The Queen presented five of the statues; and her example has
been followed by many of the graduates of the University and lovers of
Art in England.
Mr. Ruskin ends his second letter in the little book before us with
these words: "Although I doubt not that lovelier and juster expressions
of the Gothic principle will be ultimately arrived at by us than any
which are possible in the Oxford Museum, its builders will never lose
their claim to our chief gratitude, as the first guides in a right
direction; and the building itself, the first exponent of recovered
truth, will only be the more venerated, the more it is excelled."
Such is the way in which Oxford, having a Museum to build, sets to
work. She lays down a large and generous plan, and erects a building
worthy of her ancient fame, worthy to increase the love and honor in
which she is held,--a building that adds a new beauty to her old
beauties of hall and chapel, of quadrangle and cloister. She does not
mistake parsimony for economy; she does not neglect to regard the duty
that lies upon her, as the guardian and instructress of youth, to set
before their eyes models of fair proportion, noble structures which
shall exercise at once an influence to refine the taste and the
sentiment and to enlarge the intellect.
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