84 INDOOK STUDIES 



of taste, of literature, of institutions, of science, of 

 obedience, and of a just mean and measure in life, 

 we have, and shaU always have, and may the time 

 be far removed when a man who cherishes such 

 lofty ideals upon all these subjects as did Matthew 

 Arnold shall not find eager and improving listeners 

 among us. Arnold meant authority as distinctly as 

 Carlyle did, but the authority of the gentler reason, 

 and not of the hero. 



In connecting his name with that of Carlyle, let 

 us note here that he stood as much alone ia his ar- 

 raignment of his countrymen as the great Scotchman 

 did, and was as little identified with any party, sect, 

 or movement. He was just as fearless and whole- 

 sale in his criticisms, but far more cool and dispas- 

 sionate. Carlyle can hardly be said to have been a 

 reasonable being; the secret of his influence was not 

 his reason, but his genius and religious fervor: but 

 there is no getting away from Arnold's reasonable- 

 ness (not always or commonly a "sweet reasonable- 

 ness ; " there is often a bitter or acrid flavor to it), 

 the clearness and fullness of his demonstration. 

 Hence he was probably more of a thorn in the side 

 of John Bull than was Carlyle; his criticism is 

 harder to answer, and he applied it with an air of 

 teasing deference and simplicity, or of restrained 

 scorn and contempt, which makes it far more irritat- 

 ing than the Scotchman's explosions of wrath and 

 picturesque indignation. Carlyle is much the greater 

 force, much the more impressive and stimulat- 

 ing, but he is also much the more bewildering and 



