ute
of British Architects intended to present him with their Gold Medal in
acknowledgment of his services to the cause of architecture; and during
his journey official announcement of the award reached him. He dictated
from Assisi (June 12, 1874) a letter to Sir Gilbert Scott, explaining
why he declined the honour intended him. He said in effect that if it
had been offered at a time when he had been writing on architecture it
would have been welcome; but it was not so now that he felt all his
efforts to have been in vain and the profession as a body engaged in
work--such as the "restoration" of ancient buildings--with which he had
no sympathy. It had been represented to him that his refusal to accept a
Royal Medal would be a reflection upon the Royal donor. To which he
replied:

"Having entirely loyal feelings towards the Queen, I will trust to
her Majesty's true interpretation of my conduct; but if formal
justification of it be necessary for the public, would plead that
if a Peerage or Knighthood may without disloyalty be refused,
surely much more the minor grace proceeding from the monarch may be
without impropriety declined by any of her Majesty's subjects who
wish to serve her without reward, under the exigency of peculiar
circumstances."

It was only the term before that Prince Leopold had been at Oxford, a
constant attendant on Ruskin's lectures, and a visitor to his drawing
school. The gentle prince, with his instinct for philanthropy, was not
to be deterred by the utterances of "Fors" from respecting the genius of
the Professor; and the Professor, with his old-world, cavalier loyalty,
readily returned the esteem and affection of his new pupil. A sincere
friendship was formed, lasting until the Prince's death.

In June, 1875, Princess Alice and her husband, with Prince Arthur and
Prince Leopold, were at Oxford. Ruskin had just made arrangements
completing his gifts to the University galleries and schools. The Royal
party showed great interest in the Professor and his work. The Princess,
the Grand Duke of Hesse, and Prince Leopold acted as witnesses to the
deed of gift, and Prince Arthur and Prince Leopold accepted the
trusteeship.

With all the Slade Professor's generosity, the Ruskin drawing school,
founded in these fine galleries to which he had so largely contributed,
in a palatial hall handsomely furnished, and hung with Tintoret and
Luini, Burne-Jones and Rosset