INTRODUCTION

XXV

common sense. This is an aspect of their relationship indicated in Præterita,1 and more fully told at various places in this edition. An interesting letter to Osborne Gordon, on Modern Painters, has been given in an earlier volume.3

The dearest and most enduring of Ruskin's Oxford friendships was with Henry Acland. Born in 1815, he was four years senior in age and two years in College standing. He formed, as we have heard, a protective friendship with the younger man, and nothing need be added to Ruskin's beautiful account of Acland in Præterita; while Acland's corresponding tribute to his friend has already been cited. Ruskin on his side assumed the position of mentor in matters of art, and the earliest Letters to Acland are written in this rôle (below, p. 19). In London, as in Oxford, the friends saw much of each other. When Acland had been absent from College, owing to ill-health, he records Ruskin's name among those present at a "wine" to celebrate his return; he mentions "a most agreeable party" at his lodgings in London, with "Richmond, Ruskin, Newton"; and in November 1841 he records a "day spent," at Herne Hill, "with curious Ruskin and his more curious household." By good fortune, they met at Chamouni when Acland was there on his wedding journey, and the friendship grew yet closer, Ruskin becoming almost "an adopted son," as he says, in Mr. and Mrs. Acland's household. Acland was with him and Millais at Glenfinlas in 1853.9 Ruskin did what he could to warn his friend against over-work (pp. 115-116), as in after years Acland was to try and save Ruskin from its dangers. He could rely on Acland's good offices as a physician in the case of Rossetti's fiancée, Miss Siddal (p. 205), and they were closely connected in plans for the Oxford Museum (Vol. XVI.). It was a source of great pleasure to both of them that they were elected Hon. Students of Christ Church at the same time (1859). Acland, as we have seen,10 when first given an appointment at Oxford (in 1845), had cherished the design of getting his friend there in some official capacity also, and letters in this Collection refer to successive endeavours to get Ruskin elected Professor of Poetry (p. 524) and Curator of the University Galleries (p. 542). The opportunity ultimately came with the institution of the

1 Vol. XXXV. pp. 250, 333, 436, 522 n. 3 Vol. III. P. 665.

• Vol. XXX. pp. 324, 325.

Compare Acland's statement in 1853, Vol.

Sir Henry Acland, a Memoir, by J. B. Atlay, pp. 71, 101.

• Vol. XXXVII. p. 234.

• See Vol. XII. p. xxiii.

10 Vol. XX. p. xviii.

Slade Professorship of Fine Art, and Ruskin's letter of thanks to Acland on that occasion has already been printed. The friends now became nearer to each other than ever. Ruskin, during his Oxford days, constantly stayed in Acland's house, and letters to Miss Acland 2 pleasantly illustrate Ruskin's affectionate relations with the family.3 Very rarely did her father miss one of Ruskin's lectures. Many of those who attended them must remember the stately presence of the Regius Professor of Medicine (as also frequently that of Liddell), and the little asides of affectionate reference which Ruskin used to introduce. Acland loyally took up the cudgels for Ruskin in connexion with the road-digging at Hincksey. Even the dispute about vivisection, which caused Ruskin's rupture with Oxford, left his friendship with Acland unimpaired. There is, indeed, among Ruskin's menfriendships none which was so completely untouched by fret or jar. The photograph by Miss Acland, which has been given in the preceding volume, was taken in 1893; it is a beautiful record of "the two old men of whom, after more than fifty years' friendship, it might well be said that they were lovely and pleasant in their lives.' It was their last meeting; and the fact that Ruskin was able to enjoy his friend's society with much of the keen and affectionate eagerness of old placed it among the happiest memories of his declining years.” 5

Another Christ Church friend, also somewhat Ruskin's senior, was Charles Thomas Newton, mentioned above, who rapidly became distinguished as traveller, diplomatist, excavator and archæologist. They had many tastes in common, and Ruskin acknowledges the sound, if chaffing, advice which Newton gave him about his early drawings. A certain note of Philistinism, perhaps assumed to tease his friend, has appeared in passages already given in which Ruskin describes Newton as a travelling companion. When Ruskin was absorbed in "the picturesque," Newton voted for "the picnicturesque," and when he dilated upon the beauty of the snows of Chamouni, Newton fixed his eyes on the moraines and was of opinion that "more housemaids were wanted in that establishment.” 9 There was, Ruskin tells us,

1 Vol. XX. p. xix.

* Below, p. 216, and Vol. XXXVII. p. 38.

3 Acland's elder brother, it will be remembered, was one of the original trustees of the St. George's Guild.

See Vol. XX. pp. xli., xliii., xliv.

5 J. B. Atlay's Memoir, p. 476.

His charming Travels and Discoveries in the Levant (1865) describe his excavations at Halicarnassus and elsewhere: see for particulars of his career, Vol. XXXV. p. 384 n.

7 See Vol. XXXV. pp. 385, 611.

• Præterita, ii. § 156 (Vol. XXXV. p. 385).

• Vol. X. p. xxiv,