IV. FONTAINEBLEAU 307

the Natural History of Enthusiasm,¹ and was perfectly happy and contented, to the end of his time.

69. Finding him proud of his little church and its weather-cock, I made a drawing of it for him,² in my best manner, at sunset, with a moonrise behind. He objected a little to having the sky upside down, with the darkest blue at the bottom, to bring out the church; but somehow, everybody at this time had begun to believe in me, and think I knew more about drawing than other people: and the meekness with which Mr. Brown would listen to me lecturing on Michael Angelo, from a series of outlines of the Last Judgment which I had brought from Rome, with the muscles engraved all over the bodies like branch railroads, remains wholly phenomenal and mystic in my memory. Nobody is ever the least meek to me now, when I do know something about it.

But Mr. Brown and his wife were in all ways extremely kind to me, and seemed to like having me with them. It was perhaps only their politeness: I can neither fancy nor find anything in myself at this time which could have been pleasant to anybody, unless the mere wish to be pleasant, which I had always; seeking to say, so far as I could honestly, what would be agreeable to whomsoever I spoke to.

70. From Wendlebury I went home, and made final preparation, with Gordon’s help, for taking my degree in the spring. I find entry on Nov. 16th, 1841, at Herne Hill, “I have got my rooms in order at last; I shall set to work on my reading to-morrow, methodically, but not hard.” Setting my rooms in order has, throughout life, been an occasionally complacent recreation to me; but I have never succeeded in keeping them in order three days after they were in it.³

On the day following comes this: “Mem., why is

¹ [See above, § 53, p. 291. For Ruskin’s letters to Mr. Brown, see Vol. XXXVI.]

² [Now, with another also of Wendlebury, in the possession of Mr. Brown’s daughters.]

³ [See the Introduction to Vol. XXXIII. p. xxiii.]

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