electors -were personally known to him, he was nevertheless successful. He was elected in December 1827; in June 1828 he received priest s orders; in April and November of the same year he took his degrees of B.D. and D.D., and
in August entered on his new office.In one of the testimonials which accompanied his appli cation to the trustees of Rugby, the writer stated it as his conviction, that " if Mr Arnold were elected, he would change the face of education all through the public schools of England." Nobly was the somewhat hazardous pledge redeemed by him in whose name it had been given. Under his superintendence the school became not merely a place where a certain amount of classical or general learn ing was to be obtained, but a sphere of intellectual, moral, and religious discipline, where healthy characters were formed, and men were trained for the duties, and struggles, and responsibilities of life.
Rugby was privileged to enjoy his superintendence for nearly fourteen years. During this period his energies were chiefly devoted to the business of the school ; but he found time also for much literary work, as well as for an extensive correspondence. Five volumes of sermons, an edition of Thucydides, with English notes and dissertations, a History of Rome in three vols. 8vo, besides numerous articles in reviews, journals, newspapers, and encyclopsedias, are extant to attest the untiring activity of his mind, and his patient diligence during this period. His interest also in public matters was incessant, especially ecclesiastical ques tions, and such as bore upon the social welfare and moral improvement of the masses.
In 1841 Dr Arnold received from Lord Melbourne, then prime minister, the offer of the chair of modern history at Oxford, an offer which he accepted with peculiar satisfaction. On the duties of this new office he entered on 2d December 1841, by delivering his inaugural lecture, amidst circumstances which he felt to be peculiarly gratifying and flattering. Seven other lectures were delivered during the first three weeks of the Lent term of 1 842 ; the whole liave been published since his death.
A few months after the delivery of his lectures, Arnold was suddenly removed from his earthly duties and anticipated enjoyments by an attack of angina pectoris. The midsummer vacation had arrived, and he was preparing to set out with his family to Fox How, a favourite retreat, where he had purchased some property and built a house, in Westmoreland. After a busy day spent in various duties, he retired to rest apparently in perfect health. Between five and six next morning he awoke in severe pain. All attempts to arrest the fatal malady proved fruitless. He bore with heroic fortitude and Christian resignation his sufferings, until eight o clock, when he expired. The day on which he died was Sunday, the 12th of June 1842. His remains w.ere interred on the following Friday in the chancel of Rugby chapel, immediately under the com munion table.
We have no space left to attempt a delineation of the separate features of Arnold s character. We can only remark in general, that the great peculiarity and charm of his nature seemed to lie in the regal supremacy of the moral and the spiritual element over his whole being and powers. His intellectual faculties were not such as to surpass those of many who were his contemporaries ; in scholarship he occupied a subordinate place to several who filled situations like his ; and he had not much of what is usually called tact in his dealings either with the juvenile or the adult mind. What gave him his power, and secured for him so deeply the respect and veneration of his pupils and acquaintances, was the intensely religious character of his whole life. He seemed ever to act from a severe and lofty estimate of duty. To be just, honest, and truthful, he ever held to be the first aim of his being. With all this, there was intense sympathy with his fellows, the tenderest domestic affections, the most generous friendship, the most expansive benevolence. But to understand aright his claims upon our respect and homage, the history of his life must be read at large. As has been truly observed by one who seems to have known him well " His Thucydides, his history, his sermons, his miscellaneous writings, are all proofs of his ability and goodness. Yet the story of hia life is worth them all." Edin. Rev., vol. Ixxxi. p. 234. His life has been most ably written by the Rev. A. P. Stanley, M.A., now D.D. and Dean of Westminster, in two volumes, 8vo. Lond. 1845.
ARNOTT, Neil, M.D., F.R.S., a distinguished physician and physicist, was born at Arbroath, 15th May 1788. His parents, who were Roman Catholics, removed to Blairs, near Aberdeen, when Arnott was eight years old, and three years afterwards took up their abode in Aberdeen, which enabled him to attend the grammar school there. In 1801 he entered Marischal college, where he took special interest in the natural philosophy subjects, taught at that tune by Professor Copland, a skilful experimenter. There his natural bent to physical science was greatly strengthened. He studied medicine first at Aberdeen, and subsequently under Sir Everard Home, through whom he obtained, while yet in his nineteenth year, the appointment of full surgeon to an East Indiaman. After making two voyages to China he settled in 1811 to practise in London, and speedily acquired high reputation in his profession. Within a few years he was made physician to the French and Spanish em bassies. In 183G he was appointed a member of the Senate of the new university of London, and became a fellow of the Royal and Geological Societies. In 1837 he was made a physician extraordinary to the Queen. From his earliest youth Arnott had an intense love of natural philosophy, constantly using illustrations and applications of its prin ciples. To this liking was added an inventiveness which served him in good stead in his profession, and to which we owe the " Arnott water-bed," the " Arnott ventilator," the "Arnott stove," &c., all of which, with characteristic philanthropy, he refrained from patenting. He was tho author of several works bearing on physical science or its applications. The most important of these is his Elements of Physics, published in 1827, the most successful attempt that had ever been made to popularise a scientific subject. It went through six editions in his lifetime. In 1838 ho published a treatise on Warming and Ventilating, and, in 1855, one on the Smokeless Fireplace. He took a lead in sanitary improvements generally. The chief characteristic of his writings and inventions is their high practical utility. He was a strong advocate of scientific, as opposed to purely classical, education ; and he manifested his interest in natural philosophy by the munificent gift of 2000 to each of the four universities of Scotland and to the university of London, to promote its study in the experimental and prac tical form. He died in London, 2d March 1874.
