2. And speaking of freedom，is not the author free，as few men are free? Is he not secure，as few men are secure? The tools of his industry are so common and so cheap that they have almost ceased to have commercial value. He needs no bulky pile of raw material，no elaborate apparatus，no service of men or animals. He is dependent for his occupation upon no one but himself, and nothing outside him that matters. He is the sovereign of an empire，self-supporting，self-contained. No one can sequestrate his estates. No one can deprive him of his stock in trade；no one can force him to exercise his faculty against his will；no one can prevent him exercising it as he chooses. Thee pen is the great liberator of men and nations. No chains can bind，no poverty can choke，no tariff can re-strict the free play of his mind，and even the “Times” Book Club can only exert a moderately depressing influence upon his rewards. Whether his work is good or bad，so long as he does his best he is happy. I often fortify myself amid the uncertainties and vexations of political life by believing that I possess a line of retreat into a peaceful and fertile country where no rascal can pursue anywhere one need never be dull or idle or even wholly without power. It is then，indeed，that I feel devoutly thankful to have been born fond of writing. It is then，indeed，that I feel grateful to all the brave and generous spirits who，in every age and in every land，have fought to establish the now un-questioned freedom of the pen.
3. And what a noble medium the English language is. It is not possible to write a page without experiencing positive pleasure at the richness and variety，the flexibility and the profoundness of our mother tongue.If an English writer cannot saywhat he has to say in English，and in simple English，depend upon it is probably not worth saying. What a pity it is that English is not more generally studied. I am not going to attack classical education. No one who has the slightest pretension to literary tastes can be insensible to the attraction of Greece and Rome. But I confess our present educational system excites in my mind grave misgivings. I cannot believe that a system is good，or even reasonable，which thrusts upon reluctant and uncomprehending multitudes treasures which can only be appreciated by the privileged and gifted few. To the vast majority of boys who attend our public schools a classical education is from beginning to end one long useless，meaningless rigmarole. If I am told that classes are the best preparation for the study of English，I reply that by far the greater number of students finish their education while this preparatory stage is still incomplete and without deriving any of the benefits which are promised as its result.
4. And even of those who，without being great scholars，attain a certain general acquaintance with the ancient writers，can it really be said that they have also obtained the mastery of English？How many young gentlemen there are from the universities and public schools who can turn a Latin verse with a facility which would make the old Romans squirm in their tombs? How few there are who can construct a few good sentences，or still less a few good paragraphs of plain，correct，and straight forward English. Now，I am a great admirer of the Greeks，although，of course，I have to depend upon what others tell me about them，-and I would like to see our educationists imitate in one respect，at least，the Greek example. How is it that the Greeks made their language the most graceful and compendious mode of expression ever known among men? Did they spend all their time studying the languages which had preceded theirs? Did they explore with tireless persistency the ancient root dialects of the vanished world？Not at all. They only studied Greek. They studied their own language. They loved it，they cherished it，they adorned it，they expanded it，and that is why it survives a model and delight to all posterity. Surely we，whose mother tongue has already won for itself such an unequalled empire over the modern world，can learn this lesson at least from the ancient Greeks and bestow a little care and some proportion of the years of education to the study of a language which is perhaps to play a predominant parting the future progress of mankind.