172 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
man literature, philosophy, history, or classical philology. Every candi- 
date for the licence has to write a French essay on French literature, a 
Latin essay on Latin literature. Then, according to the specialty he has 
selected, he writes papers on historical or philosophical subjects, or trans- 
ations from French into English or German, or from English or German 
nto French. The viva voce examination consists, for all candidates, in 
questions on French, Latin, and Greek literature, and extempore transla- 
sions from the classics ; and for those of the candidates who make English 
1 special subject, in questions on English literature, and translations into 
English and French of the French and English authors on the pro- 
oramme. As I said, the course of studies for the licence, which would 
correspond to your A. M., and which is usually taken at the age of 
twenty-one or twenty-two, is of two years; the first year consisting in 
study at the university, where the candidate attends the lectures of the 
srofessors of French, Latin, Greek, and English, if English is his special 
oart. During this first year, the chief purpose of the English professor 
.8 nob so much to acquaint him with the whole field of English literature 
as to give him an insight into the spirit, the genius, of English literature, 
and to make him feel the artistic element in the great writers. A French 
youth, fresh from his Tacitus, his Racine, and his Voltaire, cannot, unless 
he has great natural talent, understand, or, rather, feel at once Carlyle or 
Tennyson. This is done through minute translations, the aim of which 
is not to acquaint the student with new words or new constructions, but 
so teach him how to find those French forms that will best express some- 
thing of the beauty peculiar to the original English text. The tendency is 
thus to develop the artistic sense in the student, and to give him a mastery 
of his own language. At the last-examination for the licence, at Lille, 
the English translation being Milton’s “Il Penseroso,” several candidates 
were dropped who had understood every word and the literal meaning of 
the text, but it was clear from their translations that they had not felt the 
spirit of Milton’s poem, or had failed to express it. The second year, 
preparatory to the licence, is a special feature. An exhibition is given to 
she most meritorious students ; they are simply turned out of the univer- 
sity and sent to England for twelve months. They remain correspondents 
of the university ; that is to say, they have to send papers to the professors 
of French, Greek, and Latin, thus preparing themselves for those general 
parts of the licence which are demanded of all candidates to the degree. 
With the English professor they of course correspond also, and the main 
thing that he requires them to do is to steep themselves in English 
life—to go to the theatres, sermons, public meetings, to see English uni- 
versity life, to make English friends, to think in English, to assume Eng- 
lish forms of habit and prejudices—in short, for one year to throw off 
the Frenchman, to make themselves Englishmen, and to step out of the 
natural limits of the national mind and sensibility. After this experi- 
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