[To TIER EDITOR Or THY "SPECT►TOE."J SIR, — Not only is Greek
literature more precious than Latin, but the language is also easier to learn. Any one who has tried to tell a story in Latin suitable for beginners finds himself at once involved in complicated constructions, and he must sacrifice either simplicity or idiom. Professor Postgate has remarked lately that his blue pencil was in con- stant requisition to mark the bad Latin in an elementary book he had put into his little daughter's hands; I think I could name that book. But let the attempt be made in Greek, and the difficulties vanish. Latin is a literary language, Greek is the natural expression of the most culti- vated nation the world has ever known. The poverty of Latin has to be supplemented by ingenious contrivances; the loss of the article, and of almost all the participles, is fatal to simplicity. The English idiom is far more akin to Greek than to Latin. To take an instance, the consecutive sentence requiring " ut " with the subjunctive in Latin, a constant pitfall to beginners, and absolutely irrational, is expressed in Greek precisely as it is tin English. The termination " ae " in the first declension, common to three cases, is an initial difficulty of a serious kind. The Greek alphabet is admirable in completeness and symmetry. It is only because all boys begin, with Latin that Greek is regarded as more difficult. If only to enable a man to read the Greek Testament in the original, the Greek language is to be preferred to the Latin. Is it not true that the Vulgate was largely responsible for mediaeval ignorance and blindness, till Greek was rediscovered, and brought light into the dark places ? Greek and Latin throw light on one another; we all learn best by comparison. They should be taught par/ passu ; but if one must be abandoned, let it be Latin. The real argument against Greek at the University is that the examination is a sham, and represents no real standard of excellence. As long as set books can be crammed into a boy's head, and irregular verbs got up from lists, the only unessential part being the meaning of the word, so long will the enemies of classics have the best of the battle. The key to the situation is the set book and the grammar paper. Let the Universities examine in the language, and then, if they will, accept French as a substitute for either Latin or Greek. There are certainly some boys, but not many, for whom this would be an advantage, and for the genuine student of physics, if be insists, let language altogether be remitted ; but he will assuredly be the loser.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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