living.  In his economic essays Ruskin is even more directly and positively ethical.  To mitigate the evils of the unreasonable competitive system under which we labor and sorrow; to bring master and man together in mutual trust and helpfulness; to seek beauty, truth, goodness as the chief ends of life, and, having found them, to make our characters correspond; to share the best treasures of art and literature with rich and poor alike; to labor always, and, whether we work with hand or head, to do our work in praise of something that we love,—­ this sums up Ruskin’s purpose and message.  And the best of it is that, like Chaucer’s country parson, he practiced his doctrine before he preached it.

MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822-1888)

In the world of literature Arnold has occupied for many years an authoritative position as critic and teacher, similar to that held by Ruskin in the world of art.  In his literary work two very different moods are manifest.  In his poetry he reflects the doubt of an age which witnessed the conflict between science and revealed religion.  Apparently he never passed through any such decisive personal struggle as is recorded in Sartor Resartus, and he has no positive conviction such as is voiced in “The Everlasting Yea.”  He is beset by doubts which he never settles, and his poems generally express sorrow or regret or resignation.  In his prose he shows the cavalier spirit,—­aggressive, light-hearted, self-confident.  Like Carlyle, he dislikes shams, and protests against what he calls the barbarisms of society; but he writes with a light touch, using satire and banter as the better part of his argument.  Carlyle denounces with the zeal of a Hebrew prophet, and lets you know that you are hopelessly lost if you reject his message.  Arnold is more like the cultivated Greek; his voice is soft, his speech suave, but he leaves the impression, if you happen to differ with him, that you must be deficient in culture.  Both these men, so different in spirit and methods, confronted the same problems, sought the same ends, and were dominated by the same moral sincerity.

LIFE.  Arnold was born in Laleham, in the valley of the Thames, in 1822.  His father was Dr. Thomas Arnold, head master of Rugby, with whom many of us have grown familiar by reading Tom Brown’s School Days.  After fitting for the university at Winchester and at Rugby, Arnold entered Balliol College, Oxford, where he was distinguished by winning prizes in poetry and by general excellence in the classics.  More than any other poet Arnold reflects the spirit of his university.  “The Scholar-Gipsy” and “Thyrsis” contain many references to Oxford and the surrounding country, but they are more noticeable for their spirit of aloofness,—­as if Oxford men were too much occupied with classic dreams and ideals to concern themselves with the practical affairs of life.