Page:Literary Landmarks of Oxford.djvu/126

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
96

thought those thoughts; it was the real Tom Hughes. And the Teacher who taught that Boy of Rugby to think those thoughts, if he did nothing else in the world of thinking, certainly did not live and teach in vain.

Ruskin, after taking his degree at Christ Church, went frequently back to Oxford in the later days of his strength; and Professor Max Miiller reported him as being most charming and gentle in conversation, saying all his bitter things through the medium of pen and ink. In society he was tolerant and agreeable, as diffident as a young girl, full of questions, grateful for any information, and even in art topics listening almost deferentially to others who laid down their ideas of the law in his presence. This is a new view of Ruskin; and it does not sound like the Ruskin whom we have read and whom we never have heard talk.

Professor Max Muller added: "I remember once taking Emerson to lunch with him [Ruskin], in his rooms at Corpus College. Emerson was an old friend of his, and in many respects a cognate soul. But some indifferent subject turned up, and a heated discussion ensued; and Ruskin was so upset that he had to quit the room and leave us alone. Emerson was most unhappy, and did all he could to make peace, but he had to leave without a reconciliation."