y by his
previous works. The _Stones of Venice_ will increase the fame won by his
"Modern Painters." The _Literary Gazette_ says:

"It is a book for which the time is ripe, and it cannot fail to
produce the most beneficial results, directly and indirectly,
on our national architecture. The low condition into which that
has fallen has been long felt. Mr. Ruskin has undertaken to
lead us back to the first principles of the art, and, in doing
so, to enable every reader who will bestow the necessary
attention to his exposition, to discover for himself the causes
of this decline, and to master the principles, by attention to
which, the significance and dignity of the art may be restored.
The subject is one of the widest interest; but it has been so
hedged about with technical difficulties as to debar from its
study all who had not more leisure, more perseverance, and more
money, than fall to the lot of the majority of even cultivated
minds. At once popular and profound, this book will be
gratefully hailed by a circle of readers even larger than Mr.
Ruskin has found for his previous works. He has so written as
to catch the ear of all kinds of persons: 'Every man,' he says
truly, 'has at some time of his life personal interest in
architecture. He has influence on the design of some public
building; or he has to buy, or build, or alter his own house.
It signifies less, whether the knowledge of other arts be
general or not; men may live without buying pictures or
statues; but in architecture all must in some way commit
themselves; they _must_ do mischief, and waste their money, if
they do not know how to turn it to account. Churches, and
shops, and warehouses, and cottages, and small row, and place,
and terrace houses, must be built and lived in, however joyless
and inconvenient. And it is assuredly intended that all of us
should have knowledge, and act upon our knowledge, in matters
in which we are daily concerned, and not be left to the caprice
of architects, or mercy of contractors."

"Those who live in cities are peculiarly dependent for
enjoyment upon the beauty of its architectural features. Shut
out from mountain, river, lake, forest, cliff, and hedgerow,
they must either find in streets and squares food for pleasant
contemplation, or be draw