Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-12-17
Matthew Arnold.

Tbi, /, The way in which thc London
Mans commcmOritrd Mr. Matthew AZ
pcIo'. CcpIriuic from public office:
Roth INSPECTOR aud Inspected are sure 10
talk leave OF each other with Siucctt F''
prct. for certain rather un1miah.e IN tHi'rN
( MIR. Arnold a. q c0ntrovcr>itli-t are
roo,iicuou,ly absent in MI. Arnold -
nractical authority on education. us l'1S
'.lo,. i'm mi, office may seem ma" IKE 4
Sastc II flcsse and power FOR one oI thr
most ori.ilnl OF ccniu.cs ms been oplS 1t
To Give I'D 10 routine what WIS meant TOT
mankind. Unlike many men OF It,
,ers. however, Mr.. Arnold has never
taken away bis hand from Ia,
rather urinvitiug plOw to winch he
has been sentenced by fortune. His re-
mort, on French and German schools nave
ieen OF great practical value, n well A. al
mirally expressed. In sympathy with
continental idca., and free from our usnh
narrow aud "insulsr" limitations, .nr.
Arnold has been enabled to see qua 10 cSii-
mate what foreign ;,cople have done for
noruIar teaching. When Our secondary
cCucation receives tie attention which II
sill need, Mr.. Matthew ArnOld's labors
Will have been rewarded with success.
Hut Mr.. Arnold is not best known to the
world as the practical and theoretical au.
! tbority on education. lie Is best known
| os the man OF lcttcrs-the ,nan OF dis.
! cussion, and The poet. II used TO be slII
! hy admirers 81 woman OF genius that they
| visited She would stick To prose and not
/ drop into poetry. OF Mr.. Arnold people
! will much more eagerly say thIt they wish
! he bad chiefly written IN poetry and had
less frequently dropped into prose. His
| prose bas, indeed, always been marked by
| a finished style and an irony which was
| occasionally fine, occasionally not 80 fine.
Al his best be remind. one Of Pascal at his
| best: at his worst he has been somewhat
! frivolous and yCXatiOus. About dozen. OF
great problems, problems iasoluble except
| by time and chance, and the slow work
! ing of circumstances, he has written
like an almost disintercsted spectator
| couchcd on Olympian heights. lie has
| tossed down u paradox from his scdes
quietus, says the heWs, mixing a blunder
| for which the 50. James Gazette viii
| probably exact due vengeance, or he has
| tortured a quotation. We all know Nc.
! Arr cId's method In controversy: hrs
method Is that of the scie, or OF the topical
refrain or catchw0rd in comic song or a
| farce. Everyone knows how the public
will roar over some remark OF little mean
Ing, il il is repeated again and again by
some person in play. This humor Of
repetition, Of dragging in an isolated text
ana hsmmeriug at il, has been employed by
Mr.. Arnold in literary anu theological dis
cussiOn. He has repeated to himself, for
example, Wragge is in CUSTODY" and
that was one OF his most legitimate liz.
tic refrains. In other eases, the casual
| quotation from an opponent was so tor
tured that man might be driven almost
out Of Nj. Aruold's camp into that OF his
enemies by sense OF tue cruelty OF the
performance. There has been certain
| humorous cruelty, IKE what kingsley im-
putes TO the G0ths, In some oil Mr.. Ar
nold's criticisms. But we came here TO
| bless him, not lo.curse him. To convert a
phrase that much annoys some critics, he