,he wished 7poor fellow7 to write me an 

essay1 if ,i would set him a subject4   
,he had never written an essay at       
school4 ',indeed1' said ,i1 'and there  
is no reason why you should1 if by essay
 you mean some little treatise about    
,patriotism or ,a ,day in the ,country4 
,i will choose you no such subject nor  
any other upon any book which you have  
never read4 ,tell me1 what is your      
,tripos8' ,he said 'the ,history        
,tripos4' ',then1' said ,i1 'since      
,history provides quite a large number  
of themes1 choose one and ,i will try to
 correct your treatment of it1 without  
offence to your opinions or prejudice to
 your facts4' ',but1' he confessed1 'at 
,so-and-so'--naming the great ,public   
,school--'we never wrote out an account 
of anything1 or set down our opinions on
 anything1 to be corrected4 ,we just    
construed and did sums3 ,and when he    
brought me his first attempt1 behold1 it
 was so4 ,he could not construct a      
simple sentence1 let alone putting two  
sentences together2 while1 as for a     

paragraph1 it lay beyond his farthest   
horizon4 ,in short1 here was an instance
 ready to hand for any cheap writer     
engaged to decry the old ,classical     
,education4  ,what would the old        
schoolmasters plead in excuse8 ,why     
this1 as ,i suggest--',you cite an      
extreme instance4 ,but1 while granting  
,english ,literature to be great1 we    
would point out that an overwhelming    
majority of our best writers have       
modelled their prose and verse upon the 
,greek and ,roman classics1 either      
directly or through tradition4 ,now we  
have our own language gratis1 so to     
speak4 ,let us spend our pains1 then1 in
 acquiring ,latin and ,greek1 and the   
tradition4 ,so shall we most intimately 
enjoy our own authors2 and so1 if we    
wish to write1 we shall have at hand the
 clues they followed1 the models they   
used4'  ,now ,i have as you know1       
,gentlemen1 a certain sympathy with this
 plea1 or with a part of it3 nor can so 
much of truth as its argument contains  

be silenced by a ',what about           
,shakespeare8' or a ',what about        
,bunyan8' or a ',what about ,burns8' ,i 
believe our imaginary pleader for the   
,classics could put up a stout defence  
upon any of those names4 ,to choose the 
forlornest hope of the three1 ,i can    
hear him demonstrating1 to his own      
satisfaction if not to yours1 that      
,bunyan took his style straight out of  
the ,authorised ,version of our ,bible2 
which is to say that he took it from the
 styles of forty-seven scholars1 plus   
,tyndale's1 plus ,coverdale's1 plus     
,cranmer's--the scholarship of fifty    
scholars expressed and blended4  ,but1  
as a theory1 the strict classical       
argument gives itself away1 as well by  
its intolerance as by its obvious       
distrust of the genius of our own       
wonderful language4 ,i have in these    
five years1 and from this place1        
,gentlemen1 counselled you to seek back 
ever to those ,mediterranean sources    
which are the well-heads of our         

civilisation3 but always 7,i hope7 on   
the understanding that you use them with
 a large liberty4 ,they are effete for  
us unless we add and mingle freely the  
juice of our own natural genius4  ,and  
in practice the strict classical theory1
 with its implied contempt of ,english1 
has been disastrous3 disastrous not only
 with the ordinary man--as with my      
,sixth ,form boy who could not put two  
sentences together1 and had read no     
,english authors2 but disastrous even to
 highly eminent scholars4 ,listen1 pray1
 to this passage from one of them1      
,frederick ,paley1 who condescended     
7,heaven knows why7 to turn the majestic
 verse of ,pindar into ,english ,prose--
  ,from the ,v,i,i,ith ,isthmian3       
,and now that we are returned from great
 sorrows1 let us   not fall into a      
dearth of victories1 nor foster griefs2 
but as   we have ceased from our        
tiresome troubles1 we will publicly     
indulge in a sweet roundelay4  ,from the
 ,i,vth ,pythian3    ,it had been       

divinely predicted to ,pelias1 that he  
should die   by the doughty sons of     
,aeolus and an alarming oracle had come 
to his wary mind1 delivered at the      
central point of tree-clad              
mother-earth1 'that he must by all means
 hold in great caution   the man with   
one shoe1 when he shall have come from a
 homestead   on the hills4'    ,and he  
accordingly came in due time1 armed with
 two spears1   a magnificent man4 ,the  
dress he wore was of a double kind1     
the national costume of the             
,magnesians4444 ,nor as yet had   the   
glossy clusters of his hair been clipped
 away1 but   dangled brightly adown his 
back4    ,forward he went at once and   
took his stand among the   people4444   
,him then they failed to recognise3 but 
some of the   reverent-minded went so   
far as to say1 ',surely this cannot be  
,apollo6'  ,it needs no comment1 ,i     
think4 ,surely this cannot be ,apollo6  
,frederick ,paley flourished--if the    
word be not exorbitant for so demure a  

writer--in the middle of the last       
century 7he was born in the year of     
,waterloo and died in the year after    
,queen ,victoria's first jubilee74      
,well1 in that period there grew up a   
race of pioneers who saw that ,english  
,literature--that proud park and rolling
 estate--lay a tangled1 neglected       
wilderness for its inheritors1 and set  
themselves bravely to clear broad ways  
through it4 ,furnivall and ,skeat1      
,aldis ,wright1 ,clark1 ,grosart1       
,arber1 ,earle1 ,hales1 ,morris1 ,ellis 
and the rest--who can rehearse these    
names now but in deepest respect8 ,oh1  
believe me1 ,gentlemen6 they were       
wonderful fighters in a cause that at   
first seemed hopeless4 ,if ,i presume to
 speak of foibles to-day1 you will      
understand that ,i do so because1       
lightly though ,i may talk to you at    
times1 ,i have a real sense of the      
responsibilities of this ,chair4 ,i     
worship great learning1 which they had3 
,i loathe flippant detraction of what is

 great2 ,i have usually a heart for     
men-against-odds and the unpopular      
cause4 ,but these very valiant fighters 
had1 one and all1 some very obvious     
foibles3 and because1 in the hour of    
success1 these foibles came to infect   
the whole teaching of ,english in this  
country1 and to infect it fatally for   
many years1 ,i shall dare to point them 
out4  ,,vi  7a7 ,to begin with1 then1   
these valiant fighters1 intent on       
pushing their cause to the front1 kept  
no sense of proportion4 ,all their geese
 were swans1 and ,beowulf a second      
,iliad4 ,i think it scarcely too much to
 say that1 of these men1 all so staunch 
in fighting for the claims of ,english  
,literature1 not one 7with the exception
 of ,dr ,hales7 appears to have had any 
critical judgment whatever1 apart from  
the rhyme1 verse and inflectional tests 
on which they bestowed their truly      
priceless industry4 ,criticism1 as      
,sainte-,beuve1 ,matthew ,arnold or     
,pater understood and practised it1 they

 merely misprized4  7b7 ,i think it was 
of true scholarly desire to vindicate   
,english ,literature from the charge of 
being 'too easy1' that--as their studies
 advanced--they laid more and more      
stress on ,middle-,english and ,old     
,english writings than on what our      
nations of ,england and ,scotland have  
written since they learned to write4 ,i 
dare to think also that we may attribute
 to this dread of 'easiness' their      
practice of cumbering simple texts with 
philological notes2 on which1 rather    
than on the text1 we unhappy students   
were carefully examined4 ,for an example
 supplied to ,dr ,corson--,i take those 
three lines of ,cowper's ,task 7,bk ,i1 
#hf-hh73       ,thus first necessity    
invented stools1      ,convenience next 
suggested elbow-chairs1      ,and luxury
 th' accomplish'd ,,sofa last4  ,now in 
these three lines the word              
'accomplish'd' is the only one that     
needs even the smallest explanation4    
',but1' says ,dr ,corson1 'in two       

different editions of ,the ,task in my  
library1 prepared for the use of the    
young1 no explanation is given of it1   
but in both the ,arabic origin of 'sofa'
 is given4 ,in one the question is asked
 what other words in ,english have been 
derived from the ,arabic4'              
7',abracadabra' would be my little      
contribution47  7c7 ,these valiant      
fighters--having to extol what ,europe  
had1 wrongly enough1 forgotten to count 
among valuable things--turned           
aggressively provincial1 parted their   
beards in the ,anglo-,saxon fashion2    
composed long sentences painfully       
innocent of any word not derivable from 
,anglo-,saxon1 sentences in which the   
'impenetrability of matter' became the  
'un-go-throughsomeness of stuff 7but    
that may have happened in a parody71 and
 in general comported themselves like   
the ,anglo-,saxons they claimed for     
their forbears2 rightly enough for      
anything anyone cared1 but wrongly      
enough for the rest of us who had no    

yearning toward that kinship and went on
 spelling ,alfred with an ,a4  7d7 ,they
 were--,i suppose through               
opposition--extremely irascible men2    
like farmers4 ,urbanity was the last    
note in their gamut1 the ,city--urbs    
quam dicunt ,romam--the last of places  
in their ken4 ,there was no engaging    
them in dialectic1 an ,athenian art     
which they frankly despised4 ,if you    
happened to disagree with them1 their   
answer was a sturdy ,anglo-,saxon brick4
 ,if you politely asked your way to     
,puddlehampton1 and to be directed to   
,puddlehampton's main objects of        
interest1 the answer you would get 7see 
,notes and ,queries passim7 would be1   
',who is this that comes out of         
,nowhere1 enquiring for ,puddlehampton1 
unacquainted with ,stubbs8 ,is it       
possible at this time of day that the   
world can contain anyone ignorant of the
 published ,transactions of the         
,wiltshire ,walking ,club1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 
p4 #aei--,puddlehampton1 its ,rise and  

,decline1 with a note on ,vespasian8'   
7e7 ,these pioneers--pushing the        
importance of ,english1 but occupied    
more and more with origins and with bad 
authors1 simply could not see the vital 
truth2 that ,english ,literature is a   
continuing thing1 ten times more alive  
to-day than it was in the times they    
studied and belauded4 ,the last word    
upon them is that not a man of them     
could write prose in the language they  
thrust on our study4 ,to them1 far more 
than to the old classical scholars1     
,english was a shut book3 a large book1 
but closed and clasped1 material to     
heighten a desk for schoolmasters and   
schoolmistresses4  ,but schoolmasters   
and schoolmistresses1 like chickens and 
curses1 come home to roost4 ,once set up
 your plea for a ,tripos of ,english    
,language and ,literature on the lower  
plea that it will provide for what they 
call a 'felt want1' and sooner or later 
you give ,english ,language and         
,literature into their hands1 and then  

you get the fallacy full-flowered into a
 convention4 ,english ,literature       
henceforth is a 'subject1' divorced from
 life3 and what they have made of it1   
let a thousand handbooks and so-called  
histories attest4 ,but this world is not
 a wilderness of class-rooms4 ,english  
,language8 ,they cannot write it1 at all
 events4 ,they do not 7so far as ,i can 
discover7 try to write it4 ,they talk   
and write about it2 how the poor        
deceased thing outgrew infantile        
ailments1 how it was operated on for    
umlaut1 how it parted with its vermiform
 appendix and its inflexions one by one1
 and lost its vowel endings in muted    
e's4       ,and they went and told the  
sexton1      ,and the sexton toll'd the 
bell4  ,but when it comes to writing2 to
 keeping bright the noble weapon of     
,english1 testing its poise and edge1   
feeling the grip1 handing it to their   
pupils with the word1 ',here is the     
sword of your fathers1 that has cloven  
dragons4 ,so use it1 that we who have   

kept it bright may be proud of you1 and 
of our pains1 and of its continuing     
valiance'3--why1 as ,i say1 they do not 
even try4 ,our unprofessional           
forefathers1 when they put pen to paper1
 did attempt ,english prose1 and not    
seldom achieved it4 ,but take up any    
elaborate ,history of ,english          
,literature and read1 and1 as you read1 
ask yourselves1 ',how can one of the    
rarest delights of life be converted    
into this8 ,what has happened to merry  
,chaucer1 rare ,ben ,jonson1 gay ,steele
 and ,prior1 to ,goldsmith1 ,jane       
,austen1 ,charles ,lamb8'       ,all1   
all are gone1 the old familiar faces6   
gone into the professional stock-pot6   
,and the next news is that these cooks1 
of whom ,chaucer wrote prophetically    
,thise cookes1 how they stampe1 and     
streyne1 and grynde1      ,and turnen   
substaunce into accident6  have formed  
themselves into professional            
,associations to protect 'the study of  
the subject of ,english ,literature' and

 bark off any intruder who would teach  
in another way than theirs4  ,,vii  ,but
 ,i say to you that ,literature is not1 
and should not be1 the preserve of any  
priesthood4 ,to write ,english1 so as to
 make ,literature1 may be hard4 ,but    
,english ,literature is not a mystery1  
not a ,professors' ,kitchen4  ,and the  
trouble lies1 not in the harm           
professionising does to schoolmasters   
and schoolmistresses1 but in the harm it
 does 'in widest commonalty spread'     
among men and women who1 as ,literature 
was written for them1 addressed to them1
 ought to find in it1 all their lives   
through1 a retirement from mean         
occupations1 a well of refreshment1     
sustainment in the daily drudgery of    
life1 solace in calamity1 an inmate by  
the hearth1 ever sociable1 never        
intrusive--to be sought and found1 to be
 found and dropped at will3       ,men1 
when their affairs require1      ,must  
themselves at whiles retire2            
,sometimes hunt1 and sometimes hawk1    

,and not ever sit and talk--  to be     
dropped at will and left without any    
answering growl of moroseness2 to be    
consulted again at will and found       
friendly4  ,for this is the trouble of  
professionising ,literature4 ,we exile  
it from the business of life1 in which  
it would ever be at our shoulder1 to    
befriend us4 ,listen1 for example1 to an
 extract from a letter written1 a couple
 of weeks ago1 by somebody in the       
,charity ,commission3    ,sir1   ,with  
reference to previous correspondence in 
this matter1 ,i   am to say that in all 
the circumstances of this case the      
,commissioners are of the opinion that  
it would be desirable   that a public   
enquiry in connection with the ,charity 
should   be held in the locality4  ,and 
the man--very likely an educated        
man--having written that1 very likely   
went home and read ,chaucer1 ,dante1 or 
,shakespeare1 or ,burke for pleasure6   
,that is what happens when you treat    
literature as a 'subject1' separable    

from life and daily practice4  ,,viii   
,i declare to you that ,literature was  
not written for schoolmasters1 nor for  
schoolmistresses4 ,i would not exchange 
it for a wilderness of schoolmasters4   
,it should be delivered from them1 who1 
with their silly ,ablauts and           
'tendencies1' can themselves neither    
read nor write4 ,for the proof8 ,having 
the world's quintessential store of     
mirth and sharp sorrow1 wit1 humour1    
comfort1 farce1 comedy1 tragedy1 satire2
 the glories of our birth and state1    
piled all at their elbows1 only one man 
of the crowd--and he ,m4 ,jusserand1 a  
,frenchman--has contrived to draw out of
 the mass one interesting well-written  
history of the 'subject4'  ,,ix  ,is    
there1 then1 no better way8 ,yes there  
is a better way3 for the ,french have   
it1 with their language and literature4 
,in ,france1 as ,matthew ,arnold noted1 
a generation ago1 the ordinary          
journey-man work of literature is done  
far better and more conscientiously than

 with us4 ,in ,france a man feels it    
almost a personal stain1 an unpatriotic 
lche1 to write even on a police-order   
anything so derogatory to the tradition 
of his language as our ,cabinet         
,ministers read out as answers to our   
,house of ,commons4 ,i am told that many
 a ,maire in a small provincial town in 
,n4,e4 ,france1 even when               
overwhelmed--accabl--with the sufferings
 of his town-folk1 has truly felt the   
iron enter into his soul on being forced
 to sign a document written out for him 
in the invaders' ,french4  ,cannot we   
treat our noble inheritance of          
literature and language as scrupulously1
 and with as high a sense of their      
appertaining to our national honour1 as 
a ,frenchman cherishes his language1 his
 literature8 ,cannot we study to leave  
our inheritance---as the old ,athenian  
put it temperately1 'not worse but a    
little better than we found it'8  ,i    
think we can1 and should4 ,i shall close
 to-day1 ,gentlemen1 with the most      

modest of perorations4 ,in my first     
lecture before you1 in ,january #aiac1  
,i quoted to you the artist in ,don     
,quixote who1 being asked what animal he
 was painting1 answered diffidently     
',that is as it may turn out4'  ,the    
teaching of our language and literature 
is1 after all1 a new thing and still    
experimental4 ,the main tenets of those 
who1 aware of this1 have worked on the  
scheme for a ,school of ,english in     
,cambridge1 the scheme recently passed  
by your ,senate and henceforth to be in 
operation1 are three3--  ,the first4    
,that literature cannot be divorced from
 life3 that 7for example7 you cannot    
understand ,chaucer aright1 unless you  
have the background1 unless you know the
 kind of men for whom ,chaucer wrote and
 the kind of men whom he made speak2    
that is the national side with which all
 our literature is concerned4  ,the     
second4 ,literature being so personal a 
thing1 you cannot understand it until   
you have some personal under-standing of

 the men who wrote it4 ,donne is ,donne2
 ,swift1 ,swift2 ,pope1 ,pope2 ,johnson1
 ,johnson2 ,goldsmith1 ,goldsmith2      
,charles ,lamb1 ,charles ,lamb2         
,carlyle1 ,carlyle4 ,until you have     
grasped those men1 as men1 you cannot   
grasp their writings4 ,that is the      
personal side of literary study1 and as 
necessary as the other4  ,the third4    
,that the writing and speaking of       
,english is a living art1 to be         
practised and 7if it may be7 improved4  
,that what these great men have done is 
to hand us a grand patrimony2 that they 
lived to support us through the trial we
 are now enduring1 and to carry us      
through to great days to come4 ,so shall
 our sons1 now fighting in ,france1 have
 a language ready for the land they     
shall recreate and repeople4            
,footnote #a3 ,donne's ,sermon ,,ii     
preached at ,pauls upon ,christmas ,day1
 in the ,evening4 #afbd4     ,,lecture  
,,vii  ,,the ,,value ,,of ,,greek ,,and 
,,latin ,,in ,,english ,,literature     

,,wednesday1 ,,february #f1 #aiah   ,i  
,i have promised you1 ,gentlemen1 for   
to-day some observations on ,the ,value 
of ,greek and ,latin in ,english        
,literature3 a mild1 academic title1 a  
camouflage title1 so to say2 calculated 
to shelter us for a while from the      
vigilance of those hot-eyed reformers   
who1 had ,i advertised ,the ,value of   
,greek and ,latin in ,english ,life     
might even now be swooping from all     
quarters of the sky on a suggestion that
 these dry bones yet were flesh3 for the
 eyes ,i dread are not only red and     
angry1 but naturally microscopic--and   
that indeed1 if they only knew it1 is   
their malady4 ,yet 'surely' groaned     
patient job1 'there is a path which the 
vulture's eye hath not seen6'  ,you1 at 
any rate1 know by this time that        
wherever these lectures assert          
literature they assert life1 perhaps    
even too passionately1 allowing neither 
the fact of death nor the possibility of
 divorce4  ,,ii  ,but let us begin with 

the first word1 ',value'--',the ,value  
of ,greek and ,latin in ,english        
,literature4' ,what do ,i mean by       
',value'8 ,well1 ,i use it1 generally1  
in the sense of 'worth'2 but with a     
particular meaning1 or shade of meaning1
 too4 ,and1 this particular meaning is  
not the particular meaning intended 7as 
,i suppose7 by men of commerce who1 on  
news of a friend's death1 fall a-musing 
and continue musing until the fire      
kindles1 and they ask ',what did        
,so-and-so die worth8' or sometimes1    
more wisely than they know1 ',what did  
poor old ,so-and-so die worth8' or      
again1 more colloquially1 ',what did    
,so-and-so cut up for8' ,neither is it  
that which more disinterested economists
 used to teach2 men never 7,i fear me7  
loved1 but anyhow lost awhile1 who for  
my green unknowing youth1 at ,thebes or 
,athens--growing older ,i tend to forget
 which is1 or was1 which--defined the   
,value of a thing as its 'purchasing    
power' which the market translates into 

'price4' ,for--to borrow a phrase which 
,i happened on1 the other day1 with     
delight1 in the ,introduction to a      
translation of ,lucian--there may be    
forms of education less paying than the 
commercial and yet better worth paying  
for2 nay1 above payment or computation  
in price#a4  ,no3 the particular meaning
 ,i use to-day is that which artists use
 when they talk of painting or of music4
 ,to see things1 near or far1 in their  
true perspective and proportions2 to    
judge them through distance2 and        
fetching them back1 to reproduce them in
 art so proportioned comparatively1 so  
rightly adjusted1 that they combine to  
make a particular and just perspective3 
that is to give things their true       
,values4  ,suppose yourself reclining on
 a bank on a clear day1 looking up into 
the sky and watching the ascent of a    
skylark while you listen to his song4   
,that is a posture in which several     
poets of repute have placed themselves  
from time to time3 so we need not be    

ashamed of it4 ,well1 you see the       
atmosphere reaching up and up1 mile upon
 mile4 ,there are no milestones planted 
there4 ,but1 wave on wave perceptible1  
the atmosphere stretches up through     
indeterminate distances2 and according  
as your painter of the sky can translate
 these distances1 he gives his sky what 
is called ,value4  ,you listen to the   
skylark's note rising1 spiral by spiral1
 on 'the very jet of earth'3    ,as up  
he wings the spiral stair1      ,a song 
of light1 and pierces air   ,with       
fountain ardour1 fountain play1      ,to
 reach the shining tops of day3  and you
 long for the musical gift to follow up 
and up the delicate degrees of distance 
and thread the notes back as the bird   
ascending drops them--on a thread1 as it
 were1 of graduated beads1 half music   
and half dew3       ,that was the chirp 
of ,ariel      ,you heard1 as overhead  
it flew1      ,the farther going more to
 dwell      ,and wing our green to wed  
our blue2      ,but whether note of joy1

 or knell1      ,not his own            
,father-singer knew2      ,nor yet can  
any mortal tell1      ,save only how it 
shivers through2      ,the breast of us 
a sounded shell1      ,the blood of us a
 lighted dew4  ,well in music1 in       
painting1 this graduating which gives   
right proportion and1 with proportion1 a
 sense of distance1 of atmosphere1 is   
called ,value4 ,let us1 for a minute or 
two1 assay this particular meaning of   
,value upon life and literature1 and    
first upon life1 or1 rather upon one not
 negligible facet of life4  ,i suppose  
that if an ordinary man of my age were  
asked which has better helped him to    
bear the burs of life--religion or a    
sense of humour--he would1 were he quite
 honest1 be gravelled for an answer4    
,now the best part of a sense of humour1
 as you know without my telling you1    
consists in a sense of proportion2 a    
habit1 abiding and prompt at command1 of
 seeing all human1 affairs in their just
 perspective1 so that its happy         

possessor at once perceives anything odd
 or distorted or overblown to be an     
excrescence1 a protuberance1 a swelling1
 literally a humour3 and the function of
 ,thalia1 the ,comic ,spirit1 as you may
 read in ,meredith's ,essay on ,comedy1 
is just to prick these humours4 ,i will 
but refer you to ,meredith's ,essay1 and
 here cite you the words of an old      
schoolmaster3  ,it would seem to be     
characteristic of the same mind to      
appreciate the beauty of ideas in just  
proportion and harmonious relation to   
each other1 and the absurdity of the    
same ideas when distorted or brought    
into incongruous juxtaposition4 ,the    
exercise of this sense of humour 444    
compels the mind to form a picture to   
itself1 accompanied by pleasurable      
emotion2 and what is this but setting   
the imagination to work1 though in      
topsy-turvy fashion8 ,nay1 in such a    
case1 imagination plays a double part1  
since it is only by instantaneous       
comparison with ideal fitness and       

proportion that it can grasp at full    
force the grotesqueness of their        
contraries#b4  ,let us play with an     
example for one moment4 ,a child sees   
such an excrescence1 such an offence    
upon proportion1 in an immoderately long
 nose4 ,he is apt to call attention to  
it on the visage of a visitor3 it       
intrigues him in ,perrault's ',prince   
,charming' and many a fairy tale3 it    
amuses him in ,lear's ,book of          
,nonsense3       ,there was an old man  
with a ,nose1      ,who said ',if you   
choose to suppose      ,that my nose is 
too long      ,you are certainly        
wrong'--  ,this old man he detects as   
lacking sense of proportion1 sense of   
humour4 ,pass from the child to the     
working-man as we know him4 ,a few weeks
 ago1 a lady--featured1 as to nose1 on  
the side of excess--was addressing a    
,north ,country audience on the         
,economic ,position of ,women after the 
,war4 ,said she1 ',there won't be men to
 go round4' ,said a voice ',eh1 but     

they'll have to1 ,miss6' ,pass from this
 rudimentary criticism to high talent   
employed on the same subject1 and you   
get ,cyrano de ,bergerac4 ,pass to      
genius1 to ,milton1 and you find the    
elephant amusing ,adam and ,eve in      
,paradise1 and doing his best3       the
 unwieldy elephant1   ,to make them     
mirth1 used all his might1 and wreathed 
,his lithe proboscis4  ,milton1 like the
 elephant1 jokes with difficulty1 but   
he1 too1 is using all his might4  ,i    
have illustrated1 crudely enough1 how a 
sense of things in their right values   
will help us on one side of our dealings
 with life4 ,but truly it helps us on   
every side4 ,this was what ,plato meant 
when he said that a philosopher must see
 things as they relatively are within   
his horizon--,greek3 o synoptikos       
dialektikos4 ,and for this it was that  
an ,english poet praised ,sophocles as  
one       ,who saw life steadily1 and   
saw it whole4  ,and this of course is   
what ,dean ,inge meant when1 the other  

day1 in a volume of ,cambridge ,essays  
on ,education1 he reminded us1 for a    
sensible commonplace1 that ',the wise   
man is he who knows the relative values 
of things4'  ,,iv  ,applying this to    
literature1 ,i note1 but shall not      
insist here on the fact--though fact it 
is--that the ,greek and ,roman          
'classical' writers 7as we call them7   
laid more stress than has ever been laid
 among the subsequent tribes of men upon
 the desirability of getting all things 
into proportion1 of seeing all life on a
 scale of relative values4 ,and the     
reason ,i shall not insist on this is   
simply that better men have saved me the
 trouble4  ,i propose this morning to   
discuss the value of the classics to    
students of ,english literature from1 as
 the modern phrase goes1 a slightly     
different angle4  ,reclining and looking
 up into that sky which is not too      
grandiose an image for our own ,english 
,literature1 you would certainly not    
wish1 ,gentlemen1 to see it as what it  

is not--as a cloth painted on the flat4 
,no more than you would choose the sky  
overarching your life to be a close1    
hard1 copper vault1 would you choose    
this literature of ours to resemble such
 a prison4 ,i say nothing1 for the      
moment1 of the thrill of comparing ours 
with other constellations--of such a    
thrill as ,blanco ,white's famous sonnet
 imagines in ,adam's soul when the first
 night descended on ,eden and           
,hesperus with the host of heaven came1 
,and lo6 ,creation widen'd in man's     
view4   ,who could have thought such    
darkness lay conceal'd   ,within thy    
beams1 ,o sun6444  ,no3 ,i simply       
picture you as desiring to realise our  
own literature1 its depths and values1  
mile above mile deeper and deeper       
shining1 with perchance a glimpse of a  
city celestial beyond1 or at whiles1 on 
a ladder of values1 of the angels--the  
messengers--climbing and returning4  ,v 
,well1 now1 ,i put it to you that       
without mental breeding1 without at     

least some sense of ancestry1 an        
,englishman can hardly have this        
perception of value1 this vision4 ,i put
 to you what ,i posited in an earlier   
course of lectures1 quoting ,bagehot1   
that while a knowledge of ,greek and    
,latin is not necessary to a writer of  
,english1 he should at least have a firm
 conviction that those two languages    
existed4 ,i refer you to a long passage 
which1 in one of those lectures1 ,i     
quoted from ,cardinal ,newman to the    
effect that for the last #cjjj years the
 ,western ,world has been evolving a    
human society1 having its bond in a     
common civilisation--a society to which 
7let me add1 by way of footnote7        
,prussia today is firmly1 though with   
great difficulty1 being tamed4 ,there   
are1 and have been1 other civilisations 
in the world --the ,chinese1 for        
instance2 a huge civilisation1          
stationary1 morose1 to us unattractive2 
'but this civilisation1' says ,newman1  
'together with the society which is its 

creation and its home1 is so distinctive
 and luminous in its character1 so      
imperial in its extent1 so imposing in  
its duration1 and so utterly without    
rival upon the face of the earth1 that  
the association may fitly assume for    
itself the title of ,human ,society1 and
 its civilisation the abstract term     
,civilisation4'  ,he goes on3           
,looking1 then1 at the countries which  
surround the   ,mediterranean ,sea as a 
whole1 ,i see them to be1 from time     
immemorial1 the seat of an association  
of intellect and mind   such as deserves
 to be called the ,intellect and ,mind  
of the   ,human ,kind4  ,but ,i must    
refer you to his famous book ,the ,idea 
of a ,university to read at length how  
,newman1 in that sinuous1 sinewy1       
,platonic style of his1 works it        
out--the spread1 through ,rome1 even to 
our shores1 of the civilisation which   
began in ,palestine and ,greece4  ,,vi  
,i would press the point more rudely    
upon you1 and more particularly1 than   

does ,newman4 ,and first1 for ,latin--  
,i waive that ,rome occupied and        
dominated this island during #djj years4
 ,let that be as though it had never    
been4 ,for a further #ajjj years and    
more ,latin remained the common speech  
of educated men throughout ,europe3 the 
',universal ,language4' ,greek had been 
smothered by the ,turk4 ,through all    
that time--through the most of what we  
call ,modern ,history1 ,latin reigned   
everywhere4 ,is this a fact to be       
ignored by any of you who would value   
'values'8  ,here are a few particulars1 
by way of illustration4 ,more wrote his 
,utopia1 ,bacon wrote all the bulk of   
his philosophical work1 in ,latin2      
,newton wrote his ,principia in ,latin4 
,keble's ,lectures on ,poetry 7if their 
worth and the name of ,keble may        
together save me from bathos7 were      
delivered in ,latin4 ,our               
,vice-,chancellor1 our ,public ,orator  
still talk ,latin1 securing for it what 
attention they can3 nor have       ,the 

bigots of this iron time      ,yet      
call'd their harmless art a crime4  ,but
 there is a better reason why you should
 endeavour to understand the value of   
,latin in our literature2 a filial      
reason4 ,our fathers built their great  
,english prose1 as they built their     
oratory1 upon the ,latin model4 ,donne  
used it to construct his mighty fugues3 
,burke to discipline his luxuriance4    
,says ,cowper1 it were       ,praise    
enough for any private man1      ,that  
,chatham's language was his mother      
tongue1      ,and ,wolfe's great name   
compatriot with his own4  ,well then1   
here is a specimen of ,chatham's        
language3 from his speech1 ,romanly     
severe1 denouncing the ,government of   
the day for employing ,red ,indians in  
the ,american ,war of ,independence4 ,he
 is addressing the ,house of ,lords3    
,i call upon that right reverend bench1 
those holy ministers   of the ,gospel1  
and pious pastors of our ,church--,i    
conjure   them to join in the holy work1

 and vindicate the religion of   their  
,god4 ,i appeal to the wisdom and the   
law of this learned   bench to defend   
and support the justice of their        
country4 ,i   call upon the bishops to  
interpose the unsullied sanctity of     
their lawn2 upon the learned judges to  
interpose the purity of   their ermine1 
to save us from this pollution4 ,i call 
upon the   honour of your lordships to  
reverence the dignity of your           
ancestors1 and to maintain your own4 ,i 
call upon the spirit   and humanity of  
my country to vindicate the national    
character4 ,i invoke the genius of the  
,constitution4 ,from the   tapestry that
 adorns these walls the immortal        
ancestor of this   noble lord ,lord     
,suffolk frowns with indignation at the 
disgrace of his country4 ,in vain he led
 your victorious fleet3   against the   
boasted ,armada of ,spain2 in vain he   
defended   and established the honour1  
the liberties1 the religion--the        
,protestant religion--of this country1  

against the arbitrary   cruelties of    
,popery and the ,inquisition1 if these  
more than   ,popish cruelties and       
inquisitorial practices are let loose   
among us--to turn forth into our        
settlements1 among our   ancient        
connexions1 friends1 and relations1 the 
merciless   cannibal1 thirsting for the 
blood of man1 woman1 and child6   to    
send forth the infidel savage---against 
whom8 against your   ,protestant        
brethren2 to lay waste their country1 to
 desolate   their dwellings1 and        
extirpate their race and name1 with     
these   horrible hell-hounds of savage  
war6--hell-hounds1 ,i say1 of   savage  
war6 ,spain armed herself with          
blood-hounds to extirpate   the wretched
 natives of ,america1 and we improve on 
the inhuman   example even of ,spanish  
cruelty2 we turn loose these savage     
hell-hounds against our brethren and    
countrymen in ,america1 of   the same   
language1 laws1 liberties1 and religion1
 endeared to   us by every tie that     

should sanctify humanity4444    ,my     
lords1 ,i am old and weak1 and at       
present unable to say more2   but my    
feelings and indignation were too strong
 to have said   less4 ,i could not have 
slept this night in my bed1 nor reposed 
my head on my pillow1 without giving    
this vent to my eternal   abhorrence of 
such preposterous and enormous          
principles4  ,that was ,chatham4 ,for   
,wolfe--he1 as you know1 was ever       
reading the classics even on campaign3  
as ,burke again carried always a ,virgil
 in his pocket4 ,abeunt studia in mores4
 ,moreover can we separate ,chatham's   
,roman morality from ,chatham's language
 in the passage ,i have just read8 ,no3 
we cannot4 ,no one1 being evil1 can     
speak good things with that weight2 'for
 out of the abundance of the heart the  
mouth speaketh4' ,we ,english 7says     
,wordsworth7       ,we must be free or  
die1 who speak the tongue      ,that    
,shakespeare spake4444  ,you may        
criticise ,chatham's style as too       

consciously ,ciceronian4 ,but has ever a
 ,parliamentary style been invented     
which conveys a nobler gravity of       
emotion8 ,buskined'8--yes3 but the style
 of a man4 ',mannered'8--yes1 but in the
 grand manner4 ',conscious'8-- yes1 but 
of what8 ,conscious of the dignity a    
great man owes to himself1 and to the   
assembly he addresses4 ,he conceives    
that assembly as 'the ,british ,senate'2
 and1 assuming1 he communicates that    
high conception4 ,the ,lords feel that  
they are listening as ,senators1 since  
it is only thus a ,senate should be     
addressed1 as nothing less than a       
,senate should be addressed thus4  ,let 
me read you a second passage2 of written
 prose3    ,laodameia died2 ,helen died2
 ,leda1 the beloved of ,jupiter1   went 
before4 ,it is better to repose in the  
earth betimes than   to sit up late2    
better1 than to cling pertinaciously to 
what   we feel crumbling under us1 and  
to protract an inevitable   fall4 ,we   
may enjoy the present while we are      

insensible of   infirmity and decay3 but
 the present1 like a note in music1   is
 nothing but as it appertains to what is
 past and what is   to come4 ,there are 
no fields of amaranth on this aide of   
the   grave2 there are no voices1 ,o    
,rhodop6 that are not soon mute1        
however tuneful2 there is no name1 with 
whatever emphasis of   passionate love  
repeated1 of which the echo is not faint
 at   last#c4  ,latin--all ,latin--down 
to its exquisite falling close6 ,and ,i 
say to you1 ,gentlemen1 that passages   
such as these deserve what ,joubert     
claimed of national monuments1 ,ce sont 
les crampons qui unissent une gnration  
une autre4 ,conservez ce qu'ont vu vos  
pres1 ',these are the clamps that knit  
one generation to another4 ,cherish     
those things on which your fathers' eyes
 have looked4'  ,abeunt studia in mores4
  ,if1 years ago1 there had lacked      
anything to sharpen my suspicion of     
those fork-bearded professors who       
derived our prose from the stucco of    

,anglo-,saxon prose1 it would have been 
their foolish deliberate practice of    
composing whole pages of ,english prose 
without using one word derivative from  
,latin or ,greek4 ,esau1 when he sold   
his birthright1 had the excuse of being 
famished4 ,these pedants1 with a full   
board1 sought frenetically to give it   
away-- board and birthright4 ',so when  
this corruptible shall have put on      
incorruption1 and this mortal shall have
 put on immortality' --almost1 ,i say1  
these men had deserved to have a kind of
 speech more to their taste read over   
their coffins4  ,,vii  ,what1 in the    
next place1 can ,i say of ,greek1 save  
that1 as ,latin gave our fathers the    
model of prose1 ,greek was the source of
 it all1 the goddess and genius of the  
well-head8 ,and1 casting about to       
illustrate1 as well as may be1 what ,i  
mean by this1 ,i hit on a minor dialogue
 of ,plato1 the ,phaedrus1 and choose   
you a short passage in ,edward          
,fitz,gerald's rendering3    ,when      

,socrates and ,phaedrus have discoursed 
away the noon-day   under the plane     
trees by the ,ilissus1 they rise to     
depart   toward the city4 ,but ,socrates
 7pointing perhaps to some images   of  
,pan and other sylvan deities7 says it  
is not decent to leave   their haunts   
without praying to them1 and he prays3  
',o auspicious ,pan1 and ye other       
deities of this place1 grant to   me to 
become beautiful inwardly1 and that all 
my outward   goods may prosper my inner 
soul4 ,grant that ,i may esteem wisdom  
the only riches1 and that ,i may have so
 much gold as temperance   can          
handsomely carry4    ',have we yet aught
 else to pray for1 ,phaedrus8 ,for      
myself ,i   seem to have prayed enough4'
    ,phaedrus3 ',pray as much for me    
also3 for friends have all   in common4'
    ,socrates3 ',even so be it4 ,let us 
depart'  ,to this paternoster of        
,socrates1 reported more than four      
centuries before ,christ taught the     
,lord's ,prayer1 let me add an attempted

 translation of the lines that close    
,homer's hymn to the ,delian ,apollo4   
,imagine the old blind poet on the beach
 chanting to the islanders the glorious 
boast of the little island--how it of   
all lands had harboured ,leto in her    
difficult travail2 how she gave birth to
 the ,sun ,god2 how the immortal child1 
as the attendant goddesses touched his  
lips with ambrosia1 burst his swaddling 
bands and stood up1 sudden1 a god erect3
    ,but he1 the ,sun-,god1 did no      
sooner taste   ,that food divine than   
every swaddling band      ,burst strand 
by strand1   ,and burst the belt above  
his panting waist--      ,all hanging   
loose   ,about him as he stood and gave 
command3   ',fetch me my lyre1 fetch me 
my curving bow6   ,and1 taught by these1
 shall know   ,all men1 through me1 the 
unfaltering will of ,zeus6'   ,so spake 
the unshorn ,god1 the ,archer bold1     
,and turn'd to tread the ways of ,earth 
so wide2   ,while they1 all they1 had   
marvel to behold      ,how ,delos broke 

in gold   ,beneath his feet1 as on a    
mountain-side   ,sudden1 in ,spring1 a  
tree is glorified   ,and canopied with  
blossoms manifold4   ,but he went       
swinging with a careless stride1        
,proud1 in his new artillery bedight1   
,up rocky ,cynthus1 and the isles       
descried--   ,all his1 and their        
inhabitants--for wide1   ,wide as he    
roam'd1 ran these in rivalry   ,to build
 him temples in many groves3   ,and     
these be his1 and all the isles he      
loves1      ,and every foreland height1 
,and every river hurrying to the sea4   
,but chief in thee1   ,delos1 as first  
it was1 is his delight4   ,where the    
long-robed ,ionians1 each with mate     
,and children1 pious to his altar       
throng1      ,and1 decent1 celebrate    
,his birth with boxing-match and dance  
and song3   ,so that a stranger1        
happening them among1   ,would deem that
 these ,ionians have no date1   ,being  
ageless1 all so met2      ,and he should
 gaze      ,and marvel at their ways1   

,health1 wealth1 the comely face   ,on  
man and woman--envying their estate--   
,and yet   ,you shall he least be able  
to forget1   ,you maids of ,delos1 dear 
ones1 as ye raise   ,the hymn to        
,phoebus1 ,leto1 ,artemis1      ,in     
triune praise1   ,then slide your song  
back upon ancient days   ,and men whose 
very name forgotten is41   ,and women   
who have lived and gone their ways3     
,and make them live agen1   ,charming   
the tribes of men1   ,whose speech ye   
mock with pretty mimicries      ,so true
      ,they almost woo   ,the hearer to 
believe he's singing too6   ,speed me1  
,apollo3 speed me1 ,artemis6   ,and you1
 my dears1 farewell6 ,remember me       
,hereafter if1 from any land that is1   
,some traveller question ye--           
',maidens1 who was the sweetest man of  
speech   ,fared hither1 ever chanted on 
this beach8'      ,i you beseech   ,make
 answer to him1 civilly--   ',sir1 he   
was just a blind man1 and his home   ,in
 rocky ,chios4 ,but his songs were best1

   ,and shall be ever in the days to    
come4'   ,say that3 and as ,i quest     
,in fair wall'd cities far1 ,i'll tell  
them there      7,they'll list1 for     
'twill be true7      ,of ,delos and of  
you4   ,but chief and evermore my song  
shall be   ,of ,prince ,apollo1 lord of 
,archery4   ,god of the ,silver ,bow1   
whom ,leto bare--      ,leto1 the       
lovely-tress'd4  ,did time permit1 ,i   
might quote you a chorus of ,aeschylus1 
a passage from ,thucydides or from      
,aristotle1 to illustrate ,gibbon's     
saying that the ,greek language 'gave a 
soul to the objects of sense1 and a body
 to the abstractions of metaphysics4'   
,but there it is1 and it has haunted our
 literature2 at first filtering through 
,latin1 at length breaking from         
,constantinople in flood and led to us1 
to ,oxford and ,cambridge1 by ,erasmus1 
by ,grocyn3       ,thee1 that lord of   
splendid lore      ,orient from old     
,hellas' shore4  ,to have a sense of    
,greek1 too1 is to own a corrective of  

taste4 ,i quote another old schoolmaster
 here--a dead friend1 ,sidney ,irwin3   
,what the ,greeks disliked was          
extravagance1 caprice1   boastfulness1  
and display of all kinds4444 ,the       
,greeks hated all   monsters4 ,the      
quaint phrase in the ,odyssey about the 
,queen   of the ,laestrygones--',she was
 tall as a mountain1 and they   hated   
her'--would have seemed to them most    
reasonable4444   ,to read ,greek is to  
have a perpetual witness to the virtue  
of pruning--of condensing--a perpetual  
protest against all   that crowds1 and  
swells1 and weakens the writer's        
purpose4   ,to forget this is but to    
'confound our skill in covetousness4'   
,we cannot all be writers 444 but we all
 wish to have good   taste1 and good    
taste is born of a generous caution     
about   letting oneself go4 ,i say      
generous1 for caution is seldom         
generous--but it is a generous mood     
which is in no haste to   assert itself4
 ,to consider the thing1 the time1 the  

place1 the   person1 and to take        
yourself and your own feelings only     
fifth   is to be armour-proof against   
bad taste4  ,,viii  ,they tell us that  
,greek is going1 here4 ,well1 ,i hold no
 brief for compulsory ,greek2 and ,i    
shall say but one word on it4 ,i put it1
 rather idly1 to a vote in a ,cambridge 
,combination ,room1 the other day1 and  
was amazed to find how the votes were   
divided4 ,the men of science were by no 
means unanimous4 ,they owned that there 
was much to be said even for compulsory 
,greek1 if only ,greek had been         
intelligently taught4 ,and with that1 of
 course1 ,i agree3 for to learn ,greek  
is1 after all1 a baptism into a noble   
cult4 ,the ,romans knew that4 ,i believe
 that1 even yet1 if the schools would   
rebuild their instruction in ,greek so  
as to make it interesting1 as it ought  
to be1 from the first1 we should oust   
those birds who croak and chatter upon  
the walls of our old ,universities4 ,i  
find the following in ,fitz,gerald's    

,polonius3    ,an old ruinous tower     
which had harboured innumerable         
jackdaws1 sparrows1 and bats1 was at    
length repaired4 ,when   the masons left
 it1 the jackdaws1 sparrows1 and bats   
came back   in search of their old      
dwellings4 ,but these were all filled   
up4   ',of what use now is this great   
building8' said they1 'come let   us    
forsake this useless stone-heap3  ,and  
the beauty of this little apologue is   
that you can read it either way4  ,,ix  
,but1 although a student of ,english    
,literature be ignorant of ,greek and   
,latin as languages1 may he not have    
,greek and ,latin literature widely     
opened to him by intelligent            
translations8 ,the question has often   
been asked1 but ,i ask it again4 ,may   
not some translations open a door to him
 by which he can see them through an    
atmosphere1 and in that atmosphere the  
authentic ancient gods walking3 so that 
returning upon ,english literature he   
may recognise them there1 too1 walking  

and talking in a garden of values8 ,the 
highest poetical speech of any one      
language defies1 in my belief1          
translation into any other4 ,but        
,herodotus loses little1 and ,north is  
every whit as good as ,plutarch4        
,sigh no more1 ladies2 ladies1 sigh no  
more6      ,men were deceivers ever2    
,one foot in sea and one on shore1      
,to one thing constant never  ,suppose  
that rendered thus3  ,i enjoin upon the 
adult female population 7,greek3        
gynaikes71 not once but twice1 that     
there be from this time forward1 a total
 cessation of sighing4 ,the male is1 and
 has been1 constantly addicted to       
inconstancy1 treading the ocean and the 
mainland respectively with alternate    
feet4  ,that1 more or less1 is what     
,paley did upon ,euripides1 and how     
would you like it if a modern ,greek did
 it upon ,shakespeare8 ,none the less ,i
 remember that my own first awed surmise
 of what ,greek might mean came from a  
translated story of ,herodotus--the     

story of ,cleobis and ,biton--at the    
tail of an old grammar-book1 before ,i  
had learnt the ,greek alphabet2 and ,i  
am sure that the instinct of the old    
translators was sound2 that somehow 7as 
,wordsworth says somewhere7 the present 
must be balanced on the wings of the    
past and the future1 and that as you    
stretch out the one you stretch out the 
other to strength4  ,x  ,there is no    
derogation of new things in this plea ,i
 make specially to you who may be       
candidates in our ,school of ,english4  
,you may remember my reading to you in a
 previous lecture that liberal poem of  
,cory's invoking the spirit of 'dear    
divine ,comatas1' that    ,two minds    
shall flow together1 the ,english and   
the ,greek4  ,well1 ,i would have your  
minds1 as you read our literature1 reach
 back to that ,dorian shepherd through  
an atmosphere--his made ours--as through
 veils1 each veil unfolding a value4 ,so
 you will recognise how1 from ,chaucer  
down1 our literature has panted after   

the ,mediterranean water-brooks4 ,so    
through an atmosphere you will link 7let
 me say7 ,collins's ,ode to ,evening1 or
 ,matthew ,arnold's ,strayed ,reveller  
up to the ',pervigilium ,veneris1' ,mr  
,sturge ,moore's ,sicilian ,vine-dresser
 up to ,theocritus1 ,pericles' funeral  
oration down to ,lincoln's over the dead
 at ,gettysburg4 ,and as ,i read you    
just now some part of an ,english       
oration in the ,latin manner1 so ,i will
 conclude with some stanzas in the      
,greek manner4 ,they are by ,landor--a  
proud promise by a young writer1 hopeful
 as ,i could wish any young learner here
 to be4 ,the title--    ,corinna1 from  
,athens1 to ,tanagra    ,tanagra6 think 
not ,i forget      ,thy beautifully     
storied streets2   ,be sure my memory   
bathes yet      ,in clear ,thermodon1   
and yet greets   ,the blithe and liberal
 shepherd-boy1      ,whose sunny bosom  
swells with joy   ,when we accept his   
matted rushes      ,upheav'd with sylvan
 fruit2 away he bounds1 and blushes4    

,a gift ,i promise3 one ,i see          
,which thou with transport wilt receive1
   ,the only proper gift for thee1      
,of which no mortal shall bereave   ,in 
later times thy mouldering walls1       
,until the last old turret falls2   ,a  
crown1 a crown from ,athens won1      ,a
 crown no god can wear1 beside ,latona's
 son4    ,there may be cities who refuse
      ,to their own child the honours   
due1   ,and look ungently on the ,muse2 
,but ever shall those cities rue   ,the 
dry1 unyielding1 niggard breast1        
,offering no nourishment1 no rest1   ,to
 that young head which soon shall rise  
,disdainfully1 in might and glory1 to   
the skies4    ,sweetly where cavern'd   
,dirce flows      ,do white-arm'd       
maidens chaunt my lay1   ,flapping the  
while with laurel-rose      ,the        
honey-gathering tribes away2   ,and     
sweetly1 sweetly ,attic tongues         
,lisp your ,corinna's early songs2   ,to
 her with feet more graceful come       
,the verses that have dwelt in kindred  

breasts at home4    ,o let thy children 
lean aslant      ,against the tender    
mother's knee1   ,and gaze into her     
face1 and want      ,to know what magic 
there can be   ,in words that urge some 
eyes to dance1      ,while others as in 
holy trance   ,look up to heaven3 be    
such my praise6      ,why linger8 ,i    
must haste1 or lose the ,delphic bays4  
,footnote #a3 ,the ,works of ,lucian of 
,samosata3 translated by ,h4 ,w4 ,fowler
 and ,f4 ,g4 ,fowler 7,introduction1 p4 
xxix74 ,oxford1 ,clarendon ,press4      
,footnote #b3 ,the ,training of the     
,imagination3 by ,james ,rhoades4       
,london1 ,john ,lane1 #aijj4  ,footnote 
#c3 ,landor3 sop and ,rhodop4           
,,lecture ,,viii  ,,on ,,reading ,,the  
,,bible 7,i7  ,,wednesday1 ,,march #f1  
#aiah   ,i  ',read not to ,contradict   
and ,confute1' says ,bacon of ,studies  
in general3 and you may be the better   
disposed1 ,gentlemen1 to forgive my     
choice of subject to-day if in my first 
sentence ,i rule that way of reading the

 ,bible completely out of court4 ,you   
may say at once that1 the ,bible being  
so full of doctrine as it is1 and such a
 storehouse for exegesis as it has been1
 this is more easily said than          
profitably done4 ,you may grant me that 
the ,scriptures in our ,authorised      
,version are part and parcel of ,english
 ,literature 7and more than part and    
parcel72 you may grant that a ,professor
 of ,english ,literature has therefore a
 claim1 if not an obligation1 to speak  
of them in that ,version2 you may--     
having granted my incessant refusal to  
disconnect our national literature from 
our national life1 or to view them as   
disconnected--accept the conclusion     
which plainly flows from it2 that no    
teacher of ,english can pardonably      
neglect what is at once the most        
majestic thing in our literature and by 
all odds the most spiritually living    
thing we inherit2 in our courts at once 
superb monument and superabundant       
fountain of life2 and yet you may       

discount beforehand what he must        
attempt4  ,for 7say you7 if he attempt  
the doctrine1 he goes straight down to  
buffeted waters so broad that only stout
 theologians can win to shore2 if1 on   
the other hand1 he ignore doctrine1 the 
play is ,hamlet with the ,prince of     
,denmark left out4 ,he reduces our      
,bible to 'mere literature1' to         
something 'belletristic1' pretty1 an    
artifice1 a flimsy1 a gutted thing4     
,,ii  ,now of all ways of dealing with  
literature that happens to be the way we
 should least admire4 ,by that way we   
disassociate literature from life2 'what
 they said' from the men who said it and
 meant it1 not seldom at the risk of    
their lives4 ,my pupils will bear       
witness in their memories that when we  
talk together concerning poetry1 for    
example1 by 'poetry' we mean 'that which
 the poets wrote1' or 7if you like7 'the
 stuff the poets wrote'2 and their      
intelligence tells them1 of course1 that
 anyone who in the simple proposition   

',poets wrote ,poetry' connects an      
object with a subject by a verb does    
not1 at any rate1 intend to sunder what 
he has just been at pains1 however      
slight1 to join together3 he may at     
least have the credit1 whether he be    
right or wrong1 of asserting his subject
 and his object to be interdependent4   
,take a particular proposition--,john   
,milton wrote a poem called ,paradise   
,lost4 ,you will hardly contest the     
truth of that3 but what does it mean8   
,milton wrote the story of the ,fall of 
,man3 he told it in some thousands of   
lines of decasyllabic verse unrhymed2 he
 measured these lines out with exquisite
 cadences4 ,the object of our simple    
sentence includes all these1 and this   
much beside3 that he wrote the total    
poem and made it what it is4 ,nor can   
that object be fully                    
understood--literature being1 ever and  
always1 so personal a thing--until we   
understand the subject1 ,john ,milton-- 
what manner of man he was1 and how on   

earth1 being such a man1 he contrived to
 do it4 ,we shall never quite know that3
 but it is important we should get as   
near as we can4  ,of the ,bible this is 
yet more evident1 it being a            
translation4 ,isaiah did not write the  
cadences of his prophecies1 as we       
ordinary men of this country know them3 
,christ did not speak the cadences of   
the ,parables or of the ,sermon on the  
,mount1 as we know them4 ,these have    
been supplied by the translators4 ,by   
all means let us study them and learn to
 delight in them2 but ,christ did not   
suffer for his cadences1 still less for 
the cadences invented by ,englishmen    
almost #afjj years later2 and           
,englishmen who went to the stake did   
not die for these cadences4 ,they were  
,lollards and ,reformers who lived too  
soon to have heard them2 they were      
,catholics of the old profession' who   
had either never heard or1 having heard1
 abhorred them4 ,these men were cheerful
 to die for the meaning of the ,word and

 for its authorship-- because it was    
spoken by ,christ4  ,,iii  ,there is in 
fact1 ,gentlemen1 no such thing as 'mere
 literature4' ,pedants have coined that 
contemptuous term to express a          
figmentary concept of their own         
imagination or--to be more accurate1 an 
hallucination of wrath--having about as 
much likeness to a vera causa as had the
 doll which 7if you remember7 ,maggie   
,tulliver used to beat in the garret    
whenever1 poor child1 the world went    
wrong with her somehow4 ,the thoughts1  
actions and passions of men became      
literature by the simple but difficult  
process of being recorded in memorable  
speech2 but in that process neither the 
real thing recorded nor the author is   
evacuated4 ,belles lettres1 ,fine ,art  
are odious terms1 for which no          
clean-thinking man has any use4 ,there  
is no such thing in the world as belles 
lettres2 if there were1 it would deserve
 the name4 ,as for ,fine ,art1 the late 
,professor ,butcher bequeathed to us a  

translation of ,aristotle's ,poetics    
with some admirable appendixes--the     
whole entitled ,aristotle's ,theory of  
,poetry and ,fine ,art4 ,aristotle never
 in his life had a theory of ,fine ,art 
as distinct from other art3 nor 7,i     
wager7 can you find in his discovered   
works a word for any such thing4 ,now if
 ,aristotle had a concept of fine' art  
as distinguished from other art1 he was 
man enough to find a name for it4 ,his  
omission to do anything of the sort     
speaks for itself4  ,so you should      
beware of any teacher who would treat   
the ,bible or any part of it as 'fine   
writing1' mere literature4  ,,iv  ,let  
me1 having said this1 at once enter a   
caveat1 a qualification4 ,although men  
do not go to the stake for the cadences1
 the phrases of our ,authorised         
,version1 it remains true that these    
cadences1 these phrases1 have for three 
hundred years exercised a most powerful 
effect upon their emotions4 ,they do so 
by association of ideas by the accreted 

memories of our race enwrapping         
connotation around a word1 a name--say  
the name ,jerusalem1 or the name ,sion3 
,and they that wasted us required of us 
mirth1 saying1   ,sing us one of the    
songs of ,sion4   ,how shall we sing the
 ,lord's song in a strange land8   ,if  
,i forget thee1 ,o ,jerusalem1 let my   
right hand forget      her cunning4  ,it
 must be known to you1 ,gentlemen1 that 
these words can affect men to tears who 
never connect them in thought with the  
actual geographical ,jerusalem2 who     
connect it in thought merely with a     
quite different native home from which  
they are exiles4 ,here and there some   
one man may feel a similar emotion over 
,landor's       ,tanagra1 think not ,i  
forget4444  ,but the word ,jerusalem    
will strike twenty men twentyfold more  
poignantly3 for to each it names the    
city familiar in spirit to his parents  
when they knelt1 and to their fathers   
before them3 not only the city which was
 his nursery and yet lay just beyond the

 landscape seen from its window2 its    
connotation includes not only what the  
word ',rome' has meant1 and ever must   
mean1 to thousands on thousands setting 
eyes for the first time on ,the ,city3  
but it holds1 too1 some hint of the ,new
 ,jerusalem1 the city of twelve gates   
before the vision of which ,st ,john    
fell prone3    ,ah1 my sweet home1      
,hierusalem1      ,would ,god ,i were in
 thee6   ,thy ,gardens and thy gallant  
walks      ,continually are green3      
,there grows such sweet and pleasant    
flowers      ,as nowhere else are seen4 
,quite through the streets with pleasant
 sound      ,the flood of ,life doth    
flow2   ,upon whose banks on every side 
,the wood of ,life doth grow4444   ,our 
,lady sings ,magnificat      ,with tones
 surpassing sweet3   ,and all the       
virgins bear their part1      ,sitting  
about her feet4   ,hierusalem1 my happy 
home1      ,would ,god ,i were in thee6 
,would ,god my woes were at an end1     
,thy joys that ,i might see6  ,you      

cannot 7,i say7 get away from these     
connotations accreted through your own  
memories and your fathers'2 as neither  
can you be sure of getting free of any  
great literature in any tongue1 once it 
has been written4 ,let me quote you a   
passage from ,cardinal ,newman he is    
addressing the undergraduates of the    
,catholic ,university of ,dublin3       
,how real a creation1 how sui generis1  
is the style of   ,shakespeare1 or of   
the ,protestant ,bible and ,prayer      
,book1   or of ,swift1 or of ,pope1 or  
of ,gibbon1 or of ,johnson6  ,i pause to
 mark how just this man can be to his   
great enemies4 ,pope was a ,roman       
,catholic1 you will remember2 but       
,gibbon was an infidel4    ,even were   
the subject-matter without meaning1     
though in truth   the style cannot      
really be abstracted from the sense1    
still the   style would1 on that        
supposition1 remain as perfect and      
original a work as ,euclid's ,elements  
or a symphony of   ,beethoven4    ,and1 

like music1 it has seized upon the      
public mind3 and the   literature of    
,england is no longer a mere letter1    
printed in   books and shut up in       
libraries1 but it is a living voice1    
which   has gone forth in its           
expressions and its sentiments into the 
world of men1 which daily thrills upon  
our ears and syllables   our thoughts1  
which speaks to us through our          
correspondents and   dictates when we   
put pen to paper4 ,whether we will or   
no1 the   phraseology of ,shakespeare1  
of the ,protestant formularies1 of      
,milton1 of ,pope1 of ,johnson's        
,table-talk1 and of ,walter ,scott1     
have become a portion of the vernacular 
tongue1 the household   words1 of which 
perhaps we little guess the origin1 and 
the   very idioms of our familiar       
conversation4444 ,so tyrannous is   the 
literature of a nation2 it is too much  
for us4 ,we cannot   destroy or reverse 
it4444 ,we cannot make it over again4   
,it is a   great work of man1 when it is

 no work of ,god's4444 ,we cannot   undo
 the past4 ,english ,literature will    
ever have been   ,protestant4  ,v  ,i am
 speaking1 then1 to hearers who would   
read not to contradict and confute2 who 
have an inherited sense of the ,english 
,bible2 and who have1 even as ,i1 a     
store of associated ideas1 to be evoked 
by any chance phrase from it2 beyond    
this1 it may be1 nothing that can be    
called scholarship by any stretch of the
 term4  ,very well1 then3 my first piece
 of advice on reading the ,bible is that
 you do it4  ,i have1 of course1 no     
reason at all to suppose or suggest that
 any member of this present audience    
omits to do it4 ,but some general       
observations are permitted to an        
occupant of this ,chair3 and1 speaking  
generally1 and as one not               
constitutionally disposed to lamentation
 in the book we are discussing1 for     
example1 ,i find ,jeremiah the          
contributor least to my mind1 ,i do     
believe that the young read the ,bible  

less1 and enjoy it less--probably read  
it less1 because they enjoy it          
less--than their fathers did4  ,the     
,education ,act of #ahgj1 often in these
 days too sweepingly denounced1 did a   
vast deal of good along with no small   
amount of definite harm4 ,at the head of
 the harmful effects must 7,i think7 be 
set its discouragement of ,bible        
reading2 and this chiefly through its   
encouraging parents to believe that they
 could henceforth hand over the training
 of their children to the ,state1 lock1 
stock and barrel4 ,you all remember the 
picture in ,burns of ,the ,cotter's     
,saturday ,night3    ,the chearfu'      
supper done1 wi' serious face1          
,they1 round the ingle1 form a circle   
wide2   ,the sire turns o'er1 wi'       
patriarchal grace1      ,the big        
ha'-,bible1 ance his father's pride4    
,his bonnet rev'rently is laid aside1   
,his lyart haffets wearing thin and     
bare2   ,those strains that once did    
sweet in ,zion glide1      ,he wales a  

portion with judicious care1   ,and     
',let us worship ,god 6' he says1 with  
solemn air4  ,but you know that the sire
 bred on the tradition of #ahgj1 and now
 growing grey1 does nothing of that sort
 on a ,saturday night3 that1 ,saturday  
being tub-night1 he inclines rather to  
order the children into the back-kitchen
 to get washed2 that on ,sunday morning1
 having seen them off to a place of     
worship1 he inclines to sit down and    
read1 in place of the ,bible1 his       
,sunday newspaper3 that in the afternoon
 he again shunts them off to            
,sunday-school4 ,now--to speak first of 
the children--it is good for them to be 
tubbed on ,saturday night2 good for them
 also1 ,i dare say1 to attend           
,sunday-school on the following         
afternoon2 but not good in so far as    
they miss to hear the ,bible read by    
their parents and       ,pure religion  
breathing household laws4  ',pure       
religion'8--,well perhaps that begs the 
question3 and ,i dare say ,burns' cotter

 when he waled 'a portion with judicious
 care1' waled it as often as            
not--perhaps oftener than not--to       
contradict and confute2 that often he   
contradicted and confuted very crudely1 
very ignorantly4 ,but we may call it    
simple religion anyhow1 sincere         
religion1 parental religion1 household  
religion3 and for a certainty no        
'lessons' in day-school or              
,sunday-school have1 for tingeing a     
child's mind1 an effect comparable with 
that of a religion pervading the child's
 home1 present at bedside and board3--  
,here a little child ,i stand1          
,heaving up my either hand2      ,cold  
as paddocks the they be1      ,here ,i  
lift them up to ,thee2      ,for a      
benison to fall      ,on our meat and on
 us all4 ,amen4  --permeating the house1
 subtly instilled by the very accent of 
his father's and his mother's speech4   
,for the grown man 444 ,i happen to come
 from a part of ,england ,ed43 ,cornwall
 where men1 in all my days1 have been   

curiously concerned with religion and   
are yet so concerned2 so much that you  
can scarce take up a local paper and    
turn to the correspondence column but   
you will find some heated controversy   
raging over ,free ,will and             
,predestination1 the ,validity of ,holy 
,orders1 ,original ,sin1 ,redemption of 
the many or the few3       ,go it       
,justice1 go it ,mercy6      ,go it     
,douglas1 go it ,percy6  ,but the       
contestants do not write in the language
 their fathers used4 ,they seem to have 
lost the vocabulary1 and to have picked 
up1 in place of it1 the jargon of the   
,yellow ,press1 which does not tend to  
clear definition on points of theology4 
,the mass of all this controversial     
stuff is no more absurd1 no more        
frantic1 than it used to be3 but in     
language it has lost its dignity with   
its homeliness4 ,it has lost the        
colouring of the ,scriptures1 the       
intonation of the ,scriptures1 the      
,scriptural habit4  ,if ,i turn from it 

to a passage in ,bunyan1 ,i am          
conversing with a man who1 though he has
 read few other books1 has imbibed and  
soaked the ,authorised ,version into his
 fibres so that he cannot speak but     
,biblically4 ,listen to this3    ,as to 
the situation of this town1 it lieth    
just between the two   worlds1 and the  
first founder1 and builder of it1 so far
 as by   the best1 and most authentic   
records ,i can gather1 was one          
,shaddai2 and he built it for his own   
delight4 ,he made it the   mirror1 and  
glory of all that he made1 even the     
,top-piece   beyond anything else that  
he did in that country3 yea1 so   goodly
 a town was ,mansoul1 when first built1 
that it is said by   some1 the ,gods at 
the setting up thereof1 came down to see
 it1   and sang for joy4444    ,the wall
 of the town was well built1 yea so fast
 and firm   was it knit and compact     
together1 that had it not been for the  
townsmen themselves1 they could not have
 been shaken1 or   broken for ever4  ,or

 take this3    ,now as they were going  
along and talking1 they espied a ,boy   
feeding his ,father's ,sheep4 ,the ,boy 
was in very mean   ,cloaths1 but of a   
very fresh and well-favoured            
,countenance1   and as he sate by       
himself he ,sung4444 ,then said their   
,guide1   ,do you hear him8 ,i will dare
 to say1 that this ,boy lives a         
merrier ,life1 and wears more of that   
,herb called ,heart's-ease   in his     
,bosom1 than he that is clad in ,silk   
and ,velvet4  ,i choose ordinary        
passages1 not solemn ones in which      
,bunyan is consciously scriptural4 ,but 
you cannot miss the accent4  ,that is   
,bunyan1 of course2 and ,i am far from  
saying that the labouring men among whom
 ,i grew up1 at the fishery or in the   
hayfield1 talked with ,bunyan's magic4  
,but ,i do assert that they had         
something of the accent2 enough to be   
like1 in a child's mind1 the fishermen  
and labourers among whom ,christ found  
his first disciples4 ,they had the large

 simplicity of speech1 the cadence1 the 
accent4 ,but let me turn to ,ireland1   
where1 though not directly derived from 
our ,english ,bible1 a similar          
scriptural accent survives among the    
peasantry and is1 ,i hope1 ineradicable4
 ,i choose two sentences from a book of 
',memories' recently written by the     
survivor of the two ladies who together 
wrote the incomparable ',irish ,r4,m4'  
,the first was uttered by a small       
cultivator who was asked why his        
potato-crop had failed3  ',i couldn't   
hardly say' was the answer4 ',whatever  
it was1 ,god spurned them in a boggy    
place4'  ,is that not the accent of     
,isaiah8  ,he will surely violently turn
 and toss thee like a ball into a large 
country4  ,the other is the benediction 
bestowed upon the late ,miss ,violet    
,martin by a beggar-woman in            
,skibbereen3  ,sure ye're always        
laughing6 ,that ye may laugh in the     
sight of the ,glory of ,heaven6  ,,vi   
,but one now sees1 or seems to see1 that

 we children did1 in our time1 read the 
,bible a great deal1 if perforce we were
 taught to read it in sundry bad ways3  
of which perhaps the worst was that our 
elders hammered in all the books1 all   
the parts of it1 as equally inspired and
 therefore equivalent4 ,of course this  
meant among other things that they      
hammered it all in literally3 but let us
 not sentimentalise over that4 ,it      
really did no child any harm to believe 
that the universe was created in a      
working week of six days1 and that ,god 
sat down and looked at it on ,sunday1   
and behold it was very good4 ,a week is 
quite a long while to a child1 yet a    
definite division rounding off a square 
job4 ,the bath-taps at home usually1 for
 some unexplained reason1 went wrong    
during the week-end3 the plumber came in
 on ,monday and carried out his tools on
 ,saturday at mid-day4 ,these little    
analogies really do 7,i believe7 help   
the infant mind1 and not at all to its  
later detriment4 ,nor shall ,i ask you  

to sentimentalise overmuch upon the harm
 done to a child by teaching him that   
the bloodthirsty jealous ,jehovah of the
 ,book of ,joshua is as venerable 7being
 one and the same unalterably1 'with    
whom is no variableness1 neither shadow 
of turning'7 as the ,father 'the same   
,lord1 whose property is always to have 
mercy1' revealed to us in the ,gospel1  
invoked for us at the ,eucharist4 ,i do 
most seriously hold it to be fatal if we
 grow up and are fossilised in any such 
belief4 7,where have we better proof    
than in the invocations which the family
 of the ,hohenzollerns have been putting
 up1 any time since ,august #aiad--;and 
for years before--to this bloody        
identification of the ,christian man's  
,god with ,joshua's87 ,my simple advice 
is that you not only read the ,bible    
early but read it again and again3 and  
if on the third or fifth reading it     
leave you just where the first left     
you--if you still get from it no        
historical sense of a race developing   

its concept of ,god--well then1 the     
point of the advice is lost1 and there  
is no more to be said4 ,but over this   
business of teaching the ,book of       
,joshua to children ,i am in some doubt4
 ,a few years ago an ,education         
,committee1 of which ,i happened to be  
,chairman1 sent ministers of religion   
about1 two by two1 to test the religious
 instruction given in ,elementary       
,schools4 ,of the two who worked around 
my immediate neighbourhood1 one was a   
young priest of the ,church of ,england1
 a medievalist with an ardent passion   
for ritual2 the other a gentle          
,congregational minister1 a mere holy   
and humble man of heart4 ,they became   
great friends in the course of these    
expeditions1 and they brought back this 
report--',it is positively wicked to let
 these children grow up being taught    
that there is no difference in value    
between ,joshua and ,st ,matthew3 that  
the ,god of the ,lord's ,prayer is the  
same who commanded the massacre of ,ai4'

 ,well1 perhaps it is4 ,seeing how      
bloodthirsty old men can be in these    
days1 one is tempted to think that they 
can hardly be caught too young and      
taught decency1 if not mansuetude4 ,but 
,i do not remember1 as a child1 feeling 
any horror about it1 or any difficulty  
in reconciling the two concepts4        
,children are a bit bloodthirsty1 and ,i
 observe that two volumes of the late   
,captain ,mayne ,reid--,the ,rifle      
,rangers1 and ,the ,scalp ,hunters--have
 just found their way into ,the ,world's
 ,classics and are advertised alongside 
of ,ruskin's ,sesame and ,lilies and the
 ,de ,imitatione ,christi4 ,i leave you 
to think this out2 adding but this for a
 suggestion3 that as the ,hebrew outgrew
 his primitive tribal beliefs1 so the   
bettering mind of man casts off the old 
clouts of primitive doctrine1 he being  
in fact better than his religion4 ,you  
have all heard preachers trying to show 
that ,jacob was a better fellow than    
,esau somehow4 ,you have all1 ,i hope1  

rejected every such explanation4 ,esau  
was a gentleman3 ,jacob was not4 ,the   
instinct of a young man meets that wall1
 and there is no passing it4 ,later1 the
 mind of the youth perceives that the   
writer of ,jacob's history has a tribal 
mind and supposes throughout that for   
the advancement of his tribe many things
 are permissible and even admirable     
which a later and urbaner mind rejects  
as detestably sharp practice4 ,and the  
story of ,jacob becomes the more        
valuable to us historically as we       
realise what a hero he is to the bland  
chronicler4  ,,vii  ,but of another     
thing1 ,gentlemen1 ,i am certain3 that  
we were badly taught in that these      
books1 while preached to us as          
equivalent1 were kept in separate       
compartments4 ,we were taught the books 
of ,kings and ,chronicles as history4   
,the prophets were the ,prophets1       
inspired men predicting the future which
 they only did by chance1 as every      
inspired man does4 ,isaiah was never put

 into relation with his time at all2    
which means everything to our           
understanding of ,isaiah1 whether of    
,jerusalem or of ,babylon4 ,we ploughed 
through ,kings and ,chronicles1 and made
 out lists of rulers1 with dates and    
capital events4 ,isaiah was all fine    
writing about nothing at all1 and       
historically we were concerned with him 
only to verify some far-fetched         
reference to the ,messiah in this or    
that ,evangelist4 ,but there is not1    
never has been1 really fine             
literature--like ,isaiah--composed about
 nothing at all3 and in the mere matter 
of prognostication ,i doubt if such     
experts as ,zadkiel and ,old ,moore have
 anything to fear from any ,school of   
,writing we can build up in ,cambridge4 
,but if we had only been taught to read 
,isaiah concurrently with the ,books of 
the ,kings1 what a fire it would have   
kindled among the dry bones of our      
studies6    ,then said the ,lord unto   
,isaiah1 ,go forth now to meet   ,ahaz1 

thou1 and ,shear-jashub thy son1 at the 
end of the   conduit of the upper pool  
in the highway of the fuller's   field4 
,scholars1 of course1 know the political
 significance of that famous meeting4   
,but if we had only known it2 if we had 
only been taught what ,assyria was--with
 its successive monarchs ,tiglath-      
pileser1 ,shalmaneser1 ,sargon1         
,sennacherib2 and why ,syria and ,israel
 and ,egypt were trying to cajole or    
force ,judah into alliance2 what a      
difference 7,i say7 this passage would  
have meant to us6  ,,viii  ,i daresay1  
after all1 that the best way is not to  
bother a boy too early and overmuch with
 history2 that the best way is to let   
him ramp at first through the           
,scriptures even as he might through    
,the ,arabian ,nights3 to let him take  
the books as they come1 merely          
indicating1 for instance1 that ,job is a
 great poem1 the ,psalms great lyrics1  
the story of ,ruth a lovely idyll1 the  
,song of ,songs the perfection of an    

,eastern love-poem4 ,well and what then8
 ,he will certainly get less of ,the    
,cotter's ,saturday ,night into it1 and 
certainly more of the truth of the      
,east4 ,there he will feel the whole    
splendid barbaric story for himself3 the
 flocks of ,abraham and ,laban3 the trek
 of ,jacob's sons to ,egypt for corn3   
the figures of ,rebekah at the well1    
,ruth at the gleaning1 and ,rispah      
beneath the gibbet3 ,sisera bowing in   
weariness3 ,saul--great ,saul--by the   
tent-prop with the jewels in his turban3
    ,all its lordly male-sapphires1 and 
rubies courageous at heart4  ,or        
consider--to choose one or two pictures 
out of the tremendous                   
procession--consider ,michal1 ,saul's   
royal daughter3 how first she is given  
in marriage to ,david to be a snare for 
him2 how loving him she saves his life1 
letting him down from the window and    
dressing up an image on the bed in his  
place3 how1 later1 she is handed over to
 another husband ,phaltiel1 how ,david  

demands her back1 and she goes3    ,and 
her husband 7,phaltiel7 went with her   
along weeping   behind her to ,bahurim4 
,then said ,abner unto him1 ,go1 return4
   ,and he returned4  ,or1 still later1 
how the revulsion takes her1 ,saul's    
daughter1 as she sees ,david capering   
home before the ark1 and how her        
affection had done with this emotional  
man of the ruddy countenance1 so prone  
to weep in his bed3    ,and as the ark  
of the ,lord came into the city of      
,david1   ,michal ,saul's daughter--    
,mark the three words--    ,michal      
,saul's daughter looked through a       
window1 and saw   ,king ,david leaping  
and dancing before the ,lord2 and she   
despised him in her heart4  ,the whole  
story goes into about ten lines4 ,your  
psychological novelist nowadays1 given  
the wit to invent it1 would make it     
cover #ejj pages at least4  ,or take the
 end of ,david in the first two chapters
 of the ,first ,book of ,kings1 with its
 tale of ,oriental intrigues1 plots1    

treacheries1 murderings in the depths of
 the horrible palace wherein the old man
 is dying4 ,or read of ,solomon and his 
ships and his builders1 and see his     
,temple growing 7as ,heber put it7 like 
a tall palm1 with no sound of hammers4  
,or read again the end of ,queen        
,athaliah3    ,and when ,athaliah heard 
the noise of the guard and of the       
people1 she came to the people into the 
temple of the ,lord4--   ,and when she  
looked1 behold1 the king stood by a     
pillar1 as the   manner was1 and the    
princes and the trumpeters by the king1 
and   all the people of the land        
rejoiced1 and blew with trumpets3   ,and
 ,athaliah rent her clothes1 and cried  
,treason1 ,treason4--,but   ,jehoiada   
the priest commanded the captains of the
 hundreds1 the   officers of the host1  
and said unto them1 ,have her forth     
without the ranges4444    --,and they   
laid hands on her2 and she went by the  
way by the   which the horses came into 
the king's house3 and there was   she   

slain4  ,let a youngster read this1 ,i  
say1 just as it is written2 and how the 
true ,east--sound1 scent1 form1         
colour--pours into the                  
narrative6--cymbals and trumpets1       
leagues of sand1 caravans trailing      
through the heat1 priest and soldiery   
and kings going up between them to the  
altar2 blood at the foot of the steps1  
blood everywhere1 smell of blood mingled
 with spices1 sandal-wood1 dung of      
camels6  ,yes1 but how--if you will     
permit the word--how the enjoyment of it
 as magnificent literature might be     
enhanced by a scholar who would         
condescend to whisper1 of his knowledge1
 the magical word here or there1 to the 
child as he reads6 ,for an instance4--  
,no child--no grown man with any sense  
of poetry--can deny his ear to the      
,forty-fifth ,psalm2 the one that begins
 ',my heart is inditing a good matter1' 
and plunges into a hymn of royal        
nuptials4 ,first 7you remember7 the     
singing-men1 the sons of ,korah1 lift   

their chant to the bridegroom1 the      
,king3    ,gird thy sword upon thy      
thigh1 ,o most mighty 444 ,and in thy   
majesty ride prosperously4  ,or as we   
hear it in the ,book of ,common ,prayer3
    ,good luck have thou with thine     
honour444   because of the word of      
truth1 of meekness1 and   righteousness2
 and thy right hand shall teach thee    
terrible things4444    ,all thy garments
 smell of myrrh1 aloes1 and cassia3 out 
of   the ivory palaces1 whereby they    
have made thee glad4  ,anon they turn to
 the ,bride3    ,hearken1 ,o daughter1  
and consider1 and incline thine ear2    
forget also thine own people1 and thy   
father's house4444   ,the ,king's       
daughter is all glorious within3 her    
clothing is   of wrought gold4    ,she  
shall be brought unto the king in       
raiment of needlework3   the virgins    
that be her fellows shall bear her      
company4 ,and   the daughter of ,tyre   
shall be there with a gift4 ,instead of 
thy   fathers shall be thy children1    

whom thou mayest make princes   in all  
the earth4  ,for whom 7wonders the young
 reader1 spell-bound by this71 for what 
happy bride and bridegroom was this     
glorious chant raised8 ,now suppose     
that1 just here1 he has a scholar ready 
to tell him what is likeliest true--that
 the bridegroom was ,ahab--that the     
bride1 the daughter of ,sidon1 was no   
other than ,jezebel1 and became what    
,jezebel now is--with what an awe of    
surmise would two other passages of the 
history toll on his ear8    ,and one    
washed the chariot in the pool of       
,samaria2 and   the dogs licked up his  
blood4444    ,and when he 7,jehu7 was   
come in1 he did eat and drink1 and      
said1 ,go1 see now this cursed woman1   
and bury her3 for she is   a king's     
daughter4    ,and they went to bury her3
 but they found no more of her   than   
the skull1 and the feet1 and the palms  
of her hands4    ,wherefore they came   
again1 and told him4 ,and he said1 ,this
   is the word of the ,lord1 which he   

spake by his servant ,elijah   the      
,tishbite1 saying1 ,in the portion of   
,jezreel shall dogs eat   the flesh of  
,jezebel 444 so that 7men7 shall not    
say1 ,this is   ,jezebel4  ,in another  
lecture1 ,gentlemen1 ,i propose to take 
up the argument and attempt to bring it 
to this point4 ',how can we1 having this
 incomparable work1 necessary for study 
by all who would write ,english1 bring  
it within the ambit of the ,english     
,tripos and yet avoid offending the     
experts8'     ,,lecture ,,ix  ,,on      
,,reading ,,the ,,bible 7,,ii7          
,,wednesday1 ,,april #bd1 #aiah   ,i    
,we left off last term1 ,gentlemen1 upon
 a note of protest4 ,we wondered why it 
should be that our ,english ,version of 
the ,bible lies under the ban of        
school-masters1 ,boards of ,studies1 and
 all who devise courses of reading and  
examinations in ,english ,literature3   
that among our prescribed books' we find
 ,chaucer's ,prologue1 we find ,hamlet1 
we find ,paradise ,lost1 we find ,pope's

 ,essay on ,man1 again and again1 but   
,the ,book of ,job never2 ,the ,vicar of
 ,wakefield and ,gray's ,elegy often1   
but ,ruth or ,isaiah1 ,ecclesiasticus or
 ,wisdom never4  ,i propose this        
morning3  7#a7 to enquire into the      
reasons for this1 so far as ,i can guess
 and interpret them2  7#b7 to deal with 
such reasons as we can discover or      
surmise2  7#c7 to suggest to-day1 some  
simple first aid3 and in another        
lecture1 taking for experiment a single 
book from the ,authorised ,version1 some
 practical ways of including it in the  
ambit of our new ,english ,tripos4 ,this
 will compel me to be definite3 and as  
definite proposals invite definite      
objections1 by this method we are       
likeliest to know where we are1 and if  
the reform we seek be realisable or     
illusory4  ,,ii  ,i shall ask you then1 
first1 to assent with me1 that the      
,authorised ,version of the ,holy ,bible
 is1 as a literary achievement1 one of  
the greatest in our language2 nay1 with 

the possible exception of the complete  
works of ,shakespeare1 the very         
greatest4 ,you will certainly not deny  
this4  ,as little1 or less1 will you    
deny that more deeply than any other    
book--more deeply even than all the     
writings of ,shakespeare--far more      
deeply--it has influenced our           
literature4 ,here let me repeat a short 
passage from a former lecture of mine   
7,may #ae1 #aiac1 five years ago74 ,i   
had quoted some few glorious sentences  
such as3    ,thine eyes shall see the   
king in his beauty3 they shall   behold 
the land that is very far off4    ,and a
 man shall be as an hiding-place from   
the wind1 and a   covert from the       
tempest2 as rivers of water in a dry    
place1   as the shadow of a great rock  
in a weary land4444    ,so when this    
corruptible shall have put on           
incorruption1   and this mortal shall   
have put on immortality 444  and having 
quoted these ,i went on3    ,when a     
nation has achieved this manner of      

diction1 these   rhythms for its dearest
 beliefs1 a literature is surely        
established4444 ,wyclif1 ,tyndale1      
,coverdale and others before   the      
forty-seven had wrought4 ,the           
,authorised ,version1 setting   a seal  
on all1 set a seal on our national      
style4444 ,it has   cadences homely and 
sublime1 yet so harmonises them that    
the voice is always one4 ,simple        
men--holy and humble men   of heart like
 ,isaak ,walton and ,bunyan--have their 
lips   touched and speak to the homelier
 tune4 ,proud men1 scholars   --,milton1
 ,sir ,thomas ,browne--practise the     
rolling ,latin   sentence2 but upon the 
rhythms of our ,bible they1 too1 fall   
back--',the great mutations of the world
 are acted1 or time may   be too short  
for our designs4' ',acquaint thyself    
with the   ,choragium of the stars4'    
',there is nothing immortal but         
immortality4' ,the precise man ,addison 
cannot excel one parable   in brevity or
 in heavenly clarity3 the two parts of  

,johnson's   antithesis come to no more 
than this ',our ,lord has gone up to    
the sound of a trump2 with the sound of 
a trump our ,lord has   gone up4' ,the  
,bible controls its enemy ,gibbon as    
surely as it   haunts the curious music 
of a light sentence of ,thackeray's4 ,it
   is in everything we see1 hear1 feel1 
because it is in us1 in   our blood4    
,if that be true1 or less than gravely  
overstated3 if the ,english ,bible hold 
this unique place in our literature2 if 
it be at once a monument1 an example and
 7best of all7 a well of ,english       
undefiled1 no stagnant water1 but quick1
 running1 curative1 refreshing1         
vivifying2 may we not agree1 ,gentlemen1
 to require the weightiest reason why   
our instructors should continue to hedge
 in the temple and pipe the fountain off
 in professional conduits1 forbidding it
 to irrigate freely our ground of study8
  ,it is done so complacently that ,i do
 not remember to have met one single    
argument put up in defence of it2 and so

 ,i am reduced to guess-work4 ,what can 
be the justifying reason for an embargo 
on the face of it so silly and          
arbitrary1 if not senseless8  ,,iii     
,does it reside perchance in some       
primitive instinct of taboo2 of a       
superstition of fetish-worship fencing  
off sacred things as unmentionable1 and 
reinforced by the bad ,puritan notion   
that holy things are by no means to be  
enjoyed8  ,if so1 ,i begin by referring 
you to the ,greeks and their attitude   
towards the ,homeric poems4 ,we1 of     
course1 hold the ,old ,testament more   
sacred than ,homer4 ,but ,i very much   
doubt if it be more sacred to us than   
the ,iliad and the ,odyssey were to an  
old ,athenian1 in his day4 ,to the      
,greeks--and to forget this is the      
fruitfullest source of error in dealing 
with the ,tragedians or even with       
,aristophanes--to the ,greeks1 their    
religion1 such as it was1 mattered      
enormously4 ,they built their ,theatre  
upon it1 as we most certainly do not2   

which means that it had sunk into their 
daily life and permeated their enjoyment
 of it1 as our religion certainly does  
not affect our life to enhance it as    
amusing or pleasurable4 ,we go to       
,church on ,sunday1 and write it off as 
an observance2 but if eager to be happy 
with a free heart1 we close early and   
steal a few hours from the working-day4 
,we antagonise religion and enjoyment1  
worship and holiday4 ,nature being too  
strong for any convention of ours1      
courtship has asserted itself as        
permissible on the ,sabbath1 if not as a
 ,sabbatical institution4  ,now the     
,greeks were just as much slaves to the 
letter of their ,homer as any ,auld     
,licht ,elder to the letter of ,st      
,paul4 ,no one will accuse ,plato of    
being overfriendly to poetry4 ,yet ,i   
believe you will find in ,plato some    
#aej direct citations from ,homer1 not  
to speak of allusions scattered         
broadcast through the dialogues1 often  
as texts for long argument4 ,of these   

citations and allusions an inordinate   
number seem to us laboriously trivial-- 
that is to say1 unless we put ourselves 
into the ,hellenic mind4 ,on the other  
hand ,plato uses others to enforce or   
illustrate his profoundest doctrines4   
,for an instance1 in ,phaedo 7 #if7     
,socrates is arguing that the soul      
cannot be one with the harmony of the   
bodily affections1 being herself the    
master-player who commands the strings3 
'--almost always' he says opposing and  
coercing them in all sorts of ways      
throughout life1 sometimes more         
violently with the pains of medicine and
 gymnastic2 then again more gently2--   
threatening1 and also reprimanding the  
desires1 passions1 fears1 as if talking 
to a thing which is not herself2 as     
,homer in the ,odyssey represents       
,odysseus doing in the words  ,greek3   
stethos de plexas kradien enipape mutho3
         tetlathi de1 kradie2 kai       
kynteron allo pot etles    ,he beat his 
breast1 and thus reproached his heart3  

,endure1 my heart2 far worse hast thou  
endured4  ,do you think asks ,socrates  
that ,homer wrote this under the idea   
that the soul is a harmony capable of   
being led by the affections of the body1
 and not rather of a nature which should
 lead and master them--herself a far    
diviner thing than any harmony8  ,a     
,greek1 then1 will use ,homer--his      
,bible--minutely on niceties of conduct 
or broadly on first principles of       
philosophy or religion4 ,but equally1   
since it is poetry all the time to him1 
he will take--or to instance particular 
writers1 ,aristotle and the late ,greek1
 ,longinus will take--a single hexameter
 to illustrate a minute trick of style  
or turn of phrase1 as equally he will   
choose a long passage or the whole      
,iliad1 the whole ,odyssey1 to          
illustrate a grand rule of poetic       
construction1 a first principle of      
aesthetics4 ,for an example--',herein1' 
says ,aristotle1 starting to show that  
an ,epic poem must have ,unity of       

,subject--',herein1 to repeat what we   
have said before1 we have a further     
proof of ,homer's superiority to the    
rest4 ,he did not attempt to deal even  
with the ,trojan ,war in its entirety1  
though it was a whole story with a      
definite beginning1 middle and end--    
feeling apparently that it was too long 
a story to be taken in at one view or   
else over-complicated by variety of     
incidents4' ,and as ,aristotle takes the
 ,iliad--his ,bible--to illustrate a    
grand rule of poetical construction1 so 
the late writer of his                  
tradition--,longinus--will use it to    
exhibit the core and essence of poetical
 sublimity2 as in his famous ninth      
chapter1 of which ,gibbon wrote3    ,the
 ninth chapter 444 of the ,greek3 ,,peri
 ,,upsous or ,de   ,sublimitate of      
,longinus is one of the finest monuments
 of   antiquity4 ,till now1 ,i was      
acquainted only with two ways of        
criticising a beautiful passage3 the    
one1 to show1 by an exact   anatomy of  

it1 the distinct beauties of it1 and    
whence they   sprung2 the other1 an idle
 exclamation1 or a general   encomium1  
which leaves nothing behind it4         
,longinus has   shown me that there is a
 third4 ,he tells me his own feelings   
upon reading it2 and tells them with so 
much energy1 that he   communicates     
them4 ,i almost doubt which is more     
sublime1   ,homer's ,battle of the      
,gods1 or ,longinus's ,apostrophe to    
,terentianus upon it4  ,well1 let me    
quote you1 in translation1 a sentence or
 two from this chapter1 which produced  
upon ,gibbon such an effect as almost to
 anticipate ,walter ,pater's famous     
definition1 ',to feel the virtue of the 
poet1 of the painter1 to disengage it1  
to set it forth--these are the three    
stages of the critic's duty4'           
',elsewhere1' says ,longinus1 ',i have  
written as follows3 ,sublimity is the   
echo of a great soul4'  ',sublimity is  
the echo of a great soul4'--,it was     
worth repeating too--was it not8    ,for

 it is not possible that men with mean  
and servile ideas and   aims prevailing 
throughout their lives should produce   
anything   that is admirable and worthy 
of immortality4 ,great accents we       
expect to fall from the lips of those   
whose thoughts are deep   and grave4444 
,hear how magnificently ,homer speaks of
 the higher   powers3 ',as far as a man 
seeth with his eyes into the haze of    
distance as he sitteth upon a cliff of  
outlook and gazeth over   the wine-dark 
sea1 even so far at a bound leap the    
neighing   horses of the ,gods4'  ',he  
makes' says ,longinus 'the vastness of  
the world the measure of their leap4'   
,then1 after a criticism of the ,battle 
of the ,gods 7too long to be quoted     
here7 he goes on3    ,much superior to  
the passages respecting the ,battle of  
the   ,gods are those which represent   
the divine nature as it really          
is--pure and great and undefiled2 for   
example1 what is said of   ,poseidon4   
,her far-stretching ridges1 her         

forest-trees1 quaked in dismay1  ,and   
her peaks1 and the ,trojans' town1 and  
the ships of ,achaia's   array1         
,beneath his immortal feet1 as onward   
,poseidon strode4  ,then over the surges
 he drave3 leapt1 sporting before the   
,god1  ,sea-beasts that uprose all round
 from the depths1 for their king   they 
knew1  ,and for rapture the sea was     
disparted1 and onward the car-steeds    
flew#a4  ,then how does ,longinus       
conclude8 ,why1 very strangely--very    
strangely indeed1 whether you take the  
treatise to be by that ,longinus1 the   
,rhetorician and ,zenobia's adviser1    
whom the ,emperor ,aurelian put to      
death1 or prefer to believe it the work 
of an unknown hand in the first century4
 ,the treatise goes on3    ,similarly1  
the legislator of the ,jews ,moses1 no  
ordinary   man1 having formed and       
expressed a worthy conception of   the  
might of the ,godhead1 writes at the    
very beginning of his   ,laws1 ',god    
said'--,what8 ',let there be light1 and 

there was   light'  ,,iv  ,so here1     
,gentlemen1 you have ,plato1 ,aristotle1
 ,longinus--all ,greeks of separate     
states--men of eminence all three1 and  
two of surpassing eminence1 all three   
and each in his time and turn treating  
,homer reverently as ,holy ,writ and yet
 enjoying it liberally as poetry4 ,for  
indeed the true ,greek mind had no      
thought to separate poetry from         
religion1 as to the true ,greek mind    
reverence and liberty to enjoy1 with the
 liberty of mind that helps to enjoy1   
were all tributes to the same divine    
thing4 ,they had no professionals1 no   
puritans1 to hedge it off with a taboo3 
and so when the last and least of the   
three1 ,longinus1 comes to our ,holy    
,writ--the sublime poetry in which      
,christendom reads its ,god--his open   
mind at once recognises it as poetry and
 as sublime4 ',god said1 ,let there be  
light3 and there was light4' ,if        
,longinus could treat this as sublime   
poetry1 why cannot we1 who have         

translated and made it ours8  ,v  ,are  
we forbidden on the ground that our     
,bible is directly inspired8 ,well1     
inspiration1 as ,sir ,william ,davenant 
observed and rather wittily proved1 in  
his ,preface to ,gondibert1 'is a       
dangerous term4' ,it is dangerous mainly
 because it is a relative term1 a term  
of degrees4 ,you may say definitely of  
some things that the writer was         
inspired1 as you may certify a certain  
man to be mad--that is1 so thoroughly   
and convincingly mad that you can order 
him under restraint4 ,but quite a number
 of us are 7as they say in my part of   
the world7 'not exactly1' and one or two
 of us here and there at moments may    
have a touch even of inspiration4 ,so of
 the ,bible itself3 ,i suppose that few 
nowadays would contend it to be all     
inspired equally4 ',no' you may say1    
'not all equally3 but all of it         
directly1 as no other book is4'  ,to    
that ,i might answer1 ',how do you know 
that direct inspiration ceased with the 

,revelation of ,st ,john the ,divine1   
and closed the book8 ,it may be3 but how
 do you know1 and what authority have   
you to say that ,wordsworth's ,tintern  
,abbey1 for example1 or ,browning's     
great ,invocation of ,love was not      
directly inspired8 ,certainly the men   
who wrote them were rapt above          
themselves3 and1 if not directly1 ,why  
indirectly1 and how8'  ,but ,i pause on 
the edge of a morass1 and spring back to
 firmer ground4 ,our ,bible1 as we have 
it1 is a translation1 made by           
forty-seven men and published in the    
year #afaa4 ,the original--and ,i am    
still on firm ground because ,i am      
quoting now from ,the ,cambridge        
,history of ,english                    
,literature--'either proceeds from      
divine inspiration1 as some will have   
it1 or1 according to others1 is the     
fruit of the religious genius of the    
,hebrew race4 ,from either point of view
 the authors are highly gifted          
individuals' 6--    highly gifted       

individuals1 who1 notwithstanding their 
diversities1 and the progressiveness    
observable in their   representations of
 the nature of ,god1 are wonderfully    
consistent in the main tenor of their   
writings1 and serve1 in   general1 for  
mutual confirmation and illustration4   
,in some   cases1 this may be due to the
 revision of earlier productions   by   
later writers1 which has thus brought   
more primitive   conceptions into a     
degree of conformity with maturer and   
profounder views2 but1 even in such     
cases1 the earlier   conception often   
lends itself1 without wrenching1 to the 
deeper interpretation and the completer 
exposition4 ,the ,bible   is not        
distinctively an intellectual           
achievement4  ,in all earnest ,i protest
 that to write about the ,bible in such 
a fashion is to demonstrate             
inferentially that it has never         
quickened you with its glow2 that1      
whatever your learning1 you have missed 
what the unlearned ,bunyan1 for example1

 so admirably caught--the true wit of   
the book4 ,the writer1 to be sure1 is   
dealing with the originals4 ,let us more
 humbly sit at the feet of the          
translators4 ',highly gifted            
individuals1' or no1 the sort of thing  
the translators wrote was ',and ,god    
said1 ,let there be light1' ',a sower   
went forth to sow1' ',the ,kingdom of   
,heaven is like unto leaven1 which a    
woman took1' ',the wages of sin is      
death1' ',the trumpet shall sound1'     
',jesus wept1' ',death is swallowed up  
in victory4'  ,let me quote you for     
better encouragement1 as well as for    
relief1 a passage from ,matthew ,arnold 
on the ,authorised ,version3    ,the    
effect of ,hebrew poetry can be         
preserved and transferred   in a foreign
 language as the effect of other great  
poetry cannot4 ,the effect of ,homer1   
the effect of ,dante1 is   and must be  
in great measure lost in a translation1 
because   their poetry is a poetry of   
metre1 or of rhyme1 or both2 and   the  

effect of these is not really           
transferable4 ,a man may make   a good  
,english poem with the matter and       
thoughts of ,homer   and ,dante1 may    
even try to reproduce their metre1 or   
rhyme3   but the metre and rhyme will be
 in truth his own1 and the   effect will
 be his1 not the effect of ,homer or    
,dante4 ,isaiah's1   on the other hand1 
is a poetry1 as is well known1 of       
parallelism2 it depends not on metre and
 rhyme1 but on a   balance of thought1  
conveyed by a corresponding balance of  
sentence2 and the effect of this can be 
transferred to another   language4444   
,hebrew poetry has in addition the      
effect of   assonance and other effects 
which cannot perhaps be   transferred2  
but its main effect1 its effect of      
parallelism of   thought and sentence1  
can4  ,i take this from the preface to  
his little volume in which ,arnold      
confesses that his 'paramount object is 
to get ,isaiah enjoyed4'  ,,vi  ,sundry 
men of letters besides ,matthew ,arnold 

have pleaded for a literary study of the
 ,bible1 and specially of our ,english  
,version1 that we may thereby enhance   
our enjoyment of the work itself and1   
through this1 enjoyment and             
understanding of the rest of ,english   
,literature1 from #afaa down4 ,specially
 among these pleaders let me mention ,mr
 ,f4 ,b4 ,money-,coutts 7now ,lord      
,latymer7 and a ,cambridge man1 ,dr ,r4 
,g4 ,moulton1 now ,professor of         
,literary ,theory and ,interpretation in
 the ,university of ,chicago4 ,of both  
these writers ,i shall have something to
 say4 ,but first and generally1 if you  
ask me why all their pleas have not yet 
prevailed1 ,i will give you my own      
answer--the fault as usual lies in      
ourselves--in our own tameness and      
incuriosity4  ,there is no real trouble 
with the taboo set up by professionals  
and puritans1 if we have the courage to 
walk past it as ,christian walked       
between the lions2 no real tyranny we   
could not overthrow1 if it were worth   

while1 with a push2 no need at all for  
us to wreathe our sword in myrtle       
boughs4' ,what tyranny exists has grown 
up through the quite well-meaning       
labours of quite well-meaning men3 and1 
as ,i started this lecture by saying1 ,i
 have never heard any serious reason    
given why we should not include portions
 of the ,english ,bible in our ,english 
,tripos1 if we choose4                  
,nos te1      ,nos facimus1 ,scriptura1 
deam4  ,then why don't we choose8  ,to  
answer this1 we must 7,i suggest7 seek  
somewhat further back4 ,the ,bible--that
 is to say the body of the old ,hebrew  
,literature clothed for us in           
,english--comes to us in our childhood4 
,but how does it come8  ,let me1        
amplifying a hint from ,dr ,moulton1 ask
 you to imagine a volume including the  
great books of our own literature all   
bound together in some such order as    
this3 ,paradise ,lost1 ,darwin's        
,descent of ,man1 ,the ,anglo-,saxon    
,chronicle1 ,walter ,map1 ,mill ,on     

,liberty1 ,hooker's ,ecclesiastical     
,polity1 ,the ,annual ,register1        
,froissart1 ,adam ,smith's ,wealth of   
,nations1 ,domesday ,book1 ,le ,morte   
d',arthur1 ,campbell's ,lives of the    
,lord ,chancellors1 ,boswell's ,johnson1
 ,barbour's ,the ,bruce1 ,hakluyt's     
,voyages1 ,clarendon1 ,macaulay1 the    
plays of ,shakespeare1 ,shelley's       
,prometheus ,unbound1 ,the ,faerie      
,queene1 ,palgrave's ,golden ,treasury1 
,bacon's ,essays1 ,swinburne's ,poems   
and ,ballads1 ,fitz,gerald's ,omar      
,khayym1 ,wordsworth1 ,browning1 ,sartor
 ,resartus1 ,burton's ,anatomy of       
,melancholy1 ,burke's ,letters on a     
,regicide ,peace1 ,ossian1 ,piers       
,plowman1 ,burke's ,thoughts on the     
,present ,discontents1 ,quarles1        
,newman's ,apologia1 ,donne's ,sermons1 
,ruskin1 ,blake1 ,the ,deserted         
,village1 ,manfred1 ,blair's ,grave1    
,the ,complaint of ,deor1 ,bailey's     
,festus1 ,thompson's ,hound of ,heaven4 
,will you next imagine that in this     

volume most of the author's names are   
lost2 that1 of the few that survive1 a  
number have found their way into wrong  
places2 that ,ruskin for example is     
credited with ,sartor ,resartus1 that   
,laus ,veneris and ,dolores are ascribed
 to ,queen ,elizabeth1 ,the ,anatomy of 
,melancholy to ,charles ,,ii2 and that1 
as for the titles1 these were never     
invented by the authors1 but by a       
,committee8  ,will you still go on to   
imagine that all the poetry is printed  
as prose2 while all the long paragraphs 
of prose are broken up into short       
verses1 so that they resemble the little
 passages set out for parsing or        
analysis in an examination paper8  ,this
 device1 as you know1 was first invented
 by the exiled translators who published
 the ,geneva ,bible 7as it is called7 in
 #aeeg2 and for pulpit use1 for         
handiness of reference1 for 'waling a   
portion1' it has its obvious advantages3
 but it is1 after all and at the best1 a
 very primitive device3 and1 for my     

part1 ,i consider it the deadliest      
invention of all for robbing the book of
 outward resemblance to literature and  
converting it to the aspect of a        
gazetteer--a biblion a-biblion1 as      
,charles ,lamb puts it4  ,have we done8 
,by no means4 ,having effected all this1
 let us pepper the result over with     
italics and numerals1 print it in double
 columns1 with a marginal gutter on     
either side1 each gutter pouring down an
 inky flow of references and cross      
references4 ,then1 and not till then1 is
 the outward disguise complete--so far  
as you are concerned4 ,it remains only  
then to appoint it to be read in        
,churches1 and oblige the child to get  
selected portions of it by heart on     
,sundays4 ,but you are yet to imagine   
that the authors themselves have taken a
 hand in the game3 that the later ones  
suppose all the earlier ones to have    
been predicting all the time in a       
nebulous fashion what they themselves   
have to tell1 and indeed to have written

 mainly with that object3 so that       
,macaulay and ,adam ,smith1 for example1
 constantly interrupt the thread of     
their discourse to affirm that what they
 tell us must be right because ,walter  
,map or the author of ,piers ,plowman   
foretold it ages before4  ,now a grown  
man--that is to say1 a comparatively    
unimpressionable man--that is again to  
say1 a man past the age when to enjoy   
the ,bible is priceless--has probably   
found out somehow that the word prophet 
does not 7in spite of vulgar usage7 mean
 'a man who predicts4' ,he has          
experienced too many prophets of that   
kind-- especially since #aiad--;and he  
respects ,isaiah too much to rank       
,isaiah among them4 ,he has been in     
love1 belike2 he has read the ,song of  
,solomon3 he very much doubts if1 on the
 evidence1 ,solomon was the kind of     
lover to have written that ,song1 and he
 is quite certain that when the lover   
sings to his beloved3    ,thy two       
breasts are like two young roes that are

 twins4 ,thy   neck is as a tower of    
ivory2 thine eyes like the fishpools    
in ,heshbon1 by the gate of             
,bath-rabbim4  --he knows1 ,i say1 that 
this is not a description of the ,church
 and her graces1 as the chapter-heading 
audaciously asserts4 ,but he is lazy2   
too lazy even to commend the ,revised   
,version for striking ,solomon out of   
the ,bible1 calling the poem ,the ,song 
of ,songs1 omitting the absurd          
chapter-headings1 and printing the      
poetry as poetry ought to be printed4   
,the old-fashioned arrangement was good 
enough for him4 ,or he goes to church on
 ,christmas ,day and listens to a first 
lesson1 of which the old translators    
made nonsense1 and1 in two passages at  
least1 stark nonsense4 ,but1 again1 the 
old nonsense is good enough for him2    
soothing in fact4 ,he is not even quite 
sure that the ,bible1 looking like any  
other book1 ought to be put in the hands
 of the young4  ,in all this ,i think he
 is wrong4 ,i am sure he is wrong if our

 contention be right1 that the ,english 
,bible should be studied by us all for  
its poetry and its wonderful language as
 well as for its religion--the religion 
and the poetry being in fact            
inseparable4 ,for then1 in ,euripides'  
phrase1 we should clothe the ,bible in a
 dress through which its beauty might   
best shine4  ,,vii  ,if you ask me ,how8
 ,i answer--first begging you to bear in
 mind that we are planning the form of  
the book for our purpose1 and that other
 forms will be used for other           
purposes--that we should start with the 
simplest alterations1 such as these3    
7#a7 ,the books should be re-arranged in
 their right order1 so far as this can  
be ascertained 7and much of it has been 
ascertained74 ,i am told1 and ,i can    
well believe1 that this would at a      
stroke clear away a mass of confusion in
 strictly ,biblical criticism4 ,but that
 is not my business4 ,i know that it    
would immensely help our literary study4
  7#b7 ,i should print the prose        

continuously1 as prose is ordinarily and
 properly printed3 and the poetry in    
verse lines1 as poetry is ordinarily and
 properly printed4 ,and ,i should print 
each on a page of one column1 with none 
but the necessary notes and references1 
and these so arranged that they did not 
tease and distract the eye4  7#c7 ,this 
arrangement should be kept1 whether for 
the ,tripos we prescribe a book in the  
,authorised text or in the ,revised4 ,as
 a rule1 perhaps--or as a rule for some 
years to come--we shall probably rely on
 the ,authorised ,version3 but for some 
books 7and ,i instance ,job7 we should  
undoubtedly prefer the ,revised4  7#d7  
,with the verse we should1 ,i hold1 go  
farther even than the ,revisers4 ,as you
 know1 much of the poetry in the ,bible1
 especially of such as was meant for    
music1 is composed in stanzaic form1 or 
in strophe and anti-strophe1 with       
prelude and conclusion1 sometimes with a
 choral refrain4 ,we should print these1
 ,i contend1 in their proper form1 just 

as we should print an ,english poem in  
its proper form4  ,i shall conclude     
to-day with a striking instance of this1
 with four strophes from the #ajgth     
,psalm1 taking leave to use at will the 
,authorised1 the ,revised and the       
,coverdale ,versions4 ,each strophe1 you
 will note1 has a double refrain4 ,as   
,dr ,moulton points out1 the one puts up
 a cry for help1 the other an           
ejaculation of praise after the help has
 come4 ,each refrain has a sequel verse1
 which appropriately changes the motive 
and sets that of the next stanza3       
7i7  ,they wandered in the wilderness in
 a solitary way2 ,they found no city to 
dwell in4 ,hungry and thirsty1 ,their   
soul fainted in them4   ,then they cried
 unto the ,lord in their trouble1   ,and
 he delivered them out of their         
distresses4 ,he led them forth by a     
straight way1 ,that they might go to a  
city of habitation4   ,oh that men would
 praise the ,lord for his goodness1     
,and for his wonderful works to the     

children of men6 ,for he satisfieth the 
longing soul1 ,and filleth the hungry   
soul with goodness4                     
7ii7  ,such as sit in darkness1 and in  
the shadow of death1 ,being bound in    
affliction and iron2 ,because they      
rebelled against the words of ,god1 ,and
 contemned the counsel of the most      
,high3 ,therefore he brought down their 
heart with labour2 ,they fell down1 and 
there was none to help4   ,then they    
cried unto the ,lord in their trouble1  
,and he saved them out of their         
distresses4 ,he brought them out of     
darkness and the shadow of death1 ,and  
brake their bands in sunder4   ,oh that 
men would praise the ,lord for his      
goodness1   ,and for his wonderful works
 to the children of men6 ,for he hath   
broken the gates of brass1 ,and cut the 
bars of iron in sunder4                 
7iii7  ,fools because of their          
transgression1 ,and because of their    
iniquities1 are afflicted1 ,their soul  
abhorreth all manner of meat2 ,and they 

draw near unto death's door4   ,then    
they cry unto the ,lord in their        
trouble1   ,and he saveth them out of   
their distresses4 ,he sendeth his word  
and healeth them1 ,and delivereth them  
from their destructions4   ,oh that men 
would praise the ,lord for his goodness1
   ,and for his wonderful works to the  
children of men6 ,and let them offer the
 sacrifices of thanksgiving1 ,and       
declare his works with singing3         
7iv7  ,they that go down to the sea in  
ships1 ,that do business in great       
waters2 ,these see the works of the     
,lord1 ,and his wonders in the deep4    
,for he commandeth1 and raiseth the     
stormy wind1 ,which lifteth up the waves
 thereof4 ,they mount up to the heaven1 
,they go down again to the depths2      
,their soul melteth away because of     
trouble4 ,they reel to and fro1 ,and    
stagger like a drunken man1 ,and are at 
their wits' end4   ,then they cry unto  
the ,lord in their trouble1   ,and he   
bringeth them out of their distresses4  

,he maketh the storm a calm1 ,so that   
the waves thereof are still4 ,then are  
they glad because they be quiet2 ,so he 
bringeth them unto the haven where they 
would be4   ,oh that men would praise   
the ,lord for his goodness1   ,and for  
his wonderful works to the children of  
men6 ,let them exalt him also in the    
assembly of the people1 ,and praise him 
in the seat of the elders6    ,footnote 
#a3 ,i borrow the verse and in part the 
prose of ,professor ,w4 ,rhys ,roberts' 
translation4     ,,lecture ,x  ,,on     
,,reading ,,the ,,bible 7,,iii7         
,,monday1 ,,may #f1 #aiah   ,i  ,my task
 to-day1 ,gentlemen1 is mainly          
practical3 to choose a particular book  
of ,scripture and show 7if ,i can7 not  
only that it deserves to be enjoyed1 in 
its ,english rendering1 as a literary   
masterpiece1 because it abides in that  
dress1 an indisputable classic for us1  
as surely as if it had first been       
composed in ,english2 but that it can1  
for purposes of study1 serve the purpose

 of any true literary school of ,english
 as readily1 and as usefully1 as the    
,prologue to ,the ,canterbury ,tales or 
,hamlet or ,paradise ,lost4 ,i shall    
choose ,the ,book of ,job for several   
reasons1 presently to be given2 but beg 
you to understand that1 while taking it 
for a striking illustration1 ,i use it  
but to illustrate2 that what may be done
 with ,job may1 in degree1 be done with 
,ruth1 with ,esther1 with the ,psalms1  
,the ,song of ,songs1 ,ecclesiastes2    
with ,isaiah of ,jerusalem1 ,ezekiel1   
sundry of the prophets2 even with ,st   
,luke's ,gospel or ,st ,paul's letters  
to the ,churches4  ,my first reason1    
then1 for choosing ,job has already been
 given4 ,it is the most striking        
illustration to be found4 ,many of the  
,psalms touch perfection as lyrical     
strains3 of the ecstacy of passion in   
love ,i suppose ,the ,song of ,songs to 
express the very last word4 ,there are  
chapters of ,isaiah that snatch the very
 soul and ravish it aloft4 ,in no       

literature known to me are short stories
 told with such sweet austerity of art  
as in the ,gospel parables--,i can even 
imagine a high and learned artist in    
words1 after rejecting them as divine on
 many grounds1 surrendering in the end  
to their divine artistry4 ,but for high 
seriousness combined with architectonic 
treatment on a great scale2 for         
sublimity of conception1 working        
malleably within a structure which is   
simple1 severe1 complete1 having a      
beginning1 a middle and an end2 for     
diction never less than adequate1       
constantly right and therefore not      
seldom superb1 as theme1 thought and    
utterance soar up together and make one 
miracle1 ,i can name no single book of  
the ,bible to compare with ,job4  ,my   
second reason is that the poem1 being   
brief1 compendious and quite simple in  
structure1 can be handily expounded2    
,job is what ,milton precisely called   
it1 'a brief model4' ,and my third      
reason 7which ,i must not hide7 is that 

two writers whom ,i mentioned in my last
 lecture ,lord ,latymer and ,professor  
,r4 ,g4 ,moulton--have already done this
 for me4 ,a man who drives at practice  
must use the tools other men have made1 
so he use them with due acknowledgment2 
and this acknowledgment ,i pay by       
referring you to ,book ,,ii of ,lord    
,latymer's ,the ,poet's ,charter1' and  
to the analysis of ,job with which      
,professor ,moulton introduces his      
,literary ,study of the ,bible4'  ,,ii  
,but ,i have a fourth reason1 out of    
which ,i might make an apparent fifth by
 presenting it to you in two different  
ways4 ,those elders of you who have     
followed certain earlier lectures ',on  
the ,art of ,writing' may remember that 
they set very little store upon metre as
 a dividing line between poetry and     
prose1 and no store at all upon rhyme4  
,i am tempted to-day to go farther1 and 
to maintain that1 the larger1 the       
sublimer1 your subject is1 the more     
impertinent rhyme becomes to it3 and    

that this impertinence increases in a   
sort of geometrical progression as you  
advance from monosyllabic to dissyllabic
 and on to trisyllabic rhyme4 ,let me   
put this by a series of examples4  ,we  
start with no rhyme at all3       ,hail1
 holy ,light1 offspring of ,heaven first
 born6      ,or of the ,eternal         
coeternal beam      ,may ,i express thee
 unblamed8 since ,god is light1         
,and never but in unapproached light    
,dwelt from eternity4  ,we feel of this1
 as we feel of a great passage in       
,hamlet or ,lear1 that here is verse at 
once capable of the highest sublimity   
and capable of sustaining its theme1 of 
lifting and lowering it at will1 with   
endless resource in the slide and pause 
of the caesura1 to carry it on and on4  
,we feel it to be adequate1 too1 for    
quite plain straightforward narrative1  
as in this passage from ,balder ,dead3  
,but from the hill of ,lidskialf ,odin  
rose1      ,the throne1 from which his  
eye surveys the world2      ,and mounted

 ,sleipner1 and in darkness rode        
,to ,asgard4 ,and the stars came out in 
heaven1      ,high over ,asgard1 to     
light home the ,king4      ,but fiercely
 ,odin gallop'd1 moved in heart2        
,and swift to ,asgard1 to the gate1 he  
came4      ,and terribly the hoofs of   
,sleipner rang      ,along the flinty   
floor of ,asgard streets1      ,and the 
,gods trembled on their golden beds--   
,hearing the wrathful ,father coming    
home--      ,for dread1 for like a      
whirlwind1 ,odin came4      ,and to     
,valhalla's gate he rode1 and left      
,sleipner2 and ,sleipner went to his own
 stall3      ,and in ,valhalla ,odin    
laid him down4  ,now of rhyme he were a 
fool who1 with ,lycidas1 or ,gray's     
,elegy1 or certain choruses of          
,prometheus ,unbound1 or page after page
 of ,victor ,hugo in his mind1 should   
assert it to be in itself inimical1 or a
 hindrance1 or even less than a help1 to
 sublimity2 or who1 with ,dante in his  
mind1 should assert it to be1 in itself1

 any bar to continuous and sustained    
sublimity4 ,but languages differ vastly 
in their wealth of rhyme1 and differ out
 of any proportion to their wealth in   
words3 ,english for instance being      
infinitely richer than ,italian in      
vocabulary1 yet almost ridiculously     
poorer in dissyllabic1 or feminine      
rhymes4 ,speaking generally1 ,i should  
say that in proportion to its wonderful 
vocabulary1 ,english is poor even in    
single rhymes2 that the words 'love1'   
'truth1' ',god1' for example1 have lists
 of possible congeners so limited that  
the mind1 hearing the word 'love1' runs 
forward to match it with 'dove' or      
'above' or even with 'move'3 and this   
gives it a sense of arrest1 of          
listening1 of check1 of waiting1 which  
alike impedes the flow of ,pope in      
imitating ,homer1 and of ,spenser in    
essaying a sublime and continuous story 
of his own4 ,it does well enough to     
carry ,chaucer over any gap with a      
'forsooth as ,i you say' or 'forsooth as

 ,i you tell'3 but it does so at a total
 cost of the sublime4 ,and this 7,i     
think7 was really at the back of        
,milton's mind when in the preface to   
,paradise ,lost he championed blank     
verse against 'the jingling sound of    
like endings4'  ,but when we pass from  
single rhymes to double1 of which ,dante
 had an inexhaustible store1 we find the
 ,english poet almost a pauper2 so      
nearly a pauper that he has to achieve  
each new rhyme by a trick--which        
tricking is fatal to rapture1 alike in  
the poet and the hearer4 ,let me        
instance a poem which1 planned for      
sublimity1 keeps tumbling flat upon     
earth through the inherent fault of the 
machine--,i mean ,myers's ,st ,paul--a  
poem which1 finely conceived1 pondered1 
worked and re-worked upon in edition    
after edition1 was from the first       
condemned 7to my mind7 by the technical 
bar of dissyllabic rhyme which the poet 
unhappily chose4 ,i take one of its most
 deeply felt passages--that of ,st ,paul

 protesting against his conversion being
 taken for instantaneous1 wholly        
accounted for by the miraculous vision  
related in the ,acts of the ,apostles3  
,let no man think that sudden in a      
minute      ,all is accomplished and the
 work is done2--   ,though with thine   
earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it    
,scarce were it ended in thy setting    
sun4    ,oh the regret1 the struggle and
 the failing6      ,oh the days desolate
 and useless years6   ,vows in the      
night1 so fierce and unavailing6        
,stings of my shame and passion of my   
tears6    ,how have ,i seen in ,araby   
,orion1      ,seen without seeing1 till 
he set again1   ,known the night-noise  
and thunder of the lion1      ,silence  
and sounds of the prodigious plain6     
,how have ,i knelt with arms of my      
aspiring      ,lifted all night in      
irresponsive air1   ,dazed and amazed   
with overmuch desiring1      ,blank with
 the utter agony of prayer6    ',what1' 
ye will say1 and thou who at ,damascus  

,sawest the splendour1 answeredst the   
,voice2   ,so hast thou suffered and    
canst dare to ask us1      ,paul of the 
,romans1 bidding us rejoice8'  ,you     
cannot say ,i have instanced a passage  
anything short of fine4 ,but do you not 
feel that a man who is searching for a  
rhyme to ,damascus has not really the   
time to cry ',abba1 father'8 ,is not    
your own rapture interrupted by some    
wonder ',how will he bring it off'8 ,and
 when he has searched and contrived to  
ask us1' are we responsive to the       
ecstacy8 ,has he not--if ,i may employ  
an ,oriental trope for once--let in the 
chill breath of cleverness upon the     
garden of beatitude8 ,no man can be     
clever and ecstatic at the same         
moment#a4  ,as for triple rhymes--rhymes
 of the comedian who had a lot o' news  
with many curious facts about the square
 on the hypotenuse1 or the cassiowary   
who ate the missionary on the plains of 
,timbuctoo1 with ,bible1 prayer-book1   
hymn-book too--they are for the         

facetious1 and removed1 as far as       
geometrical progression can remove them1
 from any ,paradise ,lost or ,regained4 
,it may sound a genuine note1 now and   
then3       ,alas6 for the rarity       
,of ,christian charity          ,under  
the sun6      ,oh1 it was pitiful6      
,near a whole city full1          ,home 
she had none6  ,but not often3 and1 ,i  
think1 never but in lyric4  ,,iii  ,so  
much1 then1 for rhyme4 ,we will approach
 the question of metre1 helped or       
unhelped by rhyme1 in another way2 and a
 way yet more practical4  ,when ,milton 
7determined to write a grand epic7 was  
casting about for his subject1 he had a 
mind for some while to attempt the story
 of ,job4 ,you may find evidence for    
this in a ,,ms preserved here in        
,trinity ,college ,library4  ,you will  
find printed evidence in a passage of   
his ,reason of ,church ,government3     
',time serves not now1' he writes1 'and 
perhaps ,i might seem too profuse to    
give any certain account of what the    

mind at home1 in the spacious circuits  
of her musing1 hath liberty to propose  
to herself1 though of highest hope and  
hardest attempting2 whether that epic   
form whereof the two poems of ,homer1   
and those other two of ,virgil and      
,tasso1 are a diffuse1 and the book of  
,job a brief model 444'  ,again1 we know
 ,job to have been one of the three     
stories meditated by ,shelley as themes 
for great lyrical dramas1 the other two 
being the madness of ,tasso and         
,prometheus ,unbound4 ,shelley never    
abandoned this idea of a lyrical drama  
on ,job2 and if ,milton abandoned the   
idea of an epic1 there are passages in  
,paradise ,lost as there are passages in
 ,prometheus ,unbound that might well   
have been written for this other story4 
,take the lines       ,why am ,i mock'd 
with death1 and lengthen'd out      ,to 
deathless pain8 ,how gladly would ,i    
meet      ,mortality my sentence1 and be
 earth      ,insensible6 how glad would 
lay me down      ,as in my mother's lap6

 ,there ,i should rest      ,and sleep  
secure2444  ,what is this1 as ,lord     
,latymer asks1 but an echo of ,job's    
words8--       ,for now should ,i have  
lien down and been quiet2      ,i should
 have slept2 then had ,i been at rest3  
,with kings and counsellers of the      
earth1      ,which built desolate places
 for themselves 444      ,there the     
wicked cease from troubling2      ,and  
there the weary be at rest4  ,there is  
no need for me to point out how exactly1
 though from two nearly opposite angles1
 the story of ,job would hit the        
philosophy of ,milton and the philosophy
 of ,shelley to the very heart4 ,what is
 the story of the afflicted patriarch   
but a direct challenge to a protestant  
like ,milton 7,i use the word in its    
strict sense7 to justify the ways of    
,god to man8 ,it is the very purpose1 in
 sum1 of the ,book of ,job1 as it is the
 very purpose1 in sum1 of ,paradise     
,lost3 and since both poems can only    
work out the justification by long      

argumentative speeches1 both poems      
lamentably fail as real solutions of the
 difficulty4 ,to this ,i shall recur1   
and here merely observe that qui s'     
excuse s' accuse3 a ,god who can only   
explain himself by the help of          
long-winded scolding1 or of long-winded 
advocacy1 though he employ an archangel 
for advocate1 has given away the half of
 his case by the implicit admission that
 there are two sides to the question4   
,and when we have put aside the poetical
 ineptitude of a ,creator driven to     
apology1 it remains that to ,shelley the
 ,jehovah who1 for a sort of wager1     
allowed ,satan to torture ,job merely   
for the game of testing him1 would be no
 better than any other tyrant2 would be 
a miscreant ,creator1 abominable as the 
,zeus of the ,prometheus ,unbound4  ,now
 you may urge that ,milton and ,shelley 
dropped ,job for hero because both felt 
him to be a merely static figure3 and   
that the one chose ,satan1 the rebel    
angel1 the other chose ,prometheus the  

rebel ,titan1 because both are active   
rebels1 and as epic and drama require   
action1 each of these heroes makes the  
thing move2 that ,satan and ,prometheus 
are not passive sufferers like ,job but 
souls as quick and fiery as ,byron's    
,lucifer3       ,souls who dare use     
their immortality--      ,souls who dare
 look the ,omnipotent tyrant in         
,his everlasting face1 and tell him that
      ,his evil is not good4  ,very     
well1 urge this3 urge it with all your  
might4 ,all the while you will be doing 
just what ,i desire you to do1 using    
,job alongside ,prometheus ,unbound and 
,paradise ,lost as a comparative work of
 literature4  ,but1 if you ask me for my
 own opinion why ,milton and ,shelley   
dropped their intention to make poems on
 the ,book of ,job1 it is that they no  
sooner tackled it than they found it to 
be a magnificent poem already1 and a    
poem on which1 with all their genius1   
they found themselves unable to improve4
  ,i want you to realise a thing most   

simple1 demonstrable by five minutes of 
practice1 yet so confused by            
conventional notions of what poetry is  
that ,i dare say it to be equally       
demonstrable that ,milton and ,shelley  
discovered it only by experiment4 ,does 
this appear to you a bold thing to say  
of so tremendous an artist as ,milton8  
,well1 of course it would be cruel to   
quote in proof his paraphrases of       
,psalms cxiv and cxxxvi3 to set against 
the ,authorised ,version's       ,when  
,israel went out of ,egypt1      ,the   
house of ,jacob from a people of strange
 language  such pomposity as       ,when
 the blest seed of ,terah's faithful son
      ,after long toil their liberty had
 won--  or against    ,o give thanks4444
   ,to him that stretched out the earth 
above the waters3      for his mercy    
endureth for ever4   ,to him that made  
great lights3      for his mercy        
endureth for ever  such stuff as        
,who did the solid earth ordain      ,to
 rise above the watery plain2           

,for his mercies aye endure1            
,ever faithful1 ever sure4      ,who1 by
 his all-commanding might1      ,did    
fill the new-made world with light2     
,for his mercies aye endure1            
,ever faithful1 ever sure4  verses yet  
further weakened by the late ,sir       
,william ,baker for ,hymns ,ancient and 
,modern4  ,it were cruel1 ,i say1 to    
condemn these attempts as little above  
those of ,sternhold and ,hopkins1 or    
even of those of ,tate and ,brady3 for  
,milton made them at fifteen years old1 
and he who afterwards consecrated his   
youth to poetry soon learned to know    
better4 ,and yet1 bearing in mind the   
passages in ,paradise ,lost and         
,paradise ,regained which paraphrase the
 ,scriptural narrative1 ,i cannot       
forbear the suspicion that1 though as an
 artist he had the instinct to feel it1 
he never quite won to knowing the simple
 fact that the thing had already been   
done and surpassingly well done3 he1 who
 did so much to liberate poetry from    

rhyme--he--even he who in the grand     
choruses of ,samson ,agonistes did so   
much to liberate it from strict metre   
never quite realised1 being hag-ridden  
by the fetish that rides between two    
panniers1 the sacred and the profane1   
that this translation of ,job already   
belongs to the category of poetry1 is   
poetry1 already above metre1 and in     
rhythm far on its way to the            
insurpassable4 ,if rhyme be allowed to  
that greatest of arts1 if metre1 is not 
rhythm above both for her service8 ,hear
 in a sentence how this poem uplifts the
 rhythm of the ,vulgate3    ,ecce1 ,deus
 magnus vincens scientiam nostram2      
numerus annorum   ejus inestimabilis6   
,but hear1 in a longer passage1 how our 
,english rhythm swings and sways to the 
,hebrew parallels3    ,surely there is a
 mine for silver1   ,and a place for    
gold which they refine4   ,iron is taken
 out of the earth1   ,and brass is      
molten out of the stone4   ,man setteth 
an end to darkness1   ,and searcheth out

 to the furthest bound   ,the stones of 
thick darkness and of the shadow of     
death4   ,he breaketh open a shaft away 
from where men sojourn2   ,they are     
forgotten of the foot that passeth by2  
,they hang afar from men1 they swing to 
and fro4   ,as for the earth1 out of it 
cometh bread3   ,and underneath it is   
turned up as it were by fire4   ,the    
atones thereof are the place of         
sapphires1   ,and it hath dust of gold4 
,that path no bird of prey knoweth1     
,neither hath the falcon's eye seen it3 
,the proud beasts have not trodden it1  
,nor hath the fierce lion passed        
thereby4   ,he putteth forth his hand   
upon the flinty rock2   ,he overturneth 
the mountains by the roots4   ,he       
cutteth out channels among the rocks2   
,and his eye seeth every precious thing4
   ,he bindeth the streams that they    
trickle not2   ,and the thing that is   
hid bringeth he forth to light4   ,but  
where shall wisdom be found8   ,and     
where is the place of understanding8    

,man knoweth not the price thereof2     
,neither is it found in the land of the 
living4   ,the deep saith1 ,it is not in
 me3   ,and the sea saith1 ,it is not   
with me4   ,it cannot be gotten for     
gold1   ,neither shall silver be weighed
 for the price thereof4   ,it cannot be 
valued with the gold of ,ophir1   ,with 
the precious onyx1 or the sapphire4     
,gold and glass cannot equal it3        
,neither shall the exchange thereof be  
jewels of fine gold4   ,no mention shall
 be made of coral or of crystal3   ,yea1
 the price of wisdom is above rubies4   
,the topaz of ,ethiopia shall not equal 
it1   ,neither shall it be valued with  
pure gold4   ,whence then cometh wisdom8
   ,and where is the place of           
understanding8   ,seeing it is hid from 
the eyes of all living1   ,and kept     
close from the fowls of the air4        
,destruction and ,death say1   ,we have 
heard a rumour thereof with our ears4   
,god understandeth the way thereof1     
,and he knoweth the place thereof4      

,for he looketh to the ends of the      
earth1   ,and seeth under the whole     
heaven2   ,to make a weight for the     
wind2   ,yea1 he meteth out the waters  
by measure4   ,when he made a decree for
 the rain1   ,and a way for the         
lightning of the thunder3   ,then did he
 see it1 and declare it2   ,he          
established it1 yea1 and searched it    
out4   ,and unto man he said1   ,behold1
 the fear of the ,lord1 that is wisdom2 
,and to depart from evil is             
understanding4  ,is that poetry8 ,surely
 it is poetry4 ,can you improve it with 
the embellishments of rhyme and strict  
scansion8 ,well1 sundry bold men have   
tried1 and ,i will choose1 for your     
judgment1 the rendering of a part of the
 above passage by one who is by no means
 the worst of them--a hardy anonymous   
,scotsman4 ,his version was published at
 ,falkirk in #ahfi3    ,his hand on the 
rock the adventurer puts1   ,and        
mountains entire overturns by the roots2
   ,new rivers in rocks are enchased by 

his might1   ,and everything precious   
revealed to his sight2   ,the floods    
from o'er-flowing he bindeth at will1   
,and the thing that is hid bringeth     
forth by his skill4    ,but where real  
wisdom is found can he shew8   ,or the  
place understanding inhabiteth8 ,no6    
,men know not the value1 the price of   
this gem2   ',tis not found in the land 
of the living with them4   ,it is not in
 me1 saith the depth2 and the sea       
,with the voice of an echo1 repeats1    
,not in me4  7,i have a suspicion       
somehow that what the sea really        
answered1 in its northern vernacular1   
was ',me either4'7    ,whence then      
cometh wisdom8 ,and where is the place  
,understanding hath chosen1 since this  
is the case8444  ,enough6 ,this not only
 shows how that other rendering can be  
spoilt even to the point of burlesque by
 an attempt1 on preconceived notions1 to
 embellish it with metre and rhyme1 but 
it also hints that parallel verse will  
actually resent and abhor such          

embellishment even by the most skilled  
hand4 ,yet1 ,i repeat1 our version of   
,job is poetry undeniable4 ,what        
follows8  ,why1 it follows that in the  
course of studying it as literature we  
have found experimentally settled for   
us--and on the side of freedom--a       
dispute in which scores of eminent      
critics have taken sides3 a dispute     
revived but yesterday 7if we omit the   
blank and devastated days of this ,war7 
by the writers and apostles of vers     
libres4 ',can there be poetry without   
metre8' ',is free verse a true poetic   
form8' ,why1 our ,book of ,job being    
poetry1 unmistakable poetry1 of course  
there can1 to be sure it is4 ,these     
apostles are butting at an open door4   
,nothing remains for them but to go and 
write vers libres as fine as those of   
,job in our ,english translation4 ,or   
suppose even that they write as well as 
,m4 ,paul ,fort1 they will yet be       
writing ancestrally1 not as innovators  
but as renewers4 ,nothing is done in    

literature by arguing whether or not    
this or that be possible or permissible4
 ,the only way to prove it possible or  
permissible is to go and do it3 and then
 you are lucky indeed if some ancient   
writers have not forestalled you4  ,,iv 
,now for another question 7much argued1 
you will remember1 a few years ago7 ',is
 there--can there be--such a thing as a 
,static ,theatre1 a ,static ,drama8'    
,most of you 7,i daresay7 remember ,m4  
,maeterlinck's definition of this and   
his demand for it4 ,to summarise him    
roughly1 he contends that the old       
drama--the traditional1 the conventional
 drama-- lives by action2 that1 in      
,aristotle's phrase1 it represents men  
doing1 ,greek3 prattontas1 and resolves 
itself into a struggle of human         
wills--whether against the gods1 as in  
ancient tragedy1 or against one another1
 as in modern4 ,m4 ,maeterlinck tells   
us--    ,there is a tragic element in   
the life of every day that is far   more
 real1 far more penetrating1 far more   

akin to the true self   that is in us1  
than is the tragedy that lies in great  
adventure4444 ,it goes beyond the       
determined struggle of man   against    
man1 and desire against desire2 it goes 
beyond the   eternal conflict of duty   
and passion4 ,its province is rather to 
reveal to us how truly wonderful is the 
mere act of living1 and   to throw light
 upon the existence of the soul1        
self-contained   in the midst of        
ever-restless immensities2 to hush the  
discourse of reason and sentiment1 so   
that above the tumult may   be heard the
 solemn uninterrupted whisperings of man
 and his   destiny4    ,to the tragic   
author he goes on1 later1 as to the     
mediocre   painter who still lingers    
over historical pictures1 it is only    
the violence of the anecdote that       
appeals1 and in his   representation    
thereof does the entire interest of his 
work   consist4444 ,indeed when ,i go to
 a theatre1 ,i feel as though ,i   were 
spending a few hours with my ancestors1 

who conceived life   as though it were  
something that was primitive1 arid and  
brutal4444 ,i am shown a deceived       
husband killing his wife1 a   woman     
poisoning her lover1 a son avenging his 
father1 a father   slaughtering his     
children1 murdered kings1 ravished      
virgins1   imprisoned citizens--in a    
word all the sublimity of tradition1    
but alas how superficial and material6  
,blood1 surface-tears and   death6 ,what
 can ,i learn from creatures who have   
but one fixed   idea1 who have no time  
to live1 for that there is a rival1 a   
mistress1 whom it behoves them to put to
 death8  ,m4 ,maeterlinck does not 7he  
says7 know if the ,static ,drama of his 
craving be impossible4 ,he inclines to  
think--instancing some ,greek tragedies 
such as ,prometheus and ,choephori--that
 it already exists4 ,but may we not1 out
 of the ,east--the slow1 the stationary 
,east--fetch an instance more           
convincing8  ,v  ,the ,drama of ,job    
opens with a ,prologue in the mouth of a

 ,narrator4  ,there was a man in the    
land of ,uz1 named ,job2 upright1       
,god-fearing1 of great substance in     
sheep1 cattle and oxen2 blest also with 
seven sons and three daughters4 ,after  
telling of their family life1 how       
wholesome it is1 and pious1 and happy-- 
,the ,prologue passes to a ,council held
 in ,heaven4 ,the ,lord sits there1 and 
the sons of ,god present themselves each
 from his province4 ,enters ,satan 7whom
 we had better call the ,adversary7 from
 his sphere of inspection1 the ,earth1  
and reports4 ,the ,lord specially       
questions him concerning ,job1 pattern  
of men4 ,the ,adversary demurs4 ',doth  
,job fear ,god for nought8 ,hast thou   
not set a hedge about his prosperity8   
,but put forth thy hand and touch all   
that he hath1 and he will renounce thee 
to thy face4' ,the ,lord gives leave for
 this trial to be made 7you will recall 
the opening of ,everyman73  ,so1 in the 
midst of his wealth1 a messenger came to
 job and says--       ,the oxen were    

plowing1      and the asses feeding     
beside them3      and the ,sabeans fell 
upon them1      and took them away2     
yea1 they have slain the servants with  
the edge of the sword2   and ,i only am 
escaped alone to tell thee4    ,while he
 was yet speaking1 there came also      
another1 and said1   ,the fire of ,god  
is fallen from heaven1   and hath burned
 up the sheep1 and the servants1        
and consumed them2      and ,i only am  
escaped alone to tell thee4    ,while he
 was yet speaking1 there came also      
another1 and said1      ,the ,chaldeans 
made three bands1      and fell upon the
 camels1      and have taken them away1 
yea1 and slain the servants with the    
edge of the sword2   and ,i only am     
escaped alone to tell thee4    ,while he
 was yet speaking1 there came also      
another1 and said1   ,thy sons and thy  
daughters   were eating and drinking    
wine in their eldest brother's house3   
and1 behold1   there came a great wind  
from the wilderness1   and smote the    

four corners of the house1      and it  
fell upon the young men1      and they  
are dead2      and ,i only am escaped   
alone to tell thee4    ,then ,job arose1
 and rent his mantle1 and shaved his    
head1 and   fell down upon the ground1  
and worshipped2 and he said1      ,naked
 came ,i out of my mother's womb1       
and naked shall ,i return thither3      
the ,lord gave1 and the ,lord hath taken
 away2      blessed be the name of the  
,lord4  ,so the ,adversary is foiled1   
and ,job has not renounced ,god4 ,a     
second ,council is held in ,heaven2 and 
the ,adversary1 being questioned1 has to
 admit ,job's integrity1 but proposes a 
severer test3    ,skin for skin1 yea1   
all that a man hath will he give for his
   life4 ,but put forth thine hand now1 
and touch his bone and   his flesh1 and 
he will renounce thee to thy face4      
,again leave is given3 and the          
,adversary smites job with the most     
hideous and loathsome form of leprosy4  
,his kinsfolk 7as we learn later7 have  

already begun to desert and hold aloof  
from him as a man marked out by ,god's  
displeasure4 ,but now he passes out from
 their midst1 as one unclean from head  
to foot1 and seats himself on the       
ash-mound--that is1 upon the ,mezbele or
 heap of refuse which accumulates       
outside ,arab villages4    ',the dung1' 
says ,professor ,moulton1 which is      
heaped upon   the ,mezbele of the       
,hauran villages is not mixed with      
straw1   which in that warm and dry land
 is not needed for litter1   and it     
comes mostly from solid-hoofed animals1 
as the   flocks and oxen are left       
over-night in the grazing places4 ,it   
is carried in baskets in a dry state to 
this place 444 and   usually burnt once 
a month4444 ,the ashes remain4444 ,if   
the   village has been inhabited for    
centuries the ,mezbele   reaches a      
height far overtopping it4 ,the winter  
rains reduce   it into a compact mass1  
and it becomes by and by a solid   hill 
of earth4444 ,the ,mezbele serves the   

inhabitants for a   watchtower1 and in  
the sultry evenings for a place of      
concourse1 because there is a current of
 air on the height4   ,there all day    
long the children play about it2 and    
there the   outcast1 who has been       
stricken with some loathsome malady1 and
   is not allowed to enter the dwellings
 of men1 lays himself down   begging an 
alms of the passers-by by day1 and by   
night   sheltering himself among the    
ashes which the heat of the sun   has   
warmed4'  ,here1 then1 sits in his      
misery 'the forsaken grandee'2 and here 
yet another temptation comes to         
him--this time not expressly allowed by 
the ,lord4 ,much foolish condemnation   
7and1 ,i may add1 some foolish          
facetiousness7 has been heaped on ,job's
 wife4 ,as a matter of fact she is not a
 wicked woman--she has borne her part in
 the pious and happy family life1 now   
taken away3 she has uttered no word of  
complaint though all the substance be   
swallowed up and her children with it4  

,but now the sight of her innocent      
husband thus helpless1 thus incurably   
smitten1 wrings1 through love and       
anguish and indignation1 this cry from  
her3    ,dost thou still hold fast thine
 integrity8 renounce ,god1 and   die4   
,but ,job answered1 soothing her3       
,thou speakest as one of the foolish    
women speaketh4 ,what8   shall we       
receive good at the hand of ,god1 and   
shall we not   receive evil8  ,so the   
second trial ends1 and ,job has sinned  
not with his lips4  ,but now comes the  
third trial1 which needs no ,council in 
,heaven to decree it4 ,travellers by the
 mound saw this figure seated there1    
patient1 uncomplaining1 an object of awe
 even to the children who at first      
mocked him2 asked this man's history2   
and hearing of it1 smote on their       
breasts1 and made a token of it and     
carried the news into far countries3    
until it reached the ears of ,job's     
three friends1 all great tribesmen like 
himself--,eliphaz the ,temanite1 ,bildad

 the ,shuhite1 and ,zophar the          
,naamathite4 ,these three made an       
appointment together to travel and visit
 ,job4 ',and when they lifted up their  
eyes afar off1 and knew him not1 they   
lifted up their voice1 and wept4' ,then 
they went up and sat down opposite him  
on the ground4 ,but the majesty of      
suffering is silent3       ,here ,i and 
sorrows sit2      ,here is my throne1   
bid kings come bow to it4444  ,no1 not a
 word4444 ,and1 with the grave courtesy 
of ,eastern men1 they too are silent3   
,so they sat down with him upon the     
ground seven days and   seven nights1   
and none spake a word unto him3 for they
 saw   that his grief was very great4   
,the ,prologue ends4 ,the scene is set4 
,after seven days of silence the real   
drama opens4  ,,vi  ,of the drama itself
 ,i shall attempt no analysis1 referring
 you for this to the two books from     
which ,i have already quoted4 ,my       
purpose being merely to persuade you    
that this surpassing poem can be        

studied1 and ought to be studied1 as    
literature1 ,i shall content myself with
 turning it 7so to speak7 once or twice 
in my hand and glancing one or two      
facets at you4  ,to begin with1 then1   
you will not have failed to notice1 in  
the setting out of the drama1 a curious 
resemblance between ,job and the        
,prometheus of ,aeschylus4 ,the curtain 
in each play lifts on a figure solitary1
 tortured 7for no reason that seems good
 to us7 by a higher will which1 we are  
told1 is ,god's4 ,the chorus of         
,sea-nymphs in the opening of the ,greek
 play bears no small resemblance in     
attitude of mind to job's three friends4
 ,when job at length breaks the         
intolerable silence with    ,let the day
 perish wherein ,i was born1   ,and the 
night which said1 ,there is a man child 
conceived4  he uses just such an        
outburst as ,prometheus3 and1 as he is  
answered by his friends1 so the ,nymphs 
at once exclaim to ,prometheus          
,seest thou not that thou hast sinned8  

,but at once1 for anyone with a sense of
 comparative literature1 is set up a    
comparison between the persistent ,west 
and the persistent ,east2 between the   
fiery energising rebel and the patient  
victim4 ,of these two1 both good1 one   
will dare everything to release mankind 
from thrall2 the other will submit1 and 
justify himself--mankind too1 if it may 
hap--by submission4  ,at once this      
difference is seen to give a difference 
of form to the drama4 ,our poem is      
purely static4 ,some critics can detect 
little individuality in ,job's three    
friends1 to distinguish them4 ,for my   
part ,i find ,eliphaz more of a         
personage than the other two2 grander in
 the volume of his mind1 securer in     
wisdom2 as ,i find ,zophar rather       
noticeably a mean-minded greybeard1 and 
,bildad a man of the stand-no-nonsense  
kind4 ,but1 to tell the truth1 ,i prefer
 not to search for individuality in     
these men3 ,i prefer to see them as     
three figures with eyes of stone almost 

expressionless4 ,for in truth they are  
the conventions1 all through1--the      
orthodox men--addressing ,job1 the      
reality2 and their words come to this3  
,thou sufferest1 therefore must have    
sinned4      ,all suffering is1 must be 
a judgment upon sin4      ,else ,god is 
not righteous4  ,they are statuesque1 as
 the drama is static4 ,the speeches     
follow one another1 rising and falling1 
in rise and fall magnificently and      
deliberately eloquent4 ,not a limb is   
seen to move1 unless it be when job half
 rises from the dust in sudden scorn of 
their conventions3       ,no doubt but  
ye are the people1      ,and wisdom     
shall die with you6  or again           
,will ye speak unrighteously for ,god1  
,and talk deceitfully for him8          
,will ye respect his person8      ,will 
ye contend for ,god8  ,yet--so great is 
this man1 who has not renounced and will
 not renounce ,god1 that still and ever 
he clamours for more knowledge of ,him4 
,still getting no answer1 he lifts up   

his hands and calls the great ,oath of  
,clearance2 in effect ',if ,i have loved
 gold overmuch1 hated mine enemy1       
refused the stranger my tent1 truckled  
to public opinion'3    ,if my land cry  
out against me1   ,and the furrows      
thereof weep together2   ,if ,i have    
eaten the fruits thereof without money1 
,or have caused the owners thereof to   
lose their life3      ,let thistles grow
 instead of wheat1      ,and cockle     
instead of barley4  ,with a slow gesture
 he covers his face3       ,the words of
 ,job are ended4  ,,vii  ,they are      
ended3 even though at this point 7when  
the debate seems to be closed7 a young  
,aramaean ,arab1 ,elihu1 who has been   
loitering around and listening to the   
controversy1 bursts in and delivers his 
young red-hot opinions4 ,they are       
violent1 and at the same time quite raw 
and priggish4 ,job troubles not to      
answer3 the others keep a chilling      
silence4 ,but while this young man      
rants1 pointing skyward now and again1  

we see1 we feel--it is most wonderfully 
conveyed--as clearly as if indicated by 
successive stage-directions1 a terrific 
thunder-storm gathering2 a thunder-storm
 with a whirlwind4 ,it gathers2 it is   
upon them2 it darkens them with dread   
until even the words of ,elihu dry on   
his lips3       ,if a man speak1 surely 
he shall be swallowed up4  ,it breaks   
and blasts and confounds them2 and out  
of it the ,lord speaks4  ,now of that   
famous and marvellous speech1 put by the
 poet into the mouth of ,god1 we may say
 what may be said of all speeches put by
 man into the mouth of ,god4 ,we may    
say1 as of the speeches of the          
,archangel in ,paradise ,lost that it is
 argument1 and argument1 by its very    
nature1 admits of being answered4 ,but1 
if to make ,god talk at all be          
anthropomorphism1 here is               
anthropomorphism at its very best in its
 effort to reach to ,god4  ,there is a  
hush4 ,the storm clears away2 and in    
this hush the voice of the ,narrator is 

heard again1 pronouncing the ,epilogue4 
,job has looked in the face of ,god and 
reproached him as a friend reproaches a 
friend4 ,therefore his captivity was    
turned1 and his wealth returned to him1 
and he begat sons and daughters1 and saw
 his sons' sons unto the fourth         
generation4 ,so ,job died1 being old and
 full of years4  ,,viii  ,structurally a
 great poem2 historically a great poem2 
philosophically a great poem2 so        
rendered for us in noble ,english       
diction as to be worthy in any          
comparison of diction1 structure1       
ancestry1 thought6 ,why should we not   
study it in our ,english ,school1 if    
only for purpose of comparison8 ,i      
conclude with these words of ,lord      
,latymer3    ,there is nothing          
comparable with it except the           
,prometheus   ,bound of ,aeschylus4 ,it 
is eternal1 illimitable 444 its scope   
is the relation between ,god and ,man4  
,it is a vast liberation1 a   great     
gaol-delivery of the spirit of ,man2    

nay1 rather a great   ,acquittal4       
,footnote #a3 ,it is fair to say that   
,myers cancelled the ,damascus stanza in
 his final edition4     ,,lecture ,,xi  
,,of ,,selection  ,,wednesday1 ,,october
 #bc1 #aiah   ,i  ,let us hark back1    
,gentlemen1 to our original problem1 and
 consider if our dilatory way have led  
us to some glimpse of a practical       
solution4  ,we may re-state it thus3    
,assuming it to be true1 as men of      
,science assure us1 that the weight of  
this planet remains constant1 and is    
to-day what it was when mankind         
carelessly laid it on the shoulders of  
,atlas2 that nothing abides but it goes1
 that nothing goes but in some form or  
other it comes back2 you and ,i may well
 indulge a wonder what reflections upon 
this astonishing fact our ,university   
,librarian1 ,mr ,jenkinson1 takes to bed
 with him4 ,a copy of every book printed
 in the ,united ,kingdom is--or ,i had  
better say1 should be--deposited with   
him4 ,putting aside the question of what

 he has done to deserve it1 he must     
surely wonder at times from what other  
corners of the earth ,providence has    
been at pains to collect and compact the
 ingredients of the latest new volume he
 handles for a moment before fondly     
committing it to the cellars4           
',locked up1 not lost4'  ,or1 to take it
 in reverse--,when the great library of 
,alexandria went up in flames1 doubtless
 its ashes awoke an appreciable and     
almost immediate energy in the crops of 
the ,nile ,delta4 ,the more leisurable  
process of desiccation1 by which1 under 
modern storage1 the components of a     
modern novel are released to fresh      
unions and activities admits1 as ,sir   
,thomas ,browne would say1 a wide       
solution1 and was just the question to  
tease that good man4 ,can we not hear   
him discussing it8 ',to be but          
pyramidally extant is a fallacy in      
duration4444 ,to burn the bones of the  
,king of ,edom for lime seems no        
irrational ferity3 but to store the back

 volumes of ,mr ,bottomley's ,john ,bull
 a passionate prodigality4'  ,,ii       
,well1 whatever the perplexities of our 
,library we may be sure they will never 
break down that tradition of service1   
help and courtesy which is1 among its   
fine treasures1 still the first4 ,but we
 have seen that ,mr ,jenkinson's        
perplexities are really but a parable of
 ours3 that the question1 ,what are we  
to do with all these books accumulating 
in the world8 really is a question3 that
 their mere accumulation really does    
heap up against us a barrier of such    
enormous and brute mass that the stream 
of human culture must needs be choked   
and spread into marsh unless we contrive
 to pipe it through4 ,that a great deal 
of it is meant to help--that even the   
most of it is well intentioned--avails  
not against the mere physical obstacle  
of its mass4 ,if you consider an        
,athenian gentleman of the #eth century 
,b4,c4 connecting 7as ,i always preach  
here7 his literature with his life1 two 

things are bound to strike you3 the     
first that he was a man of leisure1     
somewhat disdainful of trade and        
relieved of menial work by a number of  
slaves2 the second1 that he was         
surprisingly unencumbered with books4   
,you will find in ,plato much about     
reciters1 actors1 poets1 rhetoricians1  
pleaders1 sophists1 public orators and  
refiners of language1 but very little   
indeed about books4 ,even the library of
 ,alexandria grew in a time of decadence
 and belonged to an age not his4 ,says  
,jowett in the end3    ,he who          
approaches him in the most reverent     
spirit shall reap   most of the fruit of
 his wisdom2 he who reads him by the    
light of ancient commentators will have 
the least   understanding of him4    ,we
 see him ,jowett goes on with the eye of
 the mind in   the groves of the        
,academy1 or on the banks of the        
,ilissus1   or in the streets of        
,athens1 alone or walking with          
,socrates1   full of those thoughts     

which have since become the   common    
possession of mankind4 ,or we may       
compare him   to a statue hid away in   
some temple of ,zeus or ,apollo1 no     
longer existing on earth1 a statue which
 has a look as of the   ,god himself4   
,or we may once more imagine him        
following   in another state of being   
the great company of heaven   which he  
beheld of old in a vision4 ,so1 'partly 
trifling but   with a certain degree of 
seriousness1' we linger around the      
memory of a world which has passed away4
  ,yes1 'which has passed away1' and    
perhaps with no token more evident of   
its decease than the sepulture of books 
that admiring generations have heaped on
 it6  ,,iii  ,in a previous lecture ,i  
referred you to the beautiful opening   
and the yet more beautiful close of the 
,phaedrus4 ,let us turn back and refresh
 ourselves with that ,dialogue while we 
learn from it1 in somewhat more of      
detail1 just what a book meant to an    
,athenian3 how fresh a thing it was to  

him and how little irksome4  ,phaedrus  
has spent his forenoon listening to a   
discourse by the celebrated rhetorician 
,lysias on the subject of ,love1 and is 
starting to cool his head with a stroll 
beyond the walls of the city1 when he   
encounters ,socrates1 who will not let  
him go until he has delivered up the    
speech with which ,lysias regaled him1  
or1 better still1 the manuscript1 'which
 ,i suspect you are carrying there in   
your left hand under your cloak4' ,so   
they bend their way beside ,ilissus     
towards a tall plane tree1 seen in the  
distance4 ,having reached it1 they      
recline4    ',by ,hera1' says ,socrates1
 'a fair resting-place1 full of   summer
 sounds and scents6 ,this clearing1 with
 the agnus   castus in high bloom and   
fragrant1 and the stream beneath   the  
tree so gratefully cool to our feet6    
,judging from the   ornaments and       
statues1 ,i think this spot must be     
sacred to   ,achelos and the ,nymphs4   
,and the breeze1 how   deliciously      

charged with balm6 and all summer's     
murmur in   the air1 shrilled by the    
chorus of the grasshoppers6 ,but the    
greatest charm is this knoll of         
turf1--positively a pillow for   the    
head4 ,my dear ,phaedrus1 you have been 
a delectable   guide4'    ',what an     
incomprehensible being you are1         
,socrates1' returns   ,phaedrus4 ',when 
you are in the country1 as you say1 you 
really are like some stranger led about 
by a guide4 ,upon my   word1 ,i doubt if
 you ever stray beyond the gates save by
   accident4'    ',very true1 my friend3
 and ,i hope you will forgive me for the
   reason--which is1 that ,i love       
knowledge1 and my teachers are   the men
 who dwell in the city1 not the trees or
 country   scenes4 ,yet ,i do believe   
you have found a spell to draw me       
forth1 like a hungry cow before whom a  
bough or a bunch of   fruit is waved4   
,for only hold up before me in like     
manner a   book1 and you may lead me all
 round ,attica and over the   wide      

world4'  ,so they recline and talk1     
looking aloft through that famous pure  
sky of ,attica1 mile upon mile          
transparent2 and their discourse        
7preserved to us7 is of ,love1 and seems
 to belong to that atmosphere1 so clear 
it is and luminously profound4 ,it ends 
with the cool of the day1 and the two   
friends arise to depart4 ,socrates looks
 about him4  ',should we not1 before    
going1 offer up a prayer to these local 
deities8'  ',by all means1' ,phaedrus   
agrees4    ,socrates 7praying73         
',beloved ,pan1 and all ye other gods   
who   haunt this place1 grant me beauty 
in the inward soul1 and that   the      
outward and inward may be at one6 ,may  
,i esteem the wise   to be the rich2 and
 may ,i myself have that quantity of    
gold   which a temperate man1 and he    
only1 can carry4444 ,anything   more8   
,that prayer1 ,i think1 is enough for   
me4'    ,phaedrus4 ',ask the same for   
me1 ,socrates4 ,friends1 methinks1      
should have all things in common4'      

,socrates4 ',amen1 then4444 ,let us go4'
  ,here we have1 as it seems to me1 a   
marriage1 without impediment1 of wisdom 
and beauty between two minds that       
perforce have small acquaintance with   
books3 and yet1 with it1 ,socrates'     
confession that anyone with a book under
 his cloak could lead him anywhere by   
the nose4 ,so we see that ,hellenic     
culture at its best was independent of  
book-learning1 and yet craved for it4   
,,iv  ,when our own ,literature awoke1  
taking its origin from the proud        
scholarship of the ,renaissance1 an     
,englishman who affected it was scarcely
 more cumbered with books than our      
,athenian had been1 two thousand years  
before4 ,it was1 and it remained1       
aristocratic3 sparingly expensive of its
 culture4 ,it postulated1 if not a slave
 population1 at least a proletariat for 
which its blessings were not4 ,no one   
thought of making a fortune by          
disseminating his work in print4        
,shakespeare never found it worth while 

to collect and publish his plays2 and a 
very small sense of history will suffice
 to check our tears over the price      
received by ,milton for ,paradise ,lost4
 ,we may wonder1 indeed1 at the time it 
took our forefathers to realise--or1 at 
any rate1 to employ--the energy that lay
 in the printing-press4 ,for centuries  
after its invention mere copying        
commanded far higher prices than        
authorship#a4 ,writers gave 'authorised'
 editions to the world sometimes for the
 sake of fame1 often to justify         
themselves against piratical publishers1
 seldom in expectation of monetary      
profit4 ,listen1 for example1 to ,sir   
,thomas ,browne's excuse for publishing 
,religio ,medici 7#afdc73    ,had not   
almost every man suffered by the press  
or were not the   tyranny thereof become
 universal1 ,i had not wanted reason for
   complaint3 but in times wherein ,i   
have lived to behold the   highest      
perversion of that excellent invention1 
the name of his   ,majesty defamed1 the 

honour of ,parliament depraved1 the     
writings of both depravedly1            
anticipatively1 counterfeitly           
imprinted2 complaints may seem          
ridiculous in private persons2   and men
 of my condition may be as incapable of 
affronts1 as   hopeless of their        
reparations4 ,and truly had not the duty
 ,i owe   unto the importunity of       
friends1 and the allegiance ,i must ever
   acknowledge unto truth1 prevailed    
with me2 the inactivity of   my         
disposition might have made these       
sufferings continual1   and time that   
brings other things to light1 should    
have   satisfied me in the remedy of its
 oblivion4 ,but because things          
evidently false are not only printed1   
but many things of truth   most falsely 
set forth1 in this latter ,i could not  
but think   myself engaged4 ,for though 
we have no power to redress the         
former1 yet in the other1 the reparation
 being within our   selves1 ,i have at  
present represented unto the world a    

full and   intended copy of that piece1 
which was most imperfectly and          
surreptitiously published before4       
,this ,i confess1 about seven years     
past1 with some others of   affinity    
thereto1 for my private exercise and    
satisfaction1 ,i   had at leisurable    
hours composed2 which being communicated
   unto one1 it became common unto many1
 and was by transcription   successively
 corrupted1 untill it arrived in a most 
depraved   copy at the press 444 #b  ,v 
,the men of the #ahth century maintained
 the old tradition of literary          
exclusiveness1 but in a somewhat        
different way and more consciously4  ,i 
find1 ,gentlemen1 when you read with me 
in private1 that nine out of ten of you 
dislike the #ahth century and all its   
literary works4 ,as for the ,women      
students1 they one and all abominate it4
 ,you do not1 ,i regret to say1 provide 
me with reasons much more philosophical 
than the epigrammatist's for disliking  
,doctor ,fell4 ,may one whose time of   

life excuses perhaps a detachment from  
passion attempt to provide you with one8
 ,if so1 first listen to this from ,mr  
and ,mrs ,hammond's book ,the ,village  
,labourer1 #agfj-ahcb3    ,a row of     
#ahth century houses1 or a room of      
normal #ahth   century furniture1 or a  
characteristic piece of #ahth century   
literature1 conveys at once a sensation 
of satisfaction and   completeness4 ,the
 secret of this charm is not to be found
 in   any special beauty or nobility of 
design or expression1 but   simply in an
 exquisite fitness4 ,the #ahth century  
mind was a   unity1 an order4 ,all      
literature and art that really belong to
   the #ahth century are the language of
 a little society of men   and women who
 moved within one set of ideas2 who     
understood   each other2 who were not   
tormented by any anxious or             
bewildering problems2 who lived in      
comfort1 and1 above all   things1 in    
composure4 ,the classics were their     
freemasonry4   ,there was a standard for

 the mind1 for the emotions1 for        
taste3 there were no incongruities4     
,when you have a society like this1 you 
have what we   roughly call a           
civilisation1 and it leaves its         
character and   canons in all its       
surroundings and in its literature4 ,its
   definite ideas lend themselves       
readily to expression4 ,a   larger      
society seems an anarchy in contrast3   
just because   of its escape into a     
greater world it seems powerless to     
stamp itself in wood or stone2 it is    
condemned as an age of   chaos and      
mutiny1 with nothing to declare4  ,you  
do wrong1 ,i assure you1 in misprising  
these men of the #ahth century4 ,they   
reduced life1 to be sure3 but by that   
very means they saw it far more         
completely than do we1 in this lyrical  
age1 with our worship of 'fine excess4' 
,here at any rate1 and to speak only of 
its literature1 you have a society      
fencing that literature around--,i do   
not say by forethought or even          

consciously--but in effect fencing its  
literature around1 to keep it in control
 and capable of an orderly1 a nice1 even
 an exquisite cultivation4 ,dislike it  
as you may1 ,i do not think that any of 
you1 as he increases his knowledge of   
the technique of ,english ,prose1 yes1  
and of ,english ,verse 7,i do not say of
 ,english ,poetry7 will deny his        
admiration to the men of the #ahth      
century4 ,the strength of good prose    
resides not so much in the swing and    
balance of the single sentence as in the
 marshalling of argument1 the orderly   
procession of paragraphs1 the           
disposition of parts so that each finds 
its telling1 its proper1 place2 the     
adjustment of the means to the end2 the 
strategy which brings its full force    
into action at the calculated moment and
 drives the conclusion home upon an     
accumulated sense of justice4 ,i do not 
see how any student of #ahth century    
literature can deny its                 
writers--,berkeley or ,hume or          

,gibbon--,congreve or ,sheridan--,pope  
or ,cowper--,addison or ,steele or      
,johnson--,burke or ,chatham or ,thomas 
,paine--their meed for this1 or1 if he  
be an artist1 even his homage4  ,but it 
remains true1 as your instinct tells    
you1 and as ,i have admitted1 that they 
achieved all this by help of narrow and 
artificial boundaries4 ,of several fatal
 exclusions let me name but two4  ,in   
the first place1 they excluded the      
,poor2 imitating in a late age the      
,athenian tradition of a small polite   
society resting on a large and degraded 
one4 ,throughout the #ahth century--and 
the great ,whig families were at least  
as much to blame for this as the        
,tories--by enclosure of commons1 by    
grants1 by handling of the franchise1 by
 taxation1 by poor laws in result       
punitive though intended to be          
palliative1 the ,english peasantry      
underwent a steady process of           
degradation into serfdom3 into a serfdom
 which1 during the first twenty years of

 the next century1 hung constantly and  
precariously on the edge of actual      
starvation4 ,the whole theory of culture
 worked upon a principle of double      
restriction2 of restricting on the one  
hand the realm of polite knowledge to   
propositions suitable for a scholar and 
a gentleman1 and1 on the other1 the     
numbers of the human family permitted to
 be either4 ,the theory deprecated      
enthusiasm1 as it discountenanced all   
ambition in a poor child to rise above  
what ,sir ,spencer ,walpole called 'his 
inevitable and hereditary lot'--to      
soften which and make him acquiescent in
 it was1 with a ,wilberforce or a       
,hannah ,more1 the last dream of        
restless benevolence4  ,,vi  ,also these
 #ahth century men fenced off the whole 
of our own ,middle ,english and medieval
 literature--fenced off ,chaucer and    
,dunbar1 ,malory and ,berners--as       
barbarous and ',gothic4' ,they treated  
these writers with little more          
consideration than ,boileau had thought 

it worth while to bestow on ,villon or  
on ,ronsard-- enfin ,malherbe6 ,as for  
,anglo-,saxon literature1 one may1      
safely say that1 save by ,gray and a    
very few others1 its existence was      
barely surmised4  ,you may or may not   
find it harder to forgive them that they
 ruled out moreover a great part of the 
literature of the preceding century as  
offensive to urbane taste1 or as they   
would say1 'disgusting4' ,they disliked 
it mainly1 one suspects1 as one age     
revolts from the fashion of another--as 
some of you1 for example1 revolt from   
the broad plenty of ,dickens 7,heaven   
forgive you7 or the ornament of         
,tennyson4 ,some of the great writers of
 that age definitely excluded ,god from 
their scheme of things3 others included 
,god fiercely1 but with circumscription 
and limitation4 ,i think it fair to say 
of them generally that they hated alike 
the mystical and the mysterious1 and1   
hating these1 could have little commerce
 with such poetry as ,crashaw's and     

,vaughan's or such speculation as gave  
ardour to the prose of the ,cambridge   
,platonists4 ,johnson's famous attack1  
in his ,life of ,cowley1 upon the       
metaphysical followers of ,donne        
ostensibly assails their literary       
conceits1 but truly and at bottom rests 
its quarrel against an attitude of mind1
 in respect of which he lived far enough
 removed to be unsympathetic yet near   
enough to take denunciation for a duty4 
,johnson1 to put it vulgarly1 had as    
little use for ,vaughan's notion of     
poetry as he would have had for         
,shelley's claim that it       feeds on 
the areal kisses      ,of shapes that   
haunt thought's wildernesses1  and we   
have only to set ourselves back in      
,shelley's age and read 7say7 the verse 
of ,frere and ,canning in ,the          
,anti-,jacobin1 to understand how       
frantic a lyrist--let be how frantic a  
political figure--,shelley must have    
appeared to well-regulated minds4  ,,vii
  ,all this literature which our        

forefathers excluded has come back upon 
us3 and concurrently we have to deal    
with the more serious difficulty 7let us
 give thanks for it7 of a multitude of  
millions insurgent to handsel their     
long-deferred heritage4 ,i shall waste  
no time in arguing that we ought not to 
wish to withhold it1 because we cannot  
if we would4 ,and thus the problem      
becomes a double one1 of distribution as
 well as of selection4  ,now in the     
first place ,i submit that this         
distribution should be free3 which      
implies that our selection must be      
confined to books and methods of        
teaching4 ,there must be no picking and 
choosing among the recipients1 no       
appropriation of certain forms of       
culture to certain 'stations of life'   
with a tendency1 conscious or           
unconscious1 to keep those stations as  
stationary as possible4  ,merely by     
clearing our purpose to this extent we  
shall have made no inconsiderable       
advance4 ,for even the last century     

never quite got rid of its predecessor's
 fixed idea that certain degrees of     
culture were appropriate to certain     
stations of life4 ,with what gentle     
persistence it prevails1 for example1 in
 ,jane ,austen's novels2 with what      
complacent rhetoric in ,tennyson 7and in
 spite of ,lady ,clara ,vere de ,vere76 
,let me remind you that by allowing an  
idea to take hold of our animosity we   
may be as truly possessed' by it as     
though it claimed our allegiance4 ,the  
notion that culture may be drilled to   
march in step with a trade or calling   
endured through the ,victorian age of   
competition and possessed the mind not  
only of ,samuel ,smiles who taught by   
instances how a bright and industrious  
boy might earn money and lift himself   
out of his 'station1' but of ,ruskin    
himself1 who in the first half of       
,sesame and ,lilies1 in the lecture ,of 
,kings' ,treasuries1 discussing the     
choice of books1 starts vehemently and  
proceeds at length to denounce the      

prevalent passion for                   
self-advancement--of rising above one's 
station in life--quite as if it were the
 most important thing1 willy-nilly1 in  
talking of the choice of books4 ,which  
means that1 to ,ruskin1 just then1 it   
was the most formidable obstacle4 ,can  
we1 at this time of day1 do better by   
simply turning the notion out of doors8 
,yes1 ,i believe that we can3 and upon  
this credo3  ,i believe that while it   
may grow--and grow infinitely--with     
increase of learning1 the grace of a    
liberal education1 like the grace of    
,christianity1 is so catholic a         
thing--so absolutely above being        
trafficked1 retailed1 apportioned1 among
 stations in life'--that the humblest   
child may claim it by indefeasible      
right1 having a soul4  ,further1 ,i     
believe that ,humanism is1 or should he1
 no decorative appanage1 purchased late 
in the process of education1 within the 
means of a few3 but a quality1 rather1  
which should1 and can1 condition all    

teaching1 from a child's first lesson in
 ,reading3 that its unmistakable        
hall-mark can be impressed upon the     
earliest task set in an ,elementary     
,school4  ,,viii  ,i am not preaching   
red ,radicalism in this3 ,i am not      
telling you that ,jack is as good as his
 master3 if he were1 he would be a great
 deal better2 for he would understand   
,homer 7say7 as well as his master1 the 
child of parents who could afford to    
have him taught ,greek4 ,as ,greek is   
commonly taught1 ,i regret to say1      
whether they have learnt it or not makes
 a distressingly small difference to    
most boys' appreciation of ,homer4      
,still it does make a vast difference to
 some1 and should make a vast difference
 to all4 ,and yet1 if you will read the 
passage in ,kinglake's ,ethen in which  
he tells--in words that find their echo 
in many a reader's memory--of his boyish
 passion for ,homer--and if you will    
note that the boy imbibed his passion1  
after all1 through the conduit of       

,pope's translation--you will           
acknowledge that1 for the human boy1    
admission to much of the glory of       
,homer's realm does not depend upon such
 mastery as a boy of fifteen or sixteen 
possesses over the original4 ,but let me
 quote you a few sentences3    ,i1 too1 
loved ,homer1 but not with a scholar's  
love4 ,the most   humble and pious among
 women was yet so proud a mother that   
she   could teach her first-born son no 
,watts's hymns1 no collects   for the   
day2 she could teach him in earliest    
childhood no less   than this--to find a
 home in his saddle1 and to love old    
,homer1   and all that old ,homer sung4 
,true it is1 that the ,greek was        
ingeniously rendered into ,english1 the 
,english of ,pope even1   but not even a
 mesh like that can screen an earnest   
child from   the fire of ,homer's       
battles4    ,i pored over the ,odyssey  
as over a story-book1 hoping and        
fearing for the hero whom yet ,i partly 
scorned4 ,but the   ,iliad--line by line

 ,i clasped it to my brain with         
reverence   as well as with love4444    
,the impatient child is not grubbing for
 beauties1 but   pushing the siege2 the 
women vex him with their delays1   and  
their talking 444 but all the while that
 he thus chafes at   the pausing of the 
action1 the strong vertical light of    
,homer's poetry is blazing so full upon 
the people and   things of the ,iliad1  
that soon to the eyes of the child they 
grow familiar as his mother's shawl4444 
,it was not the recollection of school  
nor college learning1   but the         
rapturous and earnest reading of my     
childhood1   which made me bend forward 
so longingly to the plains of ,troy4    
,,ix  ,it is among the books then1 and  
not among the readers1 that we must do  
our selecting4 ,but how8 ,on what       
principle or principles8  ,sometime in  
the days of my youth1 a newspaper1 ,the 
,pall ,mall ,gazette1 then conducted by 
,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 made a conscientious    
effort to solve the riddle by inviting a

 number of eminent men to compile lists 
of the ,hundred ,best ,books4 ,now this 
invitation rested on a fallacy4         
,considering for a moment how personal a
 thing is ,literature1 you will promptly
 assure yourselves that there is--there 
can be--no such thing as the ,hundred   
,best ,books4 ,if you yet incline to toy
 with the notion1 carry it on and       
compile a list of the ,hundred          
,second-best ,books3 nay1 if you will1  
continue until you find yourself        
solemnly1 with a brow corrugated by     
responsibility1 weighing the claims     
7say7 of ,velleius ,paterculus1 ,paul   
and ,virginia and ,mr ,jorrocks to      
admission among the ,hundred ,tenth-best
 ,books4 ,there is1 in fact no positive 
hierarchy among the classics4 ,you      
cannot appraise the worth of ,charles   
,lamb against the worth of ,casaubon3   
the worth of ,hesiod against the worth  
of ,madame de ,svign3 the worth of      
,thophile ,gautier against the worth of 
,dante or ,thomas ,hobbes or            

,macchiavelli or ,jane ,austen4 ,they   
all wrote with pens1 in ink1 upon paper3
 but you no sooner pass beyond these    
resemblances than your comparison finds 
itself working in impari materia4  ,also
 why should the ,best ,books be #ajj in 
number1 rather than #ii or #aii8 ,and   
under what conditions is a book a ,best 
,book8 ,there are moods in which we not 
only prefer ,pickwick to the ,rig-,vedas
 or ,sakuntal1 but find that it does us 
more good4 ,in our day again ,i pay all 
respect to ,messrs ,dent's ,everyman's  
,library4 ,it was a large conception    
vigorously planned4 ,but1 in the nature 
of things1 ,everyman is going to arrive 
at a point beyond which he will find it 
more and more difficult to recognise    
himself3 at a point1 let us say1 when   
,everyman1 opening a new parcel1 starts 
to doubt if1 after all1 it wouldn't be  
money in his pocket to be ,somebody     
,else4  ,x  ,and yet1 may be1 ,the ,pall
 ,mall ,gazette was on the right scent4 
,for it was in search of masterpieces3  

and1 however we teach1 our trust will in
 the end repose upon masterpieces1 upon 
the great classics of whatever ,language
 or ,literature we are handling3 and    
these1 in any language are neither      
enormous in number and mass1 nor        
extraordinarily difficult to detect1 nor
 7best of all7 forbidding to the reader 
by reason of their own difficulty4 ,upon
 a selected few of these--even upon     
three1 or two1 or one--we may teach at  
least a surmise of the true delight1 and
 may be some measure of taste whereby   
our pupil will1 by an inner guide1 be   
warned to choose the better and reject  
the worse when we turn him loose to read
 for himself4  ,to this use of          
masterpieces ,i shall devote my final   
lecture4    ,footnote #a3 ,charles      
,reade notes this in ,the ,cloister and 
the ,hearth1 chap4 ,,lxi4  ,footnote #b3
 ,the loose and tautologous style of    
this ,preface is worth noting4 ,likely  
enough ,browne wrote it in a passion    
that deprived him of his habitual       

self-command4 ,one phrase alone reveals 
the true ,browne--that is1 ,browne true 
to himself3 'and time that brings other 
things to light1 should have satisfied  
me in the remedy of its oblivion4'      
,,lecture ,,xii  ,,on ,,the ,,use ,,of  
,,masterpieces  ,,wednesday1 ,,november 
#f1 #aiah   ,i  ,i do not think1        
,gentlemen1 that we need to bother      
ourselves today with any definition of a
 'classic1' or of the stigmata by which 
a true classic can be recognised4       
,sainte-,beuve once indicated these in a
 famous discourse1 ,qu'est-ce qu'un     
classique3 and it may suffice us that   
these include ,universality and         
,permanence4 ,your true classic is      
universal1 in that it appeals to the    
catholic mind of man4 ,it is doubly     
permanent3 for it remains significant1  
or acquires a new significance1 after   
the age for which it was written and the
 conditions under which it was written1 
have passed away2 and it yet keeps1     
undefaced by handling1 the original     

noble imprint of the mind that first    
minted it--or shall we say that1 as     
generation after generation rings the   
coin1 it ever returns the echo of its   
father-spirit8  ,but for our purpose it 
suffices that in our literature we      
possess a number of works to which the  
title of classic cannot be refused4 ,so 
let us confine ourselves to these1 and  
to the question1 ,how to use them8  ,,ii
  ,well1 to begin with1 ,i revert to a  
point which ,i tried to establish in my 
first lecture2 and insist with all my   
strength that the first obligation we   
owe to any classic1 and to those whom we
 teach1 and to ourselves1 is to treat it
 absolutely3 not for any secondary or   
derivative purpose1 or purpose          
recommended as useful by any manual3 but
 at first solely to interpret the       
meaning which its author intended3 that 
in short we should trust any given      
masterpiece for its operation1 on       
ourselves and on others4 ,in that first 
lecture ,i quoted to you this most wise 

sentence3    ,that all spirit is        
mutually attractive1 as all matter is   
mutually attractive1 is an ultimate     
fact1  and consenting to this with all  
my heart ,i say that it matters very    
little for the moment1 or even for a    
considerable while1 that a pupil does   
not perfectly1 or even nearly1          
understand all he reads1 provided we can
 get the attraction to seize upon him4  
,he and the author between them will do 
the rest3 our function is to communicate
 and trust4 ,in what other way do       
children take the ineffaceable stamp of 
a gentle nurture than by daily          
attraction to whatsoever is beautiful   
and amiable and dignified in their home8
 ,as there1 so in their reading1 the    
process must be gradual of acquiring an 
inbred monitor to reject the evil and   
choose the good4 ,for it is the property
 of masterpieces that they not only     
raise you to       despise low joys1 low
 ,gains2      ,disdain whatever         
,cornbury disdains3  they are not only  

as ,lamb wrote of the ,plays of         
,shakespeare 'enrichers of the fancy1   
strengtheners of virtue1 a withdrawing  
from all selfish and mercenary thoughts1
 a lesson of all sweet and honourable   
thoughts and actions1 to teach you      
courtesy1 benignity1 generosity1        
humanity'2 but they raise your gorge to 
defend you from swallowing the          
fifth-rate1 the sham1 the fraudulent4   
,abeunt studia in mores4 ,i cannot1 for 
my part1 conceive a man who has once    
incorporated the ,phaedo or the         
,paradiso or ,lear in himself as lending
 himself for a moment to one or other of
 the follies plastered in these late    
stern times upon the firm and most solid
 purpose of this nation--the inanities1 
let us say1 of a ,baby-,week4 ,or1 for a
 more damnable instance1 ,i think of you
 and me with ,marvell's great ,horatian 
,ode sunk in our minds1 standing to-day 
by the statue of ,charles ,i that looks 
down ,whitehall3 telling ourselves of   
'that memorable scene' before the       

,banqueting ,house1 remembering amid old
 woes all the glory of our blood and    
state1 recollecting what is due even to 
ourselves1 standing on the greatest site
 of our capital1 and turning to see it  
degraded1 as it has been for a week1 to 
a vulgar raree-show4 ,gentlemen1 ,i     
could read you many poor ill-written    
letters from mothers whose sons have    
died for ,england1 to prove to you we   
have not deserved that1 or the sort of  
placard with which ,london has been     
plastered1       ,dum domus neae        
,capitoli immobile saxum      ,accolet4 
,great enterprises 7as we know7 and     
little minds go ill together4 ,someone  
veiled the statue4 ,that1 at least1 was 
well done4  ,i have not the             
information--nor do ,i want it--to make 
even a guess who was responsible for    
this particular outrage4 ,i know the    
sort of man well enough to venture that 
he never had a liberal education1 and1  
further1 that he is probably rather     
proud of it4 ,but he may nevertheless   

own some instinct of primitive          
kindliness3 and ,i wish he could know   
how he afflicts men of sensitiveness who
 have sons at the ,war4  ,,iii          
,secondly1 let us consider what use we  
can make of even one selected classic4  
,i refer you back to the work of an old 
schoolmaster1 quoted in my first        
lecture3    ,i believe1 if the truth    
were known1 men would be astonished at  
the small amount of learning with which 
a high degree of   culture is           
compatible4 ,in a moment of enthusiasm  
,i ventured   once to tell my ',english 
set' that if they could really master   
the ninth book of ,paradise ,lost1 so as
 to rise to the height   of its great   
argument and incorporate all its        
beauties in   themselves1 they would at 
one blow1 by virtue of that alone1      
become highly cultivated men4444 ,more  
and more various learning   might raise 
them to the same height by different    
paths1 but   could hardly raise them    
higher4  ,i beg your attention for the  

exact words3 'to rise to the height of  
its great argument and incorporate all  
its beauties in themselves4' ,there you 
have it--'to incorporate4' ,do you      
remember that saying of ,wordsworth's1  
casually dropped in conversation1 but   
preserved for us by ,hazlitt8--',it is  
in the highest degree unphilosophic to  
call language or diction the dress of   
our thoughts4444 ,it is the incarnation 
of our thoughts4' ,even so1 ,i maintain 
to you1 the first business of a learner 
in literature is to get complete hold of
 some undeniable masterpiece and        
incorporate it1 incarnate it4 ,and1 ,i  
repeat1 there are a few great works for 
you to choose from3 works approved for  
you by ancient and catholic judgment4   
,,iv  ,but let us take something far    
simpler than the ,ninth ,book of        
,paradise ,lost and more direct than any
 translated masterpiece can be in its   
appeal2 something of high genius1       
written in our mother tongue4 ,let us   
take ,the ,tempest4  ,of ,the ,tempest  

we may say confidently3  7#a7 that it is
 a literary masterpiece3 the last most  
perfect 'fruit of the noblest tree in   
our ,english ,forest'2  7#b7 that its   
story is quite simple2 intelligible to a
 child3 7its basis in fact is           
fairy-tale1 pure and simple--as ,i tried
 to show in a previous lecture72  7#c7  
that in reading it--or in reading       
,hamlet1 for that matter-- the child has
 no sense at all of being patronised1 of
 being 'written down to4' ,and this has 
the strongest bearing on my argument4   
,the great authors1 as ,emerson says1   
never condescend4 ,shakespeare himself  
speaks to a slip of a boy1 and that boy 
feels that he is ,ferdinand2  7#d7 that1
 though ,shakespeare uses his loftiest1 
most accomplished and1 in a sense1 his  
most difficult language3 a way of       
talking it has cost him a life-time to  
acquire1 in line upon line inviting the 
scholar's1 prosodist's1 poet's most     
careful study2 that language is no bar  
to the child's enjoyment3 but rather    

casts about the whole play an aura of   
magnificence which1 with the assistant  
harmonies1 doubles and redoubles the    
spell4 ,a child no more resents this    
because it is strange than he objects to
 read in a fairytale of robbers         
concealed in oil-jars or of diamonds big
 as a roc's egg4 ,when will our         
educators see that what a child depends 
on is imagination1 that what he demands 
of life is the wonderful1 the           
glittering1 possibility8  ,now if1      
putting all this together and taking    
confidence from it1 we boldly launch a  
child upon ,the ,tempest we shall come  
sooner or later upon passages that we   
have arrived at finding difficult4 ,we  
shall come1 for example1 to the ,masque 
of ,iris1 which ,iris1 invoking ,ceres1 
thus opens3    ,ceres1 most bounteous   
lady1 thy rich leas   ,of wheat1 rye1   
barley1 vetches1 oats and pease2   ,thy 
turfy mountains1 where live nibbling    
sheep1   ,and flat meads thatched with  
stover1 them to keep3   ,thy banks with 

piond and twilld brims1   ,which spongy 
,april at thy hest betrims--   ,to make 
cold nymphs chaste crowns2 and thy      
broom-groves1   ,whose shadow the       
dismissd bachelor loves1   ,being       
lass-lorn2 thy pole-clipt vineyard2     
,and thy sea-marge1 sterile and rocky   
hard1   ,where thou thyself dost        
air--the ,queen o' th' sky1   ,whose    
watry arch and messenger am ,i1   ,bids 
thee leave these4444  ,the passage is   
undeniably hard for any child1 even when
 you have paused to explain who ,ceres  
is1 who ,iris1 who the ,queen o' the    
sky1 and what ,iris means by calling    
herself  'her watery arch and           
messenger4' ,the grammatical structure  
not only stands on its head but         
maintains that posture for an           
extravagant while4 ,naturally 7or rather
 let us say1 ordinarily7 it would run1  
',ceres1 the ,queen o' the sky bids thee
 leave--thy rich leas1 etc4' ,but1 the  
lines being twelve-and-a-half in number1
 we get no hint of there being any      

grammatical subject until it bursts on  
us in the second half of line eleven1   
while the two main verbs and the object 
of one of them yet linger to be exploded
 in the last half-line1 ',bids thee     
leave these4' ,and this again is as     
nothing to the difficulties of          
interpretation4 ',dismissd bachelor' may
 be easy2 'pole-clipt vineyard' is      
certainly not1 at first sight4 ',to make
 cold nymphs chaste crowns4' ,what cold 
nymphs8 ,you have to wait for another   
fifty odd lines before being quite sure 
that ,shakespeare means ,naiads 7and    
',what are ,naiads8' says the child7    
--'temperate nymphs'3    ,you nymphs1   
called ,naiads1 of the windring brooks1 
,with your sedged crowns444  --and if   
the child demand what is meant by 'piond
 and twilld brims1' you have to answer  
him that nobody knows4  ,these          
difficulties--perhaps for you1 certainly
 for the young reader or listener--are  
reserved delights4 ,my old schoolmaster 
even indulges this suspicion--',i never 

can persuade myself that ,shakespeare   
would have passed high in a ,civil      
,service ,examination on one of his own 
plays4' ,at any rate you don't begin    
with these difficulties3 you don't 7or  
,i hope you don't7 read the notes first3
 since1 as ,bacon puts it1 ',studies    
teach not their own use4'  ,as for the  
child1 he is not 'grubbing for          
beauties'2 he magnificently ignores what
 he cannot for the moment understand1   
being intent on ,what ,is1 the heart and
 secret of the adventure4 ,he is        
,ferdinand 7,i repeat7 and the isle is  
'full of voices4' ,if these voices were 
all intelligible1 why then1 as ,browning
 would say1 'the less ,island it4'  ,v  
,i have purposely exhibited ,the        
,tempest at its least tractable4 ,who   
will deny that as a whole it can be made
 intelligible even to very young        
children by the simple process of       
reading it with them intelligently8 or  
that the mysteries such a reading leaves
 unexplained are of the sort to         

fascinate a child's mind and allure it8 
,but if this be granted1 ,i have        
established my contention that the      
,humanities should not be treated as a  
mere crown and ornament of education2   
that they should inform every part of   
it1 from the beginning1 in every school 
of the realm3 that whether a child have 
more education or less education1 what  
he has can be1 and should be1 a 'liberal
 education' throughout4  ,matthew       
,arnold1 as every one knows1 used to    
preach the use of these masterpieces as 
prophylactics of taste4 ,i would ,i     
could make you feel that they are even  
more necessary to us4  ,the reason      
why8--,the reason is that every child   
born in these ,islands is born into a   
democracy which1 apart from home        
affairs1 stands committed to a high     
responsibility for the future welfare   
and good governance of ,europe4 ,for    
three centuries or so it has held rule  
over vast stretches of the earth's      
surface and many millions of strange    

peoples3 while its obligations towards  
the general civilisation of ,europe1 if 
not intermittent1 have been tightened or
 relaxed1 now here1 now there1 by       
policy1 by commerce1 by dynastic        
alliances1 by sudden revulsions or      
sympathies4 ,but this ,war will leave us
 bound to ,europe as we never have been3
 and1 whether we like it or not1 no less
 inextricably bound to foe than to      
friend4 ,therefore1 ,i say1 it has      
become important1 and in a far higher   
degree than it ever was before the ,war1
 that our countrymen grow up with a     
sense of what ,i may call the soul of   
,europe4 ,and nowhere but in literature 
7which is memorable speech'7--or at any 
rate1 nowhere so well as in             
literature--can they find this sense4   
,,vi  ,there was1 as we have seen1 a    
time in ,europe1 extending over many    
centuries1 when mankind dwelt under the 
preoccupation of making literature1 and 
still making more of it4 ,the #eth      
century ,b4,c4 in ,athens was such a    

time2 and if you will you may envy1 as  
we all admire1 the men of an age when to
 write at all was tantamount to         
asserting genius2 the men who1 in       
,newman's words1 deserve to be          
,classics1 both because of what they do 
and because they can do it4' ,if you    
envy--while you envy--at least remember 
that these things often paid their      
price2 that the ,phaedo1 for example1   
was bought for us by the death of       
,socrates4 ,pass ,athens and come to    
,alexandria3 still men are accumulating 
books and the material for books2       
threshing out the ,classics into        
commentaries and grammars1 garnering    
books in great libraries4  ,there       
follows an age which interrupts this    
hive-like labour with sudden and        
insensate destruction4 ,german tribes   
from the north1 ,turkish from the east1 
break in upon the granaries and send up 
literature in flames2 the ,christian    
,fathers from ,tertullian to ,gregory   
the ,great 7,i regret to say7 either    

heartily assisting or at least warming  
their benedictory hands at the blaze3   
and so thoroughly they do their work    
that even the writings of ,aristotle1   
the ,philosopher1 must wait for         
centuries as 'things silently gone out  
of mind or things violently destroyed'  
7to borrow ,wordsworth's fine phrase7   
and creep back into ,europe bit by bit1 
under cover of ,arabic translations4    
,the scholars set to work and begin     
rebuilding3 patient1 indefatigable1     
anonymous as the coral insects at work  
on a ,pacific atoll-building1 building1 
until on the near side of the gulf we   
call the ,dark ,age1 islets of          
scholarship lift themselves above the   
waters3 mere specks at first1 but ridges
 appear and connect them3 and1 to first 
seeming1 sterile enough3    ,nec ,cereri
 opportuna seges1 nec commoda ,baccho-- 
but as they join and become a terra     
firma1 a thin soil gathers on them ,god 
knows whence3 and1 ,god knows whence1   
the seed is brought1 'it may chance of  

wheat1 or of some other grain4' ,there  
is a price1 again1 for this             
resurrection3 but how nobly1 how        
blithely paid you may learn1 without    
seeking recondite examples1 from        
,cuthbert's famous letter describing the
 death of ,bede4 ,compare that story    
with that of the last conversation of   
,socrates2 and you will surely recognise
 that the two men are brothers born out 
of time2 that ,bede's work has been a   
legacy2 that his life has been given to 
recreating--not scholarship merely nor  
literature merely--but1 through them    
both1 something above them both--the    
soul of ,europe4 ,and this may or may   
not lead you on to reflect that beyond  
our present passions1 and beyond this   
,war1 in a common sanity ,europe 7and   
,america with her7 will have to discover
 that common soul again4  ,but eminent  
spirits such as ,bede's are1 by their   
very eminence1 less representative of   
the process--essentially fugitive and   
self-abnegatory--than the thousands of  

copyists who have left no name behind   
them4 ,let me read you a short paragraph
 from ,the ,cambridge ,history of       
,english ,literature1 ,chapter #aa1     
written1 the other day1 by one of our   
own teachers3    ,the cloister was the  
centre of life in the monastery1 and in 
the cloister was the workshop of the    
patient scribe4 ,it is hard   to realise
 that the fair and seemly handwriting of
 these   manuscripts was executed by    
fingers which1 on winter days1   when   
the wind howled through the cloisters1  
must have been   numbed by icy cold4 ,it
 is true that1 occasionally1 little     
carrels or studies in the recesses of   
the windows were screened   off from the
 main walk of the cloister1 and1        
sometimes1 a small   room or cell would 
be partitioned off for the use of a     
single   scribe4 ,the room would then be
 called the ,scriptorium1 but it   is   
unlikely that any save the oldest and   
most learned of the   community were    
afforded this luxury4 ,in these         

scriptoria of   various kinds the       
earliest annals and chronicles in the   
,english language were penned1 in the   
beautiful and painstaking   forms in    
which we know them4  ,if you seek       
testimony1 here are the ipsissima verba 
of a poor monk of ,wessobrunn endorsed  
upon his ,,ms3    ,the book which you   
now see was written in the outer seats  
of the cloister4 ,while ,i wrote ,i     
froze3 and what ,i could not   write by 
the beams of day ,i finished by         
candlelight4  ,we might profitably      
spend--but to-day cannot spare--a while 
upon the pains these men of the ,middle 
,ages took to accumulate books and to   
keep them4 ,the chained volumes in old  
libraries1 for example1 might give us a 
text for this as well as start us       
speculating why it is that1 to this day1
 the human conscience incurably declines
 to include books with other portable   
property covered by the ,eighth         
,commandment4 ,or we might follow       
several of the early scholars and       

humanists in their passionate chasings  
across ,europe1 in and out of obscure   
monasteries1 to recover the lost ,,mss  
of the classics3 might tell1 for        
instance1 of ,pope ,nicholas ,v1 whose  
birth-name was ,tommaso ,parentucelli1  
and how he rescued the ,,mss from       
,constantinople and founded the ,vatican
 ,library3 or of ,aurispa of ,sicily who
 collected two hundred and thirty-eight 
for ,florence3 or the story of the      
editio princeps of the ,greek text of   
,homer4 ,or we might dwell on the       
awaking of our literature1 and the trend
 given to it1 by men of the ,italian and
 ,french renaissance2 or on the         
residence of ,erasmus here1 in this     
,university1 with its results4  ,,vii   
,but ,i have said enough to make it     
clear that1 as we owe so much of our    
best to understanding ,europe1 so the   
need to understand ,europe lies urgently
 to-day upon large classes in this      
country2 and that yet1 in the nature of 
things1 these classes can never enjoy   

such leisure as our forefathers enjoyed 
to understand what ,i call the soul of  
,europe1 or at least to misunderstand it
 upon acquaintance4  ,let me point out  
further that within the last few months 
we have doubled the difficulty at a     
stroke by sharing the government of our 
country with women and admitting them to
 ,parliament4 ,it beseems a great nation
 to take great risks3 to dare them is at
 once a sign and a property of          
greatness3 and for good or ill--but for 
limitless good as we trust--our country 
has quietly made this enterprise amid   
the preoccupations of the greatest ,war 
in its annals4 ,look at it as you       
will--let other generations judge it as 
they will--it stands a monument of our  
faith in free self-government that in   
these most perilous days we gave and    
took so high a guerdon of trust in one  
another4  ,but clearly it implies that  
all the women of this country1 down to  
the small girls entering our elementary 
schools1 must be taught a great many    

things their mothers and                
grandmothers--happy in their            
generation--were content not to know#a4 
,it cannot be denied1 ,i think1 that in 
the long course of this ,war1 now       
happily on the point of a victorious    
conclusion1 we have suffered heavily    
through past neglect and present        
nescience of our literature1 which is so
 much more ,european1 so much more      
catholic1 a thing than either our       
politics or our national religion3 that 
largely by reason of this neglect and   
this nescience our statesmen have again 
and again failed to foresee how         
continental nations would act through   
failing to understand their minds2 and  
have almost invariably1 through this    
lack of sympathetic understanding1      
failed to interpret us to foreign friend
 or foe1 even when 7and it was not      
often7 they interpreted us to ourselves4
 ,i note that ,america--a country with  
no comparable separate tradition of     
literature--has customarily chosen men  

distinguished by the grace of letters   
for ambassadors to the ,court of ,st    
,james--,motley1 ,lowell1 ,hay1 ,page1  
in our time3 and has for her ,president 
a man of letters--and a ,professor at   
that6--whereas1 even in these critical  
days1 ,great ,britain1 having a most    
noble cause and at least half-a-hundred 
writers and speakers capable of         
presenting it with dignity and so       
clearly that no neutral nation could    
mistake its logic1 has by preference    
entrusted it to stunt journalists and   
film-artistes4 ,if in these later days  
you have lacked a voice to interpret you
 in the great accent of a ,chatham1 the 
cause lies in past indifference to that 
literary tradition which is by no means 
the least among the glories of our birth
 and state4  ,,viii  ,masterpieces1     
then1 will serve us as prophylactics of 
taste1 even from childhood2 and will    
help us1 further1 to interpret the      
common mind of civilisation4 ,but they  
have a third and yet nobler use4 ,they  

teach us to lift our own souls4  ,for   
witness to this and to the way of it ,i 
am going to call an old writer for whom1
 be it whim or not1 ,i have an almost   
#ahth century reverence--,longinus4 ,no 
one exactly knows who he was2 although  
it is usual to identify him with that   
,longinus who philosophised in the court
 of the ,queen ,zenobia and was by her1 
in her downfall1 handed over with her   
other counsellors to be executed by     
,aurelian3 though again1 as is usual1   
certain bold bad men affirm that1       
whether he was this ,longinus or not1   
the treatise of which ,i speak was not  
written by any ,longinus at all but by  
someone with a different name1 with     
which they are unacquainted4 ,be this as
 it may1 somebody wrote the treatise and
 its first editor1 ,francis ,robertello 
of ,basle1 in #aeed called him          
,dionysius ,longinus2 and so shall ,i1  
and have done with it1 careless that    
other ,,mss than that used by           
,robertello speak of ,dionysius or      

,longinus4 ,dionysius ,longinus1 then1  
in the #crd century ,a4,d4--some say in 
the #ast3 it is no great matter--wrote a
 little book ,greek3 ,,peri ,,upsous    
commonly cited as ,longinus on the      
,sublime4 ,the title is handy1 but quite
 misleading1 unless you remember that by
 ',sublimity' ,longinus meant1 as he    
expressly defines it1 'a certain        
distinction and excellence in speech4'  
,the book1 thus recovered1 had great    
authority with critics of the #agth and 
#ahth centuries4 ,for the last hundred  
years it has quite undeservedly gone out
 of vogue4  ,it is 7,i admit7 a puzzling
 book1 though quite clear in argument   
and language3 pellucidly clear1 but here
 and there strangely modern1 even       
hauntingly modern1 if the phrase may be 
allowed4 ,you find yourself rubbing your
 eyes over a passage more like ,matthew 
,arnold than something of the #crd      
century3 or you come without warning on 
a few lines of 'comparative criticism1' 
as we call it --an illustration from    

,genesis--',god said1 ,let there be     
,light1 and there was ,light' used for a
 specimen of the exalted way of saying  
things4 ,generally1 you have a sense    
that this author's lineage is mysterious
 after the fashion of ,melchisedek's4   
,well1 to our point--,longinus finds    
that the conditions of lofty utterance  
are five3 of which the first is by far  
the most important4 ,and this foremost  
condition is innate3 you either have it 
or you have not4 ,here it is3           
',elsewhere1' says ,longinus1 ',i have  
written as follows3   ,sublimity is the 
echo of a great soul4 ,hence even a bare
   idea sometimes1 by itself and without
 a spoken word will   excite admiration1
 just because of the greatness of soul  
implied4 ,thus the silence of ,ajax in  
the underworld is great   and more      
sublime than words4'  ,you remember the 
passage1 how ,odysseus meets that great 
spirit among the shades and would       
placate it1 would 'make up' their       
quarrel on earth now1 with carneying    

words3    ',ajax1 son of noble ,telamon1
 wilt thou not then1 even in   death    
forget thine anger against me over that 
cursed   armour4444 ,nay1 there is none 
other to blame but ,zeus3 he   laid thy 
doom on thee4 ,nay1 come hither1 ,o my  
lord1 and   hear me and master thine    
indignation3    ,so ,i spake1 but he    
answered me not a word1 but strode from 
me into the ,darkness1 following the    
others of the dead that   be departed4  
,longinus goes on3    ,it is by all     
means necessary to point this out--that 
the truly   eloquent must be free from  
base and ignoble 7or ill-bred7          
thoughts4 ,for it is not possible that  
men who live their lives   with mean and
 servile aims and ideas should produce  
what is   admirable and worthy of       
immortality4 ,great accents we expect to
   fall from the lips of those whose    
thoughts are dignified4  ,believe this  
and it surely follows1 as concave       
implies convex1 that by daily converse  
and association with these great ones we

 take their breeding1 their manners1    
earn their magnanimity1 make ours their 
gifts of courtesy1 unselfishness1       
mansuetude1 high seated pride1 scorn of 
pettiness1 wholesome plentiful jovial   
laughter4    ,he that of such a height  
hath built his mind1   ,and rear'd the  
dwelling of his soul so strong   ,as    
neither fear nor hope can shake the     
frame   ,of his resolvd powers1 nor all 
the wind   ,of vanity or malice pierce  
to wrong   ,his settled peace1 or to    
disturb the same2      ,what a fair seat
 hath he1 from whence he may      ,the  
boundless wastes and wilds of man       
survey6    ,and with how free an eye    
doth he look down   ,upon these lower   
regions of turmoil6   ,where all the    
storms of passions mainly beat   ,on    
flesh and blood2 where honour1 power1   
renown1   ,are only gay afflictions1    
golden toil2   ,where greatness stands  
upon as feeble feet      ,as frailty    
doth2 and only great doth seem      ,to 
little minds1 who do it so esteem4444   

,knowing the heart of man is set to be  
,the centre of this world1 about the    
which   ,these revolutions of           
disturbances   ,still roll2 where all   
th' aspects of misery   ,predominate2   
whose strong effects are such   ,as he  
must bear1 being powerless to redress2  
,and that1 unless above himself he can  
,erect himself1 how poor a thing is     
man6#b  ,,ix  ,if the exhortation of    
these verses be somewhat too high and   
stoical for you1 let me return to       
,longinus and read you1 from his        
concluding chapter1 a passage you may   
find not inapposite to these times1 nor 
without a moral3    ',it remains' he    
says 'to clear up1 my dear ,terentianus1
 a   question which a certain           
philosopher has recently mooted4 ,i     
wonder1' he says1 'as no doubt do many  
others1 how it happens   that in our    
time there are men who have the gift of 
persuasion   to the utmost extent1 and  
are well fitted for public life1 and    
are keen and ready1 and particularly    

rich in all the charms of   language1   
yet there no longer arise really lofty  
and   transcendent natures unless it be 
quite peradventure4 ,so great   and     
world-wide a dearth of high utterance   
attends our age4   ,can it be1' he      
continued1 'we are to accept the common 
cant   that democracy is the nursing    
mother of genius1 and that great   men  
of letters flourish and die with it8    
,for freedom1 they say1   has the power 
to cherish and encourage magnanimous    
minds1 and   with it is disseminated    
eager mutual rivalry and the emulous    
thirst to excel4 ,moreover1 by the      
prizes open under a popular             
government1 the mental faculties of     
orators are perpetually   practised and 
whetted1 and as it were1 rubbed bright1 
so that   they shine free as the state  
itself4 ,whereas to-day1' he went   on1 
'we seem to have learnt as an           
infant-lesson that servitude   is the   
law of life2 being all wrapped1 while   
our thoughts are   yet young and tender1

 in observances and customs as in       
swaddling clothes1 bound without access 
to that fairest and   most fertile      
source of man's speech 7,i mean         
,freedom7 so that we   are turned out in
 no other guise than that of servile    
flatterers4 ,and servitude 7it has been 
well said7 though   it be even          
righteous1 is the cage of the soul and a
 public   prison-house4'    ,but ,i     
answered him thus4--',it is easy1 my    
good sir1 and   characteristic of human 
nature1 to gird at the age in which     
one lives4 ,yet consider whether it may 
not be true that it is   less the       
world's peace that ruins noble nature   
than this war   illimitable which holds 
our aspirations in its fist1 and        
occupies our age with passions as with  
troops that utterly   plunder and harry 
it4 ,the love of money and the love of  
pleasure enslave us1 or rather1 as one  
may say1 drown us   body and soul in    
their depths4 ,for vast and unchecked   
wealth marches with lust of pleasure for

 comrade1 and when   one opens the gate 
of house or city1 the other at once     
enters   and abides4 ,and in time these 
two build nests in the hearts   of men1 
and quickly rear a progeny only too     
legitimate3 and   the ruin within the   
man is gradually consummated as the     
sublimities of his soul wither away and 
fade1 and in ecstatic   contemplation of
 our mortal parts we omit to exalt1 and 
come to neglect in nonchalance1 that    
within us which is   immortal4'  ,i had 
a friend once who1 being in doubt with  
what picture to decorate the            
chimney-piece in his library1 cast away 
choice and wrote up two ,greek          
words--,greek3 ,,psyches ',,iatreion2   
that is1 the hospital--the              
healing-place--of the soul4    ,footnote
 #a3 ',well6 444 my education is at last
 finished3 indeed it would be strange1  
if1 after five years' hard application1 
anything were left incomplete4 ,happily 
that is all over now2 and ,i have       
nothing to do1 but to exercise my       

various accomplishments4  ',let me      
see6--as to ,french1 ,i am mistress of  
that1 and speak it1 if possible1 with   
more fluency than ,english4 ,italian ,i 
can read with ease1 and pronounce very  
well3 as well at least1 and better1 than
 any of my friends2 and that is all one 
need wish for in ,italian4 ,music ,i    
have learned till ,i am perfectly sick  
of it4 ,but 444 it will be delightful to
 play when we have company4 ,i must     
still continue to practise a            
little2--the only thing1 ,i think1 that 
,i need now to improve myself in4 ,and  
then there are my ,italian songs6 which 
everybody allows ,i sing with taste1 and
 as it is what so few people can pretend
 to1 ,i am particularly glad that ,i    
can4  ',my drawings are universally     
admired2 especially the shells and      
flowers2 which are beautiful1 certainly2
 besides this1 ,i have a decided taste  
in all kinds of fancy ornaments4  ',and 
then my dancing and waltzing6 in which  
our master himself owned that he could  

take me no further6 just the figure for 
it certainly2 it would be unpardonable  
if ,i did not excel4  ',as to common    
things1 geography1 and history1 and     
poetry1 and philosophy1 thank my stars1 
,i have got through them all6 so that ,i
 may consider myself not only perfectly 
accomplished1 but also thoroughly       
well-informed4  ',well1 to be sure1 how 
much have ,i fagged through--2 the only 
wonder is that one head can contain it  
all4'  ,i found this in a little book   
,thoughts of ,divines and ,philosophers1
 selected by ,basil ,montagu4 ,the      
quotation is signed ',j4 ,t4' ,i cannot 
trace it1 but suspect ,jane ,taylor4    
,footnote #b3 ,samuel ,daniel1 ,epistle 
to the ,lady ,margaret1 ,countess of    
,cumberland4     ,,index   ,acts of the 
,apostles1 ,the1 #afe ,addison1 ,joseph1
 #adf1 #aib ,adonais1 ,shelley's1 #gi   
,adrian ,,vi1 ,pope1 #gg ,aeschylus1 #a1
 #aba1 #agi1 #ahc ,aesop and ,rhodop1   
,landor's #aag ,agamemnon1 ,the1 #gi    
,aims of ,literary ,study1 ,the1 #f     

,allegro1,l'1 #fb1 #fc1 #fd ,ameipsias1 
#ba ,anatomy of ,melancholy1 ,burton's1 
#aee ,ancient ,mariner1 ,the1 #ei       
,andersen1 ,hans ,christian1 #df        
,anglo-,saxon ,chronicle1 ,the1 #aed    
,annual ,register1 ,the1 #aee           
,anti-,jacobin1 ,the1 #aid ,apologia1   
,newman's1 #aee ,arabian ,nights1 ,m4   
,galland's1 #dc ,arabian ,nights1 ,the1 
#aci ,arber1 #ii ,aristophanes1 #ba1    
#adg ,aristotle1 #a1 #be1 #dh1 #ea1 #eb1
 #eh1 #ei1 #fj1 #aba1 #abi1 #adh1 #aej1 
#agd1 #bjg ,arnold1 ,matthew1 #ch1 #ii1 
#ajd1 #abd1 #aec1 #bje1 #bac            
,arraignment of ,paris1 ,peele's1 #hj   
,as ,you ,like ,it1 #ga ,aulnoy1 ,madame
 ,d'1 #dc ,aurispa1 #bji ,austen1 ,jane1
 #ajb1 #aid1 #aig  ,bacon1 ,francis #ba1
 #bb1 #bc1 #gc1 #id1 #aad1 #abf1 #aee1  
#bje ,bagehot1 ,walter1 #cf1 #aac       
,bailey1 ,philip ,james1 #aee ,baker1   
,sir ,william1 #agj ,balder ,dead #afc  
,ballad4 ,the1 #ee ,barboar1 ,john1 #aee
 ,bede1 #bjg4 #bji ,beethoven1 #aci     
,beginnings of ,poetry1 ,dr ,gummere's1 

#ee1 #ef1 #eh ,beowulf14 #ii ,berkeley1 
,george1 #aia ,berners1 #aic ,bible1    
,the1 #ig1 #abf et seq4 ,bible1 ,the    
,geneva1 #aee ,blackwood's ,magazine1   
#hj ,blair1 ,robert1 #aee ,blake1       
,william1 #cc1 #aee ,boileau1 #aic      
,bologna1 ,university of1 #gc ,book of  
,nonsense1 ,lear's1 #aaa ,boswell1      
,james1 #ic1 #aee ,bottomley1 ,horatio1 
#ahe ,brady1 ,nicholas1 #agj ,brooke1   
,stopford1 #id ,brown1 ,dr ,john1 #ef   
,browne1 ,sir ,thomas1 #ade1 #ahe1 #ahi1
 #aij ,browning1 ,elizabeth ,barrett1   
#gb ,browning1 ,robert1 #e1 #f1 #g1 #ae1
 #aeb1 #aee1 #bje ,bruce1 ,the1         
,barbour's1 #aee ,bunyan1 ,john1 #ig1   
#acd1 #ace1 #ade1 #aeb ,burke1 ,edmund1 
#id1 #ajd1 #aaf1 #aee1 #aib ,burns1     
,robert1 #ig1 #acb1 #acc ,burton1       
,robert1 #aee ,butcher1 ,professor1 #abi
 ,byron1 ,lord1 #e1 #hj1 #afh  ,cabinet 
des ,fes1 ,le1 #dc ,cambridge ,essays on
 ,education1 ,inge's essay in1 #aab     
,cambridge ,history of ,english         
,literature1 ,the1 #e1 #aeb1 #bjh       

,cambridge ,platonists1 ,the1 #bi1 #aic 
,cambridge1 ,university of1 #a1 #b et   
seq41 #eg1 #gf1 #gg1 #hg1 #hh1   #aje1  
#aba1 #bji ,campbell1 ,john1 #aee       
,canning1 #aic ,canterbury ,tales1 ,the1
 #ga1 #afa ,canterbury ,tales1 ,the     
,prologue to the1 #ga1 #id1 #add1 #afa  
,canton1 ,william1 #ch ,carlyle1        
,thomas1 #e1 #ch1 #ajf ,casaubon1 #gj1  
#aig ,centuries of ,meditations1 ,thomas
 ,traherne's1 #dd ,chatham1 ,earl of1   
#aae1 #aaf1 #aib1 #baa ,chaucer1 #d1    
#bg1 #fe1 #ff1 #ga1 #hh1 #id1 #ajb1     
#afd1 #aje1 #abd1 #add1   #afd1 #aic    
,chicago1 ,university of1 #aed          
,choephori1 #age ,chronicles1 ,book of1 
#ach ,clarendon1 ,lord1 #aee ,clark1    
,william ,george1 #id1 #ii ,cloister and
 the ,hearth1 ,the1 ,charles ,reade's1  
#ahi ,coleridge1 ,samuel ,taylor1 #fe   
,collins1 ,william1 #abd ,colvin1 ,sir  
,sidney1 #hf ,complaint of ,deor1 ,the1 
#aee ,comte1 ,auguste1 #ea ,congreve1   
,william1 #aib ,corinna1 from ,athens1  
to ,tanagra1 ,landor's1 #abd1 #abe      

,corinthians1 ,st ,paul's ,first        
,epistle to the1 #ha1 #hb ,corson1 ,dr1 
#f1 #ff1 #ajj ,cory1 ,william           
7,johnson71 #abc ,cotter's ,saturday    
,night1 ,the1 ,burns's1 #acb1 #aci      
,coverdale1 ,miles1 #ig1ade1 #aeh       
,cowper1 ,william1 #ajj1 #aae1 #aib     
,cranmer1 ,thomas1 #ig ,crashaw1        
,richard1 #aic ,cuthbert1 #bjg ,cyrano  
de ,bergerac1 #aaa  ,daniel1 ,samuel1   
#bae ,dante1 #bg1 #gi1 #ajd1 #aec1 #afd4
 #aig ,darwin1 ,charles1 #aed ,davenant1
 ,sir ,william1 #aea ,death in the      
,desert1 ,a1 ,browning's1 #f1 #g        
,descent of ,man1 ,darwin's1 #aed       
,deserted ,village1 ,the1 #aee ,dickens1
 ,charles1 #e1 #aic ,dionysius1 #bab    
,divina ,commedia1 #eb ,doctor's ,tale1 
,the1 #ga ,dolores1 ,swinburne's1 #aee  
,domesday ,book1 #aee ,don ,quixote1    
#aje ,donne1 ,john1 #hb1 #hi1 #aje1     
#aad1 #aee1 #aic ,dream of ,boccaccio1  
,landor's1 #hb ,dryden1 ,john1 #ed      
,dublin1 ,university of1 #aca ,dunbar1  
,william1 #aic ,dutch ,republic1        

,motley's1 #hb  ,earle1 ,john1 #dd1 #di 
,ecclesiastes1 #afa ,ecclesiastical     
,polity1 ,richard ,hooker's1 #aee       
,ecclesiasticus #add ,education1 #ce et 
seq4 ,ehrenreich1 ,dr ,paul1 #ee ,elegy 
written in a ,country ,churchyard1      
,gray's1 #fa1 #add1 #afd ,eliot1        
,george1 #ad ,ellis1 ,a4 ,j41 #ii       
,elyot1 ,sir ,thomas1 #aa ,emerson1     
,ralph ,waldo1 #cc1 #bjc ,ethen1        
,kinglake's1 #aif ,epipsychidion1       
,shelley's1 #hi ,epistle to the ,lady   
,margaret1 ,countess of ,cumberland1    
,samuel ,daniel's1 #bad1 #bae ,erasmus1 
#aba1 #bji ,erster ,schulgang1 #ci      
,esmond1 ,thackeray's1 #hb1 #hc ,essay  
on ,comedy1 ,meredith's1 #aaj ,essay on 
,man1 ,pope's1 #add ,essays1 ,bacon's1  
#id1 #aee ,esther1 #afa ,ethics1        
,aristotle's1 #a ,euclid1 #ic1 #aca     
,euripides1 #ai1 #ba1 #abc1 #aeg        
,everyman1 #agf ,everyman's ,library1   
#aih ,ezekiel1 #afa  ,faerie ,queene1   
,the1 #aee ,fairchild ,family1 ,the1 #dj
 ,festus1 ,bailey's1 #aee ,fetch a pail 

of water1 #ec ,fitzgerald1 ,edward1     
#aah1 #abb1 #aee ,fort1 ,paul1 #agd     
,fowler1 ,f4 ,g41 #ajh ,fowler1 ,h4 ,w41
 #ajh ,franklin1 ,benjamin1 #ij ,frere1 
,j4 ,h41 #aic ,friar's ,tale1 ,the1 #ga 
,friendship's ,garland1 ,matthew        
,arnold's1 #ch ,froissart1 #aee         
,furnivall1 #ii  ,galileo1 #bg ,galland1
 ,m41 #dc ,gammer ,grethel1 #dc         
,gautier1 ,thophile1 #aig ,genesis1     
,book of1 #bac ,geneva ,bible1 ,the1    
#aee ,gibbon1 ,edward1 #bj1 #ba1 #aba1  
#aca1 #adf1 #adi1 #aib ,golden          
,treasury1 ,palgrave's1 #aee ,goldsmith1
 ,oliver1 #ajb1 #aje ,gondibert1 ,sir   
,william ,davenant's1 #aea ,grammarian's
 ,funeral1 ,a1 ,browning's1 #ae ,grave1 
,robert ,blair's1 #aee ,gray1 ,thomas1  
#fa1 #add1 #afd ,gregory the ,great1    
#bjg ,grimm1 the brothers1 #dc ,grocyn1 
#aba ,grosart1 ,alexander ,balloch1 #ii 
,gummere1 ,dr1 #ee1 #ef1 #eh  ,hakluyt1 
,richard1 #aee ,hales1 ,dr1 #ii         
,hamerton1 ,philip ,gilbert1 #c1 #da    
#aa1 #bc1 #bd ,hamlet1 #ga1 #abg1 #add1 

#afa1 #afc1 #bjc ,hammond1 ,mr1 #aij    
,hammond1 ,mrs1 #aij ,hay1 #baa         
,hazlitt1 ,william1 #bjb ,hegel1 #be1   
#bf ,heidelberg1 ,university of1 #gf    
,here ,come ,three ,dukes a riding1 #ec 
,here we go ,gathering ,nuts in ,may1   
#ec ,herodotus1 #abc ,hesiod1 #aig      
,hobbes1 ,thomas1 #aig ,holmes1 ,mr1    
#dg1 #ej1 #ea1 #eb ,homer1 #hc1 #aah1   
#adf #adg1 #adh1 #adi1 #aec1 #afd1 #afg1
 #aie1 #aif ,hooker1 ,richard1 #aee     
,hopkins1 ,john1 #agj ,horace1 #a ,hound
 of ,heaven1 ,the1 ,thompson's1 #aee    
,household ,tales1 the ,grimms2 #dc     
,hugo1 ,victor1 #afd ,hume1 ,david1 #aib
 ,hymns ,ancient and ,modern1 #agj      
,idea of a ,university1 ,the1 ,newman's1
 #aad ,iliad1 ,the1 #ii1 #adg1 #adh     
,imitatione ,christi1 ,de1 #ach ,in     
,memoriam1 ,tennyson's1 #eh ,inge1      
,dean1 #aab ,intellectual ,life1 ,the1  
,hamerton's1 #c1 #d1 #bc1 #bd           
,intimations of ,immortality1           
,wordsworth's1 #dd ,invisible ,playmate1
 ,the1 ,william ,canton's1 #ch ,irish   

,r4,m41 ,the ,adventures of an1         
,somerville's and ,ross's1 #ace ,irwin1 
,sidney1 #aba ,isaiah1 #ach1 #aec1 #aef1
 #afa ,isaiah1 ,book of1 #ach1 #add1    
#aec1 #afa ,isthmian ,odes1 ,pindar's1  
#ih  ,jansen1 #gg1 ,jenkinson1 ,mr1     
#ahd1 #ahe ,job1 #aff1 #afg1 #afh1 #age 
et seq4 ,job1 ,book of1 #aci1 #add1 #afa
 et seq4 ,john ,bull1 ,bottomley's1 #ahe
 ,john1 ,st1 of ,patmos1 #g1 #acj1 #aea 
,johnson1 ,samuel1 #fa1 #hi1 #ic1 #aje1 
#aca1 #adf1 #aib1 #aic ,jonson1 ,ben1   
#ajb ,joshua1 ,book of1 #dg1 #acf1 #acg 
,joubert1 #aag ,jowett1 ,benjamin1 #ahf 
,jusserand1 ,j4 ,j41 #ajd  ,keats1      
,john1 #hd1 #he1 #hg ,keble1 ,john1 #aad
 ,king ,henry ,,iv1 ,part ,i1 #ga ,king 
,john1 #ga ,king ,lear1 #af1 #ga1 #afc1 
#bja ,kinglake1 ,alexander ,william1    
#aif ,kings1 ,book of1 #ach1 #aci1 #ada 
,kings' ,treasuries1 ,of1 ,ruskin's1    
#aie ,knight's ,tale1 ,the1 #ga  ,lamb1 
,charles1 #ajb1 #ajf1 #aef1 #aig1 #bjj  
,landor1 ,walter ,savage1 #hb1 #aag1    
#abd1 #acj ,latymer1 ,lord 7,f4 ,b4     

,money-,coutts71 #aed1 #afb1 #afg1 #ahc 
,laus ,veneris1 ,swinburne's1 #aee      
,lear1 ,edward1 #aaa ,lectures on       
,poetry1 ,keble's1 #aad ,leipsic1       
,university of1 #gf ,letters on a       
,regicide ,peace1 ,burke's1 #aee ,life  
of ,cowley1 ,johnson's1 #aic ,life of   
,johnson1 ,boswell's1 ,lincoln1         
,abraham1 #abd ,literary ,study of the  
,bible1 ,moulton's1 #afb ,lives of the  
,lord ,chancellors1 ,john ,campbell's1  
#aee ,longinus1 #adh1 #adi1 #aej1 #aea1 
#bab et seq4 ,longinus on the ,sublime1 
#adi1 #aej1 #bab et seq4 ,louvain1      
,university of1 #gf ,lowell1 ,james     
,russell1 #baa ,lucian1 #ajh ,luke1     
,gospel of ,st1 #afa ,lycidas1 #afd     
,macaulay1 ,lord1 #ai1 #aee1 #aef       
,macbeth1 #ga ,macchiavelli1 #aig       
,maeterlinck1 #agd1 #age ,malherbe1 #aic
 ,malory1 ,sir ,thomas1 #aic ,man of    
,law's ,tale1 ,the1 #ga ,manfred1 #aee  
,map1 ,walter1 #aee1 #aef ,martin1      
,violet1 #acf ,marvell1 ,andrew1 #bja   
,matthew1 ,gospel of ,st1 #acg          

,memories1 ,irish1 ,somerville's and    
,ross's1 #ace ,merchant of ,venice1     
,the1 #ga ,meredith1 ,george1 #e1 #aaj  
,microcosmography1 ,john ,earle's1 #dd  
,mill1 ,john ,stuart1 #ic1 #aee ,milton1
 ,john1 #bg1 #fb1 #fe1 #ic1 #id1 #aaa1  
#abg1 #aca1 #ade1 #afb1   #afd1 #aff1   
#afg1 #afh1 #afi1 #agj1 #ahh ,molire1   
#gi ,money-,coutts1 ,f4 ,b4 7,lord      
,latymer71 #aed1 #afb1 #afg1 #ahc       
,montagu1 ,basil1 #baa ,moore1 ,sturge1 
#abd ,more1 ,hannah1 #aib ,more1 ,sir   
,thomas1 #aad ,morris1 ,richard1 #ii    
,morte d',arthur1 ,le1 #aee ,motley1    
#hb1 #baa ,moulton1 ,dr ,r4 ,g41 #aed1  
#aeh1 #afb1 #agg ,much ,ado ,about      
,nothing1 #ga ,myers1 ,f4 ,w4 ,h41 #afe1
 #aff  ,newman1 ,john ,henry1 #aac1     
#aad1 #aca1 #aee1 #bjf ,newton1 ,sir    
,isaac1 #bg1 #aad ,nicholas ,v1 ,pope   
7,tommaso ,parentucelli71 #bji ,north1  
,sir ,thomas1 #abc ,notes and ,queries1 
#aja ,nun ,priest's ,tale1 ,the1 #ga    
,ode to a ,grecian ,urn1 ,keats's1      
#he1hf ,ode to a ,nightingale1 ,keats's1

 #he1 #hf ,ode to ,evening1 ,collins's1 
#abd ,ode to ,psyche1 ,keats's1 #he     
,odyssey1 ,the1 #db1 #adg1 #adh ,of     
,studies1 ,bacon's1 #ba1 #bb1 #bc ,omar1
 #bj ,omar ,khayym1 ,fitz,gerald's1 #aee
 ,on ,liberty1 ,john ,stuart ,mill's1   
#aee ,on the ,art of ,writing1 #a       
,ossian1 #aee ,othello1 #eb1 #ga1 #hi   
,oxford1 ,university of1 #i1 #gc1 #ge1  
#gf1 #gg1 #aba  ,page1 #baa ,paine1     
,thomas1 #aib ,paley1 ,frederick1 #ih1  
#abc ,palgrave1 ,francis ,turner1 #ae #e
 ,pall ,mall ,gazette1 ,the1 #aig1 #aih 
,paradise ,lost1 #ef1 #eh1 #ei1 #fb1    
#abg1 #add1 #aed1 #afa1 #afd1 #aff1     
#afg1 #afh1 #afi1 #agj1 #ahb1 #ahh1 #bjb
 ,paradise ,regained1 #aff1 #agj        
,paradiso1 ,the1 #bja ,pardoner's ,tale1
 ,the1 #ga ,parentucelli ,tommaso 7,pope
 ,nicholas ,v71 #bji ,paris1 ,university
 of1 #gd1 #ge ,parlement of ,fowls1     
,the1 #bg1 #ga ,pater1 ,walter1 #ii1    
#adi ,patmore1 ,coventry1 #cc ,pattison1
 ,mark1 #gj ,paul1 ,st1 #cb1 #fj1 #ha1  
#hb1 #adg1 #afa1 #afe ,peele1 #hj       

,pericles1 #abd ,perrault1 #dc1 #aaj    
,pervigilium ,veneris1 ,the1 #abd       
,phaedo1 ,the1 #adg1 #adh1 #bja1 #bjf   
,phaedrus1 ,the1 #aah1 #ahf ,piers      
,ploughman1 #aee1 #aef ,pilgrim's       
,progress1 ,the1 #fh ,pindar1 #eg1 #gi1 
#ih ,plato1 #h1 #af1 #be1 #bf1 #bg1 #bh1
 #cf1 #aaa1 #aah1 #adg1 #aej1 #ahe      
,plutarch1 #abc ,poems and ,ballads1    
,swinburne's1 #aee ,poet's ,charter1    
,the1 ,lord ,latymer's 7,money-,coutts71
 #afb ,poetics1 ,aristotle's1 #eb1 #eh1 
#ei1 #abi ,polonius1 ,fitz,gerald's1    
#abb ,pope1 ,alexander1 #aje1 #aca1     
#add1 #afd1 #aib1 #aif ,prince          
,charming1 ,perrault's1 #aaa ,principia1
 ,newton's1 #aad ,prior1 ,matthew1 #ajb 
,prometheus ,bound1 ,aeschylus's1 #age1 
#agi1 #ahj1 #ahc ,prometheus ,unbound1  
,shelley's1 #ei1 #aee1 #afd1 #afg1 #afh1
 #afi ,psalm of ,life1 ,the1 #ef ,psalm 
cvii1 #aeh1 #aei1 #afj ,psalm cxiv1     
,milton's ,paraphrase of1 #afi1 ,psalm  
cxxxvi1 ,milton's ,paraphrase of1 #afi1 
#agj ,psalms1 ,the1 #aci1 #add #adb1    

#afa ,pythagoras1 #bg ,pythian ,odes1   
,pindar's1 #ih  ,quarles1 ,francis1 #aee
  ,rashdall1 ,hastings1 #gf ,reade1     
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#ach1 #aee1 #aie ,ruth1 #aci1 #afa      
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,sermon ,,ii preached at ,pauls upon    

,christmas ,day1 in the   ,evening4     
#afbd1 ,donne's1 #hi ,sermons1 ,donne's1
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#bjd1 #bje ,shelley1 #gi1 #aee1 #afg1   
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,jonathan1 #aje1 #aca ,swinburne1       
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#bjd1 #bje ,tennyson1 ,alfred1 ,lord1   
#e1 #aic1 #aid ,tertullian1 #bjg        
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,virgil1 #ab1 #aaf1 #afg ,voyages1      
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,,cambridge3 ,,printed ,,by ,w4 ,,lewis4
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