THE INFLUENCE OF RUSKIN
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The very interesting article on the tragic side of Ruskin's life seems to me hardly to recognize the value of the enormous influence he had on his contemporaries ; how he opened their eyes to beauty and made all sorts and conditions of men to think, perhaps especially those who disagreed with him.
There was another aspect of his life with which few I think are acquainted. It was he who first started Miss Octavia Hill on the work which has made her name known all over the world. In the early seventies he bought two tiny courts in Marylebone, Freshwater Place and Paradise Row (names of promise !) and placed them under her management.
It is in recognition of this that in the very beautiful memorial which is shortly to be put up in Crockham church her feet rest against a little pile of his books.—I am, Sir, &c., MARGARET J. SHAEN.
15 Upper Pldllimore Gardens, W.8.
[We agree with the writer. Ruskin's influence is an ever- living thing the extent of which it is almost impossible to estimate. A review on Mrs. Williams-Ellis' Life of Ruskin gives our views and appears on page 661.—ED. Spectator.]
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