where they are supposed to retire for the undisturbed preparation of the next day's lessons. The passages upon which these studies open are long, low, and slightly arched; and at the end of each is a fire-place, which is intended to convey warmth to the whole range of cells. The dormitories are spacious and lofty, and on the whole have a comfortable appearance.

The ground attached to the school, with its "big side" and "little side," and its incomparable cricketground, sacred to "the eleven," is very extensive. Enormous elm-trees shadow the wide expanse of the school-field, which the author of "Tom Brown's School-days" has rendered classical soil. Any one who has ever read that most delightful and spirited narrative, cannot fail to regard with reverential admiration the spot where such goals have been kicked at football, where such heroes have played their part, and where combats rivalling the encounters of Trojan and Grecian worthies have taken place and have been recorded in the annals of fame. All honour to the elm-shaded school-field of Rugby! It holds its own, no less than the grey battlemented pile, that looks down with such stately pride on the well-trodden greensward! It is a Campus Martius that has done, and will do, as good service to the physical frames of the rising generation, as real downright study and toil on the hallowed fields of literature and science has done for their mental constitution. And who will say that the first result has not largely conduced to the accomplishment of the second? Of course there are exceptions to every rule; but in a general way the boy who plays most heartily at cricket, football, and hare and hounds, and fights manfully in a righteous cause, is the one most likely to enter heart and soul into his

destined work, and to take his stand upon the great arena of Life with courage and vigour and earnestness.

One thing more is still to be noted before we proceed to dismiss the school-buildings altogether; and this is, the "Arnold Library," over the writing-school, adjoining the old tower-library, built as a fitting memorial of him whose loved and honoured name has conferred on Rugby its fullest and most abiding lustre. This is, of course, a recent erection, and must not form a part of the picture which the reader will draw for himself of the scene where Dr. Arnold lived so long, where he laboured so patiently and so successfully, and where, when his great work was done, he passed away so peacefully, lying down to rest beneath the shadow of those walls that had so often echoed to the deep thrilling tones of a voice hushed for ever on earth.

It now remains only to give some description of the chapel. It was built in 1820, and is in the later pointed style of architecture; it is strengthened with ornamented buttresses, and the east and west ends are decorated with crocketed pinnacles. On the apex of the gable is a cross, and the interior is fitted up like the choir of a cathedral. Within the last few years small transepts have been added.

All the windows, save one, are of painted glass, said to be for the most part in the Renaissance style. The great eastern window represents "The Wise Men's Offering," which Dr. Arnold regarded as a subject "strikingly appropriate to a place of education: " it was the first painted window in the chapel, and was brought by himself from the Continent-from Germany, if I recollect aright. Four, if not five windows, were supplied with stained glass before his decease, entirely at his instigation, and in great part at his

expense. Two more have since been added; one of which is his own memorial window, and will be noticed hereafter; the other is the Crimean window, put up in memory of those Rugbæans who fell in the Russian war, their names being inscribed on a brass plate in the wall beneath. There is a monument of white marble, by Chantrey, near the communion table, representing Dr. James sitting with a volume in his hand, and several folios at his feet. There is also, on the opposite side, a monument to the memory of Dr. Wooll. All mention of that of Dr. Arnold is reserved for the closing chapter of the book.

This digression-and it must be acknowledged that such it is-will not, it is hoped, prove unacceptable to the general reader, who may never have visited Rugby, still less have imbibed the spirit of the place; and those who know school, and hall, and field, and chapel, far better than the writer of this brief description, will perhaps pardon all inaccuracies-the result of derived information, and of a very brief visit to the place, which to them is almost sacred ground.

One more remark before we proceed to the further consideration of Dr. Arnold's life and character. The state of public schools had reached a climax which rendered them more a crying evil than a benefit to the nation. The unchristian character of that which constituted the education of the upper classes of English society had become a great scandal; and religious men in vain denounced the inutility and mischievous tendency of the whole system. Canon Stanley, in his "Life of Arnold," justly remarks:-"A complete reformation or a complete destruction of the whole system, seemed to many persons sooner or later to be inevitable." In this as in all other difficult crises, the

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first step was the most impracticable. Who would come forward, and, for the sake of the public good, incur the whole weight of odium, slander, and misconstruction, which is sure to be cast on the most prudent and disinterested reformer? A great work was to be done ;-educational Christendom called loudly for a champion, and he must needs be the Bayard of the nineteenth century;-a chevalier, 66 sans peur et sans

reproche!" At this juncture Arnold came forth from his peaceful Laleham retirement, and entered upon the awful responsibilities, and the difficult duties of the Head Master of Rugby School.

CHAPTER V.

THE HEAD MASTER.

Ir is almost unnecessary to declare that Dr. Arnold, at the very outset of his Rugby career, encountered manifold and almost insurmountable difficulties. Opposition, either covert or manifest, met him wherever he endeavoured to check prevalent abuses, or to institute salutary reforms. There was the natural clinging to ancient errors and standing evils; there was the usual amount of obstinate tenacity in upholding moral delinquencies that had been winked at, and allowed, till they had become as it were stereotyped ;-and above all there was the moral obtuseness, that is almost universal with those who have indulged in sloth, sensuality, or unchecked sin of any nature, for a prolonged space of time. In entering upon his office Dr. Arnold found that all these obstacles to reform were to be combated single-handed; but he had looked for toil and up-hill work, and for labour that at first sight seemed wellnigh akin to that of the Danaides, and he was not discouraged. He was not the man to make one gigantic effort, and then lose heart, because to all appearances he had been as one beating the air; and it was not his way to rise up with spasmodic energy, and under the influence of that impulsive ardour, which belongs alike to the weakest and to the most powerful minds, make a