[The following letters from Ruskin, not hitherto published, are given here as showing the kind of correspondence which led him to write and print The Elements of Drawing (see above, p. xvi.). The letters (except the second) are undated; the address and dates are here added from the postmarks on the envelopes. They have been communicated by Mrs. Brassington, of Leamington.]

[Denmark Hill, Aug. 30, 1855.]

My Dear Madam,—You are just in the position in which many earnest young people are, and in which it is at present singularly difficult to help them—for there is in reality no wholesome elementary book on drawing. It seems very egotistic, but it is the truth, and I cannot help saying it—that I think if you will wait for four months more, my third volume of Mordern Painters, which will D.V. be out about Christmas, will tell you better what you want to know than anything else you could get; and soon I hope to be able to organize some system of school teaching and print a little account of it which may help you still more. But meantime—this much may so far help you—Drawing is the easiest of all accomplishments. But it cannot be learned in six weeks. To learn the piano, a girl gives, and must give, four hours a day for four years.