e in peace as _nullus_." But the fates
had ordered it otherwise. Friends had long been urging him to seek a
larger sphere of usefulness; and when, in August, 1827, the
headmastership of Rugby became vacant, he applied for the post.

He had himself little hope of success. The testimonials he sent in were
few, but all spoke strongly of his qualifications. Among them was a
letter from Dr. Hawkins, the future Provost of Oriel, in which the
prediction was made that if Arnold were elected he would change the face
of education throughout the public schools of England. The impression
produced upon the trustees by this letter and by the other testimonials
was such that Arnold was immediately appointed. In June, 1828, he
received priest's orders; in April and November of the same year took
his degrees of B.D. and D.D., and in August entered on his new office.

The post was in many respects suited to his natural tastes--to his love
of tuition, which had now grown so strongly upon him that he declared
sometimes that he could hardly live without such employment; to the
vigour and spirits which fitted him rather to deal with the young than
the old; to the desire of carrying out his favourite ideas of uniting
things secular with things spiritual, and of introducing the highest
principles of action into regions comparatively uncongenial to their
reception. He had not, however, accepted it without grave doubts about
his fitness. In a private letter he says:

I confess that I should very much object to undertake a charge
in which I was not invested with pretty full discretion.
According to my notions of what large schools are, founded on
all I know and all I have ever heard of them, expulsion should
be practised much oftener than it is. Now, I know that
trustees, in general, are averse to this plan, because it has
a tendency to lessen the numbers of the school, and they
regard quantity more than quality. In fact, my opinions on
this point might, perhaps, generally be considered as
disqualifying me for the situation of master of a great
school; yet I could not consent to tolerate much that I know
is tolerated generally, and, therefore, I should not like to
enter on an office which I could not discharge according to my
own views of what is right.

At Rugby, Arnold from the first maintained that in the actual working of
the school he must be completely independent, an