ARNOLD, THOMAS, D.D. 



ARNOTT, DR. NEIL. 



which Rugby rapidly obtained, but in the beneficial 

 > which, by iu example, wu impressed upon other institution* 

 of a "similar nature. Dr. Arnold retained the old oUsuoal baas of 

 tuition, bat gave it breadth by connecting it with other department! 

 of learning ; inspired it with life and vigour by the practical view* to 

 which he directed it ; and imparted to it deration and dignity by 

 what bad heretofore been wanting in public school* the introduction 

 of a high moral and Christian element : eo that Rugby became in the 

 trae acnee of toe word the teat of an enlightened and Christian educa- 

 tion. He treated hi* popila with the affection of a friend and the 

 courtesy due to gentlemen, a* well aa with the authority of a master. 

 A* he could not come into frequent personal contact with every one 

 among them, he governed the school, and made hi* influence felt 

 through the whole of it, by mean* of the sixth form, or highest claws 

 of buy*. To add to their authority, and for the sake of maintaining 

 order and government among the boys themselves, he kept up the 

 system of fagging ; bat he stripped it of iu repulsive features and 

 invested it with a moral force, l.y making it the ground of a solemn 

 responsibility on the part of thoee who exercised the power. His 

 view* on this subject will be found in the ' Journal of Education,' 

 1834-5, to which there is a Reply by Professor Long, the editor of 

 that work. 



In this occupation he spent the last fourteen years of his life : and 

 during that period, though so diligently engsged in his own proper 

 duties, took the deepest interest in all the public event* and political 

 questions of the time. He was one of tlie most decided opponents of 

 the Oxford new school of theology. His idea of a Christian church 

 was first given in his pamphlet on ' Church Reform,' which he was 

 induced to publish in 1 833, in consequence of the apprehensions he 

 entertained of the danger which then threatened the establishment. 

 His theory is much the tame a* Hooker's, that the church and state 

 are identical that a church is a Christian state. His views on this 

 abject are again stated in hi* ' Fragment on the Church,' subse- 

 quently published ; in which he bite the key-stone of the Tractarian 

 heresy, in attacking what he considers to be their false notions of 

 the Christian priesthood. 



In 1835 the office of a Fellowship in the Senate of the new London 

 University was offered to Dr. Arnold by 11 r. Spring Rice, the Chan- 

 cellor of the Exchequer, and the office was accepted. Dr. Arnold at 

 first consented to join the University " without insisting on a Scrip- 

 tural examination, on the alleged ground of fact, that such an examina- 

 tion wu not practicable on account of the objections of different classes 

 of Christians, and on the hope, which he distinctly expressed, that the 

 Christian character of the University might be secured without it" 

 But he subsequently became convinced that " the Scriptural exam- 

 ination was both practicable and all but indispensable, and he gave 

 notice of his intention of recommending the introduction of the 

 Scrip tores as a part of the classical examination for every degree." 

 In December 1887 he succeeded in carrying a resolution " that, as a 

 general rule, the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts shall 

 pees an examination either iu one of the Four Qospels or the Acts of 

 the Apostles in the Original Greek, and also in Scripture History." In 

 consequence of the remonstrances from various bodies of Dissenters 

 and from the Council of University College, London, and partly in 

 consequence of the strong representation of the Secretary of State 

 (Lord John Russell), through whom an appeal had been made by the 

 remonetranU to the law officers of the Crown, a larger meeting of the 

 Senate of the University of London was held In February 1838, in 

 which the former motion was overruled, and in its place it was resolved, 

 " lha texamination in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and in 

 the Greek text of the New, and on Scripture History, shall be instituted 

 in this University ; and that all candidate* for degrees in arts may, il 

 they think proper, undergo such examination." The Senate irnme 

 diately proceeded to institute a voluntary examination, with prizes, 

 in the texts of the Old and New Testament* and in Scripture History 

 Dr. Arnold finally withdrew from the Senate of the London Univer 

 aity in November 1838, being led, " after the fullest consideration one 

 in-juiry, to the conclusion that the voluntary examination would not 

 be satisfactory '' (Letter to the Earl of Burlington, Stanley's 'Life ol 

 Arnold,' it p. 126), or, a* he expresses himself in another passage o! 

 the same Utter, would not " eatisfy. cither practically or in theory 

 thoee principle* which appeared to him indispensable." The history 

 of thie transaction is given at length in Stanley's ' Life of Arnold 

 (ii. p. 10, tie.), and Dr. Arnold'* views and opinion* appear from 

 various Utters in the same volume (pp. 13, 88, 91, 94. 107, 126). 



Dr. Arnold's mind was early directed to the social condition of the 

 working ctssss* of this country ; and many effort* were made, and a 

 variety of plan* devised by him, not only for improving it, but for 

 directing the attention of toe public to a subject of so much import 

 nee. For this purpose he gave lecture* at the Rugby Mechanics 

 Institute, started a newspaper in 1831 expressly for the use of rhe 

 lower orders, and in the same year, and aUo in 1882, wrote letter* in 

 the 'Sheffield Courant' and subsequently in the ' HerU Reformer. 

 He was one of the fint to perceive the necessity of introducing a mom 

 Ismeut into the measures intended for the social benefit of the masses 

 without which the extension of the franchise would be useless, if no 



The Whig*, to which party he wu more nearly assimilated in opinion 



than to any other, offered him some preferment, which he did not 

 accept. The year before his death, however, he w*s appointed by 

 /ord Melbourne. to the Regius-Professorship of Modern History at 

 )xford an appointment which gave him the most lively satisfy 

 Jut he lived to deliver only hi* introductory course of lecture*. When 

 t the very summit of his reputation as a teacher, and at the time 

 when the odium in which, for the liberality of hi* religiou* and politi- 

 cal opinions, hi* name had been held by men of his own profession 

 fast disappearing, and the grandeur of his character was every day 

 becoming more manifest and more distinctly understood, he wu seized 

 with a fatal disease, which carried him off in a few bourn. He died 

 on the 12th of June, 1842, of spasm at the heart, and was buried in 

 he chapel at Rugby. He left a widow, with five sons and four daugh- 

 ers. Scholarship* to his honour, bearing his name, have been founded 

 >y subscription. 



Hi* correspondence is the beet record of his life, and affords the 

 most vivid representation of his character. It j>reent us with the 

 )rogreerive development of hi* mind and views, till the one reaches 

 .he vigour and the other the comprehensivenrs* for which at length 

 they became distinguished. He combined the intellectual and the 

 moral in a degree and with a harmony rarely found. The most 

 strongly-marked feature of hi* intellect wu the strength and clearness 

 of his conception*. It seemed like the possession of an inward light, 

 so intense that it penetrated on the instant every subject laid before 

 lira, and enabled him to grasp it with the vividness of sense and the 

 Force of reality. Hence what wo* said of his religious impression* 

 may be used to characterise his intellectual operations : " He kuew 

 what others only believed ; he saw what others only talked about." 

 Hence also perhaps arose in a great measure the vehemence with 

 which he opposed view* and notion* contrary to hi* own. Of hi* 

 moral nature, honesty and fearlessness, earnestness, and love of truth 

 and justice, were the prominent qualities. And though these were 

 calculated to give an aspect of sternness to the outline of his character, 

 yet they were tempered with an expansive benevolence, and combined 

 with a tenderness of disposition, which rendered him on object of the 

 most devoted attachment to nil about him. It was said by one who 

 knew him well, that " he loved his family as if he hod no friends, hi* 

 friend* a* if he had no family, and his country as if he had neither 

 family nor friends." 



H is great work, and the one by which he will be remembered, are 

 his three volumes of Roman History, comprehending the period 

 between the origin of the state and the end of the Second Punic War ; 

 with another volume comprising his contributions to the ' Encyclo- 

 paedia Metropolitan!!,' and carrying on tho history to the time of 

 Trajan. In the Notes and Dissertation* to his edition of Thucydidea, 

 he has given a social and political as well as a critical interest to his 

 author. History and divinity man and man's relation to Qod were 

 his favourite studies. In both he preferred the practical to the theo- 

 retical. Hi* five volumes of sermons demonstrate with what earnest- 

 ness and devotion he laboured to bring religion into the daily concerns 

 of men, and to invest every act of life with a Christian character. 



Hi* remaining productions are a volume of ' Lectures on Modern 

 History,' delivered at Oxford, and ' Miscellaneous Works," which 

 include many articles written for Reviews, Ac,, and Essay*. 



(Stanley, Lift and Corrctpondmce of Dr. Arnold.) 



ARNOTT, DR. NEIL, was born in 1788. His father was of the 

 Arnotta of Upper Dysart, near Monti-one, on the eut coast of Scotland, 

 of whom several had rank in the public service. Hi* mother wan the 

 daughter of Maclean in Inverness-shire. His early year* were passed 

 partly at Dysart, and partly at the house of Blairs, on tho Dee-side, a 

 few miles from Aberdeen. 



In 1797 he went to the Grammar School at Aberdeen, where Lord 

 Byron happened to be then also a scholar. In 1801, having at th 

 annual examination obtained the first prize in his class, he left the 

 school for the University. In the competition for bursaries or scholar- 

 ship* there, he wu also a successful candidate. Ho then chose as hi* 

 business for life, the medical profession, and bis course of study was 

 shaped accordingly. Natural philosophy, a* an important scientific 

 foundation, wu a favourite study. In 1806, having taken his degree 

 of M.A., he went to London to complete hi* profexKional education. 

 He there became the pupil of Sir Everanl Home, Surgeon of St George's 

 Hospital. Through the influence of his preceptor he obtained at an 

 unusually early age the appointment of surgeon in the naval service 

 of the East India Company. This position afforded him not only 

 opportunities of witnessing the influence of climate* on health and 

 disease, but also, during bin residence in the many places visited, of 

 testing and amplifying the general scientific conceptions formed at the 

 University. Many of the striking fact* and incidents in geology, 

 astronomy, natural history, navigation, Ac., presented to him during 

 these voyage* were uwd by him afterwards as illustrations iu his work 

 entitled < The Elements of Physic*.' 



In 1811 he settled in medical practice in London. The knowledge 

 which he had acquired of modern European languages served to widen 

 hi* connection amongst strangers in London. In 1813 he gave at the 

 then flourishing Philomathic Institution, near Tavistock-squarf, an 

 elementary course of lecture* on chemistry and natural philosophy. 

 In 1815 he wu appointed physician to the French embassy in London, 

 and subsequently also to the Spanish embassy. In 1823-24 views 



