282 



AUNOLD AHNOLDISTS. 



diers to desert the cause which they had embraced, 

 he n -presented tliat the corps of cavalry and infantry, 

 which he was authorized to raise, would be upon the 

 same footing with the other troops in the British 

 MTV ice ; that he should with pleasure advance those 

 whose valour he had witnessed ; and that the private 

 men, who joined him, should receive a bounty of 

 three guineas each, besides payment at the full value 

 for horses, arms, and accoutrements. His object was 

 the peace, liberty, and safety of America, These 

 proclamations did not produce the effect designed, 

 and in all the hardships, sufferings, and irritations of 

 the war, Arnold remains the solitary instance of an 

 American officer who alKindoned the side first em- 

 braced in the contest, and turned his sword upon his 

 former companions in arms. He was soon despatched, 

 by Sir Henry Clinton, to make a diversion in Virginia. 

 With about 1700 men, he arrived in the Chesapeake 

 in January, 1781, and, being supported by such a 

 naval force as was suited to the nature of the service, 

 he committed extensive ravages on the rivers, and 

 along the unprotected coasts. It is said, that, while 

 on this expedition, Arnold inquired of an American 

 captain, whom he had taken prisoner, what the 

 Americans would do with him, if he should fall into 

 their hands. The officer replied, that they would cut 

 off his lame leg, and bury it with the honours of war, 

 and liang the remainder of his body in gibbets. 

 After his recall from Virginia, he conducted an ex- 

 pedition against New London in his native state of 

 Connecticut. He took fort Trumbull, Sept. 6, with 

 inconsiderable loss. On the other side of the harbour, 

 lieutenant-colonel Eayre, who commanded another 

 detachment, made an assault on fort Griswold, and, 

 with the greatest difficulty, entered the works. An 

 officer of the conquering troops asked who command- 

 ed, " I did," answered colonel Led yard, " but you 

 do now," and presented him his sword, which was 

 immediately plunged into his own bosom. A merci- 

 less slaughter now commenced of the brave garrison, 

 who liad ceased to resist, and the greater part were 

 either killed or wounded. After burning the town, 

 and the stores which were in it, Arnold returned to 

 New York in eight days. He survived the war but 

 to drag on, in perpetual banishment from his native 

 country, a dishonourable life amid a nation that im- 

 puted to him the loss of one of the brightest orna- 

 ments of its army the lamented Andre. He trans- 

 mitted to his children a name of hateful celebrity. 

 He obtained only a part of the debasing stipend of an 

 abortive treason. His complaints soon caused it to 

 be known, that all the promises by which he had 

 been inveigled were not fulfilled. But baffled trea- 

 son appears always to be overpaid, and the felon is 

 the only one who thinks that he experiences injus- 

 tice. He enjoyed, however, the rank of brigadier- 

 general ; but the officers of the British army mani- 

 fested a strong repugnance to serve with him. He 

 possessed their esteem while he fought against them ; 

 they loaded him with contempt when treason brought 

 him over to their side. He resided principally in 

 England after the conclusion of the war, was in Novd 

 Scotia, and afterwards in the West Indies, where he 

 was taken prisoner by the French, from whom he 

 escaped, and, returning to England, died in Glouces- 

 ter place, London, June 14, 1801. 



ARNOLD, Christopher; a peasant of Sommerfeld, 

 near Leipsic, celebrated as an astronomer. He was 

 born in that village in 1646, and accomplished so 

 much by his own exertions, that he corresponded 

 with the most celebrated literati of his age, whose 

 original letters are preserved at Leipsic, in the library 

 of the council, where may also be seen A.'s picture. 

 He erected an observatory at his dwelling-house, 

 which presetted the memory of this remarkable man 



till 1794, when it wns pulled down, on account of its 

 decay. Unwearied in his observations, he discovered 

 many phenomena sooner than other istronomers ; as, 

 for instance, the two comets of 1C83 and 1686, to 

 which he directed the attention of the astronomers ot 

 Leipsic. He acquired yet more celebrity by his 

 observation of the transit of Mercury, in 1690. The 

 magistracy of Leipsic made him. jn this occasion, a 

 present of money, and remitted his Uixes for life. 

 A.'s observations were so accurate, that they were re- 

 ceived by a learned periodical journal that appeared 

 at that time the Acta Erudilorum. (q. v.) A. him- 

 self published " Signs of divine Grace exhibited in a 

 solar Miracle," in 1692, 4to.,with plates, lie died in 

 1 695. In the churchyard at Sommerfeld is the monu- 

 ment of this astronomical peasant, by whose name 

 the celebrated astronomer SchroU-r distinguished 

 three valleys in the moon. 



ARNOLD, John ; a miller, known by a law-suit in 

 which he was engaged during the reign of Frederic 

 II. (the Great), king of Prussia. The king believed 

 that the miller had suffered great injustice by a 

 decision in favour of his territorial lord, and deposed 

 the minister of justice, and several other officers, on 

 their refusal to change the judgment. He then un- 

 dertook the office of judge himself, and reversed the 

 sentence. By this act, one of the best monarclis was 

 made to resemble one of the worst, Ferdinand VII., 

 who reversed, in a similar way, the judgment in tin- 

 case of Arguelles. The case became notorious 

 throughout Europe, and added to the fame of Frederic 

 as a general that of a lover of justice. It after- 

 wards, however, became evident that the monarch 

 had been seduced into injustice by his zeal for equity ; 

 and those of the judges who had been imprisoned 

 were set at liberty. This case affords an instance of 

 the danger to which the cause of justice is exposed 

 under an arbitrary government, even when the 

 sovereign is well disposed. The memoirs of Nettel- 

 beck, captain of a Prussian vessel, exhibit a proof of 

 the general admiration excited by this act of supposed 

 justice. Nettelbeck came to Lisbon, and, when the 

 people learned that he was a Prussian, a crowd as- 

 sembled, and accompanied him, for a long time, with 

 loud shouts. The same man was afterwards captur- 

 ed by the Algerines ; but. when the dey learned that 

 he was a subject of the great king, he set him im 

 mediately at liberty, to show his respect for Frederic. 



ARNOLD, Dr Samuel, a distinguished English com- 

 poser, was born in 1739 or 1740, and received his 

 musical education in the chapel royal, in London. In 

 his 23d year, he was the author of a dramatic compo- 

 sition, and was afterwards appointed a composer at 

 the Covent-garden theatre. Here he set to music 

 the Maid of the Mill. He distinguished himself still 

 more by his oratorios of the Cure of Saul (poetry by 

 Brown) and Abimelech. To these succeeded the 

 oratorios of the Prodigal Son and the Resurrection, 

 of which the former, in particular, is highly dis- 

 tinguished. He composed, also, many vocal and in- 

 strumental pieces for the garden concerts. He was 

 made doctor of music at Oxford, and, in 1783, organ- 

 ist of the royal chapel. He prepared an edition of 

 all the works of Handel, in 36 vols., folio. In 1789, 

 he was made director of the academy of ancient music- 

 four years afterwards, organist at Westminster abbey, 

 and, in 1796, conductor of the annual performances 

 in the church of St Paul, for the benefit of the sons 

 of clergymen. In 1798, he composed his oratorio of 

 Elijah, or the Shunamite Woman, in which Madame 

 Mara sang. He died in 1802, and was buried on the 

 northern side of the choir of Westminster abbey. 

 Various as were his compositions, his inventive Uilenl 

 was but limited. 



ARNOLDISTS. See A-naild of Brescia. 



