A Note from Matthew Arnold to Wilfrid Ward: ‘The Quadrangular Duel’

Abstract

Prints a hitherto uncataloged letter in which Arnold thanks Ward for providing him a copy of The Clothes of Religion. Explains the “quadrangular duel” as an ongoing dispute about the prospects for religion in the future; the principal disputants were Ward, Herbert Spencer, Frederic Harrison, and Fitzjames Stephen. Claims Arnold was on Ward’s side, to a point.