The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER, 26, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3643, 26 October 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER, 26, 1874.

Pharisaism is not dead, but is as rampant now as in the time when one stood up and expressed his thankfulness that he was not as other men were. It is not often now-a-days that men give expression to their self-exultation, although occasionally it will peep out in the Church and in the world. The latest public exhibition of it appears in the ‘ Christian Record ’ of Saturday, in which the editor or editors renew their attack upon the Evening Star, without having the courtesy to acknowledge that they misrepresented the opinions expressed in it. Our contention with them is, that whatever mental discipline results from acquiring a knowledge of the* dead languages, that discipline is not superior to what may be gained by studying living foreign .languages ; while acquaintance with the latter includes the advantage of possessing that knowledge which may be of superior practical value in the business of lif-■. The ‘ Christian Record ’ chose to misr,;preseut this simple statement, and, as a triumphant refutation of the heresy, puts forth the following inflated sentences—it would be a misnomer to call them arguments :

Our appeal was exclusively made to the (perhaps) not very numerous class of those whom education has embraced both classical oultu.c and scientific inquiry. Our words wore “ W'e confidently appeal to any classical student who has given his two or three ye u-s to a course of chemistry, physics, _geology, botany, aid the rest, whether there is not more mental drill, a higher education in thought—to say nothing of that in morals and in taste—in thi'(Kdipui kr.x [we might have said, of course, the Apolouy of SOCRATES, or the Prometheus Vincluis of dEscHYLUS, or some other ; the particular book cited, was cited as an illustration only] th .n in a year s dabbling in chemical symbols, atomic weights, and the dreary terminology of scientific generalisation.” Our appeal to this class remains. It is a class that is competent to give an opinion upon the subject, and (we think) the only one. A mere classic may despise physics through prejudice. Similarly, a mere physicist may despise classics. But a man has studied—let us say—classics and chemistry both, his judgment ought to be worth something as to the comparative'merits of the two subjects as instruments of mental culture.

We very much doubt whether uuy could be found who have given attention to physical science, who would not, with Professor Huxley, prefer “ dabbling in chemical symbols and atomic weights” to reading the polluted pages of (Edipus Rex, a! though Huxley says he should enjoy classical lore had he nothing betterto do. Will the ‘Christian Record’ contend, for one moment, that literature abounding in grossly immoral images is fit I'eading for Christian children ? Why, then, are its own pages so guarded ? Why such dry papers on the “Christian Conditions of Life.” “ Daddy’s Pet,” and such like nambypambyisms, if diction so noble and sentiments so elevating are contained in (Edipus Jiexl We are told by the ■ Christian Record’— Sophocles accepted the traditional storv of (Epirus as he found it. It was a story of "unnatural, but of an witting crime. The subject of it, (Edipus, knew nothing of his relationship either to Laius, or to Jocasta. This, in fact so important to a just judgment of the morale of the drama, is unnoticed by the Star. But (and this is our great vindication of the moral character of the tragedy), unconscious as is the offence of (Edipus, the whole drama, from beginning to end, seems'to tremble and shudder in the intensity of horror at his guilt. And in the fury of (Edipus at the hints of the seer who knows more than ho dare say ; in hi« accusation of treason and conspiracy on the part of Creon and the priest; in the gradual dawning upon his mind of hit possible, and presently of his probable guilt; and in the final horrorone of the sublimest catastrophes ever conceived—whefi the terrible truth reveals itself beyond controversy, and the woe descends which ends the life of Jocasta, and renders more bitter than death that of (Edipus himself.

If the editors of the ‘ Clu’istian Ilecord esteem this noblest of the tragedies of Sophocles, so highly, why do they not devote a number of that journal to publishing a literal translation of it for the benefit of the rising generation ? We will guarantee them a ready sale for five times their usual weekly issue on consideration that it is faithfully rendered. It would be of immense service to mankind, if it merely served to show the images and forms of thought that youth of lively imagination have to revel in, in the course of their “ higher education.” When known to Christian parents, we have no doubt as to the result. Leaving the ‘ Christian Record to its own course of giving thanks that its editors are not as other men are, nor even as the editor of the £yjbkistg Stab, we will yet further in- j

vite their ridicule by a few gleanings 1 from experience, illustrative of the value of “ the higher education ” as a 1 training for the practical business of life. It has been our lot to come in contact with many in the countinghouse, in the workshop, and in commercial circles who have thus soared at school and college, and we never met with but one whose success depended.on his exertions, who did not regret that so much time had been spent in the cultivation of the imagination, and so little on those acquirements necessary to successful competition in the battle of life. We never found them equal to the drudgery of the accountant’s desk, and very rarely to that persistent effort necessary to master the first principles of any art or science. Some twenty years ago, in Melbourne, after a day’s hard professional work, we stopped at a stall where classic works were sold and took them up one by one under the idea that something might be met with to while away a few vacant hours. It was a time when thousands of immigrants, weekly, were pouring into Melbourne—when laboring men earned twenty shillings a day.. Evidently the first books parted with by those newly arrived were ancient classical works in the original languages. The names of the late possessors were in many of them, some not unknown in the higher schools of England. Standing close by, clad in diggers’ costume, were several men, apparently on a like search, when suddenly we were addressed by a man whose genteellycut garments were becoming seedy. He observed the books we glanced over, and said, in a loud voice, “ Working men’s wages are a pound a day, and here am I, a Bachelor of Arts and prizeman of Oxford, and I cannot get employment to bring me in one shilling.” He was not drunk, nor crazed : he was simply -dejected and disappointed—he was in the wrong place. Had he written a good hand, 1 been conversant with French and German, and been a good accountant, he would have been a valuable-acquisi-tion to many a large establishment. One thought has often struck us that perhaps the editors of the ‘Christian Record’ can unravel. We are told by them that the “ higher education ” requires the study of the Greek and Latin classics. We admit the men whose names they mention were giants in their way, but since human nature does not appear to have materially changed, in order to attain the pinnacle of perfection they reached, we presume they, too, must have had a “ higher education.” Where did they acquire it ? On what works did they rely for the beauty of their imagery and the morality of their ideas? In sculpture and in painting we know—atleast we are told—the ancients copied nature ; and as it is asserted that modem artists are inferior to them, we presume nature does not now produce such lovely models as of yore, so artists are bidden to copy the ancients. As a passing remark, this may account for their inferiority. But those tragedies that throw Shakespeare into the shade and eclipse the morality of Ouida —what “ higher education ” produced them ? Sophocles learnt his tragic art, we are told, from HSschylus, and his music from Lamprus —whence did they get their “ higher education ” ? Why do not our editorial sticklers for the superior morality of Sophocles over Ouida go back to the fountain-head ? Was the mental discipline of Sophocles, Socrates, or Homer in the higher branches of education gained by studying Syriac, Chaldaic, Hebrew, Persian, Hindoo, Chinese, or Egyptian ? , It is worth knowing; for if such mighty geniuses were formed through the “ higher education ” of that day, possibly the wiser .plan would be to follow the course which placed them so much above the modern world, in the hope that the seed that fructified so fully in them may produce like effects in these degenerate days. We trust our editorial friends will not neglect this idea, which we present gratis. It has, at least so far as we know, the mei’it if no other, of being original which cannot be said of their traditional admiration of (Edipus Rex.