ut, if you can, why they are beautiful. Are they so because of beauty
of sentiment? simplicity of language? choice of words? figurative
language? smoothness of rhythm?

THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR.--What do we know of Goldsmith's
childhood? his family? his education? his professional training? his
travels? his friends in London? his loneliness? his disappointments? his
literary successes? his eccentricities? his kindness?

How can we judge of his character from his references to the village of
his childhood? from what he says of wealth, greed, etc.?

IV. THE TEACHING OF THE DRAMA

If a teacher were to attempt to investigate the methods employed in
classes formed to study Shakespeare, he would doubtless be impressed
first by their variety. One teacher lays great stress on reading the
play with little or no comment; another, with painful slowness, works
line by line to bring out the details of the thought; while a third lays
the greatest stress on the structure of the play, following minutely the
steps from exposition to climax and from climax to conclusion. Each plan
has its advantages, and in the hands of an enthusiastic and sensible
teacher ought to achieve admirable results.

The fundamental reason for these wide differences in method is the
greatness of Shakespeare's genius. We are captivated, perhaps, by one
phase of his work and fail to see, or to see in due proportion, other
phases equally, or even more, important. As a rule, the limitations of
time make it impossible thoroughly to investigate many lines of study,
and the teacher naturally follows his own taste in making selections.

Now the average high school student has limitations which we are bound
to recognize. Accustomed as he is to reading fiction where description
and explanation are frequently used to aid the imagination and the
understanding, he fails to appreciate the situations in a drama and the
motives for the actions. Again, there are considerable difficulties of
language which must be overcome by persistent work. The over-editing of
some of our text-books is often a real difficulty. A conscientious pupil
often feels that his lesson is not quite learned unless he has carefully
read all the notes. In one school edition of a play there are nearly
twice as many pages of introduction and unclassified notes as of the
text. Such an edition adds to the difficulties of the work by confusing
essential and unessential matters.

It is