Books and Papers 185070 Author:Henry Morley Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A DEFENCE OF IGNORANCE. The Select Committee, which appointed itself to inquire into the State of Education in this country, and into any measures which may b... more »e required for the Defence of Ignorance, have talked over the matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following resolution :— Resolved. That it is the opinion of this Committee, That the Report of their proceedings may be now read and approved. The Report follows. The Committee dined. The ladies having withdrawn, the Chairman said :—This meeting, gentlemen, is of a social nature, and to be considered strictly private. Before we commence, therefore, let us instruct our secretary concerning fictitious names to be affixed to any speeches that he may report.—A Member begged leave to suggest that the secretary might be empowered to disguise, in his own way, the names of speakers; at the same time, he thought that the Owl, a bird of Night and Wisdom, could be made godfather to all the company. The honourable secretary himself, who, as this committee's voice, would presently intrude upon the public ear, he begged permission to call Screech. Agreed.—The chairman, Ulula, then pouring out a glass of wine, requested silence, and began— The Opening Address. Gentlemen,—Brd meant a "mountain" in old Cornish. The Phoenicians, who got some of their tin from Cornwall, distinguished it as " Bre tin", from the same metal obtained elsewhere. Tin is a word that runs through many languages with trifling change; here tin, there zinn, and somewhere else etain. And so this country became known to the Phoenicians, and also through them to others, as the land of Bre tin—Britain. This interpretation is a wholesome one, which nourishes and very much plumps out a modern use of the word Tin. An affectionate and thoughtful peop...« less