arch-jobber

Updated: July 23, 2026

Of the opinion entertained by contemporaries of great intellectual gifts, that of Mark Pattison, a bitter political and academical opponent, and the most acrimonious critic of his time, that Mansel was, though according to Pattison's view, an "arch-jobber," an "acute thinker, and a metaphysician" seems pretty conclusive.

George Saintsbury - A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)