I am really ashamed to give any farther account, just now, of the delays in our land work, or of little crosses and worries blocking my first attempt at practice. One of the men whom I thought I had ready for this Worcestershire land, being ordered, for trial, to do a little bit of rough work in Yorkshire that I might not torment Mr. Baker with his freshmanship, threw up the task at once, writing me a long letter of which one sentence was enough for me,—that “he would do his share, but no more.” These infernal notions of Equality and Independence are so rooted, now, even in the best men’s minds, that they don’t so much as know even what Obedience or Fellowship mean! Fancy one of Nelson’s or Lord Cochrane’s men retreating from his gun, with the avowed resolution to ‘do no more than his share’! However, I know there’s good in this man, and I doubt not he will repent, and break down no more; but I shall not try him again for a year. And I must be forgiven my St. George’s accounts this month. I really can’t let the orchises and hyacinths go out of flower while I’m trying to cast sums; and I’ve been two whole days at work on the [[193]]purple marsh orchis alone, which my botanical readers will please observe is in St. George’s schools to be called ‘Porphyria veris,’ ‘Spring Purplet.’ It is, I believe, Ophelia’s “long purple.” There are a quantity of new names to be invented for the whole tribe, their present ones being not by St. George endurable.
The subjoined letter gives me great pleasure: it is from a son of my earliest Oxford friend: who, as his father helped me in educating myself, is now helping me in the education of others. I print it entire; it may give some of my readers an idea of the minor hindrances which meet one at every step, and take as much time to conquer as large ones. The work to be done is to place a series of the simple chemical elements as ‘Imps’ in a pretty row of poetical Bottles at Sheffield.
“Broad Street, Oxford, March 30, 1876.
“My dear Mr. Ruskin,—I knocked in vain at your ‘oak’ last night when I came to Corpus to report progress, and also to ask you two questions, which must be put to you by letter, as there is not much time to lose if you wish to have the alkaline earths ready by the time you go to Sheffield. Firstly, do you wish me to see about getting the metals of the alkalies, and if so which of them do you want? Some of them are extremely expensive,—calcium, for instance, being 2d. a grain; but then, as it is very light a very small quantity would be required as a specimen. The other questions were about the amount of the oxides, and about the shape of the bottles to hold them. I have in your absence chosen some long sample bottles which are very beautiful of their kind, and even if they do not meet your approval they can easily be changed when you return to Oxford. I am progressing fairly well with the earths—Magnesia is ready; Alumina and Baryta partly made, but not yet pure, for it is not more easy in chemistry to get a perfect thing than in any other matter with which man has anything to do, and to-day I have been extremely unfortunate [[194]]with the Baryta, having tried two methods of making it, broken four crucibles, and, worst of all, failed to make it in a state of purity: however I shall have one more try to-morrow, and no doubt shall succeed. If there is any chance of your being in Oxford before Easter, I will not make the Silica, since the process is very beautiful, and one which no doubt you would like to see. Please excuse the length of my letter, and believe me,
“Affectionately yours,
“Theodore D. Acland.”
II. Affairs of the Master.
I am aghast at the columnar aspect of any account given in satisfactory detail; and will only gradually, as I have space, illustrate my own expenditure and its course. That unexplained hundred of last month, diminished itself, I find, thus:
| £ | s. | d. | |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | |
| Klein, (final account on dismissal to Rotterdam, paying his passage, and a shilling or two over) | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Downs, for my London quarterly pensioners | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Morley, (Oxford bookbinding) | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Easter presents | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 | 1 | 6 | |
| Leaving a balance of | 26 | 18 | 6 |
to be added to the £200 of personal expenses in this month’s accounts. About a hundred and twenty of this has gone in a fortnight’s posting, with Mr. and Mrs. Severn, from London to Coniston, stopping to see St. Albans, Peterborough, Croyland, Stamford and Burleigh, Grantham, Newark, Lincoln, our new ground at Sheffield, Pomfret, Knaresborough, Ripon, Fountain’s, Richmond, Mortham Tower, and Brougham Castle. A pleasant life, you think? Yes,—if I led an unpleasant one, however dutiful, I could not write any of my books, least of all, Fors. But I am glad, if you honestly think it a pleasant life; why, if [[195]]so, my richer readers, do you drive only round the parks, every day, instead of from place to place through England, learning a thing or two on the road? Of the rest of the ‘self’ money, I leave further account till next month: it is not all gone yet. I give, however, for a typical example, one of Downs’s weekly bills, reaching the symmetrical total of £7 7s. 7d., or a guinea and a penny a day, which I think is about the average. Of the persons named therein as receiving weekly wage, Hersey is our old under-gardener, now rheumatic, and as little able to earn his dinner as I am myself; Rusch, my old lapidary, who cuts in the course of the week what pebbles he can for me; Best, an old coachman, who used to come to us from livery-stable on occasion, and now can’t drive any more; Christy, an old woman who used to work for my mother.
| 1876. | £ | s. | d. | |
| April 22. | Cash in hand | 30 | 12 | 8 |
| 29. | Men’s Wages | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Coachman’s Book | 1 | 16 | 10 | |
| Charities | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| Sundries | 0 | 13 | 9 | |
| £7 | 7 | 7 | ||
| April 29. | Balance in hand | £23 | 5 | 1 |
| Men’s Wages. | ||||
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| April 29. | David Downs | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| Thomas Hersey | 1 | 5 | 0 | |
| John Rusch | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| £4 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Coachman’s Book. | ||||
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| April 29. | Plate Powder, 1s.; Oil, 10d. | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Soap and Sand | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wages | 1 | 14 | 0 | |
| £1 | 16 | 10[[196]] | ||
| Charities. | ||||
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| William Best | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| Mrs. Christy | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| £0 | 16 | 0 | ||
| Sundries. | ||||
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| April 22. | Postage | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 24. | Rail and ’Bus, British Museum | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cord for Boxes, 1s. 6d.; Postage, 1s. 6½d. | 0 | 3 | 0½ | |
| 25. | Horse and Cart, Boxes to Station | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Carman, 1s.; Booking ditto, 6d. | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| Postage | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 26 | and 28. Postage | 0 | 0 | 2½ |
| £0 | 13 | 9 | ||
After thus much of miniature illustration, I have only to explain of the broad effects in the account below, that my Oxford secretary, who has £200 a year, does such work for me connected with my Professorship as only a trained scholar could do, leaving me free here to study hyacinths. I wish I could give him the Professorship itself, but must do as I am bid by Oxford. My younger secretary, who has £100 a year, is this year put into office, for St. George’s correspondence; and I must beg my good friends—now, I am thankful to say, gathering a little to St. George’s work,—not to think themselves slighted in being answered by his hand, for mine is weary.