o the dates, styles and history of Venetian buildings; but after
consulting and comparing all the native writers, it appeared that the
questions he asked of them were just the questions they were unprepared
to answer, and that he must go into the whole matter afresh. So he laid
himself out that winter for a thorough examination of St. Mark's and the
Ducal Palace and the other remains--drawing, and measuring, and
comparing their details.

His father had gone back to England in September out of health, and the
letters from home did not report improvement. His mother, too, was
beginning to fear the loss of her sight; and he could not stay away from
them any longer. In February, 1850, he broke off his work in the middle
of it, and returned to London. The rest of the year he spent in writing
the first volume of "Stones of Venice," and in preparing the
illustrations, together with "Examples of the Architecture of Venice," a
portfolio of large lithographs and engravings in mezzotint and line, to
accompany the work. It was most fortunate for Ruskin that his drawings
could be interpreted by such men as Armytage and Cousen, Cuff and Le
Keux, Boys and Lupton, and not without advantage to them that their
masterpieces should be preserved in his works, and praised as they
deserved in his prefaces. But these plates for "Stones of Venice" were
in advance of the times. The publisher thought them "caviare to the
general," so Mr. J.J. Ruskin told his son; but gave it as his own belief
that "some dealers in Ruskins and Turners in 1890 will get great prices
for what at present will not sell."

Early in 1850, his father, at his mother's desire, and with the help of
W.H. Harrison, collected and printed his poems, with a number of pieces
that still remained in MS., the author taking no part in this revival of
bygones, which, for the sake of their associations, he was not anxious
to recall--though his father still believed that he _might_ have been a
poet, and _ought_ to have been one. This is the volume of "Poems J.R.,
1850," so highly valued by collectors.

Another resurrection was "The King of the Golden River," which had lain
hidden for the nine years of the Ars Poetica. He allowed it to be
published, with woodcuts by the famous "Dicky" Doyle. The little book
ran through three editions that year. The first issue must have been
torn to rags in the nurseries of the last generation, since copies are
so rare as to have brought ten guineas api