A practical test.It may be worth while saying that the writer has tested this method, and found it practicable with young and old. Moreover it has been applied, within his knowledge, to the teaching of Russian, a language hardly less difficult than Greek; and it is found possible, by combining conversation, reading, writing and learning by heart, to teach even obtuse persons how to read an ordinary novel or newspaper, to write a social or official letter, and to converse on ordinary topics, in three months, although before they began this course they knew not even the Russian alphabet.

(4) Composition.For Latin composition the teacher can hardly do better than begin with Abbott’s Via Latina; for Greek, Ritchie’s Practical Greek Method is to be recommended, though not so unreservedly. What books are best to follow up with may be seen from the lists given below. But after all, it is not books that teach, so much as the teacher; and he had better fix on the subjects that are to be taught at each stage, and select or make the exercises necessary to teach them.

Every exercise will of course be corrected, and the pupil should never pass on without having written out a correct translation of the exercise himself. Practical hints for teaching it.If it is practicable, the best thing is for him to be told his mistakes, and then to rewrite the exercise, doing it again and again until it is right. But if time permits not this, the teacher may do a good deal to encourage self-help by going round the class whilst they are writing, and underlining all mistakes, which the pupils are then to correct, if they can. As soon as possible, pieces of continuous prose should be done as well as sentences; and this can be begun quite early, in fact after a couple of terms’ work. The same plan of underlining mistakes may be followed with these; but it will be found advantageous, as the work increases in difficulty, to give more and more often fair copies of the teacher’s, or by some other competent person. In all composition it is useful to dictate the fair copy, and then to give a few minutes for the class to learn it. The class should then be called up, the copy taken away, and the English should be translated viva voce. Of course any reasonable translation will be accepted; it is not meant that only the very words of the copy given will do. Let the old pieces be done over now and again at sight; and the results cannot fail to be good.

Type-sentences to be learnt by heart.Most of the exercise books have explanations prefixed to each exercise, with examples. All such examples, or at least one of each construction, should be learnt by heart. The same should be done with the syntax rules of any grammar which may be in use. These should all be so well drilled into the pupils, that when a rule is given, or a heading, or (for beginners) the English meaning, the pupils should be able to reel off the example without hesitation. A certain portion of syntax, or of the exercise book, or both, should be set for each stage; and the classes which are studying that part of the subject must learn these, and keep up the old work. The reading book will give plenty of opportunity to ask for these quotations, and it should constantly be done. The oftener the pupil repeats his example of the instrumental ablative, or whatever it may be, the better he will know it; and he cannot know it too well. The pupil should be tested and kept up to the mark by regular grammar papers, at least twice a term.

Unseen translation.Unseen translation should be commenced as early as possible, and form part of the regular work. Beginners can try some unprepared piece out of their reading book, which they must do on paper, and without help, except that they will use the vocabulary. As soon as the pupils are far enough on to use a dictionary, some special book of unseens should be taken, such as Jerram’s Anglice Reddenda. The use of helps can be gradually discontinued, until the pupil is weaned from them altogether. This can be done by forbidding dictionaries, and giving the meanings of the more unfamiliar words, fewer and fewer by degrees.

Repetition.As soon as the pupil has begun to read a verse author, repetition should be begun, and never afterwards discontinued. Verse is easier to learn, so with verse we begin; but pieces of prose for learning should be set later. It is useful to make the repetition a part of the terminal examination, and to have every word of it written out. A Greek play and a book of Virgil should be chosen (say the Medea, or the Œdipus Tyrannus, and the IVth or VIth Æneid), together with the Heroides of Ovid, and if time allows, one of the speeches against Catiline and a Philippic of Demosthenes. These can be divided into portions, a portion for each form or class, and it should be understood that this has to be learnt during the term and kept up afterwards. The examination will simply consist in writing out all the portion learnt during the term, and all the old work, if any. As the work will always be the same, the older pupils will soon get to know it perfectly. The system here recommended has been used in one great school for perhaps a quarter of a century, and the results have been excellent.

Methods of work more advanced.We will now suppose that the accidence and syntax are fairly well known, and that the pupil is ready to read a book of Virgil or a speech of Cicero, Euripides or Demosthenes, without serious difficulty. The methods followed will not change; they will merely be applied more widely. The grammar will need to be kept fresh by the same means as before, and the study will be made more intelligent by use of the comparative and historical methods;[9] construing will be done in the same order, but some style will be expected; composition will be worked by means of correction and fair copies, but the pieces chosen will be harder, and here, too, style will be more attended to; conversation will by this time have become easy and interesting, and will cover a wider range of ideas. What is to be aimed at.The aims of the teacher at this stage must be to teach self-reliance, and to direct the student more and more to illustrative reading. It is advisable at this stage to do part of the work without the aid of notes. The class is reading, we will suppose, a book of Horace’s Odes, and one of Cicero’s speeches. He should have a complete text of Horace, and the proper volume of Cicero’s works (or the whole), with no notes at all; from this he should prepare the work for the first time of doing. Difficulties he must make out as best he can, with the aid of grammar and dictionary, some dictionary of antiquities (Rich for beginners, Smith’s large one for older students), Gow’s Companion and the pictorial Atlas of Antiquities. What is to be aimed at.For revision, he should be given notes dictated by the teacher, or some edition with printed notes in it. The class work should be done with the utmost care and exactness, and parts of the author committed to memory: side by side with this should go more discursive reading, especially for the older students. They should be encouraged (and at last expected) to read more of the author by themselves, and to bring difficulties to the teacher, who ought now and again to test their progress. Thus the curriculum of the latter part of the school work will consist of a portion of all the chief authors to be read in school, and as much more as possible of the same authors read out of school.

Illustrative works.The pupil should also be directed to illustrative works which will serve to quicken his interest in any author. The excellent series of Ancient Classics for English Readers contains an account of each author, with extracts translated; and well do I remember my interest in the Xenophon of this series, when quite a boy. Passages might be read to the class from some book of travels; On the Track of the Ten Thousand, if Xenophon be the author; Travels or Explorations in Egypt, if Herodotus; and so forth. The reader of Cicero could not fail to be interested in Boissier’s Cicero and his Friends; the Latin poets are well illustrated by Sellar’s Roman Poets of the Republic and of the Augustan Age. Symonds’ Greek Poets, Mahaffy’s literary and historical books, Champagny’s Les Césars, Girard’s Education Athénienne are only a few out of many books which make the old days live again, and add to the literary appreciation of a learner.

Translations.The elder pupils in their private reading must be taught the proper use of translations. It is not to be expected that they will do without them entirely; but they should have access to the best, in a school library or elsewhere, under some direction at first and afterwards at discretion. If they are clearly shown that it is their interest to use them only where their own honest efforts have failed, or as models in the case of books they have already done, most of them will be sensible enough not to abuse their liberty. The pupil will gain much, too, by reading some of the old translations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From North’s Plutarch, Hobbes’ Thucydides, Holland’s Livy, and other such, the learner will gain a new idea of what the English language can do, much to the advantage of his style. Nor is there the same danger in giving pupils these books as in allowing them the free use of modern translations. They reproduce the spirit rather than the letter, and are of little use as “cribs”.

Style.When the pupil has learnt how to write correct Latin or Greek, it will be time to pay some attention to style. The pieces chosen should at first be definitely historical, oratorical, philosophical, or dialogue, according to the author being at the time studied; in the last stage, these should be given one after the other, unless any weak point needs strengthening. Lectures and demonstrations.It is useful now and again to give lectures and demonstrations in composition to a class. Each will be provided with a copy of the English, and the teacher then will get to the heart of it, state its thoughts in the sequence and subordination as simply as possible, and finally translate it bit by bit, using the blackboard to record each step. Questions may be asked or anticipated, and the various renderings suggested should be weighed and discussed. In this manner the beginner sees how a trained mind works, and is helped to guide his own. Good examples of the method may be seen in Sidgwick’s Lectures on Greek Prose Composition, Postgate’s Sermo Latinus, and Sargent’s Primers.

Verse-writing.So far nothing has been said of verse composition. Much obloquy has been poured on this of late years; and it may be admitted that formerly too much time was given to it. But in spite of all that objectors can say, there is no manner of doubt that verse-writing is a practice of very great value. No one really pretends that it can make poets (the common sneer); all that is claimed for it is, that it is valuable as a mental gymnastic and in training the literary sense. Prose-writing can teach the power of words, but only verse their subtler associations; prose teaches the effect of position upon emphasis, but verse makes clear that there is such a thing as literary form. Most people never realise the rhythm of a piece of prose; its more striking faults may offend or its merits unconsciously please, but why these please or offend it would be beyond their power to say. Its value.But the dullest boy or girl who has learnt how to piece together an elegiac couplet, understands that this particular kind of composition is regulated by definite bounds, and cast in a form, the variations of which are limited. His ear becomes attuned more or less to rhythm, and this first step may be used to lead him on to the comprehension of literary form in other kinds. I do not say that he will never learn the lesson without writing verses, but that this is the easiest way to teach it; and I would apply the same principle to English or any other language. Some incidental advantages follow at the same time; not the least that the pupil understands the metre of the poets he reads. He will not learn this equally well by scanning. To have full effect the act of scanning must be unconscious; that is, the reader must take in words, meaning and rhythm at the same time without effort. So far as my experience goes, those who have not learnt how to write verses never read poetry in this way, but the scanning (if done) is done by a conscious effort, which draws off the mind from the poetry. Let the class, then, as soon as they begin to read a verse author, do a term’s work or two on elementary exercises in metre (I will not say verse-writing) from Penrose’s Latin Elegiac Verse Composition. The time will not be wasted, as has been shown, even if no more is done. Those who wish to go further in Latin verse cannot do without a skilled teacher, for no books exist which can help him much. Demonstrations on the blackboard can teach a great deal at this stage; but nothing can be done by the pupil without learning a great deal of Latin verse by heart. Greek verse is easier to compose than Latin, and may be begun quite late. Nearly all the elementary books on Greek verse are useless without a teacher, and need constant supervision and help; perhaps I may be pardoned for mentioning a little book called Damon, since this is the only one wherein the learner is led on by steps graduated close one after the other. Pupils may go straight from this book to the rendering of pieces of English verse, but both Sidgwick’s and Sargent’s books on Greek verse will always be found useful.

Pronunciation of Latin and Greek.It is necessary now to say something about the pronunciation of Latin and Greek. The reformed pronunciation is strongly to be recommended. This is simply set forth in a pamphlet published by the Cambridge University Press,[10] and for Latin is practically that given in the first pages of the Latin Primer. The sole advantage of pronouncing Latin and Greek words as if they were English, is that the learner need learn nothing new. But this is far outweighed by the disadvantages; and after all, the pupil has begun to learn French or German, and so is not struck dumb at being called upon to pronounce i as ee. The main disadvantages are these: (1) Confusion of s, c, and t, as Ceres with Seres, cedit with sedit; (2) Confusion of quantity, mensīs (abl. pl.) with mensĭs (gen. sing.), mālum (“evil”) with mălum (“apple”); (3) Difficulty of pronunciation in many words, especially in Greek, as παύω when the first syllable is made to rhyme with law; (4) Loss of much beauty in the sound of the languages.

The accent in Greek.In one point, however, I differ from the authors of this pamphlet—that is, on the question of Greek accentuation. It is generally agreed that the Greek accents must be learnt, and rightly so, for many interesting linguistic points turn on them; but it is also the invariable practice not to try to pronounce them. To be taught as far as practicable.But there is really no reason why most of them should not be pronounced. The Greek accent, as is well known, was a musical intonation; the acute[11] denoting a rise in the tone, the circumflex a rise followed by a fall, i.e., a kind of drawl. The circumflex can always be pronounced with ease; so can the acute, when final; so can the great majority of internal accents. It is just as easy to say ἐλΕΙποντο as ἐλειΠΟΝτο. The only cases of real difficulty are words like φέρηται, άνθρωπος, where a long vowel follows an accented syllable. These might be waived for beginners, but these are few compared to the rest; and even to pronounce the accent and quantity in these is not very difficult, especially with the reformed pronunciation. This plan has been tried, and found to work fairly, with young boys from twelve to sixteen.

Value of old English translations.There is a means by which the classical teacher may be greatly helped, and that is if the general course of studies in the school be so arranged, that good English translations of the classics form a fair proportion of the English authors read. Many of these translations are themselves English classics, such as Chapman’s and Pope’s Homer, North’s Plutarch, Dryden’s Virgil and Juvenal. Others there are in plenty, no less excellent than these, if less known—Phaer’s Virgil, Holland’s versions of Livy, Suetonius, Plutarch’s Morals, and many other works; Hobbes’ Thucydides, Barnard’s Terence, Echard’s Plautus—indeed there is hardly a classical author of repute who did not find a worthy translator in the Elizabethan age. A few of these are accessible in cheap reprints,[12] and if there were a demand for any of them a reprint would appear at once. By reading these the children will become familiar with the subject-matter of classical authors before they have to translate them; and they will also have made acquaintance with some fine works of literature, many of which (such as North) are interesting from association with Shakspere. When Roman or Greek history comes in the regular historical cycle, some of these books might well be read along with them.

Models and illustrations.The last thing to be mentioned is the use of models and illustrations. There is almost no limit to the number of such things that can be had; the real limit is the depth of the teacher’s purse. But the schools ought to provide these things for use; it is too much to expect that teachers should spend their sparings and savings in educational plant. Any money spent in this way is amply repaid by the interest added to the work. Classical teachers ought to have at their disposal lantern slides illustrating classical life and history, wall pictures and maps, photographs and models. Slides may be hired from the Hellenic Society, or bought through the Teachers’ Guild;[13] for wall pictures there are two excellent series, those of Cybulski and Launitz. Of photographs there are thousands. The wise teacher will travel and collect them; but for those who will not, one or two addresses of photographers are given below,[14] with the names of some useful works. The pictures can be kept in the school library, and hung up for the term when they will be useful. For the photographs, frames with movable backs are most to be recommended, as the pictures can then be changed at will. The teacher should talk about them, and question his class, and (as already suggested) they may form a topic of Latin or Greek conversation. It is astonishing how much children will learn from these things. In addition, it is highly desirable that each pupil should have his pictorial atlases as he has an atlas of geography.

Recapitulation.The writer has now pointed out what, in his opinion, is the place which Latin and Greek should take in a girl’s education, and the methods best calculated to teach them. If in these there is not much that is new, they are at all events such as experience has proved to be sound. One or two points may be indicated which are apt to be weak in girl students, and must therefore be specially guarded against. Weak points to be strengthened.They are apt to be shaky in grammar, and they seem to have less mental self-reliance than boys. As regards those who learn late, they must go over the same ground; for no teacher and no book, no not if angels wrote it, can point out a royal road to learning. These late-learners bring to the task a mind already more or less trained, and so they will get on faster; but let them beware of trying to get on too fast. They must make up their minds that grammar has to be learnt, and work at it with a will. If they have already done half of the drudgery by learning Latin, as here recommended, their task will be not easy indeed, but not beyond their powers; and even if both Latin and Greek are begun late, they need not even then despair. I have known several, both men and women, who have begun late and ended with success, even with distinction; although it must be admitted that these were persons of exceptional powers. But it is of the utmost importance that the most capable teachers should have charge of the late-learners. The greater the difficulty, the greater need for a teacher who has his subjects at the ends of his fingers, who can see a short-cut, and is able to judge how much of the preliminary work can safely be shortened, or even omitted for the time. When skill in the teacher meets with will in the taught, between them they may remove mountains.

SUGGESTED SCHEME OF WORK IN SIX PARTS.

LATIN.

GREEK.

BOOKS.[15]

The writer wishes it to be understood that this is not an exhaustive list. These books he has either tested by use, or has good grounds in the experience of others for the judgment given of them; but there are many others of the same kind, and there is often little to choose between them. The publishers whose books are given below are: Camb. Univ. Press, Clarendon Press, Blackie, Dent, Grevel, Isbister, Longmans, Macmillan, Murray, Rivingtons, Seeley, Trübner.

LATIN: GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION.

Public School Lat. Primer (or Postgate’s New Lat. Primer, in some respects a more useful book) should be kept at hand, if only for reference and revision. Abbott, Via Latina (v), 3/6; excellent. Morris, Elementa Latina, with Tripertita as an exercise book, followed by Mansfield’s Lat. Exercise Book; a good series for very beginners, but the exercises need supplementing. Allen, Rudimenta Latina (v) 2/6; belongs to a complete series, the other books being an Elementary Latin Grammar, 2/6, a First (v), 2/6, and a Second Latin Exercise Book (v), 3/6. The last named is an excellent book for teachers, who may learn much from it, but I have found it dull and difficult for the learner. Ritchie, First Steps in Lat. (v), 1/6; also one of a series, with Ex. in Lat. Prose Comp. (v), 2/6, and Easy Continuous Lat. Prose, 2/6,[16] Latin Clause Construction, 1/6, a First Lat. Verse Book (v), 2/-, and a Reader Fabulæ Faciles (v), 2/6, with Imitative Lat. Ex. (v), 1/6, based upon it. These are good books, and I prefer them to Allen’s after using both series: the explanations are clearer, and there are more sentences. Macmillan’s Latin Course (v), two parts, 3/6 and 4/6; good. It has an advantage in the large number of exercises. England, Exx. in Latin, Syntax and Idiom (v k), 2/6; a companion to Roby’s School Latin Grammar. Rooper and Herring, Primary Lat. Exx. (v), 3/6; specially adapted to the Revised Lat. Primer. North and Hillard, Lat. Prose Comp. (v), for the middle forms, 3/6; carefully arranged and progressive from phrases and sentences to continuous prose. Champneys and Randall, Easy English Pieces for Translation into Latin Prose, 1st and 2nd series, each 1/6; excellent, and can be used with a sentence book as soon as the elements are mastered. More advanced Grammars: W. M. Lindsay, Short Historical Lat. Gr., 4/6; excellent. This is mainly philological. H. J. Roby, School Lat. Gr., 5/-; good. Not philological.

For Idiom and Construction in the higher stages:—

Bradley, Arnold’s Lat. Prose Comp. (v), 5/-, and Aids to Writing Latin Prose, 5/-, with full explanations; the former has sentences, the latter continuous prose. Abbott, Lat. Prose through Eng. Idiom, 2/6; is a most useful little book for committing to memory. This should be used with one or two forms or sets in addition to the stock books. Jerram, Latine Reddenda, 1/6; useful collection of miscellaneous sentences. Books of chosen English: Holden, Foliorum Centuriæ, 8/-, for Gr. and Lat. prose; the standard collection. Wilkins’ Manual of Lat. Prose Comp., 4/6. Sargent and Dallin, Materials and Models for Lat. Pr. Comp. (k), 6/6; with references for each piece to portions of Latin authors on similar subjects; a useful book. Potts, Passages for Transl. into Lat. Prose (k), 2/6. Nettleship, Passages for Transl. into Lat. Prose, with a valuable introduction. Postgate: see below.

Most useful for teachers, advanced students, or private students:—

J. Y. Sargent, Lat. Prose Primer (v), 2/6; most of the pieces are carefully analysed, and the steps by which the sense is mastered and then translated are shown in detail. It is a companion to Sargent’s Easy Passages for Transl. into Lat. (k), 2/6. Potts, Hints towards Lat. Pr., 3/-; perhaps the most useful of all manuals on Latin prose style. Postgate, Sermo Latinus (k), 2/6; interesting and instructive. Ramsay, Lat. Pr. Versions, with the English, 5/-; excellent models. Meissner’s Lat. Phrase Book, 3/6; phrases and quotations classified and indexed; a most useful book. Roby’s Lat. Gr., two vols., 9/- and 10/6; indispensable. W. M. Lindsay, Lat. Language, 21/-; indispensable to those who study Latin from the comparative standpoint. His Short Historical Lat. Gr. will, however, be sufficient for less advanced students.

VERSE.

Manuals by Penrose (elegiacs); Morice (same, more advanced), and Lupton (lyrics): Holden, Foliorum Silvula (the best anthology).

READERS.

There are numbers of elementary readers, and there is really little to choose between them. The most useful set seems to the writer to be Rivington’s Single Term Latin Readers, 8d. to 1/4 each. With notes, exercises and vocabularies. These are sets of three books for each of six terms, each book containing enough for a term’s work, and each set having the same standard. Others in common use are: Morice, Loculi, 2/-; Abbott, Dux Latinus, 2/-, adapted to Via Latina; Ritchie, Fabulæ Faciles; Bennett’s Easy Lat. Stories, Hardy’s Lat. Reader, etc. Teachers and private students may learn much from Abbott’s Latin Gate.

GREEK: GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION.

Abbott and Mansfield, Primer of Gr. Gr., 2/6, or with Syntax, 3/6; is perhaps the most convenient as a collection of facts. A Primer of Gr. Ex., 3/6, has been compiled to go with it. Ritchie’s elementary exercise books can be recommended. Ritchie and Moore, Practical Gr. Method for Beginners (v k), 3/6. Ritchie, First Steps in Gr. (v), 2/-; exercises need to be supplemented. Jackson, First Steps to Greek Prose Comp. (v k), and Second Steps (v k), 1/6 and 3/6; are useful exercise books. Macmillan’s Greek course: Easy Ex. in Gr. Accidence (v), 2/-; Easy Ex. in Gr. Syntax (v), 2/6; Second Gr. Exercise Book (v), 2/6; companions to Rutherford’s Greek Grammar. They are almost exclusively exercises, and very full. Jerram, Graece Reddenda (v), 2/6; a collection of miscellaneous sentences. Sidgwick’s First Gr. Writer (v k), 3/6; easy continuous prose, may be used along with any book of sentences. Following this comes his excellent Gr. Prose Comp. (v k), 5/-, and then the pupil will be able to dispense with crutches. Both have clear and useful introductions. Arnold’s Gr. Pr. Comp. (v k), 3/6, ed. by Abbott, has useful exercises in idiom.

More advanced, and to be used as soon as the accidence is mastered, is Goodwin’s Gr. Gr., 6/-, new ed., excellent; or his School Gr. Gr., 3/6. To the advanced student Goodwin’s Gr. Moods and Tenses, second ed., 14/-, is indispensable. Much may be learnt from the Gr. Gram. of Goodwin, 6/-; Rutherford, 3/6; and Sonnenschein. Collections of chosen English: Holden, Foliorum Centuriæ; Wilkins, Manual of Gr. Prose Comp., 5/-; Sargent and Dallin, Materials and Models for Gr. Prose Comp. How to tackle a piece of English, see Sidgwick’s Lectures on Gr. Prose Comp., and Lectures on the Teaching of Composition, 4/6. Sargent’s Gr. Prose Primer (v k), 3/6, is stimulating.

VERSE.

Damon: A Manual of Gr. Iambic Verse (v k), by Williams and Rouse, 2/6. Holden’s Foliorum Silvula (the best anthology). Help may be obtained from the Greek verse books of Sidgwick and Morice (v k), (v), Sargent (v), and Kynaston (v), 4/6.

READERS.

Rivington’s Single Term Readers (v), like his Latin readers, 9d. each; recommended. Heatley, Græcula (v k), 1/6, for beginners. Sidgwick, First Gr. Reading Book (v), 2/6: 100 easy stories, with some grammar. Rushbrooke, First Gr. Reader (v), 2/6; Bell’s Second Gr. Reader, 3/-; Murray’s Fourth (specimens of dialects), 4/6, and Abbott’s Fifth (Homer and the dramatists), 4/6. Macmillan’s Gr. Reader, stories and legends, 3/-. Mayor, First Gr. Reader, 4/6. The student had better pass on as soon as possible to some such book as the following: Xenophon, Easy Selections, Philpotts and Jerram. Herodotus, Battle of Marathon in Attic Prose. Herodotus, Tales from, Atticised, Farnell, 1/6. Arrian: Selections, Walpole, 1/6. Lucian: Extracts, Bond and Walpole, 1/6. The next step will be to selections from the Attic Orators: Rivington’s Middle Form Greek Readers, 1/6 each; Plato’s Crito or Apology; Sidgwick’s Scenes from Greek Plays.

GREEK AND LATIN: UNSEEN TRANSLATION.

Jerram, Anglice Reddenda, three series, 2/6, 3/-, 3/-. Reid, Transl. at Sight, 2/6 each part. Spratt and Pretor, Transl. at Sight (k); an extremely good selection of difficult passages.

Models: Jebb, Jackson and Currie’s Translations, and Fox and Bromley, Models and Exx. in Unseen Translation.

ANTIQUITIES.

Gow, Companion to School Classics; indispensable. Schreiber, Atlas of Class. Antiq., 21/-. Anderson, Atlas to Homer, 21/-. Rouse, Atlas of Gr. and Rom. Portraits, 1/6 each part. Macmillan’s Manuals of Antiq., 5/- each. Murray, Handb. of Gr. Archæology, 18/-. J. Harrison, Mythol. and Monuments of Early Athens. Middleton, Remains of Ancient Rome. Lanciani, Ruins of Ancient Rome and other works. Schneider, Das Alte Rom. (Pictorial atlas with maps; excellent.)

COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM.

P. Giles, Manual of Phil.; the best handy manual. Henry, Comp. Gram. of Gr. and Lat. King and Cookson, Introd. to the Comp. Gram. of Gr. and Lat., 5/6. Lindsay, Short Hist. Lat. Gram., 5/6. More advanced: Brugmann, Compar. Gram. of the Indo-Germ. Languages (translated). The standard work. King and Cookson, Principles of Sound and Inflexion, 18/-. Lindsay, Lat. Language, 21/-. Prellwitz, Etymolog. Wörterb. der griech. Sprache; good. Wharton, Etyma Græca and Etyma Latina. Thompson, Gr. and Lat. Palæography, 3/6.

ILLUSTRATIVE PICTURES AND MODELS.

Cybulski, Tabulæ quibus antiquitates Græcæ et Latinæ illustrantur (Köhler, Leipzig). Wall pictures, coloured, 4/- or 5/- each. An excellent series. Launitz, Wandtafeln zur Veranschaulichung antiker Lebens und antiker Kunst. Through Deighton Bell, Cambridge. Casts: Brucciani, Covent Garden (catalogue).

Models: Inquire at Museum of Teachers’ Guild, Gower St., London.

Slides: the same. Field, Cat. of Lantern Slides for Fyffe’s History of Greece, 6d. Roman catalogue preparing. Catalogue of the slides in the Loan Collection of the Hellenic Society.

Photographs, etc.: Catalogue of English Photographic Company, S. C. Atchley, Place de la Constitution, Athens. A very full and cheap collection. Mr. Atchley is well known to the writer, and strangers need have no hesitation in writing and sending money direct. Photographs are sold by German School at Athens.

The following Greek photographers have good collections: Rhomaïdes Frères, Rue de Niké, 24; Constantin Athanasiou, Rue d’Hermès, 6. Catalogues. The Levant: Bonfils & Co., Beyrout, Syria; and local photographers at Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem and Cairo. Purchases should be made through some one on the spot. Italy: Sommer e Figlio, Largo Vittoria, Napoli: photographs and models. Collezione Brogi, and the Stabilimento Fotografico Moscioni have large choice. Museums. London: Stereoscopic Company, Clarke & Sons, Mansell & Co. Berlin: the Museum publishes a few (catalogue). Paris: Girardon, 15 Rue Bonaparte. Munich: Bruckmann, Verlagsanstalt für Kunst (see below).

Publications. Denkmäler der Griech. und Röm. Skulptur: Brunn & Bruckmann, Munich. Magnificent plates. Griechische und Römische Porträts: Arndt & Bruckmann, Munich. Einzelverkauf: photographs of sculpture (Bruckmann), separately about 6d. each. Classical Sculpture Gallery: Grevel & Co. 12/- a year. Cheap reproductions of all the chief works of sculpture, ancient and modern. Bilder zur Mythologie und Geschichte der Griechen und Römern. Hoppe-Graeser, Vienna.

MODERN LANGUAGES.

By Dorothea Beale.

First a few words on the order in which languages should be taught. I do not think that we should make a change for the better as regards girls’ education, were we to substitute Latin for French, placing that subject first in order of time. It seems to me best to begin with French, a language etymologically related to our own, and having a simple grammatical structure.

Order of language teaching.Secondly I prefer to take German, the grammar of which approaches more nearly to the classical models, whilst the inflections are easier to learn than the French; its etymology too not only throws much light on our own, but is more transparent, which makes it a medium, perhaps as valuable as Greek, far more valuable than Latin, for showing the refinements of language, the poetry and philosophy fossilised in speech. Thus those only take up the classical languages who have some linguistic power. Girls who are unable to master the difficulties of the grammar will never encounter them, and as the languages gradually increase in difficulty, we can better fit the means of education to the power of the pupil. The classics form, it is true, a key to modern tongues, but on the other hand modern tongues lead up to Latin and Greek, and I believe this order is equally logical and answers better with girls; it is something to open to them the literature of France and Germany, something to teach them languages, so that they shall find the study (as they generally do) one of interest. At any rate there are four stages at which we can leave behind those unable to continue their march, and who, if we tried to bring them further, would form only a crowd of stragglers. Those who have a good knowledge of one or two modern languages will have no great difficulty in taking up Latin or Greek say at fourteen or fifteen. They will have a large etymological store, which will make it easy to acquire the vocabulary, and they will have to study only the differentia of the grammars of the different languages—may we not rather say dialects?—of the Indo-European stock.

Nearly all syntax rules will be already known, and a Latin Grammar in which the principles are brought out, may take the place of one written for young boys in whom the grammatical faculty is rudimentary—in which dogmatic rules only abound; dogma should as far as possible yield to principles, which are intelligible and interesting to elder girls, and this will help them over the necessarily considerable labour of learning the inflections. Perhaps few will attain the minute exhaustive scholarship of which some minds are capable, but many will read with keen enjoyment; some girls who have begun late have taken high places in university examinations.

Much has been recently written on the subject of modern languages; in the books edited by Mr. Barnett and Dr. Spenser, just published, to which I have frequently referred, are excellent papers. I shall therefore make my remarks on the subject very brief. In the first is an excellent paper by Mr. Storr, and Dr. Spenser has written a paper of about fifty pages, giving a full account of the modern system of teaching.

It is time that some reform took place. The Oxford Local Examiners of 1896 reported the French as phenomenally bad. In 1897 nearly half the seniors failed. I have tabulated the answers to the few questions set by me to pupils entering over twelve, and I find, taking some two hundred, that not one in ten knows the regular verbs, and scarcely any write very simple sentences without egregious faults.

Only oral teaching at first.The first teaching in modern languages should certainly be oral. In the kindergarten, French and German songs and simple sentences may be taught in the lowest forms. Supposing that children begin about seven or eight, it seems better they should not see written French at first. If they have learned the alphabet, as I have suggested in a former paper, they will take some interest in the new sounds of French and might read from a phonetic transcription.

Phonetic alphabet.There are good papers in the (August and September, 1897) Journal of Education on this subject by Mr. Ware, Mr. Kirkman and Mons. Passy, which I commend to my readers. I give a few extracts. Mr. Ware writes: “In Germany, every teacher has to render himself capable of teaching pronunciation, and results prove that he succeeds. In various German training colleges, there are courses of lectures on phonetics applied to the study of foreign languages. It was owing to the success attending the introduction of phonetics in the French teaching in certain German schools that I was finally induced to try them in the earliest stages of French teaching at Bradford. The results have exceeded my expectations.”

This is confirmed by Mr. Bearder of Nottingham. He writes: “Though I have not used the method in such a thorough and systematic manner as he has done at Bradford, still the results are such as to convince me that I am entitled to support Mr. Ware in his refutation of one argument, letting alone others, which the opponents of phonetic teaching continually bring forward, that time is wasted in learning the two modes of spelling”.

If it is not possible to get the reading taught phonetically, using the international alphabet, the use of the tables of Larousse will be a great help. In any case pieces which are learned by heart, dialogues, etc., should be repeated in the class after the French teacher, before the children see the book. Common errors.Few English people have ever learned to distinguish the sounds of the final syllable in the imperfect and passé défini or the future and the conditional or the gradual opening of the sounds as we pass through e, é, è, ê. Very few pronounce u properly when it precedes another vowel—lui is pronounced looee. Very few observe that a labial nasal before another labial is changed into a dental nasal, thus not impossible but inpossible, and nearly all say leer for lee + r. Children are taught to read so unsystematically, that if they are told these things they forget them, and waste time in repeating easy sounds, instead of working at the hard ones. Children should not be set to learn verbs, etc., without having first repeated them and practised the sounds with their teachers. When they do begin to read, the sound-table should be hanging up, and should be referred to, that they may correct their errors themselves. These pronouncing lessons should go on in a room alone, so that children may speak together in imitating the teacher; then she should single out individuals for different sounds; but the whole class should never sit round, as is the custom in some schools, and hear each of their companions read in succession a piece of French with true British accent. If they listen, their time is worse than wasted; if they do not, they get habits of inattention. The attention must not be wearied, and if two or three sounds are acquired each week, the whole will very soon be mastered, and time saved for the repetition of poetry, for viva voce composition, etc.

Translation.When children begin to read, we should spare them as much stupefying dictionary work as possible, but it is not well to let them learn the vocabularies of the book without comment, and they should be led from their past knowledge to discover the meaning, and as far as may be, get at the root meaning of unknown words, and see the underlying figure. Thorough work is much quicker in the end. Pascal’s father left his son with a Latin book, and no dictionary, to find out the translation. This may be a counsel of perfection suited only to a Pascal, but there are not many words of which children could not discover the meaning. Much more translation from French into English should be got through than is usual; children ought soon to be able to read at sight. Time need not be wasted by hearing all that has been prepared, but each could be called on to translate one sentence, and then translation go on at sight.

Vocabulary.The pupil should have a small note-book in which each new word is entered. This book should be divided into three columns: the first will contain the word in its general form; the second the root of the word with its etymological meaning, if known, or any cognate by which it may be remembered; the third column, the primary and principal secondary meanings. Every noun should have the article before it; these should be learned and repeated before the next translation lesson. The teacher may also give groups of words, derivatives of the root, and by this means a copious vocabulary will be in a short time acquired—the words once grasped will not be forgotten. The enthusiastic teacher will probably have to put a check on his zeal, for if he is led off too far into etymologies, he will get through no translation. After a little the pupil should begin to prepare alone, and to make his own word-book; every translation should begin with the inspection of this book by the teacher and by the hearing of the words.

Exercises.Since the acquisition of correct habits is the main thing in learning languages, we should before all things prevent the acquisition of wrong ones, by letting pupils speak, and write exercises before their ear and eye have been trained. They should not be allowed to speak a language carelessly, to “pick it up,” as the phrase is, incorrectly. A most pernicious practice is it to set girls to speak a foreign tongue together. The evil habits acquired cannot possibly be undone in subsequent study. I knew a master of languages who refused to give lessons to those obliged to speak thus. He could not, he said, in a few hours a week, correct the bad French learned during the remainder. Learning bad French, however, is one of the least evils connected with this practice. Anything deserving the name of conversation is banished where it is strictly enforced, and so the mind is dwarfed and stunted, and when girls leave school, they are often found unable to talk except upon trivial subjects, and unable to express themselves like rational beings in any language.

I quote from the rules of the maître phonétique:—

Re-translation.“Le maître fera étudier les phrases les plus uselles, des textes suivis, dialogues, descriptions et récits, aussi faciles, aussi naturels et aussi intéressants que possible. Il enseignera d’abord la grammaire inductivement, comme généralisation des faits observés: une étude plus systématique sera réservée pour la fin.”

The translation book must be made the basis of teaching, and the ear familiarised with the correct form by the learning of good French, the rules as far as possible being found inductively. Thus the children will observe the changes in mon frère, ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs, and be able to make a table. Life is too short to find out all grammar, and so we shall eventually have recourse to collections of grammatical forms, but this need not be done until a good deal has been discovered by means of sentences formed for the purpose.

Easy passages should be translated into English and back into French according to Ascham’s method. This should precede the writing of exercises, which may, however, be read at sight in class. Children should repeat verbs interrogatively and negatively with pronouns in their places, so that the ear may be trained before the rule is discovered. Fassnacht’s books are good. Mrs. Bell’s books too are useful for children to learn instead of ordinary dialogues. It is impossible for them to speak in a natural way, when they are merely giving abstract sentences, but they can hold short conversations with one another in an animated way, and these can be taught viva voce in daily lessons.

Composition.Monotony should be avoided, and occasionally instead of setting an exercise, it is well for the teacher to relate a short story, and let the children repeat what they can, or write what they can remember; but in all these things we must avoid as much as possible wasting their time by making them listen to one another’s mistakes.

Exercises may be written and a grammar used later, but if the teacher economises time, there will remain enough in each lesson to prepare pupils for the writing of the next exercise and to warn them of mistakes they would otherwise be likely to make. I need not repeat here what I have said under the head of corrections and time saving (see p. 28, introduction).

Philology.Finally as regards grammatical rules. There are doubtless many forms which must be learned, and rules which we must treat as arbitrary, because we can see no reason for them, but the more reasons we can show, the more interesting will language become, and the easier to learn. Thus children are glad to discover that the terminations are not mysterious letters for which there is no reason, but the remnants of pronouns put on at the end—that in the French future we get the same as the English, “I have to write,” only “have” comes after, and in the conditional, “I had”. They need not then learn these tenses, only notice the abbreviations. The survival of the t in a-t-il and many other things will enliven the grammar lesson. Peile’s delightful Manual of Philology and D’Arcy Thomson’s Day-dreams of a Schoolmaster are suggestive, but of course the more a teacher knows of philology, the more interesting she can make her lessons, and one versed in the subject should be found in every school.

Rationale of rules.The never-ending rules for the past participle may be at once disposed of by just showing children that the participle being an adjective must agree with the word it belongs to. If I say, “I have written a letter,” of course “written” belongs to letter and therefore it must agree. We need not make them think about whether it is subject or complement. The only curious thing they have to notice, is that it does not agree when the word it belongs to comes after “have”. Is it because the thought of the act of writing is more present to the mind when we say, “I have written a letter,” and we do not think of the letter as written, whereas when the letter is objectified to our gaze, being represented by a pronoun, we think of it rather as a letter written?

The learning of a third language will present less difficulties. If the language is German we can, by a few simple etymological laws, get command of a copious vocabulary in a short time. The declensions offer some difficulty at the outset, chiefly on account of the adjectives. But the phonetic change is made in order to avoid the repetition of the harsh sound s, m, r, and therefore when this occurs in a preceding pronominal adjective, it is dropped or softened in the second adjective; thus the ear guides, and we have not to think about the forms; one has only to notice that in the oblique cases it is weakened to n, and in the plural it is always n.

The order of words offers difficulties too, and we have a complicated construction. We have to fix our attention on the functions of words, as we did not in a simpler language, for a whole row of words goes to make up an adjective, and dependent sentences are constantly taking the place of simple words. Insight there must be to see what are dependent sentences, and then the whole paraphernalia of rules about certain conjunctions which require the verb to be sent to the end vanish too and we move freely.

Another difficulty is the different uses of prepositions. In English we go “through” the street, in German “on”. We go “through” a town, the Germans “over”. Let the difference of the conception be realised, and the prepositions will come right.

Literature.It is a great pleasure to those approaching maturity to study a language made for metaphysics. We cannot read German without finding everywhere fossil poetry and philosophy, and the rolling periods and the grand verse stir our soul like a trumpet, and we know that we hear the voice of an heroic people, who speak a language and think thoughts akin to our own.

Latin does not attract perhaps in the same way; the military precision of the Latin classics has its charm. I feel strongly that Latin should, however, properly come after German, specially for girls. There is a pestilential atmosphere in the Campania, and one needs to have one’s moral fibre braced by the poetry of the Hebrews and of England and Germany, if one would remain unaffected by writings saturated with heathen thought.

Those who are able to spare time and strength for Greek, and love poetry in all its forms, will delight indeed in the “Wine of Hellas,” and with the enthusiasm which they will bring to a new study they will surmount in a short time obstacles which would have delayed them for months, when they had less knowledge of co-ordinate forms, less taste, less insight, less joy in wrestling with problems and searching into mysteries. If there is not time nor talent nor inclination for all, then I would say prefer Greek to Latin.

The chief thing for the teacher to do is so to teach that the pupil shall enjoy the work. I do not mean that the pupil should be spared hard work and drudgery, or be always expecting to find honey on Hymettus; but do we not all know that the labour of making our way over rotten glaciers and up stony moraines is forgotten when we stand on the crest, and that all the way we go, we think of the joy set before us, when we shall attain to some lofty peak, whence we can see the outstretched heavens and the sunlit earth? For this we must throw ourselves in each language upon literature—the forms of grammar will be the ladder whereby we mount.

And then we shall return to our own native poets and thinkers, with minds enriched by foreign travel, and Milton will be the interpreter of the poetry of the world—of ancient and modern times, Spenser of the mediæval romances, Chaucer of the world of nature, Wordsworth and Coleridge of spiritual philosophy, and we shall feel that we must be worthy of so great an inheritance, and not trample under our feet the pearls, the precious jewels of speech.

Do I seem unpractical? It is just these ideas that are practical, which we must get our children to see and to feel, and then the burden of earnest, thoughtful labour will seem light, and our English tongue will not be degraded by slovenly pronunciation or the use of vulgar and inappropriate words.

SPELLING REFORM.

By Dorothea Beale.

Let me earnestly beg of teachers not to put aside the question of spelling reform as of little moment, but to do their utmost to bring it about.

Can it be to educators of little moment that learning to read, instead of introducing children to an orderly system, reveals chaos, and interferes with the tendency upon which all science is founded to expect law and order. As Professor Max Müller writes «Every thing that children have to learn in reading and spelling is irrational; one rule contradicts the other, and each statement has to be accepted simply on authority, and with a complete disregard of those rational instincts, which lie dormant in the child, and ought to be awakened by every kind of healthy exercise».

I find it difficult to express my strong sense of the immense importance of this reform on grounds educational, economic, patriotic. Not only does our cacography oppose an enormous obstacle to intellectual progress during the most important years of mental development, and thus squander brain power on useless work, it is also a waste of money which is expended by the upper classes in forcing on the children of the poorer a waste of time and—a sort of useless prison-labour.

D^r Gladstone calculates that the average board-school child spends more than 2000 hours in acquiring the arts of reading and spelling, and that the waste of money is over £ 1000000. This was 20 years ago; with increased grants, the loss of money must be far more now. He also calculates the waste of capital in printing unnecessary letters at nearly 20 per cent. This is only one of the many arguments for reform, which he puts most clearly and forcibly.

Most of the richer children have an indefinite amount of leisure in childhood, and they forget how long it took to learn to read, but children in elementary schools groan under a pedantic tyranny, which imposes wearisome and useless labours upon those who might otherwise in their short school time gain such facility in reading, that it would be a pleasure ever after, and the time which is now wasted on spelling, would be available for much beside: Germans have time to acquire foreign tongues, but Englishmen and Frenchmen have not time to acquire them in addition to their own spelling; either language from its simple structure might become a world-wide tongue, and there would be no need of Volapuk.

I quote from Professor Max Müller’s article.

«According to a Liverpool Schoolmaster of great experience it takes from 6 to 7 years to learn the arts of reading and spelling with a fair amount of intelligence. I. e. about 2.000 hours. A Glasgow schoolmaster writes, «I have taught poor children to read the Sermon on the Mount after a course of exercises extending over no more than 6 hours», and a father writes, «My boy who is a few months more than 4 will read any phonetic book ... and how long do you think it took me to impart to him this power? Why something less than 8 hours, and that was in snatches of five minutes at a time; his next brother a boy of 6 has had a phonetic education, what is the consequence? Reading in the first stage was so delightful that he taught himself to read. My eldest boy 11 years old, at a first-rate school has carried off the prize for orthography». Mr. Ellis, who did so much for education writes, «With the phonetic system the Primer is mastered within 3 months at most; careful experiments have established 1) that pupils may be taught to read books in phonetic print in from 10 to 40 hours, and that when they have attained fluency in reading ordinary print, the pronunciation is much improved, the interest in study kept alive, and a logical training of enduring value given ... and they acquire the art of ordinary spelling more readily than those instructed on the old method.»»

Let those who think I exaggerate, look into Miss Soames’s introduction to Phonetics, and they will marvel how a foreigner can ever learn to read and write English—she gives the 34 ways in which we write the indefinite ‘a’ sound in aloud—the 26 for representing ‘or’; the 18 for giving ‘sh’ the 20 representing ‘n’, 18 for ‘k’, and so on—Pagliardini enumerates the 44 ways in which ‘oo’ is written and 36 for the sound ‘ee’; those who have tried to teach foreigners know how hopeless it all seems.

Pagliardini tells of a work published 1861 on French spelling, which gives 163 ingenious rules and occupies 285 pages. It is asserted that 2 lessons a week for 3 years will suffice. How much better writes Pagliardini would these precious hours be spent in studying noble thoughts in books, the history of nations, the mathematical sciences, or the laws by which God governs the universe, or if confined to words, then how much more interesting and intellectual would be their decomposition into their elements, showing their affinity with words in other languages. What a fund of poetry might be found in the metaphors of which words are the abbreviated forms. All this, now unopened to his view for lack of time, would be revealed.

This may be paralleled by the spelling book of the Meiklejohn series. ‘Spelling with sidelights from history.’ It contains 150 pages, gives many rules, and concludes with one thousand of the most difficult words selected from examination papers.

M. Pitman has done good service in printing and circulating for a very small sum various tracts, and I hope my readers will get some, specially the paper by Prof. Max Müller. Alas, reforms are slow when the opinion of many unthinking persons has to be formed, before they can be carried. It needed a pope to reform the calendar.

The Westminster Review for Sept. 1897 has an article on spelling reform, urging its great importance, if English is to be a world-wide language. The impossibility of getting a new alphabet adopted at least for a long time is urged as a reason for pressing minor reforms, the chief being the omission of all useless letters. Thus we should leve out awl thos perplexing vowels in lev recev decev belev; and thes changes mit posibly be carid with sum slit efort at wuns, if sum popular orthor wood requir his book too be printed foneticaly.

Some defend our spelling for philological reasons, but it is unanimously condemned by philologists; I name those best known in England—Professor Max Müller pronounces it a national misfortune, and has written an article against it—Professor Sayce and Skeat, Ellis and Sweet, D^r Murray, editor of the Etymological Dictionary, condemn it, and amongst linguists, Pagliardini, and scientists, D^r Gladstone.

But the chief reason, that we should press forward this movement is, that only thus does it seem possible to avert the catastrophe foreshadowed in an article on the Queen’s English in the Review of Reviews for June 1897. Dialectic varieties are arising in the English-speaking Colonies, which, if unchecked by phonetic symbols corresponding with speech, will develop into different languages. The longer we delay, the greater will be the difficulty of agreeing on a common notation—at present the differences of opinion between us and our colonies, and even between us and our American cousins are slight, but those who have heard the English of the States spoken by the children of German immigrants, will recognise the danger.

Miss Soames before her death published reading books in phonetic type, and spent much time and money in promoting the teaching of English reading on this system, and in introducing to the notice of English people the alphabet of the Association Phonétique Internationale, 11, Rue de Fontenay, Bourg la Reine (Seine).

Such an alphabet would be better than one suitable for English only, but if Pitman’s is the only one generally available, it is better to use that for elementary schools, and remember the maxim ‘le mieux est l’ennemi du bien’—For teaching the right pronunciation of foreign languages, le Maître Phonétique is very valuable.

Melville Bell’s Visible Speech is a physiological alphabet of marvellous ingenuity—but perhaps too elaborate for general use, and the conclusions at which he arrives are not always endorsed by the chief authorities. All students of phonetics will learn much from reading it.—English visible speech, in 12 lessons 50 cents, Volta bureau Washington, gives the essentials of the system—the large work costs 4 dollars.

Great efforts are being made in France to introduce an international phonetic alphabet.

If all could agree on one alphabet, it would be possible for a foreigner to read at sight any foreign language. It is true there would be certain niceties of pronunciation to be taught Viva Voce, but the pronunciation would be very nearly correct at once.

I subjoin a few specimens of writing and the alphabet from ‘lə mɛːtr fɔnetik’ (Le Maître Phonétique).

The French alphabet is very simple. The consonants are as in English except

The vowels are