He saw both Protestants and Roman Catholics, in the perspective of history, converging into a primitive, far distant, ideal unity of Christianity, in which he still believed; but he could take neither side, after this.
The first statement of the new point of view was, as we said, the Inaugural Lecture of the Cambridge School of Art.

The next important utterance was at Manchester, February 22nd, 1859, where he spoke on the "Unity of Art," by which he meant--not the fraternity of handicrafts with painting, as the term is used nowadays--but that, in whatever branch of Art, the spirit of Truth or Sincerity is the same.

In this lecture there is a very important passage showing how he had at last got upon firm ground in the question of art and morality: "_I do_ NOT _say in the least that in order to be a good painter you must be a good man_; but I do say that in order to be a good natural painter there must be strong elements of good in the mind, however warped by other parts of the character." So emphatic a statement deserves more attention than it has received from readers and writers who assume to judge Ruskin's views after a slight acquaintance with his earlier works.

He was well aware himself that his mind had been gradually enlarging, and his thoughts changing; and he soon saw as great a difference between himself at forty and at twenty-five, as he had formerly seen between the Boy poet and the Art critic.

He became as anxious to forget his earlier books, as he had been to forget his verse-writing; and when he came to collect his "Works," these lectures, under the title of "The Two Paths," were (with "The Political Economy of Art") the earliest admitted into the library.
After this Manchester lecture he took a driving tour in Yorkshire--posting in the old-fashioned way--halting at Bradford for the lecture on "Modern Manufacture and Design" (March 1st), and ending with a visit to the school at Winnington, of which more in a later chapter.
In 1859 the last Academy Notes, for the time being, were published.