,,the ,,harvest  ,,of ,,ruskin          
,,the ,,harvest  ,,of ,,ruskin    ,,by  
,,john ,w4 ,,graham1 ,m4,a4             
,,principal ,,of ,,dalton ,,hall1       
,,university ,,of ,,manchester  ,,author
 ,,of 8,,the ,,destruction ,,of         
,,daylight0    ,illustration3 colophon  
,,london3 ,,george ,,allen  ,,unwin     
,,ltd4  ,,ruskin ,,house1 #dj ,,museum  
,,street1 ,w4,c4 #a    ,first published 
in #aibj    7,all rights reserved7      
,,preface      ,this book is concerned  
with ,ruskin's teaching in the          
departments of  ,religion and ,economics
 only1 including his social reforms and 
educational schemes4 ,it leaves out all 
his work on ,art and in ,natural        
,history and ,mineralogy4 ,his thoughts 
on ,beauty in ,landscape are treated    
only so far as that ,beauty is damaged  
by ,industrialism or by ,war4 ,nor  has 
any attempt been made to produce an     
analysis of his literary style  or      
styles4 ,the long extracts which the    
plan of the book requires1  however1    

afford sufficient examples of his       
artistry in words4    ,my aim is to give
 a critical estimate in a reverent      
spirit of ,ruskin's  teaching in these  
two departments1 and to apply it to the 
needs of our  own time4    ,the         
development of ,ruskin's religious faith
 and its final outcome have  not1 ,i    
believe1 been fully worked out before1  
and the reconciliation  which ,i have   
attempted in the region of ,economics is
 long overdue4 ,these  parts of the book
 have been delivered as lectures in past
 years under  the ,manchester and       
,liverpool ,university ,extension       
,committees1 at ,summer  ,schools1 and  
elsewhere4    ,i am indebted to         
,ruskin's literary executors for        
permission to quote  freely from his    
works4    ,j4 ,w4 ,g4    ,,dalton       
,,hall1  ,,manchester4                  
,,contents      ,,chapter               
,,page    ,i4 ,,the ,,signs ,,of ,a     
,,prophet                               
#i    ,,ii4 ,,the ,,pilgrim',s ,,way    

#bf    ,,iii4 ,,to ,,what ,,fold8       
#ee    ,,iv4 ,,ruskin ,,and ,,mill3 ,a  
,,reconciliation                        
#gh    ,v4 ,,ruskin',s ,,reconstruction 
#abj    ,,vi4 ,,ruskin',s ,,economics   
,,to-,,day                              
#aea    ,,vii4 ,,usury                  
#ahe    ,,viii4 ,,war                   
#bjc    ,,ix4 ,,machinery               
#bbb    ,,epilogue                      
#bei    ,,index                         
#bfg          ,the ,harvest of ,ruskin  
,,chapter ,i    ,,the ,,signs ,,of ,a   
,,prophet      ,now that one hundred    
years have gone by since their one      
precious boy was  born in ,london to a  
,scottish wine merchant and his wife1 it
 may be well  to ask how much of        
,ruskin's teaching has proved to be     
chaff which the  wind driveth away1 and 
how much has been precious seed4 ,ruskin
 is just  now suffering from the time of
 comparative neglect which intervenes   
between an author's contemporaries and  
posterity1 the years when the  immediate

 appropriateness of his message may have
 lapsed1 when it is no  longer fresh and
 startling1 but its permanent value has 
not yet been  settled by the verdict of 
several generations4 ,all or nearly all 
the  great ,victorians are in like case4
    ,ruskin's art criticism is1 as a    
matter of fact1 not only ignored but    
resolutely rejected nowadays among      
critical writers4 ,he loved beauty  and 
charm in subject2 he rejected scenes of 
horror and torture1 and also  subjects  
of mere ,dutch commonplace4 ,he loved   
delicate and accurately  minute drawing1
 and the realistic detail of the        
,preraphlites4 ,he  desired that a tree 
in a picture should be recognized as an 
oak or a  birch2 and he loved above all 
fine drawing of mosses1 leaves1 and     
peacocks' wings4 ,this is the day of    
impressionism1 super-impressionism  and 
impression of impressionism1 and so on1 
through ever greater  abandonment of    
drawing and significance1 to cubism1    
futurism and other  weird follies4 ,i am

 not wishful to dogmatize on these      
matters2 ,i incline  to the sage and    
wonderful conclusion that all styles are
 good provided  they are good styles2   
that conscientiousness in the portrayal 
of what  the artist really sees will not
 lead him astray2 that originality1 or  
at  any rate a marked individual gift1  
is a necessity2 and that there is no    
one orthodox school4 ,as in everything  
else1 the letter killeth1  convention   
blocks progress1 and slovenliness       
includes a multitude of  sins4    ,but  
this book is not concerned with art     
criticism1 but with the teaching  about 
human duty and happiness1 to which      
,ruskin's art interests led  him4 ,the  
characteristic note he contributed to   
art criticism was to  regard art as a   
revelation of ,god and of ,man4 ,he was 
a prophet of ,beauty  from his birth4   
,concerning his susceptibility in       
childhood to the power  of natural      
,beauty1 he writes in the third volume  
of ,modern  ,painters1#a in words which 

throw light upon his special gifts of   
temperament3 8,although there was no    
definite religious sentiment mingled    
with it1 there was a continual          
perception of sanctity in the whole of  
,nature1 from the slightest thing to the
 vastest2 an instinctive awe1  mixed    
with delight2 an indefinable thrill1    
such as we sometimes imagine  to        
indicate the presence of a disembodied  
spirit4 ,i could only feel this         
perfectly when ,i was alone2 and then it
 would often make me shiver from  head  
to foot from the joy and fear of it1    
when1 after being some time  away from  
the hills1 ,i first got to the shore of 
a mountain river1 where  the brown water
 circled among the pebbles1 or when ,i  
first saw the swell  of distant land    
against the sunset1 or the first low    
broken wall covered  with mountain moss4
 ,i cannot in the least describe the    
feeling2 but ,i do  not think this is my
 fault1 nor that of the ,english        
language1 for ,i am  afraid no feeling  

is describable4 ,if we had to explain   
even the sense of  bodily hunger to a   
person who had never felt it1 we should 
be hard put  to it for words2 and the   
joy in nature seemed to me to come of a 
sort of  heart-hunger1 satisfied with   
the presence of a ,great and ,holy      
,spirit4  ,these feelings remained in   
their full intensity till ,i was        
eighteen or  twenty1 and then1 as the   
reflective and practical power          
increased1 and  the #8cares of the      
world' gained upon me1 faded gradually  
away1 in the  manner described by       
,wordsworth in his ,intimations of      
,immortality40    ,the fact is that we  
are dealing with a man who belongs to   
the prophetic  order3 and this book is  
written in the belief that he was not   
only a  prophet for the nineteenth1 but 
also for the twentieth century4 ,he has 
all the prophetic signs4 ,right or      
wrong1 fantastic or terribly truthful1  
we feel that he is coining his soul into
 golden words4 ,the stress and  strain  

of his cry against priesthoods1 modern  
business1 false teaching  of economics  
as he thought it1 wore him out1 and left
 him subject to  attacks of inflammation
 of the brain4 ,rightly he spoke of     
,fors  ,clavigera as the book of his    
life2 8best worth calling a book10 he   
said1 of anything he had written4 ,with 
it his serious work ended in  #ahhd4    
,only the chatty reminiscences of       
,prterita were to be written  after     
that4    ,he had1 besides a dreadful    
sincerity1 another mark of the true     
afflatus4  ,never1 as he pleaded1 had he
 written a line for money or for the    
glory  of self4 ,it was the wrong done  
to ,turner that drove him to write      
,modern  ,painters2 the necessity of    
character in a nation was the lesson he 
had  to teach in tracing the history of 
,venice in her monuments2 the cry of    
the poor1 and indignation over the      
wrecking of humanity in the name of     
business1 drove him to write ,unto ,this
 ,last1 and all his social and  economic

 works4 ,he had the single-mindedness of
 the seer4    ,again1 he inspired love  
and discipleship in hearts ready for his
  message1 as prophets do4 ,the ,master 
he was called1 and the ,master he       
remains4 ,his loss was a personal loss4 
,the event of ,january #bj1 #aijj1  was 
to many of us a real bereavement4 ,the  
strong personal note which  caused the  
prophets ,isaiah and ,hosea to do in    
their own persons  emblematic acts for a
 sign1 caused ,ruskin also to tell his  
readers more  about himself than anyone 
would who did not identify himself with 
his  message4 ,to the unseeing eye this 
looks like egotism1 but it is far  from 
that4    ,his life1 too1 was such as a  
prophet's ought to be4 ,he gave away the
  greater part of a fortune of #aeg1jjj1
 and some house property1 and  chose to 
do without advertising his books4 ,in   
love and in the loss of  love he        
suffered1 but did nothing base1         
everything that was kind and  true4 ,as 
a prophet whose burden was wealth and   

poverty1 social tyranny  and human      
wreckage1 he was able to speak as a rich
 man to members of his  own class4 ,a   
poor man who prophesies on this subject 
is apt to be  discounted by blunt       
humanity1 who think that he may be      
merely an envious  grumbler4    ,and1   
once again1 he has that characteristic  
of the messengers of the  ,truth1 that  
their message is too new and strange to 
be acceptable at  once to their         
contemporaries4 ,they are accepted by   
the few3 the world  smiles or curses and
 passes by1 but gradually it bends round
 in one of  its great curves1 and round 
its spiral path revolves as it          
approaches  the centre of attraction4 ,i
 shall try to show that much of         
,ruskin's  social and economic teaching 
is just such a centre of our constant   
approximation1 though we are apparently 
always going nearly at right  angles to 
it4    ,here1 then1 we have every sign  
of the prophetic character3 fidelity to 
the deepest motives of the soul1 an     

inevitable and generally unconscious    
selflessness1 the loyalty of his        
followers1 his frank openness to the    
world1 his consecrated life and holy    
sorrow1 the antagonisms he evoked  and  
the contempt of the proud1 and the clear
 influence he is  exerting--these1 all  
together1 are prophetic4    ,let us     
examine his outward qualifications4     
,ruskin's judgment was at  times        
erratic2 his playfulness and his        
petulance prevent our taking  everything
 he said with prosaic seriousness2 he   
was not always able to  speak in        
measured tones of sober exactness1 but  
gave way to  exaggeration4 ,but his     
intellectual equipment was of the best4 
,he was  heir both to ,greece and to    
,juda4 ,the ,bible was his text-book and
 ,plato  was his political teacher4 ,all
 culture was at his command4 ,oxford1   
,geneva1 ,rome1 ,venice1 the ,alps1 the 
,apennines and the ,lake of ,coniston   
had yielded up their best to him4 ,he   
prophesied from no street  corner--from 

the ,sheldonian ,theatre in the         
,university of ,oxford his  message was 
uttered4    ,so much for the signs and  
for the outward qualifications of the   
seer4  ,the prophet's fire is           
recognizably there4 ,the tabernacle of  
,god is with  men1 as of old2 and if ,he
 is to speak with a clear ,word to our  
hasting  age1 to preach righteousness1  
purity1 work to the idle and rest to the
  weary1 clean cities1 and clean hearts1
 how else would ,he preach than  with   
the text of ,ruskin3 8,consider the     
lilies of the field1 how they  grow2    
they toil not1 neither do they spin2 and
 yet ,i say unto you that  your         
millionaires in all their glory of      
machines cannot supply to us the  loss  
of these40    ,at the age of forty-one1 
about the time when the mind reaches    
maturity1  begin the social teachings of
 ,john ,ruskin in full completeness--not
 to  be much changed1 except in one     
particular1 for the quarter of a century
  of writing that was left him4 ,the    

live coal from off the altar came to    
him as he was wandering in restless     
suffering among the valleys of  ,savoy1 
and his first 8,thus saith the ,lord0   
was written at ,chamonix4 ,not  that all
 this came at once4 ,the growth can be  
traced2 but before #ahfj he  was chiefly
 an art critic1 and in that year the    
last volume of ,modern  ,painters       
appeared4    ,let us look at the        
advantages of the delay4 ,they were     
manifold4 ,a man  should do something   
else besides prophesy4 ,he should win   
his position1  take his rank among men1 
in some walk of life1 before he is quite
  qualified to tell others how to order 
their steps4 ,he has a degree to  take  
in something besides homiletics4 ,it was
 from the pulpit of a great  literary   
reputation that the author of ,modern   
,painters opened his  mouth to preach4  
,that reputation he was content utterly 
to throw away2  to tread on it1 step    
upon it as upon a ladder1 that from the 
top of it  he might be heard when he    

spoke the words the ,spirit taught him4 
,that  was the great renunciation of his
 literary life4 ,what a refusal of a    
call it would have been had he hugged   
his reputation1 been careful of  his    
influence1 that last temptation of noble
 minds4 ,it is politicians  who do that1
 not prophets4 ,but these know the      
glorious liberty into  which they come4 
,no doubt any other professional career 
would have ended with a message4  ,what 
an explosion might have occurred in the 
,church had his mother's  wish been     
fulfilled1 and he become a clergyman1   
with a ,bishop to look  after him4 ,as  
it was1 his father's art tastes and     
preoccupation with  pictures and with   
picturesque scenery1 and the boy's own  
early skill  both as writer and         
draughtsman1 led him1 after an attempt  
at poetry1 to  become by profession a   
writer on ,art4 ,there he had the       
opportunity of  elaborating his mighty  
implement1 that superb1 facile1 plastic 
instrument of music and voice of        

thunder1 his inimitable style4 ,it is   
that which ensures the preservation of  
his work4 ,noble style is the           
antiseptic which preserves from decay   
the written words of men4 ,books        
without style are not read long4    ,in 
classifying the books in our libraries1 
under what head shall we  place the     
seventy volumes of ,john ,ruskin8 ,there
 is much temptation to  fall back       
helplessly upon the heading             
8,miscellaneous02 for he wrote on  ,art1
 including ,sculpture1 ,engraving1      
,architecture and ,heraldry2 on         
,economics1 ,history and constructive   
,politics2 on ,botany1 ,meteorology1    
,ornithology1 ,geology1 and ,mineralogy2
 he wrote ,guide-books1 ,poems1         
,autobiography1 ,literary ,criticism2 he
 treated ,theology1 ,ethics1            
,education1 ,music and ,mythology2 he   
brought out regularly for seven years  a
 monthly periodical de omnibus rebus et 
quibusdam aliis2 he edited  ,biography1 
,german stories and translations from   

the ,greek and the  ,italian3 he wrote  
,dialogue and ,fairy ,tale4    ,where   
shall we seek for unity in this manifold
 outpouring of a versatile  genius1 who 
touched none of these subjects without  
irradiating it8 ,in  that fact lies our 
key4 ,with what did he irradiate this   
comprehensive  list of human interests8 
,the answer cannot be doubtful in the   
mind of  any careful student4 ,he told  
us how it seemed to him that all these  
things looked to the eye of ,god4 ,he   
tried to solve all questions by the     
flashlight of the ,eternal4 ,he worked  
at agate and crystal that it might      
reveal the beauty of the ,lord2 he      
fought his social crusade for the sake  
of the dim disinherited multitude who   
had no eyes for the ,divine  loveliness1
 and no glory to behold3 and for the    
sake of justice and of  love which      
wealth and luxury denied4 ,he was a     
messenger of the ,most ,high  to modern 
needs2 and his eager soul found a       
service throughout this wide  range of  

science and art4    ,not one of his     
writings is called a sermon1 yet we have
 found his class1  for he belongs to the
 class of ,divines1 ordained in a temple
 more  ,metropolitan and more ,catholic 
than ,canterbury or ,rome1 and not made 
with hands4 ,through nearly half a      
century of active authorship he         
consecrated his every gift to the       
service of men4 ,he never looked back   
in any unfaithfulness that we know of4  
,i wish first to make clear that  all   
his life the gates between the soul and 
the ,divine ,source were open3  that he 
was truly a religious man under every   
form of faith and doubt2  and that no   
one need hesitate about this at any     
tight place in his  career4 ,keep this  
as a sure clue1 and we shall fearlessly 
follow his  story4    ,the childish     
sensibility to landscape beauty ,i take 
to be an early  manifestation of the    
gift of the seer1 a significant token of
 native  nearness to the ,unseen4 ,for  
many years he never climbed a mountain1 

alone1 without instinctively dropping on
 his knees on the summit1 in  thankful  
reverence4 ,as the careless foot of an  
engrossing industrialism  stamped into  
ashes more and more of the land whose   
fairness had been his  life's passion1  
it seemed to him to be indeed sacrilege 
and desecration1  a reckless destruction
 of ,divine things4 ,art he only valued 
as a form of  expression1 a language    
whose subject was ,nature and ,man4 ,in 
the latter  half of his life more       
emphatically1 but more or less from the 
beginning1  he regarded ,man as the     
object for whose welfare ,nature1 in the
 landscape  sense1 existed2 and he      
rested not till he had brought ,man into
 due  relation with ,god1 up to whom in 
the end came all things4    ,he was     
devout by training4 ,morning and evening
 he read his chapter out  of the ,bible2
 and the fourteenth century manuscript  
he used in later  years occupied a      
prominent and handy place in the study  
at ,brantwood4 ,in  ,swiss and ,italian 

villages in his early journeys he read  
the service  through on ,sunday to his  
servant1 when there was no ,protestant  
,church4  ,from the ,biblical references
 in the indexes to his works1 you would 
suppose they were a theological library4
 ,in his ,oxford ,lectures ,art was  the
 illustration1 but conduct the theme1   
and ,art was chosen as an  illustration 
because in it the artist shows what     
manner of ,man he is1 in  a way that    
cannot be dissembled4    ,what are the  
qualifications which fit a man to be a  
religious  researcher1 a mountain-top   
gazer into heaven8    ,he must know from
 his own experience the meaning of      
holiness1 thereby  gaining a practical  
knowledge of ,god4 ,he must1 in ,pauline
 words1 be  crucified with ,christ1     
though he may not care for such an      
expression2 he  must preach not himself 
and please not himself4 ,such a man     
,john ,ruskin  was4 ,among the many     
wayward and impulsive men who have been 
8dear to  the ,muses and to the nymphs  

not unbeloved10 not all like him have   
been  also masters of themselves1 and   
kept on their foreheads the white stone1
  with the new name written4 ,ruskin was
 himself noble and sweet in his  life1 a
 man of sorrows1 well acquainted with   
grief endured in silence1  with nothing 
ignoble in his eighty years of generous 
charity and lonely  service4 ,he had    
passed1 too1 through that experience    
which seems  essential to the wielding  
of spiritual power4 ,he had had his     
great  renunciation1 he had heard some  
hard call1 and had obeyed4 ,the prophets
  have all gone on the ,via ,crucis3    
they have all lost their lives that     
they might find them4 ,as ,whittier     
abandoned a hopeful political career    
and remained poor till he was sixty that
 he might help to free the  slave1 and  
gained his spiritual power thereby1 so  
,ruskin in #ahfj went  boldly out to do 
battle with the ,society that loved and 
honoured him4    ,further1 such a man   
must greatly dare4 ,he must face the    

demon of the  study first2 then1 too    
probably1 the resentment of organized   
religion4  ,one cannot succeed as a     
researcher without discovering something
 new2  and that is bound to modify or   
overthrow something old and established4
    ,nor can such a man usually present 
a heart of iron and a front of brass  to
 the darts of controversy4 ,he must be a
 sensitive man1 by the very  nature of  
his research4 ,he may or may not be     
privileged to feel strong  in the       
strength of his cause2 but even if he   
does the shrinking of the  nerves       
remains4 ,this daring and suffering were
 pre-eminently the lot of  ,ruskin2 and 
it was this which finally broke down his
 mind4 8,he was  beside himself for     
others' sakes40 ,it was the neglect with
 which the ,st4  ,george's ,guild and   
allied reform work were treated by those
 who were  otherwise his friends1 which 
contributed to drive him into           
inflammation  of the brain in #ahgh1 and
 again several times afterwards4        

8,wounded in  the house of my friends40 
,besides these essential qualifications 
,ruskin had his very unusual  gifts1    
which it may be long before we find     
again combined with the  religious      
faculty--his long lifetime free from the
 need of earning  money1 his early      
popularity1 his wonderful style1 the    
vantage ground of  his ,professorial    
chair1 his penetrating mind1 his wit and
 his fire4 ,it  may be long before we   
see his like again4    ,i am far from   
claiming infallibility for ,ruskin4     
,infallibility is an  out-of-date       
conception altogether4 ,there is no such
 thing on earth4 ,to  be infallible you 
must know everything2 you must be       
infinite4 ,the  infallibility of a      
finite creature is an inhuman1 even an  
inorganic  conception4 ,organic life    
means growth1 and growth means          
imperfection2  but growth is ,nature's  
way of making things4 ,infallibility is 
a tyrant  born of ecclesiasticism1 and  
bred on human laziness and fear4 ,it has

  become the attribute of the quack     
pill1 and there let it abide4    ,but1  
beyond this safe generality1 ,ruskin had
 human weaknesses of an  obvious kind4  
,he loved paradox2 he played with his   
thunderbolts a  little1 and rather liked
 to shock people4 ,he was a humorist as 
well as a  divine4 ,it is difficult to  
put down some of his derivations to     
anything  but sheer fooling2 a man who  
will put the ,english ,force and ,latin 
,fors down to the same root1 will do    
anything in that line4 ,again1 when  he 
was in thunderous action he allowed     
volcanoes of vituperation to  erupt1    
which one would have wished otherwise4  
,he sadly lacked restraint1  but1 like  
the strong language of the old          
,prophets1 his had its root in  love of 
man4    ,we know more of his intimacies 
and his foibles1 which he loves         
humorously to exaggerate1 than are      
generally given to the public4 ,he has  
taken means to prevent any artificial   
pedestal1 in idealized aloofness1  ever 

being raised to him4 ,his utter         
frankness led him to give the public    
his private accounts1 which people      
generally keep to themselves2 and  such 
correspondence as that painful one with 
,octavia ,hill4#b ,but when  the faults 
of others were in question he was silent
 as the grave1 to his  own hurt4 ,he was
 8kind even to the unthankful and the   
evil40 ,as for many  of us1 how much    
more vulgar and base would the world    
have been without  that noble and lovely
 soul4 ,many are those who owe him an   
irredeemable  debt4 ,his life was not1  
as he sadly thought1 the story of       
baffled  strife4 ,of him1 as of ,dr4    
,arnold1 it could be said that not alone
 was he  saved4#c          ,,chapter    
,,ii    ,,the ,,pilgrim',s ,,way        
,having now stated our conviction that  
,ruskin was always essentially          
religious1 we will trace the history of 
his beliefs4    ,he began life in #ahai1
 under the strong influence of his      
mother1 as a  ,calvinistic ,protestant1 

of the narrow type then current4 ,the   
,ruskins  were properly ,scottish       
,presbyterians1 living in ,london4 ,a   
,low ,church or  ,spurgeon's ,tabernacle
 was equally acceptable4 ,his mother    
made him read  with her daily portions  
of the ,bible1 two or three chapters1   
undiluted  and unselected4 ,they        
accomplished the journey from ,genesis  
to ,revelation  in about a year1 and    
then began at ,genesis again next day1  
8hard names1  numbers1 ,levitical ,law  
and all40 ,they went through it at least
 six times  together4    ,she also      
taught him1 8complete and sure10        
twenty-six chapters of the  ,bible1     
including the #aaith ,psalm1 and all the
 ,scottish ,paraphrases of  the         
,psalms4#d    ,this did not make him    
vitally religious2 he was not           
8converted40 ,the  ,bible was1 for the  
present1 a rather tiresome task1 and to 
chapel he and  his father went          
submissively1 feeling their sad         
inferiority to the  mother in these     

matters4 ,his mother's creed he         
dutifully imbibed1  without question or 
strong feeling of any kind4 ,he had the 
proper  antipathy to ,rome1 and the     
habit of outward prayer4#e ,his real    
religion  was born at ,friar's ,crag1   
,derwentwater1 at four years old1 when  
he  looked with awe into the dark lake  
over the mossy tree roots1 and felt     
himself in the ,presence4    ,he was1 as
 an only child1 a protected treasure1   
the pride of and a great  responsibility
 to his wealthy parents4 ,he never went 
to a ,public ,school1  and when he went 
to ,oxford to be made into a ,bishop his
 parents came  with him1 lived in the   
,high1 and his mother saw him every day4
 ,with  them1 far into mid-life1 he went
 on all his foreign journeys but two1   
those of #ahde and #aheh4 ,the parental 
ideas remained potent with him to  an   
extent hardly realizable by this        
generation1 which often finds it so     
difficult to bring their parents up     
properly4    ,his earlier works are     

written with the questionless devoutness
 of the  untried mind4 ,they were narrow
 in theology1 fiercely ,protestant1     
earnest  enough2 and on their positive  
side1 still sound and valuable4 ,the    
first  two volumes of ,modern ,painters1
 the whole of the ,stones of ,venice    
and the ,seven ,lamps of ,architecture1 
and the ,edinburgh ,lectures on         
,architecture and ,painting belong to   
this period4 ,so1 broadly1 do the       
,manchester ,lectures on the ,political 
,economy of ,art in #aheg2 but they  are
 the herald of the next epoch4    ,he   
resisted the new ,geology of ,lyell1    
declared indignantly that ,god had      
created the ,alpine valleys1 and put the
 rivers to flow along them1  denying    
that the rivers had worn their own      
valleys out4 ,somewhere in the  later   
fifties we find him scandalized by the  
statement of ,frederick  ,denison       
,maurice that ,jael's treacherous murder
 of ,sisera was a wicked  deed4 ,the    
fact that ,deborah the ,prophetess sang 

a sacred song over it  was enough to    
justify it to ,ruskin1 then over        
thirty-five4#f    ,just before this     
incident1 however1 his moral sense was  
beginning to  revolt from certain parts 
of his creed4 ,he was1 he says1 invited 
to a  8fashionable sance of ,evangelical
 doctrine1 at the ,earl of ,ducie's1    
presided over by ,mr4 ,molyneux1 then a 
divine of celebrity in that sect1  who  
sat with one leg over his other knee1 in
 the attitude always given  to ,herod at
 the ,massacre of the ,innocents in     
medival sculpture1 and  discoursed in   
tones of consummate assurance and       
satisfaction1 and to the  entire comfort
 and consent of his ,belgravian         
audience1 on the beautiful  parable of  
the ,prodigal ,son4 ,which1 or how many1
 of his hearers he meant  to describe as
 having personally lived on husks1 and  
devoured their  father's property1 did  
not of course appear2 but that something
 of the  sort was necessary to the      
completeness of the joy in heaven over  

them1  now in ,belgrave ,square1 at the 
feet1 or one foot1 of ,mr4 ,molyneux1   
could  not be questioned4 ,waiting my   
time1 till the raptures of the converted
  company had begun to flag a little1 ,i
 ventured1 from a back seat1 to  enquire
 of ,mr4 ,molyneux what we were to learn
 from the example of the  other son1 not
 prodigal1 who was1 his father said1    
#8ever with me and all  that ,i have1   
thine4' ,a sudden horror and unanimous  
feeling of the  serpent having somehow  
got over the wall into their ,garden of 
,eden1  fell on the whole company2 and  
some of them1 ,i thought1 looked at the 
candles1 as if they expected them to    
burn blue4 ,after a pause of a  minute1 
gathering himself into an expression of 
pity and indulgence1  withholding latent
 thunder1 ,mr4 ,molyneux explained to me
 that the  home-staying son was merely a
 picturesque figure introduced to fill  
the background of the parable agreeably1
 and contained no instruction  or       
example for the well-disposed scriptural

 student1 but on the  contrary1 rather1 
a snare for the unwary1 and a temptation
 to  self-righteousness--which was1 of  
all sins1 the most offensive to ,god4   
,under the fulmination of which answer1 
,i retired from the sance in  silence1  
nor ever attended another of the kind   
from that day to  this40#g    ,it was   
just this lack of feeling for           
righteousness as such1 the idea  that   
you needed first to be a 8most sinful   
sinner0 if you wished to  become a 8most
 ,christian ,christian10 and a want of  
recognition that  forgiveness was a     
spiritual and inward process1 which     
caused the  contemptuous references to  
his early form of doctrine which are    
scattered thickly throughout ,ruskin's  
later writings4    ,the experiences     
which make epochs in men's lives are    
indeed strangely  various and           
unexpected4 ,three events stand out as  
the destroyers of his  ,protestantism   
and of much of his outward edifice of   
faith4 ,their year  was #aheh4 ,one was 

the discovery that the ,puritan ,sabbath
 of his youth  had no ,scriptural       
authority1 but based itself1 without    
confessing it1 on  the ,jewish ,sabbath 
,day1 by erroneous interpretation4 8,if 
they have  deceived me in this1 they    
have deceived me in everything10 he     
said4 ,his  faith in his mother's       
religious guides was gone4#h ,in #aheh  
for the  first time he broke the        
,sabbath by drawing some flowers on     
,sunday4 ,that  act1 in him1 stood for  
emancipation4#i ,he had been finding    
that  ,catholic ,psalters were lovely   
things1 that ,catholic peasants in      
,tuscany  led sweet and patient lives1  
and that 8,presbyterian prayers against 
time  by people who never expected to be
 any the better for them1 were  unlovely
 and wrong40#aj ,the same year he turned
 in at ,turin to hear a  ,waldensian    
pastor4 ,this was the second event4 8,to
 an audience of about  seventeen        
gray-haired women and a few men1 the    
preacher1 a somewhat  stunted figure    

with a cracked voice1 put his utmost    
zeal into a  consolatory discourse on   
the wickedness of the wide world1 more  
especially of the plain of ,piedmont and
 the city of ,turin1 and on the         
exclusive favour with ,god enjoyed by   
the between nineteen and  twenty-four   
elect members of his congregation1 in   
the streets of ,admah  and ,zeboim40    
8,myself neither cheered nor greatly    
alarmed by this  doctrine1 ,i walked    
back into the condemned city1 and up    
into the gallery  where ,paul           
,veronese's #8,solomon and the ,queen of
 ,sheba' glowed in full  afternoon      
light40 ,and in that hour's meditation  
his 8evangelical beliefs  were put away1
 to be debated of no more40#aa    ,but  
the solvent influences did not stop     
there4 ,they seldom fail to  proceed4   
,rebuilding rather than repair is       
generally necessary to a  broken down   
system of thought4 ,but that which left 
him in great darkness  was an experience
 which could have so affected no one but

 ,ruskin4 ,this  was the third event4   
,it was the discovery at ,venice that   
the best work  was done by irreligious  
painters4 ,he found that 8,tintoret only
  occasionally forgot himself into      
religion10 and that ,titian had no      
religion at all1 and yet had to be given
 as the standard of perfection  in      
painting4 ,ruskin concluded1 first1 and 
quite truly1 that 8human work  must be  
done honourably and thoroughly1 because 
we are now men2 whether  we expect to be
 angels1 or ever were slugs1 being      
practically no matter4  ,that by the    
work we have done and not by our belief 
we shall be  judged40#ab ,he went on1 by
 generalizing1 to a further conclusion  
in  that year1 afterwards to be         
corrected4 ,the conclusion and the      
correction  divide the periods of       
,ruskin's life4 ,he concluded that the  
group of  great worldly painters of     
various nations1 ,turner1 ,titian1      
,velasquez1  ,sir ,joshua1              
,gainsborough1 ,tintoret1 and ,paul     

,veronese1 did more perfect  and        
stronger work than the sacred army of   
obedient ,catholics headed by  ,cimabue1
 ,giotto and ,angelico1 who worked under
 the guidance of a  heavenly vision4    
,this seems a strange reason for losing 
faith4 ,it can only be understood  when 
we remember that ,ruskin regarded art as
 the expression of the  painter's whole 
nature1 especially the soul of him2 and 
if the endowment  from heaven were      
really potent1 it should inspire the    
artist to do work  that is clearly      
supreme4 ,that it did not do so was     
,ruskin's  stumbling-block4 ,i will not 
anticipate the ultimate solution2 but   
only  pause to mourn over the many      
stumbling-blocks which our theories put 
in  our way4 ,because the lot decided   
unfairly1 ,silas ,marner1 the wronged of
  heaven1 lost his faith4 ,how many have
 been and are unable to see through     
pain and poverty to ,god4 ,how many have
 bound their faith to the accuracy  of a
 record or the fidelity of a frail      

fellow-creature4    ,of the religious   
utterances of this first period1 which  
ended in #aheh1  the second volume of   
,modern ,painters is the most typical4  
,to me1 it  was the door by which in    
#ahhb ,i entered into my love of ,ruskin
 the  author1 as ,fors led me to love   
and reverence the man4 ,the subject is  
an analysis of ,beauty as a various     
expression of the mind of ,god4 ,it is  
published separately2 it is not a long  
book2 and it might be read for a  second
 time along with the ,author's notes of 
#ahhc4 ,these give us the  verdict of   
age upon the enthusiasm of its own      
youth1 and are vastly  entertaining4    
,even as ,tennyson1 in his 8,locksley   
,hall ,sixty ,years  ,after10 puts his  
quietus upon the ebullitions of the most
 rhythmic and  moving utterance of his  
youth1 so does ,ruskin1 with mocking    
self-blame1  speak with fatherly candour
 to the ,oxford ,graduate of #ahde4     
,to this period1 too1 belongs his       
avowedly theological pamphlet1 ,notes   

on the ,construction of ,sheepfolds4 ,it
 is of #ahea1 attacks  ecclesiastical   
pretensions on ,scriptural grounds1 and 
in spite of its  sectarian limitations  
was considered so sound in its main     
drift that the  author reissued it in   
his mature period4    ,he states that   
all his works up to #ahec are marred by 
his narrow  ,protestant dogmatism4 ,now 
#aheh1 as we have seen1 was his year of 
freedom  from it1 and from much that was
 more precious4 ,between #ahec and #aheh
  came out volumes iii and iv of ,modern
 ,painters1 the ,lectures on            
,architecture and ,painting at          
,edinburgh1 and the lectures at         
,manchester  on the ,political ,economy 
of ,art4 ,the last marks transition4 ,it
 is the  forerunner of the next period2 
it shows us how his way of treating ,art
  led him on to ,economics4 ,but it is  
of great interest to study his  position
 in these two volumes of ,modern        
,painters4 ,they are as  religious as   
ever1 and as devout2 but between        

,catholic and ,protestant1  frequently  
brought into contrast1 they hold the    
scales of judgment4 ,the  author casts  
the lantern of criticism impartially    
upon both1 but his  own faith in the    
great verities still holds4 ,it is      
plain1 however1 that  conduct was rising
 to the chief place in his mind4 ,the   
,sermon on the  ,mount was becoming1    
what it ever afterwards remained to him1
 the central  teaching of the ,christian
 faith4    ,if we omit the ,poems of his
 boyhood and youth1 and his early minor 
scientific contributions to journals1   
and begin his career as a writer  for   
the public with the year #ahdb1 when he 
wrote the first volume of  ,modern      
,painters1 published next year1 we have 
sixteen years of  authorship for the    
,early ,period4 ,we have also1 oddly    
enough1 sixteen  years of authorship1   
#aheh to #ahgd1 for his ,middle ,period1
 shortly to be  described2 and if we    
give sixteen years for the mature period
 also1 that  brings us to #ahij1 only a 

few months after the last number of     
,prterita struggled into the light from 
his failing pen4 ,he wrote no  more4 ,we
 thus have three periods1 ,early1       
,middle1 and ,mature1 each of  sixteen  
years1 not difficult to remember1       
#ahdb-aheh1 #aheh-ahgd1 and  #ahgd-ahij4
 ,it is a testimony to his utter        
frankness and undimmed candour  that we 
are able thus to map out the growth of  
his convictions4    ,for a growth it    
was1 all the time1 though apparently    
#aheh was a year of  wreck and ruin4 ,we
 cannot put new wine into old wineskins4
 ,his middle  period was the time for   
the analytical tendency of his mind to  
have its  way4 ,mazzini had already said
 that ,ruskin had the most analytic mind
 in  ,europe2 and now that searching    
analysis which had discovered ,luini and
  placed ,tintoretto1 and had           
penetrated1 by a way of its own1 far    
into the  hidden secret of ,beauty1     
could not be denied when it faced the   
stronghold of the ,christian revelation1

 even though his own heart and  every   
fibre of his sensitive nature was within
 the fortress attacked4    ,his economic
 crusade began in #ahfj2 and on his     
spiritually desolated  heart was piled  
the sorrow of the social system4 ,hermit
 and heretic he  became1 in religion and
 economics alike4 ,victorious in his    
championship  of ,turner and the        
,pre-raphaelites1 whom single-handed he 
had placed on  the pinnacle they have   
never lost1 he had the literary and     
artistic  world at his feet4 ,this great
 position he cast aside to enter on a   
sterner battle4 ,the recognized leader  
of taste1 the arbiter of  reputations1  
turned aside to abuse so good a man as  
,john ,stuart ,mill1 to  say the most   
shocking things about the clergy and the
 clergy's wives1  to testify against    
rent and interest1 to blaspheme that    
steam power by  which ,england was      
conquering the world1 and to utter      
strange hesitating  sayings which showed
 that he was not sure of a life to come4

 ,nor could  he brave the storm with the
 self-confident dogmatism of youth4 8,i 
seldom  now feel sure of anything10 he  
wrote in the first ,christmas issue of  
,fors1 8still seldomer1 however1 do ,i  
feel sure of the contrary of            
anything40#ac ,when we add that this    
period was marked by the loss of  his   
parents1 who had been everything to him1
 and by a grievous  disappointment in   
love--for the girl who loved him would  
not marry him  because he was not       
orthodox1 so far as reasons can ever be 
given for  such decisions1 but died of a
 decline instead--we shall see how heavy
  was the lonely task set before him to 
do4 ,nor had the veneration of          
disciples and the growing recognition of
 all good men come to him yet2  it came 
afterwards1 built the prophet's shrine1 
in his lifetime  certainly1#ad but only 
after the world's neglect1 and his      
failure even  to carry his own friends  
with him1 had helped to break the powers
 of  his mind and set his brain reeling 

in recurring attacks of delirious       
inflammation4 ,he was1 in that madness1 
being offered upon the sacrifice  and   
service of our faith4    ,during this   
middle period of prime mental power1 he 
wrote nineteen  volumes1 and numerous   
catalogues and pamphlets4 ,they are1 in 
order of  time3 ,the ,two ,paths1       
,modern ,painters1 vol4 v41 ,unto ,this 
,last1  ,munera ,pulveris1 ,sesame and  
,lilies1 ,the ,ethics of the ,dust1 ,the
  ,crown of ,wild ,olive1 ,time and     
,tide1 ,the ,queen of the ,air1         
,lectures  on ,art at ,oxford1 the first
 half of ,flors ,clavigera1 ,aratra     
,pentelici1 ,the ,eagle's ,nest1 ,love's
 ,meinie1 ,ariadne ,florentina1  ,val   
,d',arno1 and most of the papers        
reprinted in ,on the ,old ,road4 ,as  an
 author he was in his full strength4    
,the significance of the period is that 
under the most painful  uncertainties of
 doctrine1 true religion shone still1   
blazed beaconlike1  in fact3 blazed as a
 beacon blazes when blown by tempest4   

,but few  readers ever thought of the   
writer as a heretic4 ,he preached all   
the  time the simple eternal sanction   
for right conduct which the nature of   
man1 akin to the ,divine1 provides4 ,he 
recognized the ineradicable claim  which
 the teaching of the ,new ,testament has
 upon our obedience4 ,he  attacked the  
,churches1 not for being too ,christian1
 but for not being  anything like       
,christian enough4 ,referring to his    
mother's gift of  twenty-six chapters   
learnt by heart1 he says in #ahgd3--    
8,the chapters became1 indeed1 strictly 
conclusive and protective to me  in all 
modes of thought2 and the body of       
divinity they contain1  acceptable      
through all fear or doubt2 nor1 through 
any fear or doubt or  fault have ,i ever
 lost my loyalty to them1 nor betrayed  
the first  command in the one ,i was    
made to repeat oftenest3 #8,let not     
,mercy and  ,truth forsake thee4' ,and  
at my present age of fifty-five1 in     
spite of  some enlarged observations of 

what modern philosophers call the ,reign
 of  ,law1 ,i perceive more distinctly  
than ever the ,reign of a ,spirit of    
,mercy  and ,truth--infinite in pardon  
and purification for its wandering and  
faultful children1 who have yet ,love in
 their hearts2 and altogether  adverse  
and implacable to its perverse and lying
 enemies1 who have  resolute hatred in  
their hearts1 and resolute falsehood on 
their  lips40#ae    ,the classical      
passage1 as ,i should esteem it1 for    
this period is in  ,the ,eagle's        
,nest1#af the ,oxford ,lectures of      
#ahgb2 which contain some  of his most  
careful religious writing3    8,all of  
you who have ever read your ,gospels    
carefully must have wondered  sometimes1
 what could be the meaning of those     
words1 #8,if any speak  against the ,son
 of ,man it shall be forgiven2 but if   
against the ,holy  ,spirit it shall not 
be forgiven1 neither in this world nor  
in the next4'  ,the passage may have    
many meanings which ,i do not know2 but 

one meaning  ,i know positively1 and ,i 
tell you so just as frankly as ,i would 
that ,i  knew the meaning of a verse in 
,homer4 ,those of you who still go to   
,chapel say every day your creed2 and1  
,i suppose1 too often1 less and  less   
every day believing it4 ,now1 you may   
cease to believe two articles  of it1   
and--admitting ,christianity to be      
true--still be forgiven4 ,but ,i  can   
tell you1 you must not cease to believe 
the third6    8,you begin by saying that
 you believe in an ,almighty ,father4   
,well1 you  may entirely lose the sense 
of that ,fatherhood and yet be forgiven4
    8,you go on to say that you believe 
in a ,saviour ,son4 ,you may entirely   
lose the sense of that ,sonship and yet 
be forgiven4    8,but the third         
article--disbelieve if you dare6 #8,i   
believe in the ,holy  ,ghost1 the ,lord 
and ,giver of ,life4' ,disbelieve that6 
and your own being  is degraded into the
 state of dust driven by the wind2 and  
the elements  of dissolution have       

entered your very heart and soul4       
8,all ,nature1 with one voice--with one 
glory--is set to teach you  reverence   
for the life communicated to you from   
the ,father of ,spirits4  ,the song of  
birds1 and their plumage1 the scent of  
flowers1 their  colour1 their very      
existence1 are in direct connection with
 the mystery  of that communicated life3
 and all the strength1 and all the arts 
of  men1 are measured by and founded    
upon their reverence for the passion1   
and their guardianship of the purity1 of
 ,love40    ,such is the utmost         
asceticism of the soul2 the most careful
 and  determined assimilation of the    
least quantity of the bread of life4 ,we
  may sum his creed in the words3 ,happy
 are the pure in heart1 for they  yet in
 their flesh shall see the light of     
,heaven and know the will of  ,god4     
,perhaps the question of ,divine        
,personality may be felt even in our    
most  audacious moments to be beyond our
 analysis4 ,i do not count the word     

,personality a very helpful one1 one way
 or the other4 ,it is clearly on  the   
human plane1 must be imperfect1 and may 
seriously limit our thought  of ,god4   
,tennyson's favourite prayer was 8,o    
,thou ,infinite1 ,amen40 ,and  with this
 much of personal address or aspiration 
our souls may surely  rest4 ,take this  
as a satisfying account of the ,creative
 ,logos of the  ,greeks1 written in the 
light of evolution1 in #ahfi 7,queen of 
the ,air1  pp4 #abd-f73    8,with       
respect to all these divisions and      
powers of plants--it does not  matter in
 the least by what concurrences of      
circumstance or necessity  they may     
gradually have been developed3 the      
concurrence of circumstance  is itself  
the supreme and inexplicable fact4 ,we  
always come at last to a  formative     
cause1 which directs the circumstance1  
and mode of meeting it4  ,if you ask an 
ordinary botanist the reason of the form
 of a leaf1 he  will tell you it is #8a 
developed tubercle1' and that #8its     

ultimate form  is owing to the          
directions of its vascular threads4'    
,but what directs  its vascular threads8
 #8,they are seeking for something they 
want' he will  probably answer4 ,what   
makes them want that8 ,what made them   
seek for it  thus8 ,seek for it1 in five
 fibres or in three8 ,seek for it1 in   
serration1 or in sweeping curves8 ,seek 
for it1 in servile tendrils1 or         
impetuous spray8 ,seek for it1 in       
woollen wrinkles rough with stings1 or  
in glossy surfaces1 green with pure     
strength1 and winterless delight8       
8,there is no answer4 ,but1 the sum of  
all is1 that over the entire  surface of
 the earth and its waters1 as influenced
 by the power of the  air under solar   
light1 there is developed a series of   
changing forms1 in  clouds1 plants and  
animals1 all of which have reference in 
their action  or nature1 to the human   
intelligence that perceives them2 and on
 which1  in their aspects of horror and 
beauty1 and their qualities of good and 

evil1 there is engraved a series of     
myths or words of the forming power1    
which1 according to the true passion and
 energy of the human race1 they  have   
been enabled to read into religion4 ,and
 this forming power has been  by all    
nations partly confused with the breath 
of air through which it  acts1 and      
partly understood as a creative wisdom1 
proceeding from the  ,supreme ,deity2   
but entering into and inspiring all     
intelligences that  work in harmony with
 ,him4 ,and whatever intellectual       
results may be in  modern days obtained 
by regarding this effluence only as a   
motion or  vibration1 every formative   
human art hitherto1 and the best states 
of  human happiness and order1 have     
depended on the apprehension of its     
mystery 7which is certain71 and of its  
personality 7which is probable740    ,he
 concludes that lecture1 the second in  
,the ,queen of the ,air1 with  these    
words3    8,this only we may discern    
assuredly2 this1 every true light of    

science1  every mercifully granted      
power1 every wisely restricted thought1 
teach  us more clearly day by day1 that 
in the heaven above1 and the earth      
beneath1 there is one continual and     
omnipotent presence of help1 and of     
peace1 for all men who know that they   
,live1 and remember that they ,die40    
,to quote from the religious teaching of
 these fruitful years would be an       
endless task2 ,i must only refer1 ,i    
fear1 without quoting any of it1 to     
,the ,mystery of ,life and its ,arts1   
printed in the complete edition of      
,sesame and ,lilies2 a characteristic   
and pathetic exhortation1 and  chiefly  
perhaps1 to #aj-af of the ,introduction 
to ,the ,crown of ,wild  ,olive4    ,so 
much for his constructive teaching4 ,but
 he was a destroyer too4 ,the           
peculiarity of his position and the     
cause of his loneliness was that he  was
 always throwing his darts not only into
 the camp of the business men  and their
 allies the economists1 but also into   

the two religious camps1  generally     
opposed to one another1 held1 one by the
 clergy1 the other by  the materialistic
 men of science4 ,he rebuked both       
parties for their  assumptions1 and he  
smote them with all the artillery of    
sarcasm1 wit  and indignation4 8,you    
have to guard against the fatalest      
darkness of the  two opposite ,prides3  
the ,pride of ,faith1 which imagines    
that the nature  of the ,deity can be   
defined by its convictions2 and the     
,pride of  ,science1 which imagines that
 the energy of ,deity can be explained  
by its  analysis40#ag ,as sword-play it 
is fine4 ,he gives what purports to be a
  scientific account of ,shakespeare3 so
 much water1 so much carbo-hydrate  and 
phosphorus1 and thus you build up your  
organism called ,william                
,shakespeare--with1 of course1 something
 left out4 ,he was ever dwelling  on the
 realities of the spirit which chemistry
 omits4 ,the fashionable  scientific    
materialism of the seventies he utterly 

abhorred3 he behaved  to it as ,st4     
,george to the ,dragon4 ,he loathed     
anatomy1 mocked at the  idea that you   
understood a creature by cutting up its 
remains2 and when  the men of science at
 ,oxford proceeded to vivisection he    
threw up his  professorship in flaming  
wrath1 sick at heart2 every sentiment of
  mercy1 every safe doctrine of science 
violated in unholy cruelty and          
impatience4    ,he describes the        
limitations of 8some scientific minds1  
which in their  judgment of the         
,universe can be compared to nothing so 
accurately as to  the woodworms in the  
panel of a picture by some great        
painter1 if we may  conceive them as    
tasting with discrimination of the wood1
 and with  repugnance of the colour1 and
 declaring that even this unlooked for  
and  undesirable combination is a normal
 result of the action of molecular      
,forces40#ah    ,we pass on to the third
 period of sixteen years1 the ,mature   
,period as ,i  call it1 from #ahgd to   

#ahij1 when his productive life ended4  
,he now came  to know more fully the    
fullness of faith4 ,here he entered into
 his  reward1 ,i say4 ,the revelation of
 ,god to him became clearer1 sweeter1   
mightier4 ,as in #aheh1 the time of     
crisis was marked by two events which   
occurred that year1 one in things       
spiritual and one in things             
artistic4#ai    ,the artistic event of  
#ahgd was a reversal of the puzzling    
judgment of  #aheh to the effect that   
the worldly painters excelled the devout
 ones4  ,it came about through his      
copying one of ,giotto's frescoes on the
 roof  of the ,lower ,church at ,assisi4
 ,he was allowed to erect a platform in 
that dark church over the ,high ,altar1 
that he might see the picture4  ,there  
he discovered that ,giotto was only     
beaten by ,tintoret in mere  science1   
technique1 laws of perspective1         
composition and light and  shade1 and   
that religion had solemnized and        
developed every faculty of  ,giotto's   

heart and hand4 ,the ,franciscan        
monastery at ,assisi is one of  the most
 sacred places on earth anyhow1 but     
#ahgd saw one more gift of  light there 
vouchsafed1 and a haunting problem      
solved4 ,art was to ,ruskin  a visible  
manifestation of life's full faculties1 
in a department he  specially           
understood2 and religion1 which is the  
source of strength and  the support of  
character1 he thought should be judged  
by its output4    ,now we turn to the   
second event4 ,his hopes of the reality 
of a ,spirit  world received unexpected 
and potent confirmation from the fact   
that in  ,december1 #ahge1 he had1 at   
the house of ,lord ,mount ,temple1 at   
,broadlands1 ,romsey1 some psychic      
experience so definite that he was      
convinced that he had true communication
 with her whom he had lately  lost1 the 
8,rosie0 of ,prterita1 ,no4 ,,xxvii4#bj 
,it was a confirmation  to his faith4   
,he became an ,honorary ,member of the  
,society for ,psychical  ,research the  

year after its formation in #ahhb1      
joining in that  well-grounded hope that
 a true science of human ,personality   
might be  built up by its patient       
experimental methods4 ,to ,lady ,mount  
,temple1  ne ,tollemache1 the ,egeria of
 the winter of #ahdj in ,rome1 we owe   
much  for the help she was to ,ruskin   
all through life2 and much also that    
from  her came the stimulus to          
,frederick ,w4 ,h4 ,myers and ,edmund   
,gurney to  begin the ,society for      
,psychical ,research4 ,two of ,ruskin's 
stories of  ,death wraiths may be found 
in ,fors1#ba also a dream in ,letter    
,,lxv4 ,he  never took to ordinary      
spiritualism2 it is indeed from an      
attack upon it  that he turns to a note 
describing the happiness of his own     
experience4  8,i leave this passage as  
it was written2 though as it passes     
through the  press1 it is ordered by    
,atropos that ,i should hear a piece of 
evidence  on this matter no less clear  
as to the present ministry of such      

powers  as that which led ,peter out of 
prison1 than all the former1 or nearly  
all the former1 evidence examined by me 
was of the presence of the  legion which
 ruled among the tombs of               
,gennesaret40#bb ,he allows the         
contradiction to stand2 indeed1 in this 
puzzling and partially known  subject1 a
 consistent position is beyond the      
knowledge of most4 ,he  returns to the  
attack on ,spiritualism1 however1 in his
 #ahhc note to the  second volume of    
,modern ,painters1 p4 #bdd4    ,in the  
following year1 #ahgf1 at ,venice at    
,christmas1 he had vouchsafed  to       
himself the inward assurance of an      
immortal life2 he entered into a        
singular happiness2 ,fors became the    
organ of a mysticism truly  ,johannine2 
he loved to expound universal ,christian
 truth1 so catholic  indeed in the true 
sense that ,cardinal ,manning aspired to
 turn him to  ,rome4 ,that was a vain   
hope4 ,he still retained his analytical 
faculty4 ,he  says that he would 8give  

up ,moses0 if criticism demanded it4#bc 
,concerning his lectures of #ahgg at    
,oxford he writes to ,miss ,beever in   
the 8hortus inclusus0 at ,coniston that 
he has been able for the first  time to 
speak boldly to the students of immortal
 life4 ,the concluding  passage of the  
last lecture is this3#bd    8,but obey  
the word in its simplicity1 in wholeness
 of purpose and with  severity of       
sacrifice1 like this of the ,venetian   
,maids'1 and truly you  shall receive   
sevenfold into your bosom in this       
present life1 as in the  world to come1 
life everlasting40 8,he shall give his  
angels charge over  you1 to keep you in 
all your ways2 and the peace of ,god1   
which passeth  all understanding1 shall 
keep your hearts and minds through      
,christ  ,jesus40 ,it came to be true of
 himself that 8if life be led under     
heaven's law1 the sense of heaven's     
nearness only deepens with advancing    
years1 and is assured in death40#be     
8,the faith of the saints and prophets  

rising into serenity of knowledge1  #8,i
 know that my ,redeemer liveth' is a    
state of mind of which ordinary  men    
cannot reason2 but which1 in the        
practical power of it1 has always       
governed the world1 and must for ever4  
,no dynamite will ever be invented  that
 can rule--it can but dissolve and      
destroy4 ,only the ,word of ,god and    
the heart of man can govern40#bf    ,we 
cannot conclude this analysis better    
than by quoting from the last  number of
 ,fors in #ahhd3    8,looking back upon 
my efforts for the last twenty years1 ,i
 believe that  their failure has been in
 great part owing to my compromise with 
the  infidelity of this outer world1 and
 my endeavours to base my pleading  upon
 motives of ordinary prudence and       
kindness1 instead of on the  primary    
duty of loving ,god2 foundation other   
than which no man can lay4  ,i thought  
myself speaking to a crowd which could  
only be influenced by  visible utility2 
nor was ,i the least aware how many     

entirely good and  holy persons were    
living in the faith and love of ,god as 
vividly and  practically now as ever in 
the early enthusiasm of ,christendom4   
,these  have shown me1 with lovely      
initiation1 in how many secret places   
the  prayer was made which ,i had       
foolishly listened for at the corners of
 the  streets1 and on how many hills    
which ,i had thought left desolate1 the 
hosts of heaven still moved in chariots 
of fire40#bg ,these passages  show that 
,f4 ,w4 ,h4 ,myers1 in the beautiful    
obituary which ,i am permitted  to print
 as an ,epilogue1 was not correct in    
describing the experience  with the     
medium at ,broadlands1 as ,ruskin's one 
brief season of blissful  trust in the  
,unseen4 ,it is true of his temporary   
belief in spiritualism4    ,i trust it  
will have become clear that ,ruskin's   
spiritual history is not  a story of    
arbitrary and fanciful changes without  
connected  significance4 ,it is the     
orderly development of a research1 by a 

man  singularly qualified to hold a     
religious ,research ,fellowship4    ,he 
may be said to have matriculated in     
religion at his mother's knee4  ,there  
he learnt his ,bible4 ,he took a degree 
with the second volume of  ,modern      
,painters and the works allied to it in 
spirit4 ,he then became a  ,master of   
,arts1 qualified to teach1 a recognized 
religious authority  among many         
authorities4 ,had he never gone to      
,venice and seen ,tintoret he  might    
have built1 so he says1 a ,catholic     
archiepiscopal palace at ,york  instead 
of a museum at ,sheffield2 or he might  
have been such a man as  ,dean ,church  
or ,john ,henry ,newman1 on ,calvinistic
 ,protestant lines4 ,but  ,ruskin       
proceeded to a higher status4 ,he must  
needs penetrate deeper2 and  in the     
crisis of #aheh he took his ,fellowship 
by a thesis on the  ,irreducible        
,minimum of the ,religious ,outfit4     
,thenceforth he carried on  a research1 
he was a 8seeker after ,god10 often     

wrote 8in much darkness  and sorrow of  
heart02 and in sixteen years the        
conclusions were ready1  the convictions
 matured1 the saint perfected4          
,,chapter ,,iii    ,,to ,,what ,,fold8  
,to what school of thought or to which  
among our denominations1 if to  any1 can
 ,ruskin be said to belong8 ,he did not 
actively1 in mature life1  belong to    
any1 or attend ,church or ,chapel4 ,let 
us examine his doctrines  in this       
connection4    ,the first point which   
strikes the inquirer is ,ruskin's strong
 hostility  to professionalism in       
religion1 to payment for preaching4     
,against a  separate order of clergy1   
maintained for that object1 and claiming
 a  certain position by reason of their 
ministration1 he was the most  poignant 
voice of his time1 from inside          
,christianity4 ,letters ,,xxxviii1      
,,xlix1 and ,,lxii of ,fors ,clavigera  
are full of the most unrestrained       
expression of this testimony4 ,we will  
quote3    8,the particular kinds of     

folly also which lead youths to become  
clergymen1 uncalled1 are specially      
intractable4 ,that a lad just out of    
his teens1 and not under the influence  
of any deep religious enthusiasm1       
should ever contemplate the possibility 
of his being set up in the  middle of a 
mixed company of men and women of the   
world1 to instruct the  aged1 encourage 
the valiant1 support the weak1 reprove  
the guilty1 and  set an example to all2 
and not feel what a ridiculous and      
blasphemous  business it would be1 if he
 only pretended to do it for hire2 and  
what a  ghastly and murderous business  
it would be if he did it strenuously    
wrong2 and what a marvellous and all but
 incredible thing the ,church and  its  
power must be1 if it were possible for  
him1 with all the good  meaning in the  
world1 to do it rightly--that any youth1
 ,i say1 should  ever have got himself  
into the state of recklessness or       
conceit1  required to become a clergyman
 at all1 under existing circumstances1  

must put him quite out of the pale of   
those whom one appeals to on any        
reasonable or moral question1 in serious
 writing4444 ,there is certainly  no    
,bishop now in the ,church of ,england  
who would either dare in a full         
drawing-room to attribute to himself the
 gift of prophecy1 in so many  words2 or
 to write at the head of any of his     
sermons1 #8,on such and such  a day1 of 
such and such a month1 in such and such 
a place1 the ,word of  the ,lord came   
unto me1 saying'3--,nevertheless he     
claims to have received  the ,holy      
,ghost himself by laying on of hands2   
and to be able to  communicate the ,holy
 ,ghost to other men in the same manner4
 ,and he knows  that the office of the  
prophet is as simply recognized in the  
enumeration of the powers of the ancient
 church1 as that of the apostle  or     
evangelist or doctor4 ,and yet he can   
neither point out in the ,church  the   
true prophets1 to whose number he dares 
not say that he himself  belongs1 nor   

the false prophets1 who are casting out 
devils in the name  of ,christ without  
being known by him4444 ,but the word    
#8,priest' is one  which he finds it    
convenient to assume himself1 and to    
give to his  fellow clergymen4 ,he      
knows1 just as well as he knows prophecy
 to be a  gift attributed to the        
,christian minister1 that priesthood is 
a function  expressly taken away from   
the ,christian minister 7as             
distinguished1 that  is to say1 from    
other members of the ,church74 ,he dares
 not say in the  open drawing-room that 
he offers sacrifice for any soul there2 
and he  knows that he cannot give       
authority for calling himself a priest  
from  any canonical book of the ,new    
,testament4 ,so he equivocates on the   
sound  of the word #8,presybter4'       
4440#bh    8,this preaching of ,christ  
has1 nevertheless1 become an            
acknowledged  profession and means of   
livelihood for gentlemen3 and the simony
 of  to-day differs only from that of   

apostolic times1 in that1 while the     
elder ,simon thought the gift of the    
,holy ,ghost worth a considerable  offer
 in ready money1 the modern ,simon would
 on the whole refuse to  accept the same
 gift of the ,third ,person of the      
,trinity1 without a nice  little        
attached income1 a pretty church1 with a
 steeple restored by ,mr4  ,scott1 and  
an eligible neighbourhood40#bi    ,and1 
in soberer vein3 8,no way will ever be  
found of rightly ordaining  men who have
 taken up the trade of preaching as a   
means of livelihood1  and to whom it is 
a matter of personal interest whether   
they preach in  one place or another2   
only those who have left their means of 
living1  that they may preach1 and whose
 peace follows them as they wander1 and 
abides where they enter in1 are of      
,god's ordaining2 and practically  until
 the ,church insists that every one of  
her ministers shall either  have an     
independent income1 or support himself  
for his ministry on  ,sunday by true    

bodily toil during the week1 no word of 
the living ,gospel  will ever be spoken 
from her pulpits4 ,how many of those who
 now occupy  them have verily been      
invited to such office by the ,holy     
,ghost may be  easily judged by         
observing how many the ,holy ,ghost has 
similarly invited  of religious persons 
already in prosperous business or       
desirable  position40#cj    ,another    
passage from another place runs3 8,take 
the desire of  teaching--the entirely   
unselfish and noble instinct for telling
 to those  who are ignorant the truth we
 know1 and guarding them from the errors
 we  see them in danger of--there is no 
nobler1 no more constant instinct in    
honourable breasts2 but let the ,devil  
formalise it1 and mix the pride of  a   
profession with it--get foolish people  
entrusted with the business of          
instruction1 and make their giddy heads 
giddier by putting them up in  pulpits  
above a submissive crowd--and you have  
it instantly corrupted  into its own    

reverse2 you have an alliance against   
the light 7saying7  #8,light is in us   
only4 ,shut your eyes close and fast and
 we will lead  you4'0#ca    ,in another 
place he says the difficult question is 
not1 why workmen  don't go to church1   
but--why other people do4 ,he asks1#cb  
8,what  ,scripture warrant there is for 
the offices and authority of the clergy1
  and defies anyone to find any40 ,their
 functions1 he says1 must depend on  the
 needs of the time4 8,robinson ,crusoe1 
on his island1 wants no ,bishop1  and   
makes a thunderstorm do for an          
evangelist4 ,the ,university of ,oxford 
would do ill without its ,bishop1 but   
wants an evangelist besides1 and  that  
forthwith40    ,he says that by yielding
 to the impression that the most sacred 
calling  is that of the clergy1 8the    
sacred character of the layman himself  
is  forgotten1 and his own ministerial  
duty is neglected10 and so laymen       
wrongly 8devote their whole time and    
energy to the business of this  world4  

,no mistake can possibly be greater4    
,every member of the ,church is  equally
 bound to the service of the ,head of   
the ,church1 and that service  is       
pre-eminently the saving of souls4      
,there is not a moment of a man's       
active life in which he may not be      
indirectly preaching1 and throughout  a 
great part of his life he ought to be   
directly preaching1 and teaching  both  
strangers and friends40 ,this is from   
the ,sheepfolds pamphlet of  #ahea2 at  
that time he nevertheless contemplates  
church officers of a  sort1 as          
organizers1 deacons1 or visitors1 and   
thinks they may be  maintained for their
 special work1 and includes religious   
instruction  and exhortation among these
 duties4 ,but this last advice he       
supersedes  in ,fors of #ahgc and later 
dates1 when he places preaching on a    
purely  amateur basis1 in the passages  
quoted already1 and similar ones4       
8,all good judging1 and all good        
preaching1 must be given gratis4 ,look  

back to what ,i have incidentally said  
of lawyers and clergy1 as               
professional--that is to say1 as living 
by their judgment1 and sermons4  ,you   
will perhaps now be able to receive my  
conclusive statement1 that  all such    
professional sale of justice and mercy  
is a deadly sin4 ,a man  may sell the   
work of his hands1 but not his equity1  
nor his piety4 ,let  him live by his    
spade1 and if his neighbours find him   
wise enough to  decide a dispute between
 them1 or if he is in modesty and       
simplicity  able to give them a piece of
 pious advice1 let him do so1 in        
,heaven's  name1 but not take a fee for 
it40#cc    ,in ,letter ,,xiii of ,time  
and ,tide and in ,sesame and ,lilies    
#bb he  explains the sort of functions  
he would give to his ,bishops1 as       
described in ,chapter ,v4    ,we have   
incidentally alluded to ,ruskin's       
teaching on the ,priesthood of  all     
,believers4 ,he asserts that all members
 of the ,universal ,church are          

,priests1#cd that the exclusive priestly
 claim of the ,clergy is  8blasphemous10
 and has no shadow of excuse1 8because  
it has been  ordained by the ,holy      
,spirit that no ,christian minister     
shall once call  himself a ,priest as   
distinguished from his flock from one   
end of the ,new  ,testament to the      
other40    ,schools of religious thought
 are discriminated by nothing so        
decisively  as by their attitude to the 
,bible4 ,they are classed at once if    
they call  the ,bible the ,word of ,god4
 ,this bad and quite unauthorized habit 
has  blinded many eyes4 ,ruskin attacks 
it again and again4 8,the error         
consists1 first1 in declaring a bad     
translation of a group of books of      
various qualities1 accidentally         
associated1 to be the ,word of ,god4    
,secondly1 reading of this singular     
,word of ,god1 only the bits they like1 
and never taking any pains to understand
 even those4 ,thirdly1 resolutely       
refusing to practise even the small bits

 they do understand1 if such  practice  
happen to go against their own          
worldly--especially                     
money--interests40#ce    ,compare this  
severe passage with one from ,the       
,ethics of the ,dust1 ,v   #ei3 8,the   
way in which common people read their   
,bibles is just like the  way that the  
old monks thought hedgehogs ate grapes4 
,they rolled  themselves 7it was said71 
over and over1 where the grapes lay on  
the  ground3 what fruit stuck to their  
spines1 they carried off and ate4 ,so   
your hedgehoggy readers roll themselves 
over and over their ,bibles1 and        
declare that whatever sticks to their   
own spines is ,scripture1 and that      
nothing else is40#cf    ,but ,ruskin is 
not satisfied with negative teaching on 
this great  subject4 ,he tells us what  
the ,word of ,god is1 as well as what it
 is not3    8,by that ,word1 or ,voice1 
or ,breath1 or ,spirit1 the heavens and 
earth1  and all the host of them1 were  
made1 and in it they exist4 ,it is your 

life2 and speaks to you always1 so long 
as you live nobly2 dies out of  you as  
you refuse to obey it2 leaves you to    
hear1 and be slain by1 the  word of an  
evil spirit1 instead4 ,it may come to   
you in books--come to  you in           
clouds--come to you in the voices of    
men--come to you in the  stillness of   
deserts4 ,you must be strong in evil1 if
 you have quenched  it wholly2--very    
desolate in this ,christian land1 if you
 have never  heard it at all40#cg       
,much may be gleaned from a man's use of
 the word ,church4 ,is it a  building1  
or a select and limited outward         
community or more than either8  ,ruskin1
 interpreting ,scripture in his         
,sheepfolds1#ch finds a ,low  ,church   
divine giving the meaning of the word   
,church to be an 8external  institution 
of certain forms of worship40 ,he       
therefore suggests the  following       
emendations3 8,unto the angel of the    
external institution of  certain forms  
of worship at ,ephesus write10 and      

8,salute the brethren  which are at     
,laodicea1 and ,nymphas1 and the        
external institution of  certain forms  
of worship which is in his house40      
8,i continually see subscriptions of    
ten1 fifteen1 or twenty thousand  pounds
 for new churches4 ,now a good clergyman
 never wants a church4 ,he  can say all 
that his congregation essentially need  
to hear in any of his  parishioners'    
best parlours1 or upper chambers1 or in 
the ball-room at  the ,nag's ,head2 or  
if these are not large enough1 in the   
market-place1  or the harvest field4    
,and until every soul in the parish is  
cared for1  and saved from such sorrow  
of body or mind as alms can give comfort
 in1  no clergyman1 but in sin or       
heresy1 can ask for a church at all4    
,what  does he want with altars8 ,was   
the ,lord's ,supper eaten on one8 ,what 
with  pews8--unless rents for the pride 
of them8 ,what with font and            
pulpit8--that the next wayside brook1 or
 mossy bank1 cannot give him8  ,the     

temple of ,christ is in ,his            
people--,his order1 to feed them--,his  
throne1 alike of audience and of        
judgment1 in ,heaven3 were it otherwise1
  even the churches which we have       
already are not always open for         
prayer40#ci    ,he suggests that we can 
decide 8who are ,christ's sheep1 not by 
their  being in any definite fold1 for  
many are lost sheep sometimes2 but by   
their sheeplike behaviour2 and a great  
many are indeed sheep which1 on  the far
 mountain side1 in their peacefulness1  
we take for stones40#dj  ,this is a     
delightful expression of the feeling    
that you may be a child  of ,god1       
without having heard of the ,christian  
,revelation of ,him4    ,to make        
,baptism a sign of admission into the   
visible ,church he says is  absurd2 8for
 we know that half the baptized people  
in the world are very  visible rogues4  
,also the ,holy ,ghost is sometimes     
given before ,baptism1  and it would be 
absurdity to call a man on whom the     

,holy ,ghost had  fallen1 an invisible  
,christian40#da    ,on the ,sacrament he
 declared to a correspondent in #ahhh   
that he would  take it from anybody's   
hand1 the ,pope's1 the ,queen's or a    
hedgeside  gipsy's1 and quoted          
,longfellow's lines3        8,a holy    
family1 that makes       ,each meal a   
supper of the ,lord40    ,he is drastic 
in his rejection of all ,prayer ,books4 
,prayers out of a  book are no prayers  
to him2 he cannot think that varying    
needs are met  by routine prayer4 ,these
 statements are in his ,letters to the  
,clergy on  the ,lord's ,prayer and the 
,church 7#ahgi71 reprinted in ,on the   
,old  ,road1 p4 #cbe1 and he comments on
 the distrust in the efficacy of prayer 
likely to be produced by having to ask  
one day 8that the rest of our  lives    
hereafter may be pure and holy10 knowing
 that next day1 or at  least next       
,sunday1 we shall be expected to confess
 that 8there is no  health in us40 ,he  
seriously suspects the effect of the    

,liturgy on the  truthfulness of the    
,english mind4    ,when he discusses the
 vital problem of the seat of ,authority
 in religion  he declares that it       
ultimately resides within1 not in an    
outward ,church  or ,book4 ,he is       
absolutely uncompromising about this4   
8,there is1 therefore1 in matters of    
doctrine1 no such thing as the          
authority of the ,church4 ,we might as  
well talk of the authority of a  morning
 cloud4 ,there may be light in it1 but  
the light is not of it2 and  it         
diminishes the light that it gets2 and  
lets less of it through than  it        
receives1 ,christ being its sun4 ,or1 we
 might as well talk of the  authority of
 a flock of sheep--for the ,church is a 
body to be taught and  fed1 not to teach
 and feed2 and of all sheep that are fed
 on the earth1  ,christ's sheep are the 
most simple10 likely to die in the      
bramble  thickets2 8but for their       
,shepherd1 who is for ever finding them 
and  bearing them back1 with torn       

fleeces and eyes full of fear40#db      
,there is also an interesting passage in
 ,the ,eagle's ,nest 7p4 #ace7 on  8,the
 ,light that lighteth every man that    
cometh into the world40    ,by way of   
,church discipline he advises a process 
of excommunication by a  jury of        
laymen4#dc    ,what of religious        
decorative art8 ,surely here the great  
art critic and  apostle of the          
,beautiful will be found on the         
ritualist side8 ,not so4 ,he  says that 
,church art1 pictures1 images1 and so   
on1 8make us believe what  we would not 
otherwise have believed2 and1 secondly1 
make us think of  subjects we should not
 otherwise have thought of1 intruding   
them amidst  our ordinary thoughts in a 
confusing and familiar manner40 8,this  
art10  he says1 8is misapplied1 and in  
most cases1 very dangerously so4 ,our   
duty is to believe in the existence of  
,divine1 or any other1 persons1  only   
upon rational proofs of their existence2
 and not because we have  seen pictures 

of them40    8,but ,i nevertheless      
believe that he who trusts much to such 
helps 7as  #8,rafaelesque and other     
sacred paintings of a high order'7 will 
find them  fail him at his need2 and    
that the dependence1 in any great       
degree1 on  the presence or power of a  
picture1 indicates a wonderfully feeble 
sense  of the presence and power of     
,god4 ,i do not think that any man1 who 
is  thoroughly certain that ,christ is  
in the room1 will care what sort of     
picture of ,christ he has on its walls  
and1 in the plurality of cases1  the    
delight taken in art of this kind is1 in
 reality1 nothing more than  a form of  
graceful indulgence of those            
sensibilities which the habits of  a    
disciplined life restrain in other      
directions4 ,such art is1 in a word1    
the opera and drama of the monk4        
,sometimes it is worse than this1 and   
the love of it is the mask under which a
 general thirst for morbid  excitement  
will pass itself off for religion4 ,the 

young lady who rises  in the middle of  
the day1 jaded by her last night's ball1
 and utterly  incapable of any simple or
 wholesome religious exercise1 can still
 gaze  into the dark eyes of the        
,madonna di ,san ,sisto1 or dream over  
the  whiteness of an ivory crucifix1 and
 returns to the course of her daily     
life in full persuasion that her        
morning's feverishness has atoned for   
her evening's folly4 ,and1 all the      
while1 the art which possesses these    
very doubtful advantages is acting for  
undoubtful detriment1 in the  various   
ways above examined 7in a previous      
passage71 on the inmost  fastnesses of  
faith2 it is throwing subtle endearments
 round foolish  traditions1 confusing   
sweet fancies with sound doctrines1 and 
enforcing  false assertions with        
pleasant circumstantiality1 until1 to   
the usual1  and assuredly sufficient1   
difficulties standing in the way of     
belief1  its votaries have added a habit
 of sentimentally changing what they    

know  to be true1 and of dearly loving  
what they confess to be false40    8,has
 there then 7the reader asks            
emphatically7 been no true religious    
ideal8 ,has religious art never been of 
any service to mankind8 ,i fear1  on the
 whole1 not4    8,more1 ,i think1 has   
always been done for ,god by few words  
than many  pictures1 and more by few    
acts than many words40    8,and for us  
all there is in this matter even a      
deeper danger than that  of indulgence4 
,there is the danger of ,artistical     
,pharisaism4 ,of all the  forms of pride
 and vanity1 as there are none more     
subtle1 so ,i believe  there are none   
more sinful1 than those which are       
manifested by the  ,pharisees of art4   
,to be proud of birth1 of place1 of wit1
 of bodily  beauty1 is comparatively    
innocent1 just because such pride is    
more  natural1 and more easily detected4
 ,but to be proud of our sanctities2 to 
pour contempt upon our fellows because1 
forsooth1 we like to look at  ,madonnas 

in bowers of roses1 better than at plain
 pictures of plain  things2 and to make 
this religious art of ours the          
expression of our own  perpetual        
self-complacency--congratulating        
ourselves1 day by day1 on  our purities1
 proprieties1 elevations1 and           
inspirations1 as above the  reach of    
common mortals1 this ,i believe to be   
one of the wickedest and  foolishest    
forms of human egotism40#dd    ,these   
clear-sounding testimonies form a       
coherent whole4 ,is there any  religious
 body in ,england which holds all1 or   
even most of these  positions8          
,remarkably enough1 there is one which  
holds them all2 indeed1  whose separate 
existence depends on holding just these 
positions1  positive and negative alike4
 ,this one is the ,society of ,friends4 
,we find  to our surprise that1 without 
knowing it1 ,ruskin was a real and very 
completely furnished ,quaker4    ,the   
testimony against a paid or professional
 clergy1 against all  clerical claims1  

is the very heart of ,quaker practice2  
and the raison  d'tre of their separate 
meetings4 ,the ,priesthood of all       
,believers is  at the heart of their    
official statements1 and the implication
 in their  ministry4 ,they say that     
there should be no laity among them1    
exactly as  ,ruskin does4 ,they decline 
all forms of fixed or routine prayer1   
and  never practise them4 ,their meeting
 houses are plain1 and their worship  is
 ascetically devoid of sensuous         
attraction in glowing glass or carven   
stone or in the odour of incense4    ,it
 is one of their central historical     
testimonies1 dating from the            
seventeenth century1 that the ,bible    
should not be called the ,word of  ,god4
 ,for this they were called atheists by 
the clergy of ,charles ,,ii4 ,the       
controversies of that time rarely       
avoided touching on this sore point4    
,for them1 as for ,ruskin1 the seat of  
authority is ,the ,light ,within1 and1  
like ,ruskin1 they are willing to 8give 

up ,moses0 if history demands it4       
,the attitude of ,ruskin to ,baptism and
 the ,lord's ,supper is a thoroughly    
,quaker one4 ,both hold that they are   
unnecessary and have no 8,validity40    
,the only 8,church0 they recognize is   
the ,universal ,church composed of all  
faithful men everywhere2 and as ,ruskin 
speaks of sheep on distant  mountains   
who look like stones1 so ,friends have  
always held that the  heathen were or   
could be saints of the household of     
,god1 and that  knowledge of the        
historical ,jesus ,christ was not       
essential to salvation  here or         
hereafter4    ,there is a remarkable    
omission too4 ,so far as ,i know ,ruskin
 never speaks  of ,hell1 as an article  
of faith4 ,nor does it ever occur in    
,quaker  ministry4    ,it is almost     
uncanny that there is an agreement also 
on minor  testimonies which might appear
 accidental4 ,friends do not approve of 
mourning garments1 though there is in   
this generation some weakness  about    

this4 ,ruskin thinks that 8the people   
who really believe in  immortality must 
be few1 else why the ,church's singular 
habit of putting  on mourning for every 
one summoned to be with ,christ1 which  
is far  better40#de    ,it is well known
 that ,friends refuse to take judicial  
,oaths1 and gave a  handle thereby to   
hostile magistrates1 when other handles 
slipped away4  ,ruskin says plainly that
 ,oaths are 8disobedience to the        
teaching of  ,christ40#df    ,i believe 
we have now mentioned all the points of 
,quakerism1 except the  testimony       
against all ,war4 ,from ,chapter ,,viii 
devoted to this1 it is  clear that      
,ruskin was generally1 but not always1  
on ,quaker lines4 ,he  wobbled somewhat1
 and felt puzzled1 and ,i am afraid that
 a certain  number of ,friends have done
 the same at times of crisis4           
,lastly1 the ,quaker simplicity of life1
 the avoidance of luxury and  social    
pretensions1 the fixing of attention    
chiefly on the things of  the spirit1   

are ,ruskin's dearest delight1 the      
subject of his most  earnest pleas4     
,take one3    8,the uses1 and the       
desire1 of seclusion1 of meditation1 of 
restraint1  and of correction1 are they 
not passing from us in the collision of 
worldly interests1 and restless contests
 of mean hope and meaner fear8  ,the    
,lord is my light and my salvation1 whom
 shall ,i fear80#dg    ,for a man who1  
in the name and for the sake of         
spiritual things1 fought  the good fight
 of a reformer during two generations1  
,ruskin was but  little brought into    
personal friendship with members of the 
,society of  ,friends4 ,george ,baker1  
of ,bewdley1 who was one of the early   
donors to  the ,st4 ,george's ,guild and
 was long one of its ,trustees1 and     
afterwards  its ,master1 is the         
principal personal link he had with the 
,society4  ,henry ,swan1 formerly his   
curator at the ,sheffield ,museum1 was a
 ,friend4    ,when the writer1 as one of
 a party of ,friends1 was kindly shown  

over  ,brantwood by its owner in #ahhd1 
the only things he had to say to us     
about ,quakerism in the course of a     
forty minutes' talk1 were a little      
homily on sectarianism1 contrasted with 
a church of 8,god-fearing  people10     
including ,catholics and ,turks--a      
little chaff about our  failing in the  
matter of usury to literally obey our   
,bibles1 as he  supposed we thought we  
always tried to do--and an astonishing  
pronouncement that 8,your early ,friends
 would have carried all before  them1 if
 they had not opposed that which is     
obeyed by the whole of the  animal      
creation--the love of colour40 ,we must 
take this as one of the  characteristic 
plunges into emphasis 7some             
well-balanced people would  use a       
stronger term perhaps71 which are a     
cause at once of his strength  as a     
stimulating teacher1 and of his         
insufficiency as an infallible  oracle1 
to be mechanically interpreted4         
,these three utterances1 however1 slight

 as they are1 show a misreading  of     
,quakerism4 ,we are1 ,i trust1 the least
 sectional of little sects4 ,the        
religion of the ,light ,within is at the
 basis of all other religions too2  it  
is the absolute religion1 religion      
reduced to its simplest1 and it  brings 
us into sympathetic connection with     
,evangelical1 ,ritualist1 ,jew1         
,mohammedan and 8heathen10 so far as    
these have the ,divine ,spirit shining  
through their particular forms of       
thought and practice4 ,also1 of all     
people1 we are the least prone to       
unintelligent ,biblical literalism1 and 
are quite unlikely to be stumbled by the
 ,mosaic regulations about  usury4      
,there is a measure of truth in his     
third statement about  8colour10 if by  
that he meant1 in a comprehensive sense1
 those  recreations which relieve the   
strain of a severely ruled life4 ,we    
have  become less numerous1 ,i doubt    
not1 through our restrictions 7now      
abandoned7 on art1 music1 8the theatre  

and the ball-room40 ,but there  have    
been compensations to those who have    
stayed under the discipline4    ,ruskin1
 then1 never understood the ,society of 
,friends in the outward4  ,this was the 
mere result of circumstances4 ,brought  
up in the south of  ,london1 educated at
 ,oxford1 living much abroad1 with local
 interests and  acquaintances chiefly   
centering round ,denmark ,hill1 ,oxford 
and ,coniston1  he had no great         
opportunity to meet ,friends4    ,he    
never had any ,quaker teaching in his   
youth4 ,the voice of the ,society  of   
,friends was too faint to reach him4 ,he
 never found his way across the  hill   
from ,brantwood to the ancient meeting  
house at ,hawkshead1 but his  word has  
penetrated further than ours1 and all   
unaware he has done our  work4    ,how  
marvellous is this series of harmonies1 
unintended1 unrecognized on  both sides1
 between him and the ,society of        
,friends6 ,it looks as though           
,quakerism is not an arbitrary group of 

doctrines gathered up1 as he  fancied   
them1 by ,george ,fox1 but a coherent   
system1 all whose parts hang  together  
as they all appear together when they   
rise up in ,ruskin4 ,it is  a strong    
confirmation of the coherence and       
validity of the religious  discoveries  
of our ,quaker forefathers in the       
seventeenth century1 when  we find that 
they are repeated in the research of    
another emancipated  but devout thinker1
 a religious rationalist who was an     
expert in the  things of the soul4      
,,chapter ,,iv    ,,ruskin ,,and ,,mill 
,a ,,reconciliation      ,the           
controversy between ,ruskin and the     
orthodox ,political ,economists of  his 
time was central in his career1 and has 
occupied a prominent place  in the      
thought of the last sixty years4 ,either
 ,ruskin's teaching or that  of ,mill   
and his colleagues1 or that of both1 has
 been clouded with  uncertainty and so  
has lost force4 ,if it should be found1 
as ,i shall try  to show1 that there was

 no real ground for the controversy at  
all--that  it was all due to            
misapprehension1 to mere ambiguity in a 
term1 it will  reinforce the conclusions
 of the economists in their modern      
revised  form1 add cogency to the       
teaching of ,ruskin1 and clear away     
storm clouds  which have done great     
harm4 ,the mistake arose through a wrong
 conception  by ,ruskin of the scope of 
,economics--of what its teachers were   
after4    ,political ,economy has always
 been treated by careful writers as the 
science of human action with regard to  
the acquisition and use of  property4   
,this is a pure science4 ,it is a branch
 of applied psychology4  ,it measures   
motives1 and analyses the action of     
buyers and sellers with  a view to      
finding out what men in business will   
normally do1 and how  values of land1   
labour1 capital and commodities are     
determined4 ,this  does not open any    
question of right or wrong1 any question
 of oppression  or starvation1 of       

luxury1 vanity or pride4 ,this is as    
cold-blooded1 as  purely intellectual   
and critical an inquiry as the study and
 measurement  of electrical currents2   
what produces them1 conducts them1      
wastes or  scatters them4 ,an           
electrician will show how a telephone   
may be made1 he  will invent it1 and he 
will explain it2 but it is no business  
of his to  ask whether courtesy and good
 feeling or profanity and fraud will    
characterize the messages which will go 
over his instrument4 ,that is not  his  
business as a scientist1 though the use 
of his own telephone is his  business as
 a man4    ,now this is a perfectly     
intelligible1 it may be a perfectly     
blameless1  and1 at first sight1 a      
probably useful branch of inquiry4 ,it  
separates  off from the great mass of   
human actions a definite field2 it omits
 the  motive of religion1 the motive of 
love1 and the motive of self-denying    
service1 outside service for the family 
for whom the man under  discussion is   

economically responsible4    ,concerning
 it1 we must ask three questions3    #a4
 ,is this separation practicable1 and in
 consequence are the results  true or   
approximately true8    #b4 ,under what  
limitations is it useful to make such a 
separation1 and  what real guidance to  
conduct1 if any1 follows8    #c4        
,afterwards we will inquire to what     
extent the political economists  have   
rigidly confined themselves to theory1  
and having found that they  did not1    
when they went over into practical      
advice we will ask whether  they were   
deluded by the results they had reached 
within their limits1  and whether they  
hastily assumed that they had found a   
more complete  guide to human action    
than they had4    ,is then the          
separation of dealings which can be     
expressed in terms of  money from the   
other dealings of life sufficiently     
possible to make a  science of those    
dealings8 ,are they predictable1 given  
the  circumstances8 ,will like causes   

produce like results8 ,is the motive    
measured by money sufficiently separable
 from other motives1 to be  treated by  
itself8    ,we must at once admit that  
such separation cannot be absolute2 that
  affection1 pity1 charity1 habit1      
ignorance1 legislative restriction1     
public spirit1 prevent the individual   
from always acting according to  his    
economic interests4 ,he does not always 
buy in the cheapest shop2 he  grumbles  
but helps a struggling neighbour by his 
custom1 and puts up for  some time with 
an inferior article4 ,he goes on using  
old machinery for  want of knowledge or 
of a progressive mind4 ,he keeps on an  
old hand for  the sake of the past4     
,still1 in the long run1 these          
qualifications to  the general law do   
not survive4 ,in general1 men in the    
large may be  trusted to do that which  
it is their economic interest to do1    
within  such lines of honesty as are    
ratified by law1 or of honour as are    
regarded by public opinion4             

,competition1 that is1 is the general   
rule in  business2 and we shall not go  
far wrong in assuming it as the method  
in  vogue in ,europe and ,america1      
unless some special feature of monopoly 
or  legislative ,protection or trade    
combination supersedes it4    ,this is  
not the same as saying that it is always
 right to follow the  lines of pure     
competition4 ,we must at all points     
check the tendency to  pass from the    
indicative to the imperative mood1 from 
a science to an  art2 from what will    
raise our profits to what is our duty in
 our  business4    ,so we assert that   
there is a ,theory of ,value1 and that  
it is an  approximately verified theory 
under the present system of business4   
,further1 that in #ahfj1 when business  
was less regulated than it is now1  the 
results were so much nearer verification
 by experience4    ,that business is    
carried on for self-interest on the     
whole1 seems to me  a safe approximation
 to reality--and that the exceptions to 

it are not  chemically explosive of its 
system as ,ruskin says1 but can be added
 to  the enquiry afterwards1 like       
friction or the resistance of the air in
  mechanics4    ,whether this is        
desirable1 or the last word of human    
organization1 is  quite another         
question2 and the questions are better  
kept separate4  ,moral considerations   
are too important to come in as an      
incidental  qualification to business   
motives4 ,they should be the dominating 
influence1 and it is better that        
economic results should not obtain a    
sort of sanction as being tinctured with
 righteousness1 when only a few  drops  
of the tincture have been administered4 
,it is better that  ,economics should   
keep their place as a science of        
observed facts4    ,at the present      
moment when war is being diagnosed as   
the worst disease  of society1 there are
 many voices to point out its origin in 
economic  greed1 and through rivalry in 
the exploitation of backward peoples4   

,military pomp and pride1 the mere      
ambition of ,emperors and ,generals1    
must bear their share of the blame1 but 
greed and oppression are the  tap-root  
of war1 and ,ruskin1 it happens1 was    
foremost in saying so1 as  is pointed   
out in a later chapter4    ,the economic
 motive is behind many actions where it 
is not avowed4 ,since  the elementary   
need of man is1 and always has been1 to 
make a living1  and he tries to make it 
as pleasantly as possible1 this must be 
so1 and  the laws which govern          
production1 distribution and exchange   
are of prime  importance for men in     
communities4    ,when ,ruskin touched on
 an economic law1 on a doctrine of the  
science  which he thus erroneously      
blasphemed1 he was remarkably correct2  
he was  an orthodox follower after all  
of much of the doctrine of ,mill4 ,he   
was  8an utterly fearless and           
unscrupulous free trader40#dh ,his      
instinct1  the moral sanction to which  
he always looked--as ,mill also did--as 

a  guide to practice1 told him that     
protection was a wicked action1         
forbidding to workers in other countries
 their right to earn their  living in   
the way by which they could produce the 
most4 8,i mean by  co-operation1 not    
only fellowship between trading firms1  
but between  trading nations2 so that it
 shall no more be thought 7as it is now1
 with  ludicrous and vain selfishness7  
an advantage for one nation to undersell
  another1 and take its occupation away 
from it2 but that the primal and        
eternal law of commerce shall be of all 
men understood--viz41 that every  nation
 is fitted by its character and the     
nature of its territories for  some     
particular employments and manufactures1
 and that it is the true  interest of   
every other nation to encourage it in   
such speciality40#di  8,i do not admit  
even the idea of reciprocity4 ,let other
 nations1 if they  like1 keep their     
ports shut2 every wise nation will throw
 its own  open40#ej ,he knew every point

 of the correct economic theory of free 
trade4 ,he realized foreign commerce as 
exchange or barter1 with the  dependence
 of exports upon imports4 ,this         
dependence1 showing the true  nature of 
,international ,trade1 follows from the 
correct doctrine of  currency4 ,ruskin  
emphasized this doctrine repeatedly4 ,he
 knew that  every fall in the supply of 
commodities made the gold currency of   
less  value4 ,he knew that inflation by 
paper money similarly sent prices up4   
,he was enthusiastic for a gold         
standard1 not as being perfect1 but     
being  the best available4#ea ,mill's   
still valuable chapter on ,international
  ,trade and all current economic       
doctrine on currency are ,ruskinian     
economy too4 ,also1 when a disciple of  
the much depreciated ,manchester        
,school talked of laisser faire he      
generally meant3 8,let ,protection      
alone40 ,his phrase was general1 but in 
the days of ,gladstone's                
chancellorships of the exchequer1 the   

8,manchester0 man was thinking  mainly  
of the removal of tariffs4 ,it would not
 be in accord with human  psychology if 
the principle had not been pushed too   
far1 and by friends  and opponents alike
 the principle of governmental          
abstention from  interference enlarged1 
and made universal4 ,in calling for     
government  action to determine wages   
and organize employment1 ,ruskin was    
simply  uttering a need not yet felt4   
,he was a twentieth century voice1 heard
  too soon4    ,but we must always avoid
 the snare into which the earlier       
economists  fell1 of assuming that their
 conclusions were rigid and absolutely  
correct4 ,there can be no mechanical    
infallibility about ,economics2 it is   
not accurate enough to be mathematically
 true4 ,it expresses tendencies4  ,in a 
word1 it is a psychological1 not a      
physical science4 ,its subject is  not  
wealth1 simply1 but human motive in     
regard to wealth4    ,students of the   
,political ,economy of ,adam ,smith1    

,ricardo1 ,bentham and  ,james ,mill1   
find that these great founders of       
economic science1 in whose  debt we     
shall ever remain1 assumed too much     
mechanical uniformity in  men's actions1
 and did not give enough weight to the  
reaction of man  upon his circumstances4
 ,they counted a man too much as a      
passively  responsive machine4 ,this is 
what led them to the doctrines since so 
seriously modified--the existence of a  
fixed ,wages ,fund1 the 8,iron ,law  of 
,wages10 the thesis that 8,a demand for 
,commodities is not a demand for        
,labour40    ,john ,stuart ,mill began  
life under these influences1 and his    
,principles  of ,political ,economy     
contain them2 but in later life he      
abandoned his  ,wages ,fund theory1 gave
 greater weight to the human side1 the  
variable  and uncertain factor in       
economic problems1 and under the        
influence of  ,comte and of the         
,socialists doubted the accuracy of much
 of his economic  argument4 ,this change

 was published in his review of the work
 of his  friend ,thornton1 who had      
attacked the ,wages ,fund theory in     
#ahfi4 ,it is  in ,mill's collected     
,essays4    ,the ,political ,economy    
which ,ruskin attacked was that of      
,mill's  ,principles2 and to judge      
fairly of the controversy we must treat 
the  science1 not as it was left1 in    
high universal abstraction1 by ,ricardo2
  nor as worked up with rich historical 
material1 cautious and well  informed1  
as in ,professor ,marshall's writings1  
but 7between these7 as  ,mill left it in
 his first edition of #ahdh4    ,in     
estimating the extent to which ,ruskin's
 attack was excusable1 we need  to know 
whether ,mill overstepped the bounds of 
theory1 of pure  science--and became a  
political adviser and exhorter4 ,this he
 certainly  did1 quite often in his     
book1 and he says in his preface that it
 was  part of his purpose to do so4     
,ruskin says that it is when he is thus 
inconsistent with his own theory1  and  

strays into practical teaching1 that he 
begins to take any interest  in him2 and
 certainly ,mill gave1 precisely because
 he was a  philanthropist and a social  
reformer1 room for a critic to come in  
and  say3 8,lo1 you pretend to be a     
practical guide to conduct1 and you are 
only taking account of low and selfish  
motives2 you are an unworthy  exponent  
of human nature1 if we are to regard you
 as taking it all for  your province40  
,the chapters chiefly referred to here  
are those on 8,the  ,advantages of a    
,stationary ,state10 and on 8,the       
,futurity of the ,labouring  ,classes40 
,ruskin recognizes and admits this in a 
clever but naughty way3    8,i should   
have regretted the need of pointing out 
inconsistency in any  portion of ,mr4   
,mill's work1 had not the value of his  
work proceeded from  its                
inconsistencies4 ,he deserves honour    
among economists by  inadvertently      
disclaiming the principles which he     
states1 and tacitly  introducing the    

moral considerations with which he      
claims his science  has no connection4  
,many of his chapters are therefore true
 and valuable2  and the only conclusions
 of his which ,i have to dispute are    
those which  follow from his            
premises40#eb ,mill made the distinction
 between science  and social reform     
quite plain in his chapters1 and left no
 room for  confusion4 ,ruskin must have 
thoroughly understood this4    ,full in 
the face of this theoretical            
investigation comes ,ruskin's           
definition of ,political ,economy1 with 
which he begins ,munera ,pulveris3      
8,political ,economy is neither an art  
nor science1 but a system of  conduct   
and legislature1 founded on the         
sciences1 directing the arts1  and      
impossible1 except under certain        
conditions of moral culture40    ,here  
we have an entirely different object4   
,this ,economy aims at telling  us what 
we ought to do for the enriching and    
purifying of life upon the  earth1 and  

what the state ought to do for the same 
end4 ,this is  universal politics and   
social amelioration3 frankly and        
definitely1 not  a science at all4      
,there need be no conflict between this 
comprehensive study of political        
ethics1 including religion1 art1 and    
education among its principal           
departments--and that science which     
might usefully come in as one of  those 
on which it is based4 ,to be sure1 both 
claim to be called  ,political ,economy2
 but that is only a verbal rivalry4 ,as 
to that1  ,ruskin's ,political ,economy 
has by derivation the proper right to   
the  term--the ,state's ,housekeeping4  
,but it is not always wise to follow    
derivations2 the scholastic ,economy was
 in possession of the word1  though     
properly speaking it was not  nor was it
 4  ,ruskin's weakness for playing with 
etymologies1 often curious ones1  helped
 to maintain this rivalry in words4     
,there is room for both studies1 the    
scholastic economies and the  ,ruskinian

 economy4 ,that is my thesis4    ,how   
differently the criticism of ,carlyle   
and ,ruskin might have been  launched4  
,ruskin might have said that he admitted
 that in business  people must be       
assumed to follow their own interests1  
that is1 that the  8economic man0 would 
stand as a general average in business  
relations4  ,but he might have said1    
after that1 every word that he wanted to
 say1  about the insufficiency of this  
principle as a guide to conduct4 ,he    
might have dwelt on the strength of     
loyalties and affections1 and on the    
powerful economic value of good         
relations between masters and servants4 
,he might have shown how misleading were
 economic results if acted on as  a     
complete handbook of conduct even in    
business4 ,he might have written  ,unto 
,this ,last with an introduction by     
,john ,stuart ,mill1 and  everything    
positive or constructive left in it4    
,the satire and  sword-play might have  
been used for something else4    ,much  

of his attack might have taken the form 
of entirely sound but  friendly         
criticism4 ,great play is made with a   
sentence of ,ricardo's3#ec  8,utility is
 not the measure of exchangeable value1 
though it is  absolutely essential to   
it40 ,this non-committal sentence does  
not carry  us very far1 and does not    
claim to be a definition1 but is true as
 far  as it goes4 ,ruskin makes hay of  
,ricardo's statement next following1    
that  ,labour was1 in primitive         
abstraction at any rate1 the sole       
regulator of  price4 ,neither he nor    
,ruskin had reached the modern theory of
 8marginal  values0 which solves so many
 ancient puzzles and misunderstandings4 
,price is fixed where ,demand and       
,supply meet3 and it measures two       
things4  ,it represents on one side the 
value in use of the last article        
produced2  and on the other the cost in 
labour of the production thereof4 ,then 
both  sides are satisfied--the buyer and
 the seller4 ,but the price does not    

represent the utility of the earliest   
articles produced--the first  loaves of 
bread would be quite priceless1--nor the
 cost of the  production of the first   
few easily grown crops4 ,both values are
 8final0  or 8marginal40 ,this simple   
and permanent plan of determining price1
  which nobody can or should alter1 is1 
put shortly1 the terrible law of  supply
 and demand1 the very heart of economic 
theory1 about which so  much indignation
 is wastefully expended4 ,if ,ruskin's  
penetrating mind  had been devoted to   
helpful criticism of the gaps left by   
the  economists1 they might have reached
 this theory much earlier4 ,but ,ruskin 
wrote in a state of noble rage--a bad   
state for the scientific temper4        
8,nothing in history10 he wrote1 8has   
ever been so disgraceful to human       
intellect as the acceptance among us of 
the common doctrines of  political      
economy as a science40#ed ,this was     
chiefly because it was  said to be a    
systematic disobedience to the first    

principles of its  professed religion1  
because it taught 8the love of money0   
and 8mammon  service02 it was 8a science
 of becoming rich40 ,once accept so     
terrible a  misconception1 and all the  
vials of the prophets' wrath are not too
  profuse4 8,to this science and to this
 alone 7the professed and organized     
pursuit of money7 is owing all the evil 
of modern days4 ,i say all40#ee  ,ruskin
 wrote in #ahfe a letter to the ,daily  
,telegraph in which he says  people     
cannot get servants by political economy
 and the law of supply  and demand--as  
though he had said they cannot be got by
 physics and the  law of gravitation4   
,to see his real attitude we must add a 
phrase of  #ahhc3 8,while ,i admit there
 is such a thing as mercantile economy1 
distinguished from social1 ,i have      
always said that neither ,mill1 ,fawcett
  nor ,bastiat knew the contemptible    
science they professed to teach40#ef    
,this attitude is pure disaster1        
comparable to the great odia  theologica

 which have cursed the world4 ,it is not
 necessary nor wise to  take sides in an
 utterly baseless controversy4 ,let us  
rather examine the  programme of the    
science4    ,prof4 ,marshall gives the  
following list of the inquiries chiefly 
pursued  by economic science#eg3--      
8,how does economic freedom tend1 so far
 as its influence reaches1 to  arrange  
the demand for wealth and its           
production1 distribution and  exchange8 
,what organization of industry and trade
 does economic freedom  tend to bring   
about2 what forms of division of labour2
 what arrangements  of the money market1
 of wholesale and retail dealing1 and   
what relations  between employer and    
employed8 ,how does it tend to adjust   
values1 that  is1 the prices of material
 things1 whether produced on the spot or
  brought from a distance1 rents of all 
kinds1 interest on capital and the      
earnings of all forms of work1 including
 that of undertaking and  managing      
business enterprises8 ,how does it      

affect the course of foreign  trade8    
,subject to what limitations is the     
price of anything a measure of  its real
 utility8 ,what increase of happiness is
 prima facie likely to  result from a   
given increase in the wealth of any     
class of society8 ,how  far is the      
industrial efficiency of any class      
impaired by the  insufficiency of its   
income8 ,how far would an increase of   
the income of  any class1 if once       
effected1 be likely to sustain itself   
through its  effects in increasing their
 efficiency and earning power8    8,how 
far does1 as a matter of fact1 the      
influence of economic freedom  reach1 or
 how far has it reached at any          
particular time1 in any place1  in any  
rank of society1 or in any particular   
branch of industry8 ,what  other        
influences are most powerful there8 and 
how is the action of all  these         
influences combined8 ,in particular1 how
 far does not economic  freedom tend of 
its own action to build up combinations 

and monopolies1  and what are their     
effects8 ,how are the various classes of
 society  likely to be affected by its  
action in the long run8 ,what will be   
the  intermediate effects while its     
ultimate results are being worked out2  
and1 account being taken of the time    
over which they will spread1 what  is   
the relative importance of these two    
classes of ultimate and  intermediate   
effects8 ,what will be the incidence of 
any system of taxes8  ,what burdens will
 it impose on the community1 and what   
revenue will it  afford to the ,state80 
,such then1 is the subject matter of    
economic science spread out in some     
detail4 ,but behind all these there are 
practical questions which give  the     
chief motive to our interest in the     
subject2 and though not within  the     
actual range of the science1 it will be 
of interest to us to hear  the same     
authority state them4 ,they vary very   
much from time to time4  ,the earlier   
economists were occupied with the need  

of removing  restrictions on free       
commerce1 and government regulation     
generally1 and  they glorified economic 
freedom4 ,we ask with ,marshall3        
8,how should we act so as to increase   
the good and diminish the evil          
influences of economic freedom1 both in 
its ultimate results1 and in  the course
 of its progress8 ,if the first are good
 and the latter evil1  but those who    
suffer the evil do not reap the good1   
how far is it right  that they should   
suffer for the benefit of others80      
8,taking it for granted that a more     
equal distribution of wealth is to be   
desired1 how far would this justify     
changes in the institution of  property1
 or limitations of free enterprise1 even
 when they would be  likely to diminish 
the aggregate of wealth8 ,in other      
words1 how far  should an increase in   
the income of the poorer classes and a  
diminution  of their work be aimed at1  
even if it involved some lessening of   
national material wealth8 ,how far could

 this be done without injustice1  and   
without slackening the energies of the  
leaders of progress8 ,how  ought the    
burdens of taxation to be distributed   
among the different  classes of         
society80    8,ought we to rest content 
with the existing forms of division of  
labour8  ,is it necessary that large    
numbers of the people should be         
exclusively  occupied with work that has
 no elevating character8 ,is it possible
 to  educate gradually among the great  
mass of workers a new capacity for the  
higher kinds of work1 and in particular 
for undertaking co-operatively  the     
management of the businesses in which   
they are themselves employed80    8,what
 are the proper relations of individual 
and collective action in a  stage of    
civilization such as ours8 ,how far     
ought voluntary association  in its     
various forms1 old and new1 to be left  
to supply collective  action for those  
purposes for which such action has      
special advantages8  ,what business     

affairs should be undertaken by society 
itself acting  through the ,government1 
imperial or local8 ,have we1 for        
instance1  carried as far as we should  
the plan of collective ownership and use
 of  open spaces1 or works of art1 of   
the means of instruction and amusement1 
as well as of those material requisites 
of a civilized life1 the supply  of     
which requires united action1 such as   
gas and water and railways80    8,when  
,government does not itself directly    
intervene1 how far should it  allow     
individuals and corporations to conduct 
their own affairs as they  please8 ,how 
far should it regulate the management of
 railways and other  concerns which are 
to some extent in a position of         
monopoly1 and again1  of land and other 
things the quantity of which cannot be  
increased by  man8 ,is it necessary to  
retain in their full force all the      
existing  rights of property1 or have   
the original necessities for which they 
were  meant to provide1 in some measure 

passed away80    8,are the prevailing   
methods of using wealth entirely        
justifiable8 ,what  scope is there for  
the moral pressure of social opinion in 
constraining  and directing individual  
action in those economic relations in   
which the  rigidity and violence of     
,government interference would be likely
 to do  more harm than good8    8,in    
what respect do the duties of one nation
 to another in economic  matters differ 
from those of members of the same nation
 to one another80    ,in fact1 we have  
to deal with the problems of ,socialism1
 of  ,co-operation1 of ,municipal       
action1 of ,luxury and of ,trade ,wars4 
,he might  have added ,pauperism and    
,old ,age ,pensions1 ,standard ,wages   
and ,hours1 and  ,nationalization of    
various kinds of property4 ,there is a  
strong and  audible echo of ,ruskin's   
aims about these practical problems2 and
 one  does not yet see why we cannot    
make room in our own minds both for     
economic science and the ,ruskinian     

,economy to which these issues belong4  
,there are passages1 too1 in ,mill1     
which ,ruskin himself might have        
written1 which look beyond ,production  
and ,distribution to the larger  needs  
and joys of man4 ,he is considering the 
stationary state of capital  and wealth1
 when economic progress has ceased1 when
 people are not  always growing more    
numerous and more wealthy1 a state      
dreaded by the  older economists1 and   
ever to be held at arm's length4 ,but   
,mill says he  thinks it would be better
 than our present condition4 8,i confess
 ,i am  not charmed with the ideal of   
life held out by those who think that   
the  normal state of human beings is    
that of struggling to get on1 that the  
trampling1 crushing1 elbowing and       
treading on each other's heels1 which   
form the existing type of social life1  
are the most desirable lot of           
humankind1 or anything but the          
disagreeable symptoms of one of the     
phases of industrial progress4 ,the     

northern and middle states of ,america  
are a specimen of this stage of         
civilization in very favourable         
circumstances1 having apparently got rid
 of all social injustices and           
inequalities1 that affect persons of    
,caucasian race and of the male sex1    
while the proportion of population to   
capital and land is such as to  ensure  
abundance to every able-bodied member of
 the community who does  not forfeit it 
by misconduct4 ,they have the six points
 of ,chartism1 and  they have no        
poverty2 and all that these advantages  
do for them is that  the life of the    
whole of one sex is devoted to          
dollar-hunting1 and of  the other to    
breeding dollar-hunters4 ,the best state
 for human nature is  that in which1    
while no one is poor1 no one desires to 
be richer1 nor  has any reason to fear  
being thrust back by the efforts of     
others to  push themselves forward40#eh 
,that is ,ruskin without the eloquence2 
that is his advice to stay in the       

station in which we have been placed1   
and not be always trying to get  out of 
it4 ,a little more from ,mill3    8,i   
know not why it should be matter of     
congratulation that persons who  are    
already richer than any one needs to be1
 should have doubled their  means of    
consuming things which give little or no
 pleasure except as  representative of  
wealth1 or that numbers should pass     
over1 every year1  from the middle      
classes into a richer class1 or from the
 class of the  occupied rich to that of 
the unoccupied40    ,this reminds one of
 the well-known passage where ,ruskin   
speaks of those  who try 8to advance in 
life without knowing what life means1   
who mean  only that they are to get more
 horses and more footmen and more       
fortune  and more public honours        
and--not more personal soul40#ei    ,as 
some injustice has been done to ,mill1  
particularly by us the pupils  and      
friends of his eloquent antagonist1 ,i  
will quote a little more from  him to   

show that though the laws of ,nature    
were represented by him as  hard1 he was
 himself as ,ruskinian as any of us4 ,he
 suggests a limitation  of the right of 
bequest1 so that no one should receive  
by gift or  inheritance more than a     
moderate independence1 so that there    
might be 8a  well paid and affluent body
 of labourers2 no enormous fortunes1    
except  what were earned and accumulated
 during a single lifetime2 but a much   
larger body sufficiently at leisure to  
cultivate freely the graces of  life40  
,just so does ,ruskin tell us that a man
 who dies rich dies  disgraced4 ,mill   
proceeds to express his dread of greater
 density of  population1 because it     
crowds out solitude1 so needful for     
depth of  character1 and takes away wild
 natural beauty4 ,the whole passage     
might  have come from ,brantwood4    ,as
 to machinery1 ,mill goes on in the very
 spirit of ,fors ,clavigera3  8,hitherto
 it is questionable if all the          
mechanical inventions yet made  have    

lightened the day's toil of any human   
being4 ,they have enabled a  greater    
population to live the same life of     
drudgery and imprisonment1  and an      
increased number of manufacturers and   
others to make large  fortunes40 ,i am  
afraid that with posterity ,john ,stuart
 ,mill may suffer  in reputation from   
being the object of so much invective1  
embedded in  peerless ,english1 and     
written under a mighty spirit of        
prophesying4  ,fors ,clavigera and ,unto
 ,this ,last will be read much longer   
than  ,mill's ,principles1 and future   
ages may describe him as a cold-blooded 
,philistine1 when really he was among   
the best and wisest of men4 ,certain    
,stoics and ,epicureans1 of whom all we 
know is that they encountered  ,paul1   
have hardly had justice from the        
ordinary ,english reader of the  ,acts4 
,mill obtained the verdict of           
contemporaries3 but the future is the   
charmer's4    ,in some ways these two   
protagonists1 both of them among the    

princes of  our race1 were strangely    
alike in their history4 ,mill1 born in  
#ahjf1 was  the elder by thirteen years4
 ,both children were extraordinarily    
precocious1 ,mill with his ,greek at    
two1 ,ruskin with his pencil and his    
poetry at seven4 ,at sixteen ,mill was  
writing in ,the ,traveller in  defence  
of his father and of ,ricardo4 ,from    
eighteen to twenty he  contributed to   
the ,westminster ,review and other      
journals articles on  the ,game ,laws1  
the ,corn ,laws1 the ,law of ,libel and 
on a ,paper ,currency1  and reviews of  
books on ,economics4 ,at this age       
,ruskin's poetry was  appearing in      
,friendship's ,garland1 and at          
twenty-four he came out with  the first 
volume of ,modern ,painters1 with a     
fully developed style made  in heaven1  
and an originality in his art criticism 
which made him a  public man at once4   
,each of them1 after a long and famous  
literary life1  gave the world an       
autobiography it would not willingly    

lose4    ,they were both only sons1     
brought up with unusual solicitude1     
close  parental control and remarkably  
severe if loving discipline4 ,their     
attachment to and regard for their      
parents was a great power with both1    
all their lives4 ,the gravity1          
earnestness1 and deep sense of          
responsibility taught in childhood never
 left either of them4    ,both passed   
through the fires which try faith2 and  
there are reasons for  believing in both
 cases that what might have been a happy
 marriage was  frustrated by want of    
conventional orthodoxy4 ,so that they   
both suffered  for the cause of truth in
 the hardest of all ways4 ,each of them 
had  only six or seven years of married 
life1 and neither left any children4    
,strangely enough1 also1 ,mill was      
forty-one when his ,principles of       
,political ,economy was written1 and    
,ruskin at forty-one brought out his    
papers in the ,cornhill1 under the title
 of ,unto ,this ,last1 which are  his   

counterblast to ,mill4    ,each of them 
found it necessary in later life to     
recant some of their  earlier teaching1 
and each faithfully did so4 ,mill gave  
up the ,wages  ,fund ,theory he had     
learnt from his father1 and ,ruskin     
scatters the later  editions of his     
earlier works with notes denouncing the 
dogmatic  evangelicalism which runs     
through them1 which he had learnt from  
his  mother4    ,so1 in tragic conflict1
 these two men are before us4 ,not that 
,mill ever  replied4 ,he died in #ahgb1 
and during his lifetime he could afford 
to  ignore the eccentricities of an     
unstable genius1 at whom all sober      
people smiled in pity4 ,but now ,i would
 fain even for ,mill's sake  reconcile  
them4 ,you have true tragedy1 not when  
right meets wrong1 the  noble the       
ignoble1 but when two principles1 both  
noble1 are brought into  a conflict they
 cannot avoid--,mill1 the ,liberal1 the 
rationalist1 with  his watchwords of    
equality1 liberty and a free chance for 

all--and  ,ruskin the ,conservative1 the
 indignant enemy of mechanical progress1
  speaking ever of order and obedience1 
reverence and graded ranks3--,mill1  a  
servant of present humanity1 with but a 
faint critical hold on the  ,unseen2    
,ruskin1 emotional and inspired1 who not
 seldom would fain call  down fire from 
heaven on ,mill's newly enfranchised    
citizens1 because  they blasphemed4     
,so that ,i conclude that scholastic    
,economics is a reliable1 useful        
scientific enquiry1 forming a basis for 
the very same practical aims  which     
,ruskin has set us striving for1 and    
written by men who loved their  fellows 
and were conspicuous examples of        
uprightness and benevolence1            
truth-keeping and friends of their kind4
    ,we know how unscrupulous men of    
business used their conclusions1        
particularly those conclusions which    
have not stood the test of  criticism1  
as a sort of textbook of oppression1 as 
giving a scientific  necessity for      

starvation1 and so excusing hardness of 
heart4 ,that this  was so1 must be      
,ruskin's excuse for declaring war upon 
the economists4  ,but it was a war      
wholly unnecessary2 it clouded his      
prophecy with  confused issues1 and it  
laid the ,master himself among the      
wounded4    ,it will be necessary1 in   
order properly to express the scope of  
,political ,economy1 to examine more    
fully its definition of the two  factors
 whose action and reaction upon one     
another form the subject  matter of the 
science4 ,these two factors are ,man and
 ,wealth4 ,what is ,man  as an economic 
being8 ,what is the 8economic man08     
,he is assumed by ,mill and others#fj as
 a being who considers his own  side of 
a bargain only1 who in all contracts    
will do the best he can for  himself1   
and who1 in the use of his capital1 and 
the direction of his  labour1 is        
influenced by an intelligent and        
passionless eye to his own  interests4  
,he has no regard for custom1 or public 

opinion1 or  compassion1 or resentment1 
or personal partiality1 or class        
prejudice4    ,mill does not pretend    
that this person actually exists2 but   
that the  tendency of things is as      
though he did exist2 and that it is most
 easy  to assume his existence1 and     
after that recognize the qualifications 
which other parts of human nature       
require us to put in1 just as in        
mechanics we calculate what would happen
 if surfaces were smooth1 and  then     
allow for friction afterwards4          
,ruskin's criticisms are not always     
fair4 ,he writes3    8,political        
,economy1 being a science of wealth1    
must be a science  respecting human     
capacities and dispositions4 ,but moral 
considerations  have nothing to do with 
political economy 7says ,mill74         
,therefore1 moral  considerations have  
nothing to do with human capacities and 
dispositions40#fa    ,perhaps the       
logical fallacy is not very obvious1 but
 it is there4 ,human  capacities and    

dispositions touch moral considerations 
on one side1 and  they touch political  
economy on the other4 ,but these two    
need not  therefore be connected4       
,because a man has two relations1 as a  
citizen  and as a father1 and because   
the state does not bring up his         
children1  and the two relations are    
separate1 we must not argue that the man
 has  nothing to do with his family1    
because the state1 with which he is also
  connected1 has nothing to do with it4 
,all this wrong criticism was  produced 
by the obvious remark of ,mill1 that the
 ethical character of a  taste for      
diamonds is not the economist's affair4 
,it is only as a first approximation1   
then1 that economics postulates the     
monster known as the economic man2 cold1
 calculating1 well informed1  shrewd1   
selfish with the unthinking uniformity  
of a machine4 ,it is  perhaps clearer to
 say that it can take account only of   
such motives as  are sufficiently       
regular and predictable to be worth so  

much in money4  ,some unselfish actions 
are of that kind1 such as a man's       
service to his  children1 or if he be a 
,highlander to his third cousin2 and we 
can  predict certain of his regular     
subscriptions4 ,the ,law of ,supply and 
,demand applies to ministers and        
missionaries and hospital nurses1 though
  their payment is all from charitable  
gifts4 ,to some extent the ,charity     
,fund is a steady sum in any nation4 ,it
 could be predicted that when the       
national ,war ,fund was absorbing large 
sums1 other charities1  particularly    
,london charities1 would suffer2 and    
such has been the case4  ,the same      
phenomenon occurred to a less degree    
when ,general ,booth was  raising his   
,darkest ,england ,fund4 ,here is a     
charitable motive steady  enough to be  
measurable4    ,it is not assumed here1 
as so constantly asserted by ,ruskin1   
that men  are and must be treated as    
rogues4 ,the argument of ,ruskin was    
that the  qualifications to be          

introduced into problems due to the fact
 that man  is not an economic man1 are  
not like allowances for friction1 or    
other  mechanical matters1 but are      
organic and revolutionary4 ,the right   
reply  probably is that sometimes this  
is so1 but far more generally not so4   
,when remarkable instances of           
unselfishness occur outside the family  
circle1 where the economist expects and 
allows for them1 they are told  as      
instances of the unexpected4 ,when the  
newspaper boys near the ,mansion  ,house
 are found giving an undisturbed beat to
 a lame boy who could not  compete with 
them in running to customers1 and refuse
 to sell a paper  there1 the admiring   
customer concludes his beautiful and    
kindly story by  asking how many        
business men round the ,mansion ,house  
would leave a rival  in possession      
because of his weakness8    ,the        
definition of ,wealth must now be       
considered4 ,mill defines it as         
consisting of 8,all useful and agreeable

 things which possess  exchangeable     
value40    ,he decides to include in the
 wealth of a country such personal      
qualities1 skill1 energy1 perseverance1 
as tend to make the man who  possesses  
them industrially more valuable4 ,a     
skilled cotton spinner is a  greater    
national asset than a labourer2 a       
skilled medical man who can  restore to 
labourers their industrial efficiency1  
is also national  wealth1 a utility     
embodied in a person2 but a gifted      
preacher1 whose  message may even make a
 man a less keen producer of wealth than
 he was  before1 would not be an        
instance of national wealth1 unless he  
made1 as  he might1 a drunkard or a     
loafer into a regular wage earner4 ,so  
the  actor1 or the singer1 or the       
orator1 unless their work ultimately    
produces material goods1 is not to be   
counted wealth in economics4 ,there  is 
evidently the usual difficulty about    
drawing the line4    ,what is more1 the 
most precious parts of character are    

excluded from  national wealth in the   
economic sense4 ,wealth1 that is1 is    
taken to mean  property1 and not1 more  
generally1 the means of true well-being4
 ,again1  the most necessary things are 
from their abundance not wealth4 ,air1  
sunshine1 and water are not wealth where
 and when they are given  profusely by  
nature2 though they are the most needful
 supports to life4  ,but air which has  
to be pumped in by a ventilating fan has
 cost  something1 and is wealth2        
sunshine which has passed through a coal
  measure and is brought to our         
firegrates on a winter's night is       
wealth1  water turned on at our taps is 
wealth for which we pay a water-rate4   
,we  may come to import oxygen into our 
halls and theatres and lecture rooms1   
perhaps even into our cellar workrooms1 
and then it too will have a  price and  
an economic value4    ,there is clearly 
room for much difference of opinion in  
detail here4 ,and  yet it will be plain 
to all that the subject matter of a     

science must be  limited2 we must know  
when our studies begin and end4 ,it is  
not  demoralization which makes an      
economist deny holiness to be wealth1 it
  is a classification of sciences4      
,holiness is not matter either1 nor     
electricity1 nor gas2 it does not come  
into ,physics any more than into        
,economics4 ,it comes into ,ethics and  
,theology and practical ,politics1 and  
it is the most important thing in the   
world4 ,it may be true1 as ,ruskin      
urges1 that wealth is not any good to a 
miser or a spendthrift or a  rogue2 that
 it is often ,i#aath rather than        
,wealth1 if it makes its user  soft and 
slack and selfish1 or proud and cruel4  
,but nevertheless1 it is  an object of  
desire1 of human motive2 and that is    
enough for the  economist4    ,the      
mistake of the early economists before  
,john ,s4 ,mill was in not  recognizing1
 however1 the reaction of man's         
possession of wealth upon  his conduct  
as a producer2 how high wages might be  

remunerative1 if they  increased        
efficiency1 and big fortunes wasted if  
they increased  idleness4 ,we really    
have to treat two factors1 each of which
 is1 in the  language of ,mathematics1  
an implicit function of the other--or1  
if that  does not make it more          
clear--each of which acts upon and is   
acted upon  by the other4 ,the early    
economists lived in the age when steam  
engines  and electric telegraphs were   
great and new achievements1 when        
,chemistry  was being reborn in the     
atomic theory1 and ,joule was proving   
the great  generalization of the        
conservation of energy4 ,they treated   
their  subject--man in business--as if  
he were matter2 whereas he has          
biological characteristics1 and is      
modifiable and can modify his           
environment4 ,our age1 on the contrary1 
is concerned with the  modification of  
characteristics under environment4 ,it  
is the age of  ,darwin4 ,biological     
evolution is seen to govern the growth  

of men and  societies2 and these1 in    
writings of the dominant school of      
thinkers  since ,herbert ,spencer1 are  
seen to follow biological laws of       
growth4 ,the  ,economic man is no       
exception4    ,john ,stuart ,mill begins
 his chapter defining wealth by         
remarking that  everyone has a notion   
sufficiently correct for common         
purposes1 of what  is meant by wealth4  
,this is not his definition2 he reaches 
that later3  it is a reasonable         
introductory remark4 ,but ,ruskin       
assumes that this is  his definition1   
and assails him for his lack of         
scientific precision and  his looseness 
of thought1 as though an astronomer were
 to begin by  saying that everyone has a
 notion1 sufficient for common purposes1
 of  what is meant by a star4 ,the      
criticism is the more unreasonable1 when
 we  find the critic himself doing the  
very same thing in his famous chapter   
on 8,the ,nature of ,gothic0 in ,the    
,stones of ,venice1 in which1 at the    

opening1 the remark occurs3 8,we all    
have some notion1 most of us a very     
determined one1 of the meaning of the   
term ,gothic40 ,ruskin goes on to  play 
with the etymology of value2#fb from    
valor and valere1 meaning  that which   
avails towards life and health2 and says
 true wealth is what  tends to life and 
the increase of its powers1 not pearls  
nor topaz1 but  air and light and       
cleanliness4 8,to be wealthy is to have 
a large stock  of useful articles10 say 
the economists4 ,what1 he asks1 is to   
8have--has the embalmed body of ,carlo  
,borromeo the golden crosier and  the   
cross of emeralds on its breast8 ,has a 
gold-filled belt the man whom  it       
drowns1 or has he it8 ,does not 8having0
 depend on the vital power to  use8     
,what1 nextly1 is 8useful08 ,persons    
called wealthy may be inherently        
incapable of wealth1 mere reservoirs in 
the stream of national produce1  if not 
impediments in its course1 and so       
causing 8illth0 rather than  8wealth40  

,therefore the aim and end of ,political
 ,economy is to develop  moral character
 and capacity for valiantly using       
valuables1 and the  great difficulty is 
that manly character is apt to suffer   
from  possessing material wealth and    
also apt to cast it away4 ,wealth of    
character and wealth of goods tend to   
undermine one another4    8,in a        
community regulated by laws of supply   
and demand but protected  from open     
violence1 the persons who become rich   
are1 generally speaking1  industrious1  
resolute1 proud1 covetous1 prompt1      
methodical1 sensible1  unimaginative1   
insensitive and ignorant4 ,the persons  
who remain poor are  the entirely       
foolish1 the entirely wise1 the idle1   
the reckless1 the  humble1 the          
thoughtful1 the dull1 the imaginative1  
the sensitive1 the  well-informed1 the  
improvident1 the irregularly and        
impulsively wicked1  the clumsy knave1  
the open thief1 and the entirely        
merciful1 just and  godly person40#fc   

,with one further piece of ,ruskin's    
teaching on the nature of wealth1 ,i    
think that the subject will be clear4   
8#8,rich' is a relative word implying   
its opposite #8poor' as positively as   
the word #8north' implies its opposite  
#8south4' ,men nearly always speak  and 
write as if riches were absolute1 and it
 were possible by following  certain    
scientific precepts 7,ruskin's capital  
error turns up here71 for  everybody to 
be rich4 ,whereas riches are a power    
like that of  electricity1 acting only  
through inequalities or negations of    
itself4  ,the force of the guinea you   
have in your pocket depends wholly on   
the  default of a guinea in your        
neighbour's pocket4 ,if he did not want 
it1  it would be of no use to you2 the  
degree of power it possesses depends    
accurately upon the need or desire he   
has for it--and the art of making       
yourself rich1 in the ordinary          
mercantile economist's sense1 is        
therefore equally and necessarily the   

art of keeping your neighbour  poor40#fd
    ,this is all true2 if by rich we    
understand1 as the use of the word in   
common practice warrants1 relatively    
wealthy4 ,the possession of money is    
the possession of an order upon labour2 
and it is of no use if there is  no     
available labour needing it4 ,ruskin's  
illustration is that of a large  landed 
proprietor who could get no servants to 
feed his cattle1 mine  his gold1 plough 
his corn lands1 because no one was in   
want of his  wages4 ,he must lead a life
 of severe and common labour to produce 
even  ordinary comforts1 and live in the
 midst of a waste desert4 ,therefore1   
what is meant by making oneself rich is 
to produce the maximum  inequality      
between ourselves and our neighbours4#fe
    ,ruskin is grievously unfair in     
saying that that is the object of       
mercantile 7political7 economy2 that it 
is 8the science of getting  rich40 ,such
 a statement libels both the science and
 its expounders2 and  it contains1 for  

,ruskin1 an extraordinary looseness in  
the use of words4  ,there cannot be a   
science of getting rich1 that is an art 
or a craft4  ,science is organized      
knowledge1 not practical faculty to do  
anything or  get anything4#ff    ,how   
wide is the range of ,ruskin's ,economy1
 how practical its objects1  how little 
of a science it is1 how entirely an art1
 the art of practical  government and   
production1 will be further clear from  
this statement3    8,political economy  
7the economy of a ,state or of          
citizens71 consists  simply in the      
production1 preservation and            
distribution1 at fittest time  and      
place1 of useful or pleasurable things4 
,the farmer who cuts his hay  at the    
right time1 the shipwright who drives   
his bolts well home in  sound wood1 the 
builder who lays good bricks in well    
tempered mortar1  the housewife who     
takes care of her furniture in the      
parlour and guards  against all waste in
 her kitchen1 and the singer who rightly

 disciplines  and never overstrains his 
voice1 are all political economists in  
the  true and final sense2 adding       
continually to the riches and well-being
 of  the nation to which they           
belong40#fg    ,all this is quite true2 
but not in any sense a rival study to   
scholastic  ,economics4 ,the great      
misfortune is that the atmosphere of    
controversy  and revolt runs through all
 this glorious gospel1 so strong and    
true in  its teachings1 so perverse in  
its criticisms4 ,the sum of the whole   
doctrine is put in memorable words near 
the close of ,unto ,this ,last3         
8,there is no wealth but life4 ,life1   
including all its powers of love1 of    
joy and of admiration4 ,that country is 
the richest which nourishes the         
greatest number of noble and happy human
 beings2 that man is richest  who1      
having perfected the functions of his   
own life to the utmost1 has  also the   
widest helpful influence1 both personal1
 and by means of his  possessions1 over 

the lives of others40#fh    ,all railing
 accusation is out of place4 ,the       
business of the man whom  ,ruskin calls 
the 8vulgar economist0 is to theorize1  
his is to edify4 ,the  one is the       
theoretical engineer and surveyor for   
the house of the state2  his part in the
  is that of a professional consultant4 
,ruskin is the actual builder2 round his
 guidance sound the clang of  hammer and
 anvil1 the actual stonemasons' and     
plumbers' tools2 under his  eye grow in 
time the ivy and the flowers2 but it is 
not the business of  the architect or   
surveyor or sanitary engineer to know   
all about these1  still less to keep a  
supply of them in his office4    ,the   
vastness of the task ,ruskin had        
undertaken is now plain to us and  was  
pathetic for him4 ,munera ,pulveris     
contains the definitions of the  new    
science4 ,no more of it has ever        
appeared in systematic scientific  form4
 ,it is touching to find the inspired   
artist reformer stopped again  and again

 in his great attempt to write a        
complete guide to public  action1 by    
some subject needing special research4  
8,i will treat of this  when ,i come to0
 coinage or education1 or whatever it   
might be2 ever  promising1 ever hoping1 
if so be by a tour de force of genius he
 might  storm the city of ,mansoul2     
whereas1 it needed all the corps of     
economic  researchers1 mining here and  
there into truth1 making a breach here  
and  there into the wall of the unknown1
 working on ,parliamentary ,returns and 
tables of statistics1 on records of     
public registrars and clearing house    
reports1 by patient inquiry to achieve a
 little at a time4 ,ruskin wrote  for   
thirty years after the epoch-making date
 of #ahfj2 and it is even now  our task 
to systematize1 if we can1 his scattered
 contributions to  practical ,economy4  
,we may be glad1 in ,john ,ruskin's     
case1 as in that of lesser prophets1    
that the greatness of men is measured1  
not like chains1 by their weakest  link1

 but rather like tides1 by the highest  
they reach4          ,,chapter ,v       
,,ruskin',s ,,reconstruction      ,the  
teaching of ,ruskin is generally        
piecemeal and unsystematic1 but1        
happily1 there is one exception to this4
 ,in collecting his ,cornhill  papers   
for publication as ,unto ,this ,last he 
wrote a ,preface  summarizing his       
practical proposals at their 8worst40   
,they are as  follows3    #a4           
,government ,schools1 in certain cases  
compulsory1 wherein a child  shall be   
taught      7a7 ,the laws of health1 and
 healthful exercises4      7b7 ,habits  
of gentleness and justice4      7c7 ,the
 calling by which he is to live4        
,compulsory popular education was       
established ten years after this        
demand1 and it was long overdue4 ,it was
 quite central in ,mill's  programme and
 in that of the school of ,cobden and   
,bright4 ,only ,herbert  ,spencer1 in   
obstinate and inflexible individualism1 
disapproved of ,state  ,schools1 and    

only the ,anglican and ,catholic        
,churches1 in their own  interest1      
blocked the way4 ,as to what is taught  
there1 we are slowly  learning ,ruskin's
 lessons about physical and moral       
training1 and in the  continuation      
schools and the technical schools are   
advancing to trade  instruction also2   
though we are far behind ,munich and    
other ,german  cities in this regard4   
,more will be found on this on pp4      
#age-h in ,chap4  ,,vi4 ,the recent     
orders of the ,board of ,education      
distinctly recognize  some difference of
 subjects for urban1 rural and sea-side 
children4    #b4 ,government workshops  
for all articles1 in fair competition   
with  private ventures1 and turning out 
nothing that was not genuine and of     
good quality4    ,broadly speaking1 this
 has not matured4 ,concerning it we may 
use  ,ruskin's own words on the whole   
scheme3 8,it is only possible to answer 
for the final truth of principles1 not  
for the direct success of  plans40#fi   

,the right attitude1 ,i would suggest1  
is to develop on  practical lines of    
utility1 and have work done by whatever 
agency does  it most effectively4 ,this 
is ,ruskin's drift4 ,it looks as though 
municipal milk and beer1 municipal      
houses and coal1 as well as heat and    
light1 municipal theatres and opera1 and
 government transport and  electrical   
power1 were already with us in idea1 if 
not yet in  realization4 ,the method is 
one for gradual application4 ,every step
 will1  very properly1 be contested4    
,the experience of the transaction of   
business by ,government during the      
,great ,war has just now strongly       
reinforced faith in private enterprise4 
,we should keep an open mind4 ,no  high 
or final principle comes in1 and dogma  
and prejudice are out of  place4        
,hitherto ,government has controlled and
 inspected1 rather than itself  carried 
on the businesses of the country4 ,very 
few things are now left  wholly to      
perfectly free competition4 ,later on   

,ruskin gave up ,government  workshops  
in favour of businesses owned and       
managed by ,trade ,gilds1 thus          
anticipating the sequence of public     
thought in later years4 ,see below in   
this ,chapter4    #c4 ,the unemployed to
 be taught1 or employed at fixed wages1 
or medically  treated1 or coerced to    
painful labour1 according to the need of
 each  case4    ,this close pastoral    
care by public authority has never yet  
been  realized4 ,it has been left to    
private philanthropy1 guided at one time
  by the ,elberfeld system as practised 
in the industrial towns on the  ,rhine4 
,as in manufactures the ,state has      
guided and inspected business1  rather  
than conducted it1 so its ,labour       
,exchanges and its unemployment         
allowance and ,insurance against        
sickness have done much to ease and     
diminish the pain of unemployment4 ,but1
 of course1 this is only a stage  in our
 progress4 ,and the comprehensive lines 
of ,ruskin's case for the  orphans of   

,great ,business may well be earnestly  
remembered as a standard  to work       
towards4 ,we have at any rate left      
behind us mere reliance on the  terrors 
of starvation and death as the only spur
 to industry in the  ,great ,society1 as
 the present world of vast production   
and exchange has  been called4#gj    #d4
 ,comfort and home for the old and      
destitute1 free from the slur of the    
,poor ,law4    ,this has been provided  
by ,old ,age ,pensions4    ,thus        
,ruskin's schemes are being or are on   
the way to be realized1 in  quite       
remarkable detail4 ,how much1 uttered by
 leading writers in #ahfb1  remains so  
fresh as these in #aibj8 ,ruskin        
proclaimed some truths too  early for   
his peace of mind1 but not for the      
service of men4 ,the  characteristic    
novelty of the proposals was that they  
were social1 not  political1 though     
written in a period when political      
reforms occupied  the forefront of      
progressive thought4 ,they were no doubt

 a necessary  stage4 ,we should not     
belittle them in disappointment4 ,for   
without a  democratic franchise no      
social reforms could have been achieved4
  ,ruskin's proposals are also extremely
 moderate1 and essentially              
conservative4 ,he declares his disbelief
 in 8the common ,socialist idea of  the 
division of property10#ga though1 as    
land is to be in the hands of  those who
 can use it best1 there was to be much  
compulsory purchase1 a  practice with   
which we are increasingly familiar1 for 
housing1 for  allotments1 and for small 
holdings4 ,nationalization of railways  
is  definitely part of the programme1 as
 we should expect4#gb    ,the most      
radical change concerned ,wages4 ,ruskin
 declared that wages  should be fixed   
and steady under the responsibility of  
either the  ,government or the ,craft   
,gilds1 and should be independent of the
 number  of people competing for work4  
,as usual1 he blamed the economists     
because  this was not so in nature1 as  

though physiologists were to blame for  
indigestion4 ,but1 as mere economics1 he
 understood the doctrine1 and  accepted 
its truth4 ,he says that the cheapening 
of bread under the  absence of the ,corn
 ,laws would cause wages 8to fall       
permanently in  precisely the same      
proportion40#gc ,that is1 he accepted   
the 8supply  price0 of wages--being the 
maintenance which the labourer under    
competition would accept4    ,the great 
issue for human welfare was then1 and is
 now1 whether there is  a supply price  
for wages above the merest starvation   
line4 ,labour1 so  far1 like            
commodities1 has its price determined by
 the reciprocal action  of the buyers   
and sellers of it4 ,on the side of      
demand the buyers cannot  give more than
 the value of the product of the last   
labourer they  engage4 ,on the side of  
supply the labourer would change his    
trade1 or  not have children1 or not    
bring up his children to that trade1 or 
he  would starve and die1 unless he     

received what he considered a           
maintenance4 ,this is the supply price4 
,and in any given trade1 wages are      
fixed at the point where demand and     
supply are both satisfied4 ,enough      
labourers are employed to make the least
 valuable worth the required            
maintenance and no more4 ,now the       
economists1 arguing from the phenomena  
they saw believed1 with ,malthus1 that  
there was no decent supply price  for   
labour in practice1 that people would   
multiply to the very limit of           
subsistence4 ,hence they deduced the    
terrible doctrine of the ,iron ,law of  
,wages1 that wages tend to a starvation 
level1 because they thought first  that 
food1#gd and afterwards that capital1#ge
 was fixed at any time1  or increased   
very slowly4 ,finally1 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill    
taught that fluid capital  or the ,wages
 ,fund1 that famous centre of           
controversy1 being fixed1 the  total    
capital available for wages had to be   
divided between an ever  multiplying    

number of wage earners1 some of whom    
were therefore always  starving4        
,this treatment of ,labour as governed  
by the same law of supply and  demand as
 commodities1 is the only way it can be 
treated as subject  matter of a science 
dealing with the production1            
distribution and  exchange of wealth4   
,but no one would stop there1 shutting  
his eyes to  the fact that behind the   
labour stands the labourer1 a human     
being1 with  all the spiritual and      
emotional gifts and needs of a man4     
,only military  authority treats men so4
 ,even an economist1 writing on labour  
as a  commodity1 proceeds to explain how
 it differs from material               
commodities--how slow is its reaction on
 the side of supply--how high  wages up 
to a point produce a still higher       
quality of labour1 and so  forth4       
,business management1 also1 is a        
commodity subject to the same  law1 but 
,i have never heard that the ,general   
,managers of ,railway  ,companies feel  

degraded for that reason to the mere    
level of slaves4    ,unluckily the      
economists1 influenced by the poverty   
that followed the  last great war1 which
 ended in #ahae1 concluded that the     
unskilled  labourer would multiply till 
his children starved4 ,they saw in fact 
starvation rampant in ,england4    ,this
 was why ,political ,economy was called 
by ,carlyle the ,dismal ,science4  ,but 
the economists were no more responsible 
for it than theologians are  for the    
,judgment ,day1 perhaps much less so4   
,ruskin believed and hated  the         
doctrine1 and so1 in fact1 was an       
orthodox ,millite4 ,and both he and     
,mill had their remedies4 ,mill         
recommended education1 emigration and   
small families4 ,ruskin appealed to the 
state or the gilds4 ,in time ,mill  came
 to the same point of view1 and died a  
,socialist4 ,he was able to do  this    
because he was persuaded by ,thornton   
that the ,wages ,fund theory did  not   
hold2 that in fact workers produced     

their own wages1 with the help  of some 
capital to oil the wheels1 that is1 to  
fill the gap in time  caused by         
distribution under the machinery of     
payment4 ,this occurred in  #ahfi after 
,munera ,pulveris had been published in 
,fraser's ,magazine  in #ahfb and #ahfc1
 but before it came out in book form in 
#ahgb2 and it is  grievous that these   
two men did not consciously co-operate4 
,ruskin's  method of controversy1       
possibly drove ,mill to silence4    ,the
 central blast of ,ruskin's attack was  
against this--ultimately                
abandoned--doctrine of hopelessness4 ,i 
do not mean that we may be quite        
cheerful about free competition in      
wages2 for there are departments of     
labour so helpless that they cannot     
obtain a decently living wage4#gf  ,to  
meet this1 choice of employment is      
necessary1 but cannot always be  found  
for physically weak or mentally         
ill-qualified people4 ,the nation  has  
decided to carry out in specified trades

 the ,ruskinian principle of  the fixed 
living wage1 enforced by the ,sweated   
,industries ,acts4 ,under  these more   
and more trades may and will come4 ,the 
economic storm of the  war has broken   
down the equable course of free         
competition1 and has  caused regulation 
of wages and prices on all sides4 ,we   
must not speak as  if this were a normal
 development either of socialism or of  
competition4  ,we have suffered under it
 as part of the evil of war4 ,the       
benefits of  competition require time1  
and a fair field for all forces4 ,there 
will  still be much done by provision of
 alternative employment on the land1  by
 the investment of capital in developing
 local industries1 and  indirectly1 by  
housing1 education and temperance       
reform1 to diminish the  remnant of the 
helpless victims of sweating4 ,behind   
these the nation  will probably soon    
stand1 committed to a national minimum  
in wages and  in hours4 ,above these    
government minima stand the various     

,trades ,union  fixed rules4 ,all are   
,ruskinian1#gg and ,mill would rejoice  
in them too4    ,a generation ago a     
national minimum wage had the support of
 ,socialists  of the school of ,sidney  
and ,beatrice ,webb1 and of ,j4 ,a4     
,hobson4#gh ,for  a long time it was not
 orthodox4 ,i remember hearing a        
,professor of  ,political ,economy      
speaking on this subject twice1 at an   
interval of  about ten years4 ,the first
 time he summed up against it1 pointing 
out  how a minimum tended1 in           
,australian experience1 to become a     
maximum1  with certificates of          
invalidism or incapacity easily         
obtainable to  authorize a lower wage4  
,the second time he was for a minimum   
wage1 as  what progressive thinkers     
hoped for4 ,the steps have1 of late1    
become  rapid4 ,miners had their wages  
fixed by the ,government after the ,coal
  ,strike of #aiab1 and again1 after the
 ,sankey ,commission in #aiai4 ,the     
,railway and ,transport ,workers are    

also under ,government protection4 ,an  
international ,labour ,charter is part  
of the ,peace of ,versailles1 which     
must lead to an international minimum4  
,it will be a delicate undertaking  to  
work it out with any completeness4      
,within a nation the cost of living     
varies from place to place2 the value of
 money rises and falls as  general      
prices fall or rise4 ,internationally1  
between ,san ,francisco1 ,new  ,york1   
,london1 ,constantinople1 and ,yokohama1
 the differences forbid  uniformity of  
wage4 ,nobody can compel an employer to 
employ anybody  whose work results in no
 profit4 ,some people exist who are not 
worth a  minimum wage1 unless it is too 
low to be acceptable4 ,there will have  
to  be provision for these4 ,pensions   
for ,old ,age and invalidity will assume
  larger proportions4 ,the race will    
have to worry out this complex tangle   
of man with his environment4 ,what is   
clear is that we have reached the       
,ruskinian standpoint about it4    ,fors

 ,clavigera is the most remarkable of   
the writings of ,ruskin4 ,he  who has   
read ,fors1 or a large part of it1 knows
 ,ruskin1 and if he  loves and reveres  
the author1 has become a ,ruskinian4    
,but without  reading ,fors no man or   
woman can become a ,ruskinian4 ,in it   
you become  intimate with the man4 ,he  
talks to you like a friend1 button-holes
 you  very much as ,socrates did1       
invites you to laugh with him1 and join 
in  laughs at himself1 tells you all his
 troubles1 and the causes of the ups    
and downs of his spirits1 tells you of  
his loneliness and his hopes and        
intentions1 shows you his accounts every
 month1 tells you where he has  lost    
money1 and to whom he has given it away1
 lets you see his letters  and his      
replies to them1 and holds you1 by the  
personal power of him1  while he pours  
vials of prophetic denunciation upon    
,society only to be  equalled in the    
pages of the ,hebrew ,prophets2 and then
 clinches it all  with 8,mind you1 ,i   

mean every word of it2 no exaggeration  
here40    ,fors is a book--a            
message3--it is often playful in style1 
the matter  all scattered4 ,the subject 
changes from page to page2 nothing in it
 can  be referred to without that ,queen
 of ,indexes which accompanies it3 but  
the unity of its subject is in the unity
 of the author4 ,you carry on an  idea1 
cropping up under all sorts of          
irrelevancies and chance                
illustrations--and you carry on certain 
jokes too1 or humorous  allusions1 as we
 all do in common life4 ,this           
miscellany1 ,i am persuaded1  will      
attract readers longer than the stately 
symmetry of ,modern  ,painters1 or the  
laborious detail of the ,stones of      
,venice4 ,who but  ,ruskin could have   
brought thus out of his treasury things 
new and old8    ,we shall look in vain  
for a completely worked out system of   
business and  legislation in ,ruskin's  
writings4 ,his ,utopia is delightfully  
worked up  here and there in detail1 but

 it has great gaps2 it often seems to   
raise  more difficulties than it        
settles2 and it is not always consistent
 with  itself4    ,indeed1 one could not
 expect completeness or real mastery of 
the  problem1 either from the man or    
from the nature of the subject4 ,from   
the  man1 because the prophet and the   
practical administrator are rarely      
combined4 ,comte went into detail1 and  
we do not much value the  ,positivist   
detail4 ,the prophet is the man with the
 clear vision and hot  heart4 ,the      
practical administrator must sit on     
committees and keep  secretaries1 and   
meet deputations2 he must check accounts
 and hold  dinner parties4 ,what we     
desire is that practical men should give
 ear to  the prophet4    ,secondly1 the 
subject is too vast and complicated for 
complete  treatment4 ,great as has been 
the volume and secure the conviction of 
the  attacks on our present social      
system1 how very little in the way of   
stable fabric exists to-day in confessed

 substitution for it4 ,socialist  and   
,communist colonies have failed through 
their principles being in  advance of   
the practice of the men who had to      
pioneer their course4 ,of  the thirty or
 forty whose history has been collected1
 most have broken  up1 a few with profit
 to the members1 but most with loss4    
,religious  communities have1 of course1
 shown the greatest tenacity4 ,the      
,shakers  are now diminishing and       
discouraged1 though they own some of the
 richest  land in ,america1 and are     
commercially connected with a valuable  
property  besides1 known as ,mother     
,siegel's ,syrup4 ,the ,doukhobors from 
,russia now  settled in the far ,west of
 ,canada1 have saved themselves by their
  communism under persecution4 ,they    
again are bound by a mighty religious   
bond4 ,but many are being absorbed by   
the society around1 and their  primitive
 faith in their leader ,peter ,verigin  
as an incarnation of ,god1  will hardly 
survive ,canadian education4 ,we will   

not1 then1 expect to see  a complete    
reconstruction of society4 ,ruskin's is 
most fully worked out  in ,time and     
,tide3 but ,fors is thickly scattered   
with it too4    ,roughly1 then1 and in  
the large1 ,regulation and              
,co-operation1 rather  than ,competition
 and ,economic freedom1 are to be the   
guiding principles4  ,that is1 ,ruskin  
is a ,socialist4 ,but he is no          
revolutionary nor divider  up of        
property4 ,he desired all things to be  
gradual1 and was too wise to  suppose   
that anything sweeping could be done at 
once1 or indeed very  much of any kind  
for a long time4 ,to his private        
correspondents in  ,fors the advice was 
always given to stay where they were1   
and do as  well as they could what they 
had in hand4 ,ruskin1 again1 is a       
,socialist  of the aristocratic variety4
 ,he believed in graded ranks1 and in   
people  staying in the class they were  
born in4 ,he did not say that everybody 
was equal4 ,he was also of the earnestly

 religious type of ,socialist4  ,when ,i
 add that he considered that he and     
,carlyle were the only two              
,conservatives left in ,england1 and    
that he was a ,tory of the type of      
,scott and ,homer1 ,i may perhaps have  
succeeded in leaving my readers  fairly 
confused in mind3 as every one who tries
 to classify ,ruskin will  become4      
,as to ,wealth1 ,ruskin proposes that   
there shall be a legislative upper      
limit to a man's property2 and that     
those whose superfluity is skimmed  off 
by law should have titles instead and be
 employed in public service4  ,as noted 
again in the chapter on ,usury later1   
there are various ways of  securing     
this3 by steeply graduating the ,income 
,tax and the ,death ,duties  at the     
upper end1 or by limiting the legal     
right of bequest1 either by  saying that
 you must not bequeath more than a      
certain sum to one person1  or that a   
person must not inherit more than a     
certain total sum from all  sources4    

,these startling innovations would no   
doubt put an effective  check on        
accumulation1 if the ,state succeeded in
 fighting the ingenuity  of the lawyers4
    ,all interest on money he entirely  
forbids4 ,this ,i deal with in ,chapter 
,,vii4    ,all land is to be bought by  
the ,state from the landlords1 and the  
aristocracy1 living on the ,government  
annuities thus created1 are to  become  
the legislators and leaders of the      
people4 ,i don't know whether  he knew  
them very well4 ,at any rate these      
annuities appear to me to be  of the    
nature of interest4    ,war is to be    
managed by personal encounters between  
some of the military  aristocrats and   
the aristocrats of the enemy1 to save   
butchery of  peasants and much needless 
devastation4 ,a kind of international   
,rugby  football match without referees 
might meet the case--where the honour of
  ,england was really at stake4 ,it is a
 simple suggestion2 but soberly  ,ruskin
 loathed war--particularly wars for     

conquest and all modern war by          
machinery and for the benefit of        
capitalists4 ,this is shown in ,chapter 
,,viii4    ,our factory system and the  
crowding into towns he detested2 though 
he  gives us no practical suggestions   
towards ending it except that most      
steam power should be abandoned--not    
quite all4 ,there is a curious  prophecy
 too about electricity superseding steam
 and smoke4 ,we are  beginning on       
hopeful lines here with ,mond gas1      
central electrical power  stations1 and 
,garden ,cities--if only we could and   
would compel our  factories to stop     
making smoke1 the greatest curse of the 
landscape4  ,this is treated more fully 
in ,chapter ,,ix4    ,our ,government   
must also take heed to all means of     
keeping our  population in the country4 
,population ,ruskin deals with          
fantastically by permitting marriages   
only  to young men and young women after
 passing a suitable examination in      
business or domestic qualifications4 ,he

 would provide them1 on marriage1  with 
an income for seven years from the      
,state4 ,if they had a private  income  
beyond this minimum it must accumulate2 
so that all young couples  start life on
 the same standard of expenditure4 ,this
 is the most drastic  of his            
regulations1 and the most out of        
reach4#gi    ,under land tenure from the
 ,state each person was to hold no more 
than he  could properly make use of--a  
system of permanent peasant proprietors1
  that is1 at a quit rent2--the land    
inalienable in title1 and to descend  by
 primogeniture4    ,we have also the    
somewhat obscure remark#hj that bread1  
water1 and the  roof over his head must 
be tax 7i4e4 rent7 free to every man4   
,methods  of administration are to be   
left to settle themselves4 ,also1 8every
 man  is to build his own house to his  
mind1 and to have a mind to build it    
to40    ,as a system this leaves large  
gaps4 ,what are to be the exact duties  
of  the aristocratic annuitant          

landowners1 and who are they to be8     
,there is  an echo of ,plato's          
8,guardians0 in their position and      
duties3 indeed they  seem very like in  
their functions to those hierarchical   
beings4 ,it may  have been from ,plato  
too that ,ruskin learnt to emphasize the
 degradation  of continuous mechanical  
work1 particularly that which is        
connected with  the mechanical use of   
fire4    ,the ,church is1 as we have    
seen in ,chapter ,,iii1 to be exactly on
 the  ,quaker model4 ,no one is to be   
paid for preaching4 ,the preachers are  
to  earn their living like other men2   
and the distinction between clergy and  
laity is to be absolutely done away4    
8,of clergymen's usual work1            
admonition1 theological demonstration1  
and the like ,i shall want very  little 
done indeed1 and that little done for   
nothing6 for ,i will allow  no man to   
admonish anybody1 until he has          
previously earned his own  dinner by    
more productive work than admonition40  

,the lesson on humility  to religious   
persons in ,time and ,tide is very      
amusing4#ha    ,turning to the business 
world1 the deadliest war of ,society    
would be  against occult stealing1 by   
making bad goods1 by adulteration1 and  
passing off sham articles4 ,these       
practices would be guarded against by   
the formation of trade guilds4 ,ruskin  
enumerates in ,letter ,,lxxxix of  ,fors
 twenty-one trades4 ,the men of each    
trade are to form themselves  into a    
guild1 buy land and buildings1 regulate 
prices and qualities1 and  become1 in   
fact1 capitalist employers4 ,retail     
dealers are to be salaried  officers    
under the guild4 ,such is the proposal  
of ,fors of #ahgi1 and  ,time and ,tide 
of #ahfg4 ,in ,unto ,this ,last of #ahfj
 the ,government is  to have the        
workshops1 not private guilds4 ,ruskin  
began to think his  later plan of       
private guilds more possible as years   
went on4 ,also1 and  always1 property is
 to be acquired by the guilds by honest 

payment and  voluntary bargains4 ,it is 
very striking how prophetic these       
schemes are  of the proposals now known 
as ,guild ,socialism1 treated in the    
next  chapter1 at present the most      
popular form of socialistic             
reconstruction4  ,they are1 indeed1 a   
sketch of the very thing4               
,competition1 outside the guilds or     
,government shops1 is always            
allowed--8as a safety valve for outlet  
of irrepressible vice40 ,he  believed in
 the cutaneous and curable eruption of  
such1 rather than in  forcing it into   
the system of the body politic--a wise  
and cautious  idea1 in no way that of a 
blind optimist4 ,another reason for this
  permission of outside competition was 
to provide scope for erratic  ingenuity 
and original genius1 and to conserve    
individual initiative2  also to protect 
the rights of foreigners trading here4  
,there is also  much other sensible     
elasticity of arrangement hinted at4    
,honesty1  truthfulness1 freedom from   

oppression1 some plan by which all the  
good  national elements could become    
availing instead of being neglected and 
choked off1 these are the objects of his
 trade guilds4 ,the difficulty of       
foreign competition at low prices he    
does not touch1 except to  anticipate   
for a far future a similar international
 guild system4    ,one can easily see   
that increased facilities for           
combination are putting  it into the    
power of combines and trusts to fix     
qualities and prices in  a way the men  
of #ahfg would never have expected4 ,is 
it beyond hope that  what combinations  
of capital and management can do1 labour
 combinations  may do1 for more public  
ends8 ,then indeed out of the eater will
 have  come forth meat4 8,the lion and  
the bear shall feed10 and the capitalist
  shall dine like the labourer4 8,they  
shall not hurt nor destroy0 in all  my  
holy workshops and markets4    ,one of  
the most startling1 but at the same     
time1 most thought-compelling  proposals

 for the ideal ,state are ,mr4 ,ruskin's
 ,bishops4 ,the  of  the ,new ,testament
 was an ,overseer1 a man who looked     
after the members of  the ,early        
,church1 the agent of their relief1 and 
the supervisor of their  conduct4 ,this 
order of men ,ruskin proposes to        
declericalize and to  municipalize4 ,the
 preaching1 we shall remember1 is to be 
separated from  pastoral care1 and to be
 done gratuitously by unofficial        
ministers4 ,this  leaves no link between
 the ,state and the family2 even the    
action of the  ,fatherland as a father1 
now afforded by the ,state clergy1 being
 done  away with4 ,therefore1 over every
 fifty or a hundred families there is to
  be elected1 for life1 a ,bishop1 who  
is to be a friendly counsellor1 and  to 
keep a record of all notable events--a  
much extended public  registrar4 ,all   
exceptional treatment which special     
circumstances may  render desirable1 any
 mitigation of ordinary law1 is arranged
 through  him4 ,where law is to be so   

pervasive1 some cushion for its impact  
would  certainly be necessary4 ,he bears
 to the ,government the relation which  
the ,charity ,organisation ,society     
bears to the ,poor ,law ,guardians1 or  
an  ,inebriate ,home to the ,jail1 or   
7in theory7 ,equity to ,common ,law4    
,thus  the terrible loneliness and      
neglect of the poor1 and haunts of      
undiscovered vice1 would no longer be   
possible4 ,the whole episcopal  action  
was to be elastic1 the methods patient1 
gentle1 not compulsory1  and not        
intrusive4 ,the ,bishops were to be paid
 officers1 and they had to  report to a 
higher officer called a ,duke 7,time and
 ,tide1 ,,xiii74    ,we now approach the
 question of national leadership4 ,so   
great was  ,ruskin's distrust of the    
,people1 his hatred of ,liberty and     
,equality1  that he fell back upon our  
,aristocracy1 commonplace as he knew it 
to be1  for the power of governance4 ,he
 is not so far out of our current       
national habit4 ,we know well that any  

good1 hardworking peer1 baronet or      
landed magnate of good family1 has at   
once a favourable hearing1 and          
possesses by birth an open door to the  
confidence of the people2 and he  has   
only to show that he deserves it1 to    
maintain it with ease4 ,we  democrats   
love a lord4 ,so the ,home ,office and  
police work1 also the  ,judgeships and  
the officering of the citizen army are  
to be the work of  the present landed   
gentry2 the careful husbanding of the   
nation's  resources in a glorified      
,board of ,trade is to be the work of   
the present  kings of business4 ,the    
,education ,department and the now      
nonexistent  ,artistic ,department1 the 
,board of ,works1 together with the few 
necessary  ,doctors1 and the ,musicians1
 are the third department of upper-class
  work1 to be undertaken by the         
professional classes4 ,it will be       
remembered that there are to be no hired
 soldiers or clergy and very few        
lawyers4    ,for the realization of this

 ,utopia1 no violence is to be used4 ,as
 a  prophet with an ethical gospel he   
entirely distrusted methods of  physical
 force1 as leaving you in reality just  
the men you were before1  only damaged  
by the conflict in mind and person and  
estate4 ,nor did he1  as a ,conservative
 and a believer in continuity1 look with
 favour or hope  on a general           
confiscation bill1 abolishing rent and  
interest4 ,the whole  thing had to be   
done by converting the upper classes1   
those classes  whose glory is in living 
in comfort and pride served by the      
labour of  others1 and whose alienation 
from the multitude is graven deep into  
their characters by every one of their  
cherished habits4 ,we have seen  that   
the landlord would become an annuitant1 
the parson transformed1 the  solicitor  
and the barrister nearly wiped out4     
,many merchants1 most  bankers and      
stockbrokers and all shareholders in    
banks1 if and when  interest is         
abolished1 would find themselves without

 the profits on  which1 it is to be     
feared1 much of their happiness depends4
 ,some of  these persons would become   
public officers1 living on salaries and 
earning them4 ,manufacturers would      
become profit sharers1 and be invited   
to join a ,guild4 ,doubtless the liquor 
interest would find that it had a  stern
 master1 though but little detailed     
allusion to it is made1 and  prohibition
 is not intended4    ,if you have ever  
tried to convince a man by some highly  
abstruse1 or at  any rate1 long and     
intricate process of thought1 of truths 
or proposals  which upset his whole     
career1 blighted his interests1 and     
wrote him down  a useless and pernicious
 person--if1 for instance1 you have     
explained  the wickedness and folly of  
,protection to a friend from            
,pennsylvania1 or  the theoretical      
righteousness of ,home ,rule to a friend
 from ,belfast1 or  the innate errors of
 ,vivisection to a physiologist1 or     
discoursed on  ,homopathy to your own   

medical man1 you will be able to foresee
 the  blank look of polite indifference 
with which ,ruskin's schemes would be   
likely to be received by the ,marquis of
 ,b4 or by the distinguished  directors 
of your bank4 ,why am ,i not to make    
cotton look like silk8 will  be asked by
 certain very excellent ,lancashire     
firms4 ,is shoddy not to  continue its  
useful1 if humble career8 is the cry of 
certain parts of  the ,west ,riding2 and
 some of the metallic business of       
,birmingham would  be a cause of much   
searching of heart4 ,and there is not a 
retired old  lady living in her bower of
 roses from the ,lake ,district to      
,penzance  whose peace of mind and      
perhaps nourishment of body would not1  
if  interest were truly abolished1      
cease4 ,i always notice that reformers  
who  would abolish interest do not      
explain what they would do with the     
large  class of ladies of all ages1 and 
the smaller class of elderly men who1   
after all1 do constitute the greater    

part of the technically idle class1  and
 who are totally unable to earn a       
living2 since neither the arts of  dress
 nor of graceful conversation have a    
market value4    ,it must be plain to us
 that any wholesale conversion and      
sudden  awakening of the social         
conscience in ,ruskin's direction is not
 to be  expected4 ,neither the          
intellectual conviction1 nor the moral  
power to  carry it out if formed1 will  
be produced except in a few instances1  
here  and there4 ,the astonishment and  
delight with which we hear of the doings
  of exceptional employers show how rare
 they are4 ,every year1 of recent       
years1 has seemed darker and darker to  
some of us1 in noting the  treatment of 
public affairs by the wealthy1 and the  
extent to which  8,things are in the    
saddle1 and ride mankind40    ,nor is it
 possible to an employer1 even if       
intellectually convinced and  morally   
sound1 to raise his wages much above the
 rate paid by his  competitors1 to avoid

 drawing from the business wherewithal  
to pay  interest on capital1 nor1       
generally1 to improve quality1 with or  
without  improving price4    ,we must   
fall back on legislation1 on democratic 
conviction expressed by  the organ of   
the national will1 to bring about any   
portion of this  scheme4 ,we shall have 
to move all together1 if we move at all4
 ,take a  comparative trifle1 trifling  
compared to these large proposals--the  
weekly half-holiday4 ,this can only be  
taken by all or none of a given  trade  
in a given town2 or take the ,bank      
,holidays1 popular benefits only  to be 
won on the floor of the ,house of       
,commons1 and which cost so much  effort
 that a certain worthy banker has been  
canonized for his labours  in obtaining 
,st4 ,lubbock's ,day4 ,yet ,i am of     
,ruskin's mind thus far--that  any      
growth of an enlightened moral sentiment
 will most easily permeate  the voting  
masses from individuals of the educated 
classes4    ,ruskin cherished no        

delusions about it4 ,he says3 8,you need
 not think  that even if you obtained a 
majority of representatives in the      
existing  ,parliament1 you could        
immediately compel any system of        
business1 broadly  contrary to that now 
established by custom4 ,if you could    
pass laws  to-morrow1 wholly favourable 
to yourselves1 as you might think1      
because  unfavourable to your masters1  
and to the upper classes of society1 the
  only result would be that the riches  
of the country would at once leave  it1 
and you would perish in riot and famine4
 ,be assured that no great  change for  
the better can ever be easily           
accomplished1 or quickly2 nor  by       
impulsive ill-regulated effort1 nor by  
bad men2 nor even by good men1  without 
much suffering40#hb    ,the scheme as a 
whole has never been systematized1 nor  
worked out in  detailed proposals4      
,still less has it been hinged on to our
 present  social structure4 ,it is a    
prophetic forecast1 an inspiration of   

genius2  it is a bow of glorious hue set
 in the clouds4 ,when ,ruskin wrote his 
economics the view was that by each man 
doing the best for himself the  general 
good was automatically best advanced--an
 unseen hand behind  human activities   
arranged the world's welfare with       
nothing but  individual selfishness to  
do it with4    ,we no longer accept this
 as a complete account of the matter4   
,we  recognize that that would be a     
wild-wood kind of a cosmic order2 and   
that under it human affairs would be    
left to the same kind of governance  as 
that of the forest and the jungle4 ,the 
wolf pack and the wild bramble  are all 
very well in their scale and their      
place2 but for humanity this            
unrestrained individual luxuriance1 with
 its terrible cost and waste1 is  now   
felt by us to be only a first           
approximation to society4 ,it is the    
point whence we begin1 not the goal we  
aim for4 ,it is safe and stable as  a   
foundation2 it cannot be upset or       

overthrown1 for it is actually  itself  
the ground2 and there is nothing to     
overthrow4 ,guilds1  ,monopolies1       
,trusts1 also ,governments and          
,charities are built upon it to         
regulate it2 and they grow1 and in time 
may decay and die1 leaving the  jungle  
of free competition to overrun once more
 the painful clearings4  ,but out of the
 wilds men have in fact made their lawns
 and gardens1  their orchards and their 
fields of wheat2 they have built them   
palaces  and cities which are permanent 
and stable enough1 though not           
everlasting4 ,the higher law of         
civilization is successfully holding at 
bay the wild tendencies4 ,the millions  
of stray seeds1 the storms of wind  and 
crackings of frost1 if let alone1 would 
in time reduce a watering  place like   
,scarborough to a green cliff side2     
still ,scarborough exists  and will     
exist1 and justify its existence4       
,similarly there are  limitations1      
orderly arrangements1 which may be put  

upon the wild nature  of economic       
freedom2 and we may make a better world 
thereby4 ,we all know  how much is      
accepted already in the way of civilized
 restraint4 ,when  ,parliament is free  
to attend to home affairs almost every  
,act is a  regulation or limitation of  
individual freedom1 or it is the taking 
up  by ,government of what had been     
previously left to the individual4 ,the 
long list of municipal and imperial     
activities must be too familiar to  need
 repetition here4 ,we are indeed rushing
 rapidly in that direction4  ,can we go 
no further8 ,are we necessarily at the  
end just here8    ,i will try to outline
 in the following chapter a few ways in 
which we  may4 ,that is1 we will test   
,ruskin by the changes of the last half 
century and those which are looming     
near2 and see how much of his  teaching 
abides our question4          ,,chapter 
,,vi    ,,ruskin',s ,,economics         
,,to-,,day      ,it is well known that  
none of the proposals in the ,preface to

 ,unto ,this  ,last1 summarized above1  
nor all of them together1 satisfy the   
ideas of  the most vigorous reformers of
 the moment4 ,nothing less than the     
abolition of all production and         
distribution for individual profit is   
believed by many earnest and experienced
 men to go to the root of our  social   
diseases4 ,on the other hand1 ,state    
,socialism has fallen into  discredit4  
,the experience of ,government officials
 in war time has taken  all the gas out 
of that particular experimental balloon4
    ,guild ,socialism is now the        
favourite form4 ,under this the         
government of  the country is to be     
twofold1 from top to bottom4 ,guilds of 
producers  are to own and run           
businesses1 having eliminated the       
capitalist as such1  and are to be      
organized into local1 county1 and       
national guilds of the  workers in that 
business4 ,then all the national guilds 
unite in a  ,parliament of producers1   
who govern wages1 and1 ,i presume1 the  

import  and export trade4 ,over against 
this stand our present geographical     
constituencies and our present          
,parliament1 which is the nation        
organized  as consumers4 ,the ,state1   
represented by the present              
geographically  elected ,parliament1 is 
to remain supreme1 is to be the ultimate
 owner of  the property used by the     
,guilds1 with the right to tax it1 by a 
quit  rent4 ,the ,guilds are to be the  
taxable units4#hc    ,rent1 interest and
 profits are to be abolished4 ,no       
provision for  compensation is part of  
the proposal2 but no doubt that would   
depend  upon circumstances1 and upon    
what could be arranged4 ,it would also  
give  rise to much difference of opinion
 among the advocates of the new order4  
,and much would depend on whether it    
came gradually and peacefully1 by       
consent--or after a revolutionary       
general strike--or1 again1 after civil  
war4 ,one hears of an intention to      
respect life interests1 but no more4    

,clearly this issue will subject our    
people to a political test which  may be
 beyond their strength1 and may1 if we  
are not guided by justice  and mercy1   
lead to a generation of violence and the
 ruin of many hopes4    ,the ideals     
behind the movement are noble--to give  
the workman a  proprietary interest in  
his work1 to break down the pernicious  
distribution of wealth which economic   
freedom has brought about1 to  bring up 
a healthy and well-bred race1 not a     
well-bred class only1 to  put public    
service in place of profit as the motive
 for labour2 to  banish the wretched    
insecurity of unemployment1 and take    
away the bored  life of the idle rich2  
to use the surplus wealth of industry   
for the  education of the whole people  
and for a full life for all4 ,nothing   
less  than this is the guerdon of       
success4    ,if the ,guild is to        
guarantee a wage to all its workers1    
well and ill1  under good trade and bad1
 in defiance of changes in demand due to

  fashion or invention1 or to changes in
 weather or to foreign imports1  there  
will certainly have to be great powers  
in the ,guild for the  transfer of      
labour from where it is not wanted to   
where it is4 ,also1  seeing that only a 
certain number of workers are wanted in 
the  pleasanter occupations1 some       
authority in the guilds will have to    
assign their duty to all labourers1     
instead of leaving the choice to        
competition with the sharp tooth of     
hunger behind it4    ,the coercion of   
the idle workman will be quite a large  
task2 for  slackness cannot be summarily
 dealt with as now by dismissal4 ,it is 
such  rocks of human frailty that will  
be the danger to the navigation of any  
ordered system4 ,are all childless women
 to be made to work for guild  wages8   
,are married and unmarried men to be    
paid alike8 ,is any saving to  be       
permitted8 ,what machinery will         
determine prices1 when demand and       
supply are denied their free play8 ,it  

is not the place of this book to  answer
 these questions or to pronounce a final
 opinion4 ,it is enough to  see that    
opinion is strongly tending in this     
direction1 and that it is  in the       
sequence of ,fors ,clavigera4    ,that  
this is1 however1 the direction of      
advance1 one is led to believe1  from   
the existence of a halfway house4 ,there
 is in every movement always  the       
moderate mass and the progressive       
vanguard1 and they sometimes turn  their
 guns heartily upon one another4 ,the   
moderate proposal1 the rival  to ,guild 
,socialism1 is that of the ,whitley     
,councils for bringing in the  present  
capitalist employers and their workmen  
as collaborators in the  conduct of     
businesses1 and as joint constituents of
 a trade ,parliament4    ,the ,builders'
 ,parliament1#hd or 8,industrial        
,council for the ,building  ,industry10 
was the forerunner of the ,whitley      
,councils1 but is on more  thoroughgoing
 guild lines4 ,mr4 ,malcolm ,sparkes1 a 

young director of a  carpentry and      
cabinet-making business in ,willesden1  
was mixed up as an  employer in a       
disastrous building strike in #aiad4    
,hopeless of any  solution by hostile   
and suspicious bodies of organized      
masters and  organized men1 never       
meeting except as opponents1 and working
 by warfare  and the balance of power1  
he conceived the idea of combined       
councils1  representing both sides1     
meeting periodically to consider the    
well-being  of the industry4 ,such      
bodies were not to deal with disputes1  
but could  often avoid them and remove  
their causes4 ,above all they would     
provide a  friendly atmosphere4 ,he     
persuaded the men's organizations first1
 and  induced them to approach the      
masters1 who responded willingly2 and   
after  due debates1 and two years'      
permeation of opinion in all the bodies 
concerned1 the ,builders' ,parliament   
was constituted4 ,at its sixth          
quarterly meeting in ,august1 #aiai1 it 

passed by an overwhelming majority  a   
report1 called the ,foster ,report1     
under which masters would become  paid  
officials and capitalists would receive 
a fixed interest4 ,mr4  ,sparkes and the
 builders1 therefore1 are using their   
united organization  to prepare the way 
for the ,guild arrangement1 and are     
favourable to it4  ,they have offered   
the labour to build some thousands of   
houses to the  ,corporation of          
,manchester1 if the latter will supply  
the capital and  take the business risk4
 ,but the ,whitley ,council movement has
 had a wider  development1 if a less    
advanced one4    ,mr4 ,j4 ,h4 ,whitley1 
,chairman of ,committees in the ,house  
of ,commons1 and  ,chairman of a        
,government ,sub-,committee on the      
relations of employers and  employed1   
read an article by ,mr4 ,sparkes on his 
scheme in the ,venturer  for ,december1 
#aiaf1 and asked him to prepare a       
memorandum for him in  detail1 and to   
record his progress to date4 ,this      

memorandum became the  basis of the     
,whitley ,report4 ,the ,government      
adopted it and organized  under it the  
,whitley ,councils4 ,the day after ,mr4 
,sparkes's memorandum  reached the      
printers the author was sent to prison  
as a conscientious  objector to military
 service4 ,he was a ,quaker2 he had     
refused an  exemption as a works manager
 in a controlled business2 he had       
resigned  his directorship rather than  
do war work2 and now in defiance of an  
,act  of ,parliament which granted      
exemption1 the blind hand of the        
,tribunals  and the ,war ,office could  
do nothing better with this young       
patriot than  to keep him in gaol for   
two years4 ,he was liberated a little   
before the  others because the ,king    
happened to ask for the author of the   
,whitley  ,report4 ,this kind of thing  
gives pause to one's hopes of better    
times  coming out of the action of the  
present militarist states4 ,to all these
  proposals ,ruskin ought to be         

recognized as the idealist forerunner4  
,his  guilds of craftsmen1 though       
differently founded1 are very much like 
,mr4  ,cole's4 ,the same social message 
which ,oxford sent through ,ruskin from 
,christ ,church and ,corpus1 she now    
sends through a ,fellow of ,magdalen4   
,as  the consummation of the idealist   
approaches1 it becomes necessary to     
work the ideas out1 and people will     
listen to the details1 indeed will      
fiercely question them1 and demand      
something practical4 ,but in the        
history of economic thought1 should     
these ideas become ultimately  fruitful1
 a greater place should be found for the
 author of ,fors than  has yet been     
awarded to him by our writers on        
,economics4 ,the chief  differences     
between the modern scheme and that of   
forty years ago is  that ,ruskin would  
confiscate nothing1 and would not       
demand1 would even  object to1 a labour 
monopoly in the hands of the ,guilds1   
which ,mr4 ,cole  declares to be a      

necessity1 without which a ,guild is not
 a ,guild4 ,it  will be for our         
successors fifty years hence to say on  
which side wisdom  lay4    ,on one point
 the age has gone beyond ,ruskin4 ,for  
good or evil we know we  have nothing to
 trust to but ,democracy4 ,from the     
ugliness and  gullibility of the        
democracy the secluded artist shrank1   
living in  beauty and luxury at ,oxford 
or ,venice or by the ,lake of ,coniston4
 ,there  was excuse1 and there is still 
much excuse1 for men of little faith4   
,the  democracy can be played upon and  
excited to war3 its ruling puppets dare 
not take the drink from it even in war  
time4 ,it has 8demanded10 as  economists
 say1 our conscienceless and sensational
 newspapers1 and it  loves to read them4
 ,it needs much education1 and          
particularly it needs  what ,ruskin     
hoped for from ,education--character and
 conduct2 first1  grace and health and  
beauty of life2 and1 as chief           
intellectual prize1  a relentless love  

of truth4 ,would that everybody would   
refuse to buy  again a paper that had   
once deceived them1 or to vote for a    
politician  once proved untrustworthy4  
,reformers1 forgetting the dead weight  
they have to shift1 turn their  guns on 
one another4 ,socialists seem to be most
 scornful of ,liberalism1  and          
particularly of those employers who are 
generous and  public-spirited4    ,it   
must be emphasized that ,ruskin was an  
aristocrat in temperament4 ,in  fact he 
repudiated the idea of an equality which
 did not1 he declared1  exist4 ,his     
sections in ,munera ,pulveris against   
equal voting and on  8natural           
slavery--,i suppose learnt from         
,aristotle's ,politics--are  clear on   
this4#he ,he did not support negro      
slavery1 but his interests  were chiefly
 taken up with opposing economic slavery
 at home1 or  reserving it for the fit  
people4 ,the whole passage must be read 
to be  understood4    ,it is now in     
#aibj nearly fifty years since ,fors    

,clavigera began to  come out1 and the  
outlines of ,st4 ,george's ,guild were  
drawn4 ,those who  in that decade found 
a new inspiration and delight in        
discipleship to  him1 are now growing   
elderly2 the glory of the early time    
when ,ruskin's  genius was irradiating  
the pages of ,fors with the hope of a   
kingdom of  ,god to be raised within the
 kingdom of this world1 was in the days 
of  youth1 in the spring of aspiration  
and a not easily bounded hope4 ,we      
nourished our hearts on godlike food2   
and we owe our ,master an               
inextinguishable debt4 ,it is often     
doubtless a thought full of sadness     
that the tender grace of a day that is  
dead will never come back to us1  in the
 sober light of long experience in the  
realm of the commonplace4  ,our task now
 is1 to gather up in our maturity that  
which abides2 for our  days are passing1
 and though the growth of the kingdom   
has not been all  that we might have    
hoped1 its spirit must still be handed  

on1 and fixed1  so far as we can fix it1
 in the permanent habits of man4    ,we 
,ruskinians are often called            
sentimental4 ,but it is not sentimental 
to  keep sentiment in its proper place  
and to have a sane and well directed    
emotion at our beck when something has  
to be done4 8,sentiment0 means          
ill-directed emotion which slops over4  
,loyalty is not inconsistent with       
criticism4 ,it is essential that that   
which is merely temporary or  fanciful  
in the instructions which run through   
the pages of ,fors  should not be       
insisted upon for ever4 ,those pages    
contain many quaint  directions untested
 by experience4    ,the ,guild of ,st4  
,george was intended to be a company of 
people who would  bind themselves to    
live in a healthy way1 doing harm to no 
man and no  landscape1 cultivating land 
by hand or water power1 and contributing
 to  the public and educational work of 
the ,guild1 at first1 one-tenth of      
their income2 but as this was too much  

for most people1 the amount was  left   
elastic4#hf    ,the ,creed of ,st4      
,george is a noble document4 ,it had to 
be signed by  every member of the       
,guild4#hg    #a4 ,i trust in the       
,living ,god1 ,father ,almighty1 ,maker 
of heaven and  earth1 and of all things 
and creatures1 visible and invisible4   
,i trust in the kindness of ,his ,law   
and the goodness of ,his work4    #b4 ,i
 trust in the nobleness of human nature1
 in the majesty of its  faculties1 the  
fulness of its mercy1 and the joy of its
 love4    ,i will strive to love my     
neighbour as myself1 and even when ,i   
cannot1  will act as if ,i did4    #c4  
,i will labour1 with such strength and  
opportunity as ,god gives me1  for my   
own daily bread3 and all that my hand   
finds to do1 ,i will do with  my might4 
#d4 ,i will not deceive1 nor cause to be
 deceived1 any human being for my  gain 
or pleasure2 nor hurt1 nor cause to be  
hurt1 any human being for my  gain or   
pleasure3 nor rob1 nor cause to be      

robbed1 any human being for  my gain or 
pleasure4    #e4 ,i will not kill or    
hurt any living creature needlessly1 nor
 destroy  any beautiful thing1 but will 
strive to save and comfort all gentle   
life1 and guard and perfect all natural 
beauty upon the earth4    #f4 ,i will   
strive to raise my own body and soul    
daily into higher powers  of duty and   
happiness2 not in rivalship or          
contention with others1 but  for the    
help1 delight and honour of others1 and 
for the joy and peace of  my own life4  
#g4 7,on loyalty to the laws47    #h4   
7,on loyalty to the ,guild47    ,as an  
organization this little realm within   
the realm came to very  little4 ,it     
needed advertisement1 propagandism1     
somebody to preach it1  and to organize 
it4 ,the prophet at ,brantwood wrote    
about it to the then  very limited      
audience of ,fors1 and there propaganda 
ended4 ,there were  about forty-two     
,companions of ,st4 ,george altogether  
at one time2 and the  ,master was       

autocratic and irregular through ill    
health4 ,some land at  ,abbeydale1      
,sheffield1 was taken1 and a settlement 
of ,socialists  attempted without       
success4 ,george ,baker presented a     
woodland tract of  fifteen acres at     
,bewdley2 ,mrs4 ,talbot some cliff-like 
land and cottages  at ,barmouth2 and a  
small holding on the ,yorkshire coast at
 ,claughton1  near ,whitby1 was         
acquired4 ,the land cultivation came to 
very little4    ,the land at ,abbeydale 
is now a successful market garden with a
  residence1 let to a tenant in the     
usual way4 ,a house has been built      
within recent years on the land at      
,bewdley1 and part1 if not all1 of it   
is at last in cultivation by a          
,liverpool couple tired of town life4   
,mrs4  ,talbot's representative manages 
the cottages at ,barmouth on the lines  
of  an ordinary good landlord4 ,we have 
sold the bit of ,yorkshire moorland1    
long troublesome4 ,after delays and     
legal difficulties1 ,george ,baker1 a   

,quaker alderman of ,birmingham1 who had
 been co-trustee of the  properties1 and
 had borne much of the business burden  
of it from the  beginning1 was made     
,master1 and a few new members were     
enrolled by  invitation4 ,the ,guild has
 held of late years a number of annual  
meetings1 at ,oxford1 ,coniston1        
,sheffield1 ,bewdley1 ,london1          
,manchester1  ,liverpool and            
,birmingham1 which were delightful      
social occasions1 and  which transacted 
the business of the properties1 and made
 grants from  the income1 which1 apart  
from subscriptions1 is between one and  
two  hundred pounds a year1 mostly      
representing ,ruskin's own gifts4 ,the  
grants go as a rule to literary1        
agricultural or other purposes on the   
,master's lines4 ,on the death of ,mr4  
,baker the ,mastership was accepted by  
,mr4 ,george ,thomson1 of ,huddersfield1
 the forerunner1 under ,ruskin's        
guidance1 of the profit-sharing movement
 in this country4 ,he resigned1  through

 failing health1 in #aibj1 and ,mr4 ,h4 
,e4 ,luxmoor1 of ,eton1 was  appointed4 
,mr4 ,william ,wardle1 of #d ,olive     
,lane1 ,wavertree1 ,liverpool1 is  the  
,hon4 ,sec4 ,two members represent the  
,guild on the ,committee of the         
,sheffield ,corporation which has charge
 of the ,ruskin ,museum in  ,meersbrook 
,park4 ,this ,museum is the property of 
the ,guild on permanent  loan to the    
,corporation of ,sheffield who maintain 
it4 ,it is indeed among  the ,guild     
properties the one really valuable      
concrete survival of the  labour and    
enthusiasm of the founder4 ,it is one of
 the very lovely  things of the whole   
world1 with its concentrated charm and  
delicate  fineness4    ,these details   
about the present day of small things1  
about this remnant  of an ancient hope1 
are not themselves important1 but may   
not be without  interest to some of the 
many thousand readers of ,fors          
,clavigera4 ,those  letters are full    
more of promise and of postponement than

 of achievement  or permanently         
established method2 and the rather      
wilful and fantastic  adventures of a   
mind that was seldom at rest1 often     
overflow into the  monthly budget       
without as much repression as a sober   
systematizer would  have exercised1 but 
with endless delight4    ,in the early  
hopeful days1 when there floated before 
,ruskin's  imagination the conception of
 an influential and numerous body of    
,companions of the ,guild1 comprising   
the moral and intellectual  aristocracy 
of the country1 he laid his plans on    
large lines4 ,in the  ,master's ,report 
for #ahha he wrote that he expected 8the
 ,guild to extend  its operations over  
the ,continent of ,europe and number its
 members  ultimately by myriads02 which 
in the mouth of a ,greek scholar means  
accurately by tens of thousands4 ,he    
instructed the ,companions to read no   
newspapers until he should be able to   
found a newspaper fit for them to  read1
 an instruction which his most devout   

follower has never obeyed4  ,moreover   
there was to be an authorized list of   
books which alone might  be read1 of    
which ,bibliotheca ,pastorum was the    
first part4 ,this is  perhaps the most  
erratic of all the proposals which      
crossed his mind4    ,he also criticized
 the coinage of the country1 and        
insisted that there  should be under the
 rule of ,st4 ,george sovereigns called 
ducats1 of pure  gold1 a metal which is 
of itself quite unsuited for use as     
coinage1 and  needs to be hardened by   
alloy before it is fit for the purposes 
of the  mint4 ,then the shilling was to 
be called a florin and was to be divided
  into ten pence4 ,this copying of the  
coins of ,florence in the middle  ages1 
which as ,ruskin once said to me1 gave  
her merchants credit in the  time of    
,edward ,i1 cannot be considered        
seriously2 indeed1 these fanciful       
commands can only be matter for regret4 
,there can be but one coinage in  a     
country1 even if the ,guild of ,st4     

,george had become a large  institution4
 ,so late as #ahhd ,mr4 ,ruskin told a  
party of us at ,brantwood  that the ,st4
 ,george's ,company was going to issue  
coins of pure gold4    ,rents1 payable  
of course to the ,state1 were to be     
one-tenth of the  produce4 ,now rents   
cannot with any justice be settled that 
way4 ,the  farmer who farms poor land   
should be as well off and get as good a 
return for his labour as he who farms   
rich land4 ,under ordinary  competition 
things turn out that way4 ,all farmers  
in theory1 and  approximately in        
practice1 receive the same return for   
labour and  capital applied to land1 and
 the margin goes to the landlord as     
rent4    ,ruskin's system is known as   
the metayer system1 only that half1 not 
one-tenth of1 the profits usually go to 
the landlord4 ,it is an  old-fashioned1 
primitive1 and uneconomic system1 and is
 used in ,italy1  ,portugal1 on the     
,danube1 in ,russia1 and over about     
one-seventh of  ,france4 ,at the time of

 the ,french ,revolution1 ,arthur ,young
 found  seven-eighths of ,france managed
 in this way4 ,it is suited for small   
holdings2 but it discourages intensive  
culture1 for it would be no use  for a  
metayer tenant to spend #a in increasing
 his product by #b1 if  half of the #b  
went to the landlord4 ,ruskin liked it  
because it made a  friendly co-operation
 between landlord and tenant4 ,there was
 never any  clash of interests1 and the 
tenant was never under real hardship4   
,it is  morally a much more attractive  
plan4 ,it bars any keen competition     
between tenants and it leads to         
permanency of tenure4    ,throughout    
,ruskin's proposals for reform we shall 
nearly always find in  each something   
fanciful and dainty1 but                
impracticable--a sort of pretty         
decoration tacked on in gaiety of heart1
 in the spirit of ,gothic               
ornamentation4 ,but if we knock off his 
little pinnacles1 and deny  ourselves   
the glow of his stained glass windows1  

we shall generally find  a commodious   
and serviceable erection of constructive
 reform left4 ,in  fact1 he turns out to
 have been on the main stream of        
progress1 though  pleading all the time 
that he was harking back to a happier   
past4 ,his  agricultural and business   
proposals contained fruitful elements1  
appearing ahead of their time2 events   
from many sides have proved how         
illuminating his suggestions were4      
,ruskin1 as we have noted1 would limit  
all incomes at the top by slicing  off  
the superfluity and giving a title      
instead4 ,in occult ways1               
unfortunately1 peerages and baronetcies 
and knighthoods do come about by  the   
sacrifice of cash2 and in more open and 
creditable form the  graduated income   
tax1 the super-tax1 and the steeply     
rising death  duties are partial        
measures in the same direction4         
,there is perhaps nothing more fanciful 
in ,ruskin's reconstruction of  ,society
 than his marriage regulations1 laid    

down in ,time and ,tide1 and  mentioned 
in the last chapter4 ,we have not yet   
put ,cupid into harness to  this extent1
 but the popular interest and concern   
about the propagation  of the unfit and 
the feeble-minded1 and in general the   
attention which  is being paid to       
heredity and the interest in eugenics1  
are all in the  direction laid down by  
,ruskin in a thorough-going shape1      
fearless as the  schemes of childhood4  
,by feeding school children and by      
doctoring them  the ,state supplements  
the weakness of the homes4 ,in many     
unfamiliar  forms the work of ,st4      
,george goes on4    ,but in his day     
thought and practice in ,social ,reform 
were comparatively  uninstructed by     
experience4 ,one is reminded of his own 
phrase about  ,cimabue and ,giotto4     
,they uttered 8the burning messages of  
prophecy by  the stammering lips of     
infants40 ,he goes straight for his     
object without  fear or hesitation1 as  
an inexperienced child will toddle      

across a  crowded street1 unfearing     
because unknowing about the motor cars4 
,ruskin1 for instance1 would set the    
unemployed to reclaim waste lands4  ,to 
which of us has not that thought come8  
,here are the men wanting work2  here is
 the land wanting workers4 ,let us put  
them together4 ,but  experience has     
shown that the dour nature of the       
unoccupied land1 and  the frequently    
dour nature of the unoccupied men1      
render such schemes  generally hopeless1
 and at times even scandalous1 failures4
 ,land and men  are unoccupied because  
they are hard to occupy1 and by putting 
together  waste land and waste men you  
only double the difficulty of the task4 
,when good workers might make something 
of bad land1 or bad workers of  good    
land1 bad workers on bad land are       
hopeless4 ,some years ago in the  ,house
 of ,commons in the debate on the ,right
 to ,work ,bill1 ,mr4 ,burns  explained 
amid general agreement the complete     
failure of relief works1  and their     

tendency rather to increase the evil and
 waste public  resources4 ,why is the   
land out of cultivation8 ,for no other  
reason than  that it does not pay to    
cultivate it4 ,the return will not give 
a  maintenance and pay taxes4 ,we may   
leave rent out1 for landlords would     
rather have their lands cultivated for  
no rent than let them lie a waste  of   
weeds4 ,and why are the men not at work8
 ,because in normal times  about #dj per
 cent4 of them are unemployable1 the    
degenerates who are  such a cause for   
alarm and concern to the nation4 ,of the
 rest1 most are  unsuited to            
agricultural work1 and only a moderate  
proportion can be  helped in that way4  
,that some tolerable land can be so     
cultivated1 and  some industrious       
unemployed so maintained is true1 but it
 requires the  spiritual amalgam of the 
,salvation ,army1 or some such body of  
patient  and capable enthusiasts1 to    
solve the difficult problem1 for a      
selected  minority of the submerged1 on 

their farm colonies4 ,they are doing the
  work of ,st4 ,george4    ,above these 
stricken ones comes the ordinary farm   
labourer1 who is  unfortunately         
migrating to the towns4 ,him ,mr4       
,ruskin hoped to settle on  land4 ,such 
a scheme of small holdings1 if backed by
 sufficient capital1  worked by experts1
 and favourably situated for a market1  
might even in  the seventies have       
succeeded4 ,of course it would not have 
had about it  all the moral excellences1
 the grace of character and the charm of
  nature and art1 which delight us so in
 the ,st4 ,george's lands of the  future
 which we read about in ,fors4 ,however1
 ,ruskin never concentrated  upon it1   
but spent most of his time and of the   
resources of the ,guild  on the         
,sheffield ,museum instead4 ,he did what
 he found he could do the  best4 ,he    
knew he was leaving great gaps for      
others to fill up4 ,he says1            
touchingly1 in the ,preface to ,love's  
,meinie in #ahha3 8,it has been1        

throughout1 my trust that if ,death     
should write on these plans of mine     
#8,what this man began to build he was  
not able to finish1' ,god may also      
write on them1 not in anger1 but in aid1
 #8,a stronger than he cometh4'0    ,but
 with labour and patience and against   
strong hostile political  forces1 the   
,small ,holdings ,act has been for some 
years at work4 ,the  obstruction of the 
squires still renders it useless in many
 counties1  and there can be no more    
true task for ,st4 ,george than to      
support  agencies such as the ,small    
,holdings ,association4 ,by its means1  
as a  matter of fact1 the peasantry is  
being restored to the land on a proper  
business basis4 ,tasks of this magnitude
 require organization on a large  scale1
 and the payment of proper returns4 ,no 
social benefit is given by  letting some
 individual hold land at less than its  
value4 ,the ,county  ,councils since the
 war are engaged upon it4 ,we are now   
again on the eve  of a large settlement 

of returned soldiers on the land1 and of
 an  attempt to brighten the villages4  
,st4 ,george1 again1 ordered that the   
homes of workpeople should be  cheerful1
 that they should have gardens and      
flowers and sunshine1 that  the long    
miserable rows of uniform cottages      
should be of the past4 ,these  things1  
largely under the inspiration of        
,ruskin1 are being done1 in  ,first     
,garden ,city at ,letchworth1 and in    
such model villages as  ,bournville1    
,new ,earswick1 ,port ,sunlight1 the    
,hampstead suburb1 and  similar suburbs 
at ,manchester and ,hull4 ,but it is all
 on far too small a  scale4 ,the true   
task of ,st4 ,george to-day is to       
strengthen these  progressive movements4
 ,the growth of the towns since #ahga   
has made this  urban problem the most   
urgent of all4 ,how many rows of        
dreadful box  homes have been built4    
,the country is being choked by the     
spreading  towns4 ,purely agricultural  
colonies are good1 but towns cannot be  

founded without the help of the         
manufacturers who make a town4          
,again1 the intention of ,st4 ,george   
was to have a happy body of  workpeople1
 loyally co-operating with a superior   
type of employer1 and  banishing greedy 
competition4 ,the surviving remnant of  
the ,guild of ,st4  ,george has very    
little in its own power in this way1 but
 amongst the  employers who have built  
these model villages there exists just  
this  kind of relation in manifold ways4
 ,and again1 it pays4 ,when in the      
,british ,association at ,york the firm 
of ,rowntree and ,co4 was being         
commended for the benefits they are     
giving their workpeople1 ,mr4 ,seebohm  
,rowntree1 whose whole heart is in the  
work1 made a speech insisting that  it  
paid them4 ,he did this in order to     
induce other people to do the  same1 and
 to show that it was feasible for the   
ordinary manufacturer4    ,broadly      
speaking1 we may say that what we are   
all striving for is being  done1 in ways

 more wholesale and more complicated    
than could have been  worked out in the 
seventies4 ,two generations of social   
pioneers1  thinkers1 and experimenters1 
have been grappling with the problems   
since  then1 so that we should not      
expect precisely the same prescription  
to be  given by the social physician    
to-day as was given by one of the great 
pioneers of healing nearly fifty years  
ago4    ,the agricultural settlement    
seems the furthest from practical       
politics4  ,nevertheless1 a series of   
enactments since #ahha have established 
in  ,ireland that very arrangement of a 
peasant proprietary paying a fixed  rent
 to the ,state1 which is the essence of 
,ruskin's proposal2 except  that the    
,irish rents under the ,land ,purchase  
,acts are terminable after a  period of 
years2 and so rather more easy than     
,ruskin's4 ,presumably1 if  found       
successful1 the system could be         
extended4 ,it will certainly occupy  the
 minds of reformers very much during the

 immediately coming years4    ,education
 was naturally a chief concern with ,st4
 ,george1 and it occupies  ,letter ,,xvi
 of ,time and ,tide4#hh ,his schools    
were to be in the fresh  air of the     
country1 and with large playing fields  
securely their own4  8,the ,laws of     
,health and exercises enjoined by them0 
are the first  feature of the           
curriculum2 and riding1 running1 all the
 honest personal  exercises of offence  
and defence1 and music1 are to be       
included under  this head4 ,then come   
8the mental graces of reverence and     
compassion1  which are to be developed  
by deliberate and constant              
exercise1--which  means1 doubtless1 that
 there is to be no girding at passers-by
 in the  streets1 and no rat-catching   
for amusement4 ,then1 as the bond and   
guardian of reverence and compassion1   
comes 8the truth of spirit and  word1 of
 thought and sight--truth earnest and   
compassionate1 sought for  like a       
treasure1 and kept like a crown40 ,this 

is to be taught chiefly  8by pressing   
for close accuracy of statement1 as a   
principle of honour  and as an          
accomplishment of language40 ,there is  
much sound advice about  this in ,letter
 ,,xvi4 ,then1 for the actual           
curriculum1 there come1 first1  history2
 and then natural science and           
mathematics4 ,but there are to be  three
 alternative curricula1 one for city    
children1 one for country  children1 and
 one for seafaring children4 ,the city  
children are to study  mathematics and  
the arts1 country children1 natural     
history and  agriculture1 and the future
 sailors1 astronomy1 geography1 and     
marine  natural history4 ,a beginning of
 variety of just this kind now exists in
  the elementary schools1 as noted in   
the last chapter4    ,after this1 all   
children are to be taught the calling   
whereby they are  to live4    ,the      
curious whimsical paradox that reading  
and writing are to be  optional         
subjects1 does not1 after such a        

curriculum1 amount to much4 ,it  is part
 of a petulant reaction against merely  
inferior literary  exercise1 by a chief 
craftsman in it2 as a professor of music
 is the  first to tell you that it is no
 use teaching music to those who will do
  no good with it4 ,ruskin says that the
 teaching of the three ,r's is of no    
use to people who will only read rubbish
 and write falsehood1 and1 put  that    
way1 one is bound to agree4    ,no      
school of ,st4 ,george has ever been    
begun1 though there are schools  which  
have kindred aims4 ,such schools are    
away in the country with farm  and      
garden1 with little pressure of outside 
examinations1 a varied  curriculum1     
great attention to athletic exercise1 to
 natural science and  history1 with     
classics and the study of grammar       
practically shelved1 and  the prime     
concern of the school management the    
inculcation of reverence  and           
truthfulness and gentleness4 ,the       
,natural ,history1 the ,arts and        

,handicrafts1 the reading aloud and the 
committing scripture and poetry  to     
memory would be after his own heart4    
,we recognize in this luminous and      
suggestive treatment of education that  
the right note is struck--the basal idea
 is that 8you have not educated  a boy  
when you have taught him to know what he
 did not know1 but to be  what he had   
not been1 and to behave as he had not   
behaved40 ,and1 with  the present stiff 
system and starved appliances1 human and
 material1  with which we educate the   
citizens of the future1 what a glorious 
vision  ,ruskin's is1 of what that      
education might so easily be4 ,his      
protest  against the three ,r's is      
merely a humorous outcry against their  
insufficiency1 their mechanical         
character1 and their commercial end4    
,how  that much1 and that much only1 of 
mental outfit has worked1 is printed    
large in the circulation of ,illustrated
 ,bits1 ,scraps1 all sensational        
evening papers and the ,bottomley1      

,harmsworth and ,hulton presses4 ,but   
clerks and pupil teachers are cheap4    
,ruskin's actual work as a ,university  
,professor was notable2 and many are    
the men1 now old or gone1 whom he       
influenced at ,oxford4 ,to be one of the
  influences at ,oxford or ,cambridge is
 a worthy use of gifts of the  highest  
kind4 ,the present ,drawing ,schools at 
,oxford are a monument of  his labour   
and his liberality4    ,it is easy      
indeed for the ,philistine to laugh at  
the pageantry of the  vision of the     
,england of ,st4 ,george4 ,there were to
 be 8,marshals0 with  great districts   
subject to them1 8,landlords10 men of   
fortune devoting  their gifts to the    
service of the ,guild1 and owing their  
lordship to the  fact that 8they could  
work as much better than their          
labourers1 as a  good knight than his   
soldiers40 ,these were all to be called 
,comites  ,ministrantes2 under them the 
,comites ,militantes were the rank and  
file of the workers on the ,company's   

lands4 ,finally the ,comites  ,consilii1
 the only class who have materialized1  
were the companions  contributing1 but  
not residing on ,st4 ,george's lands4#hi
    ,to sum up1 then1 the present public
 duty of a good ,ruskinian3    ,he will 
support the labour colonies of the      
,salvation ,army and ,small  ,holdings  
,associations4 ,he will invest in the   
stock of ,garden ,city or  other ,garden
 ,suburbs2 he will work for the         
,minority ,report on the ,poor  ,law1   
and for all plans for strengthening and 
humanizing ,education1 for  ,town       
,planning and ,smoke ,abatement4 ,he    
will labour to extend among the  laity  
the duties of the clergy1 and among the 
clergy the spirit of the  layman1 he    
will help all ,peace ,societies1 and    
labour to promote good  understanding   
with other countries through the ,league
 of ,nations4 ,he  will clip the wings  
of capital seeking to use the ,british  
,flag as a  business asset1 and he will 
do this by a capital levy1 the super-tax

 and  the ,death ,duties4 ,he will be a 
mild and reasonable ,socialist1 so far  
as  to extend the scope of municipal    
action as it may be found practicable4  
,he would support the principle of a    
minimum wage1 co-operative              
partnerships1 and collective bargaining2
 and he would probably give  cautiously 
some power to segregate the             
feeble-minded4 ,he would provide  ,art  
,galleries and ,museums housed in noble 
buildings1 and would  religiously       
preserve the surviving beauty of the    
country side4 ,two  possible changes may
 be treated at greater length4    ,i4   
,the higher professional activities may 
be still further removed from           
competition and put under salaried      
service4 ,there will be competition  for
 posts2 that is right2 but if medical   
men and lawyers did not depend  upon    
fees1 we should be rid of many abuses2  
and the work would gain in  dignity4 ,i 
believe clergymen1 professors and public
 schoolmasters do as  good work as those

 who follow callings more directly      
dependent on the  casual payments and   
goodwill of customers4 ,with regard to  
education1  there would be danger of    
loss as well as of gain1 if private     
schools and  private tutors were        
abolished4 ,they should remain available
 for those  who desire them4 ,there will
 always be people who demand a special  
religious atmosphere or who wish to make
 experiments4 ,and there will be  pupils
 who from bad health1 or neglect of     
early training1 could not  properly     
benefit from the schools of the ,state4 
,it is not necessary that  the public   
body in control should be either the    
,state or the  ,municipality4 ,in my    
view1 neither the universities nor the  
public  schools would benefit by such a 
change4 ,nevertheless1 it is becoming   
increasingly agreed that the nation     
should shoulder a larger part of the    
expense1 and guarantee the quality of   
the teaching1 more widely and  liberally
 than it does at present4 ,in this      

connection it is all the more  necessary
 that the ,state should clear itself of 
militarism4 ,for if  military training  
were to become compulsory in schools1 as
 is seriously  threatened1 the nation   
would be once more as acutely divided   
about it1  as it has been1 so long and  
so disastrously1 over denominational    
schools4 ,we should have conscientious  
objectors in permanence4    ,nor can we 
proscribe the private practitioner1 for 
the wealthy1 if there  were any1 or for 
the medically heterodox4 ,yet1 how much 
bad pretentious  work1 how much humbug  
and servility1 would be spared to their 
profession  if most of them became      
public officials1 only doctors know4    
,i am not qualified to say whether the  
legal profession should be              
nationalized1 nor how much4 ,but things 
could hardly be in worse case  than they
 are at present1 when the worthy members
 of a necessary  profession are regarded
 by many as little better than birds of 
prey4    ,it may be said that modest    

,state salaries would not attract able  
men  into the professions so organized4 
,but if the profits of trade were       
socialized as proposed1 or divided among
 guild members1 there would not  be that
 golden alternative lure4    ,,ii4 ,in  
those matters which are left to the     
adjustment of free  competition1 it is  
necessary that everyone should be in a  
fair position  to bargain1 so that there
 may be no compulsion due to sheer      
starvation4  ,this requires to be done  
so carefully that an actual maintenance 
at a  tolerable standard1 and           
permanently available without work1     
should not  be offered to the           
able-bodied4 ,two suggestions have been 
made which are  well worth considering4 
,alfred ,russel ,wallace proposes that a
 daily dole of bread1 enough to  sustain
 life1 should be easily available to the
 indigent or the out of  work4 ,tickets 
should be accessible at all ,post       
,offices1 ,police ,stations1  and from  
magistrates1 clergymen and others1 on   

making out a claim of  need4 ,thus      
actual starvation would be warded       
off4#ij    ,a more elaborate proposal is
 that to whose advocacy my friend ,mr4  
,dennis  ,milner and his wife are       
devoting their lives4 ,he proposes that 
everyone1  rich and poor1 from birth to 
death1 should be the recipient of a     
certain  pension1 to be provided by a   
four shillings in the pound ,income     
,tax1 on  all incomes great and small1  
to be deducted at the source4 ,thus1    
one-fifth of everyone's income would be 
redistributed on a flat rate1 as  a     
capitation grant4 ,it would provide on  
pre-war incomes about four  shillings   
and threepence per week per head4 ,so   
that a family of five1  receiving       
twenty-one shillings and threepence a   
week1 or #ee a year1  would also pay #ee
 ,income ,tax1 if their other income was
 #bbj4 ,they  would neither lose nor    
gain4 ,every family of that size        
receiving a  smaller income would gain  
by the scheme2 everyone above that limit

 would  lose4 ,it would thus encourage  
marriage and the raising of families1 by
  constituting a tax on the unmarried4  
,the man of a thousand a year1 with  a  
wife and three children1 would pay #bjj 
and receive #ee--reducing his  income to
 #hee4 ,one great advantage to the poor 
would be that it would  save them from  
most or all of the insurance premiums   
they pay1 of all  sorts4 ,the scheme is 
attractively expounded in pamphlets4#ia 
,clearly its greatest difficulty is due 
to the fact that we are likely to  have 
so great an ,income ,tax to pay for war1
 that to pay also for welfare  may be   
beyond the willingness of the public4   
,,chapter ,,vii    ,,usury              
,ruskin's attack upon the taking of     
interest for capital is the part of  his
 doctrine which goes deepest into our   
business system4 ,it has in  consequence
 weakened his influence1 and has not1   
even by himself1 been  put into practice
 in this country4 ,but he spent much of 
his strength  upon it in his later      

years4 ,in ,munera ,pulveris1 written in
 #ahfb1 we  find him stating#ib that    
,usury is 8merely taking an exorbitant  
sum for  the use of anything--8the      
essence of the usury being that it is   
obtained by advantage of opportunity or 
necessity1 and not as due reward  for   
labour10 and he therefore includes high 
profits for middlemen under  the term3  
but in later editions he adds a footnote
 to say that ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4  ,sillar#ic   
has since shown him that the payment of 
any interest at all  is unjustifiable1  
and is real usury4    ,it is well to    
distinguish carefully between ,interest 
and ,profits4 ,the  business man who    
exploits foreign concessions1 and who   
stimulates wars1  may or may not be a   
capitalist4 ,he may be using other      
people's capital4  ,he makes his profit 
as reward for his work1 his luck1 his   
enterprise1  and an often risky         
responsibility4 ,the capitalist1        
properly so called1  is1 on the other   
hand1 an investor who simply takes his  

interest4 ,often1  doubtless1 one man   
fills both parts1 but in general        
theoretical  discussion they should be  
kept separate4    ,interest1 even if    
unavoidable1 tends to increase the      
inequalities of  distribution1 and      
beyond a certain point it becomes a     
social danger1 and  may even become a   
disease in the body politic4 ,it is one 
of the least  desirable consequences of 
the system of private property2 but it  
is1 ,i  fear1 an inherent part of it--to
 be got rid of only under a communal    
system where private property does not  
exist4    ,his new convictions did not  
take an absorbing hold on ,ruskin's mind
 for  some years4 ,in ,september1 #ahgb1
 he writes in ,fors1 ,letter ,,xxi1     
#ah1  #ai1 in reply to a remonstrance   
from ,mr4 ,sillar3 8,i am very careless 
about such minor matters as the present 
conditions of 444 banking4 ,i  hold bank
 stock simply because ,i suppose it to  
be safer than any other  stock1 and ,i  
take the interest of it because1 though 

taking interest is1  in the abstract1 as
 wrong as war1 the entire fabric of     
society is at  present so connected with
 both usury and war1 that it is not     
possible  violently to withdraw1 nor    
wisely to set example of withdrawing1   
from  either evil40    8,denunciations  
of interest are much beside the mark    
unless they are  accompanied with some  
explanation of the manner in which      
borrowing and  lending1 when necessary1 
can be carried on without it40 ,there is
 a  passage to the same effect in the   
notes to ,fors1 ,letter ,,xliii1 written
  in ,july1 #ahgd4    ,it is easy to    
show why interest is both just and      
unavoidable1 if we  accept the justice  
of private property in general4 ,by     
advancing capital  we enable the        
borrower to carry on profitable         
operations which will pay  him after he 
has given us somewhat for the advance4  
,it pays him to  borrow4 ,he obtains an 
immediate order upon labour from the    
lender who  postpones using it for his  

own pleasure4 ,it is this element of    
,time  which constitutes the whole      
reason for interest4 ,ready money1 that 
is an  immediate order upon labour for  
which nothing has yet been given1 has a 
price depending upon the action of those
 who have it and those who want  it1    
under the same law of ,supply and       
,demand as governs the price of  other  
commodities4 ,the current rate of       
interest1 after taking off the  varying 
payment for risk1 represents both the   
reward for which the  capitalists will  
save the last portion of fluid capital  
which is saved1  and the 8final0 utility
 of the last dose of money available to 
borrowers4 ,the capitalist needs an     
investment as much as the borrower      
needs capital4 ,the advantage is not all
 on one side4 ,bankers desire  eagerly  
to grant overdrafts to safe people4 ,the
 whole process is  essential to         
production on a large scale1 and to     
public activity1 and  there is not      
necessarily any oppression in it1 in our

 present state of  society1 though it   
is1 like everything else1 liable to     
abuse4    ,but to a man who has enough  
already 8abstinence0 is no hardship4    
,time is  his friend4 ,hence a measure  
of government interference to stop great
  fortunes is just and necessary1       
whether by a heavy income tax or a      
capital levy1 or by death duties1 all   
steeply graduated4 ,another drastic     
extension of these duties would be found
 in the limitation of the right  of     
bequest1 fixing a maximum amount which a
 man may receive1 or may  leave1 by     
inheritance or bequest4 ,bequest is not 
a natural1 it is a  strictly legal1     
right2 and the law may regulate it4#id  
,this would check  the worst of the evil
 of vast fortunes1 which are a curse to 
their  owners1 and the other side of the
 poverty shield4 ,they are rarely made  
in one generation4 ,bacon says3 8,usury 
bringeth the treasure of a realm  into  
few hands2 for the usurer trading on a  
certainty1 and other men on             

uncertainties1 at the end of the game   
all the money will be in the box40      
,we will now put ,ruskin's argument1    
from the one place where he wrote it    
out at length4 ,it is the well-known    
passage on 8the position of ,william0   
in the first letter of ,fors1 ,january1 
#ahga4    ,the following is there quoted
 from ,mrs4 ,fawcett's ,political       
,economy for  ,beginners4 ,she          
translated it from the ,french of       
,bastiat3         ,there was once in a  
village a poor carpenter1 who worked    
hard from       morning to night4 ,one  
day ,james thought to himself1 8,with my
       hatchet1 saw1 and hammer1 ,i can 
only make coarse furniture1 and can     
only get the pay for such4 ,if ,i had a 
plane1 ,i should please my              
customers more1 and they would pay me   
more4 ,yes1 ,i am resolved1 ,i          
will make myself a plane40 ,at the end  
of ten days ,james had in his           
possession an admirable plane1 which he 
valued all the more for       having    

made it himself4 ,whilst he was         
reckoning all the profits       which he
 expected to derive from the use of it1 
he was interrupted       by ,william1 a 
carpenter in the neighbouring village4  
,william1       having admired the      
plane1 was struck with the advantages   
which       might be gained from it4 ,he
 said to ,james3         8,you must do  
me a service2 lend me the plane for a   
year40 ,as might       be expected1     
,james cried out1 8,how can you think of
 such a thing1       ,william8 ,well1 if
 ,i do this service1 what will you do   
for me in       return80         ,w4    
8,nothing4 ,don't you know that a loan  
ought to be gratuitous80         ,j4 8,i
 know nothing of the sort2 but ,i do    
know that if ,i were to       lend you  
my plane for a year1 it would be giving 
it to you4 ,to tell       the truth1    
that was not what ,i made it for40      
,w4 8,very well1 then2 ,i ask you to do 
me a service2 what service do       you 
ask me in return80         ,j4 8,first1 

then1 in a year the plane will be done  
for4 ,you must       therefore give me  
another exactly like it40         ,w4   
8,that is perfectly just4 ,i submit to  
these conditions4 ,i think       you    
must be satisfied with this1 and can    
require nothing further40         ,j4   
8,i think otherwise4 ,i made the plane  
for myself1 and not for       you4 ,i   
expected to gain some advantage from it4
 ,i have made the       plane for the   
purpose of improving my work and my     
condition2 if you       merely return it
 to me in a year1 it is you who will    
gain the       profit of it during the  
whole of that time4 ,i am not bound to  
do       you such a service without     
receiving anything in return4           
,therefore1       if you wish for my    
plane1 besides the restoration already  
bargained       for1 you must give me a 
new plank as a compensation for the     
advantages of which ,i shall be         
deprived40         ,these terms were    
agreed to2 but the singular part of it  

is that at       the end of the year1   
when the plane came into ,james's       
possession1       he lent it again2     
recovered it1 and lent it a third and   
fourth       time4 ,it has passed into  
the hands of his son1 who still lends   
it4       ,let us examine this little   
story4 ,the plane is the symbol of all  
capital1 and the plank is the symbol of 
all interest4    ,thus far ,bastiat3    
,ruskin comments3--    8,if this be an  
abridgment1 what a graceful piece of    
highly wrought  literature the original 
story must be6 ,i take the liberty of   
abridging  it a little more4    8,james 
makes a plane1 lends it to ,william on  
#ast ,january for a year4  ,william     
gives him a plank for the loan of it1   
wears it out1 and makes  another for    
,james which he gives him on #cast      
,december4 ,on #ast ,january he  again  
borrows the new one2 and the arrangement
 is repeated continuously4  ,the        
position of ,william therefore is1 that 
he makes a plane every #cast  ,december1

 lends it to ,james till the next day1  
and pays ,james a plank  annually for   
the privilege of lending it to him on   
that evening4 ,this1  in future         
investigations of capital and interest1 
we will call1 if you  please1 #8the     
,position of ,william4'    8,you may not
 at the first glance see where the      
fallacy lies3 7the writer  of the story 
evidently counts on your not seeing it  
at all74    8,if ,james did not lend the
 plane to ,william1 he could only get   
his gain  of a plank by working with it 
himself1 and wearing it out himself4    
,when  he had worn it out at the end of 
the year1 he would1 therefore1 have to  
make another for himself4 ,william1     
working with it instead1 gets the       
advantage instead1 which he must1       
therefore1 pay ,james his plank for2    
and return to ,james what ,james would1 
if he had not lent his plane1 then  have
 had--not a new plane1 but the worn-out 
one4 ,james must make a new  one for    
himself1 as he would have had to do if  

no ,william had existed2  and if        
,william likes to borrow it again for   
another plank1 all is fair4    8,that is
 to say1 clearing the story of its      
nonsense1 that ,james makes a  plane    
annually1 and sells it to ,william for  
its proper price1 which1 in  kind1 is a 
new plane4 ,but this arrangement has    
nothing whatever to do  with principal  
or with interest40    ,i fear ,ruskin is
 wrong4 ,he forgets a sinking fund for  
depreciation4 ,his  error lies in       
supposing that a plane can be used for a
 year1 and worn  out1 for no return but 
a plank4 ,if planes only last a year and
 are of  advantage1 their value in use  
is equal to that of the cost of a plane 
plus a plank1 plus some more4 ,that is1 
the cost of making a plane is  less by a
 plank and more than the benefit a      
workman can get out of it  before it is 
worn out1 after paying for his labour4  
,the benefit in a  year to the user is  
more than plane plus plank1 or ,william 
would not go  on4 ,that is the point of 

the service of all capital1             
intelligently  used4    ,william has to 
pay his tax of a plank per annum because
 he is not  beforehand with his needs4  
,he gets the advantage of the plane     
every year  twelve months before he can 
afford to make it2 and the advantage of 
being in advance of his needs goes to   
,james4 ,the element of ,time is        
everything4 ,a plane at the beginning of
 a year is of more service than a  plane
 you have to wait for till the end4     
,ruskin begins his sequence of  time on 
,december #cast of the first year1      
avoiding the whole point4 ,and  the     
position of ,william is therefore not   
unfair2 though it is one to be  avoided4
    ,there is little to be added of the 
nature of argument2 though ,fors is     
scattered over with allusions to the    
subject1 and discussions with many      
correspondents are printed in full4#ie  
,these1 and many other shorter          
passages1#if consist largely of         
intuitive  prophetic assertion of the   

sinfulness of interest1 even the        
slightest4  ,much space is occupied by  
criticisms of the author's own practice 
in  living on the proceeds of ,bank     
,stock1 and his very cogent replies     
thereto4 ,they amount to an admission   
that the doctrine does not fit the      
present time4 ,there are impressive     
accounts also of the miseries of        
usury-ridden countries like ,india1 and 
of the folly of borrowed capital4  ,but 
there is no light thrown on how business
 is to be conducted without  it3 there  
is nothing immediately practical4       
,the array of authority against usance  
for money is weighty and of  ancient    
date4    ,lev4 xxv4 #ce-cg3 8,and if thy
 brother be poor and powerless with his 
hands at thy side1 thou shalt take his  
part upon thee1 to help him1 as  thy    
proselyte and thy neighbour2 and thy    
brother shall live with thee4  ,thou    
shalt take no usury of him1 nor anything
 over and above1 and thou  shalt fear   
thy ,god4 ,i am the ,lord1 and thy      

brother shall live with thee4  ,thou    
shalt not give him thy money for usury2 
and thou shalt not give him  thy food   
for increase40 7,j4 ,r4 translated from 
,,lxx47 ,exodus xxii4 #be and           
,deuteronomy xxiii4 #ai are similar in  
purport4 ,psalm xv4 refers to the  man  
8who putteth not out his money to usury1
 nor taketh reward against  the         
innocent02 as being a fit person to     
abide in the ,lord's tabernacle1  and   
dwell in ,his holy hill4 ,here we have  
the taking of interest running  parallel
 with the corruption of the high trust  
of the judicial bench4  ,ezekiel xviii4 
#h1 #ac1 #ag is contemporary with       
,leviticus1 and is  practically the same
 voice1 representing ,jewish opinion on 
the  resettlement of the ,state after   
the ,captivity4 ,here usury is classed  
with every abominable wickedness4    ,in
 these ,jewish passages it was the      
taking of interest from a brother       
,hebrew that was forbidden4 ,this       
limitation to the profitable use of     

capital may have early led the ,jew     
capitalist to the permitted ,gentile    
outlet2 and have caused him1 in lending 
to the outside world1 to carry  with the
 act a spice of uncharitableness and    
conscious ill-will4 ,these  passages are
 a testimony to the extraordinary       
cohesiveness and patriotic              
consciousness of the restored nation4   
,such a proviso of itself is both  cause
 and consequence2 it leads to further   
isolation from others4    ,in the       
parable of the ,talents1 the king who   
was made to say1 8,thou  knewest that ,i
 was an hard man10 is also made to say1 
8,thou shouldest  have given my money to
 the bankers that at my coming ,i should
 have  received mine own with usury40   
,but ,i dare not deduce anything from   
this4 ,the ,parables never apply all    
round2 they only teach one lesson at  a 
time4 ,he who taught the duty of prayer 
by means of the ,parable of the  unjust 
judge1 and the duty of using present    
opportunity by the ,parable  of the     

unjust steward1 might easily teach the  
duty of the use of the  gifts of ,god1  
without implying that ,god was either a 
8hard man0 or a  usurer4 ,all these     
stories may have been accompanied by    
some such  addition as this1 that if    
even with unjust and hard men this      
teaching  holds1 will it not be far more
 worth while to pray to ,god and to     
faithfully use ,his opportunities and   
,his gifts8    ,there is1 however1 one  
passage1 not in the four ,gospels1 but  
well based  on tradition3--8,be         
honourable bankers02 and it certainly   
does seem  strange1 if the whole        
business of money-dealing were wrong1   
that that  illustration of the use of   
spiritual capital should have been      
selected4  ,the fact that usury was     
denounced by the ,early ,church may have
 led to  the non-inclusion of this      
dubious text in the ,canon4             
,denunciations of usury are commonplaces
 among the ,fathers of the ,church4  ,it
 was wholly forbidden to the clergy and 

sometimes to the laity4 ,many  have been
 the sermons1 of the fiercest character1
 delivered against it  by the ,bishops  
of the ,catholic and ,anglican          
,churches4 ,john ,wesley told  his      
followers 8to die sooner than put       
anything in pawn or borrow or lend  on  
usury40 ,his rule on the subject was1   
however1 explained later on by  himself 
as being against 8unlawful interest02   
upon which ,ruskin remarks3  8,doubtless
 his disciples know what rate of        
interest is lawful1 and what  not2 and  
also by what law it was made so2 and    
always pause with pious  accuracy at the
 decimal point whereat the excellence of
 an investment  begins to make it       
criminal40 ,nevertheless1 ,wesley was   
right4    ,turning to the ,greek world  
we find usury condemned by ,solon and   
,lycurgus1 ,plato and ,aristotle 78money
 sterile by nature072 and a ,roman      
voice comes from ,cato4 ,from ,arabia is
 heard the word of ,mohammed4 ,and1  of 
great ,englishmen1 we find ,lord ,bacon1

 and perhaps ,shakespeare1  teaching the
 same4 ,concerning these it is to be    
noted1 that being before  the days of   
joint company ownership1 their testimony
 was solely against  private            
money-lending2 and the one authority1   
,john ,wesley1 who lived in  the early  
days of modern business1 was not against
 interest as such in  his later years4  
,nor again1 did these authorities attack
 ,rent1 which  ,ruskin is consistent in 
also reprobating4 ,the landowning       
aristocracy1  we shall remember1 are to 
be the recipients instead of a          
,government  annuity1 as wages for their
 work of governing their inferiors4     
,amongst  an agricultural1 noncommercial
 people1 the usurer is a sinister       
figure4  ,this must have been the case  
in ,palestine1 and in agricultural      
,england4  ,to-day he is the curse of   
,india1 whose cultivators are enslaved  
by the  money-lenders under ,english    
law4 ,in short1 we may conclude that it 
requires a fair field and genuine       

commercial habits to make interest a    
public benefit4    ,the change from the 
earlier to the later ,john ,wesley is   
most  significant4 ,it represents the   
change to modern business on a large    
scale1 which occurred during his        
lifetime4 ,it is noticeable that since  
his time the attack on ,interest has    
ceased1 but for ,ruskin1 among          
religious teachers4 ,as a counsel of    
ultimate perfection in a communist      
,state1 of course1 ,interest would be   
abolished2 but most ,socialists admit   
that it is an essential part of the     
institution of private property1 and    
must stand or fall with it4    ,there   
may yet be great revolutions in our     
sense of duty4 ,we may come to  extend  
kindness to animals to the extraordinary
 length of not eating  them4 ,that      
excessive toil and numbing poverty      
should exist around us1  may some day   
become a reproach to us1 as we feed on  
the roses and lie on  the lilies of     
life1 which are often provided for us by

 the said  labourers4 ,by the time1     
then1 that we come to love our          
neighbours as  ourselves1 we shall      
probably not be anxious to take         
advantage of our  position of being a   
little beforehand with the world1 of    
having money to  lend2 and may even sink
 the time advantage thereby at our      
disposal2 and  not take interest4 ,but  
we shall be different then2 and so will 
the world  we live in4 ,it is a kind of 
altruism which absolutely needs a fit   
environment4 ,if the cessation of income
 from investments belongs to the        
,christianity which is to come1 before  
this faith shall have been  realized we 
shall have pooled our property into a   
common store1 and the  question of      
private investment will have fallen to  
the ground4 ,only  among the ,doukhobors
 has this kind of ,christianity yet     
notably realized  itself1 and great is  
their well-being4 ,but we must go on    
like ,ruskin and  take our ,interest for
 the present4    ,the real trouble is   

not in the interest1 but in the great   
fortunes4 ,that  an upper limit for     
wealth would be a blessing to the rich1 
and a solid  gain to the nation at      
large1 has long been my conviction4     
,ruskin says it  is also his 8long fixed
 conviction that one of the most        
important  conditions of a healthful    
system of social economy1 would be the  
restraint of the properties and incomes 
of the upper classes within  certain    
fixed limits4 ,the temptation to use    
every energy in the  accumulation of    
wealth being thus removed1 another and a
 higher ideal of  the duties of advanced
 life would be necessarily created in   
the national  mind4 ,by withdrawal of   
those who had attained the prescribed   
limits of  wealth from commercial       
competition1 earlier worldly success1   
and earlier  marriage1 with all its     
beneficent moral results1 would become  
possible  to the young2 while the older 
men of active intellect1 whose sagacity 
is  now lost or warped in the           

furtherance of their own meanest        
interest1  would be induced unselfishly 
to occupy themselves in the             
superintendence  of public institutions 
or furtherance of public advantage4 ,and
 out of  this class it would be found   
natural and prudent always to choose the
  members of the legislative body of the
 ,commons2 and to attach to the  order  
also some peculiar honours1 in the      
possession of which such  complacency   
would be felt as would more than replace
 the unworthy  satisfaction of being    
supposed richer than others1 which to   
many men is  the principal charm of     
their wealth4 ,and although no law of   
this purport  would ever be imposed on  
themselves by the actual upper classes1 
there  is no hindrance to its being     
gradually brought into force from       
beneath1  without any violent or        
impatient proceedings40#ig    ,as a type
 of ,ruskin's satirical humour in       
controversy we will indulge  ourselves  
with an extract from his argument with  

the late ,bishop of  ,manchester on     
usury4 ,ruskin publicly challenged ,dr4 
,fraser to the  encounter4 ,the ,bishop 
had somewhat sensibly remarked that     
religious  sanctions ought not to be    
imposed in cases which they never       
originally  contemplated1 referring to  
,leviticus on usury4 ,ruskin replies3   
8,i do not know whether by the phrase1  
presently after used by your  ,lordship1
 #8religious sanctions1' ,i am to       
understand the ,law of ,god which       
,david loved and ,christ fulfilled1 or  
whether the splendour1 the  commercial  
prosperity1 and the familiar            
acquaintance with all the  secrets of   
science and treasures of art1 which we  
admire in the ,city of  ,manchester1    
must in your ,lordship's view be        
considered as #8cases' which  the       
intelligence of the ,divine ,lawgiver   
could not have originally  contemplated4
 ,without attempting to disguise the    
narrowness of the  horizon grasped by   
the glance of the ,lord from ,sinai1 nor

 the  inconvenience of the commandments 
which ,christ has directed those who    
love ,him to keep1 am ,i too troublesome
 or too exigent in asking from one  of  
those whom the ,holy ,ghost has made our
 overseers1 at least a distinct  chart  
of the ,old ,world as contemplated by   
the ,almighty1 and a clear  definition  
of even the inappropriate tenor of the  
orders of ,christ2 if  only that the    
modern scientific ,churchman may triumph
 more securely in  the circumference of 
his heavenly vision1 and accept more    
gratefully the  glorious liberty of the 
free thinking children of ,god80        
,,chapter ,,vii    ,,war      ,the fact 
that ,war is the commonest and the most 
pernicious way of using  large masses of
 capital leads us naturally from ,usury 
to ,war4 ,ruskin  connects the subject  
with ,capitalism thus3#ih               
8,capitalists1 when they do not know    
what to do with their money1  persuade  
the peasants1 in various countries1 that
 the said peasants want  guns to shoot  

each other with4 ,the peasants          
accordingly borrow guns1 out  of the    
manufacture of which the capitalists get
 a percentage1 and men of  science much 
amusement and credit4 ,then the peasants
 shoot a certain  number of each other1 
until they get tired2 and burn each     
other's homes  down1 in various places4 
,then they put the guns back into       
towers1  arsenals1 etc4 in ornamental   
patterns 7and the victorious party put  
also  some ragged flags in churches74   
,and then the capitalists tax both      
annually1 ever afterwards1 to pay       
interest on the loan of the guns and    
gunpowder40    ,the horrors of the      
,franco-,german war of #ahga1 relatively
 small as they  now appear1 were a      
nightmare to him1 and cloud the first   
volume of  ,fors1 which records his     
current thoughts in that year4    ,his  
most prominent utterance is his lecture 
on 8,war0 delivered to the  students at 
the ,engineering ,college at ,woolwich  
in #ahfe and printed in  ,the ,crown of 

,wild ,olive4 ,it appears1 throughout1  
to be in praise of  war4 ,but we shall  
see that great deductions are to be     
made4 ,nevertheless  it begins          
appallingly enough by stating that all  
fine arts have been  founded in war1 and
 can only be practised by warlike       
nations4 ,he gives  as instances1       
,egypt1 ,greece1 and ,rome4 ,the        
instances are all fallacious1           
particularly those of the peace-loving  
people in the ,nile ,valley1 and  the   
very inartistic ,romans4 ,nor is there  
any proof that war either  caused or    
aided the artistic faculty of the       
,greeks4 ,how can there be8  ,the       
characteristic warrior                  
city--,sparta--was as inartistic as     
,woolwich4  ,he goes a step further to  
please his audience of young            
warrior-students  by the strange        
assertion that 8war is the foundation of
 all the high  virtues and faculties of 
men03 and that1 in ,history1 we find    
coupled  together 8peace and sensuality1

 peace and selfishness--peace and       
death40  8,i found that all the great   
nations learned their truth of word and 
strength of thought in war3 that they   
were nourished in war1 and wasted  by   
peace2 taught by war and deceived by    
peace2 trained by war1 and  betrayed by 
peace2 in a word that they were born in 
war1 and expired in  peace40#ii    ,such
 is the rash and partial generalization 
of the rhetorician1 based on  this much 
of historic truth that the early years  
of a nation's life have  often been     
occupied in conflict for safety or      
empire1 and its later1  more peaceful   
and more prosperous years are marked    
sometimes by the  weakening influences  
of wealth1 and end in decay4 ,but it is 
hard1  indeed1 impossible ,i venture to 
say1 to show that the motives or the    
methods of war are not1 from beginning  
to end1 retrograde and barbaric1  a     
harking back to the life of the beast2  
and not the source of any of  these good
 things named4    ,but now comes the    

antidote2 after such an exordium1 what  
manner of peace  address might he not   
give to those ,woolwich men and they    
listen8    ,first he excepts from his   
approval 8the rage of a barbarian wolf  
flock10  and the 8habitual restlessness 
or rapine of mountaineers10 and 8the    
occasional struggle of a strong1        
peaceful nation for its life--a  strange
 exception that--and the 8contest of    
merely ambitious nations for  extent of 
power--a wide exception that4 ,it leaves
 him three kinds of  beneficial war3 war
 for exercise or play1 out of mere high 
spirits and  unused energies of the     
upper classes--war for aggression       
against  surrounding evil--and wars for 
defence of noble institutions and pure  
households4    ,i4 ,as to wars for      
pastime1 we find that they are to be    
fought somewhat  in the manner of duels 
or tournaments by the officers2 by the  
idle young  men who are too proud for   
peaceful business1 and whose arms and   
legs  want play4 ,there is to be no     

gathering of peasants to fire into one  
another2 and ,carlyle on the thirty     
peasants from ,dumdrudge is helpfully   
quoted1 from ,sartor ,resartus4 ,the man
 who could quote that to ,woolwich      
students could do most things with an   
audience4 ,we next have a little        
paragraph thrown in on ,arbitration4    
8,grant10 he says sarcastically1  8that 
no law of reason can be understood by   
nations2 no law of justice  submitted to
 by them2 and that1 while questions of a
 few acres and of  petty cash1 can be   
determined by truth and equity1 the     
questions which  are to issue in the    
perishing or saving of ,kingdoms can be 
determined  only by the truth of the    
sword1 and the equity of the rifle40#ajj
 ,i  doubt if any one has ever had the  
ear of that audience of thoughtless     
aspiring soldier students to an         
,arbitration argument1 before or since4 
,he proceeds to wash his hands wholly of
 modern war4    8,if you have to take   
masses of men from all industrial       

employment1--to  feed them by the labour
 of others1--to provide them with       
destructive  machines varied daily in   
national rivalship of inventive cost2 if
 you  have to ravage the country which  
you attack--to destroy1 for a score of  
future years1 its roads1 its woods1 its 
cities and its harbours2 and if1        
finally1 having brought masses of men1  
counted by hundreds of thousands1  face 
to face1 you tear those masses to pieces
 with jagged shot1 and  leave the living
 creatures1 countlessly beyond all help 
of surgery1 to  starve and parch1       
through days of torture1 down into clots
 of clay--what  book of accounts shall  
record the cost of your work--what book 
of  judgment sentence the guilt of      
it80#aja    ,methinks it sounds not     
unlike a ,peace ,address4    ,,ii4 ,we  
pass next to wars of aggression against 
evil--and the lecturer  spends powerful 
pages on the selfishness and            
faithlessness of ambitious  warlike     
kings2 on the common degradation of the 

idea of power2 and on  the need for     
concentrating all our energies on home  
reforms4 ,we are  warned against        
supposing that a big nation is a strong 
one1 bade to aim  at union of hearts    
rather4 8,only that nation gains true   
territory which  gains itself40 8,a     
nation10 he proceeds1 8does not         
strengthen itself by  seizing dominion  
over races whom it cannot benefit40     
8,whatever apparent  increase of majesty
 and of wealth may have accrued to us   
from the  possession of ,india1 whether 
these prove to us ultimately power or   
weakness1 depends wholly on the degree  
in which our influence on the  native   
race shall be benevolent and            
exalting40#ajb    ,he nevertheless      
believes that the rule of ,england is   
for the good of the  subject races1 is a
 national duty and a piece of           
self-sacrifice and  world service1 the  
,english white man's burden4 ,he has an 
eloquent  passage on this subject in his
 ,inaugural ,lecture at ,oxford1        

beginning  8,reign or die40 ,his        
hostility to the ,manchester ,school    
comes out in his  characteristic style4 
8,i tell you that the principle of      
non-intervention1 as now preached among 
us1 is as selfish and cruel as  the     
worst frenzy of conquest1 and differs   
from it only by being not only          
malignant1 but dastardly40 8,within     
these last ten years1 we ,english  have1
 as a knightly nation1 lost our spurs3  
we have fought where we  should not have
 fought1 for gain2 and we have been     
passive1 where we  should not have been 
passive1 for fear40#ajc ,i am indeed    
much afraid  that this1 spoken in #ahfe1
 has generally been the case throughout 
our  history4    ,,iii4 ,as to wars for 
defence3 ,ruskin principally devotes    
himself to  attacking the essential     
slavery of military obedience3 he will  
have no  mercenary standing armies1 only
 unprofessional citizen armies for      
defence4    ,so he ends with fatherly   
counsel to his hearers to be industrious

 and  serious minded1 not to bet1 to be 
pure and honourable1 and reverent       
towards all women2 and the ladies       
present he exhorts to wear black        
whenever there is war1 that so1 by their
 influence1 there may be no more  wars4 
,there you have a summary of the famous 
lecture on ,war in the ,crown of  ,wild 
,olive1 which has weakened ,ruskin's    
influence with many of his  friends1 and
 done undoubted harm4 ,but ,i call it on
 the whole a peace  address given by a  
man who combined with his hatred of     
violence and ruin  a certain attachment 
to picturesque medivalism4 ,the wars of 
,arthur or  ,roland were his ideal4 ,he 
recognized the heroism and              
self-abandonment of  such soldiers as he
 had read about all his life in ,homer  
and ,scott4 ,but  our modern wars       
include everything he hated2 they are   
wars for trade and  for gain1 sordid and
 financial in origin and sordid and     
financial in  results4    ,ruskin       
explains his attitude quite clearly in  

the ,appendix to the ,crown  of ,wild   
,olive1 at the beginning of his notes on
 the ,political ,economy  of the ,kings 
of ,prussia4    8,i am often accused of 
inconsistency2 but believe myself       
defensible  against the charge with     
respect to what ,i have said on nearly  
every  subject except that of war4 ,it  
is impossible for me to write           
consistently of war1 for the groups of  
facts ,i have gathered about it  lead me
 to two precisely opposite conclusions4 
8,when ,i find this the case1 in other  
matters1 ,i am silent1 till ,i can      
choose my conclusion3 but1 with respect 
to war1 ,i am forced to speak1 by  the  
necessities of the time2 and forced to  
act1 one way or another4 ,the           
conviction on which ,i act is1 that it  
causes an incalculable amount of        
avoidable human suffering and that it   
ought to cease among ,christian         
nations2 and if therefore any of my     
boy-friends desire to be soldiers1 ,i   
try my utmost to bring them into what ,i

 conceive to be a better mind4  ,but1 on
 the other hand1 ,i know certainly that 
the most beautiful  characters yet      
developed among men have been formed in 
war--that all  great nations have been  
warrior nations--and that the only kinds
 of  peace which we are likely to get in
 the present age are ruinous alike to   
the intellect and the heart4    8,the   
last lecture in this volume1 addressed  
to young soldiers1 had for  its object  
to strengthen their trust in the virtue 
of their profession4  ,it is            
inconsistent with itself1 in its closing
 appeal to women1 praying  them to use  
their influence to bring wars to an end4
 ,and ,i have been  hindered from       
completing my long intended notes on the
 economy of the  ,kings of ,prussia by  
continually increasing doubt how far the
 machinery  and discipline of war1 under
 which they learned the art of          
government1  was essential for such     
lesson2 and what the honesty and        
sagacity of the  ,friedrich who so nobly

 repaired his ruined ,prussia1 might    
have done for  the happiness of his     
,prussia1 unruined4    8,how far1 in the
 future1 it may be possible for men to  
gain the strength  necessary for        
kingship without either fronting death1 
or inflicting it1  seems to me not at   
present determinable4 ,the historical   
facts are that1  broadly speaking1 none 
but soldiers1 or persons with a         
soldierly  faculty1 have ever yet shown 
themselves fit to be kings2 and that no 
other men are so gentle1 so just1 or so 
clear-sighted4 ,wordsworth's  character 
of the ,happy ,warrior cannot be reached
 in the height of it but  by a warrior2 
nay1 so much is it beyond common        
strength that ,i had  supposed the      
entire meaning of it to be metaphorical1
 until one of the  best soldiers of     
,england#ajd himself read me the poem1  
and taught me1  what ,i might have      
known1 had ,i enough watched his own    
life1 that it was  entirely literal40   
,by extending his soldierly             

qualification to 8persons with a        
soldierly  faculty10 he gives the case  
away4 ,for that can only mean the       
faculty of  courage1 organization and   
command4 ,these qualities a peaceful    
ruler  like ,william ,penn possessed in 
striking measure4 ,the whole passage is 
the record of a swaying contest between 
sentiment and conviction2  between the  
glamour of the glowing haze of distant  
tradition and actual  facts1 only too   
closely pressing upon mankind to-day4   
,truly the question of the effect of war
 on character is vital4 ,i had  written 
here1 in pre-war days1 some observations
 upon it2 but they seem  to me now faint
 and platitudinous4 ,we have had since  
then such  widespread experience of the 
play of character faced with the dread  
calamity of the world-war1 that it is   
too complicated to treat briefly4  ,we  
are all saddened and wearied4 ,so ,i    
leave it to the experience of the       
millions who know more about it from    
their own experience than ,i do4    ,we 

need not wait for war to harden our     
fibre and stiffen our backs4  ,surely   
this can be done without wholesale      
demoralization and  destruction4 ,are   
there not national evils to be fought8  
privations to be  endured here in       
fighting vice1 ugliness and disease1 or 
in voluntarily  participating in        
poverty8 ,there is courage needed to    
stand against  public opinion and to    
lead it1 to sacrifice wealth and social 
repute if  required4 ,these things are  
what we must turn to for the exercise of
 the  courage and unselfishness of the  
soldier4 ,we want more strenuous        
asceticism of a form not so essentially 
unreasonable and destructive as  war4   
,it would entirely overload this chapter
 to give any idea of the vigour  and    
number of the passages in ,fors which   
storm against  war3--8storming0 is      
generally the method1 varied1 as usual  
with this  master of fancy and emotion1 
with stinging sarcasm and mocking       
raillery4  ,the burden of his plea      

throughout is that 8the game of our     
nobles and  the gain of our usurers0 is 
war4#aje    8,when you have got the     
,devil well under foot in ,sheffield1   
you may begin  to stop him from         
persuading my ,lords of the ,admiralty  
that they want a  new grant1 etc41 etc41
 to make his machines with4444 ,the     
fiend sees that  he can blind you1      
through your lust for drink1 into       
quietly allowing  yourselves to pay     
fifty millions a year1 that the rich may
 make their  machines of blood1 and play
 at shedding blood40#ajf    8,in this   
contest 7of poor and rich7 assuredly1   
the victory cannot be by  violence2     
every conquest under the ,prince of ,war
 retards the standards  of the ,prince  
of ,peace40#ajg    ,he quotes#ajh from  
the ,daily ,telegraph the following from
 its  description of the capture of     
,paris3 8,each demolished house has its 
own  legend of sorrow1 of pain1 and     
horror2 each vacant doorway speaks to   
the  eye1 and almost to the ear1 of     

hasty flight1 as armies of fire came--of
  weeping women and trembling children  
running away in awful fear1  abandoning 
the home that saw their birth1 the old  
house they loved--of  startled men      
seizing quickly under each arm their    
most valued goods1 and  rushing1 heavily
 laden1 after their wives and babes1    
leaving to hostile  hands the task of   
burning all the rest4 ,when evening     
falls1 the wretched  outcasts1 worn with
 fatigue and tears1 reach ,versailles1  
,st4 ,germain1 or  some other place     
outside the range of fire1 and there    
they beg for bread  and shelter1        
homeless1 foodless1 broken with despair4
 ,and this1  remember1 has been the fate
 of something like a hundred thousand   
people  during the last four months4    
,versailles alone has about fifteen     
thousand  such fugitives to keep alive1 
all ruined1 all hopeless1 all vaguely   
asking the grim future what still worse 
fate it may have in store for  them40   
,the following passage is interesting1  

however feeble it may appear in  view of
 our recent developments of war3--      
8,we fight inelegantly as well as       
expensively1 with machines instead of   
bow and spear2 we kill about a thousand 
now to the score then1 in  settling any 
quarrel--7,agincourt was won with the   
loss of less than a  hundred men2 only  
#be1jjj ,english altogether were engaged
 at ,crey2 and  #ab1jjj1 some say only  
#h1jjj1 at ,poictiers72 we kill with far
 ghastlier  wounds1 crashing bones and  
flesh together2 we leave our wounded    
necessarily for days and nights in heaps
 on the fields of battle2 we  pillage   
districts twenty times as large1 and    
with completer destruction  of more     
valuable property2 and with a           
destruction as irreparable as it  is    
complete2 for if the ,french or ,english
 burnt a church one day1 they  could    
build a prettier one the next2 but the  
modern ,prussians couldn't  even build  
so much as an imitation of one2 we rob  
on credit1 by  requisition1 with        

ingenious mercantile prolongations of   
claim2 and we  improve contention of    
arms with contention of tongues1 and are
 able to  multiply the rancour of       
cowardice1 and mischief of lying1 in    
universal  and permanent print2 and so  
we lose our tempers as well as our      
money1  and become indecent in behaviour
 as in raggedness40#aji    8,the first  
reason for all wars and for the         
necessity of national  defences1 is that
 the majority of persons1 high and low1 
in all ,european  nations1 are ,thieves1
 and in their hearts1 greedy of their   
neighbours'  goods1 land1 and fame4 ,but
 besides being ,thieves they are also   
fools1  and have never yet been able to 
understand that if ,cornishmen want     
pippins cheap1 they must not ravage     
,devonshire--that the prosperity of     
their neighbours is in the end1 their   
own also2 and the poverty of their      
neighbours1 by the communism of ,god1   
becomes in the end1 their own40  8,and  
the guilty ,thieves of ,europe1 the real

 sources of all deadly war in  it1 are  
the ,capitalists--that is to say1 people
 who live by percentages  on the labour 
of others1 instead of by fair wages for 
their own40#aaj    8,there is no        
physical crime at this day1 so far      
beyond pardon--so  without parallel in  
its untempted guilt1 as the making of   
war-machinery1  and invention of        
mischievous substance4 ,two nations may 
go mad1 and  fight like harlots--,god   
have mercy on them3--you1 who hand them 
carving  knives off the table1 for leave
 to pick up a dropped sixpence1 what    
mercy is there for you80#aaa    8,the   
men who have been killed within the last
 two months1 and whose  work1 and the   
money spent in doing it1 have filled    
,europe with misery  which fifty years  
will not efface1 had they been set at   
the same cost to  do good instead of    
evil1 and to save life instead of       
destroying it1  might by this #ajth     
,january1 #ahga1 have embanked every    
dangerous stream  at the roots of the   

,rhine1 the ,rhone1 and the ,po1 and    
left to ,germany1  to ,france and to    
,italy1 an inheritance of blessing for  
centuries to  come--they and their      
families living all the while in        
brightest  happiness and peace4 ,and    
now6 ,let the ,red ,prince look to it3  
red  inundation bears also its fruit in 
time40#aab    ,he calls ,war 8the moral 
organization of massacre1 and the       
mechanical  reduplication of ruin40#aac 
8,all the cruellest wars inflicted1 all 
the  basest luxuries grasped by the idle
 classes1 are thus paid for by the  poor
 a hundred times over0 7in interest on  
debt74#aad    ,thus ,ruskin is to be    
found among the ,peace                  
advocates--uttering indeed  the         
characteristic refrain of ,christianity1
 and saying emphatically in  ,fors1 in  
so many words1 that we are not to avenge
 injuries4 ,yet he was  altogether out  
of sympathy with the ordinary channels  
of such advocacy4  ,liberalism he       
loathed1 democracy he utterly           

disbelieved in1 ,john ,bright  was the  
object of his occasional angry or       
contemptuous reference2  anything that  
savoured of ,manchester was condemned as
 tainted with  political economy2 the   
,british aristocrats1 the present ones1 
not ones  selected on new principles of 
excellence1 but even the ones we have1  
were to be the leaders of a regenerated 
,england1 and fathers of the            
,fatherland4 ,liberty was a red rag to  
him2 he preferred the servitude of  the 
shepherd dog to the freedom of the      
buzzing gnat3--and so he  experienced   
the awkwardness felt by those who1      
having on some issue  joined the party  
of reaction1 have yet within them their 
old reforming  zeal3 for in reality     
,ruskin was an enlightened ,socialist   
philanthropist4    ,for these reasons ,i
 fear that his peace influence has been 
very much  neutralized and wasted2 and  
therefore ,i have had peculiar pleasure 
in  bringing it out in this chapter4    
,all these extracts make it clear that  

the writer's hatred of modern war  waged
 by multitudes of conscript or other    
soldiers1 machine guns1 and  chemical   
explosives1 was a constant horror to    
him2 and that his  sentimental          
admiration for the feudal and ,greek    
chivalry was an academic  and otiose    
emotion1 figuring appropriately as a    
propitiatory exordium to  the young     
warriors of ,woolwich1 but otherwise not
 an influential part of  his thoughts4  
,nevertheless ,ruskin was a devotee of  
the nobler type of imperialism4 ,he     
lived before the sordidness of          
8,empire10 and its taproot in ,high     
,commerce and ,finance1 had become as   
plain as they are to-day2 and before    
the series of wars of ,empire-building  
had culminated in the struggle for      
power in the ,near ,east1 power whose   
pursuit formed the principal motive  for
 the ,great ,world ,war4 ,the ,inaugural
 ,lecture at ,oxford is the central     
expression of this imperialism1 in its  
concluding paragraphs4 ,there are       

kindred passages in ,the ,crown of ,wild
 ,olive4#aae ,a ,knight's ,faith1  the  
,life of ,sir ,herbert ,edwardes of the 
,punjab1 is written in the  noblest     
imperialist vein4 ,in this1 though not  
in his economic teaching  in general1   
,ruskin falls under the sentimental     
glamour of popular  phrases1 and loses  
touch with reality4          ,,chapter  
,,ix    ,,machinery      ,ruskin1 as we 
have seen1 was both a ,conservative and 
a constructive  ,socialist4 ,he hated   
the industrial developments which he saw
 around  him--that which was called     
progress he saw to be full of evil1 and 
he  wanted to undo it4 ,that made him a 
,conservative4 ,but he had his own line 
of development1 which was an idealized  
feudalism4 ,what is there for us  to    
learn now from either of these          
teachings1 the negative ,conservative   
cry against steam power and railways and
 bicycles1 the positive advance  towards
 ,guild ,socialism8    ,the pastoral    
happiness of peasant life ,ruskin       

thought he found in  ,bavaria1 in       
,savoy1 in ,tuscany4 ,he never really   
lived among the  peasantry1 nor was he1 
the shy visitor to the best hotels1 with
 his  courier and his portfolio1        
accustomed to familiar intercourse1     
particularly on money matters1 with the 
worthy sons and daughters of  toil whose
 industrious and quiet lives he admired4
 ,neither in ,england1  ,scotland1      
,ireland1 nor the ,continent can the    
8merrie ,england0 ideal of  peasant life
 ever have existed4    ,in ,switzerland 
or ,france1 where there have been since 
the ,revolution no  feudal landlords1 it
 had a good chance2 and also among the  
8statesmen0  of ,cumberland and         
,westmorland while they survived4 ,the  
,canton ,bern is  to-day to the         
tourist's eye a happy and prosperous    
land1 and the other  ,protestant cantons
 resemble it4 ,but we know most about   
our own northern  8statesmen02 the      
,swiss or ,french small proprietor's    
life must have been  much the same as   

theirs4 ,it was a hard1 narrow life1    
absorbed in 8money  grubbing10 which was
 in their case no fault but a chief     
virtue1 being  necessary to survival4   
,if a statesman was of a large and      
genial nature1  the public-house was his
 common resort2 and most of the stocks  
of  statesmen came to grief by the      
recklessness or misfortunes of one      
generation4 ,the estate was first       
mortgaged and then foreclosed and sold4 
,a succession of steady cultivators1    
careful of the pence1 hardly ever       
succeeded in making a family well to do 
or even comfortable1 with  reserves to  
meet disaster4 ,i speak here of my own  
forbears4 ,the holdings  were too small4
 ,they worked all day and every day1 in 
all weathers1  lived and slept in       
quarters not conducive to delicate      
sensitiveness of  feeling4 ,a big attic1
 separated by a curtain into two1 was   
the sleeping  place of the children and 
servants1 if there were any4#aaf ,books1
  education1 travel1 were denied them4  

,on a lower level is the life of the    
peasants of the ,rhone ,valley1 in dirt 
and hopelessness and overwork4 ,it      
makes for degradation4 ,but where feudal
 landlords exist1 as they do in  most   
places1 the case is worse4 ,the         
condition of the peasantry of  ,eastern 
,europe has been brought before us since
 the ,war in the daily  papers so       
vividly that none can miss it4 ,the     
system has broken down in  revolution4  
,it appears to an astonished ,english   
public1 that the mass of  the people    
have lived under local tyranny and very 
near the margin of  maintenance1 in     
,russia and her border states1 in       
,roumania1 ,poland1  ,hungary1 ,prussia1
 and in the ,balkan lands4 ,this is what
 we find before  industrial development 
comes in4 ,there is no need to dwell on 
the  squalor1 on the diseases1 on the   
recurring famines1 on the contempt of   
the proud4 ,it transpires that the      
peasants to whom the land has now come  
by revolution1 are described as so      

covetous1 narrow and selfish--their     
trade their politics--that ,socialists  
and idealists are baffled by  them4     
,they will starve a city like           
,buda-,pesth or ,petrograd1 when their  
supplies are abundant4 ,they do not seem
 capable at present of a national  or   
international consciousness1 nor of any 
true democracy larger than  the village4
    ,in ,england1 too1 the rustic life  
which the ,industrial ,revolution       
overthrew1 was1 in the landlord         
counties1 servile and suffering4 ,the   
wages and the politics of the ,south of 
,england until recent times are         
survivals of the system4#aag    ,we are 
bound to conclude that to this system we
 ought not to recur4 ,with  all their   
faults and disadvantages the people of  
the industrial  districts are the most  
educated1 the most independent1 the most
 virile4  ,numerous economic writers    
have destroyed1 like a sentimental      
mirage1 our  view of the old ,english   
village1 with its homely comfort and    

peaceful  independence4 ,we think more  
now of its toils1 its diseases1 its     
infant  mortality1 its lost ,commons4   
,it was natural for ,ruskin1 with his   
love of white thatched cottages and     
leafy lanes bordered by neglected       
wasteful hedges full of wild            
flowers--with his wealthy upbringing1   
and ignorance of the value of  money and
 of the direness of most people's need  
of it1 it was natural  and inevitable   
that he should loathe the dreadful new  
mining  villages--rows of cheap         
insanitary brick houses--and the        
belching smoke  of the colliery chimney4
 ,he preferred ,coniston to ,barrow4    
,but there is  no practical guidance in 
that revolt1 except indeed the revolt   
itself2  and that was a message to his  
time1 and is still a message to ours4   
,there is nothing particularly elevating
 about farm work1 in spite of  ,corydon 
and other shepherds described by the    
town bred makers of  fantasies4 ,sheep  
are the most unpleasant creatures to    

look after1 the  dirtiest and the       
stupidest4 ,their scab1 fluke1 ticks and
 footrot need  much attention4 ,apart   
from their diseases1 the scene of the   
shepherd's  happy labours will be in    
winter a turnip field1 the crop being   
eaten off  by sheep4 ,the dirt and      
squalor of the dung and the animals and 
the  turnips1 the cold and damp1 the    
sleet and the mud and the smells--these 
things are not good subjects for poetry4
 ,the farmer's calling is to make  his  
living out of the death of his animals1 
and out of their sufferings  when alive1
 their castration and imprisonment1 and 
their labour4 ,he  measures them by a   
purely economic test4 ,it is not for us 
who live on  meat and milk1 butter and  
cheese1 and the products of the pig-sty1
 to  blame farmers for this4 ,they do it
 for us4 ,but it is not particularly    
8improving02 it approaches the calling  
of the butcher1 which is equally        
necessary4 ,why the world is thus built 
is not1 luckily for me1 the  subject of 

this book4    ,the rest of the labours  
of the farm are a struggle with the     
earth--with  weeds and with weather4 ,it
 is all primitive and built into the    
bone and  marrow of the race2 but it is 
not more moralizing1 nor more romantic1 
in  practice than working at looms or   
ledgers4 ,the labourer does not go to   
the land as to a leisurely summer home4 
,hitherto1 no way has been found  in    
,england for inducing young people to   
stay in the villages4 ,we ought  to try 
to succeed in this4 ,if we do it will be
 in a new kind of village1  and it will 
be effected by cheap and rapid transit1 
and by widely  scattering the ownership 
or holding of land4 ,then ,ruskin's aims
 will be  realized1 but not by the only 
methods he could see in his day4 ,in    
fact1  railways and domestic machinery  
would be essential4    ,division of     
,labour goes with the factory system4   
,it was early hailed as  one of the     
great economies obtained by production  
on a large scale4 ,it  was found that by

 constantly keeping a man or a child to 
one  occupation1 an extraordinary degree
 of sure accuracy and readiness was     
obtained4 ,without the necessity for    
thinking1 and so without risk of        
thinking wrong1 the nimble fingers      
repeated hour by hour their appointed   
trick1 the practised eye ever followed  
the same mechanism and stopped it  at   
the same point1 the same tool in the    
same place was ready to the same  hand4 
,physiologically we believe that all    
this means that there is  established a 
rut for the tracks of the brain wheels1 
a habitual nervous  connection between  
certain sensory centres and certain     
motor centres1  without the need for    
every piece of news to be transmitted by
 the  sensory centre to the central     
thinking apparatus in the cerebrum1 and 
a  corresponding order sent down from   
the central control to the motor        
centre4    ,when we learn to write1 the 
fashion and shape of every a1 b and c   
have to be thought over2 the hands learn

 painfully to follow an order  sent down
 from the central thinking power in the 
cerebrum1 sent down on  information     
derived through the sensory centres     
behind the eye1 of the  shape of the    
copy4 ,but in ordinary life we could    
copy pages of  manuscript and talk and  
think about something else the whole    
time4  ,there is a direct line of nerve 
flow between the reading apparatus      
behind the eye and the writing apparatus
 behind the hand2 and thought is  not   
required4 ,we have become so far        
automatic2 we have created a  convenient
 writing machine within us1 which works 
for us and leaves us  free to do other  
things4    ,so that if we spend our nine
 hours a day at working a printing      
machine1  or stitching leather or silk1 
or boring holes1 or driving in nails1 or
  sharpening a tool's edge1 or wrapping 
boxes1 or counting or piecing  threads1 
we are really doing the work of a       
machine4 ,we do not think3 to  think    
would interfere with the sure regularity

 of our work4    ,now the growth of this
 division of labour has been quite      
irresistible4  ,its advantages have been
 such that no manufacturer or nation of 
manufacturers could stand without it4   
,the social organism has become  more   
complex1 and with that the              
differentiation of function has become  
more marked4 ,it is a necessary         
accompaniment of an elaborate social    
state2 and whether it tends or not to   
the welfare of the individual it        
greatly extends the productive power of 
the industrial organism1 and so         
strengthens the organism itself viewed  
as industrial simply4 ,thus the  highly 
differentiated organism has survived1   
though it may have  sacrificed the      
individual worker1 regarded as a human  
being4 ,is there1  therefore1 any means 
whereby we can modify the work of the   
monotonous  mechanical labourer so as to
 give him some pleasure in it1 and      
afford  exercise to his other faculties 
besides that one called out by the      

single narrow function he has learnt to 
repeat day after day8 ,if we can  give  
scope for his higher faculties1 his     
judgment1 his invention1 his  knowledge1
 we shall be avoiding the present waste 
by which faculties  which might aid     
production in better ways are wasted on 
routine4    ,the greatest cure hitherto 
found is inherent in the system itself4 
,for  when the work is such that it is  
done by a human machine1 the step is    
not far distant when a machine will be  
actually invented1 with a surer  grip of
 the material1 a readier tool for       
piercing1 a straighter edge for         
cutting4 ,this process is going on in   
every department of manufacture4        
,boards are planed1 picture frames      
carved1 table legs made1 mouldings cut  
by machinery4 ,watches and sewing       
machines are made of interchangeable    
parts1 each the product of a machine4   
,the only limit to the taking over  of  
every manufacture by machines seems to  
be that a large output is  necessary to 

make it pay to invent and manufacture   
and sell costly  machines4 ,so great    
have been the triumphs of many-fingered 
machinery  that we are not inclined to  
limit them4 ,thus1 most of the          
monotonous1  and most of the physically 
laborious work is done by the man of    
steel4  ,for every textile operative in 
the country rather more than one horse  
power is provided by steam2 which is    
equal to the strength of ten adult  men4
 ,self-feeding furnaces are similarly   
saving of human flesh and  eyesight4    
,thus our manual workers have largely   
become makers and minders  of machines4 
,to help to make a machine1 to watch and
 repair it1 and take  care of it--even  
to understand it and to feed it1 is a   
not unworthy form  of labour4 ,to care  
for a complex machine requires          
intelligence and a  wide-awake sense of 
responsibility4 ,it is much better1 at  
any rate1 than  hand-loom weaving was1  
or than nail-making by hand1 or         
match-box-making  is4 ,even so          

mechanical a task as working a sewing   
machine1 poor as it  is1 may be a trifle
 less soul-destroying than working with 
a needle at  plain sewing all day4 ,and 
though minding looms is monotonous1 yet 
they  turn out so much more cloth per   
operative1 that the evil of monotony of 
which we speak is probably a very small 
percentage per yard produced1  of what  
it was when weaving was done in the     
weavers' cottages by hand4    ,it is    
therefore in extending machinery for all
 articles which have no  individual     
artistic value that we shall get rid of 
most of the lower and  more degrading   
forms of labour--machinery for          
ploughing1 sowing1  reaping1 binding1   
thrashing1 dairying1 laundry work1      
baking1 cooking1  cutting straight and  
smoothing clean1 grinding and polishing1
 and for  the processes of printing4    
,these are true friends of man4    ,it  
is to be noted that every increase of   
the gross output which  machinery       
enables man to produce1 increases the   

demand for the more  skilled portions of
 the work1 for those which require      
judgment and  character4 ,the           
multiplication of the printing output of
 the country has  increased the number  
of writers1 of reporters1 of            
proof-readers1 of  overlookers1 and of  
men who can tastefully arrange a title  
page4 ,it has  also multiplied the      
demand for men who can draw1 can        
photograph1 or can  reproduce           
illustrations4 ,similarly the 8hands0   
who work the machines on  a farm are    
fewer but are probably more intelligent 
than the agricultural  labourer in a    
backward country4    ,it will be        
observed that this inquiry has left     
untouched and  unaffected--    #a4 ,the 
skilled artistic crafts where a sense of
 the beautiful and a  special value in  
human thought goes to each article4     
#b4 ,the mass of unskilled and          
unspecialized labour at the bottom of   
the  social ladder which division of    
labour and machine production leave     

largely untouched4    ,to the cleansing1
 quieting1 moralizing of machinery1     
then1 not to its  extinction or         
supersession1 social reformers should   
apply themselves4 ,to  the compulsory   
consumption of smoke1 to sanitary       
factories and  workshops1 to the        
substitution of gas or electricity for  
steam1 we must  look with hope4         
,therefore1 out of the industrial       
hurly-burly1 we must look forward1 not  
back--accept the industrialization of   
the world which marked the  nineteenth  
century1 and go on to find a home for   
humanity in it4 ,it is a  world         
phenomenon1 and it is the result of one 
thing1 the exploitation of  coal4    ,it
 is in the abuse of this very coal1 on  
which all manufacturing and  transport  
depends1 that the most obvious wrong has
 been done to  humanity4 ,the first     
condition of human happiness to-day is  
to be found  in the abolition or        
sufficient abatement of smoke1 so       
keeping our skins  and clothes clean4   

,this is all on ,ruskin's lines2 very   
central to the preservation of all  he  
loved4 ,how pervasive was this enemy he 
did not fully see fifty years  ago4 ,he 
noted the deterioration of climate in   
,england1 during his  lifetime1 in two  
lectures on ,the ,storm ,cloud of the   
,nineteenth  ,century4 ,they were much  
derided at the time2 and they contain   
curious  passages in which the lack of  
light1 the restless ugly clouds1 the    
choppy breezes1 the cold gloomy summers1
 were put down to the wrath of  heaven  
for the sins of the people4 ,they had in
 fact one simple  explanation--,smoke4  
,a man of ,ruskin's power of perception1
 constantly  admiring beauty of         
landscape1 could hardly have been wrong 
in his  impression1 fortified by his    
diaries1 that there had been a change   
for  the worse in the air and skies     
during his lifetime4 ,the production of 
manufacturing smoke over a third 7say7  
of ,england covered that period4  ,over 
all our coal fields solid particles     

embarrassed the air currents1  and      
darkened the sky1 and the oily products 
adhered stickily to the  clouds and to  
the rain4 ,the weather was1 in truth1   
nature's punishment  for the haste1 the 
greed1 the popular carelessness1 which  
tolerated the  factory and furnace      
chimneys1 and the ill-regulated         
firesides of  thirty-five millions of   
people in the ,british ,isles4#aah      
,coal ought not to be burnt raw1 any    
more than meat should be eaten raw4  ,it
 should be made into gas1 coke1 tar and 
sulphate of ammonia--and all  of it be  
used4 ,a smokeless domestic fuel made of
 half coked coal could  be made in all  
gas works1 and should be used           
everywhere1 to economize  our now costly
 coal4 ,electric power stations1        
smokelessly operated1  would save much  
wasteful private production of power4   
,more rigid and  conscientious smoke    
inspection1 abandoned as unpatriotic on 
a short view  during the war1 should be 
restored4 ,the law should be amended and

 its  loopholes fastened up4#aai ,there 
are many beautiful inventions ready to  
be used to make an end of this most     
gratuitous of our evils1 which  renders 
life in the industrial districts dark1  
dirty and ugly to the  best and cleanest
 of the workpeople4 ,most municipalities
 in ,england  impose an extra rate on   
those who use gas and electricity by    
taking  money for the rates from those  
departments4    ,we condemn the town    
cottage housewife to ceaseless toil1    
with her dirty  doorstep and window     
sills1 her kitchen floor1 her children  
who play in  the street1 and her        
intolerably swollen laundry4 ,the       
glorious light of  the country summer is
 never seen through the smoke haze of   
the  industrial districts4 ,look down   
any long straight town street on any    
day1 and note the limit of visibility4  
,fogs are often caused and always       
aggravated and prolonged by smoke--and  
after every long fog the death  rate    
from lung diseases goes steeply up4     

,among the many signs of  government    
incompetence1 of narrow popular apathy1 
and lack of a true  political sense1 the
 present riotous licence of the makers  
of smoke is  conspicuous4 ,and the      
reform is all on ,ruskin's lines4       
,after dirt1 drink4 ,they are not       
unconnected2 for the dull grey street1  
the worried wife1 the ill-tempered      
children1 all tend to tempt a man to    
the cosy blaze of the bar-room1 and to  
the excitement of a shilling on  the    
next race4 ,men and women will make life
 interesting somehow1 and if  they are  
denied the sound pleasures appropriate  
to their natures they  will find        
others4#abj    ,we will now hear the    
,prophet on our machine civilization4   
,the passages  are in the famous chapter
 on ,the ,nature of ,gothic in the      
,second ,volume  of ,the ,stones of     
,venice  ,,xi1 ,,xii1 ,,xiii and others4
 ,these passages  are among ,ruskin's   
earliest social writing4 ,he was led    
from the  examination of the characters 

of ,byzantine1 ,gothic and ,renaissance 
architecture1 to inquire into the       
character of their builders2 and so  was
 led from ,art to ,man as the subject   
matter of his life-work4 ,this is  an   
important transition passage1 written   
about #ahej1 ten years before  the      
decisive year when he became an         
economist always and an ,art  ,professor
 at intervals4     ,,xi4 8,the modern   
,english mind 444 intensely desires in  
all things1 the  utmost completion or   
perfection compatible with their nature4
 ,this is a  noble character in the     
abstract1 but becomes ignoble when it   
causes us  to forget the relative       
dignities of that nature itself1 and to 
prefer  the perfectness of the lower    
nature to the imperfection of the       
higher2  not considering that1 as judged
 by such a rule1 all the brute animals  
would be preferable to man because more 
perfect in their functions and  kind1   
and yet are always held inferior to him1
 so also in the works of  man1 those    

which are more perfect in their kind are
 always inferior to  those which are1 in
 their nature1 liable to more faults and
  shortcomings4 ,for the finer the      
nature the more flaws it will show      
through the clearness of it2 and it is a
 law of this ,universe1 that the  best  
things shall be seldomest seen in their 
best form4 ,the wild grass  grows well  
and strongly1 one year with another2 but
 the wheat is1  according to the greater
 nobleness of its nature1 liable to the 
bitterer  blight4 ,and therefore1 while 
in all things that we see or do1 we are 
to  desire perfection1 and strive for   
it1 we are nevertheless not to set the  
meaner thing1 in its narrow             
accomplishment1 above the nobler thing1 
in  its mighty progress2 not to esteem  
smooth minuteness above shattered       
majesty1 not to prefer mean victory to  
honourable defeat2 not to lower  the    
level of our aim1 that we may the more  
surely enjoy the complacency  of        
success4 ,but1 above all1 in our        

dealings with the souls of other men1   
we are to take care how we check1 by    
severe requirement or narrow  caution1  
efforts which might otherwise lead to a 
noble issue2 and1 still  more1 how we   
withhold our admiration from great      
excellences1 because  they are mingled  
with rough faults4 ,now1 in the make and
 nature of every  man1 however rude or  
simple1 whom we employ in manual labour1
 there are  some powers for better      
things3 some tardy imagination1 torpid  
capacity  of emotion1 tottering steps of
 thought1 there are1 even at the worst2 
and in most cases it is all our own     
fault that they are tardy or  torpid4   
,but they cannot be strengthened1 unless
 we are content to take  them in their  
feebleness1 and unless we prize and     
honour them in their  imperfection above
 the best and most perfect manual skill4
 ,and this is  what we have to do with  
all labourers2 to look for the          
thoughtful part  of them1 and get that  
out of them1 whatever we lose for it1   

whatever  faults or errors we are       
obliged to take with it4 ,for the best  
that is in  them cannot manifest itself1
 but in company with much error4        
,understand  this clearly3 ,you can     
teach a man to draw a straight line1 and
 to cut  one2 to strike a curved line   
and to carve it2 and to copy and carve  
any  number of given lines or forms1    
with admirable speed and perfect        
precision2 and you find his work perfect
 of its kind3 but if you ask him  to    
think about any of those forms1 to      
consider if he cannot find any  better  
in his own head1 he stops2 his execution
 becomes hesitating2 he  thinks1 and ten
 to one he thinks wrong2 ten to one he  
makes a mistake in  the first touch he  
gives to his work as a thinking being4  
,but you have  made a man of him for all
 that4 ,he was only a machine before1 an
  animated tool40     ,,xii4 8,and      
observe1 you are put to stern choice in 
this matter4 ,you  must either make a   
tool of the creature1 or a man of him4  

,you cannot  make both4 ,men were not   
intended to work with the accuracy of   
tools1 to  be precise and perfect in all
 their actions4 ,if you will have that  
precision out of them1 and make their   
fingers measure degrees like cog        
wheels1 and their arms strike curves    
like compasses1 you must unhumanize     
them4 ,all the energy of their spirits  
must be given to make cogs and          
compasses of themselves4 ,all their     
attention and strength must go to the   
accomplishment of the mean act4 ,the eye
 of the soul must be bent upon  the     
finger point1 and the soul's force must 
fill all the invisible  nerves that     
guide it1 ten hours a day1 that it may  
not err from its  steely precision1 and 
so soul and sight be worn away1 and the 
whole  human being be lost at last--a   
heap of sawdust1 so far as its          
intellectual work in this world is      
concerned2 saved only by its ,heart1    
which cannot go into the form of cogs   
and compasses1 but expands1 after  the  

ten hours are over1 into fireside       
humanity4 ,on the other hand if you     
will make a man of the working creature1
 you cannot make a tool4 ,let him  but  
begin to imagine1 to think1 to try to do
 anything worth doing2 and  the         
engine-turned precision is lost at once4
 ,out come all his roughness1  all his  
dulness1 all his incapability2 shame    
upon shame1 failure upon  failure1 pause
 after pause3 but out comes the whole   
majesty of him also2  and we know the   
height of it only when we see the clouds
 settling upon  him4 ,and whether the   
clouds be bright or dark1 there will be 
transfiguration behind and within them40
     ,,xiii4 8,and1 now1 reader1 look   
around this ,english room of yours1     
about  which you have been proud so     
often1 because the work of it was so    
good  and strong1 and the ornaments so  
finished4 ,examine again all those      
accurate mouldings1 and perfect         
polishings1 and unerring adjustments of 
the seasoned wood and tempered steel4   

,many a time you have exulted over      
them1 and thought how great ,england    
was1 because her slightest work was     
done so thoroughly4 ,alas6 if read      
rightly1 these perfectnesses are signs  
of a slavery in our ,england a thousand 
times more bitter and more  degrading   
than that of the scourged ,african or   
helot ,greek4 ,men may be  beaten1      
chained1 tormented1 yoked like cattle1  
slaughtered like summer  flies1 and yet 
remain1 in one sense1 and the best      
sense1 free4 ,but to  smother their     
souls within them1 to blight and hew    
into rotting  pollards1 the suckling    
branches of their human intelligence1 to
 make the  flesh and skin1 which after  
the worm's work on it1 is to see ,god1  
into  leathern thongs to yoke machinery 
with--this it is to be slave masters    
indeed2 and there might be more freedom 
in ,england1 though her feudal  lords'  
lightest words were worth men's lives1  
and though the blood of  the vexed      
husbandman dropped in the furrows of her

 fields1 than there is  while the       
animation of her multitudes is sent like
 fuel to feed the  factory smoke1 and   
the strength of them is given daily to  
be wasted into  the fineness of a web1  
or racked into the exactness of a line40
     ,,xv4 0 444,it is not that men are 
ill fed1 but that they have no  pleasure
 in the work by which they make their   
bread1 and therefore look  to wealth as 
the only means of pleasure4 ,it is not  
that men are pained  by the scorn of the
 upper classes1 but they cannot endure  
their own2 for  they feel that the kind 
of labour to which they are condemned is
 verily  a degrading one1 and makes them
 less than men4444 ,in all ages and in  
all  countries reverence has been paid  
and sacrifice made by men to each       
other1 not only without complaint but   
rejoicingly2 and famine and peril  and  
sword and all evil and all shame have   
been borne willingly in the  causes of  
masters and kings2 for all these gifts  
of the heart ennobled  the men who gave1

 not less than the men who received     
them1 and nature  prompted and ,god     
rewarded the sacrifice4 ,but to feel    
their souls  withering within them1     
unthanked1 to find their whole being    
sunk into an  unrecognized abyss1 to be 
counted off into a heap of mechanism1   
numbered  with its wheels1 and weighted 
with its hammer strokes--this nature    
bade  not--this ,god blesses not--this  
humanity for no long time is able to    
endure40     ,,xvi4 8,we have much      
studied1 and much perfected1 of late1   
the great  civilized invention of the   
,division of ,labour2 only we give it a 
false  name4 ,it is not1 truly speaking1
 the labour that is divided2 but the    
men3--,divided into mere segments of    
men--broken into small fragments and    
crumbs of life2 so that all the little  
piece of intelligence that is  left in a
 man is not enough to make a pin1 or a  
nail1 but exhausts  itself in making the
 point of a pin or the head of a nail4  
,now it is a  good and desirable thing1 

truly1 to make many pins in a day2 but  
if we  could only see with what crystal 
sand their points were polished1--sand  
of human soul1 much to be magnified     
before it can be discussed what it      
is--we should think there might be some 
loss in it also4 ,and the great  cry    
that rises from all our manufacturing   
cities1 louder than their  furnace      
blast1 is all in very deed for          
this--that we manufacture  everything   
there except men--we blanch cotton and  
strengthen steel and  refine sugar and  
shape pottery--but to brighten1 to      
strengthen1 to  refine or to reform a   
single living spirit1 never enters into 
our  estimate of advantages4 ,and all   
the evil to which that cry is urging our
  myriads can be met only 444 by a right
 understanding on the part of all       
classes1 of what kinds of labour are    
good for men1 raising them1 and  making 
them happy2 by a determined sacrifice of
 such convenience or  beauty or         
cheapness as is to be got only by the   

degradation of the  workman1 and by     
equally determined demand for the       
products and results  of healthy and    
ennobling labour40     ,,xvii4 8,and    
how1 it will be asked1 are these        
products to be recognized1  and this    
demand to be regulated8 ,easily3 by the 
observance of three  broad and simple   
rules3    8#a4 ,never encourage the     
manufacture of any article not          
absolutely  necessary1 in the production
 of which ,invention has no share4      
8#b4 ,never demand an exact finish for  
its own sake1 but only for some         
practical or noble end4    8#c4 ,never  
encourage imitation or copying of any   
kind1 except for the  sake of preserving
 records of great works40    ,this      
magnificent passage1 central as to      
,ruskin's teaching and very  typical of 
the literary power with which his spirit
 was armed1 is  probably of more value  
as a principle than as a specific cure4 
,we can  without great difficulty obey  
this three precepts1 and do some good   

thereby4 ,we can avoid mere meretricious
 glory of finish2 we can choose  our    
purchases so as to favour originality1  
when we are buying articles  in gold or 
silver or glass or bronze or leather or 
porcelain or wood2  but the great mass  
of the evil remains untouched4 ,how are 
we to  cultivate invention when we buy a
 mackintosh1 or a pair of boots1 or     
common crockery1 or pens and paper--and 
even in an article so full of           
inventions as a bicycle1 the invention  
is not due to the mechanic who  makes   
it4 ,we are not really carried much     
beyond the sthetic furnishings  of our  
existence4 ,so far1 however1 the advice 
is excellent and human2 it  is likely to
 lead persons of moderate means to      
prefer the products of  ,switzerland or 
,japan1 hand made and invented1 to the  
machine products of  ,birmingham4       
,there must be always a measure of      
tedious soul killing work to be done2   
and few entirely escape it4 ,our        
professions1 as well as our trades1 let 

alone manual occupations1 do us some    
harm1 narrow our outlook1 make us       
peculiar4 ,i am told that even teachers 
can be recognized as such1 and  the     
weighty medical manner is well known4   
,you can neither serve behind a  counter
 nor occupy a pulpit without some of the
 manner of it becoming  part of         
yourself4 ,even so1 the day labourer    
suffers from the lack of  intelligence  
he is called upon for4 ,we must all find
 the balance outside  our work4 ,by the 
reasonable shortening of hours1 even the
 dull routine  labourer may have a      
chance of exercising his faculties as a 
man4 ,the  fact that labour is          
specialized and monotonous constitutes  
the proper  physiological reason for the
 eight hour-day or shorter hours still  
in  some trades4 ,moreover1 to do the   
dull rough work of the world1 there is  
no denying that there are annually born 
a certain number of dull but  strong    
people1 whose gifts lie in the absence  
of thinking4 ,they are born  into all   

classes1 unfortunately2 but born they   
are4 ,but ,ruskin is fully  alive to    
this solution of the ultimate           
difficulty1 and frequently  alludes to  
it4    8,it is in the wholesome         
indisposition of the average mind for   
intellectual labour that due provision  
is made for the quantity of dull  work  
which must be done in stubbing the      
,thornaby wastes of the  world40#aba    
8,i have said 444 that the rough and    
worthless may be set to the roughest    
and foulest work1 and the finest to the 
finest2 the rough and rude work  being1 
you will in time perceive1 the best of  
charities to the rough and  rude        
people40#abb    ,moreover1 a measure of 
routine labour is good1 as recreation1  
for us  all--it is a relief from        
thinking1 planning1 inventing4 ,good    
spade and  hatchet work1 if only one can
 perspire enough over it1 is a condition
 of  good work in higher ways4 ,ruskin  
thinks so too1 and set the ,oxford      
undergraduates to their famous          

road-making for exercise2 surely the    
greatest academic triumph a professor   
ever achieved4    ,ruskin's attack on   
,machinery1 when carefully read1 applies
 only to steam  machinery1 with its     
soot1 smoke1 sulphurous gases and noise4
 ,wind or  water power he allows and    
encourages2 a vast scheme of mills      
worked by  tidal water power is outlined
 in ,fors4#abc ,and oddly enough he     
prophesies1 so long ago1 that           
electricity will supersede steam2 and   
therefore if we can generate electrical 
energy with very much less  publicly    
vomited smoke than we now make for steam
 power1 we shall be on  right lines1 and
 shall have the ,master's goodwill4 ,not
 by vain  retrogression1 but by         
determined reforms on possible lines may
 we some  day get back an ,england good 
to live in4 ,at present we are wasteful 
and  dirty1 and we do not care4         
,ruskin writes3 8,what is required of   
the members of ,st4 ,george's ,company  
is1 not that they should never travel by

 railroads1 nor that they  should abjure
 machinery1 but that they should never  
travel  unnecessarily1 or in wanton     
haste2 and that they should never do    
with a  machine what can be done with   
hands and arms1 while hands and arms are
  idle40#abd    ,there is no subject    
which causes more merriment amongst the 
,philistines  than ,ruskin's objection  
to railways1 combined with the frequent 
locomotion indulged in by his most      
devoted followers4 ,but ,ruskin's       
objection to railways was never so      
absolute as was popularly supposed4  ,he
 always approved of them on through main
 routes1 and only objected to  their    
intrusion into the peace of quiet       
valleys off the main tracks4 ,he        
objected to what appeared to him the    
excessive provision by which a  lovely  
valley was spoiled 8in order that every 
fool in ,buxton could be  in ,bakewell  
in half an hour40 ,we must remember that
 the railway mania of  #ahdd occurred   
when ,ruskin was five and twenty1 at the

 formative period  of his life1 and that
 he saw all around him rough destruction
 of that  beauty which affected his soul
 with a thrill like a lover's 7as he    
tells  us in the ,third ,volume of      
,modern ,painters1 pages #bie-bih1      
quoted in  ,chapter ,i74 ,the           
countryside must have been sadly ruined 
in the forties1  while the railway      
embankments were creeping along through 
the pastures4    ,possibly not all of us
 know the remarkable passage in the     
,cestus of  ,aglaia in praise of a      
locomotive3#abe    8,i cannot express   
the amazed awe1 the crushed humility1   
with which ,i  sometimes watch a        
locomotive take its breath at a railway 
station1 and  think what work there is  
in its bars and wheels1 and what manner 
of men  they must be who dig brown      
ironstone out of the ground1 and forge  
it  into that6 ,what assemblage of      
accurate and mighty faculties in them2  
more than fleshly power over melting    
crag and coiling fire1 fettered1  and   

finessed at last into the precision of  
watchmaking2 ,titanian  hammer-strokes  
beating1 out of lava1 these glittering  
cylinders and  timely-respondent valves1
 and fine ribbed rods1 which touch each 
other  as a serpent writhes1 in         
noiseless gliding1 and omnipotence of   
grasp2  infinitely complex anatomy of   
active steel1 compared with which the   
skeleton of a living creature would     
seem1 to a careless observer1 clumsy    
and vile--a mere morbid secretion and   
phosphatous drop of flesh6 ,what  would 
the men who thought out this--who beat  
it out1 who touched it  into its        
polished calm of power1 who set it to   
its appointed task1 and  triumphantly   
saw it fulfil this task to the utmost of
 their will1 feel  or think about this  
weak hand of mine1 timidly leading a    
little stain of  shadow of something    
else--mere failure in every motion1 and 
endless  disappointment2 what1 ,i       
repeat1 would these ,iron-dominant      
,genii think of  me8 and what ought ,i  

to think of them8    8,but as ,i reach  
this point of reverence1 the            
unreasonable thing is sure  to give a   
shriek as of a thousand unanimous       
vultures1 which leaves me  shuddering in
 real physical pain for some half minute
 following2 and  assures me1 during slow
 recovery1 that a people which can      
endure such  fluting and piping among   
them is not likely soon to have its     
modest ear  pleased by aught of oaten   
stop1 or pastoral song4 ,perhaps ,i am  
then led  on into meditation respecting 
the spiritual nature of the ,tenth      
,muse1  who invented this gracious      
instrument1 and guides its modulation by
  stokers' fingers2 meditation1 also1 as
 to the influence of her invention      
amidst the other parts of the           
,parnassian melody of ,english          
education40    ,he further concedes that
 8steam1 or any mode of heat power1 may 
only be  employed1 justifiably1 under   
extreme or special conditions of need2  
and  for speed on main lines of         

communication1 and raising water from   
great  depths1 or other such work beyond
 human strength40 ,this is a very large 
concession1 and may be received with    
large gratitude4 ,he even permits  steam
 machinery for such purposes as 8the    
deepening of large river  channels2     
changing the surfaces of mountainous    
districts2 irrigating  tracts of desert 
in the torrid zone2 breaking up and thus
 rendering  capable of quicker fusion1  
edges of ice in the northern and        
southern  ,arctic seas1 etc41 so        
rendering parts of the earth habitable1 
which  hitherto have been lifeless40#abf
    ,the teaching of ,ruskin is not     
really revolutionary in immediate       
practice2 he advises a manufacturer to  
go on using his machinery2 he  merely   
wants us to set our faces towards the   
restoration of nature's  gifts of beauty
 and peace to the lives of toilers2 and 
for ceasing to  uproot sentiments of    
cleanliness1 reverence and order by     
unnatural1  foul1 crowded and vulgar    

surroundings4 ,his tastes and instincts 
are  vehemently against machinery2 but  
his actual requirings are moderate4     
,it is the machine-made society we live 
in that distresses him1 and  distresses 
us2 its occasional rough coarseness1 its
 physical ill-health4  ,there are1 of   
course1 scattered through ,fors many    
outbursts against  machinery in general1
 not so carefully limited as his more   
weighty  pronouncements4 ,in ,letter ,v1
 pp4 #aj1 #aa1 for instance1 the        
assertion is  made that a man and his   
family can1 by their own labour1 given  
land1  feed and clothe themselves       
without machinery2 and that therefore   
all  labour-saving appliances are so    
many aids to idleness4 ,i do not know   
where is the proof or disproof of the   
assertion4 ,all we know is that  savage 
tribes do so live1 but no others1 and   
that it is in the time and  strength    
saved from labour for sheer food and    
clothing that the best  activities of   
humanity find room3 and that            

civilization began with the  existence  
of a leisured class4    ,and now1       
turning to the human product of         
industrialism1 we will take a  sober    
view1 not debiting to the factory system
 the evils which are  inherent in human 
nature1 but only those due to crowded   
town life and to  employment in large   
rooms full of noisy machinery4 ,if we   
have cured the  smoke evil1 and reduced 
hours to their present reasonable       
length1 what  remains to be done1 and   
will it be on ,ruskin's lines8    ,south
 ,lancashire is often taken as the type 
of industrial ,england4 ,there  ,i was  
born and brought up1 and ,i have lived  
there for the greater part  of my life4 
,i have known very intimately a great   
many of the working  people4 ,they are  
far more pale and undersized than they  
ought to be4  ,their beauty has been    
taken from them4 ,the half-time system1 
now  perishing1 has interfered with     
their education4 ,the damp atmosphere in
  the hot rooms is bad for their lungs1 

and minding machines is utterly         
monotonous4 ,but they are excellent     
people--they will stand comparison  with
 the upper classes4 ,there is every     
type1 of course1 they are as  varied as 
are men at the ,universities1 or as the 
ladies who go to any  ,church4 ,but1    
speaking as we must1 in general1 there  
is a level of  conduct and intelligence 
in those mean streets1 not different    
except in  manner from that of the      
suburbs4 ,the degeneracy is1 ,i believe1
 only  physical1 so far as it is to be  
debited to the conditions of their work4
    ,this bad physique is a real evil4  
,the lack of room for cricket and       
football1 the remoteness of the fields  
and woods1 the ugliness of the  grey    
streets1 the lack of quiet1 added to the
 humid factories and the  smoke1 have   
produced this4 ,parks and playgrounds   
and all sorts of open  spaces1 including
 extensive fields and woods and ponds   
accessible on a  half-holiday1 should be
 provided far more than they have been1 

and  should be less doctored by parks'  
superintendents4    ,then there is a    
great sphere of service open to the     
familiar agencies  for good4 ,the ,drink
 traffic should be curtailed1 and put   
out of the  reach of private profit1 and
 better opportunities for sociability1  
music  and dancing1 provided1 not as    
part of the bait of the drink seller1   
but  by a democratic municipality4 ,the 
usefulness of picture galleries will    
not be fully reached till oral teaching 
about the pictures is added1 and  the   
great educational value of comparatively
 cheap coloured  reproductions is       
perceived4 ,into the work of founding   
the ,art ,museum in  ,ancoats1 a working
 class district of ,manchester1 on      
exactly these lines1  ,mr4 ,ruskin threw
 himself heartily4 ,it was indeed an    
inspiration derived  from his writings  
by ,mr4 ,t4 ,c4 ,horsfall which caused  
that ,museum to be  founded4 ,it has    
recently been taken over by the         
,corporation4    ,solemnly1 then1 and   

with due fear and doubt1 considering the
 horror and  difficulty of the case1 let
 us resolutely set ourselves to see if1 
under  the world of machinery1 we can   
live good and healthy lives4 ,the       
present  products of our civilization   
are far from satisfactory to any of us4 
,are  the crowds of girls who rush forth
 from the factory when the hour of      
freedom strikes1 having pieced threads  
in a hot damp atmosphere1 and  shouted  
across the whirl of wheels all day to   
one another--are they on  the way to    
make fit1 self-respecting and physically
 strong wives and  mothers and trainers 
of children8 ,there are some three      
hundred thousand  of these girls in the 
,lancashire factories1 who will be      
mothers of a  million ,english babies4  
,or take the young men4 ,go by a        
football train on  a ,saturday          
afternoon1 when holiday is written on   
every bloomless and  vulgar and         
swaggering young face3--what do you hear
 and see as you crowd  fifteen to a     

carriage8 ,bets1 ribaldry1 ill nature1  
the carriage floor a  mess1 the whole   
scene an explosion of pent-up spirits of
 self-assertion  and banal hilarity4#abg
    ,these young people are undoubtedly 
products of the age of machinery2 but   
for machine production they would never 
have been born1 nor their  surroundings 
formed2 but the question is1 cannot     
their tastes and  characters be reformed
 even while they remain machine-hands8  
,are not  excellent lives possible1 and 
healthy surroundings obtainable1 in     
industrial ,england8 ,for factory life  
we can confidently point to such4       
,bournville1 ,new ,earswick1 ,port      
,sunlight1 and of an earlier date1      
,saltaire1 ,bessbrook1 and some other   
centres which have not a special  local 
name1 show that the thing can be done4  
,for colliers the case is  harder4      
,there are colliery villages on the     
,tyne which once ran extension          
lectures2 but the villages themselves   
are horrible4 ,there are good  colliery 

villages near ,doncaster1 one built     
round a private ,park4  ,collieries have
 special difficulties4 ,the coal mine   
will not last for  ever2 and when it is 
worked out the houses may become        
useless4 ,they are  therefore built to  
last only for from thirty to fifty      
years4 ,they are  erected all at one    
time2 and large rows of houses exactly  
alike are the  cheapest4 ,they are often
 outside any municipality with its      
possibly  watchful surveyor and         
inspectors4 ,they are completely owned  
by the  colliery company1 which has no  
competitor as landlord4 ,it is the      
classic  case in ,england of the failure
 of pure competition to care for human  
welfare4          ,,epilogue      ,i am 
kindly permitted by the ,council of the 
,society for ,psychical  ,research to   
reprint here the beautiful tribute by   
,f4 ,w4 ,h4 ,myers1 which  appeared in  
their ,journal for ,march1 #aijj2 and   
has been reprinted in  ,mr4 ,myers's    
,fragments of ,prose and ,poetry1 pp4   

#hi-id4         1 1 1        2          
,ruskin1 then1 has sunk to rest4 ,the   
bracken and bilberries of the           
,lake-land which he loved so well have  
hidden the mortal shape of the  greatest
 man of letters1 the loftiest influence 
which earth still  retained2--have      
enwrapped 8the man dear to the ,muses1  
and by the ,nymphs  not unbeloved--     
1        ,we may rejoice that the long  
waiting is over2 but memory all the more
  8goes slipping back to that delightful
 time0 when he was with us in his  force
 and fire2 when it was still granted to 
hearken to his utterance2  to feel the  
germ of virtue quickened by his         
benignant soul4 ,for those  who had the 
privilege of knowing ,ruskin1 the author
 came second to the  man2 and in this   
brief notice of his ,honorary           
,membership of our ,society  ,i may     
perhaps be pardoned if ,i dwell in      
reminiscence1 without attempting  any   
formal review4    ,i met him first in my
 own earliest home1 beneath the spurs of

  ,skiddaw1--its long slopes 8bronzed   
with deepest radiance10 as the boy      
,wordsworth had seen them long since in 
even such an evening's glow4  ,since    
early morning ,ruskin had lain and      
wandered in the folds and  hollows of   
the hill2 and he came back grave as from
 a solemn service  from day-long gazing 
on the heather and the blue4 ,later came
 many  another scene2--pacings in the   
,old ,court of ,trinity with ,edmund    
,gurney1  who met those generous        
paradoxes with humorous play2 graver    
hours at  ,oxford1 in the sick-room of  
the ,duke of ,albany1 who1 coming back  
to  earth-life from perilous illness1   
found nowhere a guidance fitter than    
,ruskin's for eager and royal youth4    
,but chiefliest ,i think of him in that 
home of high thoughts where his         
interest in our inquiry first upgrew4   
,for the introduction to the new  hope  
came to him1 as to ,edmund ,gurney and  
to myself1 through a lady whom  each of 
us held in equal honour2 and it was on  

the stately lawns of  ,broadlands1 and  
in that air as of ,sabbatical repose1   
that ,ruskin enjoyed  his one brief     
season1--since the failure of his       
youthful ,christian  confidence--of     
blissful trust in the ,unseen4 ,to one  
among that company a  vision came1 as of
 a longed-for meeting of souls beloved  
in heaven1 a  vision whose detail and   
symbolism carried conviction to         
,ruskin's heart4  ,while that conviction
 abode with him he was happy as a child2
 but  presently he suffered what all are
 like to suffer who do not keep their   
minds close pressed to actual evidence  
by continuous study4 ,that impress      
faded2 and leaving the unseen world in  
its old sad uncertainty1 he went  back  
to the mission which was laid on        
him1--that mission of humanizing  this  
earth1 and being humanized thereby1     
which our race must needs  accomplish1  
whatever be the last doom of man4       
,earth fills her lap with pleasures of  
her own2      ,yearnings she hath in her

 own natural kind2      ,and even with  
something of a ,mother's mind           
,and no unworthy aim1            ,the   
homely ,nurse doth all she can      ,to 
make her ,foster-child1 her ,inmate     
,man1            ,forget the glories he 
hath known1      ,and that imperial     
palace whence he came4    ,but ,ruskin's
 task1--however it might be pursued in  
forgetfulness of that  unrememberable   
home1--was surely still the task 7as    
,bacon called it7 8to  prepare and adorn
 the bride-chamber of the mind and the  
universe02 and  that melior natura which
 seemed to be ,ruskin's1 as it was      
,bacon's1  divinity has never shone more
 radiantly upon the inward shrine of any
  lover of men4 ,it was half in jest    
that ,i would complain to him that to   
,earth he gave up what was meant for    
,infinity1 and bent a cosmic passion    
upon this round wet pebble of rock and  
sea4 8,ah1 my friend60 he answered  once
 when ,i spoke of life to come1 8if you 
could only give me fifty  years longer  

of this life on earth1 ,i would ask for 
nothing more60 ,and  half that season   
was granted to him1 and all in          
vain2--for what ,tithonus  may tread for
 ever unweary the 8gleaming halls of    
,morn08    ,then as that fervent life   
wore on1 ,ruskin turned more and more   
from the  outward pageant to the human  
passion2 from ,alp and sunset to the    
sterner  beauty of moral law4 ,from the 
publication of ,unto ,this ,last1 one   
may  trace that slow-growing revolt     
against the ,age which led him to preach
  in the end with such despairing       
emphasis the duty of protest1 of        
renunciation1 of sheer self-severance   
from most of the tendencies of  modern  
life4 ,the strength of this emotion in  
him was made1 ,i remember1  strangely   
plain on one occasion1 when some of     
those who cared most for  him had       
clubbed together1 at ,lord              
,mount-,temple's suggestion1 to surprise
  him1 on his recovery from a serious   
illness1 with the present of a  picture 

of ,turner's1 which he had once         
possessed and still dearly loved1  but  
of which he had despoiled himself to    
meet some generous impulse4  ,never were
 givers more taken aback by the issue of
 their gift4 ,for the  sudden sight of  
the lovely landscape hung in his bedroom
 drew from him a  letter of almost      
heart-broken pain1--at the thought that 
those whom he  would so fain have       
helped1--who were thus willing to do    
this thing1 or  almost anything1 to     
please him1--were yet not willing to do 
that other  thing for their own souls'  
sake2--to come out from the             
iniquity1--to  shake off the baseness of
 the age1--to bind themselves in the    
,st4  ,george's ,guild with that small  
remnant who clung to things pure and    
true4    ,indeed1 there was something   
nave1 something childlike1 in his       
,brotherhoods1 his ,leagues1 his solemn 
,covenants against the onflowing  tide  
of things2--but a stern reality beneath 
all this became strongly  present to us 

then2--a deep compassion for the lonely 
heart1 which so  much needed love1 yet  
could scarcely accept a fellowship in   
love which  was not also a fellowship in
 all that he held for virtue4    ,there 
are some who fear lest too pervading a  
belief in that other world  may make men
 indifferent to the loveliness and      
irresponsive to the woes  of this4 ,yet 
must that needs be so8 or might we not  
treat even this  world's problems with  
steadier heart1 could we regain1--from  
some surer  foothold in the             
,invisible1--that ancient serenity of   
the ,saints8  ,watching that ardent     
soul1 whose very raptures trembled on   
the brink of  pain1 ,i have thought that
 even from ,ruskin's delight in ,nature 
something  of a bitter yearning might   
have been soothed away1 could he have   
seen in  stream and moorland1 nay even  
in              great ,skiddaw's self1  
who shrouds      ,his double head among 
,atlantic clouds1      ,and pours forth 
streams more sweet than ,castaly2--     

could he have seen1 ,i say1 in these1 as
 ,plato saw in ,castaly or in           
,hymettus1 only the transitory          
adumbration and perishing symbol of     
somewhat more enduring and more fair4   
,nay1 even from his compassion for      
stunted and erring souls might not the  
burning pain have gone1 could he  have  
seen those souls as ,er the             
,paphlagonian saw them1 marshalled in an
  everlasting order1 of which but a     
moment's glimpse is shown2--till even   
8this last0 of men shall follow out1    
through all vicissitude1 his  endless   
and his mounting way8    ,and turning   
then1 with heart full of such-like      
fancies1 to that  well-loved ,leader's  
fate2--imagining his baffled isolation1 
and the  disheartenment of solitary     
years2--,i have pictured him waiting in 
the  ,coniston woodlands1 as dipus in   
,colonus' grove1--waiting in mournful   
memory1 in uncomplaining calm--till he  
should hear at last the august          
summons1--nay1 sounded it not like the  

loving banter8--of the unguessed        
accompanying ,god4 8,come1 dipus1 why   
linger on our journey8 ,thou hast  kept 
me waiting long40          ,,index      
,abbey ,dale1 land at1 #afc             
,alexander1 ,francesca1 #eb    ,ancoats 
,art ,museum1 #bee    ,aristocracy1     
#ace1 #adb    ,artistical ,pharisaism1  
#gj    ,assisi1 #dh    ,authority in    
,religion1 #fg      ,bacon on ,usury1   
#ahi1 #aig    ,baker1 ,george1 #gd1 #afc
    ,baptism1 #ff    ,bastiat1 #ahi1    
#aij    ,beever1 ,miss1 #ej1 #eb        
,bequest limited1 #ahh1 #ahi    ,bible  
not the word of ,god1 #fb2    on ,usury1
 #aid1 #aif    ,bishop of ,manchester1  
#bja1 #bjb    ,bishops1 #fj1 #fa1 #ada1 
#adb    ,breaking the ,sabbath1 #ca     
,broadlands1 #dh1 #bfa    ,builders'    
,parliament1 #aee1 #aef                 
,capitalists and ,war1 #bjc    ,cestus  
of ,aglaia1 quoted on locomotive1 #bej1 
#bea    ,christ's sheep1 #fe1 #fg       
,church1 #fd2    discipline1 #fh        
,claughton1 land at1 #afc    ,clergy1   

#ee-fa1 #ach    ,coal1 #bcc    ,coinage 
under ,st4 ,george1 #aff    ,cole1 ,mr4 
,g4 ,h4 ,d41 #aeb1 #aeg1 #aeh           
,communist colonies1 #acc               
,competition allowed1 #adj    ,crown of 
,wild ,olive1 ,lecture on ,war analysed1
 #bjd-baj2    ,appendix to1 quoted1     
#baj-bac      ,democracy1 #aeh          
,division of labour1 #bbg-bcj           
,doukhobors1 #acc1 #aii    ,duke1 #adb  
,dull work1 #bdf-bdh      ,eagle's      
,nest1 quoted from1 #da1 #db1 #fg1 #gd  
,ethics of the ,dust1 #fc      ,factory 
,system1 #acf    ,farming1 #bbf1 #bbg   
,fawcett1 ,mrs41 #ahi    ,fors          
,clavigera1 quoted passim1 #aca-acb2    
passages on ,war1 #bad-bah              
,franco-,german ,war1 #bjd1 #bae1 #baf1 
#bah    ,friar's ,crag1 #bg      ,garden
 ,cities and ,villages1 #agc1 #beg      
,giotto at ,assisi1 #dh    ,gold1 #he   
,guild of ,st4 ,george1 #bc2    ,general
 ,statement of1 quoted1 #fd1 #fe2       
fifty years ago1 #aei2    ,creed of1    
#afa1 #afb2    land holding1 #afc2      

annual meetings1 #afd2    officials1    
#agh1 #agi1 #bfc    ,guild ,socialism1  
#aci1 #aea-aef    ,guilds1 #abb1 #abd1  
#aci      ,horsfall1 ,t4 ,c41 #bee      
,individualism1 #adh1 #adi              
,industrial society1 #bec1 #bed1 #bef   
,infallibility1 #bd    ,interest1 bound 
up with private property1 #ahg          
,irreligious painters at ,venice1 #cb   
,labour1 #abf    ,lady ,mount ,temple1  
#di    ,land cultivation1 #agj    ,land 
tenure1 #acg2    in ,ireland1 #agd      
,law of supply and demand1 #ib          
,lawyers' fees1 #fa    ,lectures on     
,art1 quoted from1 #df1 #dg    ,letters 
to the ,clergy1 #ff    ,locomotive1     
praise of1 #bej1 #bea    ,lord ,mount   
,temple1 #dh1 #bfc    ,love's ,meinie1  
quoted1 #agb    ,luxmore1 ,h4 ,e41 #afd 
,machinery1 #bcj-bcb    ,marriages in   
,time and ,tide1 #afi    ,marshall1     
,prof41 quoted1 #ic-ih    ,mill1 ,j4    
,s41 #cg1 #gh-aai2    ,principles1 #hf1 
#hg2    chapters on social well-being1  
#hh1 #ih-ajb2    his career1 like       

,ruskin's1 #ajb-aje    ,milner1 ,dennis1
 #ahc1 #ahd    ,modern ,painters1 ,vol4 
,,ii1 #cd2    ,vol4 ,,iii1 quoted1      
#fh-ga    ,mr4 ,molyneux1 #bi    ,munera
 ,pulveris1 quoted1 #hi1 #abh1 #aei1    
#ahe1 #bjc    ,museum at ,sheffield1    
#afd1 #agb    ,myers1 ,f4 ,w4 ,h41 #di1 
#eb1 #bei      ,nationalization of      
,schools1 #abj2    of workshops1 #aba2  
of ,railways1 #abd    ,notes on the     
,construction of ,sheepfolds1 #ce2      
quoted1 #ei1 #fj1 #fb1 #fd1 #fe-fh      
,oaths1 #gc    ,old ,age ,pensions1 #abc
    ,on the ,old ,road1 quoted1 #ea1    
#fd1 #ff      ,parents of ,ruskin1 #bf1 
#bg    ,pastoral happiness1 #bbb-bbe    
,payment of ,clergy1 #fh    ,peasantry  
in ,europe1 #bbd2    in ,england1 #bbe  
,plato1 #ach1 #aig    ,political        
,economy1 orthodox science of1 #gh-ha2  
,theory of ,value1 #hb2    connection   
with morality1 #hb2    ,ruskin's        
definition of1 #hi2    the 8economic    
man10 #ajf-aji2    definition of        
,wealth1 #aji1 #aaj    ,population1 #acg

    ,position of ,william1 #ahi-aic     
,prayer ,books1 #ff    ,present duty of 
a ,ruskinian1 #agi1 #ahj    ,priesthood1
 #eg1 #fb    ,prodigal ,son1 #bi        
,professional men as officials1 #ahj-ahb
      ,quakerism and ,ruskin1 #ga-gg    
,queen of the ,air1 quoted from1 #dc-de 
,railways1 #bdi-beb    ,religious art1  
#fh    ,rents under ,st4 ,george1 #afg  
,ricardo1 #hf1 #ia    ,rich1 #aae1 #aaf 
,rose ,la ,touche1 #ch1 #bfa            
,,ruskin--    ,aristocrat1 #aei    ,art 
teaching1 #aj    ,attack on clergy1     
#ee-fa    ,career like ,mill's1 #ajb-aje
    ,conservative1 #bbb    ,definition  
of wealth1 #aae    ,divine1 ,a1 #ai1 #ba
    ,epochs of religious change1 #ca1   
#cb1 #dg-ej2      at ,venice in #ahgf1  
#ej    ,free trader1 #hc1 #hd    ,guild 
of ,st4 ,george1 #afe    ,imperialist1  
#bji1 #bbj    ,inconsistency1 on war1   
#baj-bab    ,inflammation of the brain1 
#bc    ,later views on ,usury1 #ahe1    
#ahg1 #ahh    ,mature period in         
religion1 #dg    ,mill 7and71 #gh-aai   

,museum1 #afd    ,neglect of1 #i        
,peace advocate1 #bai    ,political     
,economy of1 #hi1 #aag    ,practical    
proposals1 #abj-aej    ,professor1 #agh 
,quakerism1 #ee-gg    ,qualifications   
of1 #ae    ,religious history1 #bf-ed   
,religious ,research ,fellowship1 #ec   
,sacrifice of reputation1 #ag1 #bb1 #cg 
,selflessness of1 #ac1 #ad    ,signs of 
a ,prophet1 #aa-be    ,sincerity of1 #ab
    ,singlemindedness of1 #ac           
,socialist1 #acd    ,style of1 #ah      
,subjects of works1 #ah    ,suffering1  
#ch    ,susceptible to landscape beauty 
in childhood1 #aa1 #bj    ,talk on      
,quakerism1 #gd-gf    ,three ,religious 
,periods1 #cf    ,twenty-six chapters1  
#bf1 #dj    ,utopia1 #acb1 #adc1 #adg   
,war1 #gc    ,weaknesses1 #bd           
,sacrament1 #ff    ,sartor ,resartus1   
#bjf    ,schools1 #abj1 #age-agh        
,sesame and ,lilies1 quoted1 #aja       
,shakers1 #acc    ,shakespeare1 #df     
,shepherds in practice1 #bbf    ,sillar1
 ,w4 ,c41 #ahe1 #ahf    ,small          

,holdings1 #aga1 #agb    ,smoke1        
#bcd-bcf2    passages in ,ruskin on1    
#bcg    ,society for ,psychical         
,research1 #di    ,sparkes1 ,malcolm1   
#aee1 #aeg    ,starvation1 to be guarded
 against1 #ahb-ahd    ,statesmen in the 
,north1 #bbc1 #bbd    ,steam machinery1 
#bdh    ,stones of ,venice1 quoted1 #hc1
 #aac1 #bcg-bde    ,storm ,cloud of the 
,nineteenth ,century1 #bcd    ,sweated  
,industries ,act1 #abh      ,talbot1    
,mrs41 #afc    ,the ,nature of ,gothic1 
quoted1 #bcg-bde    ,thomson1 ,george1  
#afd    ,time and ,tide1 quoted1 #hd1   
#acg1 #aci1 #adb1 #adg1 #afi1 #age1 #bja
      ,unemployed1 the1 #abb    ,unto   
this ,last1 quoted1 #hd1 #hh1 #ia1      
#aac-aah1 #abj1 #aba1 #abd1 #abe1 #aci  
,usury1 #ahe-aii2    references to1     
#aic2    authorities against1 #aid-aig2 
as private money-lending1 #aih2    as   
modern investment1 #aig1 #aih           
,violence1 #adc    ,vivisection1 #df    
,wages1 #abd-abg1 #abi1 #acj    ,wages  
,fund1 #hf1 #hg1 #abf1 #abg    ,wallace1

 ,a4 ,r41 #ahb    ,waldensian ,service  
at ,turin1 #ca    ,war1 #acf1 #bjc-bba2 
and capital1 #bjc2    and character1    
#bab-bad    ,wardle1 ,william1 #afd     
,wealth1 definition of1 #aji1 #aaj1     
#aac1 #aad2    ,ruskin's definition1    
#aae2    upper limit to1 #ace1 #afh1    
#aii-bja    ,welfare work1 #agc1 #agd   
,wesley1 ,john1 on ,usury1 #aig1 #aih   
,whitley ,councils1 #aed1 #aef    ,word 
of ,god1 #fc    ,works of the ,first    
,religious ,period1 #bh1 #ce    ,works  
of the ,second ,religious ,period1 #ci  
,workshops1 #aba2    by ,government1    
#aba1 #abb2    under ,guilds1 #abb1 #abd
    ,printed in ,great ,britain by      
,,unwin ,,brothers1 ,,limited1 ,,the    
,,gresham ,,press1 ,,woking ,,and       
,,london      ,,footnotes3     #a ,chap4
 xiv4  #ai4     #b ,fors1 ,letter       
,,lxxxvi4     #c ,rugby ,chapel1 by ,m4 
,arnold4     #d ,the passages were3     
,exod4 xv1 xx2 #b ,sam4 i4 #ag2 #a      
,kings viii2 ,ps4   xxiii1 xxxii1 xc1   
xci1 ciii1 cxii1 cxix1 cxxxix2 ,prov4   

ii1 iii1 viii1   xii2 ,is4 lviii2 ,matt4
 v1 vi1 vii2 ,acts xxvi2 #a ,cor4 xiii1 
xv2 ,james   iv2 ,rev4 v1 vi4 ,see      
,prterita for all this4     #e ,for his 
actual experience of prayer1 see the    
incident of #ahde in   ,prterita1 vol4  
ii4 pp4 #bfj1 #bfa4     #f ,prterita1   
iii4 #bh4     #g ,prterita1 ,,iii4 i4   
#cb-cd4 ,also referred to in ,munera    
,pulveris1   ,app4 ,v4     #h ,prterita1
 vol4 iii4 p4 #ci4     #i ,id4 p4 #da4  
#aj ,id4 p4 #dh4     #aa ,prterita1 vol4
 iii4 pp4 #dd-f4 ,fors1 ,letter ,,lxxvi4
     #ab ,fors1 ,letter ,,lxxvi4     #ac
 ,letter ,,xii1 p4 #c4     #ad ,notably 
in the address and ,turner drawing      
presented by   distinguished men on his 
#hjth birthday4     #ae ,fors1 ,letter  
,,xlii4     #af ,pp4 #ahi-aij4     #ag  
,lectures on ,art1 p4 #ej4     #ah      
,lectures on ,art1 p4 #eb4     #ai ,see 
,fors1 ,,lxxvi1 ,march #ahgg1 vol4 iv4  
p4 #fi4     #bj ,see ,epilogue4     #ba 
,letter ,,lxiii1 vol4 vi4 p4 #hi4       
#bb ,fors1 ,letter ,,lxi1 p4 #g1 note4  

#bc ,see also ,fors1 ,letter ,,lxvi1    
vol4 vi4 p4 #agb4     #bd ,on the ,old  
,road1 vol4 ii4 p4 #chh4     #be ,fors1 
,,xcii1 #ahhc4     #bf ,id4 ,,xcii1 vol4
 viii4 p4 #bje4     #bg ,this reference 
is known to refer chiefly to ,francesca 
,alexander   and her mother at          
,florence4 ,not improbably1 also1 to the
 ,misses ,beever   at ,coniston4     #bh
 ,letter ,,xlix4     #bi ,letter ,,lv4  
#cj ,fors1 ,letter ,,lxxv1  #ba4 ,notes 
and ,correspondence4     #ca ,time and  
,tide1 p4 #ga4     #cb ,sheepfolds1 p4  
#bfi4     #cc ,fors1 ,letter ,,xxxi1    
#ah1 and also ,letter ,,lxvii1  #aj4    
#cd ,sheepfolds1 p4 #bga4     #ce ,fors1
 ,letter ,,xxxv1  #c4     #cf ,see also 
,fors1 ,letter ,,lxv and ,letter ,,xliv1
 also ,letter ,,xl for   an amusing     
account of the edifying ,bible story of 
,joab and ,abner2 and   very numerous   
other passages4     #cg ,fors1 ,letter  
,,xxxvi1  #c4     #ch ,on the ,old      
,road1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bec4     #ci        
,general ,statement as to the ,nature   

and ,purpose of the ,st4   ,george's    
,guild1 p4 #ab1 #ahhb4     #dj          
,sheepfolds3 in ,on the ,old ,road1 vol4
 ii4 p4 #bei4     #da ,sheepfolds1 p4   
#bei4     #db ,sheepfolds1 p4 #bfg4     
#dc ,sheepfolds1 p4 #bhc4     #dd       
,modern ,painters1 vol4 iii4 p4 #eg 7iv4
 #d7 7#ahef74     #de ,crown of ,wild   
,olive1 ,introduction1 p4 #ag4     #df  
,fors1 ,letter ,,xx4     #dg ,eagle's   
,nest1 p4 #aci4     #dh ,unto ,this     
,last1 ,libr4 ed4  #ec1 n41 small ed4 p4
 #ig1 and   ,stones of ,venice1 iii4    
#afh4 ,this last passage was written    
just after   the ,repeal of the ,corn   
,laws1 when the question was hot4       
#di ,time and ,tide1 ,letter ,i1 p4 #e4 
#ej ,unto ,this ,last1 p4 #ig n4     #ea
 ,see the privately printed ,dialogue on
 ,gold2 ,library ed4 vol4   xvii4 p4    
#dia1 written in #ahfc1 and the letter  
to ,the ,times1 on p4   #dhi4     #eb   
,unto ,this ,last1 ,libr4 ed4  #eh1     
small ed4 pp4 #aji1 #aaj4     #ec ,unto 
,this ,last1  #fj1 small ed4 p4 #aad4   

#ed ,unto ,this ,last1 ,libr4 ed4  #ee1 
small ed4 p4 #ajc4 ,see also  #a4       
#ee ,letter to ,dr4 ,john ,brown1 ,libr4
 ed4 vol4 xvii4 p4 lxxxii4     #ef ,note
 to ,a ,disciple of ,plato1 by ,wm4     
,smart1 p4 #dh1 ,libr4 ed41   xviii1    
lxxxiii4     #eg ,principles of         
,economics1 ,bk4 ,i4 chap4 vii4  #c4    
#eh ,book iv4  #bh4     #ei ,sesame and 
,lilies1 i4 #db4     #fj ,unsettled     
,questions of ,political ,economy1      
,essay ,v1 #ahhd1 and   earlier in the  
,westminster ,review4     #fa ,unto     
,this ,last1 small ed4 p4 #aad4     #fb 
,unto ,this ,last1  #fa-fd1 ,libr4 ed42 
small ed4 pp4 #aah-abg4     #fc ,unto   
,this ,last1  #fe1 or p4 #abh4     #fd  
,unto ,this ,last1  #bg1 or p4 #dj4     
#fe ,unto ,this ,last1  #bi1 or pp4 #dc1
 #dd4     #ff ,see in continuation of   
this the ,apologue of the two sailors3  
,unto ,this ,last1 pp4 #di-eg or  #cc-g4
     #fg ,unto ,this ,last1 ,libr4 ed4  
#bh1 or pp4 #da1 #db in small ed4       
#fh ,unto ,this ,last1  #gg1 or p4 #aef4

     #fi ,unto this ,last1 ,preface1 p4 
#g4     #gj ,by ,graham ,wallas1 in his 
book with that title4 ,see later in this
   chapter on ,ruskin's ,bishops1 p4    
#ada4     #ga ,unto ,this ,last1  #gi1  
n4     #gb ,munera ,pulveris1  #abh4    
#gc ,unto ,this ,last1  #ec1 small ed4  
pp4 #if-h4     #gd ,malthus4     #ge    
,ricardo and ,james ,mill4     #gf      
,ruskin's disciple1 the late ,professor 
,wm4 ,smart of ,glasgow1 has   written a
 book to show that there may be no      
supply price to wages4     #gg ,see     
,arrows of the ,chace1 ii4 #ig4     #gh 
,john ,ruskin1 ,social ,reformer1 p4    
#ach4     #gi ,time and ,tide1 ,letter  
,,xx1  #abd4     #hj ,fors1 ,,lxxxix1 p4
 #ace4 ,but v4 pp4 #ahb-d below4     #ha
 ,letter ,,xviii4     #hb ,time and     
,tide1 p4 #ai4     #hc ,the literature  
of the ,guild movement is considerable  
and growing4   ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,d4 ,cole   
has written ,the ,world of ,labour1     
,labour in ,war   ,time1 ,self          
,government in ,industry1 ,labour in the

 ,commonwealth1   and ,chaos and ,order 
in ,industry1 and edits ,the ,guildsman 
7office   of the ,national ,guilds      
,league1 #ci ,cursitor ,street1 ,london1
 ,e4,c4 #d74   ,mr4 ,a4 ,r4 ,orage has  
written ,national ,guilds1 ,the         
,alphabet of   ,economics1 and written  
much in his paper1 ,the ,new ,age2 and  
,mr4 ,s4   ,g4 ,hobson has written      
,national ,guilds4     #hd ,for a full  
account of this remarkable story see a  
pamphlet issued   by the ,garton        
,foundation1 #cf ,dean's ,yard1         
,westminster1 #as41 entitled   ,the     
,industrial ,council for the ,building  
,industry4     #he  #abi-acc1 and also  
,time and ,tide1  #aje2 ,crown of ,wild 
,olive1  #aai2 ,cestus of ,aglaia1  #ee4
     #hf ,see ,fors1 vol4 viii4 p4 #bca4
     #hg ,fors1 ,letter ,,lviii1 vol4 v4
 p4 #bgc4     #hh ,cf4 the ,preface to  
,unto ,this ,last1 referred to in chap4 
v4   above4     #hi ,see ,fors1 ,letters
 ,,lviii and ,,lxiii4     #ij ,the      
,wonderful ,century1 chap4 xx4     #ia  

,a ,reasonable ,revolution1 by ,bertram 
,pickard 7,george ,allen    ,unwin1     
,ltd474     #ib ,p4 #aae4     #ic ,in   
pamphlets enumerated in ,libr4 ed4 vol4 
xvii4 p4 #bbj1 n4     #id ,see ,the     
,ethics of ,usury and ,interest1 by     
,rev4 ,w4 ,blissard   7,george ,allen   
,unwin71 #bs4 #f;d4 net4     #ie ,the   
numbers which are devoted to lengthy    
treatment of ,usury are3   ,letters ,i1 
,,xviii1 p4 #ag1 ,,xxi1 pp4 #ae-ah1     
,,xliii1 pp4 #aec-g1 ,,liii1   #adb-e1  
,,lxviii1 #bde-ec1 ,,lxx1 #cab-cc1      
,,lxxviii and ,,lxxx1 and ,arrows of    
the ,chace1 ii4 #ajc4 ,there is also a  
long discussion on the subject   with   
,bishop ,fraser of ,manchester in ,on   
the ,old ,road1 vol4 ii4 pp4   #bjb-bde1
 reprinted from the ,contemporary       
,review4     #if ,see list in ,libr4    
edn4 vol4 xxvii4 ,introd4 p4 xlvii4     
#ig ,time and ,tide1 pp4 #ab1 #ac1 small
 ed4     #ih ,preface to ,munera        
,pulveris1 p4 xxvi4     #ii  #id4       
#ajj  #ih4     #aja  #ajb4     #ajb     

#aae4     #ajc  #aaf4     #ajd ,sir     
,herbert ,edwardes4     #aje ,,lxxiv1   
vol4 vii4 p4 #db4     #ajf ,,lxxiv1 vol4
 vii4 p4 #db4     #ajg ,vol4 vii4 p4    
#cdd4     #ajh ,letter ,,ii1 p4 #ag4    
#aji ,fors ,clavigera1 vol4 i4 ,letter  
,,iv1 p4 #ah4     #aaj ,letter ,,vii1 p4
 #af4     #aaa ,letter ,,vii1 p4 #ba4   
,see also ,letter ,,xiv1 p4 #ah4        
#aab ,letter ,,xxxiii1 p4 #bd4 ,see also
 ,letter ,,xxxvii1 pp4 #ai-bc4 ,,lxv1 p4
   #adh4 ,,lxvii1 p4 #bdj4 ,,lxxix1 p4  
#ahc4     #aac ,,xliv1 p4 #agh4     #aad
 ,see also ,munera ,pulveris1 p4 #df4   
#aae  #aei4     #aaf ,hawkshead1 by ,h4 
,s4 ,cowper4     #aag v4 ,the ,rural    
,labourer1 by ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,hammond4  
#aah ,this explanation of the ,storm    
,cloud ,i gave in my book on ,smoke1    
,the ,destruction of ,daylight 7#aijg1  
now out of print74 ,it was   accepted by
 the ,editors of the ,library ,edition  
of ,ruskin's works4 ,vol4   xxxiv4 p4   
xxvi4     #aai ,a ,local ,government    
,board ,departmental ,committee was     

sitting on   this before the war4 ,it   
has resumed its sittings under the      
,ministry of   ,health4     #abj ,other 
passages on ,smoke may be found in      
,fors1 ,letter ,,xliv1    #ac2 ,letter  
,,xlvi1  #aj2 ,letter ,,lx1  #c2 ,letter
 ,,lxxxi1  #ag 7in a   letter from ,mr4 
,horsfall72 in a youthful reference in  
,the ,poetry of   ,architecture1 chap4  
v4  #fc2 ,modern ,painters1 vol4 iii4   
chap4 #ac4    #ad2 vol4 v4 pt4 ix4  #bd2
 ,the ,queen of the ,air1 ,preface 7a   
beautiful   passage7 and ,i4 #h2        
,ariadne ,florentina1 vi4  #bba2 ,s4    
,mark's ,rest1   vi4  #gf2 ,the ,art of 
,england1 vi4  #ahd 7a strong passage72 
,aratra   ,pentelici1 iv4  #acb2 ,arrows
 of the ,chace1 ii4 p4 #aha2 ,letter    
printed in ,library ed41 vol4 xxix4 pp4 
#egd-f1 called 8,morning ,thoughts   at 
,geneva10 intended for ,fors4     #aba  
,fors1 ,,xcv1 vol4 viii4 p4 #beh4       
#abb ,id41 ,,lxxxxii1 vol4 vii4 p4 #cjf4
 ,a similar solution is outlined   in   
,letter ,,xviii of ,time and ,tide4     

#abc ,letter ,,li1 p4 #he4     #abd     
,fors1 ,letter ,,xliv4     #abe ,library
 ed4 vol4 xix4 p4 #fa4     #abf ,munera 
,pulveris1 i4 p4 #af4     #abg ,fors1   
xi4 pp4 #c-g1 on the navvies on the way 
to ,furness ,abbey4      ,typographical 
errors corrected by the etext           
transcriber3    gathering hinself into  
gathering himself into pg #cj    from   
other notives from other motives pg #hj 
were comparativelty uninstructed were   
comparatively uninstructed pg  #afi