'THE PASSING OF CLASSICS.
tTo THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
SrE,—I was at Harrow last Speech Day. For -so long as I can remember (over-sixty years) the school prizes are then handed to the winners. This year out -of -ten prizes for Latin and Greek (in gold medals or books) one -only was awarded! In the prospectus, under "Entrance Examinations," I read: " Greek is -nut required nor desired from any candidate whose other work does not qualify him for admission to the Remove." Every preparatory school master knows what pro- portion of candidates qualify for the Remove; perhaps 5 per .,oent. Their inference is obvious. They do not teach Greek. Certainly at Harrow Greek is dead, and apparently Latin--scholarship is dead with it. I know nothing of other schools. I trust that the colleges at Eton and Winchester may still support the old tradition, and there may be some curious old-fashioned feeling at some other schools. It is a •wide step from abolishing -compulsory Greek at the university to giving up Greek at the public schools, but Harrow has prac- tically taken this step. I venture to write to you as I think that the shock I feel may be a shock to others, and that parents may realise that the movement has gone too far. It is hardly exhilarating to think that our sons and grandsons will have no chance of any classical education, the value of which to a minority is surely conceded by the strongest opponents of
compulsory Greek.—I am, Sir, &c., G. BOILEAU REID.
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