the spell, and fifty years afterwards could look back upon the story as
a pretty comedy of his youthful days.



CHAPTER VII

"KATA PHUSIN" (1837-1838)


Devoted as she was to her husband, Mrs. Ruskin felt bound to watch over
her son at Oxford. It was his health she was always anxious about;
doctoring was her forte. He had suffered from pleurisy; caught cold
easily; was feared to be weak in the lungs; and nobody but his mother
understood him. So taking Mary Richardson, she went up with him
(January, 1837), and settled in lodgings at Adams' in the High. Her plan
was to make no intrusion on his college life, but to require him to
report himself every day to her. She would not be dull; she could drive
about and see the country, and to that end took her own carriage to
Oxford, the "fly" which had been set up two years before. John had been
rather sarcastic about its genteel appearance. "No one," he said, "would
sit down to draw the form of it." However, she and Mary drove to Oxford,
and reckoned that it would only mean fifteen months' absence from home
altogether, great part of which deserted papa would spend in travelling.

John went into residence in Peckwater. At first he spent every evening
with his mother and went to bed, as Mr. Dale had told him, at ten. After
a few days Professor Powell asked him to a musical evening; he excused
himself, and explained why. The Professor asked to be introduced,
whereupon says his mother, "I shall return the call, but make no