Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which he reads in school, with the Gallegher or Treasure Island, sacred to the hearth rug and the firelight, he will, no doubt, regard them as tame; but if, as is rather more probable, he compares them with the algebra and Latin imposed upon him in the next class room, he is likely to be charmed with their amenity. He is not prone to forget that the school desk is not a hearth-rug, and the difference is a restraint upon severity.

The main safeguards against an excess of elucidative material in the secondary school are the choice of a teacher in whom the love of letters for their own sake is adequately developed, and the reduction of the demands of the college examiners for this form of intellectual grist to a standard which can be met by the allotment to these purposes of half, or less than half, the recitation hour. Virtue, if present in the man, will find its way out of him; the mere hem of the garment serving, if need be, as a conductor. A feeling for phrases is rarely combined with a preference for definitions; and whatever men agree to talk about, the emphasis in their own minds is insuppressible.

In

The cases in which a school or set of schools have originated a permanent habit of high-class reading are probably few. most instances the love of letters, which long survives the end of the curriculum, has long antedated its commencement. What holds out to the grave has begun in the cradle. A temporary flame of admiration blown up by the inspiration-the term is here delightfully appropriate—of a vigorous and dominant personality is likely enough to die out or die down on the withdrawal of the bellows. The security for permanence in the taste is the inherent affinity, not between pupil and teacher or between teacher and author, but between pupil and author; and the greatest benefit that a pupil can receive is to be helped to the discovery of these affinities. Whether the presence at his side of a commanding and beloved personality, superior to his own no less in experience than in emotional and intellectual power, unconsciously imposing its appetites and enthusiasms upon his own nascent and diffident taste, is in every instance favorable to this discovery is a point that it would be hazardous to assume. No doubt some of the tastes developed in

the animated and stimulating class room are of a factitious and, therefore, perishable nature. They are like the attachment of Phyllis and the Imp in Mr. Esmond's charming play; the products not of a natural and inevitable sympathy, but of the cementing agency of a third person in whom the supervision of one of the parties is combined with a cordial interest in both. One cannot be sure, whether the field be love or letters, that the color will endure when the mordant is abstracted. This is, however, a secondary consideration, and is advanced as such; the confirmation of what is genuine but dim or weak in a pupil's perceptions and tastes by the authority of a better mind and the contagion of a livelier sensibility far outweighs the occasional harm incident to the creation of imitative and exotic interests.

The teaching of literature belongs to that group of pursuits in which, even when methods are bad, it is easy to expect too much from their amendment. There is an amiable but unfounded optimism which loves to find the cause of defects in those parts of a system which are most subject to alteration. The truth is that more is asked of teachers of literature than is warranted by the present state of human capacity and human need in America. An extraordinary task is laid upon persons of average or slightly more than average powers, and indignation and astonishment are expressed at the unsatisfactoriness of the results. We no longer blame physicians for not making patients whole, nor clergymen for not making parishioners saintly, but we still think it criminal in the teacher of English not to make his pupils literary. If it were, as we are prone to assume, a mere question of method, he might deserve the full rigor of our censure; but the question is mainly one of personality, both in teacher and pupil. When the right man is brought face to face with the right boy the problem of method will be amazingly simplified. The right man is always expensive, and there is an evident unreason in the adjustment of salaries to one grade of competence, and of public expectation to another; the right boy is often simply inaccessible.

Examination Questions for Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

MAUD E. KINGSLEY
KINGS

1. Give the date on which the action of the drama begins. Describe the political situation at Rome and Cæsar's position in the state. Describe the exact situation of affairs when the first scene of

the drama opens.

2. In the battle from which Cæsar is just returning, who were the contestants, what was the point at issue, and what was the result?

3. State the policy of the "Liberal Faction" which had arisen in Rome during Cæsar's absence and of which Brutus was the leader. Show from episodes in the play that Cæsar was ill fitted to cope with such a party. Of what action on the part of Cæsar was this faction afraid? How much of an answer to this question do you gather from the opening scene of the drama.

4. Why is the title of "king" so much more abhorrent to Brutus and his party than that of Perpetual Dictator-a title which Cæsar already bears? Just what did the Romans mean by the word "Liberty"?

5. Describe the manner in which the Conspiracy was conceived and perfected. By what argument was Brutus won over to the conspirators' cause? With whom did the idea of the Conspiracy originate? Quote the line which tells you that the Conspiracy had taken a definite form in the mind of Cassius.

6. Putting yourself in the closest possible sympathy with the spirit of the times, justify or condemn the Conspiracy. Do you find your sympathy with the conspirators or with Cæsar? At what point does your sympathy with the cause of the conspirators begin to decline?

7. Point out the devices by which Shakespeare sways the sympathies of his readers, first to the side of Cæsar, then to that of the conspirators. In this connection comment on the effect produced by the last twenty-five lines of Act II, Scene ii.

8. What impression does Casca's recital of Cæsar's refusal of the crown make upon you? How did it impress his hearers and further the conspiracy.

9. Show that the whole action of the drama is the outcome of the historical fact that the common weal was the grand object of the heroes of Roman story. In this connection describe the struggle in

the mind of Brutus between love of Cæsar and love of country. Show by quotation that Brutus was fully aware of the enormity of his deed. Reproduce the arguments of Brutus by which he justified his action as regards Cæsar.

10. Write a brief sketch of the slaying of Cæsar. Why did no one rush to the aid of Cæsar?

II. From the drama describe the manner in which the funeral of a distinguished Roman was conducted. Bring out the contrast between the funeral orations of Brutus and Antony. Which would have appealed to you the more strongly had you been in the Forum?

12. Enumerate the ways in which Antony in his funeral oration aroused the interest and sympathy of the citizens. Prove from the conversation of the citizens that he had guaged his audience correctly. Comment on the word honorable in Antony's speech. What different feelings did its use arouse?

13. Trace the various manifestations of popular fickleness throughout the play, beginning with the opening scene.

14. Describe the political situation at the beginning of Act IV (Cæsar had been dead nineteen months.) At what point in the play did Antony begin to show himself an individual to be reckoned with? Show that Brutus had read Antony's character wrongly.

15. What idea does the drama give you as to the character of Antony? Do you think that his attachment to Cæsar was real or that it was only assumed to further his political aspirations?

16. At the Battle of Philippi, what was the point at issue? Who were the contestants? What was the result of the battle?

17. Bring out the contrast between Brutus and Cassius by citing episodes from the narrative. In the argument between Cassius and Brutus over the slaying of Cæsar, which was right? Prove the statement that in the discussions between Cassius and Brutus every point is decided and wrongly decided against Cassius' judgment. Quote passages to show that at the last Cassius and Brutus acknowledged their error.

18. Describe the stage setting and the grouping of the following scenes: The Midnight Meeting, The Assassination, The Thunderstorm, Over Cæsar's Body, The Tent Scene, The Ghost of Cæsar, The Parley. Point out those which seem to you most tragic; most effective; most convincing.

19. Show that the chief effects of this drama are produced by the words of the actors, not by their actions.

20. Show that the plot of the drama is the fatal consequences of the assassination of Cæsar, and not the deed itself. If the deed alone were the plot, where would the drama have ended? How much of the play is the result of the thought that the dæmon of Cæsar is avenging his murder? Quote the lines which give Brutus' feelings on this subject.

21. Enumerate those scenes of the play which belong to the underplot, i. e., Antony's efforts to succeed to Cæsar's power.

22. Collect the passages in which the actors of the narrative pay tribute to the greatness of Cæsar. What opinion as to his character do you derive from the conversation of Cæsar in the drama? In the scenes of the drama in which Cæsar plays an active part, does he impress you as "the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times"? Reconcile these inconsistencies, if, in your mind, any exist.

23. It is said that Brutus, not Cæsar, is the hero of this drama. Give your opinion as to the truth of this statement. State whether or not your interest in the play decreases after the funeral of Cæsar.

24. What dramatic devices does Shakespeare use to heighten the effect of his tragedy? What part do women play in this drama? Cite six passages in the drama which seem to you to teach a moral lesson applicable to all times and conditions.

25. Using Brutus as the type, describe the Roman of Cæsar's day.