"Milton's Areopagitica?"
"Er—no."
"Swift's Tale of a Tub?"
"No."
I sighed.
"Would you like to read them?" I asked.
"I don't think they would interest me," he admitted.
"Then in heaven's name, why expect children to have any interest in them? If these classics weren't shoved down children's throats the adult population of this country would be sitting of an evening reading and enjoying Milton instead of John Bull."
Mac would not have this.
"Children must read the classics so that they may get a good style," he said.