tice, and to the schemes of social and industrial reconstruction which he has advocated with zeal and persistency for over thirty years.

The main part of this book is devoted to a statement and a vindication of Mr. Ruskin's claim to have placed Political Economy upon a sounder scientific and ethical foundation than it had hitherto possessed, and to have built upon that foundation an ideal of a prosperous human society. The particular qualities and defects of Mr. Ruskin's criticism and constructive policy are examined in some detail, his repudiation of democratic ideas and institutions receiving special attention. The important contribution which he made to educational theories and experiments, and its bearing upon the wider social polity, are separately discussed, and chapters are accorded to certain themes, such as his attitude towards machinery and his view of the position of woman, which seem to demand separate treatment. Finally, some account is given of the constitution of the Society and Guild of St. George, and of the industrial and educational experiments either directly associated with the Guild or animated by the spirit of Mr. Ruskin's social teaching.

For many of the biographical facts I wish to express my indebtedness to the admirable work of Mr. Collingwood, "Life and Work of John Ruskin."

I have also to acknowledge the kindness and courtesy of Mr. Ruskin, and of Messrs. George Allen & Son, in permitting me the use of copious excerpts from Mr. Ruskin's published works.

J. A. HOBSON.

JOHN RUSKIN.

CHAPTER I.

FORMATIVE INFLUENCES OF EARLY LIFE.

§ 1. "An entirely honest merchant" and his wife. § 2. First impressions from literature and art. § 3. Education of nature and of books. § 4. A home-keeping youth-Dawn of the literary faculty. § 5. Undergraduate days at Oxford.

§ 1. ONLY those who are familiar with John Ruskin's estimate of the mercantile life and of the art of homekeeping can understand the full significance of the phrases in which he summed up the distinctive and essential virtues of his parentage. The first great “formative influence" in his life was the fact that he was the son of "an entirely honest merchant" and of “a consummate housewife."

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Scotch blood entered his veins from both parents, with some infusion of the Galloway Celt. Those who attach importance to the powers of "race" as determinants of individual character and work may find an interest in tracing the Celtic qualities in Mr. Ruskin's art and literature, and will attribute to this source the vivid imagination and the impulsiveness which give such brilliant colour to his social criticism. A surer

influence was exercised by the Jacobite traditions which prevailed for generations among his ancestors, and which in Scotland often coalesced with a deep enduring strain of evangelical religious sentiment. John James Ruskin and his cousin-wife, when they came South, in 1809, brought with them in powerful measure the qualities of grit and foresight, the commercial and intellectual acquisitiveness which have brought so many of the North Britons to the front in the struggle of life. The two great departments of business and home-life were ordered by them with equal diligence and success. Mr. Ruskin contributed the brains and energy to a great wine business with a famous reputation for high-class "sherry." "Entire honesty " he found to be an excellent policy, for he soon began to amass considerable wealth, which enabled him to satisfy, with an ample margin, all the demands of a luxurious home and a dignified social position. The status of a successful wine-merchant, even in an age when "trade" was less irreproachable in its respectability than now, was always good, being that of a responsible adviser to the aristocracy and gentry in one of the most important and critical departments of gentlemanly conduct the selection of their wine. This fact, more than any other, enabled the wine-trade, in its upper grade, to escape some of the demoralising effects of excessive competition, which have broken down the responsibility of a merchant to his "customers" in most trades.

Though closely devoted to his business, Mr. Ruskin, however, was never absorbed in it. Having received a sound and liberal education in Edinburgh, he enjoyed ample leisure and means for cultivating literary and

artistic tastes, and the reading aloud of good books and the collection and study of pictures form a large part of the early recollections of his son. Mrs. Ruskin seems to have been the stronger character of the two, determining with somewhat autocratic power all the larger issues, and exercising a constant and minute supervision over the early life and conduct of her only child. Her nature, as revealed to us in many scattered passages of John Ruskin's books, is too acutely positive, too unyielding in its power, to be very prepossessing, seeking and winning more respect and admiration than affection. As we read the story of his childhood, we feel his mother's "principles" are too obtrusive to be wholly pleasing or wholly profitable. "My mother's general principles of first treatment were, to guard me with steady watchfulness from all possible pain or danger; and for the rest, to let me amuse myself as I liked, provided I was neither fretful nor troublesome." 1 The words, "as I liked," however, require serious qualification, for "toys" were forbidden; and a sorrowful story is told of a carnally-minded aunt who gave the baby a splendid Punch and Judy, which was promptly confiscated by his mother, who said, "It was not right that I should have them,' and I never saw them again." Oldfashioned views about the place of punishment in education prevailed in the Ruskin household. "I was always summarily whipped if I cried, did not do as I was bid, or tumbled on the stairs." When it is added that her earliest conception of her special duty in education took the form of forcing John to acquire long chapters of the Bible with perfect verbal accuracy every morning, and

1 Fors, Letter li. (iii. 38).