INTRODUCTION xxxi

Duchesse de Berri, and Henri Cinq. Ruskin took pride in the way in which his wife shone in such assemblies. The Austrian High Admiral came to Venice for a launch; she was invited to give the signal. They went on a visit of charity to the convent of the “Do good” Brethren. “You will do yourself a great deal of harm at the Carnival,” said the Prior to her; “we all know what a dancer you are.” “Fancy Effie’s fame as a dancer having extended,” writes Ruskin, “to the brethren in the Island Convent” (Dec. 21).

Sometimes, too, Ruskin went with his wife to other gaieties at Verona, where the famous Marshal Radetsky, then in his 87th year, had his headquarters. Ruskin had a sincere regard for the old General,¹ who on his part paid both to the English writer and his wife the most graceful attentions. The description, in a letter home, of one of the Marshal’s balls gives a lively account of old-world courtesy:-

“VERONA, 26th January [1852].-We arrived here very comfortably at two o’clock, and one of the Marshal’s aide-de-camps, Count Thun, was at the station. ... We had a lovely day to come here, and I never saw the mountains look more heavenly; about Vicenza especially, and the Euganeans in the soft wintry haze on the other side. I did not lose my time either, having read through the opinions of fifteen architects in the year 1577 as to whether the Ducal Palace could be saved after the fire,² with much edification, and as the Marshal opens his doors at eight, and likes people to come early, I don’t expect to be kept up very late to-night. However, I must go and dress, for I have been drawing a little, and had to call on the Minischalchis, which took up time.”

“VERONA, 27th January.-I have been as busy as I could be all day, in this heavenly city, and so could only send you the line I wrote last night. I will make Effie write you an account of the Marshal’s ball; one of the chief points about it was that there was entertainment for everybody; there were musicians for the dancers, cards for the whist-players, sofas for the loungers, and a library for the readers, with all manner of valuable books laid open, so that instead of having to stand with my back to the wall in a hot room the whole time, I got a quiet seat-and a book of natural history. Effie was well dressed, and allowed by every one to be the reine du bal. The old Marshal took her up the room himself to present her to the Maréchale, and then to the Archduke, Charles Ferdinand, another of the sons of the Archduke

¹ See a letter of 1859 to The Scotsman on “The Italian Question,” where, too, there is a reference to the ball here described; the letter was reprinted in Arrows of the chance, 1880, vol. i. p. 7, and is included in a later volume of this edition.

² For references to this book by Cadorin, see below, pp. 279, 336 n., 355.

[Version 0.04: March 2008]