67
ballad style printed on them. These were sold by townsmen known as ballad-sellers. There was, it seems, a revival of the ballad proper in the trenches during the last war. The writer concluded his interesting Paper by quoting the popular ballad " Chevy Chase."
February 23rd.-Debate : " That a Classical Education is more Advantageous than a Scientific One."
In support of the motion, S. A. Tarpey observed that the traditional English education was based on the Classics. The excellent mental training which a study of the Classics entailed prepared boys for any career. The terminology of most sciences was derived from Latin and Greek roots. The writers of Ancient Greece and Rome produced the world's greatest literature, and a knowledge of these Classics inevitably increases one's appreciation of English Literature. In opposition, J. J. McLoughlin asserted that the world was run on science. Its importance was shown by the fact that we could not win this war without its aid. Science was capable of raising everywhere the standard of life. From the educational viewpoint, a scientific education opened a far wider choice of careers to a youth than a classical education. For this reason, science was the basis of education in the U.S.A. A lively debate ensued, in which a bandaged youth, science's wounded hero, spoke in favour of the cause for which he had suffered so much, but his observations drew from the Proposer of the motion the apt and obvious remark that he was just the sort of thing that they meant.
Marsh. 2nd.-Paper on " Horace Walpole and His Letters " by J. V. Grealy.
The speaker first gave a resume of Walpole's life. The son of the famous Whig Minister was born in 1717. After some years at Eton and Cambridge, he went on the Grand Tour with Gray. For the unhappy quarrel at Reggio, lie took all the blame and the breach was healed three years later. On his return Walpole entered Parliament, but proved unsuited to the stress of Parliamentary conflicts. He was a keen student of art and literature as well as a keen collector of antiques, with
which he filled his villa at Strawberry Hill. In 1796 he died at the age of seventy-nine. In his letters we find his views on many interesting subjects of everyday life. For him letter writing was an art and lie studied closely the letters of Gray and of Madame de Sevigne.
March 91h.-Paper on " Oliver Goldsmith and His Poems " by L. McCartie.
In 1728 Oliver Goldsmith was born in Ireland. At school lie appeared rather dull, although at the age of seventeen lie won a sizarship to Dublin University. He left two years later because of trouble with his tutor. Later lie returned and took his B.A. An idler and spendthrift in his youth, Goldsmith eventually settled down to study medicine at Edinburgh. To continue his medical studies he then went abroad to Leyden, but he found himself unable to pay the fees and spent two years wandering about Europe, poor, lonely and melancholy. Returning from the Continent, lie tried his hand at several occupations, but finally took up writing as a career. He usually worked rapidly for money, but two of his best works The Vicar of Wakefield and The Traveller were written in his leisure hours. Two years before his death in 1772, he published his finest poem, " The Deserted Village."
March 16th.-Essay on " The Earl of Chatham " by V. L. Armishaw. Essay on " Shelley's Views on Poetry " by G. H. Bolton.
The first essay recounted the chief events in the life of Pitt (1708-1778), his early years at Eton and Trinity, his commission in the Army, and his parliamentary life, especially as War Minister in the Seven Years War. By way of contrast, the next essay dealt with the arts of peace and presented a picture of Shelley, whose poetry was that of an ardent enthusiast, never didactic, but springing from the poet's own intuition and native genius.
March 23rd.--Paper on " William Cowper and His Letters " by K. J. Good.
The life of Cowper formed the background of
this interesting Paper which told of his rather unhappy boyhood and of the happier period of