On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and LiteratureRuskin, John
General
On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature
Ruskin, John
Art; Essays; Literature
I have lived abroad, and I have remarked that there is a natural
facility in the French people, for instance, in acquiring a knowledge of
art, and of combination of colors, but I never saw more, but far less
desire or interest taken in the working classes than in England.--As far
as relates to their intellectual development, I say yes; but I think
there is a greater disposition to make them happy, and allow them to
enjoy their happiness, in ordinary associations, at _fetes_, and
everything of that kind, that is amusing or recreative to them.
But that is only on Sundays?--No; on all _fete_ days, and throughout, I
think you see the working man, with his wife, happier in the gardens or
in the suburbs of a town, and on the whole in a happier state; there is
less desire to get as much out of him for the money as they can; less of
that desire to oppress him and to use him as a machine than there is in
England. But, observe, I do not lean upon that point; and I do not quite
see how that bears upon the question, because, whatever interest there
may be in foreign countries, or in ours, it is not as much as it should
be in either.
But you were throwing a slur upon the character of the upper classes in
this country, by insinuating that abroad a great deal more interest was
taken in the working classes than in England. Now I assert, that quite
the contrary is the fact.--I should be very sorry to express all the
feelings that I have respecting the relations between the upper classes
and the working classes in this country; it is a subject which cannot at
present be discussed, and one upon which I would decline any further
examination.
159. You stated that the working men were not so happy in this country
as they were abroad, pursuing the same occupations?--I should think
certainly not.
You have been in Switzerland?--Yes.
And at Zurich?--Not lately.
That is the seat of a great linen manufacture?--I have never examined
the manufactures there, nor have I looked at Switzerland as a
manufacturing country.
But you stated that there was much more interest taken in the
intellectual developments of the working classes in foreign countries
than in England?--Yes; but I was not thinking of Switzerland or of
Zurich. I was thinking of France, and I was thinking of the working
classes generally, not specially the manufacturing working classes. I
used the words "working classes" generally.
Then do you withdraw the expression that you made use of, that in
foreign countries the upper classes take more interest in the condition
of the working classes, than they do in England?--I do not withdraw it;
I only said that it was my impression.
But you cannot establish it?--No.
Therefore it is merely a matter of individual impression?--Entirely so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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