New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-04
4 LECTURE BY RUSHIN.
TIE FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO HEARD 1T.
From The London Academy.

TIE FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO HEARD III.
From The London Academy
For years Mrs OConnor Morris Bishops
house in Prince Of Wales's Terrace was rem
devious OF authors and journalists, Churchmen
and politicians as well as Of french men ana
women Of distinction. One habitue was MIS-;
Augustus Craven n member OF the dehghliuI
De la Ferronnays family. whom one knows SO
in ina tely through her Rect q une Sour, ana
after AIRS. Craven's df.lth her Life was writ
ten by Mrs. Bishop In that drawlng-rcom IN
Prince of WaIcs's Terrace great things were
done. There heard Coventry Patlnore read
aloud his "Odes." and Mr. Ruskin lecture to
an audience Of guests on the occasion OF ono
of his last appearances in general society
| That in June Of the year 1885 inc
Professor, Mr.. Ruskin was then commonly
caled--and the name suited him who was, ana
was proud to be, a leachcr-had had his firSe
illness and his ccIr.Gg into the world again
was something in ;bo nature of resurrection
Such, at least, it seemed TO some, and there was
about the whole man a spiritual presence De-
longing only to those who, in one way or
other, are dead to this world During his Illness
he had grown his brown beard, and his timex
brow hair was brushed close TO his head. which
| is abnormally fiat at the top; so that at
little distance he looked like the picture OF
hooded Capuchin Friar Nor would that de-
scrption have been one he would wish to re-
pudiate For the Professor had been dreaming
many dreams during his illness and before
it. and once he had dreamed that ne was
friar of St Francis. After that, in actual wax
| ing life, ne in Rome, and each day on the
| steps of the Pinco, within sight Of the wlndo"
which
| dying eyes Of Keats, he used 10 give aims 10 an
old beggar man. The beggar man once kissed
his hand, wher"upOn the benefactor-ill Eng
lishman and Professor though he was-stooped
down, on an impulse, and kissed the beggar on
the cheek On the next day the beSgar came
to his lodging with tears Of gratitude and with
an offering-a shred Of the brown robe whch
had once been worn by ST. Francis. Then tho
Professor remembered his old dream, mat ne.
too was a Franciscan, and he set OF to Aas'si
and to the convent Of St Francis, where he had
his reward in a sight OF the freScOeS or Glollo
and much more besides.
But now he was back, for the moment in a
London drawing room, face to face with an
audience Of friends 1t is only fifteen years
ago, yet what changes, what endings, what
tragedies, come to mind as one recalls that m
teresting group! Mr. Lowell was there. man OF
the world, man of two continents. and hence
doubly mundane, yet also man of letters; alaSk
mundane now no more. Matthew Arnold was
there mundane, too by the measure OF the
man he had come to hear; not of this world
any more. Lord Leighton came late, and came
late purposely, nervous lest his senstiveness
should be shattered by some sally OF that lect-
urer OF whom. as "A critic, 1t had once pccn
said: Damn him. why doesn't he back MS
friends?" That sensitive presence is ours no
more: is that Of Sir Edward Burne Jones.
who summed himself that afternoon In Ruskin
favor Miss Jean IngelOw, true woman. ana
therefore Of Ruskin. was there; but she IS
not here: Mr. Hutton. OF The Spectator SAT
tury" a contrast in editors, Of whom one iS
taken and the other left And others OF the
then young generation are OF the elOer now
Miss Gladstone, great then a daughter and
Haam Tennyson, great then as a son. lie.
perhaps was a little bored by talk about Fran
cesca's Book" and took notes of that blue tie
of the lecturer of which he was to tell US in his
fathers future biography.
The lecture a good deal about Miss Fran
ces Alexander, that American woman who had
then spent half her life among the peasants or
Tuscany, studying their manners, their songs,
their legends their religion. Then the lecturer
spoke of chidrens hooks-ther needed grace,
their Imagination their sweet mission in deal
ing with peace, dutifulness and innocence Kate
Grecnaway, he said, he adored. and, catching
sight Of coy Lord Leighton he congratulated
him on having so much of the Goth in him
that ne cared to show the world the childhood or
a goddess. Lord Leighton not sure how to
take it, and the Professor went on quickly TO
say that 1t was only when Christianity was
fully interpreted to the nations that the Woman
and Child became the centre Of all that was
beautiful and pure in nature and in art. Com
ing to modern authors. Iiusk n-Vith whom Mr..
Henley would be one for Once-pad homage to
Dickens as a benefactor of the child. but no
word had he for George Eliot, an author he had
scorned And AL this gayly interspersed
with denunciations Of railway bridges steam
printing presses, moving machines, and The
Times" newspaper. Mrs. Bishop was happy
hostess that afternoon. or should have been;
but when you CONGRATULATED her she only re-
piled What a pity that Mr.. Brow ming could
not comet"
| Some OF Mr. G W. Cables own military
| experiences az a Conf derate soldier are to be
I