INTRODUCTION lvii

“Have you done anything to the drawings of birds yet? I am terrified lest any harm happen to them in framing.¹ Pray tell me they are safe, and if the large pictures are still down, and you continue to like them so. Effie sends her best love, and says (which my letter above will confirm), first, ‘that she is as wild as ever; secondly, which is rather inconsistent with my statements, ‘that she hopes to come and have some more walks at Farnley,’ which I am exceedingly glad to hear; and lastly, that she hopes ‘to come to be kept in order by you again some day,’ which is the most sensible thing I have heard her say for a long time. Our best regards to Mrs. Fawkes.

“Ever, my dear Mr. Fawkes,

“Most sincerely yours,

“J. RUSKIN.”²

The pamphlet was not reprinted till 1862, and the dedication, above referred to, was then withdrawn, for in the interval Ruskin’s relations with Farnley had been broken off. In 1884, on the invitation of the next generation of its masters, he visited the Hall again; some letters and reminiscences referring to that visit will be found in a later volume of this edition.

The manuscript of the latter portion of the pamphlet (§ 40 to the end) is in Mr. Allen’s possession, written on seventeen leaves of blue foolscap. A facsimile of a page of it is given between pp. 392 and 393. A few variations in the printed text are noted in their place. Bibliographical particulars are given on p. 338.

With the next pieces in this collection-consisting of Letters to the Times on the National Gallery-we come to another of Ruskin’s interests during the years now under discussion-an interest which, later on, was to become more direct in connexion with Turner’s bequest

¹ This allusion is thus explained by Mrs. Ayscough Fawkes: “There is a book of birds’ feathers, complied by a member of the Fawkes family early in the century, in the library at Farnley; on one side the feathers from the head, back, breast, etc., fastened down; on the other side of the page, drawings of the bird by various hands; of these some twelve are by Turner, some of them said to be shot by him. Mr. Ruskin was of opinion that the fact of rubbing against the feathers was injurious to these works of art, which were very badly mounted, so they were placed in a book, and many years later we had them window-mounted with great care.”

² This letter is reprinted from the article in the Nineteenth Century already cited. The following postscript was there added: “Dear Mr. Fawkes,-Pray don’t mind what Mr. Ruskin says about me on the opposite page. I love you and dear Mrs. Fawkes and Farnley as much as ever, and no Austrians or anybody else will make me forget you or your kindness to me. Mr. Ruskin and I often talk of you and Mrs. Fawkes.-Ever, believe me, sincerely yours, EFFIE.”

[Version 0.04: March 2008]