At the end of
thirty years he had finished a plan for the building to his own entire
satisfaction; but Mr. Ruskin had been growing up in the meantime, and
had begun to write, and the founder, happening to come across his works
by accident one day, discovered his own ideas to be wrong from
beginning to end. However, as it was the Truth he was aiming at, and
not a justification of himself, he calmly burnt his plans, put his
fingers in his ears (figuratively speaking) that he might not hear the
rest of the world bray, and for ten years more devoted himself to the
study of Mr. Ruskin. At the end of that time he knew something about
proportion, about masses and intervals of light and shade; about the
grandeur and sublimity of size, and the grace and beauty of ornament;
about depth and harmony of colour, and all the other wonders that make
one sick with longing to behold them; and when he had mastered all this
he determined to begin at the very beginning, that is to say, with the
walls that were to enclose his vast experiment. Everything was to be
real, everything was to be solid, everything had to be endowed with a
power of expression that could not fail of its effect.
Pages:
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140