up two classical languages?  Should this be granted, the next question is—­Ought these two classes of minds to be treated as equal in rights and privileges?  The upholders of the present system say, No.  The Language mind is the true aristocrat; the Science mind is an inferior creation.  Degrees and privileges are for the man that can score languages, with never so little science; outer darkness is assigned to the man whose forte is science alone.  But a war of caste in education is an unseemly thing; and, after all the levelling operations that we have passed through, it is not likely that this distinction will be long preserved.

[CLAIMS OF THE MODERN SIDE.]

The modern side, as at present constituted, still retains Latin.  There is a considerable strength of feeling in favour of that language for all kinds of people; it is thought to be a proper appendage of the lay professions; and there is a wide-spread opinion in favour of its utility for English.  So much is this the case, that the modern-siders are at present quite willing to come under a pledge to keep up Latin, and to pass in it with a view to the University.  In fact, the schools find this for the present the most convenient arrangement.  It is easier to supply teaching in Latin than in a modern language, or in most other things; and while Latin continues to be held in respect, it will remain untouched.  Yet the quantity of time occupied by it, with so little result, must ultimately force a departure from the present curriculum.  The real destination of the modern side is to be modern throughout.  It should not be rigorously tied down even to a certain number of modern languages.  English and one other language ought to be quite enough; and the choice should be free.  On this footing, the modern side ought to have its place in the schools as the co-equal of classics; it would be the natural precursor of the modernised alternatives in the Universities; those where knowledge subjects predominate.

The proposal to give an inferior degree to a curriculum that excludes Greek should, in my judgment, be simply declined.  It is, however, a matter of opinion whether, in point of tactics, the modern party did not do well to accept this as an instalment in the meantime.  The Oxford offer, as I understand it, was so far liberal, that the new degree was to rank equal in privileges with the old, although inferior in prestige.  In Scotland, the decree conceded by the classical party to a Greekless education was worthless, and was offered for that very reason.[11]

[SURRENDER OF CLAIMS FOR SOME.]