“Horrible party last night—­stiff—­large—­dull—­fidgety—­strange, —­run-against-everybody-know-nobody sort of party.  Naval people.  Young lady claims acquaintance with me—­I know as much of her as of Queen Pomare—­Talk:  get away as soon as I can—­ask who she is—­Lady (——­);—­as wise as I was before.  Introduced to a black man with chin in collar.  Black man condescending—­I abuse different things to black man:  chiefly the House of Lords.  Black man says he lives in it—­asks where I live—­don’t want to tell him—­obliged—­go away and ask who he is—­(——­); as wise as I was before.  Introduced to a young lady—­young lady asks if I like drawing—­so away and ask who she is—­Lady(——­).  Keep away, with back to wall and look at watch.  Get away at last.  Very sulky this morning—­hope my father better—­dearest love to you both.”

     “PARK STREET, 4 o’clock, (May, 1850).

     “MY DEAREST FATHER,

“We got through gloriously, though at one place there was the most awkward crush I ever saw in my life—­the pit at the Surrey, which I never saw, may perhaps show the like—­nothing else.  The floor was covered with the ruins of ladies’ dresses, torn lace and fallen flowers.  But Effie was luckily out of it, and got through unscathed—­and heard people saying ‘What a beautiful dress!’ just as she got up to the Queen.  It was fatiguing enough but not so awkward as I expected....

“The Queen looked much younger and prettier than I expected—­very like her pictures, even like those which are thought to flatter most—­but I only saw the profile—­I could not see the front face as I knelt to her, at least without an upturning of the eyes which I thought would be unseemly—­and there were but some two or three seconds allowed for the whole affair....

     “The Queen gave her hand very graciously:  but looked bored; poor
     thing, well she might be, with about a quarter of a mile square of
     people to bow to.

     “I met two people whom I have not seen for many a day, Kildare and
     Scott Murray—­had a chat with the former and a word with Murray,
     but nothing of interest....”

As one of the chief literary figures of the day, Ruskin could not avoid society, and, as he tells in “Praeterita,” he was rewarded for the reluctant performance of his duties by meeting with several who became his lifelong friends.  Chief among these he mentions Mr. and Mrs. Cowper-Temple, afterwards Lord and Lady Mount Temple.  The acquaintance with Samuel Rogers, inauspiciously begun many years before, now ripened into something like friendship; Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) and other men of letters were met at Rogers’ breakfasts.  A little later a visit to the Master of Trinity, Whewell, at Cambridge, brought him into contact with Professer Willis, the authority on Gothic architecture, and other notabilities of the sister University.  There also he met Mr. and Mrs. Marshall of Leeds (and Coniston); and he pursued his journey to Lincoln, with Mr. Simpson, whom he had met at Lady Davy’s, and to Farnley for a visit to Mr. F.H.  Fawkes, the owner of the celebrated collection of Turners (April, 1851).