xxiv INTRODUCTION

‘Cœli Enarrant’ begun again, with ‘Institutes of Mineralogy’;¹ and Præterita in full speed; and article on art for Chamber’s Encyclopædia.”²

Such entries are typical of bright and busy months which were not infrequent during these years, and which are reflected in the happy mood of Præterita.

And in this evening of his days Ruskin had also that which should accompany old age, in honour, love, the devotion of faithful disciples, and the sympathy of many admirers. This last was illustrated by the Complimentary Address, already printed,³ which was presented to him at Christmas 1885, with the signatures of most of the men of light and leading in the United Kingdom and the United States. He had also troops of friends. The years from 1885 to 1889 were spent in the main quietly at Brantwood, and Ruskin in his periods of good health was able to entertain many guests. Froude, for one, came on a visit in the autumn of 1886. I have seen a letter from Froude in which he says “how wholesome, how useful, how in every way precious were the days then spent at Brantwood; partaking in a simple and beautiful life, and breathing pure air, spiritual as well as material.” They had much talk about Carlyle, for the storm which Froude’s Life and subsidiary publications had caused was then raging. Ruskin was in the difficult position of being the attached friend both of Froude and of his antagonist in this matter, Professor Norton. His sympathies were, as has been said already,⁴ with Froude, whose picture of Carlyle was, he held, in the main true, and therefore what the subject of it would have desired. In some respects, however, he thought there was still something more to be said, and he proposed to write on the subject himself-partly to vindicate, and partly to supplement, Froude. “You are the only person,” Froude had written, “to whom I can talk about Carlyle, or from whom I could either seek advice or expect it.” And at a later time he said: “Your assurance that on the whole the selection which I made from Carlyle’s letters is a good one, has given me more pleasure than anything which I have yet heard on that subject.... I cannot tell you how I feel your own willingness to clear the sky for me in my own lifetime.” And, again, “Your proposal to bring out a small volume on Carlyle simply delights me.” This

¹ See Vol. XXVI. pp. lx.-lxii., where an account of the intended Institutes is given, and a fragment of it printed. For Cœli Enarrant, see Vol. III. p. lxiii.

² This article, however, was not written.

³ Vol. XXXIV. p. 733.

⁴ Vol. XXXIII. p. lii.

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