Two men, both competent to judge, have given at length their opinion of Matthew Arnold's character. So admirable a man deserves to be known by the young, although most of his writings will be understood and appreciated only by persons of some maturity in years. Mr. John Morley says: "He was incapable of sacrificing the smallest interest of anybody to his own; he had not a spark of envy or jealousy; he stood well aloof from all the hustlings and jostlings by which selfish men push on; he bore life's disappointments--and he was disappointed in some reasonable hopes--with good nature and fortitude; he cast no burden upon others, and never shrank from bearing his own share of the daily load to the last ounce of it; he took the deepest, sincerest, and most active interest in the well-being of his country and his countrymen." Mr. George E. Woodbury in an essay on Arnold remarks concerning the man as shown in his private letters: "A nature warm to its own, kindly to all, cheerful, fond of sport and fun, and always fed from pure fountains, and with it a character so founded upon the rock, so humbly serviceable, so continuing in power and grace, must wake in all the responses of happy appreciation and leave the charm of memory." FOOTNOTES: [173-1] The Oxus, 1300 miles long, is the chief river of Central Asia, and one of the boundaries of Persia. [173-2] Peran-Wisa was the commander of King Afrasiab's troops, a Turanian chief who ruled over the many wild Tartar tribes whose men composed his army. [173-3] Pamir or Pamere is a high tableland called by the natives "the roof of the world." In it lies the source of the Oxus. Arnold has named many places for the purpose of giving an air of reality to the poem. It is not necessary to locate them accurately in order to understand the poem, and so the notes will refer to them only as the story is made clearer by the explanation. [174-4] Samarcand is a city of Turkistan, now a center of learning and of commerce. [175-5] _Common_ here means _general_. The idea is that little fame comes to him who fights in a general combat in which numbers take part. What is the real reason for Sohrab's desire to fight in single combat? Arnold gives a different reason from that in the _Shah Nameh_. In the latter case it is that by defeating their champion Sohrab may frighten the Persians into submission. [176-6] Seistan was the province in which Rustum and his father Zal had ruled for many years, subjects of the King of Persia. [176-7] _Whether that_ and _Or in_ beginning the second line below may be understood to read _Either because_ and _Or because of_. [177-8] _Frore_ means _frozen_. [177-9] From mares' milk is made koumiss, a favorite fermented drink of Tartar tribes. [178-10] _Fix'd_ means _halted_. He caused his army to remain stationary while he rode forward.