Nowadays one of our leading literary weeklies talks of the "Hyperion Spring." But as early as 1891 the question of Compulsory Greek was attracting a good deal of attention, and _Punch_ sided with _The Times_ in expressing his disbelief in "protected studies." He also took occasion to criticize the narrowness of the old curriculum in his picture deriding the ignorance of Dante shown by classical students. It is just as well that he heads the picture "Too much Greek," for no good Virgilian would ever have laid himself open to such a charge. [Sidenote: _Too Much Greek_] [Illustration: THE RESULT OF TOO MUCH GREEK FIRST CLASSIC: "By the way, hadn't Dante got another Name?" SECOND CLASSIC: "Yes; Alfieri, I think--or else Alighieri." FIRST CLASSIC: "Ah, perhaps you're right. I had a notion it was Gabriel Rossetti, or something!"] At the beginning of this period _Punch_ undoubtedly showed a good deal of mistrust of the new methods of elementary education, in so far as they encouraged literary aspirations among the masses and tended to convert the artisan into the clerk. At its close he strikes a different and decidedly more democratic note in his ironical proposed "inscription for a Free Public Library" under the heading, "_Laissez Faire_":-- Here is an Institution doomed to scare The furious devotees of _Laissez Faire_. What mental shock, indeed, could prove immenser To Mumbo Jumbo--or to Herbert Spencer? Free Books? Reading provided from the Rates? Oh, that means Freedom's ruin, and the State's! Self-help's all right--e'en if you rob a brother-- But human creatures must not help each other! The "Self-made Man," whom Samuel Smiles so praises, Who on his fellows' necks his footing raises, The systematic "Sweater," who sucks wealth From toiling crowds by cunning and by stealth-- He is all right, he has no maudlin twist, He does not shock the Individualist! But rate yourselves to give the poor free reading? The Pelican to warm her nestlings bleeding, Was no such monument of feeble folly. Let folks alone, and all will then be jolly. Let the poor perish, let the ignorant sink, The tempted tumble, and the drunkard drink! Let--no, don't let the low-born robber rob, Because--well, that would rather spoil the job. If footpad-freedom brooked no interference, Of Capital there might be a great clearance; But, Wealth well-guarded, let all else alone, 'Tis thus our race hath to true manhood grown: To make the general good the common care, Breaks through the sacred law of _Laissez Faire_!