I think that what I feel to be the most desirable thing of all is, that boys should learn somehow to care for history—­however prejudiced a view they take of it—­when they are young; and that, when they are older, they should correct misapprehensions, and try to arrive at a more complete and just view.

Then I go on to my further point, and here I find myself in a still darker region of doubt.  I must look upon it, I suppose, as a direct assault of the Evil One, and hold out the shield of faith against the fiery darts.

What, I ask myself, is, after all, the use of this practice of erudition?  What class of the community does it, nay, can it, benefit?  The only class that I can even dimly connect with any benefits resulting from it is the class of practical politicians; and yet, in politics, I see a tendency more and more to neglect the philosophical and abstruse view; and to appeal more and more to later precedents, not to search among the origins of things.  Nay, I would go further, and say that a pedantic and elaborate knowledge of history hampers rather than benefits the practical politician.  It is not so with all the learned professions.  The man of science may hope that his researches may have some direct effect in enriching the blood of the world.  He may fight the ravages of disease, he may ameliorate life in a hundred ways.

But these exponents of learning, these restorers of ancient texts, these disentanglers of grammatical subtleties, these divers among ancient chronicles and forgotten charters—­what is it that they do but to multiply and revive useless knowledge, and to make it increasingly difficult for a man to arrive at a broad and philosophical view, or ever attack his subject at the point where it may conceivably affect humanity or even character?  The problem of the modern world is the multiplication of books and records, and every new detail dragged to light simply encumbers the path of the student.  I have no doubt that this is a shallow and feeble-minded view.  But I am not advancing it as a true view; I am only imploring help; I only desire light.  I am only too ready to believe in the virtues and uses of erudition, if any one will point them out to me.  But at present it only appears to me like a gigantic mystification, enabling those who hold richly endowed posts to justify themselves to the world, and to keep the patronage of these emoluments in their own hands.  Supposing, as a reductio ad absurdum, that some wealthy individual were to endow an institution in order that the members of it might count the number of threads in carpets.  One can imagine a philosophical defence being made of the pursuit.  A man might say that it was above all things necessary to classify, and investigate, and to arrive at the exact truth; to compare the number of threads in different carpets, and that the sordid difficulties which encumbered such a task should not be regarded, in the light of the fact that here, at least, exact results had been obtained.