Art
constitutes a department of work; but it is art-appreciation, not
art-production; the movement has no function to train artists, but to
make audiences and visitors to art-galleries more intelligent. It will
be observed that the great study known as 'Classics' is not mentioned in
this list. But it is an instructive fact that a considerable number of
the courses in literature have been on subjects of Greek and Latin
literature treated in English, and some of these have been at once the
most successful in numbers and the most technical in treatment. I am not
without hope that our English University Extension may react upon our
English universities, and correct the vicious conception of classical
studies which gives to the great mass of university men a more or less
scholarly hold upon ancient languages without any interest whatever in
ancient literatures.
This university extension method claims to be an advance on existing
systems partly because under no circumstances does it ever give lectures
unaccompanied by a regular plan of reading and exercises for students.
These exercises moreover are designed, not for mental drill, but for
stimulus to original work. The association of students with a general
audience is a gain to both parties.
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