But his pessimism took the noble form of an intense
concern with the blindness and impenetrability of the world at
large. He made a theory of political economy, which, peremptory and
prejudiced as it is, is yet built on large lines, and has been
fruitful in suggestiveness. But he tasted discouragement and
failure in deep draughts. His parents frankly expressed their
bewildered disappointment, his public looked upon him as a perverse
man who was throwing away a beautiful message for the sake of a
crabbed whim; and he fell into a fierce depression, alternating
between savage energy and listless despondency, which lasted for
several years, till at last the overwrought brain and mind gave
way; and for the rest of his life he was liable to recurrent
attacks of insanity, which cleared off and left him normal again,
or as normal as he ever had been. Wide and eager as Ruskin's
tenderness was, one feels that his heart was never really engaged;
he was always far away, in a solitude full of fear, out of the
reach of affection, always solemnly and mournfully alone.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127