disliked a
thing the greater the presumption that it was right. It never occurred to him
that the presumption was in favour of the rightness of what was most pleasant,
and that the onus of proving that it was not right lay with those who disputed
its being so.
    I have said more than once he believed in his own depravity; never was there
a little mortal more ready to accept without cavil whatever he was told by those
who were in authority over him; he thought, at least, that he believed it, for
as yet he knew nothing of that other Ernest that dwelt within him and was so
much stronger and more real than the Ernest of which he was conscious. The dumb
Ernest persuaded with inarticulate feelings too swift and sure to be
translateable into such debateable things as words, but practically insisted as
follows -
    »Growing is not the easy plain-sailing business that it is commonly supposed
to be: it is hard work - harder than any but a growing boy can understand; it
requires attention, and you are not strong enough to attend to your bodily
growth, and to your lessons too. Besides this Latin and Greek is great humbug;
the more people know of it the more odious they generally are; the nice people
whom you delight in either never knew any at all or forgot what they had learned
as soon as they could; they never turned to the classics after they were no
longer forced to read them; then they are nonsense; all very well in their own
time and country, but out of place here. Never learn anything until you find you
have been made uncomfortable for a good long while by not knowing it; when you
find that you have occasion for this or that knowledge, or foresee that you will
have occasion for it shortly, the sooner you learn it the better, but till then
spend your time in growing bone and muscle; these will be much more useful to
you than Latin and Greek, nor will you ever be able to make them if you do not
do so now, whereas Latin and Greek can be acquired at any time by those who want
them.
    You are surrounded on every side with lies which would deceive even the
elect, if the elect were not generally so uncommonly wide awake; the self of
which you are conscious, your reasoning and reflecting self, will believe these
lies and bid you act in accordance with them. This conscious self of yours,
Ernest, is a prig - begotten of prigs, and trained in priggishness; I will not
allow it to shape your actions, though it will doubtless shape your