At the beginning of 1839 he went into new rooms vacated by Mr. Meux, and set to work finally on “Salsette and Elephanta.”  He ransacked all sources of information, coached himself in Eastern scenery and mythology, threw in the Aristotelian ingredients of terror and pity, and wound up with an appeal to the orthodoxy of the examiners, of whom Keble was the chief, by prophesying the prompt extermination of Brahminism under the teaching of the missionaries.

This third try won the prize.  Keble sent for him, to make the usual emendations before the great work could be given to the world with the seal of Oxford upon it.  John Ruskin seems to have been somewhat refractory under Keble’s hands, though he would let his fellow-students, or his father, or Harrison, work their will on his MSS. or proofs; being always easier to lead than to drive.  Somehow he came to terms with the Professor, and then the Dean, taking an unexpected interest, was at pains to see that his printed copy was flawless, and to coach him for the recitation of it at the great day in the Sheldonian (June 12, 1839).

And now that friends and strangers, publishers in London and professors in Oxford, concurred in their applause, it surely seemed that he had found his vocation, and was well on the high-road to fame as a poet.

CHAPTER IX

THE BROKEN CHAIN (1840-1841)

That 8th of February, 1840, when John Ruskin came of age, it seemed as though all the gifts of fortune had been poured into his lap.  What his father’s wealth and influence could do for him had been supplemented by a personal charm, which found him friends among the best men of the best ranks.  What his mother’s care had done in fortifying his health and forming his character, native energy had turned to advantage.  He had won a reputation already much wider and more appreciable, as an artist and student of science, and as a writer of prose and verse, than undergraduates are entitled to expect; and, for crowning mercy, his head was not turned.  He was reading extremely hard—­“in” for his degree examination next Easter term.  His college tutor hoped he would get a First.  From that it was an easy step to Holy Orders, and with his opportunities preferment was certain.

On his twenty-first birthday, his father, who had sympathized with his admiration for Turner enough to buy two pictures—­the “Richmond Bridge” and the “Gosport”—­for their Herne Hill drawing-room, now gave him a picture all to himself for his new rooms in St. Aldate’s—­the “Winchelsea,” and settled on him a handsome allowance of pocket-money.  The first use he made of his wealth was to buy another Turner.  In the Easter vacation he met Mr. Griffith, the dealer, at the private view of the old Water-colour Society, and hearing that the “Harlech Castle” was for sale, he bought it there and then, with the characteristic disregard for money which has always made the vendors of pictures and books and minerals find him extremely pleasant to deal with.  But as his love-affair had shown his mother how little he had taken to heart her chiefest care for him, so this first business transaction was a painful awakening to his father, the canny Scotch merchant, who had heaped up riches hoping that his son would gather them.