New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-07

ing no part In this revival OF bygones, which, 10
| though his father still believed that he nigh
have been poet and ought to have been Cne.
In the very latest years Mr. Ruskin himse
consented to q more complete revival of those
early essays In verse, not wisely az some THINK
for the facility displayed In those pieces
strengthens the feeling that Mr.. Ruskin has de
| ceivcd both himself and his readers as to the
depth of thought in some of his works by hi'
skin in expression. It is useless, however. to &c
| into these questions. Let it suffice to point ou'
that both he and Carlyle inveghed much against
the very democracy, the uprising Of which maze pos
sible their own existence as writer's and as Leaders
| Of thought; that this democracy grows still III
spite Of rebuke and that IL even takes these hatsn
| mentors, these wOrshippcy OF the MASTER u'e
hero and the tyrant, to its bosom Think wha'
words Mr.. Ruskin has flung in the face OF inc
nineteenth century, and thon try to imagine him as
force in any past age. While it is easy TO over
] estimate the Importance TO the world OF the
changes in the substance and method OF Mr..
Ruskir t thought and expression they cannot
be too highly valued as individual phenomena.
The two volumes in hand. with a collection OF
his works. contain record of the deepest inter-
est to the student Of the human mind, record
which for completeness and for the innerwise
view it gives has rarely been equalled The bio
graphical narrative can hardly be called enter
tanning as compared with certain masterpieces
which every reader will recall Mr. Ruskin him
self has q nature TOO intense TO be merely enter
tanning, and he has few of those eccentricities
which make the lives Of many great literary men
amusing. Themes that would he cause OF end
less gossip to idle tongues-for example, the un-
happiness of Mr.. Ruskin's married life-are barely
alluded to By Mr. Collingwood. In ls47. after
a severe Illness he went to Scotland. His bios-
rapher adds:
On his way back he stopped at Bowers well,
accordance with their wishes proposed marriage
TO the young lady for whom, some years carrier,
lie had written The King Of the Golden River"
s anne Fair aa OF PerR with every gift Of
health and spirits which could compensate as
they thought his retiring and morbid nature.
the wealth and position they sought for her, on
the other hand the dutful son easily persuaded
himself that he was. after all, the luckiest OF
mOrtals
But the woman whom he had thus chosen, or
who was chosen for him, had no part in his life.
The sequel is given by Mr. Collinewood in
manner constrained ard almost mysterious:
His habit of industry not only enabled Mr.. Rus.
kin to get through vast amount of work, but
it helped him over times Of trouble. of which ms
little idea To them he appeared one of those
deities of Epicurus, slipping his nectar and hurting
his thunderbolts; or, when it pleased him, show;
crowds. lie had wealth and fame: the converse
of wit and genius: the delight Of travel, and
intense appreciation Of all the pleasures that
travelling afforded Inc fancy OF the o ,lns
Of art, of admirlng friends, OF beautiful wijr
They did not know, as We do, the strange, i'll,
omened circumstances of his marriage: they had
not followed him about, as we have from place
10 place, and seen him in continual suffering AMI
struggle of mind and body they cOuld not guess,
as the thoughtful reader can, the effort needed
on his part to do what he believed to be his duty
toward wife whose affection he earnestly sought.
but whose tastes were discordant with his; nor on
sioning of young girl who found herself married,
by parental arrangement, to man with whom
she had nothing In common; in habits OF thought
and life. though not much in years, her senior;
taking small notice or austereIy.H Il the gayer
world she preferred, "his mind. half-bured in
some weightier argument, or faucy-borne perhaps
his readers and the public were intensely puzzled
when she LETT him. To, his acquantances, how
ever. it was no great surprise, though. with one
him from blame. He, with his corscOusncss of
having fulfilled all the obligations he had under.
taken, and with an old-fashiohed delicacy and
chvalry which revcltcd alike from explanation
and from recrmlnation, set up no efcnce. brought
no counter-charees, and prfcrre1 to let gossip do
its, worst. 1t was only the other day that a
Ruskins, was asked whether il were hot true that
kuskin had run away with somebody's wife.
That is a very mild version Of the lies that, at
one time other, have been current about him,
scandals which have had all the more weight be-
cause he never cared TO speak out for himself,
even to people who believe that they are his in
Inmates There are many tales whispered behind
his back that are perfectly trne-of somebody
else OF different people who have been his friends
at one time or another-peoplc, whose reputation
mo Than his 20 p,t.cb
so, that while he gossipe about early days and
youthful folics, laments the mistakes of his life
and disappontments of his age, he has never let
one single word escape TO clear his own character
at the expense of others. And this is the man
they call an egoist.
But If he could forget this trouble in boundless
industry 1t not SO with the read tragedy of his
life in 1872. Every line of his subsequent writ
ings. so far as they touched upon religion, must
have renewed the anguish Of bitter parting.
Says Mr. Collingwood:
1t was an open secret-his attachment to
lady who had been his pupil, and was now gei-
eiauy understood to be his fancee. She was far
an old man; and the friends who fully knew and
understood the affair favored his intentions. and
Joined in the hope, and in auguries for the happi-
ness which he had been so long waiting for. and so
richly deserved But now that il came to the
point. the lady finally decided that it was impos-
sible He was not at one with her in religious
MATTERS. lie cOuId SPEAK HgntW OF her Evangell-
cal credit seemed he scOffed in Fors" at her
faith. She could not be unequally yoked with an
unbeliever. To her the alternative was plain. the
choice terrible; yet, having once seen her path.
she turned resoutey away 1t cost her Mfe.
Three years after. as she lay dying. he begged to
see her once more. She sent to ask whether he
could yet say that he loved God better than he
loved her; and when he said no" her door was
closed upon him forever.
The author of this book apologies for violating
the usual custom which delays the biography
until the subject has passed away, but admirers
of Ruskin will be glad to have work which bears
so many marks. unacknowledged it is true, but
none the less plain, of his approval.
"THE NEW NERO"
Mr. Edgar Fawcctts latest novel. "The New
Nero, Up. F. Collier. is a well named reduction OF
some OF the phenomena Of physiology to the terms of
the rnmance., Enr clara canaln