THE LIFE OF MR RUSKIN.

Evening Star, Issue 9185, 14 July 1893, Page 4

THE LIFE OF MR RUSKIN.

INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY BY HIS SECRETARY. SOME EXTRACTS. [By Our Special Correspondent.] London, May 5. It is questionable whether it would not have been more politic on Mr Colliugwood's part to postpone the publication of his interesting biography of Mr Ruskin until the aged professor—now, alas ! in his dotage—had passed "to where beyond these voices there is peace." He could then have spoken freely of certain peculiarities of this great man's mind and body which are matters of common knowledge, and which clear up much that seems otherwise inexplicable in his character. Mr Collingwood's two sumptuous volumes form, nevertheless, a valuable addition to the rapidly .accumulating mass of " Ruskiniana," and .should find a place on the shelves of all public libraries throughout the English-speaking world. Mr Ruskin was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He inherited £200,000 from his parents, and spent it in doing good till nothing remained but Brantwood (his house at the Lakes) and the income derived from his books. The greater part even of the latter goes to an army of pensioners, needy relatives, and friends and discharged servants. But he has sufficient for nis simple wants; and even if it were not so his niece and her husband (Arthur Severn), who have taken care of the old gentleman for many years, would have provided for all his charities, etc.

A book of this sort, which is essentially chronological, cannot be sampled fairly in a review. The best thing I can do is, I think, to follow in the footsteps of that ardent Ruskin worshipper, the editor of the ' Westminster ' (E. T. Cook), and give you a taste of the interesting things you will find on your way through its orderly pages : "AN EVENING IN THE DRAWING ROOM.

j "Mr Ruskin reads aloud a few chapters of Scott or Miss Edgeworth; or translates with admirable facility a scene of Scribe or George Slnd. After the reading, music ; a bit of his own composition, 'Old -dSgina's Bocks,' or 'Cockle-hat and Staff'; his cousin's Scotch ballads or Christy minstrel songs; and if you can sing a new ditty, fresh from London, now is your chance. You are surprised to see the Prophet clapping hie hands to ' Gamptown Races,' or the 'Hundred Pipers'—chorus given with the whole strength of the company; but you are in a house of strange meetings. By about half-past ten his day is. over ; a busy day, that has left him tired out. You will not easily forget the way he lit his candle—no lamps allowed, and no gas—and gave a last look lovingly at a pet picture or two, slanting his candlestick and shading the light with hjs hand, "before he went slowly upstairs to his own little room, literally lined with Turner drawings you have read about in ' Modern Painters.'" ~ - ; ,«•MR buskin's STUDY. \

" In the morning you may be waked by a knock at the door, and 'Are you looking out ? up the blind, ttyere, is one of bur" Conistonmornings, with toe whole range of mountains in one quiet glow above the cool mist of the valley and lake. Going down at length on a voyage of exploration, and turning in, perhaps, at the first door, you intrude upon ' the Professor' at work in his study, half-sitting, half-kneeling at his round stable-in the bay window, with the early cup of. coffee, anl the eat in J>is crimson armchair. There he has been: wt>r& ,ing^a^o!awn ; per.hap(s,or on dark mornings A long, low room, evidently rooms paired "wi& copied rrjm

drapery in the National Qa\replaced by a Delia ? lt e tit Geneva is , wj|l|f Jtopj 'to remark, and JEPJ village smith. Bed Jwitn startling sMoy emerald red , car|MuMidjDug|^^q^. the rooin ; cabinets for 1 .neat enough.' i Scales lfr^tgjMe^cMe; heaps of mineral 1 specimens; books on the floor; rolls of l diagrams; early Greek pots from Cyprus; a great h'tter of things, and yet not dis- -