Year: 1879

London Letter to San Francisco Chronicle.


Between thirty and thirty five,


Ruskin met and was delighted with


very pretty and graceful young


woman of 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 sufficiently to ask


her to be his wife, and she, apureci-


ating his gifts and scholarship, and
.hattered by the preference of so dis


tlnguished man, accepted his of


fer. He questioned her, it is re


ported, as to the nature of her af-


lection; expressed the hope that it


was spiritual rather than emotional,


mainly Platonic in character, as ne


confessed his own to be. AS may


be inferred, she answered il the af-


firmative, and doubtless believed


very firmly every syllable she ut


tered. 1t would be strange, indeed,


if any woman should imagine or al


low herself to be less ethereal of


sentiment than any man on the


planet. With the mutual under


standing that theirs was to be un-


ion 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 admired her beauty-he
probably regarded 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 friend Millais, who,
with Holman Hunt, Charles Collins,
Dante Russell and others, formed
and still form the Raphaelite school,
to transfer her features to canvas.
She gave the painter a number of
sittings, and the husband was so
much concerned in the work that he
sometimes watched its progress.
Millais, as is well known, is hand
some and winning-he was espec-
tally 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 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
~ hoA
slightest indiscreet or conventional,
or to have intimated one to the 9th
er 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 a scene with his
wife. He told her gently of what
he had perceived and assured her of
his continued friendship and esteem,
and of his earnest desire to pro-
mote 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-Jhe surpris
es OF the heart are usually over
whelming-but very soon she ac
knowledged the truth, and the
painter did likewise. The critic
condemned himself for dullness in
a Platonic marriage natu
'al or satisfactory, and announced |
lis willingness, yea gladness, to as
'ist the pair to felicity they were
obviously fitted for. Instead |
IF putting any obstacle in the way,
ne would remove the only one to
heir love and happpiness-himself
and he kept his word faithfully |
Juder the peculiar circumstances
here was no trouble in claiming
iivorce. The matter was managed |
privately without any scandal, and
n due time Mrs. Ruskin, who was,
became Mrs. Millais, who is. They
lave proved to be from all accounts
most harmonious couple, and they
re as much to one another to day
IS they were during the honeymoon.
Moreover, Ruskin continues to be
he firm friend of both, visiting
hem regularly and sharing in re-
Iected manner their happinesss-a
act which demonstrates the large


ess and nobility of Ruskin's ma
ure. Millais' famous picture-it
las been engraved and is very com
non-"The Hugenot Lovers" is


eclared to be, as respects the young1
almost faithful portrait of
be artists wife, and the alleged
act has added not a little to its