AS (1674-1757).--Grammarian, _b._ in Banffshire, and _ed._
at King's Coll., Aberdeen, obtained a position in the Advocates' Library
in Edin., of which in 1730 he became Librarian. In 1714 he _pub._ his
_Rudiments of the Latin Tongue_, which was for long the recognised Latin
grammar in the schools of Scotland. He was made printer to the Univ. in
1728. R., who was one of the greatest of Scottish Latinists, produced an
ed. of the works of George Buchanan, and an ed. of _Livy_ said to be
"immaculate." He also reprinted, with notes, Gavin Douglas's version of
the _AEneid_.

RUSKIN, JOHN (1819-1900).--Writer on art, economics, and sociology, was
_b._ in London, the _s._ of a wealthy wine merchant, a Scotsman. Brought
up under intellectually and morally bracing Puritan influences, his
education was mainly private until he went to Oxf. in 1836; he remained
until 1840, when a serious illness interrupted his studies, and led to a
six months' visit to Italy. On his return in 1842 he took his degree. In
1840 he had made the acquaintance of Turner, and this, together with a
visit to Venice, constituted a turning point in his life. In 1843
appeared the first vol. of _Modern Painters_, the object of which was to
insist upon the superiority in landscape of the moderns, and especially
of Turner, to all the ancient masters. The earnestness and originality
of the author and the splendour of the style at once called attention to
the work which, however, awakened a chorus of protest from the adherents
of the ancients. A second vol. appeared in 1846, the third and fourth in
1856, and the fifth in 1860. Meanwhile he had _pub._ _The Seven Lamps of
Architecture_ (1849), _The Stones of Venice_ (1851-53), perhaps his
greatest work, _Lectures on Architecture and Painting_ (1854), _Elements
of Drawing_ (1856), and _Elements of Perspective_ (1859). During the 17
years between the publication of the first and the last vols. of _Modern
Painters_ his views alike on religion and art had become profoundly
modified, and the necessity of a radical change in the moral and
intellectual attitude of the age towards religion, art, and economics in
their bearing upon life and social conditions had become his ruling idea.
He now assumed the _role_ of the prophet as Carlyle, by whose teaching he
was profoundly influenced, had done, and the rest of his life was spent
in the endeavour to turn the mind of the nation in the direction he
desired. _The Political Econom