tive. The dramatic is one of the strongest instincts in young pupils, and it should be encouraged. Without any trouble any of the following lessons can be acted in class, and so readily by this method will their meaning be apprehended that in many cases there will be no need at all for actual construing or translation into English. It is much to be regretted that the hands of the clock have been set back so far that what was a common and effective instrument of Latin instruction in Tudor times has now been almost entirely discarded. Erasmus, Corderius, Castalio, Vives—these writers of Latin dialogues for the young smoothed the way to the acquisition of Latin in a reasonable manner for beginners some three and a half centuries ago. Happily it is beginning to be admitted that we have made a mistake in confining our instruction to duller methods.
I have ventured in this collection of original and adapted dialogues to put before second or third year pupils Latin lessons which I hope have the merit of being interesting both in matter and manner.
The marking of long vowels.—As to the marking of long quantities, I cannot accept the all-or-none theory. My intention is to help, but also gradually to withdraw help, and so make the pupil use thought and memory. Occasionally I help yet again, to nudge the memory. Such a plan is bound to be largely a matter of the editor’s own personal experience. In this book the guidance of a teacher is assumed, and his (or her) co-operation is asked in a method which, I believe, gives the best results.
Christ’s Hospital, Horsham
- July 1913.
