_INTRODUCTORY NOTE_
_John Ruskin (1819-1900), the greatest master of ornate prose in the
English language, was born in London and educated at Oxford. He
studied painting, and became a graceful and accurate draftsman, but he
early transferred his main energies from the production to the
criticism and teaching of art. In 1843 appeared the first volume of
"Modern Painters" and succeeding volumes continued to be published till
it was completed by the fifth in 1860. The startling originality of
this work, both in style and in the nature of its esthetic theories,
brought the author at once into prominence, though for some time he was
more attacked than followed. Meanwhile he extended his scope to
include other fields. In "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" (1849) and
"The Stones of Venice" (1851-53) he applied his theories to
architecture; in "Pre-Raphaelitism" (1851) he came to the defense of
the new school of art then beginning to agitate England; in "Unto this
Last" (1861) and many other writings he attacked the current political
economy._
_In spite of the great variety of the themes of Ruskin's numerous
volumes, there are to be found, underlying the eloquent argument,
exposition, and exhortation of all, a few persistent principles. The
application of these principles in one place is often inconsistent with
that in another, and Ruskin frankly reversed his opinion with great
frequency in successive editions of the same work; yet he continued to
use a dogmatic tone which is at once his strength and his weakness._
_The two lectures which constitute "Sesame and Lilies" deal ostensibly
with the reading of books; but in characteristic fashion the author
brings into the discussion his favorite ideas on ethics, esthetics,
economics, and many other subjects. It thus gives a fairly
comprehensive idea of the nature of the widespread influence which he
exerted on English life and thought during the whole of the second half
of the nineteenth century. Its style also, in its earnestness, its
richness, and its lofty eloquence, exemplifies the pitch to which he
brought the tradition of the highly decorated prose cultivated by De
Quincey in the previous generation, a pitch of gorgeousness in color
and cadence which has been surpassed by none._