.-J^- 
 

 t — -^ ^^ f^ f 
 
RUSKIN'S LETTERS 
 
LETTERS 
 
 UPON SUBJECTS OF GENERAL INTEREST 
 
 FROM 
 
 JOHN RUSKIN 
 
 TO VARIOUS CORRESPONDENTS. 
 
 I 
 
 1892. 
 
 London : Privately Printed. 
 {.Not for Sale.) 
 

 THE IMPRESSION 
 
 OF THIS BOOK IS LIMITED TO A FEW COPIES 
 
 FOR Private Circulation only. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Mr. George Smith. 
 
 London^ 1842 3 
 
 LETTER n. 
 
 To Mr. George Smith 
 
 Geneva, June yh^ 1849 . . . 8 
 
 LETTER IIL 
 
 To Dr. F. J. Furnivall. 
 
 London, 1850 13 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Mr. George Smith. 
 
 August -^rd, 1851 . . .15 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Mr. George Smith. 
 
 May, 1855 17 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 Thun, August %th, 1859 . . . 19 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 
 Benneville, September ^th, i^S() 25 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 
 London, October -^ist, 1859 . . 31 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Miss E. F. Strong. 
 
 London^ March yd, i860 ... 36 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Mr. J. H. Le Keux. 
 
 Dover, May 22nd, i860 ... 38 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To Mr. J. H. Le Keux. 
 
 London, October lyh, i860 . . 40 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Mr. Rawdon Brown. 
 
 London, May loth, 1862 ... 42 
 
CONTENTS. \% 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 To Mr. C. Richardson. 
 
 London, May i$th, 1867 ... 47 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To Sir John Simon. 
 
 London, March 3ij-^, 1871 . . 49 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Mr. J. Godfrey Gribble. 
 
 Oxford, February lotk, 1872 . . 51 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To the Author of Wages. 
 
 London, January <,th, 1874 . . 54 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 To Mr. William Walker. 
 
 Florence^ September 20th, 1874 . . 58 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 To A Correspondent. 
 
 Oxford, February igth, 1875. • • 61 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To Mr. Egbert Rydings. 
 
 Oxford, June i2,th, 1875 . • -63 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Mr. F, Crawley. 
 
 Brantwoody October ^h, 1875 . • 65 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 To Mr. Frederick Gale. 
 
 Brantwood, July ind, 1878 . . 67 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 
 Brattttvood, Jtcly %th, 1878 . . 70 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, December i()th, 1878 . 73 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, January <)th, 1879 . 75 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Branttvood, June Tth, 1879 . . 77 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwoody December 1879 . . 79 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantivood, Jamiary 25M, 1880 . 81 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantivoody January 18M, 1881 . 84 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 To Miss Gatty. 
 
 Brantwood, July 2\th, \^^i . . 86 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Abbey ofTalloires, November i^th, 1882 88 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 To Miss Beaumont. 
 
 Brantwood, July 2'^rdy 1884 . . 90 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 To Miss Waldron. 
 
 Brantwood, March 2\th^ 1885 . 92 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 To Mr. F. H. Butler. 
 
 Brantwood, March gth, 1886 . . 93 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 To A Correspondent. 
 
 Brantwood, May 2gthy 1889 . . 96 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 To Colonel Robertson. 
 
 Place and Date unknown . . . 98 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 To Prof. Richard Owen. 
 
 London, May 12th, [? 1858] . . 100 
 
 Note. 
 
 Four of the following letters {Nos. 9, 16, I7> 
 and 34) have already appeared in print, as 
 pointed out in the footnotes to each. Should 
 any textual variations be observed, the version 
 given in the present volume may be accepted as 
 correct, every letter contained in its pages having 
 been printed from the original holograph. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
LETTERS 
 OF JOHN RUSKIN. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 To Mr. G. Smith.* 
 
 [London: 1842.] 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 If it be not too late I feel very much 
 inclined to remonstrate with you on 
 your choice of an engraver for the 
 Amboise drawing, t especially because I 
 should not like (after your allowing the 
 thing to go into your book, perhaps 
 
 * Mr. George Smith, of Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. 
 
 t The Castle of A mloise, drawn by Mr. Ruskin in 
 illustration of his poem The Broken Chain, Part v., 
 section xiv. The plate was eventually engraved by E. 
 Goodall ; and duly appeared in Friendship* s Offering 
 for 1843, facing p. 72. [See the Bibliography of Ruski7i, 
 Vol. I., p. 23.] 
 
4 LETTERS OF 
 
 somewhat more out of unwillingness to 
 hurt my feelings by rejecting it, than 
 because you thought it fit for the 
 purpose) that the result should be 
 either unsatisfactory, or injurious to 
 you; which, if you leave it in Mr. 
 Jeavons's hands, I am much afraid it 
 will be. I did not know the name 
 when I saw you on Saturday, and 
 therefore could say nothing against it. 
 I have since looked over every illus- 
 trated work in my possession, and the 
 result is a firm conviction that you 
 could hardly have pitched on any one 
 less likely to do either you or me 
 justice. I can only find two decent 
 pieces of engraving from his hand ; the 
 Bombay in your 1828 volume, and the 
 Vesuvius in 1830. The Bombay is 
 clear and delicate, and the Vesuvius^ 
 as far as the distance goes, very satis- 
 factory. But Mr. Jeavons seems to me 
 totally destitute of feeling, and un- 
 taught as an artist in every other of his 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 5 
 
 works ; his chief fault being a want of 
 harmony and tenderness in dark tones 
 everywhere, and an utter ignorance of 
 drawing in foregrounds, — witness the 
 town and castle of Foix in your last 
 year's volume : harsh-cutting, and with- 
 out atmosphere all over, and with 
 foliage in the foreground which a child 
 might be ashamed of; and the un- 
 transparent shade and general coldness 
 and lifelessness of the Melrose Abbey ^ 
 the year before ; and, worst of all, the 
 violent harshness, and want of all 
 feeling, in the Spoletto of 1830. But if 
 I were to judge from Friendship's 
 Offering I would let the Vesuvius 
 balance a great deal of evil. But the 
 share which Jeavons had in Turner's 
 Rivers of France is conclusive. The 
 Canal of the Loire and Cher, the Lille- 
 bonne, and the Hotel de Ville and Pont 
 d'Arcole, are a disgrace to that work; 
 and though I do not say Mr. Jeavons 
 could not do better if he chose, I think 
 
 c 
 
6 LETTERS OF 
 
 that while there are so many men of 
 certain and tried excellence you are 
 acting imprudently in leaving a subject, 
 depending altogether on the delicacy of 
 its tones, in the hands of a man of so 
 little feeling. It so happens that you 
 could not, by any possibility, have 
 pitched on any other name in the 
 whole list of engravers to which I 
 should have objected. Some I may 
 think better than others, but not one 
 should I have spoken against. There 
 are Cousen, Brandard, Wallis, Allen, 
 Miller, Goodall, Willmore, Armytage, 
 Richardson, Smith — all first rate. Your 
 Torcello, by Armytage, and Early 
 Mornings by Richardson, both beauti- 
 ful. Of these men J. Cousen is the 
 first in those particular qualities which 
 the Amboise drawing wants ; and next 
 to him I think J. B. Allen. But you 
 cannot choose one who will not do 
 infinitely better than this Jeavons. If 
 he be poor, or have a family, he must 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 7 
 
 not be injured by my means. But, 
 depend upon it, the choice lies between 
 injuring him ox you. Perhaps you have 
 gone too far with him to go back. Of 
 course, if so, burn this letter, and think 
 no more of it. But if you can transfer 
 the drawing to any other man, I don't 
 care whom, you will both benefit your- 
 self, and oblige me. 
 
 I remain, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 P.S. — What I have written above is 
 much hurried, and somewhat injudicious 
 from the violence of its expressions. 
 Take care not to hurt Mr. Jeavons's 
 feelings by any expression of such 
 opinions. 
 
LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER II. 
 To Mr. G. Smith. 
 
 Geneva. 
 June ^th, [1849.] 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I have seen with much pleasure the 
 favourable notices of the Lamps in the 
 London Journals; for, considering the 
 way in which the book clashes with 
 many wide interests and received 
 opinions, I had not hoped for so kind 
 a reception of it ; but as none of the 
 reviewers appear to have understood 
 the purpose and value of the illustra- 
 tions, I think it right that you at least 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 9 
 
 should have it in your power to give 
 some answer to any verbal objections 
 that may be made to their apparent 
 rudeness. 
 
 I have been a little too modest in 
 the Preface — and had calculated too 
 much on the reader's discovery of what 
 I ought to have told him ; namely, that 
 though indeed many portions of the 
 plates on which I spent considerable 
 time, have, owing to the softness of the 
 steel, ended in " a blot," yet, such as 
 they are, they are by far the most 
 sternly faithful records of the portions 
 of architecture they represent which 
 have ever yet been pubHshed; and I 
 am persuaded that in course of time, 
 this severe truth will give them a value 
 far higher than that which is at pre- 
 sent set upon plates of more deHcate 
 execution. 
 
 Few persons have any idea of the 
 inaccuracy of architectural works 
 generally. That of Gaily Knight, 
 
lo LETTERS OF 
 
 for instance, has been frequently re- 
 ferred to authoritatively respecting the 
 architecture of Italy ; yet in the plate, 
 in that work, of the Church of San Mi- 
 chele of Lucca, the ornaments on the 
 wall between the arches have been drawn 
 entirely out of the draughtsman's head ; 
 flourishes of the pencil being sub- 
 stituted for the monochrome figures. 
 The degree of fidelity of the drawing 
 in Plate VI of the Seven Lamps of a 
 single arch of this church, I can only 
 illustrate to you by a particular instance. 
 Just above the head of the strange 
 long-eared quadruped at the top of the 
 arch, the sloping border of the block of 
 stone out of which he is cut is seen to 
 become thicker, and to be divided by 
 a line which looks like a mistake. In 
 that place, the block of serpentine 
 above did not fit exactly into its place, 
 and the builder has fitted in a thin 
 wedge-shaped bit of marble to fill up 
 the gap ; which is marked by the 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. II 
 
 double line. In like manner, it will 
 be noticed that the partition between 
 this quadruped and the horseman in 
 front of him is double, while all the 
 other partitions are single bars of 
 marble— this also is fact. Such a 
 degree of accuracy as this may perhaps 
 at first appear ludicrous — but I have 
 always held it for a great principle that 
 there are no degrees of truth ; and from 
 habit I have made it just as easy to 
 myself to draw a thing truly as falsely. 
 The accuracy of the other plates, 
 excepting those specified as taken from 
 somewhat obscure Daguerreotypes, is 
 not less; and I believe a time will 
 come when even their execution will 
 be thought better of than it is at 
 present. That, however, I contentedly 
 leave to public judgment. One point 
 by the bye should be noticed, that, as 
 the plates are all of fragments, I did 
 not think it necessary to risk losing 
 some of their accuracy by reversing 
 
12 LETTERS OF 
 
 them on the steel — and they are there- 
 fore reversed in the impression. 
 I remain, my dear Sir, 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 13 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To Dr. F. J. FURNIVALL. 
 
 [London : 1850.] 
 Dear Furnivall, 
 
 I set out after church to find you, if 
 
 I could — but I found New Square 
 
 must be your office^ not your house, 
 
 and I had no other address, so I had 
 
 to give you up and let you come here 
 
 to-day; though I am going to be so 
 
 rude as to break my engagement with 
 
 you, for I want to go with Effie * to hear 
 
 Gavazzi t lecture this afternoon, and I 
 
 * Mr. Ruskin's wife — now Lady Millais, formerly 
 Miss Effie Gray. 
 
 t Gavazzi : an eloquent and popular Roman Catholic 
 priest, who threw up Romanism, and preached and 
 lectured widely against Papism, &c. 
 
14 LETTERS OF 
 
 may not have another opportunity. 
 He lectures at two, so I can only leave 
 this note for you: pray pardon me. 
 You will have a letter from me to- 
 morrow or next day. 
 
 Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 F. J. Furnivall, Esq. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. IS 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 To Mr. G. Smith. 
 
 August "^rd, 1 85 1. 
 
 Dear Mr. Smith, 
 
 We at first thought of running these 
 large plate notices straight on ; but it 
 seems to me that after saying "each 
 number * will be complete in itself," we 
 can hardly do this, as I have not put 
 in any of Plate II. to fill the gap — but 
 you can if you think it better. The 
 MS. of next number will be with you 
 to-morrow morning. I want a revise 
 of this, and of Pre-Raphaelitism from 
 the beginning. 
 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 * " Each number," that is, of the Examples of the 
 Architecture of Venice. 
 
i6 LETTERS OF 
 
 I have sent a page of Plate II. in 
 case you think it expedient to go 
 straight on. 
 
 Please tell Mr. Williams I have his 
 obliging note, and that hts assistance 
 would be quite as valuable to me as 
 Mr. Rowan's, — but I want Mr. R[owan] 
 to read the pamphlet, because we 
 quarrelled about the Pre-Raphaelites. 
 I shall send him a copy, however I 
 had rather he read it all fair. 
 
 I will correct all Modern Painters in 
 a mass, and send it together.* But 
 note there is a page — if not more — of 
 the letterpress wanting, between the last 
 corrected sheets of Pre-Raphaelitism 
 which I sent you this morning, and the 
 one herewith returned for revise. 
 
 * "All Modern Painters" i.e.. Edition 5 of Vol. I., 
 and Edition 3 of Vol. II., revised in 1851, when these 
 two vols, were the only ones published. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN, 17 
 
 LETTER V. 
 To Mr. G. Smith. 
 
 \May, 1855.] 
 
 Dear Mr. Smith, 
 
 I believe Spottiswoode must have 
 kept some of their men at home to 
 finish this.* I am very much obliged 
 to them, and should like the printers 
 who stayed in to do it to have half-a- 
 crown each, from me, for a holiday 
 present. Will you kindly give orders 
 to that effect. The proofs now sent 
 back must be carefully revised by the 
 press-corrector — but I don't want to 
 see another revise : so the moment 
 they are ready, let the thing be printed 
 
 * "Finish this," i.e.^ Academy Notes, No. i, 
 piiblished June isf, 1855. 
 
iS LETTERS OF 
 
 off, and sold forthwith as near the 
 doors of the Academy as may be. 
 
 Please send a copy of the pamphlet, 
 the moment you have any ready, to 
 Mr. J. F. Lewis ; Mr. G. Richmond ; 
 Miss A. J. Mutrie ; Mr. D. G. Rossetti 
 (14 Chatham Place, Blackfriars Bridge); 
 Mr. William Rossetti, same address ; 
 Miss Heaton, 16 Beaumont St., Caven- 
 dish Square ; Dr. Acland, Oxford ; 
 and Mr. Harrison ; — all with my com- 
 pliments.* 
 
 Send to nobody else — of course Mr. 
 Williams will have one. 
 
 I send to town that all may be 
 ready for early press to-morrow morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 * J. F. Lewis, the painter, referred to in Pre-Raphael- 
 itism. — George Richmond, the painter, also referred to 
 in PrcEterita. Two portraits]of Mr. Ruskin, and one of 
 his father, are by him.— Dante G. Rossetti, and W, M. 
 Rossetti, of course well known,— Dr. (now Sir Henry) 
 Acland, of Oxford, one of Mr. Ruskm's oldest friends. 
 — Mr. Harri-son. see On the Old Road. — Miss A. J. 
 Mutne, an eminent painter of flowers, &c. 
 
JOHN R US KIN. 19 
 
 LETTER VL 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas.* 
 
 Thun, Switzerland. 
 August i8M, [1859,] 
 My Dear Dallas, > 
 
 I had your kind letter some three 
 weeks it must be ago, and it gave me 
 great pleasure from its heartiness and 
 friendliness. I am very much helped 
 in all ways when I find anybody cares 
 for me at all ; and it is very good of 
 you, seeing how little we have been 
 able to be wuth each other lately. I 
 hope to have a chat about many things 
 as soon as we get home — say about 
 six weeks hence. I must say in writ- 
 
 * Eneas Sweetland Dallas {b. 1828, '</. 1879), leader 
 writer in The Times ; author of The Gay Science, &'c. 
 
20 LETTERS OF 
 
 ing first I did not say that political 
 economy of mine was 200 (did I say 
 two ? perhaps one — allowing for steam 
 — would have been enough) years in 
 advance of the age, because I thought 
 it either my own best work, or a good 
 book absolutely : but simply because, 
 as far as it goes, it is founded on 
 principles which it will take the world 
 still another 100 years to understand 
 the eternity of. If you like to look at 
 the Galignanioi to-day, you will see it 
 gravely stated as a great and recent 
 discovery, in a Russian journal, that the 
 interests of a nation are not to be 
 sacrificed to those of an individual. 
 In another 100 years England may dis- 
 cover that human beings have got souls, 
 which are the eminently Motive part of 
 the Animal ; and that to get as much 
 Material result as you can out of the 
 animal, his soul or Heart must be in a 
 healthy state — also his stomach (in- 
 cluding liver and intestines) ; and his 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 21 
 
 brains not in a state of congestion. 
 Political Economists of this age fancy 
 they can reason about men without 
 their souls as mathematicians do about 
 lines — as length without breadth. But 
 they are slightly wrong in this matter, 
 for the mathematician reasons on his 
 line in Ideal perfection : and they on 
 humanity in Ideal and even more 
 impossible Truncation. They have 
 founded a vast series of abstruse cal- 
 culations, made with profound skill and 
 accuracy, on the original hypothesis that 
 a triangle has only two sides. I would 
 have taken up these subjects more 
 seriously, were it not still in question 
 with me how far certain truths con- 
 nected with them can be spoken in 
 the present state of the public mind. 
 It is often impossible, often dangerous, 
 to inform people of great truths before 
 their own time has come for approach- 
 ing them ; and there is much which 
 people will one day know as well as 
 
 G 
 
22 * LETTERS OF 
 
 their alphabets, which I should be 
 sorry to tell my class at the Working 
 Men's College at present. 
 
 Meanwhile it will be very naughty 
 of you to growl at me and my book, 
 while I am thus muzzled. But you 
 may have your go at it (for I shall write 
 nothing more on such matters for some 
 time to come), till I can paint a little 
 better, at all events. I'm very busy 
 with clouds and colours, and in a state 
 of disgust with my and everybody else's 
 country which makes me perforce dumb. 
 
 I hope, if not in Paris, that you have 
 gone somewhere out of town with 
 Mrs. Dallas this year ; for until the last 
 three days the heat has been here- 
 abouts as great as ever. It is cooler 
 to-day — at least one begins to know 
 the difference between warm and cold 
 water. 
 
 But we have been all* well on this 
 
 * *• We all." i.e , Mr. Ruskin himself and his parents. 
 -See Prceterita, iii. 26. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 23 
 
 journey. I was nearly made seriously ill 
 by the German frescoes : it was as bad 
 as living in Bedlam or a hospital for 
 cretins — to look at Cornelius's * things 
 long : but I got little consolatory peeps 
 at Titians and such things, which the 
 Germans hang out of the way in 
 corners, and so got over it. 
 
 Nice sensible discussions you're 
 having in England there about Gothic 
 and Itahan, aren't you ? And the best 
 of the j-est is that besides nobody 
 knowing which is which, there is not a 
 man living who can build either. What 
 a goose poor Scott t (who will get his 
 liver fit for pate de Strasbourg with 
 vexation) must be, not to say at once 
 he'll build anything. If I were he I'd 
 build Lord P[almerston] an office with 
 all the capitals upside down ; and tell 
 him it was in the Greek style, in- 
 
 Comelius was a celebrated German painter (born 
 1784). who executed a number of frescoes at Munich. 
 
 t Referring to Mr. Gilbert Scott, and his design for 
 the Foreign Office. — See Arrows 0/ the Chace, vol. i. 
 pp . 144-145 and note. 
 
24 LETTERS OF 
 
 verted, to express typically Govern- 
 ment by Party : Up to-day, down 
 to-morrow. 
 
 I don't know where this letter 
 mayn't find you. I hope somewhere 
 where you will be too idle to read it ; 
 and it won't matter if you don't, except 
 that my father would be very sorry if 
 you didn't get his message of sincere 
 regards. 
 
 Always affectionately yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 My mother's kind regards also. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 25 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 
 Bonneville, (Savoy), 
 
 Switzerland. 
 September A^h^ 1859. 
 
 My Dear Dallas, 
 
 By some fatality it seems to happen 
 just now that I can't get on with my 
 own business without being perpetually 
 distracted by something more interest- 
 ing in other people's. Everybody is so 
 absurd that it's like trying to paint in 
 the midst of a pantomime, and I never 
 can write a serious word about anything 
 for the public, without feeling as if I 
 were talking sentiment to the Panta- 
 loon. 
 
 Here now^ are those ineffably rich 
 
 H 
 
26 LETTERS OF 
 
 letters which people are writing every 
 day to the Times, about this Builders' 
 strike — and the delightfully moral and 
 intellectual efforts of your political 
 economists to persuade the men that 
 labour can't be organized, when the 
 half of the labour of the country of all 
 kinds (from your cabman's sixpennorth 
 of oaths and flogging, up to your 
 Premier's five thousand pounds worth 
 — or how much has he ? — of architec- 
 tural * and other useful knowledge) is 
 organized already. Your soldiers kill 
 people : your Bishops preach to them : 
 your lawyers advise them : and your 
 physicians purge them : for a shilling — 
 or six-and-eightpence — or a guinea — 
 according to the stated value of murder 
 or physic ; and you never think of offer- 
 ing your Bishoprics to the people who 
 will confirm cheapest, or getting your- 
 self cured of the gout by contract. 
 
 * Again referring to the Foreign Office,— See 
 Arrpms of the Chace, vol. i, p. 145. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 27 
 
 And it seems to me, bricklaying 
 (though it is not easy, and susceptible 
 of many degrees of fineness in the 
 art) is rather a more organizable kind 
 of labour than sermon-making, or 
 diagnosis. 
 
 I hav'n't any patience left to write ; 
 but if you have any, you might do a 
 great deal of good just now by exa- 
 mining this subject of the organization 
 of labour thoroughly, and putting, as 
 far as you can make it, an exhaustive 
 article in the Times about it. And if 
 you cannot do this, at least point out 
 (apropos of this unhappy strike of the 
 poor builders) that whatever the rights 
 or wrongs of the question may be, they 
 will probably suffer more than they 
 gain by their present way of dealing 
 with it ; and that the true way of carry- 
 ing out their views is to acquiesce, so 
 long as they are workmen, in the present 
 state of things ; but to strain every nerve 
 to become masters ; and then, when 
 
28 LETTERS OF 
 
 they are masters, to carry out the 
 principle of the organization of labour 
 among their own workmen — and to die 
 for it, if need be ; it being a principle 
 quite worth dying for, if it be true. 
 And there is some likelihood of its 
 being so, ever since a great master- 
 workman went into his market to hire 
 his labourers at their penny a day — and 
 had a roughish quarrel with some of 
 them, on this very matter of the 
 organization of labour, before night. 
 
 You may think that's a fair day's 
 work enough that I propose to you^ — 
 the *' examination of the organization 
 of labour thoroughly." But you would 
 find it easier and simpler than it looks, 
 if, among the innumerable examples 
 of good, and evil, apparently arising 
 sometimes from organized and some- 
 times from free labour, you keep hold 
 of this main clue— that organization 
 which is intended for the advantage 
 of either separately, injures both; but 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 29 
 
 chiefly those for whose advantage it 
 was intended. There is another still 
 surer clue, but one which, though you 
 may use it yourself, you can't at 
 present suggest with hope of toleration 
 to the British public — namely that 
 what is Justest, is also Wisest. 
 
 There is no way in which that 
 verse — "The Fool hath said in his 
 heart. No God " — was ever so com- 
 pletely fulfilled, as in the modern idea 
 that Political Economy depends on 
 Iniquity instead of Equity ; and on 
 avo^ia instead of hiKaiocrvvy). 
 
 We keep to our plan of being home 
 in early October (just in time for dead 
 leaves and fogs).* I resolved six years 
 ago never to pass another October out 
 of a mountain country — and have 
 never been in a mountain country in 
 October since. Few people have seen 
 this part of the world in October, and 
 
 * Th&ywere home by then, as Arrows of the Chace, 
 vol. i, p. 145, shows. 
 
30 LETTERS OF 
 
 it is perhaps more wonderful then than 
 at any time, the mountains being 
 literally clothed with gold and purple. 
 The worst of it is that in cold weather 
 one likes one's dinner — and the cook- 
 ery hereabouts is free labour, and done 
 cheap. So is the guiding at Zermatt — 
 and they have just dropped a traveller 
 into a crevasse — and left him there. 
 Always with all our kindest regards, 
 Believe me, my dear Dallas, 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 
 Denmark Hill, 
 
 London, S.E, 
 October 2,1 St, 1859. 
 [IVritten by Mr. John Ruskiity Senr.\ 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I was delighted with a Letter shown 
 to me by my Son (written to him by 
 you in September, on your Return from 
 the Sea-side) with your definition of 
 Whig and Tory, and some remarks on 
 artificial organization. As a City man 
 I am half with the Times in believing 
 my son and Dr. Guthrie innocent of 
 Political Economy ; but these Geniuses 
 
S2 LETTERS OF 
 
 sometimes in their very simplicity hit 
 upon the right thing, whilst your pon- 
 derous Economy discusser twaddles on 
 in endless mazes lost. I say this from 
 a single glance at the last article in the 
 Edinburgh Review^ just out ; and from 
 my son, who is in Cheshire, writing to 
 
 me as follows : — ** Mr. told me 
 
 " last night that at the Social Science 
 ** meeting one of the principal Speakers 
 " said that if my recommendations as 
 *'to the Employment of the workmen 
 "had been adopted, there would never 
 " have been any strikes ; and that this 
 ''reference and statement were accepted 
 " as quite just and true by the mem- 
 " bers of the meeting. The whole 
 " discussion in which this occurs is 
 "omitted in the Times'' Of course 
 the Times omits what it regards as of 
 minor Importance, but call you this 
 backing of your friends ? Neither does 
 it ever notice a Book of his, though it 
 notices smaller Books. However, as 
 
JOHN R US KIN. 33 
 
 I formerly said, the Critique on his 
 Stones of Venice given in the Times 
 was beyond all price, and leaves me 
 eternally its Debtor. 
 
 In my son's last little book, The Two 
 Paths* he calls himself a safe Guide in 
 Art, but says as a writer he cannot 
 approach Carlyle or Tennyson. The 
 Reviews quote the arrogant assertion, 
 and leave out the modest one. Is this 
 allowed to be honest Criticism ? 
 
 By the way, if the Letter in the Times 
 to-day is really Napoleon's, my pet 
 Emperor is losing some of his sagacity. 
 I am curious to see to-morrow's paper, 
 doubting the authenticity of the Letter. 
 Well, we are getting all armed and less 
 alarmed. I had a long talk with an old 
 French Notary related to several men 
 high in office in passing lately through 
 Paris, and entirely agreed with him in 
 believing the Emperor, whom alone we 
 load with abuse, to be the last man 
 
 * See The Trvo Paths, Appendix i. 
 K 
 
34 LETTERS OF 
 
 in France who would wish to invade 
 England. Take his subjects however 
 from the Count to the Costermonger, 
 or from Cellar to Garret, and they 
 would without exception give any few 
 francs they ever like to part with 
 towards equipping Fleet or Army to 
 invade us. 
 
 I got a Chill on the Lake of Geneva, 
 followed by Dysentery, and came home 
 ill. I hope by the time my son returns 
 three weeks hence to be better, and 
 hope to have the pleasure of seeing 
 you here. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 John James Ruskin. 
 
 P.S. — I can just remember our 
 wars since 1797, and any thing more 
 thoroughly stupid or more painfully 
 disastrous and humiliating than the 
 China Affair I recollect not. It is 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 35 
 
 nearly a checkmate ; useless to go 
 forward, and you cannot go back. 
 
 The old East India Company could, 
 — but neither Palmerston, Russell, nor 
 Bovvring can manage China. 
 
36 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 To Miss E. F. Strong.* 
 
 [London, 
 March yd, i860.] 
 
 Dear Miss Strong, 
 
 You may do things out of your head 
 purely to amuse yourself — but always 
 look upon them as one of the com- 
 pletest ways of wasting time. 
 
 Nothing can be starker nonsense 
 than the idea of practice being needed 
 for invention. All practice destroys 
 invention by substituting Habit for it. 
 
 * This letter has been printed in The Literary World 
 {or August 2i^th, 1888, p. 158. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 37 
 
 Invention comes of materials first — 
 and Heart and intellect afterwards. 
 
 Be sure you have got^ or get, a head, 
 before you think much of drawing 
 "out of it." 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
38 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER X. 
 To Mr. J. H. Le Keux.* 
 
 Dover, 
 May 22nd, i860. 
 
 Dear Le Keux, 
 
 I cannot tell you how much obliged 
 I am by your kindness, in all you have 
 done for these plates. 
 
 I hope to begin some work of com- 
 pleter character with you soon. 
 
 Meantime you would add infinitely 
 to your already great kindness, by 
 giving some lessons in etching and 
 biting to my man Allen.t I will pay 
 
 * Mr. J. H. Le Keux : the engraver of several of the 
 plates in Modern Painters and The Stones of Venice. 
 
 + Mr. George Allen, now of Sunnyside, Orpington ; 
 Mr. Ruskin's well known publisher, and the engraver 
 of several of the plates in Modern Painters^ Deucalion, 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 39 
 
 for him whatever he costs you in time, 
 willingly — and 1 don't think you need 
 fear any rivalship in skill, though he 
 will be able to help me in my own 
 work. 
 
 I have told him to call upon you and 
 ask if you could do this. I want him 
 to have a plate and try to etch some- 
 thing himself, and then to be shown 
 how to bite it in. 
 
 I was up at five this morning and 
 am sleepy with sea air — so I can just 
 write this piece of impertinent request, 
 and say good-bye. You shall have a 
 5th volume * soon, and I hope you will 
 like what I've said of your work in it. 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 * Vol. V of Modern Painters, published on June 
 \\th, i860. — See The Bibliography of Ruskin, Vol. ii, 
 p. 27. 
 
40 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 To Mr. J. H. Le Keux. 
 
 Denmark Hill, 
 London, S.E. 
 
 October i^th, [i860.] 
 
 Dear Le Keux, 
 
 I cannot tell you how much I am 
 obliged to you for all your goodness to 
 Allen. I have not been able to look 
 round me since I came home, owing to 
 an accident which has happened to my 
 mother; and a good deal of trouble 
 I've had in wading through the rubbish 
 of modern political economy— which 
 one must do before one can send it to 
 the devil, to whom it properly belongs. 
 
 I hear that my people have been prac- 
 tising it on the plates, by beating down 
 
JOHN R US KIN, 41 
 
 the printers. Would you kindly send 
 me word what the printers ought to 
 have, for good and careful printing, and 
 I will see about it. 
 
 This is the first quite free day I've 
 had, and I begin it by thanking you for 
 all you have done for Allen. 1 hope we 
 shall do you credit. I've been trying 
 to rest in Switzerland, but find that 
 doing nothing is dull work, and am 
 very stupid in consequence. 
 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
42 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Mr. Ravvdon Brown.* 
 
 Denmark Hill, 
 London, S.E. 
 
 May loth, 1862. 
 
 Dear Mr. Brown, 
 
 So many and many thanks for all your 
 kind and kindest letters. I can't write 
 letters just now. I am always tired, 
 somehow, but I mean to take your 
 advice and hope to get round a little, 
 yet. I have no house of my own — not 
 even rooms; and living with two old 
 people, however good, is not good for 
 a man. I should have tried to get 
 
 * Mr. Rawdon Lubbock Brown. He was a remark- 
 able man, a great student of Venetian archives, and 
 historian of Venice — where he Jived all his life. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 43 
 
 abroad again before this, but found 
 they had let all the Turner drawings 
 get mildewed at the National Gallery 
 during its repairs. So I stayed to get 
 the mildew off as well as I could, and 
 henceforward I've done with the whole 
 business ; and have told them they 
 must take it off themselves, next time, 
 or leave it on — if they like. I shall 
 not enter the Exhibition ; it is merely a 
 donkey race among the shop-keepers 
 of the world ; and when once I get 
 away this year, say in a week or ten 
 days, if I don't break down, I will try 
 and follow your advice. 
 
 I do not care the least about people's 
 religious opinions. What I meant to 
 say was, that for a man who has once at 
 any time had any hope of life in another 
 world, the arrival at conviction that he 
 has nothing to look for but the worn 
 out candle end of life in this, is not at 
 first cheerful. 
 
 The Boot Jack has come : come for 
 
44 LETTERS OF 
 
 a long time too. I like it, but I've no 
 boots to pull off for the present, but 
 thank my good old collaborateur and 
 friend for it very heartily. It will be a 
 pretty little piece of furniture, if ever I 
 have a house of my own ; but I never 
 shall have the " heart " — as people say 
 — " want of heart," as they ought to say 
 — to tread on white carved marble with 
 dirty boots. 
 
 This note was begun, with a better 
 pen, three weeks ago, as you may see. 
 Since then my discomforts have come 
 to a climax, and, I think, to an end 
 (one way or another, for I feel so 
 languid that I'm not sure I'm not 
 dying), but to an end of better 
 comfort, if I live. For the only people 
 whom I at all seriously care for, in this 
 British group of islands,* and who in any 
 happy degree of reciprocity, seriously 
 care for me (there are many who care 
 
 * This is the family referred to in Prceierita, iii, pp. 
 103, 113, 178-179, &c. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 45 
 
 for me without my caring — and vice 
 versa) — wrote three days ago to offer 
 me a little cottage dwelling house, and 
 garden, and field, just beside their own 
 river, and outside their park wall : — 
 And the river being clear, and brown, 
 and rocky ; the windows within sight of 
 blue hills; the park wall having no 
 broken glass on the top ; and the 
 people, husband and wife and two girls 
 and one boy, being all in their various 
 ways good and gracious; IVe written 
 to say I'll come, when I please ; which 
 will, I suppose, be when I want rest 
 and quiet, and get the sense of some 
 kindness near me. Meantime I am 
 coming, if it may be as far towards you 
 as Milan, to see the Spring in Italy once 
 more. But I don't think I can come to 
 Venice, even to see you. I should be 
 too sad in thinking — not of ten — but of 
 twenty — no, sixteen years ago — when I 
 was working there from six in the morn- 
 ing till ten at night, in all thejoy of youth. 
 
 N 
 
46 LETTERS OF 
 
 Will you send me a line to poste 
 restante^ Lucerne, in case I don't get so 
 far as Milan ? 
 
 And believe me ever affectionately 
 yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 47 
 
 LETTER XIIT. 
 To Mr. C. Richardson. 
 
 [Denmark Hill, 
 
 London, S.E.] 
 May i$iAf 1867. 
 
 My Dear Charles, 
 
 I want to see you and Mrs. Richard- 
 son when you come out to see my 
 mother, and I fear I cannot do so to- 
 morrow, nor am I likely to have a day 
 this week — but next week I will under- 
 take to be at home any day you can 
 come out. I hope to see you before 
 then as I will call at the Coburg 
 the first time I am that way. 
 
 * Mr. Charles Richardson. See Preeterita, No. 21, 
 Vol. ii, p. 329 et seq. 
 
48 LETTERS OF 
 
 I thought you would excuse my 
 changing the day, as I hope you are 
 staying in town some time. Your 
 Aunt* sends her kindest regards. 
 Your affectionate Cousin, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 * Mr. Ruskln's Mother, and Mr. Richardson's^r<ra^ 
 Aunt. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 49 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 To Mr. (now Sir) John Simon. 
 
 Denmark Hill, 
 London, S.E. 
 
 March 31^-/, 1871. 
 
 My Dear Brother John, 
 
 Our poor old Annie t died yesterday, 
 I think painlessly — so ending a life of 
 very good work, in the service of other 
 people ; and, as far as I know, without 
 having in the whole course of it done 
 any harm to a human creature ; or re- 
 
 * See Preeterita, it, p. 373. Sir John Simon was 
 knighted in 1887. 
 
 t "The one I practically and truly miss most, next 
 to father and mother, is this Anne, my father's nurse, 
 and mine." [See Preeterita^ vol. i. p, 33 et seq.\ 
 
so LETTERS OF 
 
 ceived much benefit, beyond bread 
 and meat, from any one. 
 
 She died, I suppose in a minute or 
 two, all by herself; and I hope dreamily 
 — else she would be pained by not 
 having me to say good-bye to. 
 
 Would you please give me just a line 
 saying you knew she had cancer, and 
 must die, some day, — to show the 
 coroner ? 
 
 Ever your loving 
 
 J. R[uskin]. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Mr. J. Godfrey Gribble. 
 
 CORPTTS CHRISTI COLLEGE, 
 
 Oxford. 
 February loth, 1872. 
 
 J. Godfrey Gribble, Esq. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am indeed aware that printing 
 and paper making machines are made 
 of iron. I am aware also, which you 
 perhaps are not, that ploughshares and 
 knives and forks are. And I am aware, 
 which you certainly are not, that I am 
 writing with an iron pen. And you 
 will find in Fors Clavigera^ and in all 
 my other writings, which you may have 
 
52 LETTERS OF 
 
 done me the honour to read, that my 
 statement is that things which have to 
 do the work of iron should be made of 
 iron — and things which have to do the 
 work of wood should be made of wood ; 
 — but that (for instance) hearts should 
 not be made of iron, nor heads of 
 wood ; and this last statement you may 
 wisely consider, when next it enters 
 into yours to ask questions. 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 J. RUSKIN.* 
 
 * The above scathing epistle was written in reply to 
 the following letter, addressed to Mr. Ruskin by Mr. 
 Godfrey Gribble :— 
 
 21, Clapham Road, S.W, 
 
 February Zth, 1872. 
 John Ruskin, LL.D. 
 
 Sir, 
 As a reader of Fors Clavigera and others of your 
 works, may I ask a question or two relative to some 
 statements you have made in this month's number of 
 Fors ? 
 
 In the Notes and Correspondence you invite our 
 attention to a notice which is sent out with each revised 
 volume of your Works, in one place of which you say 
 that the price of each volume will be " half a guinea 
 for those without plates, and a guinea for the illustrated 
 ones." You immediately follow upon this by saying 
 you will sell them for 9.?. 6d. the plain volumes, and 
 iqs. the illustrated ones. Now what does this mean, 
 when there is to be no abatement ? May I also ask if 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 53 
 
 all your former works are to be issued upon this your 
 method of political economy, and are they to be re- 
 titled and volumed ? 
 
 One more question. Since you disparage so much 
 Iron and its manufacture, may it be asked how your 
 books are printed, and how is their paper made ? 
 Probably you are aware that both printing and paper- 
 making machines are made of that material. 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 J. Godfrey Gribble. 
 
54 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To The Author of a pamphlet on 
 Wages. ^ 
 
 Herne Hill, 
 
 London. 
 January $th, 1874. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have been much interested by 
 your pamphlet on Wages, which I 
 suppose your publisher sent me by 
 your direction. As I observe you 
 honour me by quoting a sentence of 
 mine in it, you will perhaps pardon my 
 intruding a question on you privately, 
 which otherwise I should only have 
 
 * This letter has already been printed in Poet-Lore. 
 July 1 891, Vol. iii, pp. 361-362. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 55 
 
 ventured to state in any notice I may 
 have to take of this important address 
 in pubHc. 
 
 You Hmit your estimates and en- 
 quiries (as far as I can see) to the 
 profit and loss, prosperity or depres- 
 sion, of the iron trade only. Have 
 you arrived at any conclusions as to 
 the effect of that trade on other busi- 
 nesses? For instance : in consequence 
 of its flourishing condition, I pay twice 
 as much for the fire by which I am 
 writing as I did last year. You exa- 
 mine the effect of that rise of price on 
 the coal owner ; and you congratulate 
 him and the country generally on his 
 better remuneration. But you do not 
 examine the effect of the change on 
 me^ nor congratulate me. Again. The 
 sum I pay extra for firing is withdrawn 
 from that which I am able to spend on 
 art patronage. The coal owner be- 
 comes the art patron, instead of me. 
 Have you examined the effect upon the 
 
56 LETTERS OF 
 
 art of the country which is Ukely to 
 result from making the coal owner its 
 patron, instead of the persons who are 
 occupied in the study of it? Again. 
 You speak of iron as if it were always 
 useful. 
 
 Can you give me any estimate of 
 the capital sunk unproductively in the 
 merely ornamental iron railings of 
 London ; — or perhaps it will be better 
 to say, the iron railings* simply; — I 
 suppose it would be difficult to separate 
 the cost of ornamentation with any 
 definiteness from that of general make. 
 But I have long wished to obtain from 
 some competent authority a rough 
 estimate of the total sum thus with- 
 drawn from productive labour. 
 
 These three questions are strictly 
 only branches of the main one ; the 
 eifect of the iron and coal trade on 
 other trades or occupations. 
 
 * The " Iron railings " problem is a favourite one of 
 Mr. Ruskin's.- See Fors Clavigera, S^c. 
 
JOHN R US KIN. S7 
 
 But I permit myself one more en- 
 quiry in another direction. You point 
 with exultation to the various incapa- 
 cities of Belgium and Russia for pro- 
 duction of Iron : do you think, then, 
 that if a little more iron existed in those 
 countries, or in the world generally; 
 and if Belgians and Russians were less 
 stupid than they are, the British Na- 
 tion would find existence impossible — 
 or even greatly inconvenienced by the 
 increased sagacity and wealth of its 
 neighbours ? And might not the sen- 
 tence in the close of your address con- 
 cerning the dignity of those who are 
 the least dependent upon the favours 
 of others, be advisably coupled with 
 an assertion of the dignity of those who 
 are least dependent on the stupidity of 
 others ? 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your faithful Servant, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
58 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 To Mr. W. Walker.* 
 
 Florence, 
 September 20///, 1874. 
 
 Dear Mr. Walker, 
 
 I got your obliging note all right. I 
 should have acknowledged it before, 
 but wanted to say a word about interest 
 for which I only to-day find time. Your 
 position and knowledge give you so 
 great an advantage in thinking of these 
 things, that if you will observe only 
 two great final primal facts — you are 
 sure to come to a just conclusion. 
 
 Interest is always either Usury on 
 
 * Mr. William Walker, of the Union Bank of 
 London ; one of the Auditors of the accounts of the St. 
 George's Guild. This letter has been printed in 
 Igdrasil, for December 1891, pp. 226-227. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 59 
 
 loan, or Tax on industry (of course 
 often both, and much more) — but 
 always one of these 1 
 
 I get interest either by lending or 
 investing. If I take interest on invest- 
 ment I tax industry. 
 
 A railroad dividend is a tax on its 
 servants — ultimately — a tax on the 
 traveller — or on the safety of his life — 
 (I mean you get your dividend by 
 leaving him in danger). 
 
 You will find there is absolutely no 
 reason why a railroad should pay a 
 dividend more than the pavement of 
 Fleet Street. 
 
 The profit of a contractor — as of a 
 turnpike man — or paviour — is not a 
 dividend — but the average of a chance 
 business profit. 
 
 Of course, I may tax Theft as one of 
 the forms of industry — Gambling, &c. 
 — that is a further point. Keep to the 
 simple one. To make money either 
 by lending or taxing is a sin. If people 
 
6o LETTERS OF 
 
 really ought to have money lent to 
 them — do it gratis, — and if not, it is a 
 double sin to lend it them for pay. 
 
 The commercial result of taking no 
 interest would be : First that rogues and 
 fools could not borrow, therefore could 
 not waste or make away with money. 
 
 The second, — that the money which 
 was accumulated in the chests of the 
 rich, would be fructifying in the hands 
 of the active and honest poor. 
 
 Of course the wealth of the country, 
 on these conditions, would be treble 
 what it is. Interest of money is, in a 
 word, a tax by the idle on the busy ; 
 and by the rogue on the honest man. 
 
 Not one farthing of money is ever 
 made by hiterest. 
 
 Get that well into your head. It is 
 all taken by the idle rich out of the 
 pockets of the poor, or of the really 
 active persons in commerce. 
 Truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN R US KIN. 6 1 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 To A Correspondent. 
 
 Corpus Christi College, 
 Oxford. 
 February 19M, 1875. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 These drawings show very great 
 drawing-faculty, and a subtle power 
 of appreciation ; but not enough inde- 
 pendence. The imitations of Turner 
 are far better than most imitations — 
 but do not imitate either him or any one 
 else. You have got his manner of 
 foliage excellently, and this manner will 
 be useful in drawing from nature ; but 
 always be as like the facts, and as little 
 mannered, as you can. 
 
 R 
 
62 LETTERS OF 
 
 The drawing from the guardsman is 
 very good — but Mr. Poynter knows 
 nothing of light and shade, and lets 
 his pupils scribble about with black 
 whenever they are working. Learn 
 first to draw any object honestly — after 
 that, men or trees as you like. 
 
 Study only from the Venetians — 
 Perugino, and Turner. A study of the 
 hands of Tobit and the Angel in the 
 National Gallery would soon show you 
 what light and shade is. 
 
 I write quite at random, forgetting at 
 present the contents of your letter. 
 
 I enclose this with the drawings. 
 Ever very truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN R US KIN. 63 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 To Mr. Egbert Rydings.* 
 
 Corpus Christi College, 
 Oxford. 
 June 18M, 1875. 
 
 Mr. Egbert Rydings. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am much interested in your letter. 
 In the strongest conviction, I would 
 assert that the father should never pro- 
 vide for the children. He is to educate 
 them and maintain them to the very 
 best of his power, till they are of 
 
 * Mr. Egbert Rydings (of Laxey, Isle of Man) 
 devoted much attention to the encouragement and 
 revival of "the venerable art" of spinning, in that 
 Island, as urged by Mr. Ruskin in the pages of Fors 
 Clavigera. [See Studies in Ruskin, by E. T. Cook, 
 pp. 173-172.] 
 
64 LETTERS OF 
 
 mature age — ?iever live upo?i them in 
 their youth (damned modernism eats 
 its own children young, and excuses its 
 own avarice by them when they are 
 old !). 
 
 When they are strong, throw them 
 out of the nest, as the bird does. But 
 let the nest be always open to them. 
 No guilt should ever stand between 
 child and parent. Doors always open 
 to daughter harlot, or son thief, if they 
 come ! But no fortunes left to them. 
 Father's house open, nothing more. 
 
 Honourable children will have their 
 own houses ; and, if need be, provide 
 for their parents — not the parents for 
 them. 
 
 Ever truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 65 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley.* 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNisTON, Lancashire. 
 
 October ^h^ 1875. 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 I forgot to ask in my last, if you 
 have received a case containing a 
 picture from Mr. Merritt ? It may be 
 opened, and the picture, which is 
 Florentine, left for the present at the 
 schools. Mr. Macdonald t will perhaps 
 be interested in it. It has good 
 
 * Mr. Frederick Crawley, now of Oxford ; for many 
 years Mr. Ruskin's confidential servant, and personal 
 attendant. 
 
 t Mr. Alexander Macdonald, Mr. Ruskin's assistant 
 at the Drawing School, Oxford, of which he is now 
 master. 
 
66 LETTERS OF 
 
 qualities, though none first rate. It 
 belongs to Mr. Norton,* and must be 
 taken good care of. 
 
 In case Dr. Acland is enquiring 
 when I am coming, please say I shall 
 get into Oxford I hope about the 
 end of this month ; and shall give three 
 lectures a week, for four weeks, on 
 Modern Painters. 
 
 Give my love to Mr. Macdonald, and 
 I am always 
 
 Your affectionate Master, 
 J. R[uskin]. 
 
 * Prof. C. E. Norton, of America. — See Prceterita, 
 iii, pp. 90-99. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 67 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 To Mr. Frederick Gale.* 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNisTON, Lancashire. 
 July 2nd^ 1878. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gale, 
 
 I was at first very grieved at the 
 thought of your going to Australia, 
 even for ever so short a time ; not 
 only because of my own loss — but 
 because I thought the papers you 
 were occasionally now writing in our 
 periodicals were so exactly what was 
 chiefly wanted in the present state of 
 
 * Mr. Frederick Gale, a great cricketer, and brother- 
 in-law to Mr. Arthur Severn. He wrote a good deal for 
 Bailey's Magazine, under the noni de plume of the 
 "OldBuflfer." 
 
68 LETTERS OF 
 
 English society, both to warn and 
 stimulate us. 
 
 But what I feel in my own case may 
 be also true in yours, — that the ant- 
 agonism, or at least the hubbub, of 
 other voices prevents, among us, any 
 quietude of common sense from ob- 
 taining a hearing ; and if, indeed, over 
 there in Australia the instruction of 
 harder and simpler life has already so 
 far prevailed that the voice of Old 
 England, as you interpret it, may yet 
 be there understood, — I quite feel that 
 you do wisely and well in taking such 
 missionary office. 
 
 You and I agree so utterly in all 
 our views of life, and its duties and 
 pleasures, that it would be gratuitous 
 and ridiculous in me to say what I 
 think of your teaching, political and 
 other ; and I do not know if I keep 
 within the limits of modesty in wishing 
 you success, seeing that I would fain 
 be following in your track, if I had the 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 69 
 
 spirit and zeal to do so. Any way, I 
 hope you will soon come back to us. 
 
 And remain, wherever you are— 
 or go, 
 
 Your faithful and grateful friend, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 Frederick Gale, Esq. 
 
LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 To Mr. E. S. Dallas. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 
 July %th, 1878. 
 
 My Dear Dallas, 
 
 I am sincerely obliged to you for 
 your kind letter ; but I trust there will 
 be no need to relieve the anxiety of 
 my friends by the intrusion of bulletins 
 on public notice. 
 
 I have got into quiet work again, 
 and from time to time I hope that a 
 number of Deucalion or Fesole will 
 assure the people who care for me that 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 71 
 
 I am still moderately well, and partially 
 sane.* 
 
 It is pleasant to hear of such clear 
 and bright sunset life as Lady Wood's. 
 For the question about the green 
 Venetian blind I have no doubt it was 
 used, as the girl's apron which Lady 
 Wood will find noticed in the Flint 
 Castle — painful in itself, but having 
 lovely results on the rest of the picture. 
 While Turner was alive, his eccen- 
 tricities were too provoking to the 
 public to be forgiven, and the reasons 
 of them were never looked for. But his 
 best pictures were those which needed 
 neither forgiveness nor patience. 
 
 Returning for a moment to myself, 
 I must further say that though I hope 
 to be able for quiet work in future, I 
 must never again risk the grief and 
 
 * This letter was written by Mr. Ruskln immediately 
 upon recovering from his first serious mind-illness, 
 referred to in the first two editions of Turner Notes, 
 1878. In this same month {July, 1878) Part v. of 
 Deticalion, and Part ii. of The Laws of Fesolc were 
 published ; Part iii. of the latter appearing in the 
 following October. 
 
72 LETTERS OF 
 
 passion of writing on policy or charity j 
 and scarcely permit myself the excite- 
 ment of correspondence, much less 
 that of society. But I would not have 
 it thought that I have grown sullen, 
 or that I regret anything that I have 
 said or intended. I merely miscounted 
 my days, and over-rated my strength — 
 but am as much as ever my friends' 
 and yours. 
 
 Faithfully and affectionately, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOH}\ RUSKIN. 73 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood^ 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 
 December i()th, 1878. 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 The box with the fibrous silvers 
 and thin agates arrived quite safely 
 yesterday, which much pleased me, 
 as I feared the fibrous silvers would 
 necessarily suffer : and the thin agates 
 were ticklish. 
 
 I send cheque for ;^35, carrying 
 the 175. 4^. to next account; and give 
 your children the five pounds in any 
 Christmas form you like best. 
 
 I am keeping fairly well, and doing 
 
74 LETTERS OF 
 
 nothing to hurt myself, — yet always a 
 little, here and there. 
 
 I am very glad to hear you are so 
 well forward with the chalcedonies. 
 Send me that Quaritch parcel. I may 
 still do some work in Oxford, but shall 
 never do any more of my own work 
 there, — so that I shall keep the rooms 
 habitable, and no more. 
 
 I wish you a pleasant Christmas, 
 And am, 
 Your affectionate Master, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 75 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNisTON, Lancashire. 
 January 9M, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 Everything has come perfectly safe — 
 books, and cases of prints in wood. 
 Please now, as you have time, send me 
 the photos from outer room, in the 
 parcels they are arranged in; and the 
 St Louis and Dover frames from the 
 window seat. I fear some damp may 
 have got at them. 
 
 I should be glad if Mr. Fisher (to 
 whom my best regards, as well as kind 
 memory to Mr. Stacey) would allow 
 
76 LETTERS OF 
 
 you to look over the new Turner 
 drawings. I am particularly anxious to 
 have the exquisite unpublished Seine 
 over instantly, under glass, and out of 
 harm's way.* 
 
 Where are Dr. Acland and Mr. 
 Macdonald ? 
 
 Ever your affectionate Master, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 * Mr. Ruskin has here drawn a rough pen and ink 
 sketch of Turnei's Seine. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. yj 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 
 Jtme ']th, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 I don't understand why you say you 
 have sent only one vol. of Voyages dans 
 les Alpes : surely all are at Oxford ! 
 
 Send me, at leisure, all my draw- 
 ings and sketch-books — Venetian and 
 others; and very quietly and unhurriedly 
 pack my specimens of Gold, that will 
 move without much trouble, leaving 
 the trembling thin plates alone ; — I will 
 not move any of my fragile minerals 
 from Oxford. Nor the thread silvers — 
 
 X 
 
78 LETTERS OF 
 
 nor any that are difficult to pack ; but 
 whatever silver paper and wool will 
 ensure the safety of, send me here. 
 
 Observe also the danger of fine edges. 
 There is a piece of rolled gold in green 
 rock, in one drawer, which has fine 
 edge in the richest part : don't try to 
 pack that — nor any that you are not 
 sure of 
 
 In one of the drawers I think you 
 will find a little box — marked, T. A. 
 Readwin — a pasteboard box, with slid- 
 ing interior. Pack this with great care, 
 and send to T. A. Readwin, Esq., 
 Tuebrook, Liverpool. — Registering of 
 course. 
 
 Also — I want my old Arabian 
 Nights with brown and gold binding. 
 There are only three volumes, one is 
 lost. 
 
 Always faithfully yours, 
 
 J. R[uskin]. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 79 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 
 [December, 1879.] 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 Both the silver in the box, and the 
 delicate gold came perfectly safe. But 
 though I am glad to have that silver, it 
 is not the one I want — but a smooth 
 crystal of carbonate of lime, with the 
 silver on it like small twigs of moss. It 
 must be among the larger specimens at 
 the bottom, and will need lots of wool 
 round softest paper. 
 
 Are there not a lot of Flora Danica 
 supplements bound ? 
 
8o LETTERS OF 
 
 The weather here has been pleasant 
 frost, and very bright. We all drove 
 to Tilberthwaite lower bridge the day 
 before yesterday ; walked up the bed 
 of the stream among the icicles and 
 picniced on the grass under the slate 
 quarry. 
 
 I had a bit of a cold a fortnight ago ; 
 but Dr. Parsons * cured it directly, and 
 everybody is well now. To-day how- 
 ever is black, with heavy snow, after 
 the loveliest day yesterday I ever saw 
 in December. When I say * all well,' 
 I mean, for myself, as well as I've been 
 since my illness.t But I can't get up in 
 the morning as I used to do. 
 
 Always your affectionate Master, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 * Dr. Parsons has now for many years been Mr. 
 Ruskin's medical attendant at Brantwood. 
 
 t The ' illness' of 1878, already referred to on p. 71. 
 
JOHN RVSKIN. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 January 2$ih, [1880.] 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 I think it possible you may like to 
 keep Miss Yule's letter, and therefore 
 return it. 
 
 Please, I want the quarto Greek 
 Testament manuscript — with golden 
 letters in many places, two columns of 
 text — from my bookcase next the door. 
 You must get a box made, so it may as 
 well be big enough for the Romance 
 of Rose MS. too, which should be in 
 
 Y 
 
82 LETTERS OF 
 
 compartment furthest from window of 
 the great bookcase. 
 
 I miss a drawing of my Florentine 
 book, Helena Rapita da Paris.* Please 
 ask Mr. Macdonald if I gave it to the 
 schools : if so, all is right. 
 
 Please find the three vols, of Lord 
 Lindsay,t in inner room I think, and 
 send them to — 
 
 Mrs. Talbot, X 
 
 Ehn Wood, 
 
 Bridgwater, 
 
 Somerset. 
 
 I enjoyed the frost very much 'till I 
 got a sharp fall on the ice, which hurt 
 my left wrist a Httle, so that I'm afraid 
 to slide any more. It would never do 
 
 * This was a rare book of sepia drawings, old 
 Florentine — said to be by Mantegna and Botticelli. 
 Mr. Ruskin is reported to have given £x ,000 for it, the 
 British Museum refusing to buy it. But some few 
 years ago he, at their urgent request, consented to let 
 them have it. 
 
 t Lord Lindsay's Christian Art. 
 
 X Mrs. Talbot was a member of St. George's Guild, 
 and is referred to in Fors Clavigera, and also in 
 Pratej-ita, i. 124. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 83 
 
 to sprain my right ; and since then I'm 
 jealous of the people on the lake, and 
 rather shivering and miserable — but 
 glad it holds on, for the wonder of it. 
 Ever your affectionate Master, 
 
 J. R[uskin]. 
 
84 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 January i2>th, [i88i.] 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 Three boxes of minerals : two some 
 days back, one to-day. The Lisbon^ 
 engravings, and frames have all come 
 safe. One glass broken only, and that 
 on a print of no importance. The 
 views not yet unpacked will, I am sure, 
 be all right. Many thanks for all your 
 care. 
 
 I keep wonderfully well, but can't get 
 up in the morning — lively enough in the 
 day. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN, 85 
 
 Lake frozen into one perfect sheet 
 yesterday an inch thick. I could only 
 break my way, with butt end of oar, a 
 boat's length out of the harbour in half 
 an hour. Had the frost held six hours 
 longer, I could have walked across to 
 Coniston Hall ; with the men pulling 
 the boat on the ice after me, in case 
 of a flaw anywhere. But thaw came 
 yesterday afternoon. It looks like 
 freezing again to-night, however. 
 
 Always your affectionate Master, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 The letter from Miss Yule was very 
 pleasant. 
 
86 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 7<? Miss Gatty. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNisTON, Lancashire. 
 Saturday^ July 2/\thy 1 88 1 . 
 
 Dear Miss Gatty, 
 
 I did not answer your note instantly, 
 in the hope of being able to make some 
 useful suggestion; or, at least, to ex- 
 press a definitely hopeful sympathy in 
 the new plans. But I have not been 
 able to go into them, and I can only 
 assure you that I am quite willing to 
 guarantee the hundred pounds in case 
 of failure j and that I entirely approve 
 the idea of giving only one good wood- 
 cut monthly by way of a picture. But 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. %-] 
 
 it does seem to me that for rapid line 
 illustration of text, like a scratch in a 
 letter to explain it, no present publica- 
 tion has attempted what might greatly 
 please a rational reader, with scarcely 
 any cost. 
 
 Also, you must not depend on your 
 sister,* nor on any other star-writer. 
 Your articles must be kept at a fair 
 level. I think they have been so 
 indeed. But it should be more and 
 more your aim to get wide help. 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 P.S. — This note will, I hope, be 
 accepted by Mr. Bogue as sufficient 
 guarantee; but I will sign any paper 
 you like to send me.t 
 
 * Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing. 
 
 t This letter was occasioned by the need of a 
 guarantee fund to keep Atint Judy's Magazine going. 
 David Bogue was the publisher. 
 
LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 To Mr. F. Crawley. 
 
 Abbey of Talloires. 
 November 14///, 1882. 
 
 My Dear Crawley, 
 
 I think you will be interested in 
 hearing that I am just settled by my 
 wood-fireside, in my own room here, 
 after getting through the Mont Cenis 
 from Lucca, and that I am settled for a 
 week — with more pleasure than I ever 
 expected to find again anywhere. I 
 came from Annecy to-day in time for 
 a climb to the great waterfall before 
 dinner, and feel very much like — 
 twenty years ago. 
 
 Somehow, I never fancy that yoti 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 89 
 
 can be older, or Allen — or anybody 
 but myself — than we all were, then ! 
 
 I have not told you that I went to 
 Mornex * on a bright September after- 
 noon (the 8th) : lunched in the old 
 bouse : and called on Franceline t in 
 hers ! She certainly does look older. 
 The people of the village have not 
 forgotten us ; and travellers often 
 come to see where we lived. 
 
 As soon as I have had my week of 
 climbing here (I mean to be up to the 
 Rochers de Laufons again, D.V.), I 
 come straight home, lecturing in 
 London on the 4th. J I may perhaps 
 get a glimpse of you all at Oxford, 
 before going north. 
 
 Ever your affectionate Master, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 *■ Mr. Ruskin lived there during the autumn and 
 winter of 1862-1863. 
 
 t Franceline, a farmer's daughter, and at one time 
 waitress at the inn at Mornex. 
 
 X Mr. Ruskin delivered a lecture on Cistercian 
 Architecttire at the London Institution, Finsbury 
 Circus, on Monday^ December \th, 1882. 
 
 A A 
 
90 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 7<? Miss Beaumont. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNisTON, Lancashire. 
 
 July 2^rd, 1884. 
 
 Dear Miss Beaumont, 
 
 I have just received the cuttings 
 for Mr. Thomas and cannot easily 
 tell you how much they delight me. 
 Please tell me at what price I may 
 sell them, and make me some more 
 as soon as you can. I particularly 
 want a pig, and I think some rabbits 
 might be made very comic — and the 
 rest of the next dozen I should like all 
 birds — above all a fine eagle and griffin 
 vulture — You of course will charge 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 91 
 
 more for larger and more elaborate 
 pieces. 
 
 But I think your talent is far above 
 this work and I want you to send me a 
 sketch or two in colour from nature — 
 not memory — taking your colour box 
 and pocket book to the garden and 
 sketching any attitude that interests 
 you with your best speed. Your cow 
 and calf are quite beautiful pieces of 
 painting — and so is the macaw, and I 
 believe you can be a painter as soon as 
 you please. Tell me any difficulties 
 you feel, or any way in which I can 
 assist you — the enclosed note to 
 Messrs. Newman will put you at ease 
 as to materials. 
 
 And believe me faithfully yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
92 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 To Miss Waldron. 
 
 Brantwood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 
 March 2/^th, 1885. 
 
 Dear Miss Waldron, 
 
 The law of England is absolutely 
 one with the moral law in all its 
 enactments respecting parental autho- 
 rity. It certainly would not sanction 
 a compulsory marriage. Obedience, 
 both to God and our parents, means 
 essentially Love. Love and honour 
 your Father and Mother, — obey them, 
 in all their just pleasure. But you 
 are yourself wholly responsible for the 
 charge of your body and soul. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 93 
 
 The rules of the St. George's Guild 
 are embodied in its vow, which I have 
 ordered to be sent you. They are 
 summed in living honestly and use- 
 fully. 
 
 Ever your faithful Servant, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 B B 
 
94 
 
 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 To Mr. F. H. Butler. 
 
 Brantvvood, 
 CoNisTON, Lancashire. 
 
 [March ^th, 1886.] 
 
 Dear Butler, 
 
 I can't afford this big bill just now : 
 how these blessed little sixpences do 
 add up ! I am going to bring it down 
 to ;£'5, — sending you the slices and 
 carnelian agates &c. back. But I 
 haven't had time to look them over 
 yet — I hope to do so to-day — anyhow 
 here's promise of my best attention. But 
 as a rule please don't send me glass 
 cases. It's not only the time my 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 95 
 
 servant has to give to repacking, but 
 the nervousness about such things is 
 quite as seriously bad for me as about 
 greater matters. You should have, I 
 think, solid wood for all your corre- 
 spondents, — for myself, I'll send you 
 some. 
 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 J. R[uskin]. 
 
 P.S. — I wrote as above before read- 
 ing yours. I see with shame I am in 
 your debt — the cheque shall be for 
 £^ 12S. 6d, 
 
 I am glad to hear of your brother's 
 book, but, alas ! take no interest in 
 any eggs 'till boiled. 
 
96 LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 To A Correspondent.* 
 
 Brantvvood, 
 CoNiSTON, Lancashire. 
 
 May 29///, 1889. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Not only am I grateful for your letter 
 and enclosed bit of newspaper; but 
 they came precisely when I want to 
 learn all I can of what has been doing, 
 or undoing, since I was last at Sheffield. 
 
 I will answer the main point you 
 enquire about to-morrow, having no 
 time to read the article to-day ; but, in 
 glancing at it, I see one statement which 
 should be corrected at once. / am 
 not the owner of the farm in question : 
 the St. George's Guild is. 
 
 * This letter has already been printed (with some 
 textual variations) in Rieskiniana, 1890, Part i, p. 67. 
 
JOHN RUSKIN. 97 
 
 What legal forms exist, inconve- 
 niencing my action, or yours, I don't 
 know — and never could know — as I 
 waste no moment of life that I can 
 save, in reading the obscure language 
 of British law ; but assuredly / get no 
 good of the land — but have, on the 
 contrary, paid constant annual losses 
 on it. 
 
 Secondly. — Mr. Riley was no friend 
 oi mine. I tried him as an exponent 
 of modern liberalism, and was as little 
 pleased with the result as the members 
 of your league were ! 
 
 I will conclude my reply to-morrow. 
 You may print this beginning (and the 
 end I shall print myself, if you do not) 
 when and wherever you like ; as any- 
 body else may, whatever I write, at 
 any time, or say — if only they don't 
 leave out the bits they don't like ! 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 John Ruskin. 
 
 c c 
 
LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 To Colonel Robertson. 
 
 yDate unknown,^ 
 
 Dear Colonel Robertson, 
 
 It may perhaps be useful to you to 
 have the Copy you sent me of your 
 scheme of Education, so I return it. It 
 is very good ', but, Uke the scheme of a 
 battle, will I suppose lead in the course 
 of it to unforeseen eventualities. I don't 
 know if in my last letter I said how 
 strongly I felt that a boy's likings ought 
 to be consulted in every way. Teach 
 a duck always to swim — but don't allow 
 it to swim inelegantly. Put its whole 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 99 
 
 strength and self command into its 
 swimming. People are always trying 
 nowadays to teach ducks to fly and 
 swallows to swim. 
 
 Most truly Yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
lOo LETTERS OF 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 To Prof. Richard Owen. 
 
 Denmark Hill, 
 London, S.E. 
 
 May I2t/i, i8— .•^ 
 
 Dear Professor Owen, 
 
 How often have I been coming to 
 find you, to thank you for your kind- 
 ness — and every day passed and I could 
 not — and still put ofif writing, and at 
 last got laid by with cold. And now I 
 must forthwith get across the water, and 
 shall not see you till my return. I 
 have always, however, a dim feeling 
 that the best expression of thanks is to 
 
 * This letter may have been written in 1858, in which 
 year Mr. Riiskin went abroad, and did good work at 
 Turin (see Prceterita, iii. 44-48). However, as this 
 date is exceedingly problematical, the letter has been 
 placed at the close of the present series. 
 
JOHN RUSK IN. 10 1 
 
 give you no trouble that I can help, 
 even in reading a note. So I will only 
 say in briefest terms that you made me 
 very happy, and that of all this long 
 winter in London — there will remain 
 few things to me so pleasant to 
 remember as the walk in the park : the 
 pleasant dinner with its pretty pause of 
 hospitality : and the reading of Vivien. — 
 I wish I could hear the lectures on the 
 Birds. But I am ordered to migrate 
 instantly ; with some hope, however, of 
 return in the summer. I've got some 
 work about fresco to do in Italy, which 
 may make me long for a sea breeze and 
 a green field. Remember me gratefully 
 to Mrs. Owen, and heartily to your son. 
 And believe me. 
 Ever faithfully and respectfully yours, 
 
 J. RUSKIN. 
 
 Richard Owen, Esq. , &'c. , <&^r. , &'c. 
 
 I can't fancy any " titles " that are 
 not impertinences. 
 
 D D 
 
icrratum. 
 
 This Imprint should read : 
 ' ' Privately Printed : 1 892. " 
 
It^f'^