Intellectual Poverty.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4552, 7 August 1883, Page 2

Intellectual Poverty.

It is pleasing Jo observe that in the* present century, when one. of the principal pursuits is money; hoarding; and attention is directed.more* to the development of the industrial rather than mental faul ties, some endeavours are>,beiag imacle by civilised governments to raise^ the people to a higher, standard of intellectuality than they have hitherto enjoyed. Centuries since, before the printing press was invented, learning was the exclusive privilege of. the clergy. When Some ,was addicted' Jo, the worship,, of Jupiter ! Mar's, Neptune,. Apollo, Ceres, and the numerous other gods., of > the^ heathen^ *my(hologf, knowledge was possessed only by the ministers' of the' deities. The people were in a state of the .densesti jgaorance, and sare one.or two who' rose from the slough of intellectual poverty to the summit of literary excellence, • the majority were content tcaccept the dictum of the learned as being incontrovertible. Among the plebeians, however, were some who possessed a, capacity for letters,, and who had a desire to give, forth to the world the ideas they had matured on various subjects, and^who held more philanthropic views on'the education''question than did the clergy. These beheld the mass of the population, and being cpnnected with them socially, and having domestio ties with them, resolved to give them the benefit of the lore they had themselves acquired.' Among these were philosophers, who were sceptical in regard to the worship of Polytheists, and*who saw that the'system o£, religion then carried on was not calculatedto improve the morals of their fellows' Moreover, they saw that the want of education among men was the primary cause of their belief in the all-powerfulness of the gods, and that superstitious practices of the most debasing kind were regarded as being necessary to the pacification of the Deities. To emancipate the misguided worshippers from their idle and-senseless thraldom was their determination. Through their writings the

populace gradually were redeemed from a blasphemous series of religious ceremonial, to the grand and undeniable truths of Christianity. It has always been the public who have redressed their own wrongs. In all parts where the lower classes have a grievance, that grievance must be remedied by themselves or the relief is tardy. Hence the necessity, and good fortune of the Romans in having among them men capable of both demanding and obv taining reform. A. notable instance of this may be found inthe. hi«tory^-Col» de Bienz (or more commonly known as Rienz). Born of'humble parents, having neither money nor influence at his com* mand, he yet raised himself "toehold a position not inferior to that of the Casars. Being himself one of the people, he be* came bound to them by the then common interest which held the lower .classes together—the steadfast endeavor to wrest the power from the recreant nobles of that era. Now this was accomplished, although only for a short period, and the tragic fate of the Tribune are matters^o£; history. Passing to the seventeenth century we find that the mass, of the people, were possessed of scarcely any intellectual capacity. The greater proportion of the population were devoted to the pursuit of agriculture as a livelihood, arid were not assisted by their superiors in any endeavors to raise themselves educationally. The present century, however, has worked a great change,, and now learning is within the reach of even the poorest people. The cheap editions of literary works published by London firms are equally as complete as'the more expensive issues. But, althbugh these productions are' of the most inestimable benefit to those who know how to use them, the great difficulty appears to be in the choice of them. As at present the pupils at our great public* sehobli «rt~not well versed in English authors, and even the pupils who aspire to the Civil Service of the Colony are not,required to show any great proficiency in their works. Many a scholar can construe Virgil or Horace with ease, but could not detect the points of similarly and difference that exist in the works"4>f Pope and Byron or Burns and Montg6mery;: If asked where the following line occurred— ;™ " Anna virumque caus Trojae qui. primal " ab oris," ' ' they would no doubt be able to tell, but would they have the same facility in saying where the well known lines—* "All Nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not tee; All discord, harmony not understood ; '"" A partial evil, universal good; And, apite of pride, in erring: resspaYspite Orie truth is clear, WTidteveris^ii'rigik."

occur ? To scan Latin verses', to translate Sallust Horace or Virgil, is ot far more importance than to understand Pope; Sallust is grand; Horace is suptrb; Virgil is splendid, but Shakespeare is common, Pope, inferior, and Byron low! In Milton may be 'found some, tolerably passable ideas; Johnston's VLflgtloa" is deserving of merit; but who can give a word of praise to snob, a driveller as Ten* nyson P or who can be ao bold as to prefer a knowledge of the literary works of bis own Countrymen to those .of the grand Poets of a thousand, 'ofe"' :'io of years ago P 1 Besides , the Mile l>f antiquity,,the writers' wprks are more enhanced still by 'the pleasing oireumsianea that in some oases—Homer; for instance,— the identity of the author has been a difficult matter to decide I .It is to be feared that the parents and teachers of "children do not advise their charges' of„ the books which are calculated to teach them aome« thing worth knowing, and^wiffte- making their lessons a task in lieu of a pleasure^ 'engender a feeling more of a distaste for letters than a desire for knowledge. Henea it is that nine out cf every ten children will sftbwa parked preference for tales 6f blood and thunder, written by men wfio write to sell and no£ to teach,, men jwho pander to the morbid taste for 'sensational .reading by ' writing and publishing records impossible, immoral. and insulting to common sense and decency. These sensatu^pLgtoriesdo a vast amount of harm—because in the first place they are calculated to unsettle the youthful mind, and create a taste for the impossibilities of the imagination. Were. our teachers to advise thjjir pupils in the matter of what to read.Nand what not to read, one step would be made in the decrease of intellectual poverty., , • Ajax.