LITERARY STUDIES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 787, 9 April 1910, Page 9

LITERARY STUDIES.

The anonymous donor who has made a gift to the British Academy for the furtherance of research in all branches of English literature is to be congratulated on having recognised a distinct need and initiated what wo hope will bo a successful attempt to nieot.it. It may be said with fair truth that, if during the ■ centuries. preceding the . 19th literary subjects were the favoured object', of tho pious 'founder, during the 19th century natural science has been almost exclusively the object of paternal encouragement. To conclude that this alternation of popularity resulted in a rough approximation to . justice would be hazardous. The kind of literature which was endowed in the days of the glory of the humaner letters'and, still benefits from that endowment .was chiefly, classical literature. Modern literature, whether' English or foreign, was not in tho Middlo Ages thought deserving of attention or encouragement, and when tho vogue of natural science: arrived modern literature had not, and bas not since, entered into its kingdom.- Some slight effort has in the last generation been made to" cultivate tho study of foreign languages,'but the effort was prompted by tho same utilitarian motive as is chiefly responsible for the popularity of natural science, ainong the benevolent. Practical philanthropists havo ' thought" modern languages a useful addition to the technical equipment of a commercial and manufacturing nation, and it can hardly bo questioned that foreign literature has had scanty consideration. Very little, for instance, 'has been done to bring home to us the value of contemporary foreign thought or artistic achievement, to say nothing of its growth- and development. If,- however tho neglect of foreign literature is deplorable, it is difficult to find- words to describe the neglect of English literature No doubt most universities have n chair of English and even a. school of English, but. scholarships are" rare indeed, and outside the universities there is not even tho pretence of encouraging or assisting the study of English literature and thought. There aro laboratories and endowments for research into most branches of natural science, but -1 no man can live by devotion to tho literature and the philosophy of a country which in these two fields of achievement can bear comparison with anv other nation. One need hardly poiiit out that literary research can bo iust as scientific m

research -into natural phenomena. I Scientific is a term which properly used describes not the subject matter but the method, and the. problem of Shakespeare's sonnets is just as fit a subject for scientific treatment as tho problem of Halley's Comet. There is therefore no reason for supposing that in encouraging literary research wo should ho patronising a form of activity unworthy of the human intellect in a scientific a'/e. ,It may be said that literary studies are not useful, aiid in tho senso that they are not likely to increase our economic efficiency the criticism is valid. The justost ideas as to what Englishmen thought in tho I.7th and 18th centuries,' which saw the,birth of modern Europe, are not' likely to cut down the cost of producing steel by a farthing; hut after all we want knowledge of the practical things in order that wo may bo free-to acquire knowledge of the things that are not practical,. What we call the humanities are more fundamental, tliev .are nearer to the end of living, than tho practical arts, which aro at best very, subsidiary means to tho art of living. It might bo argued, too, that.tho very remoteness of literary studies from material utility is a reason for encouraging them. AYo aro in the midst of a deluge of technical instruction, and the clamour for efficiency is likely to destroy our sense of proportion. The kind of work which the British Academy is now asking us to further not merely adds to our knowledge,, but assists us to keep a proper perspective and to estimate lifo sanely.—"Daily News."