Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-16
GENEROUS RUsx1N.
How He Gave His Pretty Wife to His
Friend MiIlais---His Platonlc
Marriage.

London Letter to San Francisco Chronicle.J
Between thirty to thirty-ive, Rus
kin met and was delighted with a very
pretty and graceful young woman of
social position and nice culture. l
should say he had fallen in love with
her, were he not Of so peculiar a phys
ical temperament. He admired her
sufficiently to ask her to be his wife,
and she, approaching his gifts and
scholarship, and fattered by the pref
erenec of so distinguished a man, ac-
copied his offer. He questioned her,
it is reported, as to the nature of her
affection expressed the hope that il
was spiritual rather than emotional,
mainly Platonic in character, as he con
fessed his own to be. AS may be in
ferred, she answered in the afhrma-
tive. and doubtless believed very
firmly every syllable she uttered.
1t would be strange, in
deed, if any woman should i'm
agine or allow herself to be less
ethereal of sentiment than any man
on the planet. With the mutual un-
derstanding that theirs was to be a
union of minds, they were married.
They seemed to get on pleasantly for
a few months-at least it seemed so to
the husband, absorbed as usual in
study and writing. He greatly ad-
mired her beauty-he probably re-
her more as a picture or a
statue than a woman - and never
wearied of praising it. DESTROYS to
have her portrait taken, he chose his
Millais, who, with Holman
Hunt, Charles Collins, Dante Russell
and others, formed and still form the
pre- aphaelite school, to transfer her
features to canvas. She gave the
painter a number of sittings, and
the husband was 50 much concerned
in the work hat he sometimes watched
its progress. Millais, as is we'll
known, is handsome and winning-he
was especially so when young, he is
fifty now-and was drawn at
once to the young and lovely wife of
his friend, an attraction that appears
to have been reciprocated. In plain
parlance, 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 per-
ceiyed the fact, although the lovers
had not been in the slightest indisereet
or conventional, or even to have init
mated one to the other the condition
hearts. The author O" Modern
Painters is as generous as he is
chivalrous. He did not, as or
men would have done, hy
into a jealous rage, nor did he have a
scene with his wife. He told her
what he had perceived and as
sured her of his continued 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 irst-the surprises of the
heart are usually oyerwhelming-but
very soon she acknowledged the truth,
and the painter did likewise. The
critic condemned himself for dullness
in thinking a Platonic marriage natu-
or satisfactory and announced his
willingness, yea gladness, to assist the
pair to a felicity they were obviously
lifted for. Instead of putting obsta-
Gle in the way, he would remove the
only one to their love and happiness
-himself-and he kept his word
faithfully. Under the peculiar cir
substances there was no difficulty in
obtaining a divorce. The matter was
managed privately without any scan
dial, and in due time Mrs. Ruskin,
who was, became Mrs. Millais, who
is. They have proved to be from all
accounts a most harmonious couple
aud they are as much to one another
as they were during the honey
moon. Moreover, Ruskin continues
to be the firm friend of both, visiting
them regularly and sharing in a re-
manner in their happiness
fact which demonstrates the largeuess
and nobility Of Ruskin's nature.
Millais famous picture-it has been
engraved and is very common-'The
HuguenOt Lovers" is declared to be,
respects the young woman, almost a
portrait of the artists wife,
and the alleged fact has added not a
to its popularity,
ATTRACTIVE SCOUNDRELs.