The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-07-16
Generous Ruskin.
HOW lie GAVE Ills PRETTY WIFE To HIS
FRIEND MILLAIs-HIS PLATONIC MAR
RAGE.

HOW lie GAVE Ills PRETTY WIFE TO HIS
FRIEND MILLAIs-HIs PLAToNIC MAR
RAGE.
London Letter to he San Francisco Chroni-
Gle
Between thirty and thirty-live. Ruskin met
and was delighted with i very pretty and
graceful young woman, social position and
nice culture. i should say he had fallen in
love with, were he not OF SO peculiar physl-
cal temperament. He admired her sufficient
il To ask her to be his wife, and she appre-
ciating his gifts and scholarship and flattered
bv the preference of 50 distinguished man,
c2ted his offer. He questioned her, il is re-
ported as to the pature OF Der affection; ex-
pressed the hope That it was Spiritual rather
than emotional, mainly Platonic in character,
rs he confessed his own to be. Is may be in
ferred, she answered in the affirmative, and
doubtless believed very firmly every syllable
she uttered. 1t would be strange indeed, il
any woman should imagine allow herself
10 be less ethereal of sentiment than any man
on ihc planet. With tie mutual understand
ing that theirs was Ia be union OF minds,
they were married. They seemed to get on
pleasantly for few months-at least it Scent
ed to the husband absorbed usual in
study and writing. lie greatly admired her
heauty-hc probably regarded her more as a
picture a statute than woman-and never
weared of praising it..
DESTROYS to have her portrait taken, he
chose his friend Millais, who, with Holman
Hunt, Charles Collins, Dante Russell and
others, formed and still form the pre-Raphse-
lite school, to transfer her features to canvas,
She gave the painter 4 number OF sittings, and
the husband much concerned in the
work that he sometimes watched its progress.
Millais, is well known, is handsome and
winning-he was especially 50 when young,
he is barely fifty now-and was drawn at once
~, ba md wifi of frt4 an
attraction that appears to have been reeipro-
Gated. In plain parlanee, Millais and Mrs.
Ruskin fell head over heels, or heels over
head if you like, in love with one another
without the least intent on their part. Ruskin
himself is said to have perceived the fact,
although the lovers had not been in the
slightest indisereet or conventional, or even TO
have intimated one To the other the condition
of their hearts. The author OF Modern
Painters" is generous he is chivalrous.
He did not, as ordinary men would have done,
fly into a jealous rage, nor did he have
scene with his wife. He told her gently what
he had perceived and assured her of his con-
tinued friendship and esteem, and OF his
earnest desire to promote her happiness at
any price. She turned crimson at the words,
As if they had been a revelation to her own
soul, which in part they may have been. She
could not believe the thing possible at first
the surprises of the heart are usually over
whelming-but very soon she acknowledged
the truth, and the painter did likewise. The
critic condemned himself for dizziness in think
iAg a Platonic marriage natural or satisfacto-
ry, and announced his willingness, yea glad
ness, to assist the pair to felicity they were
obviously fitted for Instead of putting any
obstacle in the way he would remove the on
ly one to their love and happiness himself
and he kept his word faithfully. Under the
peculiar circumstances there was no trouble in
obtaining divorce. The matter managed
privately, without any scandal, and in due
time Mrs Ruskin, who was, became Mrs. Mil
lais, who is. They have proved to be from
all accounts most harmonious couple, and
they are as much to one another to-day as
they were during the honeymoon. Moreover,
Ruskin continues to be the firm friend OF both
visiting them regularly and sharing in a re
fected manner in their happiness fact
which demonstrates the largeness and nobili-
ty of Ruskin's nature. Millais' famous pic
ture-it has been engraved and is very COM
mon-"The Hugenot Lovers" is declared to
be, as respects the young woman, almost
faithful portrait of the artists wife, and the
alleged fact has added not little to its popu-
larity.