Education of France,' 1861 ; 'A French Eton,' 1864; * Schools and Universities on the Continent,' 1868. At home his opposition to Mr. Lowe's revised educational code at one time seemed likely to occasion his resignation; but he held on, and gave no sign of retirement until he had earned his pension, except on one occasion, when he was an unsuccessful candidate for the librarianship of the House of Commons. After living some years in London he removed to Harrow, and in 1873 to Cobham, where he remained until his death. His domestic life, in general happy, was sadly clouded by the successive deaths of three sons within a short period.
As a critic Arnold considerably modified the accepted form of the English critical essay by giving it something of the cast of a causerie, a method he had learned from one of the chief objects of his admiration and imitation, Sainte-Beuve. His critical powers were shown to very great advantage in the fine series of 'Essays in Criticism' (1865; 2nd edit, modified, 1869; 6th edit. 1889). Almost all the contents of this volume are charming, especially the sympathetic studies of Spinoza and Marcus Aurelius, and the contrast, combined with a parallel, between the religious ideas of Ptolemaic Alexandria and mediæval Assisi, a pair of pictures in the manner of Arnold's friend, Ernest Renan. The most important essay, however, is that on Heine ; for in depicting Heine, with perfect justice, as the intellectual liberator, the man whose special function it was to break up stereotyped for ms of thought, Arnold consciously or unconsciously delineated the mission which he had imposed upon himself, and to which the best of his non-official energies were to be devoted for many years. He had become profoundly discontented with English indifference to ideas in literature, in politics, and in religion, and set himself to rouse His countrymen out of what he deemed then' intellectual apathy by raillery and satire, objurgation in the manner of a Ruskin or a Carlyle not being at all in his way. There is a certain incongruity in the bombardment of such solid entrenchments with such light artillery ; it is also plain that Arnold is as one-sided as the objects of his attack, and does not sufficiently perceive that the defects which he satirises are often defects inevitably annexed to great qualities. Nor was it possible to lecture his countrymen as he did without assuming the air of the deservedly detested 'superior person.'
With every drawback, together with some serious failures in good taste which cannot be overlooked, Arnold's crusade agai nst British Philistinism and imperviousness to ideas was as serviceable as it was gallant, and much rather a proof of his ailection for his countrymen than of the contempt for them unjustly laid to his charge. In literature and allied subjects his chief protest against their characteristic failings was made in 'Culture and Anarchy' (1869 j, a collection of essays (that had first appeared in the 'Cornhill Magazine') all leading up to the apotheosis of culture as the minister of the 'sweetness and light' essential to the perfect character. In politics a more scientific method of dealing with public questions was advocated in 'Friendship's Garland' (1871), a book very seriously intended, but too full of persiflage for most serious readers. In theology he strove to supplant the letter by the spirit in 'St. Paul and Protestantism' (1870 ; revised from the 'Cornhill;' 4th edit. 1887) ; 'Literature and Dogma: an Essay towards a better Apprehension of the Bible' (1873) ; 'God and the Bible : a Review of Objections to "Literature and Dogma"' (1875); and 'Last Essays on Church and Religion' (1877). These books are not likely to be extensively read in the future, but their contemporary influence is a noticeable ingredient in the stream of tendency which has brought the national mind nearer to Arnold's ideal.
Arnold's critical interest in poetry remained at the same time unimpaired. In 1878 he edited the 'Six Chief Lives' from Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets' (5th edit. 1889). He made excellent selections from Wordsworth (1879) and Byron (1881), accompanied by admirable prefaces ; contributed the general introduction to Mr. T. H. Ward's selections of English poets, and wrote for the same collection the critical notices of Gray and Keats, valuable as far as they go, but strangely restricted in scope. In 1881 also he collected Burke's 'Letters, Speeches, and Tracts on Irish Affairs' with a preface. He also produced annotated versions of the writings of the two Isaiahs (1872 and 1883), the first of which, as 'A Bible-Reading for Schools,' went through numerous editions.
In 1883, greatly to Arnold's surprise, Gladstone conferred upon him a civil list pension of 250l., which enabled him to retire from the civil service. In the winter of the same year he started on a lecturing tour in America. His eldest daughter had married and settled in that country. He returned to England in the spring of 1884, having reaped a fair pecuniary reward from his lectures, although he incurred some adverse criticism. He paid another visit to America in 1886.
