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y speak in his own person and quite to the same effect:
〃I will make you brooches and toys for your delight Of bird song at morning; and star shine at night; I will make a palace fit for you and me; Of green days in forests and blue days at sea。
〃I will make my kitchen; and you shall keep your room; Where white flows the river; and bright blows the broom; And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white; In rainfall at morning and dew…fall at night。
〃And this shall be for music when no one else is near; The fine song for singing; the rare song to hear! That only I remember; that only you admire; Of the broad road that stretches; and the roadside fire。〃
Here Stevenson; though original in his vein and way; but follows a great and gracious company in which Fielding and Sterne and so many others stand as pleasant proctors。 Scott and Dickens have each in their way essayed it; and made much of it beyond what mere sentiment would have reached。 PICKWICK itself … and we must always regard Dickens as having himself gone already over every bit of road; described every nook and corner; and tried every resource … is a vagrant fellow; in a group of erratic and most quaint wanderers or pilgrims。 This is but a return phase of it; Vincent Crummles and Mrs Crummles and the 〃Infant Phenomenon;〃 yet another。 The whole interest lies in the roadways; and the little inns; and the odd and unexpected RENCONTRES with oddly…assorted fellows there experienced: glimpses of grim or grimy; or forbidding; or happy; smiling smirking vagrants; and out…at…elbows fellow…passengers and guests; with jests and quips and cranks; and hanky…panky even。 On high roads and in inns; and alehouses; with travelling players; rogues and tramps; Dickens was quite at home; and what is yet more; he made us all quite at home with them: and he did it as Chaucer did it by thorough good spirits and 〃hail…fellow…well…met。〃 And; with all his faults; he has this merit as well as some others; that he went willingly on pilgrimage always; and took others; promoting always love of comrades; fun; and humorous by…play。 The latest great romancer; too; took his side: like Dickens; he was here full brother of Dan Chaucer; and followed him。 How characteristic it is when he tells Mr Trigg that he preferred Samoa to Honolulu because it was more savage; and therefore yielded more FUN。
CHAPTER XXX … LORD ROSEBERY'S CASE
IMMEDIATELY on reading Lord Rosebery's address as Chairman of the meeting in Edinburgh to promote the erection of a monument to R。 L。 Stevenson; I wrote to him politely asking him whether; since he quoted a passage from a somewhat early essay by Stevenson naming the authors who had chiefly influenced him in point of style; his Lordship should not; merely in justice and for the sake of balance; have referred to Thoreau。 I also remarked that Stevenson's later style sometimes showed too much self…conscious conflict of his various models in his mind while he was in the act of writing; and that this now and then imparted too much an air of artifice to his later compositions; and that those who knew most would be most troubled by it。 Of that letter; I much regret now that I did not keep any copy; but I think I did incidentally refer to the friendship with which Stevenson had for so many years honoured me。 This is a copy of the letter received in reply:
〃38 BERKELEY SQUARE; W。; 17th DECEMBER 1896。
〃DEAR SIR; … I am much obliged for your letter; and can only state that the name of Thoreau was not mentioned by Stevenson himself; and therefore I could not cite it in my quotation。
〃With regard to the style of Stevenson's later works; I am inclined to agree with you。…Believe me; yours very faithfully; ROSEBERY。 〃Dr ALEXANDER H。 JAPP。〃
This I at once replied to as follows:
〃NATIONAL LIBERAL CLUB; WHITEHALL。 PLACE; S。W。; 19TH DECEMBER 1896。
〃MY LORD; … It is true R。 L。 Stevenson did not refer to Thoreau in the passage to which you allude; for the good reason that he could not; since he did not know Thoreau till after it was written; but if you will oblige me and be so good as to turn to p。 xix。 of Preface; BY WAY OF CRITICISM; to FAMILIAR STUDIES OF MEN AND BOOKS you will read:
〃'Upon me this pure; narrow; sunnily…ascetic Thoreau had exercised a wondrous charm。 I HAVE SCARCE WRITTEN TEN SENTENCES SINCE I WAS INTRODUCED TO HIM; BUT HIS INFLUENCE MIGHT BE SOMEWHERE DETECTED BY A CLOSE OBSERVER。'
〃It is very detectable in many passages of nature…description and of reflection。 I write; my Lord; merely that; in case opportunity should arise; you might notice this fact。 I am sure R。 L。 Stevenson would have liked it recognised。 … I remain; my Lord; always yours faithfully; etc。;
ALEXANDER H。 JAPP。〃
In reply to this Lord Rosebery sent me only the most formal acknowledgment; not in the least encouraging me in any way to further aid him in the matter with regard to suggestions of any kind; so that I was helpless to press on his lordship the need for some corrections on other points which I would most willingly have tendered to him had he shown himself inclined or ready to receive them。
I might also have referred Lord Rosebery to the article in THE BRITISH WEEKLY (1887); 〃Books that have Influenced Me;〃 where; after having spoken of Shakespeare; the VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE; Bunyan; Montaigne; Goethe; Martial; Marcus Aurelius's MEDITATIONS; and Wordsworth; he proceeds:
〃I suppose; when I am done; I shall find that I have forgotten much that is influential; as I see already I have forgotten Thoreau。〃
I need but to add to what has been said already that; had Lord Rosebery written and told me the result of his references and encouraged me to such an exercise; I should by…and…by have been very pleased to point out to him that he blundered; proving himself no master in Burns' literature; precisely as Mr Henley blundered about Burns' ancestry; when he gives confirmation to the idea that Burns came of a race of peasants on both sides; and was himself nothing but a peasant。
When the opportunity came to correct such blunders; corrections which I had even implored him to make; Lord Rosebery (who by several London papers had been spoken of as 〃knowing more than all the experts about all his themes〃); that is; when his volume was being prepared for press; did not act on my good advice given him 〃FREE; GRATIS; FOR NOTHING〃; no; he contented himself with simply slicing out columns from the TIMES; or allowing another man to do so for him; and reprinting them LITERATIM ET VERBATIM; all imperfect and misleading; as they stood。 SCRIPTA MANET alas! only too truly exemplified to his disadvantage。 But with that note of mine in his hand; protesting against an ominous and fatal omission as regards the confessed influences that had operated on Stevenson; he goes on; or allows Mr Geake to go on; quite as though he had verified matters and found that I was wrong as regards the facts on which I based my appeal to him for recognition of Thoreau as having influenced Stevenson in style。 Had he attended to correcting his serious errors about Stevenson; and some at least of those about Burns; thus adding; say; a dozen or twenty pages to his book wholly fresh and new and accurate; then the TIMES could not have got; even if it had sought; an injunction against his publishers and him; and there would have been no necessity that he should pad out other and later speeches by just a little whining over what was entirely due to his own disregard of good advice; his own neglect … his own fault … a neglect and a fault showing determination not to revise where revision in justice to his subject's own free and frank acknowledgments made it most essential and necessary。
Mr Justice North gave his decision against Lord Rosebery and his publishers; while the Lords of Appeal went in his favour; but the House of Lords reaffirmed the decision of Mr Justice North and granted a perpetual injunction against this book。 The copyright in his speech is Lord Rosebery's; but the copyright in the TIMES' report is the TIMES'。 You see one of the ideas underlying the law is that no manner of speech is quite perfect as the man speaks it; or is beyond revision; improvement; or extension; and; if there is but one VERBATIM report; as was the case of some of these speeches and addresses; then it is incumbent on the author; if he wishes to preserve his copyright; to revise and correct his speeches and addresses; so as to make them at least in details so far differ from the reported form。 This thing ought Lord Rosebery to have done; on ethical and literary GROUNDS; not to speak of legal and self…interested grounds; and I; for one; who from the first held exactly the view the House of Lords has affirmed; do confess that I have no sympathy for Lord Rosebery; since he had before him the suggestion and the materials for as substantial alterations and additions from my own hands; with as much more for other portions of his book; had he informed me of his appreciation; as would have saved him and his book from such a sadly ironical fate as has overtaken him and it