subject — political, literary', and philosophical. In these he is said to have been eager and vehement, but always candid and ingenuous, and 'never showing, even then, a grain of vanity or conceit.' In 1814 he obtained a first class in classics, and the next year a fellowship at Oriel, and he gained the chancellor's prizes for the Latin and English essays in 1815 and 1817. For four years he resided on his fellowship, amidst a group of the ablest men then in the university — Copleston, Davison, Whately, Keble, Hawkins, and Hampden; using this 'golden time' to store his mind and fill many manuscript volumes with the results of wide and independent reading, chiefly of original authorities, in the libraries of the place. In 1818 he was ordained deacon, and in the following year he settled at Laleham, a quiet village on the broad Thames, to take as private pupils a small number of young men preparing for the universities. In 1820 he married Mary Penrose, daughter of the Rev. John Penrose, and sister of one of his earliest friends.
The eight years of active growth at Oxford had traced the general lines of character and opinion which were to be his through life; and these were deepened and developed during the eight quiet years which followed, spent chiefly in continued study, in working and playing with the pupils whom he made part of his peaceful and industrious home, and in assisting in the care of the parish. Here he learned to know the poor, and to feel that sympathy with the humbler classes which afterwards so strongly marked his views of duty, both individual and social. It was during this time that his mind came under an influence by which it was powerfully affected, that of Niebuhr's 'History of Rome,' which not only inspired him with new views of historical criticism, but, by introducing him to German literature, opened to him new realms of thought. And it was now that, under the elevating influence of a happy marriage and increased responsibilities, his religious convictions and feelings were brought, so to speak, to a focus, and he came to be possessed with that vivid sense of the reality of the invisible world, and that personal devotion to Jesus Christ, which formed henceforth the basis of his spiritual life. From this time he became more and more remarkable for that close interpenetration of all parts of his being — spiritual, moral, intellectual, and emotional — which was the key to his character, and reflected itself in all his opinions and habits of thought. Thus — to give a few characteristic instances — the central truth of life to him, not as a dogma accepted from without, but as the satisfaction of a craving within, was the union of the divine and the human in the person of Jesus Christ; to speak of a Christian's body as the temple of the Holy Spirit was hardly a metaphor; the church and the state were one; the natural and the supernatural, things secular and religious, were inextricably blended; every act of a Christian's life was at once secular as done on this earth, and religious as done in the presence of God; and every act was of importance, as affecting the great struggle everywhere and at all times going on between good and evil. This solidarity of the whole nature, 'moving altogether if it move at all,' is not without its drawbacks. There must be a danger that the lower parts, instead of adding strength to the higher, may usurp their place; that sympathies or antipathies may be mistaken for moral judgments, and a hasty temper for righteous indignation. The uncompromising earnestness which belongs to it is apt to give offence; but if it provokes opposition it gives the force necessary for overcoming it: and in Arnold's case, being absolutely free from all taint of self-seeking, it won for him, in a singular degree, the confidence of all with whom he was brought into close contact.
In 1827 the mastership of Rugby fell vacant, and he was urged to be a candidate for it. He hesitated, chiefly from doubt whether he should be free to make such changes as he might find necessary. This doubt removed, at the eleventh hour he sent in his name, and he was elected, chiefly on the strength of a letter from Dr. Hawkins, prophesying that if Mr. Arnold were appointed 'he would change the face of education all through the public schools of England.' In August 1828 he removed to Rugby, where he remained till his death in 1842. He became B.D, and D.D. in 1828.
The humble grammar school of Lawrence Sheriff had before this expanded into a prosperous public school, with ample funds and commodious buildings, including (what was not then usual) a chapel; but it was still, as compared with such foundations as Eton or Winchester, limited in numbers, without marked character or time-honoured traditions, and therefore all the better fitted for the hand of the reformer. And it was no doubt a time when reforms were needed in public schools; but, viewed by the light of the present day, there was nothing startling in those which were introduced by Dr. Arnold, nor was there anything recondite in his system. If, as is now acknowledged, he verified his friend's prediction by regenerating public
