25 DECEMBER 1869, Page 3

It was hardly a " happy thought " in the

Lord Mayor to declare at the "school dinner " of the Merchant Taylors' Company on Monday that " the days of Latin and Greek were numbered." His lordship, whether right or wrong, could not be surprised if a company assembled chiefly to do honour to the powers whose overthrow he foretold, greeted him much as the worshippers a Diana greeted St. Paul and his friends. But, in truth, the Lord Mayor, who is commonly a sensible speaker, did not understand what he was talking about. The real rival of education by lan- guage is education by science. We hope and believe that both can reign together, but if our Saturn is to be deposed, this is the Jove who will expel him.