Ruskin in Oxford, and Other Studies

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904. Excerpt: ... Ill WHITBY ABBEY A STUDY OF CELTIC AND LATIN MONASTICISM The materials for the history of the earlier Abbey are very scanty; he who interprets them under influences of modern ideas is certain to make mistakes. My aim has been simply to draw a contrast between the earlier and the later foundations of Streoneshalh, and thereby to bring before your eyes the forgotten phenomena of a very ancient Celtic community, which differs in many striking points from Benedictine monasteries. I am aware that I have, with eyes open, passed over many important matters in the history of Whitby. Thus, we might have spent an interesting hour dealing with the organisation of the Benedictine Abbey; or we might have studied M AN ANCIENT COMMUNITY 97 the effects of this well-marked corporate existence on the constitutional and social growth of England; or we might have picked up fascinating details in the more modern story of Cleveland; or we might easily have been engrossed by the beauties and the varied natural history of Whitby. It seemed better to bear in mind one thought only, and so to make this essay an account of the structure of a community which is now entirely forgotten among us, partly through antiquity, still more because, consciously or not, we are apt to deal with it in terms of a technical kind which are, in fact, so many anachronisms. It is by such unnoticed changes in thought and speech, from age to age, that our theology and our history are ever suffering distortion and degradation: our view of life is blurred; the long perspectives, with all their sweet irregularities and far-off distances, are reduced by us, till they become a skilful bit of painting projected on a smooth level canvas a few feet from our eyes. Those whose aim is the discernment of truth will w...