r whose
suggestions might be worth attending to. It was not till 1869 that his
countrymen became fully aware of him as a social critic, a commentator
on life and society. Looking back, one seems to see that by that time
his poetical function was fulfilled. As far as the medium of poetry is
concerned, he had said his say; said it incomparably well, said it with
abiding effect. Now it seemed that a new function presented itself to
him; a great door and effectual was opened to him. He found a fresh
sphere of usefulness and influence in applying his critical method to
the ideals and follies of his countrymen; to their scheme of life, ways
of thinking and acting, prejudices, conventions, and limitations. Mr.
Paul said, as we have already seen, that the appearance of _Essays in
Criticism_ was "a great intellectual event." That is perfectly true; and
the appearance of _Culture and Anarchy_ was a great social event. The
book so named was published in 1869; but the ground had been prepared
for it by some earlier writings, and these we must consider before we
come to the book itself.

In February, 1866, there appeared in the _Cornhill Magazine_ an essay
called "My Countrymen." In this essay Arnold, fresh from one of his
Continental tours, tried to show English people what the intelligent
mind of Europe was really thinking of them. "'It is not so much that we
dislike England,' a Prussian official, with the graceful tact of his
nation, said to me the other day, 'as that we think little of her.'"
Broadly speaking, European judgment on us came to this--that England had
been great, powerful, and prosperous under an aristocratic government,
at a time when the chief requisite for national greatness was Action,
"for aristocracies, poor in ideas, are rich in energy"; but that England
was rapidly losing ground, was becoming a second-rate power, was falling
from her place in admiration and respect, since the Government had
passed into the hands of the Middle Class. What was now the chief
requisite for national greatness was Intelligence; and in intelligence
the Middle Class had shown itself signally deficient. In foreign
affairs--in its dealings with Russia and Turkey, Germany and America--it
had shown "rash engagement, intemperate threatenings, undignified
retreat, ill-timed cordiality," in short, every quality best calculated
to lower England in the esteem of the civilized world.

In domestic affairs, the life and mind of the Middle Clas