The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-07-03
Generous Ruskin.
How He Gave His Pretty Wife to His
Friend Millais-Ris Platonic Marriage.


London Letter to the San Francisco Chroniclel
Between thirty and thirty-fve Ruskin met
and was delighted with very pretty and
graceful young woman of a social position and
nice culture. should say he had fallen in
love with her were he not of so peculiar
physical temperament. He admired her suffi-
GENTLY to ask her to be his wife, and she, APP
preciating his gifts and scholarship, and fiat
tered by the preference of so distinguished
man, accepted his offer. He questioned her,
it is reported, as to the nature of her affection:
expressed the hope that it was spiritual rather
than emotional, mainly platonic in character,
as he confessed his own to be. AS may be in
ferred, she answered in the affirmative, and
doubtless believed firmly every syllable she
uttered. 1t would be strange, indeed if any
woman should imagine or allow herself to be
less ethereal of sentiment than any man on the
planet. With the mutual understanding that
theirs was to be 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 writ
ing. He greatly admired her beauty-he
probably regarded her as picture a statue
more than woman-and never wear ofied
praising it. DESTROYS of having her portrait
taken, he chose his friend Millais who, with
Holman Hunt, Charles Collins, Dante Rossetti,
and others, formed and still form the pre-
Raphaelite school, to transfer her features to
canvas. She gave the painter a number of
sittings, and the husband was so much con-
cerned in the work that he sometimes watched
its progress. Millais, as is well known, is
handsome and winning-he was especially so
when young, he is barely 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
an 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 slight
est indiscreet or unconventional, or even to
have intimated one to the other the condition
of their hearts The author of Modern
Painters" is as generous as he is chivalrous.
He did not, as ordinary men would have done,
fly into Jealous rage, nor did he have scene
with his wife. He told her gently what he
had perceived and assured her of his continued
friendship and esteem, and of his earnest de-
sire to promote her happiness at any price.
She turned crimson at the words, as if they
had been revelation of her own soul, which
in part they may have been. She could not
believe the thing possible at tirst-the sur
prises of the heart are generally overwhelming
but very soon she acknowledged the truth,
and the painter did likewise. The critic con-
demned himself for dullness in thinking pla-
tonic marriage natural or satisfactory, and an
nounced his willingness, yea gladness, to assist
the pair to a felicity they were obviously fitted
for. Instead of putting any obstacle in The
wa Ho WOulu REMOVE bne only one 10 llelf
love and happiness-himself-- he kept his
word faithfully. Under the peculiar circum-
stances there was no trouble in obtaining a
divorce. The matter was managed privately,
without any scandal, and in due time Mrs.
Ruskin, who was, became Mrs. Millais, who is
They have proved from all accounts a 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 regu-
a ri y md Chnr Trln rnAa Tod in.
their happiness fact which demonstrates
the largeness and nobility of Ruskin's nature.
Millais famous picture-it has been engraved
and is very common-'The Huguenot Lovers
is almost faithful portrait of the artists wife,
and the alleged fact has added not a little to
tic laritv