Ruskin not only pointed the moral but fashioned his own life after it. He was one of the few men who have lived what they taught. He fell heir to what his generation thought was a very large fortune. He made another fortune by sheer force of genius. But he held his treasure as a trust fund in the interest of God's poor. And so-called practical men turned upon him, with the bitterness and hate of wolves that try to pull down some noble stag. His articles were shut out of the Cornhill Magazine. Through the influence of selfish men who feared the influence of his teachings upon the people, he was for a time bitterly assaulted. Scoffed at and maligned, he overworked and passed from one attack of brain fever to another. When it was too late, the angry voices died out of the air, and his sun cleared itself of clouds. When at last a wreath of honour was offered Ruskin, it was as if an old man had taken the blossoms and the laurel leaf, and carried them out to God's acre, to be placed in the snow upon his mother's grave. But ours is a world that first slays the prophet and then builds his sepulchre. It is indeed, as the wise man said, a world that crucifies the Saviour.
And we can say of Ruskin what James Martineau said of the world's injustice, that "in almost every age which has stoned the prophets, and loaded its philosophers with chains, the ringleaders of the anarchy have been, not the lawless and infamous of their day, but the archons and chief priests, who could protect their false idols with a grand and stiff air, and do their wrongs in the halls of justice, and commit their murders as a savoury sacrifice; so that it has been by no rude violence, but by clean and holy hands that the guides, the saints, the redeemers of men have been poisoned in Athens, tortured in Rome, burned in Florence, crucified in Jerusalem." And we ought not to be surprised that a world that threatened Milton, starved Swammerdam, imprisoned Bunyan, and assassinated Lincoln, should break the health and the heart of John Ruskin, who poured out his very life-blood to redeem the people from ignorance, and sloth, and wrong.
Index
- Abelard and Héloise, 19
- Achilles, 37
- Act of Toleration, The, 114
- Adam Bede, 146
- Æneas, The wanderings of, 35
- Alexander the Great, 86, 103
- Alexander the Sixth, 42, 51
- Alva, Duke of, 61, 66, 67, 68, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75
- Angelo, Michael, 11, 12, 15, 27, 39, 123, 140
- Areopagitica, 131, 132
- Aristotle, 25
- Arnold, Matthew, 144
- Asbury, Francis, 162
- Asia Minor, 55
- Athens, 26, 37, 50, 84, 195
- Augustus Cæsar, 36
- Bacon, Francis, 32
- Balfour, Lord, 89
- Barnett, Canon, 197
- Barrett, Elizabeth, 39
- Beatrice, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 30, 205
- Bedford Jail, 32, 85
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 158
- "Beggars," The fleet of, 73, 74, 77
- Bernard the Monk, 105
- Birrell, Augustine, 144
- Black Death, The, 97, 100
- "Bloody Council," The, 57
- Booth, William, 199
- Boswell's Life of Johnson, 151
- Bradford, William, 57
- Brescia, 43
- Brougham, Henry, 103
- Browning, Robert, 39
- Bunyan, John, 12, 32, 85, 105, 142, 216
- Burke, Edmund, 132
- Calvin, John, 54
- Carlyle, Thomas, 89, 145
- Cateau-Cambresis, Treaty of, 70
- Cavour, 39, 166
- Cecilia, St., 21
- Cervantes, 84
- Charles I of England, 94, 95, 99, 101, 102, 103, 109, 110, 112, 123, 132, 133
- Charles II of England, 111, 112
- Charles V, Emperor of Germany, 69
- Charles VIII of France, 48
- Charles IX of France, 74
- Childe Harold, 23
- Church, The, 15, 41, 53, 63, 93
- Columbus, Christopher, 14, 35, 200
- Common people in the Dark Ages, The, 14
- Comus, 121
- Constantinople, 36, 40, 88, 168
- Copernicus, 35
- Cromwell, Oliver, 57, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91, 97, 98, 102, 103, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 123, 132, 133, 134, 135
- "Crowning Mercy of Worcester, The," 109
- Curtis, George William, 9
- Dante, Alighieri, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 40, 50, 105, 123, 136, 140, 142, 205
- Dark Ages, The, 14, 36
- Dekker, 118
- De Quincey, Thomas, 129
- Divine Comedy, The, 19, 22, 23, 24, 136
- Divine Right of Kings, The, 91, 113, 123
- Easter Day, 25
- Eclipse in English literature, 125
- Edison, Thomas, 191
- Eliot, George, 39, 146
- Eliot, Sir John, 95, 101
- England's darkest hour, 89
- England in the days of Charles I, 97, 98, 99
- Erasmus, 54, 57
- Este, Duke of, 41
- Farmer of Huntingdon, The, 90, 108
- Ferrara, 40
- Feudalism, 14
- Ficino, 45
- Florence, 14, 16, 37, 38, 43, 45, 46, 47, 50, 52, 216
- Foch, Marshal, 86
- Francis of Assisi, 105
- Franklin, Benjamin, 12, 147, 178
- French Revolution, The, 144
- Garibaldi, 39, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 176, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 184, 186, 187;
- in the United States, 177
- Garibaldi's aim—a united Italy, 182;
- Anita, 174, 175, 177;
- charmed life, 168, 169;
- power over his troops, 185;
- life in South America, 175;
- reckless courage, 171, 172;
- refusal of throne, 181;
- return to Italy, 175;
- loyalty to Victor Emmanuel, 179;
- victories, 181
- Geography, The science of, 15
- George, David Lloyd, 89
- Geryon, 25
- Gioberti, 38
- Giotto, 7, 38
- Gladstone, 180
- Goethe, 27
- Grant, General, 86
- Great Remonstrance, The, 102
- Gulf Stream, Influence of the, 163
- Hallam the historian, 10
- Hamilton, Alexander, 168, 178
- Hamlet, 13
- Hampden, John, 101, 104, 108, 123
- Harrison, Frederic, 106, 209
- Helen of Troy, 36, 37
- Henry of Navarre, 103
- History, The scope of,18
- Hogarth, William, 145
- Holland, 55, 56, 57, 59
- Homer, 10, 11, 12, 13, 123
- Horace, 136
- House of Lords, The, 12
- Hume, David, 145
- Idylls of the King, 23
- Imitation of Christ, 154
- In Darkest England, 199
- Inferno, The, 31, 32
- Inquisition, The, 65, 74
- Italian language, The, 11
- Italian literature, 18
- James I of England, 117
- Jonson, Ben, 90, 117
- Julius Cæsar, 86
- Keats, John, 12
- Kenilworth Castle, 96
- King Alfred's Bible, 12
- Kipling, Rudyard, 190
- Kossuth, Louis, 178
- Last Judgment, The, 27
- Law's Serious Call, 154
- Latin tongue, The, 11
- Lecky the historian, 144, 155
- Leonardo, 35
- Leyden, Siege of, 77, 78, 79, 80
- Lincoln, Abraham, 57, 58, 99, 102, 113, 182, 194
- Lorenzo the Magnificent, 45, 46, 47
- Lowell, James Russell, 31, 137, 140, 141
- Lucifer, 25
- Luther, Martin, 49, 54
- Lycidas, 121
- Macaulay, Lord, 116 117, 137, 138, 144
- Macbeth, 13
- Marlow, 90, 117
- Marston Moor, Battle of, 103, 109
- Martineau, James, 216
- Mary Queen of Scots, 99
- Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 74
- Massinger, Philip, 118
- "Mayflower, The," 115
- Mazzini, 39, 166, 168, 170
- Mæcenas, 36
- Medici, The, 48
- "Mermaid" Tavern, The, 116
- Methodists, The early, 146
- Methodism, world-wide sphere of, 162
- Michelet, 183
- Middle Ages, The, 26
- Mill, John Stuart, 16
- Milton, John, 16, 103,106, 112, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 129, 132, 138, 139, 140, 142, 216;
- and his studies, 120, 121;
- at Cambridge, 120;
- made Secretary of State, 133
- Milton's belief in himself, 121;
- fight for relationships, 126;
- pamphlets, 131;
- views on divorce, 126, 127
- Mirandola, Picadella, 44, 45
- Modern world, The dawn of, 37, 38
- Monte Rosa, 13
- Moravians, The, 155
- Morley, John, 111
- Morley's Life of Gladstone, 156
- Morris, William, 196
- Napoleon, 103, 164
- Naseby, Battle of, 109
- Nelson, Lord, 146
- Newton, Sir Isaac, 200
- Othello, 13
- Paradise, 26, 28
- Paradise Lost, 123, 136, 139
- Paradise Regained, 123
- Pattison, Mark, 129
- Paul II, 41
- Penelope, 36, 37
- Pericles, 37
- Peter the Hermit, 49
- Petrarch, 34
- Philip II of Spain, 56, 57, 61, 63, 65, 68, 69, 70, 74
- Phillips, Wendell, 90, 158
- Pius II, 41
- Pilgrim's Progress, The, 85
- Pitt, William, 144, 146
- Plato, 45
- Pope, Alexander, 16
- Prince Djem, 51
- Prince Rupert, 109, 111
- Priors of Florence, The, 16
- Purgatory, 25, 29, 30, 32
- Puritanism, 142
- Puritans, The, 138, 139
- Pym, John, 101, 108, 123
- Queen Victoria, 180, 191
- Raleigh, Sir Walter, 103
- Raphael, 11, 21, 112, 123
- Ravenna, 32
- "Renaissance, The Morning Star of," 10
- Renaissance, The, 35
- Restoration, The, 135
- Revival of learning, The, 34
- Richelieu, 144
- Ring and the Book, The, 39
- Rodin's Thinker, 191
- Rome, 35, 41, 51, 216
- Romola, 39
- Ruskin, John, 57, 190, 192, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 213, 214, 215, 216;
- and social reform, 194;
- books of his childhood, 207;
- world's debt to, 205
- Savonarola, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46, 49, 51, 53, 84
- Shakespeare, 10, 11, 13, 90, 117, 141
- Shelley, 141
- Socrates, 50, 84
- St. Peter's Cathedral, 15
- Story of the Dutch Republic, Motley's, 39
- Swammerdam, 216
- Tasso, 99
- Taylor's Purity of Intention, 154
- Tennyson, 106, 115
- Torquemada, 64
- Toynbee, Arnold, 197, 198
- Truth, Sojourner, 202, 203
- Turner, J. W., 205
- Tyndale, William, 54
- Ulysses, 13, 36, 37
- Venice, 55
- Verona, Bishop of, 53
- Virgil, 24, 29
- Vita Nuova, 21
- Voltaire, 26, 115
- Walpole, Horace, 145, 151
- Washington, George, 99, 102, 113, 143, 168, 182
- Webster, Daniel, 103, 178, 212
- Wellington, Duke of, 146
- Wesley, Charles, 147, 148
- Wesley, John, 143, 144, 145, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164;
- at Oxford, 154;
- growth of followers, 143;
- Journal of, 150, 153;
- labours of, 100, 152, 153, 156, 157;
- last words of, 164;
- liberality of, 161;
- moral courage of, 157;
- persecution of, 158;
- personal traits, 159;
- plan for world evangelization, 162
- Wesley, Samuel, 153
- Wesley, Susannah, 153
- Whitefield, George, 147, 148, 149, 155
- Wilberforce, William, 194
- William the Silent, 56, 57, 59, 61, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 80, 82
- Wordsworth, William, 200
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