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CHAPTER XIX - THE ST. GEORGE'S GUILD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2011

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Summary

“ Thoughts hardly to be packed

Into a narrow act,

Fancies that broke through language and escaped ;

All I could never be,

All, men ignored in me,

This, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped.”

Browning:Rabbi Ben Ezra.

The story of the St. George's Guild, of whichFors Clavigera was in one of its aspects the monthly journal, is in part a study in Utopia, and in part a record of things actually done. Ruskin's schemes, like those of other builders of Utopia, were large and picturesque. St. George's Company, or Guild, was to embrace all holy and humble men of heart. Its main effort was designed to show “ how much food-producing land might be recovered by well-applied labour from the barren or neglected districts of nominally cultivated countries.” It was to purchase land and to employ labourers upon it “ under the carefullest supervision and with every proper means of mental instruction.” Other lands, not purchased by the Guild, would be cultivated and managed by its “Companions” in the same way. Manufactures would not cease, but agriculture would be revived and extended. The Guild, under the name of the Society of Mont Eose, was to “extend its operations over the continent of Europe, and number its members ultimately by myriads.” On the lands of the Guild there were to be no machines moved by artificial fire; but machinery, moved by natural forces was to be employed on the largest scale. Floods were to be averted; fens to be drained ; sea-erosion to be checked.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1911

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