ure-cleaners; and an economical Government,
and a public that neither knew its own mind nor trusted his judgment. A
great outcry was set up against him for buying bad works, and spoiling
the best by restoration. Ruskin wrote very temperately to _The Times_,
pointing out that the damage had been slight compared with what was
being done everywhere else, and suggesting that, prevention being better
than cure, the pictures should be put under glass, for then they would
not need the recurring attentions of the restorer. But he blamed the
management for spending large sums on added examples of Guido and
Rubens, while they had no Angelico, no Ghirlandajo, no good Perugino,
only one Bellini, and, in a word, left his new friends, the early
Christian artists, unrepresented. He suggested that pictures might be
picked up for next to nothing in Italy; and he begged that the
collection might be made historical and educational by being fully
representative, and chronologically arranged.

CHAPTER III

"THE SEVEN LAMPS"

"Have you read an Oxford Graduate's letters on art?" wrote Miss Mitford,
of "Our Village," on January 27, 1847. "The author, Mr. Ruskin, was here
last week, and is certainly the most charming person that I have ever
known." The friendship thus begun lasted until her death. She encouraged
him in his work; she delighted in his success; and, in the grave
reverses which were to befall him, he found her his most faithful
supporter and most sympathetic consoler. In return, "his kindness
cheered her closing days; he sent her every book that would interest and
every delicacy that would strengthen her, attentions which will not
surprise those who have heard of his large and thoughtful
generosity."[2]

[Footnote 2: "The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford," edited by the
Rev. A.G. L'Estrange.]

It was natural that a rising man, so closely connected with Scotland,
should be welcomed by the leaders of the Scottish school of literature.
Sydney Smith, a former Edinburgh professor, had praised the new volume.
John Murray, as it seems from letters of the period, made overtures to
secure the author as a contributor to his Italian guide-books. Lockhart
employed him to write for the _Quarterly Review_.

Lockhart was a person of great interest for young Ruskin, who worshipped
Scott; and Lockhart's daughter, even without her personal charm, would
have attracted him as the actual grandchild of the great Sir Walter. It
was for