Letters from John Ruskin to Rev. J.P. Faunthorpe, M.A.;

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RUSKIN'S LETTERS.

LETTERS

FROM

JOHN RUSKIN

TO

REV. J. P. FAUNTHORPE, M.A.
lEaiteS iig ®i)0mas I. WSlist.

i

VOLUME II.

London . Privately Printed.
1896.

CONTENTS.

LETTER XLIV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.
2nd December, 1881

LETTER XLV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.
^th December, 1881

LETTER XLVL

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.
dth December, 1881

LETTER XLVIL

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.
cjth December, 1 88 1 ,
VOL. II.

vi CONTENTS.

PAGE
LETTER XLVIII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

December, 1881 . - • '3

LETTER XLIX.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

gth February, 1882 . . IS

LETTER L.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

i/[th February, 1882 ... 18

LETTER LI.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

yd March, 1882 . ig

LETTER LI I.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

6th March, 1882 . . 21

LETTER LIIL

Heme Hill, London, S.E,

^th March, 1882 . 22

CONTENTS.

vii

LETTER LIV.

PAGE

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

lith April, 1882 . . .

■ 24

LETTER LV.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

zyd April, 1882 . 27

LETTER LVI.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

25</i April, 1882 . . 29

LETTER LVI I.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

idth April, 1882 . . 31

LETTER LVIII.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

29^A April, 1882 . . 33

LETTER LIX.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

2nd May, 1882 . 36

viii. CONTENTS

PAGE
LRTTER LX.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

?,th May, 1882 ■ 38

LETTER LXI.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

2yd May, 1882 ... • 40

LETTER LXIL

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

25M May, 1882 . . . .42

LETTER LXIII.

Heme Hill, London, S.E.

lyh December, 1882 ... 44

LETTER LXIV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes,

Zifth January, 1883 ... 46

)
LETTER LXV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

will February, 1883 . . . .48

CONTENTS. IX

PAGE
LETTER LXVI.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

I3rt Febrttary, 1883 . . . 50

LETTER LXVII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

idth February, 1883 ... 52

LETTER LXVIII.

Heme Hill, London, S. E.

l^h March, 1883 . . 54

LETTER LXIX.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

20th. April, 1883 .... 56

LETTER LXX,

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

\oth July, 1883 .... 57

LETTER LXXI.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.
2yd March, 1884 . . .59

VOL. II. c

X CONTENTS.

PAGE
LETTER LXXII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

2%thjune, 1884 61

LETTER LXXIII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

1st July, 1884 . . -63

LETTER LXXIV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

z%th December, 1884 . 65

LETTER LXXV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

\?ith January, 1S85 . . 67

LETTER LXXVI.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

2^th January, 1885 . . 69

LETTER LXXVII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

2,1 th January, 1885 . 71

CONTENTS. ,

LETTER LXXVm.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

yith Jamiary, 1885 ... 73

LETTER LXXIX.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

\t,th February, 1885 . . 75

LETTER LXXX.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

\2ih March, 1885 . . 77

LETTER LXXXI.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

\lth March, 1885 79

LETTER LXXXIL

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

2nd April, 1885 80

LETTER LXXXI IL

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

2znd April, 1885 . . 82

xii CONTENTS.

PAGE
LETTER I.XXXIV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

3rd May, 1885 • 84

LETTER LXXXV.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

6/A May, 1885 ... 85

LETTER LXXXVI.

Herne Hill, London, S.E.

12^/4 May, 1885 . . .86

LETTER LXXXVII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

\()thjtme, 1885 88

LETTER LXXXVIII.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lanes.

i^th/une, 1885 . 90

APPENDIX.

Mr. Ruskin's Address to the Arundel Society,
22nd June, 1882 . 93

LETTERS.

VOL. II

LETTERS

TO

REV. J. P. FAUNTHORPE.

LETTER XLIV.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

[December 2nd, 1881.]

My dear Principal,

I'm quite certain you told me your-
self you had told the Queen she wasn't
to expect an answer. I hear great
things of King John. I like there
being no dressing, but a blue ribbon
and a paper crown. But Joanie —
that's Mrs. Severn — says " It's a tebby

4 LETTERS OF

(terrible) play," and that's what I say
too. I hope the books have reached
you before now. It's a shame of the
railways to carry passengers like Flying
Dutchmen, and shunt my books into
the damp for a week.

Large photos would give those coins
well for the historical lecture.
Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

It's all nonsense about my library.*

* There had appeared sundry paragraphs in the news-
papers to the effect that Mr. Ruskin was about to
dispose of his Library

JOHN R US KIN.

LETTER XLV.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

[December /^h, 1 88 1.]

My dear Principal,

I sent off some more books yester-
day (rubbish, compared to the former
box) which may be useful in a rubbishy
way. The Orvieto is entirely vile, yet
contains at least the series of subjects
so as to explain the sculptor's intention
and industry. And the Gray's Botany
outlines are, I have no doubt, very
good as diagrams, though as drawings
their vulgar thickening of outline on
the dark side makes them worthless,
and, if much looked at, mischievous.

VOL. II c

6 LETTERS OF

There is, however, an old genealogy
book which contains outlines of old
towns, always curious and often charac-
teristic, and, as records of destroyed
buildings, very valuable. I valued this
book, but practically find that I never
use it, and your good Historical
Lecturer sometimes may.

That the lecture on Botany, and the
study of it, should both be ' luxuries '
is precisely what I have been trying to
enforce. Botany, as now taught by its
popular predicators, is no pleasure but
only a dirty curiosity.

I am going to try to get for Miss
Kemms, Humboldt and Bonfland's
Mimosas — a miracle of quiet tender-
ness and perfect art, without a shadow
of vanity, insolence, or vulgar in-
vestigation. If I can't get it for you,
I'll bring it up to town and lend it you
while I stay.

I've just got your nice letter about
the prizes, etc. You can help me, I do

JOHN RUSK I IS/. 7

not know to what extent, by, for one
thing, colouring outlines of painted
glass, etc. for Our Fathers have told
us. In ornamental needlework. Miss
Stanley has had a commission now
about three years ! — the letter J of
Jeremiah in my old Bible.

LETTERS OF

LETTER XLVI.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

December 6th, 1881.

My dear Principal,

It is a great joy to me to know that
you like The Queen of the Air. I shall
be so thankful for your revise of it. In
the point of original power of thought
it leads all my books. My Political
Economy is all in Xenophon and
Marmontel ; my principles of Art
were the boy's alphabet in Florence;
but the Greeks themselves scarcely
knew all that their imaginations taught
them of eternal truth ; and the dis-
covery of the function of Athena as

JOHN RUSKIN. 9

the Goddess of the Air is, among
moderns, absolutely I believe my own.
I meant to have written a Mythology
for both girls and boys, but it is playing
with thunder, and after being twice
struck mad — whether for reward or
punishment I cannot tell — I must
venture no more.

It is all nonsense, what you hear of
' overwork ' as the cause of my two
illnesses. I've been thrown into fever
and dyspepsia and threatening of
paralysis by overwork often and often,
but these two times of delirium were
both periods of extreme mental energy
in perilous directions.

I've sent you two books to-day, that
are worth your having. The first,
almost the wisest I ever read, lively,
and full of what I should think all the
governesses would like for stirring
curiosity. My marks are all through
it. I've got another copy for myself,
which I shall mark at next reading.

VOL. 11 D

lo LETTERS OF

The other is — I don't know what, for I
can't read it, and don't know even its
right way upwards ! * So I am ashamed
to have it among my books any more,
but I think with its pretty silken cover,
binding and all, it is just the thing to
show your girls what sort of a thing a
Book should be ! They might do
much prettier ones themselves with
home-made paper, and studies of
English flowers, and beautiful writing
of things for ever true.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.
* The Koran.

JOHN RUSKJN.

LETTER XLVII.

Brantwood,

CONISTON, LaNCASHIKE.
December gtk, l8Sl.

My dear Principal,

I send you a box to-day containing
parts I — TO and part 12 of Gould's
Birds of New Guinea. They may
serve to astonish some of your little
birds, and are only in my way here. I
took them to please the old man, and
shall continue to take them for his
sake, sending you the numbers as they
are issued.

With them come fifteen more plates
for your ' box.' They are fine im-
pressions of twelve of Diirer's wood-

12 LETTERS OF

cuts from the Life of the Virgin,
and eight of his small engravings of
the Passion. Diirer has the universal
German fault of being better able to
engrave Thorn than Flower-crowns.
Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN R US KIN.

LETTER XLVIII.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

Shortest day, 1 88 1.

My dear Chaplain,

It is ever so sweet of you to write
me such a lovely letter, and ever so
sweet of the girls to send me that per-
fectly arabesqued and dainty document
of gratitude. But the sad fact is that
all these comfortings and caresses are
like the kiss and song to the Talking
Oak* supposing him a good deal
more wrinkled and weather-beaten
than that one was. You couldn't
comfort Dr. Johnson in Lichfield
market place by observing that he

* Tennyson's Talking Oak.
VOL. II E

14 LETTERS OF

had made a nice dictionary. And the
girlies might as well thank the gaso-
meter at wherever it is, for light-
ing the streets for them as me 1 It's
my proper business, and doesn't hurt
me to do.

But I'm very much pleased with the
two letters all the same, and I can't
say more to-day but that I'm to you
all

Your faithful and
Affectionate servant,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSKIN. 15

LETTER XLIX.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.
February <)th, 1882.

My dear Chaplain,

I'm going to all manner of wicked
plays, and pantomimes, and filling up
my days with flirtations instead of
coming to see Whitelands, and be
lectured by you — so it was just as well
you looked after me ! But, will you
please very solemnly reconsider, and
then retract your complaint of my
having left you no ' enumeration ' in
Proserpina according to Botany as it
is. I ' enumerate ' with carefullest
sequence Root, Stem, Leaf, Calyx,

1 6 LETTERS OF

Corolla, Seedvessel, and Style ; and
the book will, if I live, contain such
drawings of all these parts as never
were given in the world. The analysis
of Fruit is already carried beyond what
has been done before, and includes it.
That of Wood is coming, and, with
the chapters on Vegetation in Modern
Painters, is also both comprehensive
of what has been done, and more than
one step in advance of it.

Let me add that the final examina-
tion of the parts of plants must follow
the particular accounts of the families.
I do not choose to examine the calyx
of a Veronica without that of a Fox-
glove, nor either of those without that
of a Betony — and so on. And let me
add, also, that I would fain consult
about my books with you, and many
other friends, before printing. But,
the books in that case would never be
written. I should alter, add, wait, find
things out, and write all over again

JOHN RUSK IN. 17

once a year ! I must do the best I
can in the time I have.

Ever again yours affectionately,

J. RUSKIN.

VOL. II.

LETTERS OF

LETTER L.

Herne Hill,

London, S.E.
February \i^h, [1882.]

Dear Faunthorpe,

The Lentil note is quite invaluable,
and shall be used with due privacy of
Doctor's name, but I hope I may
gratefully use yours. I was very glad
to see you last night, the room being
for the most part full of strangers. I
hear there were two perfectly beautiful
girls in the corner out of sight. If I
had only seen them I would have con-
cluded the lecture to them — and very
differently !

Ever yours affectionately,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN R US KIN 19

LETTER LI.

[Herne Hill,
London, S.E.]

March yd, 1882.

My dear Faunthorpe,

I am better, but almost dead for
want of sleep and fearful cough ; and
all my friends are throwing stones
through my window, and dropping
parcels down the chimney, and shriek-
ing through the keyhole that they must
and will see me instantly, and lying in
wait for me if I want a breath of fresh
air to say their life depends on my
instantly superintending the arrange-
ments of their new Chapel, or Museum,
or Model Lodging-house, or Gospel

20 LETTERS OF

steam engine. And I'm in such a
fury at them all that I can scarcely
eat. Here's Miss Stanley who sent
me word for three years she 'hadn't
time,' forsooth ! to do a thing I
specially asked her to do, and then,
when I'm at Death's door, comes beg-
ging for the lesson in needlework,
which of all difficult and bothering
things on earth would be to me the
most difficult in my full health. If the
Duke of Wellington were ill, would
she expect him to give her drawing
lessons for recreation ? In Heaven's
name, be quiet just now !

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSK IN.

LETTER LI I.

[Herne Hill,
London, S.E.]
Monday, [March 6th, 1882.]

Dear Faunthorpe,

I am sick, nearly to death. Of all
your girls and governesses is there one
who can buy a small sole, good, and
fry it decently ? If so, and you can
spare her, let her come fish in hand
(the bearer will attend her orders), and
as soon as possible. I've had to turn
the cook out of the house, and I don't
know where on earth to find a human
creature who can dress me a dish of
decent meat.

Ever aifectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.
VOL. II. G

LETTERS OF

LETTER LIII.

[Herne Hili.,
London, S.E.

March "jth, 1882.]

/ don'i know the day of the

month having been bothered all
the morning I

My dear Mr. Faunthorpe,

I have a very heavy domestic grief
weighing on me just now ; a disagree-
ment about the way I should manage
myself, and, much more, about the
way I should manage her ! *

I cannot, to-day, get a single thing
done without remonstrance, and have
to write this note to you instead of send-
ing you a plain message because you
also trouble me in your own way by

* The cook.

JOHN R US KIN. 23

too much gushing and fussing, — and
also, I grieve to say, by some expres-
sions of your opinions which, for the
present, you will best help me by keep-
ing to yourself. Spare me your ser-
mons, at this moment. I have always
said men should be preached to when
they are well, not when they are sick.
" God takes the text (then) and
preacheth Patience."

Your little student * has succeeded
quite beautifully to-day in her proper
work. She will tell you herself the
result of her cross-examination.
Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

Miss Stanley's embroidery is given
to Miss Gale to be taken care of till I
am able to examine it. My failing
eyes could as soon to-day examine the
zodiacal light.

* Mitis Charlotte Smith, a Whitelands governess.

24 LETTERS OF

LETTER LIV.

[Herne Hill,
London, S.E.]
April i8i/i, [1882.]

My dear Faunthorpe,

I forgot where you had my signature
put upon the labels last year. I need
not say that I am sorry to have caused
all my friends so much worry of various
sorts lately. On the other hand the
ways of the world, and of my friends
with it, very considerably worry me,
and these acute forms of my own
brain-disturbance are greatly caused
by the sense of my total inability to
make any impression on the brains of
other people. \

Do not think that I am less earnest

JOHN R US KIN. 25

about the May Festival at Whitelands.
But I felt last year that there was a
great deal too much fuss about it, and
that the useful meaning of it as an ex-
ample to other institutions, not capable
of fuss, was thereby lost in a great de-
gree, if not totally.

I have shaken off this third attack,
as the former ones, without, so far as
I can recognise, any definite injuries
to the faculties; but with a sorrowful
sense of the shortness of time, which,
in all human or divine probability,
remains to me for their use.

Ever yours affectionately,

J. RUSKIN.

P.S. I should have written of the
needlework and drawings before my
illness came on if I had seen my way
to giving useful advice about them.
But, like every College and School in
England, you are without a drawing
master, and / don't know where to

VOL. II. H

26 LETTERS OF

find one ! — even for my own schools
at Oxford since I had to leave them,
and virtually I must henceforward
leave all.

JOHN R US KIN.

LETTER LV.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

April 2yd, 1882.

Dear Faunthorpe,

I send the labels signed in the cor-
ner, where I think it is more orderly.
I don't mind how much fuss the girls
make among themselves, but I don't
like talk of it in papers ; it has a look
of my using the college to advertise
myself. What must be, must be. I
never went to any such festivals when
I was at my best in health and hope,
and have had through life as much
dread of being thanked as Mr. Jarn-
dyce. My friends must wish for me,
during what may remain of life, only

28 LETTERS OF

the tranquil power of work in the morn-
ing, and rest in the evening, of unvaried
and uninterrupted days.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSfCJN. 29

LETTER LVI.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

April 2.^th, [1882.]

My dear Faunthorpe,

Your letter to-day much relieves and
cheers me, especially the governesses'
approval of the signature ! and the
very interesting report, which is ex-
tremely useful to me myself in plan-
ning farther. The School Guardian
notice will be exactly the right, and,
I hope, generally usefullest one.

I never heard of such a May Queen
dissolving in tears before ! had it been
only an April Play-queen I should not
have wondered. But what is there to
be put in tears? Were they not all

VOL. II. I

30 LETTERS OF

taken by surprise before on the very
morning ? I should have liked to hear
the lecture to-morrow, but have had too
much to do lately with Real Ghosts and
Real Witches to venture my poor re-
mains of unbewitched brain near any
such subjects.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN R US KIN. 31

LETTER LVII.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

April 2(>th,\\?&2.'\

Dear Faunthorpe,

DifBculties about the Cross worse
than last year ! English workmen get-
ting every day literally more stupid and
less docile under the " iron heel of —
No Despot-ism." I may be reduced to
send you merely a pretty one out of
Bond Street, but there's some chance of
the hawthorn yet. Anyhow you shall
have it on Saturday evening. Are there
any conjectures or complots as to the
Coming queen ?

I forgot to say how glad I was that
you had taken up St. Chrysostom,

32 LETTERS OF

though I am not so sure that his
mother was better than the mothers
of nearly all great and good men are.
The best, I think, are those who send
their sons away, not who want to keep
them at home. In most cases this
form of maternal love says more for the
child than the mother. The Church's
general consent is of course in the text
" No man hath left Father or Mother,"
etc., but in modern days they had rather
leave these than their cattle, and are
little likely to leave anything for either
God or Gospel.

Ever yours affectionately,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSKIN. 33

LETTER LVIII.

Herne Hiix,
London, S.E.

April 2i)th, 1882.

Dear Chaplain,

The cross is just as far from what we
meant as last year, but I'll have the one
for next year made, D.V., before I leave
London this spring, and the two first
queens must be content to be the two
first, though their crosses are, to me at
least, more crosses than anything else.
What the workman has meant by the
roughening of the flowers, I must see
him to ask. We may at least, our-
selves at a distance, imagine it meant

VOL. II K

34 LETTERS OF

for Dew ! However, I hope people
won't think it quite horrid, and that
the new Queen * will forgive its going
wrong because of my illness. Mrs.
Severn's sister-in-law, (Mr. Severn's
twin-sister) Mrs. Furneaux, and Miss
Gale, whom I think you have already
been kind to at Whitelands, are eager
to come on Monday. I fear Mrs.
Severn must not venture to come with
them as at present she has to be very
careful of herself as to over-fatigue.
But I am sure good Miss Stanley
would take care of her, and I shall
try and get her to come.

Will you bring the Deposed Queen t
to see me again ? or will she come
alone? I don't think she'll &ver feel
un-queened. But I do want to see
both of you now that I'm a little come
to myself. Any day would do, and

* Miss Gertrude Bowes was the second Whitelands
College May Queen.

t Miss Ellen Osborne, the first (1881) May Queen.

JOHN RUSK IN. 35

any time, if you give me advice a full
day before.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.
The Rev. J. P. Faunihorfe.

36 LETTERS OF

LETTER LIX.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

May ind, 1882.

My dear Chaplain,

The whole of yesterday evening, and
much of this morning, has been spent
in various praise and marvelling by all
my people who were with you and the
girls yesterday, and I am very thankful
in and about it all.

If the Queens will indeed grace me
by coming to-morrow, far the best time
will be to afternoon tea at 5, and I will
send them home in my carriage. If the
evening is at all fine the sunset here is
very wonderful and lovely at this sea-
son, and the drive home over Clapham

JOHN RUSKIN. 37

Common by moonlight will be lovelier
still. Let them take the nicest after-
noon train there is so as not to be later
than half past four, always supposing
the day fine. If wet, or too stormy, it
would be much wiser to wait till Thurs-
day. On Saturday I shall expect you
with no less pleasure, and also with
some anxiety, for. I don't yet at all
understand how any of my books or
principles can be made compatible
with the general requirements of
Modern Education and Examination.
Ever gratefully yours,

J. RUSKIN.

VOL. 11.

38 LETTERS OF

LETTER LX.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

May %th, [1882.]

Dear Faxjnthorpe,

Your visit, with that of the Queens,
gave me much to think of. I suppose,
for one thing, the kind of girls who
come to you start all under a serious
necessity of labour. Those on the
contrary whom I have known worked,
a few only, in their own force of char-
acter, and the main body of the class
were merely ciphers ; while even of the
workers some would always be vain,
eccentric, or insolent. My summary
of experience with girls is that the less
they are educated the better ! Of all

JOHN R US KIN. 39

creatures with any stomachs for the
forbidden fruit of Knowledge, they
have the feeblest digestions !

Ever yours affectionately,

J. RUSKIN.

40 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXI.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

May 2yd, [1882.]

Dear Faunthorpe,

I hope to find prettier things for
Muriel at the next spadeful out of my
stone heap than those sponges. But
to-day I've only found things good for
the boys, namely five characteristic
quartz nodules out of trap rocks, the
three smallest showing very neatly
the three stages in formation of
chalcedony ; the fourth, greenish white
and grey, is a pretty piece of Iceland
chalcedony and quartz ; and the flat
one, I suppose a piece of a large
nodule, is a really beautiful example of

JOHN RUSK IN. 41

spherical and stalactitic concretion of
agate with superficial quartz. Nobody
has ever explained this formation,
but it has always a central rod or
small molecule of interior less pure
substance.

The Three Sirens shall be welcome
to-morrow as these sweet days of
summer.

Ever gratefully yours,

J. RUSKIN.

VOL. II. M

42 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXII.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

Mayit^th, [1882.]

My dear Faunthorpe,

The girls sang and played very
sweetly and rightly, and much to my
pleasure. But I think their code of
songs might be placed higher for them
and fixed more strictly. Of all they
sang (except the Handel) there was
only one song, We had better bide a wee,
of fine standard, and it ought surely to
be one of the chief functions of the
college to enable the pupils to know,
for good reasons, good music from
bad.

Both Miss Florence and Miss Edith

JOHN RUSK IN. 43

can sing music requiring both power
and precision, and I only found out
what Edith's voice was capable of by
trying her on rather difficult passages.
I am sure you won't mind my choosing
and sending them some things I
should like them to learn. And the
Devonshire cream will be very delight-
ful to me if you'll bring Muriel to give
me the lost kiss first.

Ever gratefully yours,

J. RUSKIN.

I suppose they wouldn't tell you
I was talking high treason about
Physiology ?

44 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXIII.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.
December izt/i, 1882.

Dear Faunthorpe,

I was looking at a pretty letter of
yours just now, written last April — no,
April 1881 — beseeching me "not to
work overmuch," and yet the moment
you get hold of me again you want me
to begin new work ! For any republi-
cation of my old books must give me
new thought of a peculiarly festering
and consuming kind, and I answered
quite stupidly and inconsiderately that
The Poetry of Architecture might some
day form part of my great series.
Nothing is ever to go into that series

JOHN R US KIN. 45

but the books which please me, and
for which I am ready to answer. You
might make a small octavo volume of
The Poetry of Architecture, but I never
would consent to republish the plates.
I have thousands, literally that, tens of
thousands of things by me which I
would rather publish, and some of
which I must. At present don't let
us think of it ; I have far more on my
mind now than is good for me.

If the weather keeps mild I can

come and see you and Miss Stanley

and some of the girls, but must be

very cautious of taking cold in London.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

VOL. II

LETTERS OF

LETTER LXIV.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

[Januaiy 2^th, 1883.]

My dear Chaplain,

I have only taken the Professorship *
again in order to keep my hand on the
helm, not to talk. They will be quite
content to hear me read Proserpina or
anything else I am doing, the real
business I have to do is entirely regu-
lating and simplifying things at present
too chaotic, and keeping ugly things
out of their way as far as I can — those
venomous and ghastly black-line maps
of yours for instance ! Do you recol-
lect saying that " I should try to like
them " because you could interest

* The Slade Professorship.

JOHN R US KIN. 47

any quantity of boys with them ? So
much, very sternly I say it, the worse
both for the boys and you.

The first thing you have to do is
to get good raised maps, with some
approach to accuracy. Photograph
those, and then let the eye find out
for itself the principal masses.

The names in large maps should be
extremely few, and increased gradually
in the subdivided local ones. And
every map should be pretty to the
extent of its possibilities, both in
colour, and in the types of letters
chosen.

I hope the Sesame and Lilies experi-
ment may turn out well. I ordered
Foord to send for your kind keeping
another large cabinet. Love to Miss
Stanley.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

48 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXV.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

[February nth, 1883.]

My dear Chaplain,

You are great larks, you and Miss
Irvine. She is queer, but so am I,
and I've a notion she knows the mean-
ing of Fors better than you do. It
does accuse the Bishops of Simony for
one thing, and roundly too ! Why, my
dear Chaplain, the entirely open way
in which men are brought up to the
Church for the sake of a living is of
all our national sins, both to Carlyle
and to me, perhaps the most impious !
Well, for the windows, we'll get
them in some day or other. May will

JOHN RUSK IN. 49

soon be here, and I must begin think-
ing of the cross.

Ever your affectionate,

J. RUSKIN.

VOL. II

so LETTERS OF

LETTER LXVI.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

February I'^lh, [1883.]

My dear Chaplain,

But if you look to the big edition of
Johnson you will find Simony and
Simoniac precisely as I use them. It
is no sense of mine, though in one
passage of Fors Clavigera I add the
sense of the Simony which is twice

d d, being Simony upside down,

and burning at both ends — namely,
refusing the Holy Ghost unless one's
paid to receive it.

It is no question of Judases among
twelve. The entire Church is guilty
when one advertisement of a living

JOHN RUSKIN. 51

to be sold appears in the Times, or
when one Bishop ordains a booby whom
he knows to be presented to him for
the sake of a Hving.

All that I'm frightened about is that
when some day or other you find out
quite what Fors does mean, you won't
let me inside your doors any more ! I
shall then have to pray Maidie to
intercede for me at the Grove.

I'm looking out some more things
for the Collection.

Ever your loving,

J. RUSKIN.

52 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXVII.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

February l6th, [1883.]

My dear Chaplain,

I think it's extremely lovely and sub-
limely virtuous of Mrs. Faunthorpe to
side with me against you ! but, since it
is so, I leave myself in her hands —
only answering your to-day's note, very
seriously, that no man is answerable
for the sins of others which he does
not know, or which knowing he could
not prevent. The Apostles were not
answerable for the sin of Judas, but if
Judas had advertised " The Lord to be
Sold " in the Palestine Times they
would have been, had the sale taken

JOHN RUSKIN. 53

place. But if nowadays people adver-
tised the sale of a wife, or printed
their intention to run away with any-
body else's at a given date, or to com-
mit murder, or arson, or aught else
preventable by the SheriiF and Con-
stables, I suppose the Sheriff and
Constables would be responsible for
the prevention ; and if not they, every-
body else who had nothing else to
see to ?

You unquestionably are not respon-
sible for anything but your own useful
and happy duties.

Ever affectionately yours,

J. RUSKIN.

VOL. II.

54 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXVIII.

IIerne Hill,
London, S.E.

Thursday,
[March 14//;, 1883.]

Dear Faunthorpe,

You could not better help me, and
all that you think right in my books,
than by quietly arranging a General
Index of the important topics, Fors
being the basis, and the other political
economy books collaterally given. The
Art Index should be a separate book
from the Economy and Manners
index — Manners better than Morals,
for I've never gone into Moral Philo-
sophy — and all minor matters and
things ignored. I doubt if this could

JOHN R US KIN. 55

be done at all but with the kindly
force and feeling that you could gather
on it at Whitelands.

I am to see Mr. Jones to-morrow ;
and I think, if you simply sent him
the form and measure of the windows,
that Mr. Morris's gout need not hinder
him thinking of you.

I am pretty well, but perhaps a little
feeling re-action after recent excite-
ment at Oxford. Did not I carry off
enclosed little book from the lecture
room last year ?

Love to Maidie.
Ever your grateful and affectionate,

J. RUSKIN.

56 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXIX.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

April 20th, 1883.

Dear Chaplain,

Of course I meant what you call
Roman Catholic. I call the Church
of England Cockney-Catholic (I beg
pardon !) Here's your lovely private
letter back again; I am only con-
cerned with the official one, which
shall have due attention.

Ever your affectionate,

J. RUSKIN.

I should like mightily to print
Deacon Darby's too ! Can't you ask
his leave ?

JOHN RUSK IN. 'i,j

LETTER LXX.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

Jiily lotk, 1883.

Dear Faunthorpe,

I only got yours of the 8th this
morning. It is full of pathos to me,
more awful than Lightning and Wreck,
or children cast into death in heaps,
and all that this age of ours does of
cruelty, that passing away of the girl in
her joy, her mother left.*

Curiously the enclosed from the son
of my Oxford drawing-school master
came together with yours, and had to
be answered with congratulations. I

* The death of Mary Nairne, a candidate at White-
lands, Friday, July 6th, 1883.

VOL. II. Q

S8 LETTERS OF

won't tell Proserpina a word of the
wickedness in your second page, but
perhaps you might sometimes find a
sentence or two of her accompanying
proof auxiliary ! And, if you can in
passing answer any of the questions
about pith and sap, I should be most
grateful.

Also, very solemnly, say to your
audience in the outset that, whatever
may be learned by boiling and dissect-
ing, a plant can only be seen when it is
growing !

All the daffodils were carried off
from the shore of the lake below
Brantwood by a single excursion party,
last spring, and all the best of them by
one boatful in this, merely because the
animals could not look at the flowers
without destroying them, and cared
nothing for beauty they could not
steal.

Ever your affectionate

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSKIN. 59

LETTER LXXI.

Beantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

St. Benedict, 1884.

\March 237-rf.]

Dear Chaplain,

It was very delightful to me to hear
that the White girls (why bother with
the 'lands'?) all knew what was the
beginning of Education ! There's a
lot more about the ' Clean ' coming in
next Fors, but I've been in cloudland
this last six weeks, and am only just
getting out again.

I've a great plan for an exhibition of
Miss Alexander's drawings, the ones
done fresh during this year, at White-
lands on the day of the queen. I

6o LETTERS OF

have undertaken to fix their prices and
manage their sale (for the poor of
Florence) that Miss Alexander herself
may have no trouble, nor tiresome
chaffering from dealers. May I say in
my report for this year that this is to
be so ?

I enclose a letter from a great friend
of mine whom I've treated even worse
than I do you. I wish you could see
each other sometimes, and ease your
hearts together ! and if you both agreed
about anything you wanted, I'd try to
do it, really !

Ever your affectionate and
Incorrigible

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSK IN. 6 1

LETTER LXXII.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

June 2%th, 1884.

My dear Chaplain,

This is a very pretty little libretto,*
and will greatly gladden and please
everybody. There are some quite
new and true and nice bits in it —
Pearly of the hawthorn, Music frozen
to repose of painting, etc. Before it is
printed I should just like a retouch or
two, to stop the hiss of "primroses
stars," for instance ; and I don't under-
stand what Hope means by guilding
her watch. But on the whole it is

• The Librello to Henrietta Bird's (Jetty Vogel)
May Queen Cantata,

VOL. II. R

62 LETTERS OF

extremely good, and I shall be very
proud of the Common Dedication, and
beg my best thanks to the writer.

I don't like your getting such a Iqt
of medals : I believe it shows that you
don't deserve them !

Ever your loving,

J. RUSKIN.

Perfectly lovely weather to-day, and
I've been writing my notes on the
Priesfs Office for Francesca's book.*
I think my Chaplain will be rather
pleased.

* The Roadside Songs of Tuscany.

JOHN RUSKIN. 63

LETTER LXXIII.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

July 1st, 1884.

My dear Chaplain,

It was because I did know how the
girls worked that I wrote ; you did not
deserve the prizes.

Is not your postscript the saddest
and severest ratification of my saying ?
There was only that way for the poor
girl to enter into Rest.* Teach them
the way to that Strait Gate in Life, not
in Death !

I never had the slightest under-
standing of that text you ask about ;

* One of the candidates at Whitelands died during
Examination week, June, 1884.

64 LETTERS OF

and please remember the Pauline
Epistles are to me in the New Testa-
ment what Leviticus is in the Old. I
neither understand nor am bound by
them. For me St. Paul's "if a man
have long hair it is a shame unto him "
is entirely false.

Read, for comment on it, the first
great scene in The Iliad.

Ever your affectionate

J. RUSKIN.

I begin to-day a lecture on the
structure of the Rose.

JOHN R US KIN. 65

LETTER LXXIV.

Brantwoop,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

December 2Ztk, 1884.

Dear Chaplain,

The enclosed is from the most
generous of women, the main support
of the St. George's Guild. But she
never sends me a letter without a ques-
tion in it needing the forenoon to
answer. I think if any of the May
Queens, or two or three of them to-
gether, would write her a rather de-
tailed account of the Institution, they
would find her one of the gladdest and
gratefullest persons they ever did a
kindness to.

VOL. n. s

66 LETTERS OF

That they may know the sort of
person they're writing to, you may tell
them she's a motherly, bright, black-
eyed woman of fifty, with a nice
married son who is a superb chess
player. She herself is a very good
one, and it's her greatest indulgence
to have a written game with me.

She's an excellent nurse, and curious
beyond any magpie that ever was, but
always giving her spoons away instead
of stealing them. Practically clever,
beyond most women; but if you answer
one question she'll ask you six !
Ever your loving

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSKIN. 67

LETTER LXXV.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

Jamtary \%th, 1885.

Dear Chaplain,

I am a little, or perhaps may more
gratefully say not a little, better, and
have been very happy in the kindness
of the good Queens to Mrs. Talbot,
and in her pleasure in their letters.

You will find, I hope to-morrow, at
Chelsea a box of small minerals, which
begins the mineralogic store you must
keep at the College for the Guild to
distribute as we need them.

A certain number of select pieces
shall be arranged for Whitelands itself,
but I shall henceforward send all my

68 LETTERS OF

mineral purchases to be catalogued
and registered by the girls, with the
receipted accounts for them, to be kept
till we have a " Safe " on our own ter-
ritory for registers and documents.
You will see in the Report,* at last (on
Friday) passed for press, the need of
such an orderly procedure.

The honest and obliging mineral-
ogist Mr. Francis Butler, who will
probably from this time be my chief
caterer, lives at i8o Brompton Road,
within easy call of you, and I should
think might sometimes give the girls
an informal lecture which would greatly
help them.

Ever your loving and submissive

J. RUSKIN.
" Report of St. George's Guild.

JOHN RUSK IN. 69

LETTER LXXVI.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

January 2^ih, [1885.]

Dear Chaplain,

The little drawing is one of my own,
but not a good one, and Bayne is
right in asking for another, but there
are points in it which may be useful
for a while with you. I was so glad of
your pretty words about Newnham. I
was just writing there to-day, and
ordering from Allen books to go there
as to Girton.

No, I haven't found out anything
about land or dynamite. People are
calling me too much or too little. I
tell them true, but only what they

VOL. n. T

70 LETTERS OF

ought to have found out long before
for themselves. They call me first a
fool, then a prophet, till I begin to
think myself sometimes that I've been
' translated ' like Bottom !

Ever your affectionate

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN R US KIN. 71

LETTER LXXVII.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

[January 27M, 1885.]

My dear Chaplain,

I am so glad of all your letters,
chiefly of encouragement in Our
Fathers have told us. I meant you
to see all the lectures, but they got
into such a mess nobody could see
clear but myself, and the third was
printed in a hurry to clear the type for
new proof. However the Fourth shall
not fail to come to you.

I wish I were prophet enough to
tell them what to do now with these
explosive persons ; Women detectives,
yes, but the primary detection of rogues

72 LETTERS OF

in Character before Deed ! I think
nobody but known honest people,
signing their names, should be allowed
in Tower or Parliament. Much more
one could propose, if anybody would
only do it !

Ever your loving

John Ruskin.

JOHN R us KIN. 73

LETTER LXXVIII.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

[January 30M, 1885.]

Dear Chaplain,

I am much set up by your wish for
more of Our Fathers, but it isn't a
book to go on with when one's tired. I
hope you'll be content, with another
Proserpina or so first, for I really
mustn't lose the flowers this spring.
Can any of the girls tell me where a
passage is in a rather old lecture of
mine, War, or Iron, or the like —
Future of England perhaps- — about
destructive power being no power at
all, but only that of a dead body or
mildew spot.*

* The passage is to be found in The Cronxm of Wild
Olives, Lecture i, War.

VOL. H. U

74 LETTERS OF

Have you Miller's Mineralogy, and
could you make anything of a class
for that science ?

Ever your very grateful

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSKIN. 75

LETTER LXXIX.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

[February iy!i, 1885.]

Dear Chaplain,

The accounts in the Rejiort* axe my
own only ; all the regular accounts
were presented at the meeting. They
are made up by the Treasurer, with
my comments, and shall be sent to
you, and to the Companions, of
course.

Botany [ ! My dear Chaplain, — I
know that girls are taught to cut
flowers to pieces — and all the world
to pull them, whenever they see them !

I wish I could slap their fingers,
and break their microscopes.

* The Report of St. George's Guild.

76 LETTERS OF

You shall have such a lot of things
to see through press, if you will make
a martyr of yourself, in a day or two.
Ever your loving

J. RUSKIN.
Rev. J. P. Faunthorpe.

JOHN RUSK IN. 77

LETTER LXXX.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

\March I2th, 1885.]

Dear Chaplain,

The vases, with some more soon to
be sent, are for the College, not St.
George. Also the Jameson Minera-
logy. Jameson's system is absurd, but
his descriptions simple and securely
permanent. What he says will always
be true.

You will soon now have the Plea-
sures, and Toils, of Fancy.* I think
perhaps it may not be trespassing on
you too far to send you all notes of

* The Pleasures of Fancy, being Part iv. of The
Pleasures of England, published in ^/t-//, 1895 — pre-
viously delivered as a lecture at Oxford on November
ith and loM, 1884.

VOL. U. X

78 LETTERS OF

errata like enclosed, and to tell Allen,
whenever he is printing a new edition
of anything, to refer to you, or the
College generally, for final correction ?
I always lose these sort of notes at the
moment they're wanted.

Ever yours affectionately,

J. RUSKIN.

JOHN RUSKIN 79

LETTER LXXXI.

Bkantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

Sunday, March \^th, 1885.

Dear Chaplain,

I send you The Pleasures of Fancy
to-day, most thankfully washing my
hands of it, and most earnestly
thanking you for all you are doing
for me. That Index to Fors Clavigera
must be awful ! But it will be thrice
the book, Index once done.

As for Our Fathers have told us
being my work, it's all very fine ! It's
yours, mine is Political Economy, and
Mineralogy, and Ornithology. I'm
painting a Peacock's Feather, and
putting up a packet of stones for you.
Ever your lovingest

J. RUSKIN.

8o LETTERS OF

LETTER LXXXII.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

April 2nd, 1885.

Dear tnAPLAiN,

Those Sotherans were to send you
the Birds— not. the Bill!*

So many thanks to girlies for lovely
catalogues.

All the books I'm sending you now
are for you to place, as time serves,
where they may be of use to any one.
I want to make Whitelands a centre of
various school dispensation, especially
in books, and soon in drawings, and
the like.

* Gould's Birds of New Guinea, given by Mr.
Ruskin to Whitelands College. See Letter .\lvii., ante^
p. II.

JOHN RUSK IN. 8 1

Love to you and Mrs. Faunthorpe,
and most true thanks to you both for
all you've done for St. George and me.

Ever your grateful and affectionate

J. RUSKIN,

VOL. n.

LETTERS OF

LETTER LXXXIII.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

April 22nd, 1885.

Dear Chaplain,

Here are last two of first lot of
books, I can't do any more to-day. Mrs.
Severn cannot come on the ist,* but
a quite delightful, sympathetic, clever,
motherly, children's playmate, and
children's spoiler, a pathos - loving
French lady, with all that's good of
English in her too, given by her in-
finitely good-natured husband, can I
believe come, and I am sure rejoic-
ingly will, if she can.

* To the May Queen Festival.

JOHN RUSK IN. 83

Will you write saying it is by my
request to Mrs. Richard Searle,
Home Lodge,

Heme Hill,

S.E.
Ever your loving

J. RUSKIN.
Rev. J, P. Faunthorpe.

84 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXXXIV.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

May yd, 1885.

Dear Chaplain,

Indeed I am much more grateful for
your letter than I should have been
for the Itidex merely. How delightful
it is to read of it all, and would have
been to see ! I'll try to take courage
to come next year. It was very lovely,
both for Mrs. Bishop and me, the Irish
message coming.*

Ever your grateful

J. RUSKIN.

* A communication from Miss Martin, Head Mistress
of the High School for Girls in Cork, announcing the
establishment of a Rose Queen Festival there, and
soliciting Mr. Ruskin's approval and aid. Miss Martin
had been in former years a governess at Whitelands. —
See Vol. L, p. 47.

JOHN RUSK IN. 85

LETTER LXXXV.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

May 6th, 1885.

My dearest Chaplain,

How delightful and nice of you !
But, 1st June. Whose or what day is
it ? Is it the May Queen crowned in
summer ? I'm afraid of confusing the
obtuse public's head !

I've written a long letter to the
Cork Queen to-day, referring to you
to countenance the views laid before
Her Majesty.

Ever your loving

J. RUSKIN.

Rev, J. P. Faunthorpe.

VOL. II. z

86 LETTERS OF

LETTER LXXXVI.

Herne Hill,
London, S.E.

iMay I2th, 1885.J

My dearest Chaplain,

ITere's some proof for you to play
with at last ! * There was really no
time to send anything this spring, I
had to get it out anyhow. I haven't my
own copy yet so can't compare your
notes. You're wrong about eyebright,
anyhow. It is the Euphrasy and not
the Veronica. The Veronica is Bird's-
eye, and may be Baby's-eye, and is a
rare plant in the wide world of moors
which I've rambled over these sixty

* Proof sheets of P yoscrpina. Part ix. [Part iv. of
Vol. ii.], published in May, 1885.

JOHN RUSK IN. 87

years, and I believe my corrections are
all right ! There ! As for mending as
I grow older, myself, you needn't think
of it!

Your loving

J. RUSKIN.

LETTERS OF

LETTER LXXXVir.

Brantwood,
CoNisTON, Lancashire.

June \tth, 1885.

My dear Chaplain,

I am greatly helped and obliged by
your notes on the new part of Proser-
pina : you will see that they have, for
the most part, been adopted. I have
not worked out your former note on
the corrections, but the ' beloved ' mis-
take is only that it ought to be ' be
loved ' !

Can you find for me the meaning of
the English word Horehou7id ?

What you say of the Rose festival *

* The Rose Festival at Cork. — See ante^ letter Ixxxii.

JOHN RUSKIN. 89

is immensely nice, but I don't see why
the effort should not have been begun
ten years before, as I had hoped. My
feeling about such things is never that
God's way was different from what He
showed me, but that the Devil put off
my way as long as he could. Certainly
it wasn't God's way that the poor girl
should give all her money to an adven-
turer instead of St. George, and then
have to be separated from him ! *

The enclosed note from ShefiSeld
enables me to relieve you of the burden
of the drawing of St. Mark's, which I
have never liked leaving to the criti-
cism of London. At Sheffield its use
will be seen, and itself appreciated. Will
you kindly at your leisure get Messrs.
Foord to undertake its packing ?
Ever your loving and grateful

J. RUSKIN.

* The reference is to the young lady who had been
induced by Mr. Ruskin to establish a May Queen
Festival at Winnington Hall, Cheshire, but who was
prevented by relatives from carrying out the project.^
See Vol. i., p. 46.

VOL. n. A A

go LETTERS, ETC.

LETTER LXXXVIII.

Brantwood,
CoNiSTON, Lancashire.

\Jutie i^th, 1885.]

Dear Chaplain,

So many thanks for the Horehound
note, and for the directions to Foord,
&c. I will send you nicer things than
that, though it pleases me greatly to
know that the drawing has been
pleasant to you, and admired.

Tell me the end of that poor girl's
affair ; it does not shock me, but it
shocks me that you think a girl could
love a scamp who had married her for
her money.

Ever your loving

J. RUSKIN.
Rev. J. P. Faunthorpe.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

Address delivered by Mr. Ruskin at the
Annual Meeting of the Arundel Society,
Old Bond Street, on June 22nd, 1882,
Lord Elcho in the Chair.*

After the formal business had been con-
cluded., Mr. Ruskin was called upon by
the Chairman to address the Meeting —
which consisted of about six members of
the Council, the Secretary, one lady, and
some half-dozen gentlemen visitors, of
whom Mr. Faunthorpe was one. Mr.
RuskirHs words were taken down, as
nearly as possible verbatim, by Mr.
Faunthorpe, who has now generously
placed his tnanuscript at my disposal —
T. J. W.

Mr. Ruskin, who looked fairly well,
commenced by saying he had had a great
joy lately. The British Museum Authori-

* This most interesting Address appears tohave
hitherto escaped all notice ; it has never been printed,
or even placed upon permanent record.

94 APPENDIX.

ties had allowed him to examine their
Gems, and to number them, as he wanted,
for his Sheffield Catalogue. He said:
" It is four years since I had the pleasure
of speaking in this room, and it appears
to me there has been great quietness in
the meetings ever since I left. Every-
thing seems to have gone on better, and
much more smoothly, since I left, and I
think you have done very wrong in re-
electing me. Everything has gone on
perfectly and beautifully since I ceased to
attend the meetings.

In this room are many very great
treasures of Art, and I quite agree with
Lord Elcho that they are not sufficiently
seen of men. We are insured, I believe,
for ^14,000, and what we possess should
certainly be rendered far more accessible.
These pictures are records of work quite
precious in every way, but especially in
the steady value they bear in their pro-
test against many tendencies of modem
Art. In the direction in which modern
Art is advancing I observe, with keenly
increasing x'egret, the want of seriousness,
the want of any set purpose, or, indeed, of
any purpose at all.

APPENDIX. 95

In this year's Academy, for example,
this stricture seems to me to apply to
nearly every picture. The only picture
that pretends to any Historic accuracy is
Marks' Lord Say brought before Jack Cade
(No. 242). The strangest tendency of
modern English Art, and one from which,
unfortunately, the Pre-Raphaelite School
is not exempt, is towards affectation.
Now all the pictures of the great times
are absolutely free from affectation of any
kind whatever. Even our Caricature is
not free from it. A picture, MunkScsy's
Christ before Pilate, exhibited just oppo-
site to these rooms, for instance, is better
than anything I ever expected to see in
modern Art at aU. In many points it is
nearly as good as Tintoret.

All the pictures of the great times con-
tain certain attitudes known to be beauti-
ful, and these their Painters were content
to reproduce. These attitudes originated
in Byzantine Art, afterwards passing over
to Italian. There is no seeking in any of
them to attract attention by invention of
new position or attitude.

When these pictures, the copies of
which surround us on these walls, were

96 APPENDIX.

painted, the artist took his place in the
school, and did his best, throwing his
whole life and soul into his work. The
subjects were all ready to his hand. But
now if any man has any real power he is
impelled first to weary himself in search
for a subject, and then for a new method
of treating it. But the grand subjects of
the older artists were well suited to any
picture, to any power. There is no affec-
tation in one of them. That is the rock
on which our modern Art is undeniably
wrecking itself.

We certainly ought to be possessed of
a gallery in which we might be able to
exhibit the treasures we own, now hidden
away, it seems to me, altogether from the
view of men. But we have by their pro-
duction done good work in more ways
than one. We have enabled M. Griiner
and others to educate a set of German
workmen able to do anything tenderly
and perfectly, far better, indeed, than I
ever anticipated we should have been able
to do. We are going on with our work,
and we believe in it.

There is a great deal of Art talk in
modern drawing-rooms. Much of this

APPENDIX. 97

might be rendered effective of good if
those who Icnow so much already would
make a point of seeing what we have
accomplished, and would, when they
journey abroad, look out for things
worthy our attention, and ask us to
reproduce them.

The picture of a girl in the Grosvenor,
ridiculed in Punch as A — lass / had great
power in it — might have been anything in
fact — but was spoilt by affectation.

I thank you," etc.

VOL. II.

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