APOLLO FOR ATTLEE
JOHN RUSKIN: THE PORTRAIT OF A PROPHET.
By
Peter Quennel!.
Vi king F·ress. $3.75.
John Ruskin is a fascinating subject for a book, and Mr.
Quennell himself, the author of
Caroline of England
and
Byron: The
Early Y ears,
is an interesting phenomenon among contemporary bio–
graphers, yet the two together have produced a document that is both
dull and curiously unrewarding. Mr. Quennell is a writer of well known
accomplisments in biography and is less known for what he should be,
the author of a sensitive and memorable book of poems. Somewhere be–
hind the facade of Mr. Quennell's well-worn prose so polished that it is
almost threadbare, an obscure casualty has taken place; his fine sen–
sibility is deaf and blind to the Romantic ardours of the mid-Victorians;
I have little doubt that he found the writing of a book on Ruskin an un–
seemly bore, and I find it impossible to write an orderly review of it.
It is better to continue the present notice with a few commentaries on
Ruskin and a few speculations on the gifts of Mr. Quennell.
1.
In Britain the writings of John Ruskin are due for a revival.
Under the grey regime of a Labour government, new ancestors, new
prophets, new heroes are being sought, and in that search, Ruskin the
pampered, visionary son of a wealthy Scotch wine merchant has a place
among the pre-Fabian Socialists. Between 1864 and 1870 he delivered
lectures on art at the Working Men's College, and among his fondest
dreams were to teach workers the joys of painting after dark and to
establish pretty little tea shops where the poor could buy at low prices
and in a cheerful atmosphere small packets of pure tea. He devoted
much thought as to how the poor should be lured into these islands of
innocent pleasure, as to whether or not the signs in front of these es–
tablishments should be "of a Chinese character, black upon gold; or of
a J apanese, blue upon white; or of a pleasant English rose-colour on
green." H e actually attempted one venture of this kind which fail ed;
but without the signs, it has become one form of rationing today in
London.
2.
From 1854 (the year in which Effie Gray annulled her mar–
riage to John Ruskin) to 1947 (the year in which Admiral Sir William
J ames, grandson of Effie and her second husband, John E. Millais, and
