What has been, what is, and what is likely to be the influence of the life and the work which have been described in these volumes? The influence of Ruskin's various books at the time when they severally appeared has been noted in due course of my story; but at the close of it some general survey may be attempted.

The first volume showed Ruskin as mainly engaged upon the work of art-criticism. No one, I imagine, will dispute that of all writers upon art in the English language, Ruskin has been the most influential. He has been the most read; among other reasons because he is one of the few writers on the subject who are readable. And he has been the most read among the people who counted for most in their generation. He inspired artists. He formed public taste. To take only some of the greater names: Leighton, Millais, Holman Hunt, Burne-Jones, and William Morris have all recorded the debt which they owed at one time or another to the author ofModern Painters andThe Stones. He interpreted Turner; he introduced the “Primitives”; he defended the Pre-Raphaelites; he inspired much of the Gothic Revival. The larger number of educated persons during at least two generations saw pictures, architecture, scenery with eyes directed and enlarged by Ruskin. The art-literature of those generations was largely founded upon him and borrowed from him. Bibliography is the surest basis of historical criticism in literature; though because it is humble and laborious, its aid is often neglected.