The Henson Journals

[56]

Saturday, May 26th, 1917.

1027th day

I received a very rude letter from one of the incumbents in the diocese, whom I have never met, & whom (to the best of my knowledge) I have never seen. He would appear to be a "good Catholic"!

I presided at a meeting of the Great Chapter. There was nothing but formal business, save for a discussion of the question, raised by Lillingston, whether we should try to keep the grass trimmed in the College, as in former years. I wrote a series of letters. Mrs & Miss Gladstone came to lunch, & afterwards went over the house. They were connexions of Mrs Lake, & had been commended to us by Graham Harrison. I attended a lecture by the Bishop of Durham arranged by the Classical Association. The subject announced was "The value of Classical studies as an influence on education and a delight in life", but the lecture was a youthful essay (written in 1864) in the style of Landor, purporting to be an imaginary conversation between Virgil & Pollio – very graceful & pretty but valueless as a contribution to a subject of serious importance. The short speech in which Cruickshank proposed a vote of thanks was more to the point. He read a letter from Strong, the Dean of Christ Church, in which the belief was expressed that in five years Greek would have practically fallen out of the educational system at Oxford. This is an extreme view, but it seems to me quite evidently the case that nothing can maintain the classical languages in their time–honoured supremacy. At present they have what might well be thought overwhelming advantages – the tradition of public schools & universities, the advocacy of the ablest men, (for even till the present it is broadly speaking only the weaker boys who go with the "modern side") the encouragement of most of the educational endowments, the prestige derived from so many illustrious exponents of classicism – & yet, in spite of all, the reign of Latin & Greek draws quickly to a close. Classical studies will become the peculium of a leisured minority, not the assured condition of education. The mere multiplication of studies has destroyed the monopoly, & the increasing pressure of modern life prohibits such a dedication as the classics require of the best years of adolescence. But I regret, while I acknowledge the necessity.

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