LITERARY LIVES

Folly revived, re-furbish'd sophistries,And pullulating rites externe and vain.

In the last autumn of his life he wrote to M. Fontanès—a friend whose acquaintance he first made overSt. Paul and Protestantism—

"Your letter has reached me here (Ottery St. Mary), where I am staying with Lord Coleridge, the Lord Chief Justice, who is a grand-nephew of the poet. He loves literature, and, being a great deal richer than his grand-uncle, or than poets in general, has built a library from which I now write, and on which I wish that you could feast your eyes with me.... The Church Congress has just been held, and shows as usual that the clergy have no idea of the real situation; but indeed the conservatism and routine in religion are such in England that the line taken by the clergy cannot be wondered at. Nor are the conservatism and routine a bad thing, perhaps, in such a matter; but the awakening will one day come, and there will be much confusion. Have you looked at Tolstoi's books on religion: in French they have the titlesMa Religion, Ma Confession, Que Faire?The first of these has been well translated, and has excited much attention over here; perhaps it is from this side, the socialist side that the change is likely to come: the Bible will be retained, but it will be said, as Tolstoi says, that its true, socialistic teaching has been overlooked, and attention has been fixed on metaphysical dogmas deduced from it, which are at any rate, says Tolstoi, secondary. He does not provoke discussion by denying or combating them; he merely relegates them to a secondary position.

The Grave in Laleham ChurchyardThe Grave in Laleham ChurchyardWhere Matthew Arnold, his wife, and three sons are buriedPhoto Ralph Lane

And now that we have enquired into Arnold's influence on theology, it is, perhaps, proper to ask what he himself believed. His faith seems to have been, by a curious paradox, far stronger on the Christian than on the Theistic side. "A Stream of Tendency" can never satisfy the idea of God, as ordinary humanity conceives it. It is not inhuman nature to love a stream of tendency, or worship it, or ask boons of it; or to credit it with powers of design, volition, or creation. A prayer beginning "Stream" would sound as odd as Wordsworth's ode beginning "Spade."[57]

But he had, as we have already seen, an unending admiration—a homage which did not stop far short of worship—for the character and teaching of Jesus Christ; and he placed salvation in conformity to that teaching, as it is explained by St. Paul. And this meant death to sin; the abrogation and annulment of bad habits and tendencies; resurrection with Christ to the higher life which He taught us to pursue.The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.He would have allowed no antithesis between the two halves of the text, but would have taught that the eternal welfare of man consisted in obeying the Law, receiving the Grace, and pursuing the Truth.

Nothing more dogmatic than this could safely be put forward as representing his theology; but, though not dogmatic, his mind was intensely ecclesiastical. His contempt for individual whims and fancies, his love of corporate action and collective control, operated as powerfully in the religious as in the social sphere. He admiredand clave to the Church of England because it was not, like Miss Cobbe's new religion and the British College of Health, the product of an individual fancy, setting out to make all things new on a plan of its own. The Church of England, whether it could theologically be called "Catholic" or not, was certainly "the continuous and historical Church of this country." In 1869 he praised his friend Temple, afterwards Archbishop, for "showing his strong Church feeling, and sense of the value and greatness of the historic development of Christianity, of which the Church is the expression." It was the National organ for promoting Righteousness and Perfection by means of Culture and for diffusing Sweetness and Light. In the last year of his life he wrote to Mr. Lionel Tollemache: "I consider myself, to adopt your very good expression, a Liberal Anglican; and I think the times are in favour of our being allowed so to call ourselves."

As regards differences of opinion inside the Church, he saw no harm in them. He held that the Church must maintain Episcopacy as a matter of historical development, and as "its link with the past—its share in the beauty and the poetry and the charm for the imagination," which belong to Catholicism. This being so, the "latitudinarianism of the Broad Churchmen" who wishedto entice the Dissenters into the Church was "quite illusory" so long as opposition to Episcopacy was one of the main tenets of Nonconformity. But he thought that the Church was likely before long to get rid of the Athanasian Creed and the Thirty-nine Articles; and he urged that, as no one could enforce belief in such doctrines as the Real Presence, Apostolic Succession, and Priestly Absolution, Churchmen who rejected these could quite comfortably remain in the Church, side by side with others who accepted them.

The Church, then, as historically descended and legally established, ought to be maintained, honoured, and frequented; and, so far, his practice accorded with his belief. He had indeed no more sympathy with hysterical devotions than with fanatical faiths. He saw with amused eye the gestures and behaviour of the "Energumens" during the celebration of Holy Communion in a Ritualistic church—"the floor of the church strewn with what seem to be the dying and the dead, progress to the altar almost barred by forms suddenly dropping as if they were shot in battle, the delighted adoption of vehement rites, till yesterday unknown, adopted and practised now with all that absence of tact, measure, and correct perception in things of form and manner, all thatslowness to see when they are making themselves ridiculous, which belongs to the people of our English race."

This was a perfectly just criticism on the nascent ritualism of thirty years ago. Time and study have pruned this devotional exuberance, but he rightly described what he saw. With such performances he had no sympathy; but he loved what he had been accustomed to—the grave and reverend method of worship which was traditional in our cathedrals and college chapels. He communicated by preference at an early service. He revelled in the architecture of our great churches, and enjoyed, though he did not understand, their fine music. And he added one or two little mannerisms of his own, which were clearly intended to mark his love of ecclesiastical proprieties. Thus the present writer remembers that he used, with great solemnity and deliberation, to turn to the east at the Creed in Harrow School Chapel, where the clergy neglected to do so. It was the traditional mode of the Church of England, and that was enough for him. Again, we all know that he described the Athanasian Creed as "Learned science with a strong dash of temper"; yet I remember him saying, with an air of stately admiration, after Service on Ascension Day, "I always like to hear the Athanasian Creedsung.But One Godsounds so magnificently, with that full swell of the organ. It seems to come with the whole authority of the Church."

Then again the list of his favourite writers on religious subjects shows exactly the same taste and temper as was shown by his devotional practices—St. Augustine, that "glorious father of the Catholic Church"; "the nameless author of theImitatio"; Bishop Thomas Wilson, whoseMaximsandSacrahe so constantly quoted; Isaac Barrow, whose sermons he used to read to his family on Sunday evenings; Cardinal Newman, to whom he had listened so delightedly in undergraduate days.[58]

To pass from an account of a man's religious sentiment to that of his daily life would in too many cases be an abrupt and even a painful transition; but in the case of Arnold, it is the easiest and most natural in the world. That which he professed he practised, and, as he taught, so he lived. From first to last he was true to his own doctrine that we must cultivate our best self in every department of our being, and be content with nothing less than our predestined perfection. In his character and life, "whatsoever things are lovely" were harmoniously blent.

Before all else he was a worshipper of nature,watching all her changing aspects with a lover-like assiduity, and never happy in a long-continued separation from her. Then his manifold culture and fine taste enabled him to appreciate at its proper value all that is good in high civilization, and yet the unspoilt naturalness of his character found a zest in the most commonplace pleasures of daily existence. Probably Art, whether in music or painting, affected him less than most men of equal cultivation; but there never lived a human being to whom Literature and Society—books and people—taking each word in its most comprehensive sense, yielded a livelier or more constant joy. "Never," as Mr. John Morley said, "shall we know again so blithe and friendly a spirit." As we think of him, the endearing traits come crowding on the memory—his gracious presence, his joy in fresh air and bodily exercise, his merry interest in his friends' concerns, his love of children, his kindness to animals, his absolute freedom from bitterness, rancour, or envy; his unstinted admiration of beauty, or cleverness, his frank enjoyment of light and colour, of a happy phrase, an apt quotation, a pretty room, a well-arranged dinner, a fine vintage; his childlike pleasure in his own performances—"Did I say that? How good that was!"

But all these trifling touches of character-painting, perhaps, tend to overlay and obscure the true portraiture of Matthew Arnold. He was pre-eminently a good man, gentle, generous, enduring, laborious, a devoted husband, a most tender father, an unfailing friend. Qualified by nature and training for the highest honours and successes which the world can give, he spent his life in a long round of unremunerative drudgery, working even beyond the limits of his strength for those whom he loved, and never by word or gesture betraying even a consciousness of that harsh indifference to his gifts and services which stirred the fruitless indignation of his friends. His theology, once the subject of such animated criticism, seems now a matter of little moment; for, indeed, his nature was essentially religious. He was loyal to truth as he knew it, loved the light and sought it earnestly, and by his daily and hourly practice gave sweet and winning illustration of his own doctrine that conduct is three-fourths of human life.

We who were happy enough to fall under his personal influence can never overstate what we owe to his genius and his sympathy. He showed us the highest ideal of character and conduct. He taught us the science of good citizenship. He so interpreted nature that we knew her as we had never known her before. He was our fascinating and unfailing guide in the tangled paradise ofliterature. And, while for all this we bless his memory, we claim for him the praise of having enlarged the boundaries of the Christian Kingdom by making the lives of men sweeter, brighter, and more humane.

Matthew Arnold

By G.W.E. RUSSELL

Extract from Preface:

"It was Arnold's express wish that he should not be made the subject of a Biography. This rendered it impossible to produce the sort of book by which an eminent man is usually commemorated—at once a history of his life, an estimate of his work, and an analysis of his character and opinions. But, though a biography was forbidden, Arnold's family felt sure he would not have objected to the publication of a selection from his correspondence; and it became my happy task to collect, and in some sense to edit, the two volumes of his letters which were published in 1895. The letters, with all their editorial shortcomings (of which I willingly take my full share), constitute the nearest approach to a narrative of Arnold's life which can, consistently with his wishes, be given to the world; and the ground so covered will not be retraversed here. All that literary criticism can do for the honor of his prose and verse has been done already, conscientiously by Mr. Saintsbury, affectionately and sympathetically by Mr. Paul, and with varying competence and skill by a host of minor critics. But in preparing this book I have been careful not to re-read what more accomplished pens than mine have written, for I wished my judgment to be unbiased by previous verdicts.

"I do not aim at a criticism of the verbal medium through which a great master uttered his heart and mind, but rather at a survey of the effect which he produced on the thought and action of his age."

With photogravure frontispiece and 16 illustrations

$1.00 net (postage, 10 cents)

Cardinal Newman

By WILLIAM BARRY, D.D.

Author of "The New Antigone," etc.

With photogravure frontispiece and 16 full-page illustrations, $1.00 net (postage, 10 cents)

CONTENTS

I.Early Years.II.The Tractarians.III.First Catholic Period.IV.Apologia pro Vita Sua.V.The Logic of Belief.VI.Dream of Gerontius.VII.The Man of Letters.VIII.Newman's Place in History.

EXTRACT

"In one thing Newman far surpassed Wesley: he was a man of letters equal to the greatest writers of prose his native country had brought forth. The Catholic Reaction of the Nineteenth Century claims its place in literature, thanks to this incomparable talent, side by side with the German mysticism of Carlyle, the devout liberalism of Tennyson, the lyric Utopias of Shelley, and the robust optimism of Browning. Newman is an English classic."

FOOTNOTES:[1]Tennyson.[2]Wordsworth.[3]See p.207. Philip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope (1805-1875), Historian, and Patron of Letters.[4]"Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike."—Pope.[5]He was so described by George Sand.[6]Dr. Williams, President of Jesus College.[7]Nicholas Nickleby.[8]"A shocking child-murder has just been committed at Nottingham. A girl named Wragg left the workhouse there on Saturday morning with her young illegitimate child. The child was soon afterwards found dead on Mapperly Hills, having been strangled.Wragg is in custody."[9]Thomas Arnold, D.D., Head Master of Rugby. His eldest son, Matthew Arnold, Inspector of Schools. His second son, Thomas Arnold, Professor in University College, Dublin. His third son, Edward Penrose Arnold, Inspector of Schools. His fourth son, William Delafield Arnold, Director of Public Instruction in the Punjaub.[10]See p.135.[11]Reprinted inIrish Essays and Others.[12]This essay, unfortunately, was never reprinted.[13]It was published in 1850.[14]An Oxford man must write this wordlatewith regret. August 23, 1903.[15]In 1870.[16]For the width of his reading, see hisNote-Books, Edited by his daughter, Mrs. Wodehouse.[17]Reprinted inIrish Essays, and Others.[18]On the Study of Celtic Literature, 1867.[19]Dr. Bradley.[20]The History and Literature of the Israelites.By C. and A. de Rothschild.[21]A favourite creation of the late Mr. William Cory.[22]Burke.[23]Mr. Willis' motion to remove the Bishops from the House of Lords was lost by 11 votes on the 21st of March, 1884.[24]Now (1893) Lord Wemyss.[25]Culture: a Dialogue, 1867.[26]See p.63.[27]It contains also "My Countrymen" and "A Courteous Explanation."[28]The writer was then a schoolboy at Harrow, where Arnold lived from 1868 to 1873.[29]William Cory.[30]Reprinted inEssays in Criticism.[31]A Protestant lecturer of the period.[32]In 1885.[33]The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Edward Dowden, LL.D. 1886.[34]His third son.[35]His elder daughter.[36]His younger daughter.[37]His fourth son.[38]His eldest son.[39]His second son.[40]"Chastity was the supreme virtue in the eyes of the Church, the mystic key to Christian holiness. Continence was one of the most sacred pretensions by which the organized preachers of superstition claimed the reverence of men and women. It was identified, therefore, in a particular manner with that Infamous, against which the main assault of the time was directed."—Morley'sVoltaire.[41]"Rules of Cautions; or, Helps to Obedience: called by some the Hedge of the Law."—Bishop Andrews.[42]F.W.H. Myers.[43]Page15.[44]The allusion is to the late Mr. W. Hepworth Dixon, and his writings on the Polygamous Sects of America.[45]W.E. Gladstone,The Church of England and Ritualism.[46]A saying attributed to Bishop Wilberforce.[47]See the Introduction to hisRomans, 3rd edition, 1870.[48]See the Introduction to hisRomans, 3rd edition, 1870.[49]University and other Sermons, p. 175.[50]W.E. Gladstone:Later Gleanings.[51]Essays in Criticism. "Pagan and Mediæval Religious Sentiment."[52]J. Armitage Robinson, D.D., Easter Day, 1903.[53]Edward, 12th Duke of Somerset (1804-1885). Author ofChristian Theology and Modern Scepticism.[54]Literature and Dogma.[55]Studies Subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler, pt. i. ch. iii.[56]Rome and Romanizing. By Arthur Galton.[57]"Spade! with which Wilkinson hath tilled his lands," etc.[58]See p.61.

[1]Tennyson.

[2]Wordsworth.

[3]See p.207. Philip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope (1805-1875), Historian, and Patron of Letters.

[4]"Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike."—Pope.

[5]He was so described by George Sand.

[6]Dr. Williams, President of Jesus College.

[7]Nicholas Nickleby.

[8]"A shocking child-murder has just been committed at Nottingham. A girl named Wragg left the workhouse there on Saturday morning with her young illegitimate child. The child was soon afterwards found dead on Mapperly Hills, having been strangled.Wragg is in custody."

[9]Thomas Arnold, D.D., Head Master of Rugby. His eldest son, Matthew Arnold, Inspector of Schools. His second son, Thomas Arnold, Professor in University College, Dublin. His third son, Edward Penrose Arnold, Inspector of Schools. His fourth son, William Delafield Arnold, Director of Public Instruction in the Punjaub.

[10]See p.135.

[11]Reprinted inIrish Essays and Others.

[12]This essay, unfortunately, was never reprinted.

[13]It was published in 1850.

[14]An Oxford man must write this wordlatewith regret. August 23, 1903.

[15]In 1870.

[16]For the width of his reading, see hisNote-Books, Edited by his daughter, Mrs. Wodehouse.

[17]Reprinted inIrish Essays, and Others.

[18]On the Study of Celtic Literature, 1867.

[19]Dr. Bradley.

[20]The History and Literature of the Israelites.By C. and A. de Rothschild.

[21]A favourite creation of the late Mr. William Cory.

[22]Burke.

[23]Mr. Willis' motion to remove the Bishops from the House of Lords was lost by 11 votes on the 21st of March, 1884.

[24]Now (1893) Lord Wemyss.

[25]Culture: a Dialogue, 1867.

[26]See p.63.

[27]It contains also "My Countrymen" and "A Courteous Explanation."

[28]The writer was then a schoolboy at Harrow, where Arnold lived from 1868 to 1873.

[29]William Cory.

[30]Reprinted inEssays in Criticism.

[31]A Protestant lecturer of the period.

[32]In 1885.

[33]The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Edward Dowden, LL.D. 1886.

[34]His third son.

[35]His elder daughter.

[36]His younger daughter.

[37]His fourth son.

[38]His eldest son.

[39]His second son.

[40]"Chastity was the supreme virtue in the eyes of the Church, the mystic key to Christian holiness. Continence was one of the most sacred pretensions by which the organized preachers of superstition claimed the reverence of men and women. It was identified, therefore, in a particular manner with that Infamous, against which the main assault of the time was directed."—Morley'sVoltaire.

[41]"Rules of Cautions; or, Helps to Obedience: called by some the Hedge of the Law."—Bishop Andrews.

[42]F.W.H. Myers.

[43]Page15.

[44]The allusion is to the late Mr. W. Hepworth Dixon, and his writings on the Polygamous Sects of America.

[45]W.E. Gladstone,The Church of England and Ritualism.

[46]A saying attributed to Bishop Wilberforce.

[47]See the Introduction to hisRomans, 3rd edition, 1870.

[48]See the Introduction to hisRomans, 3rd edition, 1870.

[49]University and other Sermons, p. 175.

[50]W.E. Gladstone:Later Gleanings.

[51]Essays in Criticism. "Pagan and Mediæval Religious Sentiment."

[52]J. Armitage Robinson, D.D., Easter Day, 1903.

[53]Edward, 12th Duke of Somerset (1804-1885). Author ofChristian Theology and Modern Scepticism.

[54]Literature and Dogma.

[55]Studies Subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler, pt. i. ch. iii.

[56]Rome and Romanizing. By Arthur Galton.

[57]"Spade! with which Wilkinson hath tilled his lands," etc.

[58]See p.61.

[Transcriber's note: The inconsistent use of quotation marks in the original was retained in this etext.]

Back to Index Next