Book I

., chapter ii.; now tell me. _C._ Oh, at Sardis.

_T._ Very right: at Sardis; now where was Sardis? _C._ In Asia Minor?… no … it’s an island … _a pause, then_ … Sardinia.

_T._ In Asia Minor; the army set out from Asia Minor, and went on towards Persia; and therefore it is said to go _up_—because … _C. is silent._

_T._ Because … Persia … _C._ Because Persia …

_T._ Of course; because Persia held a sovereignty over Asia Minor. _C._ Yes.

_T._ Now do you know how and when Persia came to conquer and gain possession of Asia Minor? _C. is silent._

_T._ Was Persia in possession of many countries? _C. is silent._

_T._ Was Persia at the head of an empire? _C. is silent._

_T._ Who was Xerxes? _C._ Oh, Xerxes … yes … Xerxes; he invaded Greece; he flogged the sea.

_T._ Right; he flogged the sea: what sea? _C. is silent_.

_T._ Have you read any history of Persia?… what history? _C._ Grote, and Mitford.

_T._ Well, now, Mr. Brown, you can name some other reason why the Greeks spoke of going up to Persia? Do we talk of going _up_ or _down_ from the sea-coast? _C._ Up.

_T._ That is right; well, going from Asia Minor, would you go from the sea, or towards it? _C._ From.

_T._ What countries would you pass, going from the coast of Asia Minor to Persia? … mention any of them. _C. is silent._

_T._ What do you mean by Asia _Minor_?… why called Minor?… how does it lie? _C. is silent._

Etc., etc.

3.

I have drawn out this specimen at the risk of wearying the reader; but I have wished to bring out clearly what it really is which an Entrance Examination should aim at and require in its students. This young man had read the Anabasis, and had some general idea what the word meant; but he had no accurate knowledge how the word came to have its meaning, or of the history and geography implied in it. This being the case, it was useless, or rather hurtful, for a boy like him to amuse himself with running through Grote’s many volumes, or to cast his eye over Matthiæ’s minute criticisms. Indeed, this seems to have been Mr. Brown’s stumbling-block; he began by saying that he had read Demosthenes, Virgil, Juvenal, and I do not know how many other authors. Nothing is more common in an age like this, when books abound, than to fancy that the gratification of a love of reading is real study. Of course there are youths who shrink even from story books, and cannot be coaxed into getting through a tale of romance. Such Mr. Brown was not; but there are others, and I suppose he was in their number, who certainly have a taste for reading, but in whom it is little more than the result of mental restlessness and curiosity. Such minds cannot fix their gaze on one object for two seconds together; the very impulse which leads them to read at all, leads them to read on, and never to stay or hang over any one idea. The pleasurable excitement of reading what is new is their motive principle; and the imagination that they are doing something, and the boyish vanity which accompanies it, are their reward. Such youths often profess to like poetry, or to like history or biography; they are fond of lectures on certain of the physical sciences; or they may possibly have a real and true taste for natural history or other cognate subjects;—and so far they may be regarded with satisfaction; but on the other hand they profess that they do not like logic, they do not like algebra, they have no taste for mathematics; which only means that they do not like application, they do not like attention, they shrink from the effort and labour of thinking, and the process of true intellectual gymnastics. The consequence will be that, when they grow up, they may, if it so happen, be agreeable in conversation, they may be well informed in this or that department of knowledge, they may be what is called literary; but they will have no consistency, steadiness, or perseverance; they will not be able to make a telling speech, or to write a good letter, or to fling in debate a smart antagonist, unless so far as, now and then, mother-wit supplies a sudden capacity, which cannot be ordinarily counted on. They cannot state an argument or a question, or take a clear survey of a whole transaction, or give sensible and appropriate advice under difficulties, or do any of those things which inspire confidence and gain influence, which raise a man in life, and make him useful to his religion or his country.

* * * * *

And now, having instanced what I mean by the _want_ of accuracy, and stated the results in which I think it issues, I proceed to sketch, by way of contrast, an examination which displays a student, who, whatever may be his proficiency, at least knows what he is about, and has tried to master what he has read. I am far from saying that every candidate for admission must come up to its standard:—

_T._ I think you have named Cicero’s Letters ad Familiares, Mr. Black? Open, if you please, at