of Oxford.

"Which will give me as much power as I can well use--and would have
given pleasure to my poor father--and therefore to me--once.... It
will make no difference in my general plans, about travel, etc. I
shall think quietly of it as I drive up towards St. Gothard to-day.

"Ever, my dearest mother, ever your loving son,

"J. Ruskin."

Six years earlier, while being examined before the Royal Academy
commission, he had been asked: "Has it ever struck you that it would be
advantageous to art if there were at the universities professors of art
who might give lectures and give instruction to young men who might
desire to avail themselves of it, as you have lectures on geology and
botany?" To which he had replied: "Yes, assuredly. The want of interest
on the part of the upper classes in art has been very much at the bottom
of the abuses which have crept into all systems of education connected
with it. If the upper classes could only be interested in it by being
led into it when young, a great improvement might be looked for,
therefore I feel the expediency of such an addition to the education of
our universities." His interest in the first phase of University
Extension, and his gifts of Turners to Oxford and Cambridge, had shown
that he was ready to go out of his way to help in the cause he had
promoted. His former works on art, and reputation as a critic, pointed
to him as the best qualified man in the country for such a post. He had
been asked by his Oxford friends, who were many and influential, to
stand for the Professorship of Poetry, three years earlier. There was no
doubt that the election would be a popular one, and creditable to the
University. On the other hand, Ruskin as Professor would have a certain
sanction for his teaching, he believed; the title and the salary of L358
a year were hardly an object to him; but the position, as accredited
lecturer and authorised instructor of youth, opened up new vistas of
usefulness, new worlds of work to conquer; and he accepted the
invitation. On August 10th he was elected Slade Professor.

He returned home by the end of August to prepare himself for his new
duties. During the last period he had been giving, on an average, half
a dozen lectures a year, which amply filled his annual volume. Twelve
lectures were required of the professor. Many another man would have
read his twelve lectures and gone his way; but he was not going to wor