INTRODUCTION TO VOL. XXXIII THIS volume includes The Bible of Amiens and subsidiary matter, with the lectures delivered by Ruskin during his second tenure of the Slade Professorship at Oxford. The contents are I. The Bible of Amiens (published at intervals between 1880 and 1885). II. This book on Amiens was to have been the first part of a long series of studies which, under the general title of Our Fathers have Told Us, was to have included sketches of Christian history and architecture, grouped round various local centres. Only a few other chapters were, however, written; and these form the second section of the present volume. III. The Art of England, lectures delivered at Oxford in 1883. IV. The Pleasures of England, lectures delivered at Oxford in October and November 1884, with additions (not hitherto printed) from Ruskin's MSS; and lastly, V. reports of Ruskin's Final Lectures at Oxford, delivered in November and December 1884. The StormCloud of the Nineteenth Century, two lectures delivered in London in February 1884, is, for reasons of space, held over for the next volume. The contents of the present volume thus cover Ruskin's work during the years 1880-1884. In preceding volumes in this edition (XXVI.-XXXII.) the chronological order has sometimes been superseded in favour of connected topics; for Vols. XXVI.-XXXI. include the completion (at later dates) of books begun in earlier years, while Vol. XXXII. contains matter (also of a later date) closely allied in purpose to its predecessor. In this Introduction, the story of Ruskin's life is resumed from the point at which it was left in Vol. XXV. (p. xxviii.)-namely, his serious illness in 1878-and is carried down to his final resignation of the Oxford Professorship in March 1885. The years now to be covered divide themselves into three well-marked periods: (1) Ruskin's gradual recovery from illness and his resumption of various literary undertakings, broken by two illnesses of a like kind, in the springs of 1881 and 1882 respectively; (2) a long foreign tour in the autumn of 1882, which gave him a new lease of life and strength; (3) and his consequent resumption of the Slade Professorship at Oxford during 1883 and 1884.1 1 As the present volume does not contain the whole of Ruskin's writings between his resumption of work in 1878 and the end of 1884, it may be convenient to give here a list of the principal pieces which, though published during that period, are xix printed in other volumes. The dates are those of Ruskin's writings, or (where these are unknown) of their publication :— 1878. July. Deucalion, Part v. (Vol. XXVI.). Laws of Fésole, Part ii. (Vol. XV.). October. Laws of Fésole, Part iii. (Vol. XV.). November, December. The Three Colours of Pre-Raphaelitism. (Reserved for 1879. January and April. Proserpina, Parts v. and vi. (Vol. XXV.). February. St. George's Guild, Master's Report (Vol. XXX.). April and July. St. Mark's Rest, Part iii. and Second Supplement (Vol. XXIV.). July-September (and June 1880). Letters to the Clergy. (Reserved for On the October. Deucalion, Part vi. (Vol. XXVI.). December. Notes on Prout and Hunt (Vol. XIV.). 1880. February. Usury: a Reply and a Rejoinder. (Reserved for On the Old Road, Vol. XXXIV.) Seven Lamps of Architecture, new notes and Preface (Vol. VIII.). March and September. Fors Clavigera, Letters 88, 89 (Vol. XXIX.). April. A Joy for Ever, new Preface and additions (Vol. XVI.). June, August, September, and November. Fiction, Fair and Foul, i.-iv. (Reserved for On the Old Road, Vol. XXXIV.) July. Deucalion, Part vii. (Vol. XXVI.). September. Elements of English Prosody (Vol. XXXI.). Preface and Epilogue to Arrows of the Chace (Vol. XXXIV.). December. Bible of Amiens, Part i. 1881. October. Fiction, Fair and Foul, v. (Reserved for On the Old Road, Vol. XXXIV.). November. Love's Meinie, Part iii. (Vol. XXV.). Stones of Venice, Traveller's Edition, vol. ii., with new chapter "(Vol. XI.). November and December. Bible of Amiens, Parts ii. and iv. 1882. February. St. George's Guild, General Statement (Vol. XXX.). Bible of Amiens, Part iii. 1883. February. Catalogue of Minerals, Reigate (Vol. XXVI.). April. Modern Painters, vol. ii., new Preface, notes, etc. (Vol. IV.). Deucalion, Part viii. (Vol. XXVI.). May, June, July, November. Art of England, Lectures i.-vi. May, September, and December. Fors Clavigera, Letters 91-93 (Vol. XXIX.). Vol. XXXIV.) 1884. January. Preface to Collingwood's Limestone Alps of Savoy (Vol. XXVI.). March, October, and December. Fors Clavigera, Letters 94, 95, 96 (Vol. XXX.). May. The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century (Vol. XXXIV.). Catalogue of Minerals, Kirkcudbright (Vol. XXVI.). July. Art of England, Appendix. April, July, September, October. Roadside Songs of Tuscany, Parts i.-iv. (Vol. XXXII.). August. Catalogue of Silica, British Museum (Vol. XXVI.). October. On Distinctions of Form in Silica (Vol. XXVI.). October and November. Pleasures of England, Lectures i. and ii. December. Preface to Chesneau's English School of Painting (Vol. XXXIV.). 1885. February and April. Pleasures of England, Lectures iii. and iv. 1878-1882 Ruskin was, as we have seen, very seriously ill in February 1878 with an attack of brain-fever.1 Early in April he was able to leave his bed, and by July he could report himself as "having got into quiet work again," though conscious that he must not "again risk the grief and passion of writing on policy." The quiet work consisted largely of studies of rocks and flowers, for during the latter months of 1878 and in 1879 he issued two Parts of Deucalion and one of Proserpina. In August he went with Mr. Arthur Severn to Malham, and presently he was well enough to pay some visits. In September he was in Scotland staying at Dunira with Mr. William Graham, and in October at Hawarden. His "health was better," and Mr. Gladstone noted that there was "no diminution of the charm" in "an unrivalled guest." His visit to Dunira is recorded in two pleasant papers which Ruskin contributed at this time to The Nineteenth Century, entitled The Three Colours of Pre-Raphaelitism. His doctors, as we have seen, forbade him to incur the excitement of giving evidence in his own behalf in the action which Whistler had brought against him (November 1878). Early in the following year, he was troubled with other legal proceedings. His name had been forged on various cheques, and he was called to London as a witness for the prosecution. "Being in very weak health," says the report of the proceedings, "Mr. Ruskin was allowed to give evidence from the bench."5 It was characteristic that when the prisoner had completed his sentence Ruskin gave him the means to start again in a better career. 3 The greater part of 1879 and the early months of 1880 were spent quietly at Brantwood, with occasional visits to London, Canterbury, Broadlands, and Sheffield. It was in October 1879 that he had the pleasure, as already related," of showing Prince Leopold over the St. George's Museum at Walkley. At Brantwood he received many friends, and Darwin, when staying at Coniston, came in sometimes to dinner. He had young artists to stay with him-Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Creswick among the number-and took pleasure in giving them encouragement. His private secretary at this time was Laurence Hilliard, "the cleverest and neatest-fingered boy," says a companion, 1 Vol. XXV. pp. xxv., xxvi. See, in a later volume, the letter to E. S. Dallas of July 8, 1878. * Extracts from Mr. Gladstone's Diary, quoted in Mr. George Wyndham's Preface to Letters to M. G. and H. G., 1903. 4 Vol. XXIX. p. xxii. Times, April 1, 1879. 66 "that ever rigged a model";1 and one of Ruskin's diversions was the designing of his little craft, the Jumping Jenny: she was launched at Easter 1879, with due ceremony (as Ruskin wrote to Professor Norton), with a wreath of daffodils round her bows, and the singing of a versicle written by her master for the occasion. She was Ruskin's own particular boat, and he had much pleasure in rowing her. In winter, when the lake was frozen, he was fond of sliding, and he records in Deucalion his close observation of phenomena of snow and ice. As soon as the spring and summer came he was busy in noting the first appearance of his favourite flowers, in searching for perfect blossoms, in painting studies of them. "Paradisiacal walk with Joanie and the children," he notes in his diary (May 2, 1880), among the anemones." "Room in perfect order," he says again (July 2), "and I wonderfully well. Joanie home quite well, and children happy-D.G.-and sun on fells, and a cranberry blossom in my saucer ready to be drawn. Found them yesterday, in breezy afternoon, on the hill, all sparkling like little rubies." He was ever discovering a new beauty, unseen before. Studied dew on Sweet William yesterday morning," he writes (August 11); "the divine crimson lighted by the fire of each minute lens. I never noticed this before-blind bat!" If he was puzzled by anything in his study of flowers or birds, he would row across the lake to drink tea with Miss Susan Beever-the "Susie" of his familiar letters, the friend of every bird and beast, and deeply versed in all plant-lore. He interested himself greatly also in the village school, planning lessons, arranging pictures, and giving treats. He would sometimes deliver little addresses to his friends and neighbours on these occasions. One such address-deeply religious in tone -has been printed, and is included in a later volume. At this time he used also to conduct family-prayers at Brantwood. Perhaps it was because he regarded himself as "a member of the Third Order of St. Francis," that he liked even the domestic animals of the family to be present. He prepared notes for Bible-readings, and wrote prayers for these occasions. 4 That extract above, "Room in perfect order," is characteristic. "Setting my rooms in order," he wrote in his autobiography, "has, throughout life, been an occasionally complacent recreation to me; but I have never succeeded in keeping them in order three days after 1 W. G. Collingwood, Ruskin Relics, p. 22. 2 See Vol. XXVI. p. 364 n. 3 See in a later volume the letter to Professor Norton of Easter Monday, 1879. 4 Vol. XXXIV. 'See Vol. XXIII. p. xlvii. Compare what he says in this connexion in his fourth Letter on the Lord's Prayer (Vol. XXXIV.). they were in it."1 "Study like a Carpaccio background to St. Jerome," he notes with satisfaction (February 10, 1880); but the study was a workroom, and as its master was in the habit of working at a dozen different subjects on as many successive days, the books, portfolios, pictures, and notebooks were quickly overlaid. Like many other book-buyers, he was in the habit from time to time of weeding out his library, and many a volume found its way to the auction-rooms containing his autograph or book-plate and a note of his reason for disposing of it.? The arrangement, and re-arrangement, of the drawings by Turner chosen for his bedroom was another recreation; there are some pages of his diary, filled with notes and diagrams for different schemes. The early morning task which Ruskin set himself at this period was the translation day by day of a piece from Plato's Laws; he made some progress with this (as already recorded), and intended to publish it. Another book which he had in his mind was to deal with Horace. "In reading Horace at breakfast," he notes (March 7, 1879), "planned the form in which to gather my work on him, to be called either Mella Matini or Exacta Vulturni, but I think the first." What form the book of Horatian studies was to take, the diaries do not show. They contain, however, occasional notes on lines or phrases,5 and in one of them there is a list of English titles for all the Odes. Ruskin also set a few of them to music. He describes himself at this time as being as lazy as possible; but Ruskin's eyes and mind were ever active, and he notes "crowding thoughts" and "unnumbered sights of lovely things" (April 29). In August 1880 Ruskin went to France in order to revisit some of the northern cathedrals, in view of the sketches of Christian History and Architecture which he had projected. He desired in particular to revisit Amiens, as he had promised to give a lecture on the Cathedral to the Eton boys. He did not leave other work behind, for the Preface 1 Præterita, ii. § 70. * See Vol. XXXIV. 3 See Vol. XXXI. p. xv. In the former title, he is thinking of Odes iv. 2, 27 ("Ego apis Matinæ," etc.: see Vol. XIX. p. 94); in the latter (for which "Exacta Vulturis" would be better), of Odes iii. 30, 1 ("Exegi monumentum," etc.) and iii. 4, 9 ("Me fabulosa Vulture in Apulo," etc.). As, for instance, on April 10, 1879, "Horace's definition of a gentleman: Est animus tibi: sunt mores et lingua, fidesque. I've learned this to-day, quite one of the most exhaustive verses in the world.' On May 3, 1883, he added, "Above bit of Horace comes in now providentially, for close of lecture on classic art." See below, p. 306 (where the bit is used at the beginning of the lecture). • See Vol. XXXIV. 7 See Vol. XXXI. pp. xxxv., 516. |