They give the sense of being banded together
in a numerous ambush, they can deceive eye and ear, and even nose
with noisome stenches; but they cannot show themselves, and they
cannot hurt. If they could be seen, they would be nothing but limp
ungainly things that would rouse disdain and laughter and even
pity, at anything at once so weak and so malevolent. But they are
not like the demons of sin that can hamper and wound; they are just
little gnomes and elves that can make a noise, and their strength
is a spiteful and a puny thing.
Ruskin had no sordid or material fears; he had no fear of poverty,
for he flung his father's hard-earned wealth profusely away; nor
did he fear illness; indeed one of the bravest and most gallant
things about him was the way in which he talked and wrote about his
insane fits, described his haunted visions, told, half-ruefully,
half-humorously, how he fought and struggled with his nurses, and
made fun of the matter. That was a very courageous thing to do,
because most people are ashamed of insanity, no doubt from the old
sad ignorant tradition that it was the work of demoniacal agencies,
and not a mere disease like other diseases.
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