[TO THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR :1 SIR, — Will you allow
me to enter a protest against the fallacy contained in Mr. Brunner's argument against Greek in the Spectator of November 22nd ? Let it be granted that " the ears of the ancients" would "be outraged were they to hear their poems and orations recited with sounds to them un- known." The admission does not detract from the value of Greek or the beauty of the Greek language and literature for us. Our pronunciation would doubtless be to them exquisitely absurd ; it is not therefore in itself absurd, but only from their point of view, which does not concern us. As long as our pronunciation is consistent and obeys a law, it cannot be characterised as inaccurate or lacking in refinement. It can hardly be necessary to point out that Greek literature does still in the very highest degree rank as music and make its appeal to the ear. Greek has not lost its harmony or force ; it is not dead, and its music can never die while men are trained to hear it. No single work of art can pass from its creator's to another mind without change, and seldom, indeed, without loss. We need not consider what is lost but what
[We cannot print any more letters on this subject.—En. Spectator.]
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