subject, already opened in Fors 12th, of the Three Wise Men.1

"Three wise men of Gotham," I had nearly written; the remembrance of the very worst pantomime I ever saw, having, from the mere intolerableness of its stupidity, so fastened itself in my memory that I can't now get rid of the ring in my ears, unless I carefully say, "Magi," instead of "wise men."

Such, practically, is the principal effect of the Sacred Art employed by England, in the festivity of her God's birthday, upon the minds of her innocent children, like me, who would fain see something magical and pretty on the occasion-if the good angels would bring it us, and our nurses, and mammas, and governesses would allow us to believe in magic, or in wisdom, any more.

2

3

You would not believe, if they wanted you, I suppose, you wise men of the west? You are sure that no real magicians ever existed; no real witches-no real prophets;that an Egyptian necromancer was only a clever little Mr. Faraday, given to juggling; and the witch of Endor, only a Jewish Mrs. Somerville amusing herself with a practical joke on Saul; and that when Elisha made the axe swim,* he had prepared the handle on the sly-with aluminium? And you think that in this blessed nineteenth centurythough there isn't a merchant, from Dan to Beersheba, too honest to cheat, there is not a priest nor a prophet, from Dan to Beersheba, but he is too dull to juggle!

You may think, for what I care, what you please in such matters, if indeed you choose to go on through all your lives thinking, instead of ascertaining. But, for my own part, there are a few things concerning Magi and their doings which I have personally discovered, by laborious work among real magi. Some of those things I am going [Letter 12, § 18 (Vol. XXVII. pp. 211-212).]

2 [See above, p. 85 n.]

3 [See 1 Samuel xxviii. 7. See Letter 12, § 25 (Vol. XXVII. p. 215). Ruskin takes Mrs. Somerville (1780-1872) as the most conspicuous instance of a lady master of science.]

4 [See 2 Kings vi. 5-7.]

[Judges xx. 1.]

to tell you to-day, positively, and with entire and incontrovertible knowledge of them, as you and your children will one day find every word of my direct statements in Fors Clavigera to be; and fastened, each with its nail in its sure place.1

3. (A.) In the first place, then, concerning stars in the east. You can't see the loveliest which appear there naturally, the Morning Star, namely, and his fellows,-unless you get up in the morning.2

(B.) If you resolve thus always, so far as may be in your own power, to see the loveliest which are there naturally, you will soon come to see them in a supernatural manner, with a quite properly so-called-"miraculous" or "wonderful" light which will be a light in your spirit, not in your eyes. And you will hear, with your spirit, the Morning Star and his fellows sing together; also, you will hear the sons of God shouting together for joy with them; particularly the little ones,-sparrows, greenfinches, linnets, and the like.

3

(c.) You will, by persevering in the practice, gradually discover that it is a pleasant thing to see stars in the luminous east; to watch them fade as they rise; to hear their Master say, Let there be light-and there is light;1 to see the world made, that day, at the word; and creation, instant by instant, of divine forms out of darkness.

(D.) At six o'clock, or some approximate hour, you will perceive with precision that the Firm over the way, or round the corner, of the United Grand Steam Percussion and Corrosion Company, Limited (Offices, London, Paris, and New York), issues its counter-order, Let there be darkness; and that the Master of Creation not only at once submits to this order, by fulfilling the constant laws He has ordained concerning smoke, but farther, supernaturally or miraculously, enforces the order by sending a poisonous

1 [For this meaning of the title, see the Introduction to Vol. XXVII. (p. xxii.).] Compare Two Paths, § 137 (Vol. XVI. p. 371).]

3 Job xxxviii. 7.]

[Genesis i. 3.]

black wind, also from the east, of an entirely corrosive, deadly, and horrible quality, with which, from him that hath not, He takes away also that light he hath;1 and changes the sky during what remains of the day, -on the average now three days out of five,*-into a mere dome of ashes, differing only by their enduring frown and slow pestilence from the passing darkness and showering death of Pompeii.2

(E.) If, nevertheless, you persevere diligently in seeing what stars you can in the early morning, and use what is left you of light wisely, you will gradually discover that the United Grand Steam Percussion and Corrosion Company is a company of thieves; and that you yourself are an ass, for letting them steal your money, and your light, at once. And that there is standing order from the Maker of Light, and Filler of pockets, that the company shall not be thieves, but honest men; and that you yourself shall not be an ass, but a Magus.

(F.) If you remind the company of this law, they will tell you that people "didn't know everything down in Judee," " that nobody ever made the world; and that nobody but the company knows it.

4. But if you enforce upon yourself the commandment not to be an ass, and verily resolve to be so no more, then-hear the word of God, spoken to you by the only merchant city that ever set herself to live wholly by His law.†

"I willed, and sense was given to me.

I prayed, and the Spirit of Wisdom was given to me.1

I set her before Kingdoms and Homes,

And held riches nothing, in comparison of her.” 5

It is at this moment, nine o'clock, 27th October, tearing the Virginian creeper round my window into rags rather than leaves.

† See Fourth Morning in Florence. "The Vaulted Book." [Vol. XXIII.

p. 363.]

1 [See Matthew xiii. 12.]

2 [On the "storm wind," see above, Letter 59, § 5 (p. 443).]

3 The Biglow Papers ("What Mr. Robinson Thinks").]

[See, again, Mornings in Florence, § 91 (Vol. XXIÍÍ. p. 385), where Ruskin

corrects was given to me" to "came upon me."]

5 [Wisdom vii. 7.]

That is to say,-If you would have her to dwell with you, you must set her before kingdoms;-(as, for instance, at Sheffield, you must not think to be kings of cutlery, and let nobody else in the round world make a knife but you); -you must set her before homes; that is to say, you must not sit comfortably enjoying your own fireside, and think you provide for everybody if you provide for that—and as for riches-you are only to prefer wisdom,-think her, of two good things, the best, when she is matched with kingdoms and homes; but you are to esteem riches-nothing in comparison of her. Not so much as mention shall be made “of coral, nor of pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies."1

5. You have not had the chance, you think, probably, of making any particular mention of coral, or pearls, or rubies? Your betters, the Squires and the Clergy, have kept, if not the coral, at least the pearls, for their own wives' necks, and the rubies for their own mitres; and have generously accorded to you heavenly things,-wisdom, namely, concentrated in your responses to Catechism. I find St. George, on the contrary, to be minded that you shall at least know what these earthly goods are, in order to your despising them in a sensible manner;—for you can't despise them if you know nothing about them.

I am going, under His orders, therefore, to give you some topazes of Ethiopia,-(at least, of the Ural mountains, where the topazes are just as good),—and all manner of coral, that you may know what co-operative societies are working, to make your babies their rattles and necklaces, without any steam to help them, under the deep sea, and in its foam; also out of the Tay, the fairest river of the British Isles, we will fetch some pearls that nobody shall have drawn short breath for: and, indeed, all the things that Solomon in his wisdom sent his ships to Tarshish for,

1 [Job xxviii. 18.]

For a notice of the specimens of topaz in the Museum, see Vol. XXVI. p. lviii. Ruskin did not send the other specimens here promised.] 2 G

XXVIII.

-gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks,'—you shall see in their perfection and have as much of as St. George thinks good for you (only remember, in order to see an ape in perfection, you must not be an ape yourself, whatever Mr. Darwin may say; but must admire, without imitating, their prehensile activities, nor fancy that you can lay hold on to the branches of the tree of life with your tails instead of your hands, as you have been practising lately).

And, in the meantime, I must stop writing because I've to draw a peacock's breast-feather, and paint as much of it as I can without having heaven to dip my brush in. And when you have seen what it is, you shall despise it—if you can-for heaven itself. But for nothing less!

6. My fragment does not quite end here; but in its following statements of plans for the Sheffield Museum, anticipates more than I think Atropos would approve; besides getting more figurative and metaphysical than you would care to read after your Christmas dinner. But here is a piece of inquiry into the origin of all riches, Solomon's and our own, which I wrote in May, 1873, for the Contemporary Review, and which, as it sums much of what I may have too vaguely and figuratively stated in my letters, may advisably close their series for this year.

It was written chiefly in reply to an article by Mr. Greg, defending the luxury of the rich as harmless, or even beneficent to the poor. Mr. Greg had, on his part, been reproving Mr. Goldwin Smith-who had spoken of a rich man as consuming the means of living of the poor. And Mr. Greg pointed out how beneficially for the poor, in a thousand channels, the rich man spent what he had got.

1 [See 1 Kings x. 22.]

2 [The drawing is in the Sheffield Museum, and is shown on Plate V. in Vol. XXV. (p. 39).]

3

[Home, and its Economies (reprinted in On the Old Road, 1889, vol. ii. §§ 131147), of which article the author here reproduced part of § 135 and §§ 136–147 as §§ 7-19 of this Letter.]

4 ["What is Culpable Luxury?" (Contemporary Review, March 1873).]