The Education Of Society.

their knowledge of nature and of man , but they will not amplify their knowledge of books . This , it may be said , is the highest education , and we have lately been reminded that such it was esteemed by the Greeks . It must be rememberedhowever

, that we in these days have a history and literature behind us of some eighteen centuries , which the Greeks had not . Beyond the daily and weekly newspaper , which is skimmed rather than read , the enormous majority of intelligent gentlemen whom

one encounters , day by day and hour by hour , absolutely avoid print . Perhaps the best proof of the very slender character of the attainments , and the very limited degree of miscellaneous information , of which the class of whom we now speak can

boast , is the admiration invariably excited by the fact of one of their number betraying something that is only a few degrees removed from shere ignorance on questions of art , of history , of literature and science . There never was a time when it was easier

for a person ambitious of that renown to purchase the cheap distinction of omniscience among the circle of his club friends . He has but to travel a little , observe a little , catch up a few shibbololteths of artistic criticism , allude now and again to the writers of antiquity and of tne

renaissance , and he will quickly come to be pointed out as a monument of universal knowledge . It is true that if he presumes too much upon his reputation he will be avoided as a bore ; but then he may have the satisfaction of reflecting that he has

for a brief while not ineffectively posed as a prodigy . That the volumes replete with learning and information , with which the press teems find readers is of course true ; but with very few exceptions , it is not from the rank , aud file of society , that

these readers are taken , while attendance at learned lectures is no more a proof of an enthusiasm for learning , than an attendance at church of an enthusiasm for religion , or the mere circumstance of being an habitue of theatres or fine-art galleries

implies an acquaintance with the rudiments of dramatic and aesthetic criticism . Mr . Matthew Arnold may invei gh with airy bitterness against the Philistinism of the middle classes of England , but at the present moment these middle classes are the depositaries of no inconsiderable

amount of knowledge and culture . It is the wives and daughters of men who are not social stars of the first or even of the second magnitude that are the chief patrons of the literature of the day . In this there is nothing surprising . Society has the highest and most distinguished sanction

for the course that it adopts . Criticism of a menu and the arrangement of guests round a dinner-table are , in the most illustrious quarters , points of such paramount importance that the mind cannot be distracted from them by any purely

literary occupations . Such a confession would not be generally allowed . The polite world may be intellectually naked , but it is more or less anxious to veil its nudity . The appearance of a considerable interest in all matters that appertain to literature , science , and art is still kept up , and there are even ladies of fashion who

languidly impress one with the idea that they are positively fond of poetry , just as there are exemplary people who simulate a devotion to the Opera . Feminine hypocrisy is never seen to greater advantage than when subjects of intellectual or semi-intellectual significance are concerned , and the young lady who raves about Mr . Tennj r son , or declares that she adores and understands

the writings of Mr . Browning in public , devours and appreciates nothing but secondrate romances in private . The real truth is , that , notwithstanding its ostentatiously proclaimed sympathies with the human intellect in all its works and manifestations , its occasional interludes of { esthetic prattle

, its 2 'enchant for old china , pictures and collections of every sort , the lectures which it frequents , and the Bees at which it improves its mind , society in the present day is far too occupied with its distractions and pastimes to care much about its

education ; and when " Society" talks of topics which involve education , it has abundant reason to be satisfied if it can adroitly conceal its ignorance . We do not agree with all the writer ingeniously puts forward , but we think it

better to let him speak for himself , as , doubtless , his views , ably expressed as they are , will find not a few supporters . But we always like to hear both sides of a question . There is a great deal in that . People are too fond of hearing one Side only .