Unto this Last & Other Essays on Art and Political Economy

Front matter

EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS

ESSAYS AND BELLES LETTRES

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR OLIVER LODGE

Introduction

THE untoward theoretical basis on which Society has for so long been founded—a basis of individualism and competitive accumulation—is believed to be responsible for many evils ; it must certainly be held responsible for diverting the heaven-sent genius of John Ruskin from his primary task— the enlightenment and education of the human race in the perception of beauty and the religion of Art—and inflicting upon him the thankless and burdensome réle of a prophet amid a faithless and perverse generation. He became penetrated with the conviction that he must at all costs get his message delivered to a dislocated world; and, until he had so disburdened himself, no unrestrained enjoyment in natural beauty and artistic excellence was any more possible for him.

The year 1860 marks a turning point in his life. Up to that time he had written about Art and Architecture almost exclusively, but about 1857 we find his thoughts turning to what he called the Political Economy of Art, and troubling themselves not only about the spiritual meaning of human works, but about the conditions under which they were produced and distributed, and especially about the mistaken ideals which were rendering true spiritual meaning impossible.

Lectures on these subjects, delivered at Manchester in 1857 and published in the same year, were afterwards republished under the somewhat sarcastic title of “A Joy for Ever and its Price in the Market.” They reappear in this volume in their original form.

But by 1860 the colour of his thoughts had acquired a sadder and deepertinge. He no longer limited himself to the conditions underlying the production and distribution of works of Art alone, but began to brood over the conditions determining the production and consumption of commodities of all kinds. He was led to perceive that the ultimate test

vii

Vill Introduction of varieties of production and consumption was their influence upon human life itself ; that after all the human soul itself was the most vital and essential kind of manufacture with which a nation could concern itself; and that to this kind of production, when properly regarded, all else must be only subsidiary. He saw moreover that the foundations of our Society were laid on a basis of conquest and exaggerated inequality, inherited from more barbarous times, with a total disregard of this primary axiom.

He did not arrive at these conclusions without much sorrow and searching of heart. He had been brought upa Tory, and considered himself a Tory to the end ; nor was it in anything but pain and grief that he set himself to think out a basal scheme for political economy, truer and sounder than the mere unrestricted competition and cultivated acquisitiveness which hitherto had been treated as the foundation on which an abstract theory of Society could be built.

After publishing his views, and thereby rousing almost universal hostility and opposition, he went abroad to meditate further on the subject ; and in March, 1863, we find him writing from his retreat at Mornex :—

“The loneliness is very great, and the peace in which I am at present is only as if I had buried myself in a tuft of grass on a battlefield wet with blood—for the cry of the earth about me is in my ears continually, if I do not lay my head to the very ground.” And, a few months later :—

“T am still very unwell, and tormented between the longing for rest and lovely life, and the sense of this terrific call of human crime for resistance and of human misery for help, though it seems to me as the voice of a river of blood which can but sweep me down in the midst of its black clots, helpless.”

The old Economy had treated growing trade and material prosperity as the main object of life ; as if output of cotton and coal were an end of existence. The basis of the old theory was, that whereas individuals differed among themselves in every kind of mental and spiritual quality, they all agreed in possessing one fundamental instinct—the instinct

Introduction ix of gain or acquisitiveness,—they all united in an enlightened selfishness as the motive power and organizer of life: and it was assumed this universal quality would serve as the foundation for an abstract science.

Ruskin perceived clearly, what many economists have since pointed out, that such a narrow basis neglected the larger part of human nature, and reduced the motive power of humanity to its lowest terms. Abstraction in a science is all very well, and some amount of abstraction is necessitated by our limited faculties: we cannot bring the whole universe to bear on any particular problem; but abstraction which cuts away essential features, and deals with a fraction as if it were the whole, is liable grossly to mislead.

All admit it now, and it is difficult for us to imaginea time when such preachings could be regarded as obnoxious and heretical ; but the outcry which arose when his essays on the subject appeared under the editorship of his friend Thackeray in the Cornhill Magazine, and the suppression of the articles, first in the Cornhill and subsequently in Fraser, are proof positive of the novelty as well as the unwelcomeness of the higher note.

After three chapters of what is now called “Unto this Last” had appeared in the CornAzi/, Thackeray wrote to say that they were so unanimously condemned and disliked, that, with all apologies, he could only admit one more ; so witha fourth chapter, which was made a little longer than the rest, the series was hastily brought to a conclusion, and the author silenced for a time.

The reason of the outcry is not far to seek. So long as his heretical principles were applied only to Art, says his biographer, Society could afford to be amused; but when they aimed at the working creed, the comfortable scheme of all Society, the sanction of property as then held and constituted, and the justification of life as then lived, Society became indignant. And not only Society, but his father, who was only destined to live another year, and “ whose eyes had glistened over early poems and prose eloquence,” expressed strong disapproval of the heresies now promulgated by his idolized and only son. S x Introduction

The attack, however, on the orthodox principles of political economy was after all really parallel to his previous attack on the old orthodoxy in Art ; and so it happened that in both phases of his life he was consistently leading a revolt against ancient traditions, and preaching the newand unexpected. But in spite of appearances, and contrary to the impression at the time, he was essentially sane and really moderate throughout. His friend and biographer, Mr. Collingwood, truly says of him: “He did not demand—and this is important to note—he did not demand a state of society hopelessly unlike the present . . . he took human nature as it is, but at its best; not, as the older economists did, at its worst. He tried to show how the best could be brought out, and what the standards should be towards which education and legislation should direct immediate public attention.”

But it must not be supposed that in every detail Ruskin worked out his perceptions to correct conclusions. The outcry and fierce opposition served the purpose of giving him still clearer insight into the actual conditions of the time, and he continued the interrupted series of articles in a more pretentious and laborious form now called “ Munera Pulveris” ; but in the details of this difficult and specialized work he must be assumed to be liable to correction. In so far as the opposition of experts was due to these doubtful idiosyncrasies, it was partially justified, but unfortunately they did not till some time later admit that the main principles which he laid down are essentially and permanently true,

Even in the first series there are points on which hesitation and perhaps disagreement are very permissible, the most important of these being the advocated equal payment for good and bad workers alike—a doctrine which still provokes disagreement even among those who otherwise sympathise. It is a doctrine distinct from that of the minimum wage—the wage which suffices for bare subsistence —for it is intended to apply to all sorts of workers, and to the professions. ‘“‘ Sick, we do not inquire for a physician who takes less than a guinea”; the implication being that neither do we seek one whose charge is more.

Introduction Xi

It is true that, in practice, the custom of a uniform fee has to a great extent obtained among physicians; but few can hold it to be perfectly satisfactory. The result is that the famous man has more patients than he knows what to do with; while the younger, perhaps equally competent, certainly more leisured, but comparatively unknown man, may be not far removed from penury.

Equality of pay is also the trade-union principle; the stronger and more skilful has to subordinate his strength and skill to the standard of the weaker; the inferior workman has to be paid at the full rate. It sounds a Christian doctrine ; and that it was well intended who can doubt? But are its results admirable? It is a moot point, but it seems to tend towards lack of employment for some and over-work for others. In the divine scale it may be true that “all service ranks the same with God,”! it may be true that labourers hired at the eleventh hour receive their penny a day with the rest, it may be legitimate for far-seeing destiny to give “unto this last” even as unto those who were called earlier into the vineyard; but the result is that a number of labourers stand idle in the market place, and are not chosen to work at all.

It is a difficult problem, and I doubt if the last word on it has yet been spoken. But although it is emphasized by Mr. Ruskin, I do not regard that as the main gist of his teachings. The main principles must be otherwise summarized :—

Mr. Ruskin is always very precise in his use of language ; every word employed by him is employed with due thought given to its meaning and history and uttermost significance. Words in common use, like money, price, value, wealth, riches, are all by him carefully discriminated, and used each in its proper and distinctive sense. So one of his theses is that “riches” depend on inequality of possessions, and on the possibility of transfer, from one who has, to one who needs :—

“Men nearly always speak and write as if riches were absolute, and it were possible, by following certain scientific precepts, for everybody to be rich. Whereas riches are a

1 Browning, “ Pippa passes.”

Xil Introduction power like that of electricity, acting only through inequalities or negations of itself. The force of the guinea you have in your pocket depends wholly on the default of a guinea in your neighbour’s pocket. If he did not want it, it would be of no use to you.”

Riches are in fact the power of controlling service and directing transfer of goods; and this leads him to drawa perfectly scientific analogy between riches and electricity. Electricity all at one level or potential has no power whatever, it can do nothing. To get work out of it, it must be allowed to flow from a place of high to a place of low potential. Elevation of some portion confers energy. Depression of another portion equally confers energy. The greater the inequality the greater the riches. Not by any means the greater the wealth : that is a totally different matter. Wealth is that which contributes to the common weal or well-being ; it is really weal-th; and the possession of great riches is, in an extreme case, compatible with severe poverty—not only poverty of soul, but actual material poverty. For one method of making a preposterous Croesus of wealth would be for every one else in the world to be on the brink of starvation, Yet what man could wish to live amid surrounding misery? Is it not proverbial that the menials who minister to the rich are pampered? not for their own sake, but to add to the comfort of the rich person. “Among the blind one-eyed is king” ; yes, but who would wish to be monarch of a nation of blind? The kingdom is not worth having ; nor isa kingdom of the solitary rich among a nation of depressed poor.

Another thesis maintained by Mr. Ruskin is that honour is given to various employments, in recognition of, and in proportion to, the spirit of sacrifice which is supposed to enter into them. On this basis it is sometimes held that the merchant’s profession cannot be specially honourable, because it is supposed that, although his work may be necessary to the community, the motive of it is wholly personal.

Whereas, on the contrary, the business of the true merchant, and of righteous commerce, is of the most vital significance to men, and is really of more value than that of the highly

Introduction Xill honoured professions of the lawyer and the soldier. Rightly regarded, it will be found “that commerce is an occupation which gentlemen will every day see more need to engage in, rather than in the businesses of talking to men, or slaying them ; that in true commerce, as in true preaching, or true fighting, it is necessary to admit the idea of occasional voluntary loss ;—that sixpences have to be lost, as well as lives, under a sense of duty; that the market may have its martyrdoms as well as the pulpit; and trade its heroisms, as well as war.”

But the call to honour on Mr. Ruskin’s principles is a severe one, being the part which belongs to any other devoted and responsible leader of men :—

“And as the captain of a ship is bound to be the last man to leave his ship in case of wreck, and to share his last crust with the sailors in case of famine, so the manufacturer, in any commercial crisis or distress, is bound to take the suffering of it with his men, and even to take more of it for himself than he allows his men to feel ; as a father would in a famine, shipwreck, or battle, sacrifice himself for his son.”

Lastly, and chiefly, the central doctrine of Mr. Ruskin’s writings is this: that as consumption is the end and aim of production, so development or expansion of life is the end and aim of consumption,—the criterion by which the usefulness of production must be judged.

“ Consumption absolute is the end, crown, and perfection of production ; and wise consumption is a far more difficult art than wise production. Twenty people can gain money for one who can use it ; and the vital question, for individual and for nation, is never ‘how much they make ?’ but ‘to what purpose do they spend ?’”

And in his chapter on the “ veins of wealth” he contrasts real and spurious national wealth as follows :—

“In fact, it may be discovered that the true veins of wealth are purple—and not in Rock, but in Flesh—perhaps even that the final outcome and consummation of all wealth is in the producing as many as possible full-breathed, bright-eyed, and happy-hearted human creatures.”

X1V Introduction

In all our manufactures and commercial activity at present we are blindly seeking, what? It is a question somewhat hard to answer. We seem to expend energy by instinct, rather than by reason, and to be satisfied with much exertion without great regard being paid to the direction in which it is being expended.

Upon all this blind and ant-like activity Mr. Ruskin flashes the light of his analysis, and shows that the true wealth of a nation may depend in the long run upon quite other activities :

“It is open, I repeat, to serious question, which I leave to the reader’s pondering, whether, among national manufactures that of Souls of a good quality may not at last turn out a quite leadingly lucrative one?”

This idea runs as a guiding thread through the whole of his life and writings : his life message may almost be summed up in some such sentence. He says indeed that his object is “to leave this one great fact clearly stated : THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE. Life, including all its powers, of love, of joy, and of admiration.”

That is the great truth at the root of all his diatribes—a truth which he expressed in a hundred different ways ; sometimes by utterances humorously exaggerated in tone, sometimes in words forced from him by painful recognition of the difference between what is and what so easily might be. The artificial ugliness of portions of England, after visions of Switzerland and Italy, the strange ambition of English leaders to convert their own garden into a manufacturing desert, the clear and strong perception of the truth that after all the supply of food and necessities must come out of the land, lead him to speak thus :—

“All England may, if it so chooses, become one manufacturing town ; and Englishmen, sacrificing themselves to the good of general humanity, may live diminished lives in the midst of noise, of darkness, and of deadly exhalation. But the world cannot become a factory, nor a mine:” the world cannot support its population by manufactures alone. Wherefore, he rejoices to think, though one country may sacrifice itself, still, “So long as men live by bread, the far-away valleys must laugh as they are covered with the gold of

Introduction XV

God, and the shouts of His happy multitudes ring round the wine-press and the well.”

So Ruskin leaves with us what is virtually a plea for the simple life: all sharing in quiet pleasures, not competing in a miserable struggle for subsistence, or for extravagant luxury. No outrageous and unattainable ideal does he set before us, far away though it seems from the conditions of to-day. But the scales are already beginning to fall from our eyes ; and now one, now another, is perceiving that things as they are are stupid and wrong ; that they conduce to the happiness neither of the rich nor of the poor ; that violent inequality and unbrotherliness lead to pain and misery among all but the selfish—even among those who “have” ; while, among those who “have not,” it leads to stunted souls and a degrading search after forgetfulness and oblivion,—so that there is taken away from them even that which they have.

“What is chiefly needed in England at the present day is to show the quantity of pleasure that may be obtained bya consistent, well-administered competence, modest, confessed, and laborious. We need examples of people who, leaving Heaven to decide whether they are to rise in the world, decide for themselves that they will be happy in it, and have resolved to seek—not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure ; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity ; making the first of possessions, self-possession ; and honouring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace.”

OLIVER Lopcr. feb, 1907.

xvi Bibliography

The following is a list of Ruskin’s published works :—

Ruskin’s first printed writings were contributions to the ‘* Magazine of Natural History,” 1834-6, and poems in ‘‘ Friendship’s Offering,” 1835. Oxford prize poem, ‘‘Salsette and Elephanta,” 1839.

““Modern Painters,” Vol. I. 1843; 2nd ed., 1844; 3rd. ed., 1846—later ones followed ; Vol. II., 1846; Vol. III., 1856; Vol. IV., 1856; Vol. V., 1860. Selections from ‘‘ Modern Painters” have been published under the titles of ‘‘Frondes Agrestes,” 1875; ‘‘In Montibus Sanctis,” 1884; ‘‘Cceli Enarrant,” 1885.

‘*Seven Lamps of Architecture,” 1849; second edition, 1855. ““The Scythian Guest,” 1849 (from ‘‘Friendship’s Offering ”) ; “*Poems,” 1850 (from ‘‘Friendship’s Offering,” ‘*‘ Amaranth,” ““London Monthly Miscellany,” ‘‘ Keepsake,” Heath’s ‘‘ Book of Beauty,” with others not previously printed). ‘‘ Stones of Venice,” Vol. I., 1851; second edition, 1858; Vol. IL, 1853; second edition, 1867; Vol. III., 1853; second edition, 1867. ‘““The King of the Golden River,” 1851; ‘‘ Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds,” 1851; ‘‘ Examples of the Architecture of Venice,” 1851; ‘‘ Pre-Raphaelitism,” 1851; ‘‘The National Gallery,” 1852; ‘‘ Giotto and his works in Padua,” 3 parts, 1853, 1854, 1860; ‘‘ Lectures on Architecture and Painting,” 1854, 1855 ; ‘©The Opening of the Crystal Palace,” 1854; Pamphlet for the preservation of Ancient Buildings and Landmarks, 1854; ‘‘ Notes on the Royal Academy,” No. I., 1855 (three editions); No. II., 1856 (six editions); No. III. (four editions), 1857 (two editions) ; Nos. IV., V. and VI., 1858, 1859, 1875; ‘‘The Harbours of England,” 1856, 1857, 1859; ‘‘ Notes on the Turner Gallery at Marlborough House,” 1856-7 (several editions in 1857); ‘‘ Catalogue of the Turner Sketches in the National Gallery,” 1857 (two editions); ‘‘Catalogue of Turner’s Drawings,” 1857-8 ; ‘The Elements of Drawing,” 1857 (two editions) ; ‘‘ The Political Economy of Art,” 1857, published in 1880 as ‘A Joy for Ever”; ‘‘ Inaugural Addresses at the Cambridge School of Art,” 1858; ‘The Geology of Chamouni,” 1858; ‘‘The Oxford Museum,” 1859; ‘‘ The Unity of Art,” 1859; ‘‘ The Two Paths,” 1859; ‘‘Elements of Perspective,” 1859; ‘‘ Tree Twigs,” 1861 ; ‘‘Catalogue of Turner Drawings presented to the Fitzwilliam Museum,” 1861; ‘‘Unto this Last,” 1862 (from the ‘‘ Cornhill Magazine’’) ; ‘‘ Forms of the Stratified Alps of Savoy,” 1863 ; ‘‘The Queen’s Gardens,” 1864 ; ‘‘ Sesame and Lilies,” 1865 (two editions) ; **The Ethics of the Dust,” 1866; ‘‘The Crown of Wild Olive,” 1866 (two editions); ‘‘ War,” 1866; ‘‘Time and Tide,” 1867; “Leoni, a legend of Italy,”’ 1868 (from ‘‘ Friendship’s Offering ”) ; ‘Notes on the Employment of the Destitute and Criminal Classes,” 1868 ; “‘ References to Paintings in illustration of Flamboyant Architecture,” 1869; ‘‘The Mystery of Life and its Arts” (aftermoon lectures), 1869; ‘‘The Queen of the Air,” 1869 (two

Bibliography XVli editions); ‘‘The Future of England,” 1870; ‘‘ Samuel Prout,” 1870 (from ‘‘The Art Journal”); ‘‘Verona and its Rivers,” 1870; ‘‘Lectures on Art,” 1870; ‘‘ Drawings and Photographs illustrative of the Architecture of Verona,” 1870 ; ‘‘ Fors Clavigera,” 1871-84; “‘Munera Pulveris,” 1872; ‘‘Aratra Pentelici,” 1872; “Instructions in Elementary Drawing,” 1872; ‘The Relation between Michael Angelo and Tintoret,” 1872; ‘‘The Eagle’s Nest,” 1872; ‘Monuments of the Cavalli Family,” 1872; ‘The Nature and Authority of Miracle” (from the Contem

lorence” (in parts), 1875-7; ‘‘Proserpina” (in parts), 1875- 86; Vol. I., 1879; ‘‘ Deucalion” (in parts), 1875-1883; Vol. L., 1879; Vol. II. (two parts only), 1880, 1883 ; ‘‘ Ariadne Florentina,” 1876; ‘‘ Letters to the ‘ Times’ on Pre-Raphaelite Pictures in the Exhibition of 1854,” 1876; ‘‘ Yewdale and its Streamlets,” 1877; **St. Mark’s Rest” (3 parts), 1877-9, 1884; ‘‘ Guide to Pictures in the Academy of Arts, Venice,” 1877; ‘‘Notes on the Turner Exhibition,” 1878 ; ‘‘ The Laws of Fésole” (four parts, 1877-8), 1879; ‘‘Notes on the Prout and Hunt Exhibition,” 1879-80; “« Circular respecting the Memorial Studies at St. Mark’s,” 1879-80 ; “Letters to the Clergy” (Lord’s Prayer and the Church), 1879, 1880; ‘‘ Arrows of the Chace,” 2 vols., 1880; ‘‘ Elements of English Prosody,” 1880; ‘‘The Bible of Amiens,” 1884 (first published in parts) ; ‘‘ Love’s Meinie ” (Lectures delivered at Oxford, 1873-81), 1881 ; ‘‘ Catalogue of Drawings and Sketches by Turner in the National Gallery,” 1881; ‘* Catalogue of Silicious Minerals at St. David’s School, Reigate,” 1883; ‘‘ The Art of England,” 1884 (originally published as separate lectures) ; ‘‘ The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century,” 1884; ‘‘ Catalogue of Specimens of Silica in the British Museum,” 1884; ‘‘ Catalogue of Minerals given to Kirkcudbright Museum,” 1884; ‘‘ The Pleasures of England” (Lectures delivered), 1884-5; ‘On the Old Road,” contributions to Periodical Literature, 2 vols., 1885; ‘‘ Preterita,” 3 vols., 1885-9; ‘‘ Dilecta,” 1886-87; ‘* Hortus Inclusus,” 1887; ‘* Ruskiniana,” 1890-92; ‘‘ Poems” (Complete edition), 1891 ; ‘‘ Poetry of Architecture,” 1892 (from the ‘‘ Architectural Magazine”’).

‘Stray Letters to a London Bibliophile,” 1892; ‘‘ Letters upon Subjects of General Interest to various Correspondents,” 1892 ; Letters to William Ward,” 1893; ‘* Letters addressed to a College Friend,” 1894; Separate Collections of Letters, edited by T, J. Wise, were published 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1897; ‘‘ Letters to Charles Eliot Norton,” edited by C. E. Norton, 1897 ; ‘‘ Lectures on Landscape,” 1897 ; ‘‘ Letters to Mary and Helen Gladstone,” 1903.

Works, in eleven volumes, 1871-83; Library Edition, edited by E. T. Cook and A, Wedderburn, 1903, etc.

For Life, see W. G. Collingwood: ‘‘ John Ruskin, a Biographical Outline,” 1889; ‘‘ Life and Work of John Ruskin,” 1893 ; ‘‘ Life of John Ruskin,” 1900; Frederic Harrison: ‘‘ Englishmen of

Letters,” 1902.

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Contents

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ART

Lecture I ‘ . ; . . I I. DISCOVERY. : ° . scr as

2. APPLICATION ° . . .,. 120 Lecrure II p ; , ; oo ee) 3. ACCUMULATION. - ° Des}: