THE Classical Association has been occupied during
the rest of to-day in discussing the position of the
classics in a reconstructed system of National
Education. That is a subject which is of imme-
diate and very practical importance--so far, at
least, if no further, the supporters and opponents
of classical study would all agree. But it is also
a subject which in some of its aspects is highly
technical, concerned with methods and machinery.
It may be in some measure a supplement, in some
measure a relief, to return from it to the classics
in themselves, to what they mean for us, what we
know them to be.

The great revision of values forced even on
the most indolent minds by the present emergency
often brings one back to old statements, which
are seen with new eyes, and in which we find a
new meaning. Among these is Milton's famous
definition of "a complete and generous education."
It is that, he says, "which fits a man to perform
justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices
both private and public of peace and war." Few
would be disposed now to reject, or even to

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