satisfied Pope, have been recognised as authentic by us of the year 1838. It is the normal or exemplary condition of the human mind, its ideal condition, not its abnormal condition, as seen in the transitory modes and fashions of its taste or its opinions, which only 'Can lay great bases for eternity,' or give even a colourable permanence to any decision in a matter so large, so perplexed, so profound, as this great pending suit between antiquity and ourselves--between the junior men of this earth and ourselves, the seniors, as Lord Bacon reasonably calls us. Appeals will be brought _ad infinitum_--we ourselves shall bring appeals, to set aside any judgment that may be given, until something more is consulted than individual taste; better evidence brought forward than the result of individual reading; something higher laid down as the _grounds_ of judgment, as the very principles of the jurisprudence which controls the court, than those vague _responsa prudentum_, countersigned by the great name, perhaps, of Aristotle, but still too often mere products of local convenience, of inexperience, of experience too limited and exclusively Grecian, or of absolute caprice--rules, in short, which are themselves not less truly _sub judice_ and liable to appeal than that very appeal cause to which they are applied as decisive. We have remarked, that it is no mystery why the decision should have gone pretty uniformly in favour of the ancients; for here is the dilemma:--A man, attempting this problem, _is_ or _is not_ a classical scholar. If he _is_, then he has already received a bias in his judgment; he is a bribed man, bribed by his vanity; and is liable to be challenged as one of the judges. If he is _not_, then he is but imperfectly qualified--imperfectly as respects his knowledge and powers; whilst, even as respects his will and affections, it may be alleged that he also is under a bias and a corrupt influence; his interest being no less obvious to undervalue a literature, which, as to _him_, is tabooed and under lock and key, than his opponent's is to put a preposterous value upon that knowledge which very probably is the one sole advantageous distinction between him and his neighbours.