The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-14 00:00:00

I :.7.J.K, • 1:::!',';:o..1 4Z
lady has put forth an -latiorate article, entitled
the " Scientific Education of the Upper Classes,"
the express object of which is to convert the
nobleman and commoner into the tradesman. it
is the chief and most characteristic feature of the
work, and sets out with asserting that " facts
and realities arc the proper and only useful oc-
cupation of youth," from which we may—in-
deed it is intended that we should—infer that
classical literature is superfluous, that the elo-
quence of Demosthenes (to whom Mr. Brougham
owes so much) or Cicero—the knowledge of
life of Juvenal or Theophrastus—thc broad hu-
mour of Plautus—the grave sensibility of So-
phoeles of Euripides—the wild sublimity of
lEschylus—the detail of character in Sallust—
the comprehensive intellect of Tacitus—the elo-
quent simplicity of Herodotus—the terse manli-
ness of Thucydides—and, greater than all, the
enlarged and philosophic fancy of Lucretius—
that these illustrious names, to whom the world
owes so much, are to be laid aside for " the
study of facts and realities ;" for that " study"
which teaches us (as in the instance of Mr.
Bowring, reputed Editor of the " Westminster
Rev" ) to -blend a discreet patriotism with a
useful knowledge of the Greek funds, to rival
Mr. Joseph Hume in arithmetic, and Mr.
M'Culloch in political economy. " Facts and',
realities
are well enough in their way, they im-
prove the pocket and do not detract from the
intellect ; but if all the " facts and realities"
skull of one unhappy
individual, they would not, without some higher
tchoautldevbeer
c‘rvaenrlemkuilioiwnttior,
tI o
the r
ever will be known,
intellectual faculties, make either a Washington
or a Pitt. The very utmost they could do
would be to manufacture a perfect Rothschild.
Having expended his sneers upon classical lite-
rature, the Westminster Reviewer goes on to
say, " he, the haberdasher in Greek, who lives by
trading in Greek particles, is a more unreasonable
being than the meanest tinker." Now this,
though spiritedly, is insidiously put. The traders
in Greek particles have been long since forgotten,
there are 110 verbal commentators now-a-days,
like the Mammoth, they are an extinct species.
This, the Reviewer must have known ; lie must
have known also—if his passion for Utility be not
like Don Quixote's chivalry, exclusive and all-
engrossing—that the Classics are cultivated by
the present, on far higher grounds, than by the
past generations. The verbal peculiarities of the
Greek and Latin writers arc now neglected fOr
their spirit ; for that spirit which, tempered by
• and adapted to the improved ethics and man-
ners of the age, most truly, according to the old
adage, fashions the perfect gentlema4i. As an
instance, however, of the danger produced by
such studies, time Reviewer observes, " recent
speculations, to which we need not allude
more narrowly, discovered, that all England did
not furnish half-a-dozen men of leisure and abi-
I lities competent to undertake the direction of
common mining establishments." How distres-
sing l huw overpowering to the national nerves !
All England could not produce six men able to
understand the mysteries of mining I Are the
' Directors of the Arigna Mining Company for-
gotten ? We hope not, for they at least turned
their knowledge to pretty good account.
Having defined generally his notions of science,
which by the way, are of the lowest and vulgarest
description, the Reviewer goes on to show how
they arc necessary to perfect the statesman—the
soldier—tire sailor—the lawyer—the physician
—and the clergyman. With respect to this last,
the critic's list of his qualifications is truly comic,
and reminds us of the rope-dancer, who, accord-
ing to Dr. Johnson, must possess the seven car.
dinal virtues. The country curate, must first, it
seams, be apolitical economist, to enable him " to
teach his parishioners how to save ;" secondly, a
lawyer, " to check litigation," (surely this is not
the business of a lawyer) ; thirdly, an agricul-
turist, " to be of use to the more ignorant
people under his care,"--that is to say, on the
principle of Utility, to quicken his knowledge of
tithes ; fourthly, an architect and civil engineer,
because such " arc often in demand in the
country ;" fifthly, a notary, to " become useful
with respect to the making of wills ;" and lastly,
a physician, in order that he may " pay atten-
tion to the health of his flock." In addition to
these acquirements, the Reviewer recommends
that he make political economy, " the subject of
instructive discourses from the pulpit," with
view, no doubt, of enabling the parish to rival
Swift's scientific island of Laputa. Shades of
Parson Adams and the Vicar of Wakefield,
what a reversal is all this, of the acts by which
you claim your right to an amiable and, till now,
undisputed immortality ! In speaking casually
of modern school-masters, the Reviewer re,
marks, " having learned Greek and Latin only,
they arc in reality incapable of teaching any
thing et/se to their pupils." What this else
means—unless it be political economy, or
the art of mining—WC arc at a loss to
conjecture. To teach Greek and Latin is surely
to raise the mind to its highest capacity..
it is to strengthen thought by the experience of
the past ; to familiarize it to to the noblest
achievements of virtue and intellect; to quicken
in it a relish for what is excellent in style and
sentiment, and an abhorrence of what is low
or vitiated ; to teach them, in short, as they arc
uniformly (with a few slight exceptions) taught
at Eton or Reading, and perfected at Cambridg
or Oxford.

We have been thus diffuse upon the subject
of this bigoted article, because it has not only
been painfully elaborated, but is rut forth as a
object. It i;;
This periodical, as a
sort of feeler to try the taste of the public. It
forms, besides, the nucleus of a series with which
the " Westminster Review" intends from time to
time to edify its readers.
• representative of the lower orders of the mid-
dling class, is
coarse, sarcastic, and well informed on its own
void of taste, and
topics ; but de impatient of
buildof '
fancy. On the a spinning-jenny it is
orthodox, and may be quoted as sound authority
where the subject is a. pair of steam-paddles.
But 0 far as regards wit, fancy, taste, the Fine
well fitted for its
Arts, or aught that contributes
to the graces or
eiegancies of life, its mind is stint with ' op-
thalmia. Its professed object is to reduce all intel-
wet to its own very homely level—to create a na-
tion of l politica economists • sts and mechanics, and to
treat the works i.
of the imaginative and philo-
sophical,
with the same familiarity with which Sampson
Carrasco treated the Knight of La Mancha's
Library. It cries out for Utility as the Bishop
Homenas cried out for the ___ n
ecretals, and We
trust, with as much success ; for however useful
the mare tradesmanlike sciences (for it is these
the Reviewer recommends) may be, they ourdit
surely not to take precedence of the classics or
literature in general : the oue will go far to make
a great man, the other will rarely lift him above
trade. A breeches-maker, however scientific,
will never become a ttatestnan : a well read
scholar, provided he be also a man of the world,
has the materials ready made about him.