New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-13
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
II.
DESJJLTORY NOTES on Ills PERSONAL
CHARACTER AND ON HIS LITERARY AND
SOCIAL, LIFE


7, hocrons often enough that mans death
brnas sudde.ly to light much greater mass OF
regard and admiration for him than had been ex-
messed during his life This is what has hap
pcned I'm Arnold's death. The tributes TO ms
character and genius are astonishing to one who
has noted tho currents of opinion about nm lh
recent years l should always have said that MS
Arnold's fame though Of the highest was not III
England itself wide or general renowh. Ho
himself did not believe IL to be. 1t might have
been likcned to the reputation which great piys-
olocist or great chemist commonly has lie is d
celebrity among psychologists and chemists; per-
haps among men of science in general; but noO
with the public unless to his scientific aVts'in'
mcnts he adds, as few do, tho power OF eNpes-
sion IN writing. So IL might have been saia oi
Arnold that the sources of his reputation were 10
be sought among men of letters His power OF
expression in writing was surpassed by that OF no
man OF his time. vet not even this power brought
him or seemed to bring him. general popularity
His books wero read, not indeed by one class oue
by limited classes ] think it very possible that
they were better known in America than herc'
remark true, or true at first. OF many OF the pesV
modcrn English authors in many different nelds
u was true of Carlyle, and IL was true OF MT
Herbert Spencer choose two examples as i"r
apart possible.
However that may be. the outburst OF admira-
.ion which has followed upon Arnolds death
proves that he had reached much wider circle
than was supposed or than he himself had sup
posed 7 wish he could have known the real
truth lie used to say that his public was not ana
could not be a large Tuesdays newspapers
would have convinced him to the contrary. Inc
newspapers in this country do not devote Columns
70 the death OF men who but the heroes OF
ctteries To surprising degree he had acquircu
that reflex or secondary rcnown which, IN the case
Of a really great writer, is often the most eAUeh-
sivc The number Of people who had read aoouV
him was greater than Of those who had rcad nun
or who had read and mastered what he himself
most valued in his work. Inc re-
views and magazines in wmch hc
wrote OF late so often had brought MN
into direct contact with an audience more numer-
Gus than that to which his books had introduced
him. lie had lived to see the ideas and phrases
which no had coined pass into general circulation.
So long ago had this come TO pass that they hao
lived through that decisive yet not always pleas
ant period of popularity when the caricaturst ana
the buroon fasten upon them Who has not heard
culture ridiculcd? Who does net know the
wrctched impostors who have strutted ABOUT III
Arnold's cast-off clothes and presented themselves
60 crcdulous public as the true prophets OF Cos
mel which they knew only by its catchwords!
Their profession Of it tended to bring 1t into q
contempt which nothing but genuine inspiration
could have survived
Much has been said OF Arnold's place in English
literature and Of his influence upon it, but the
English themselves do not seem to be aware
OF one service he rendered them which may DO
ranked among the most useful OF all. lie taushO
them TO understand what the French mean by
Ittn
of all; the word is Of those which he mas
added to the common stock Of commonplaces; put
also something much more than lucidity. lie has de-
fined the merits OF French style as the merits OF
regularity, uniformity, precision, balance But
It is not style only which is here in question; III
Is the shaping and ordering of whatever literary
work the writer has to attempt; the recognition
of the fact that there exist certain rules, arol-
trary in part, in part springing from the genius
of the language, or from the natural love Oh
symmetry and beauty which dwels in the human
mind lie affirmed certain principles. Ills crit
icsm indeed, was not always an affirmation; u
was often o suggestion; but whichever IL was IL
was profoundly instructive. lie acknowledged
Sante Beuve as his master; TO some extent Salnte
Beuve was his spiritual father. He adopted and
practised the method Of the Frenchman, whom
he first commended 20 the English public as the
finest critical intelligence of modern times lie
initiated neither Sainte Beuve nor any other
writer His style is OF his own creation or
rather IS natural growth and the natural eA-
preston Of his own mind natural, but as dell
cate fruit is natural, by help Of all that art
and care can do toward the perfectlng OF IT,
There are habits Of expression to be found III
Arnolds prose to which French critic would take
serious exception, but that is not the point. NO
STYLE is perfect and Arnold found himself in the
GrU. 20 fplnf a
then to hold public attention. lie knew the
value of phrase that fixes itself in the memory
lie knew the value of repetition; the dulneSs OF
the public is such that to say thing once is OF
little use But he sacrificed no essential quality
of style TO this desire to fulfil his apostolic mission
This, however, is not the place TO develop such
considerations these. indicate them and pass
on Nor do enter upon discussion Of Arnolds
poetry or OF his religious and political work ana
influence. Those who care for his poetry
care for it more than for any other, or almost any
other, of his time. Those who do not, cannot be
coaxed into liking it. His religious or theological
influence he himself thought conservative.
remember BIS establishment when TO some account
of late book on this subject i think God
and the Bible" you, or rather as SAID before,
one of the wilder spirits in your Office, preiiXed
the headline British Unbelief" lie SAW how
much there is IN current tneOOglcal uOsIuaS "HiCn
it has become impossible TO preserve. All the
more he wanted to preserve what had not become
impossible. But the orthodox were furious, and
i suppose may for some time yet continue TO De
furious II they but knew it, Arnold WAS ON their
side only wiser than they. lie had no better fate
in his handling Of political topics lie not
and could not be partisan. lie applied to current
disputes the solvent of clear intelligence TO which
nothing was entirely admirable. l am afraid,
had he been an American, you would have called
him, as you call man Of a very different order
of mind, Mr.. Lowell, Mugwump. His treat
ment of the Irish question is an example OF what
/ mean, but into that / will not venture. Or
persons he wrote with a freedom that sometimes